I will read a few passages of Scripture in the forepart of the 40th
chapter of Isaiah. [The speaker read the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th
and 11th verses.]
The particular portion of these words which I have read, to which I
wish to call the attention of the congregation this afternoon, is that
relating to the preparation for the coming of the Lord, I mean the
second coming, when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all
flesh shall see it together. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came
into the world some eighteen centuries ago in a very humble, meek and
lowly manner. He came to teach the people the principles of the
Gospel, and to open the way whereby salvation might be brought about
in behalf of the human family, by offering an atonement before the
Lord, his heavenly Father, for the sins of the world. When he came in
that humble manner, he considered it important to send a messenger
before his face to make preparations for that event, so that the
people might not be altogether unprepared, and taken unawares
concerning the work he was then to do on our earth. Hence a great
Prophet was raised, generally known by the name of John the Baptist,
who went forth before the Savior, calling upon the people to repent,
testifying that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, baptizing them for
the remission of sins, informing them that there was one standing
among them that was greater than he. Although he was a great prophet,
yet he did not consider himself even worthy to unloose his shoe
latches, and although he was commissioned to baptize the humble,
penitent believer for the remission of his sins, yet that personage
that stood among them should baptize them with fire and with the Holy
Ghost. That same Jesus, after the way had been prepared, went forth
preaching in the land of Palestine, and the regions around, testifying
of the things pertaining to the Gospel, choosing men, sending them
forth before him, without purse or scrip, to declare the glad tidings
of the Gospel to the people.
After awhile, after having been persecuted and driven hither and
thither, and mobbed and scorned and cast out in many places, he was at
length taken by the religious people of that day, those who were
considered most pious—the high priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and many
others, and was brought before them in judgment, and was
condemned to die upon a cross, and after having carried the judgment
into execution and put him to death, Jesus rose again on the third
day, and appeared, not openly to the world, but to a few chosen
witnesses; and just before being taken up into heaven he said unto
eleven of these men—"Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and
he that believeth not shall be damned." And while he was giving them
their commission and instructions and blessing them he was taken up
into heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And two
angels stood by them on that occasion, and they said—"This same Jesus
whom ye have seen taken up into heaven shall so come in like manner as
ye have seen him go into heaven." That is, he was received into a
cloud, taken up in a cloud, and when he comes the second time he will
come in a cloud, personally, with his resurrected body, the same as he
ascended in the cloud. This was the testimony of these two angels who
stood by on that occasion. It is of this second advent, and the
preparations therefore, that I desire to speak this afternoon.
Jesus will come in a cloud, or as is expressed here in the 40th
chapter of Isaiah—"The glory of the Lord will be revealed and all
flesh shall see it together. It is also expressed in the revelations
of St. John, that when he comes in a cloud every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him. It seems then that the second advent
of the Son of God is to be something altogether of a different nature
from anything that has hitherto transpired on the face of the earth,
accompanied with great power and glory, something that will not be
done in a small portion of the earth like Palestine, and seen only by
a few; but it will be an event that will be seen by all—all flesh
shall see the glory of the Lord; when he reveals himself the second
time, every eye, not only those living at that time in the flesh, in
mortality on the earth, but also the very dead themselves, they also
who pierced him, those who lived eighteen hundred years ago, who were
engaged in the cruel act of piercing his hands and his feet and his
side, will also see him at that time. Now an event of so great a
character as the one of which I am speaking must necessarily have a
preparation. If the Lord would prepare the way for the first coming,
when he came apparently as a man, like other men; if he considered it
important on that occasion to send one of the greatest Prophets that
ever lived among men, why not also send Prophets or inspired men
before the face of his second coming, to warn the inhabitants of the
earth and prepare them for so great an event? I know what the
traditions of the religious world are in regard to this matter—they
consider that the day of Prophets has gone by, and that no more
Prophets, Apostles, Revelators, or inspired men are to appear among
the children of men. But it is very evident from a vast amount of
Scripture that might be quoted, that there will be many Prophets in
the latter days; indeed the time will come when the spirit will be
poured out upon all living—all that have not been destroyed from the
earth, all flesh; and the effects of that spirit, when it is poured
out, will be to make Prophets of the people. Your sons and your
daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams by the
power of that spirit, and your young men shall see visions, all by the
operations of the spirit that will be poured out upon all
flesh. This is a prediction that must be fulfilled.
Prior to the time, however, when the spirit is poured out upon all
flesh there will be an angel sent from heaven, and that angel will
bring the everlasting Gospel to be preached. When I speak of the
everlasting Gospel I mean the same one that was preached eighteen
hundred years ago; and authority will be given to some of the children
of men to preach that everlasting Gospel among the nations; and when
that shall take place I have no doubt but what there will be many
Prophets raised up, because the true Christian Church has always been
characterized by Prophets. There never was a genuine Christian Church
unless it had Prophets and Prophetesses; indeed, in ancient times
Prophets were so numerous in one branch of the Christian Church, that
Paul had to set them in order, and send them an epistle and tell them
not to all get up and prophesy at once, but that if a thing was
revealed to anyone he was not to get up and declare it while another
one was speaking, but he was to wait until the first got through
speaking, and then he should prophesy; for, said Paul, the spirit of
the Prophets is subject to the Prophets. That is, when the spirit came
upon Prophets in ancient times, it did not exercise a supernatural
power upon them to force them from their seats to stand up and declare
their prophecies the moment they were revealed, but that the spirit
that was given to them was subject to them, so that they could stay
upon their seats until the first Prophets got through prophesying.
That was the order of the Christian Church when God ever had one upon
the earth—Prophets were very numerous in that church.
But by and by the time came when the Christian Church apostatized and
turned away, and began to follow after their own wisdom, and the
Prophets and Apostles ceased, so far as the affairs of the Christian
Church on the earth were concerned. Revelations, and visions, and the
various gifts of the spirit were also taken away, according to their
unbelief and apostasy; but in the latter days God intends to again
raise up a Christian Church upon the earth. Do not be startled, you
who think that God will no more have a Church on the earth, for he has
promised that he would again have one, and that he would set up his
kingdom, and when he does you may look out for a great many Prophets
and inspired men; and if you ever see a Church arise, calling itself a
Christian Church, and it has not inspired Apostles like those in
ancient times, you may know that it is a spurious church, and that it
makes pretensions to something that it does not enjoy. If you ever
find a church called a Christian Church that has no men to foretell
future events, you may know, at once, that it is not a Christian
Church. If you find a Christian Church that has not the ancient gifts,
for instance the gift of healing, opening the eyes of the blind,
unstopping the ears of the deaf, causing the tongue of the dumb to
speak and the lame to walk; if you ever find a people calling
themselves a Christian Church and they have not these gifts among
them, you may know with a perfect knowledge that they do not agree
with the pattern given in the New Testament. The Christian Church is
always characterized with inspired men, whose revelations are just as
sacred as any contained in the Bible; and, if written and published,
just as binding upon the human family. The Christian Church will
always lay hands upon the sick in the name of Jesus, in order
that the sick may be healed. The Christian Church will always have
those among its members who have heavenly visions, the ministration of
angels, and the various gifts that are promised according to the
Gospel.
But as there has been no Christian Church on the earth for a great
many centuries past, until the present century, the people have lost
sight of the pattern that God has given according to which the
Christian Church should be established, and they have denominated a
great variety of people Christian Churches, because they profess to
be. They say, "We have built chapels unto the name of the Lord; we
call our Churches Christian Churches, they are called the Church of
Christ, St. John's Church, St. Paul's Church, St. Peter's Church, and
after others of the ancient Apostles;" and one who had never studied
the pattern which God has given of the Christian Church would almost
really believe that they are Christian Churches.
But there has been a long apostasy, during which the nations have been
cursed with apostate churches in great abundance, and they are
represented in the revelations of St. John as a woman sitting upon a
scarlet colored beast, having a golden cup in her hand, full of
filthiness and abominations, full of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication; that in her forehead there was a name written—"Mystery,
Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots." This kind of a church has
existed in great abundance, for as John the Revelator says, she was to
have her dominion upon many waters, and she was to make all nations
drunken with the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Now, we do not dispute but what such churches have existed and exist
at the present time, and that the nations of the earth have been
cursed with their filthiness and abominations, and with the pride and
wickedness they have practiced before the Lord of hosts. I have no
doubt but what some few honest-hearted persons have been taken in by
them, because they were so numerous and so popular on the earth. But
they lack all the characteristics of the ancient Christian Church,
having numerous forms of godliness, but denying the power thereof.
That is, they deny revelators and Prophets, deny the power to foretell
future events; deny that any person, in these days, has the power to
have visions or revelations from heaven, as the members of the
Christian Church anciently did.
Inasmuch as there has been such a long apostasy, and the earth left
without any church of God upon it, we might naturally suppose that,
before the second advent of the Son of God, there would be as a
preparation for his second coming a Christian Church again organized,
and I will now refer you to some prophecies upon this subject in the
Bible. We will first turn to the 14th chapter of the Revelation of
St. John, where we find a prophecy about the second coming of the Son
of God. The 14th verse says—"And I looked, and behold a white cloud,
and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his
head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle," &c. We have not
time to read all the events connected with this personage that was
sitting upon the cloud, and coming in great glory; but we will go back
a few verses and see if there is any preparation to be made before he
comes in this cloud. In the 6th verse he says—"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, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. And there
followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that
great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the
wrath of her fornication."
Here then, we perceive the nature of the preparatory work for the
coming of the Son of Man sitting upon a cloud. The Gospel is to be
preached to all nations, and that Gospel, when it is restored to the
earth, must be restored by an angel from heaven. Now the Gospel that
was introduced in the dispensation before John received this
revelation, was not restored by an angel from heaven; Jesus himself
came and preached the Gospel, as well as John the Baptist, and his
Apostles preached it, and they were commanded in that day to preach it
among all people, nations and tongues; and they fulfilled their
mission, according to Paul's testimony, for he, in speaking of the
extent to which the Gospel had gone before his martyrdom, says that
the Gospel was preached to every creature under heaven, "whereof I,
Paul, am made a minister." It seems then, that it was sent forth very
fully in that day and age of the world. And then came the great
apostasy; and after this apostasy should continue for many long
centuries, then an angel should come. Just before the personage should
appear in the white cloud, the angel should come and bring the Gospel,
and the Gospel should be preached to them that dwell on the earth, to
every people, kindred, tongue and nation. What does this indirectly
prove? It proves that there was no nation, no people, no kindred, no
tongue, upon the face of the whole earth that had the everlasting
Gospel when the angel should come; because, if there had been any
people, however obscure they might be, however distant they might be
from what are termed civilized nations, if there had been any people
on the earth who had the Gospel, they would have a Christian Church,
with Apostles and Prophets and all the gifts of the spirit therein.
But inasmuch as every nation, kindred, tongue and people on the whole
earth was completely destitute of the Gospel, and of the Church as
organized in ancient days, it was necessary to restore it anew from
heaven, and it is predicted that that should be done by an angel.
Has any such event transpired? This is a very important question. To
whom shall we go and make the inquiry in regard to the coming of the
angel? Someone may perhaps say that we had better make the inquiry of
some Christian people, they would be most likely to give an answer.
Very well, let us go, then, to the oldest Christian Church, so
called—the Roman Catholics, and ask them. Let us go to their cardinals
and archbishops, or even to the head man of all that church, who sits
in what is called the chair of St. Peter, and ask him, or any other of
their great men—"Sir, do you believe that an angel has come from
heaven with the everlasting Gospel to preach to all nations, kindreds,
tongues and people since the day that John delivered that prophecy?
What will be the answer? It will be—"No, we do not believe in any such
thing, we claim that we are preachers of the everlasting Gospel; and
we hold the regular succession of the authority that was committed in
the first century of the Christian era, and that the Gospel had been
preached from that day until this, and that the Christian
Church has existed among all nations, and there has been no necessity
for an angel coming from heaven with it." "Very well, you do not
believe that any angel has come with the everlasting Gospel?" "Oh, no,
that is contrary to our faith and belief."
Go to the next oldest Christian Church, one that broke off from the
Roman Catholics, called the Greek Church. Go through all the great
nation of Russia, and ask them the same question, and they will
answer, like the old mother, that no angel has been sent: "We did not
receive the Gospel that we preach by an angel from heaven." Very well,
we will leave you, then, and we will come down to the modern Christian
Churches, that came out from the Catholic Church two or three
centuries ago, and ask them the question; go to Luther and Calvin, and
all the various reformers that seceded from the Church of Rome in the
16th century, and ask each one in his turn, and each will have the
same answer. "Martin Luther, did you receive the Gospel which you
preach from an angel sent from heaven?" "Oh, no," says he, "we
got our
ordination from the church that we dissented from; we once belonged to
the Roman Catholic Church, but we found out that they were very wicked
and abominable, and that they were the ones John spoke of, that should
have 'Mystery, Babylon' written in the forehead, that have been
drinking of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and we have come
out from that church." "Well, Mr. Luther, did you get any ordination
in that church?" "Yes, we got an ordination." "And that is your
authority, is it? No angel was sent to you from heaven to restore the
authority and the Gospel?" "No, we got our authority from the mother
church." "Well, do you think the mother church is very wicked?"
"Yes,
the most wicked and corrupt people on the face of the earth." "Then
you got your authority from the most corrupt people on the face of the
earth, did you? What is it good for? And, by the by, if they have
authority to confer upon you the Priesthood, and that gives you a
right to baptize and to administer the ordinances, have they not also
authority to excommunicate you? Were you excommunicated from their
communion?" "Oh, yes, they exercised their authority in cutting me off
from their church and casting me out." "Very well, then, they took
away all the authority they pretended to give you, did they not?"
"Yes, they took it away, but still we claim it through them, and that
is the only way we get the chain of authority back to the Apostles."
Some of the Protestants, however, do not argue in this way; they say
that they get their authority from the Bible, independent of any
church. Well, let me say to some who claim their authority in this
way, "What part of the Bible called you by name, William? You have
been ordained, have you, to preach the Gospel and baptize? Who
ordained you? Who gave this authority to you? Who commissioned you?"
Says William—"Well, I really did not get the authority from the Roman
Catholics, or from any church later than the Roman Catholics, but I
got it from the Bible." "What part of the Bible?" "Why, that
saying of
Jesus to his eleven Apostles. Just before he was taken up in a cloud,
Jesus said to them—'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to
every creature.'" "Well, how do you know, William, that that meant you?
If it meant you, did it not mean your neighbor also, and every male person who has lived on the earth since the days of the Apostles?
How do you know that it meant you? Did God ever give you a new
revelation?" "Oh, don't mention it, we do not believe in any new
revelation, or in inspired men in our day." "Very well, then, you do
not think that God has sent any angel to restore the Gospel, and
authority to preach it to the children of men?" "Oh, no, none but a
poor deluded sect called Mormons away up in the mountains of America
believe any such thing; they profess that God has sent an angel from
heaven to restore the Gospel and the authority of the Priesthood, but
we do not believe that God sends angels in our day."
This is about the way you would get answered by all the various
churches that have lived during many hundreds of years past, in regard
to their authority; they have no more authority than a heathen priest.
Why? Because they have denied all the fundamental powers and
principles of the ancient Christian Church.
Says one—"Well, if they have no authority, then all our baptisms are
illegal." Certainly they are; to be baptized by a man who has no
authority, no matter how sincere I may be, would avail me nothing, I
might as well go and baptize myself. "Well," says one, "you Mormons
believe, do you, that God has actually sent an angel, and has again
committed to men the everlasting Gospel, and authority to preach it
and administer its ordinances?" "Yes, and we not only believe it, but
many of us know with a most perfect knowledge that he has done so,
having received our knowledge from God himself." "Then the Lord, you
think, has fulfilled that passage in the 14th chapter of Revelation,
and that he has actually sent an angel to restore the Gospel to
earth?" "Yes." "How long since?" Some forty-six years
have passed away
since the angel came and committed a record of the Gospel, not merely
given in a verbal manner, but caused to be translated a record that
contained the everlasting Gospel in all its fullness. The ancient
Israelites, who once inhabited this country, were acquainted with the
Gospel. Jesus did not confine his labors altogether to Palestine; but
after his crucifixion and resurrection, he came to America, and
appeared among its people, and taught them the everlasting Gospel, the
same as he had before taught the people of Palestine, and he commanded
them to write this Gospel upon plates of metal; they did so, and they
established a Christian Church according to the pattern that God gave
to them, and their writings have been brought forth. How? By the
administration of an angel from heaven, an angel sent to reveal this
record containing the fulness of the everlasting Gospel.
Inquires one—"Did this angel give any authority to Joseph Smith, and
to others to whom he revealed himself, to baptize?" Not at all. He
revealed the record, and Joseph was commanded to translate it by the
aid of the Urim and Thummim that was with it, and he was told that it
would be sent to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people. But he did
not give Joseph Smith authority to preach that Gospel, neither did he
give him authority to baptize, or to lay on hands for the gift of the
Holy Ghost, and the probability is that the person who held the keys
to reveal the everlasting Gospel did not have the authority himself—it
is not all angels that have this authority. Peter, James, and John had
the authority, and after the book was translated they were sent. What
for? Not to reveal the Gospel, for that was revealed by
another angel prior to that time; but they were sent to lay their
hands upon individuals, and ordain them to the Apostleship. No one can
say that Peter, James, and John did not hold the Apostleship, and that
people could not be ordained under their hands. They ordained them to
the Apostleship, and they commanded, in the name of the Lord, that
they should preach the Gospel, and ordain others to the same power and
authority which was conferred and restored from heaven. They were
commanded to preach the Gospel to all of the nations and kindreds of
the earth. That was the way that the Lord restored the everlasting
Gospel.
What have we been doing since the authority was restored? Forty-six
years have now passed away, and what has been done during that time
towards fulfilling the prediction uttered by John the revelator? Much
has been done. In the midst of the most severe persecution, the
servants of God have gone forth and preached the Gospel to a great
many nations. They were commanded to go to and labor with the Gentile
nations first, without purse and scrip. "Go and preach the Gospel as
mine ancient Apostles did, without purse and scrip; and go to the
Gentiles first. Warn them thoroughly, and teach them concerning my
Gospel." They have done so, and for forty-six years they have
continued their missions in the Gentile nations.
The Lord also told them that when the fullness of the Gentiles had
come, when their times were fulfilled, then his servants should be
sent to all the scattered remnants of the house of Israel, who should
be grafted in again; but first, the fullness of the Gentiles must come
in. You know that Scripture which says—"The first shall be last, and
the last shall be first." Now the Gospel, when it was preached in
ancient times, was preached first to the Jews, the house of Israel, to
those of Israelitish origin, and when they counted themselves unworthy
of eternal life, and rejected that Gospel, "Lo" says Paul, "we turn
unto the Gentiles." The Gentiles, then, heard it last; they were last
to embrace the Gospel of the kingdom, and the Jews first, that is, as
many of them as would believe and repent. But in the last days, when
the angel brings the Gospel, it is reversed, and it is preached first
to the Gentiles, to bring in their fullness, and to fulfil their
times, and then it will be sent to the house of Israel.
In the 21st chapter of Luke, our Savior, in speaking of the evils that
should befall the Jewish nation, says, "And they (the Jews) shall fall
by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all
nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until
the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This has been fulfilled
literally upon the Jewish nation, and they have been scattered,
according to this prediction, among all nations. Many of them were
destroyed by the edge of the sword. Jerusalem was taken some seventy
years after the birth of Christ, and has been in possession of the
Gentiles from that day to this. Jesus told them that such should be
the fact, that Jerusalem should be in the possession of the Gentiles,
and should be trodden down by them until a certain period—until their
times should be fulfilled.
The great object of the angel in restoring the Gospel was, in the
first place, to fulfil the times of the Gentiles. Inquires one—"What
do you mean by that?" I mean that God will send this Gospel, restored
by an angel, to every nation, kindred, people and tongue in
the Gentile world before he will permit his servants to go to the
scattered remnants of Israel; and they will labor with, preach to and
declare the work of God to the Gentile nations, and seek to bring them
to a knowledge of the ancient Gospel, and to organize a Church among
them, so far as they will hearken to and receive their testimony.
Then, when the Gentile nations shall reject this Gospel, and count
themselves unworthy of eternal life, as the Jews did before them, the
Lord will say—"It is enough, come away from them, my servants, I will
give you a new commission, you shall go to the scattered remnants of
the house of Israel. I will gather them in from the four quarters of
the earth, and bring them again into their own lands. They shall build
Jerusalem on its own heap; they shall rear a Temple on the appointed
place in Palestine, and they shall be grafted in again." Now that, in
short, is the nature of this great latter-day preparatory work for the
coming of the Son of Man.
Now let me quote another passage that corresponds with one I have
already quoted. Paul, in the 11th chapter of his epistle to the
Romans, speaks of the proclamation of the Gospel to the Jews first,
and because of their unbelief, Paul says they were broken off as
branches of the tame olive tree; "and," says the Apostle, addressing
his epistle to a Gentile church, "you have been grafted in the stead
of them;" in other words, the kingdom has been transferred from Israel
to you Gentiles, and it is committed into your hands, and you are
beginning to bring forth the fruits of that kingdom, the gifts of the
kingdom are made manifest among you, just as they were among Israel in
the days of their righteous ness. "But," said Paul—"They were
broken
off by unbelief, and you Gentiles stand by faith. Be not highminded,
but fear, for if God spared not the natural branches, if he did not
even spare the tame olive tree—the natural branches—take heed lest he
also spare not thee, for you are only wild branches grafted in
contrary to nature. Take heed lest he also spare not thee, for behold,
therefore, the goodness and the severity of God; on the house of
Israel, that fell through unbelief, severity; but towards thee, or in
other words, towards you, the Gentiles, the goodness of God is extended
if you continue in his goodness." It was on that condition—if you
Gentiles continue in his goodness; otherwise, says Paul, you also
shall be cut off, just the same as Israel were. You also shall be cut
off, and they also shall be grafted in again, for God is able to graft
them in again. For if God spared not the natural branches take heed
lest he also spare not thee, etc. Then he tells them a mystery. He
wanted those Gentiles to understand a certain mystery, and that was
that blindness in part had happened to Israel until the fullness of
the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved. As it is
written—There shall come out of Zion a deliverer who shall turn away
ungodliness from Jacob. "And this shall be my covenant unto them,
saith the Lord, when I shall take away their sins."
It seems then that Paul understood, by the spirit of prophecy, that if
the Gentiles apostatized, if they did not continue in the place where
they were grafted, if they did not continue in the goodness of God, if
they became highminded, they also were to be cut off, just as they
have been for many long generations that are past; cut off from all
the ancient blessings of the everlasting Gospel through the
apostasy of their ancient fathers.
But the Lord intends to make a change, and that change is to send
forth this Gospel from heaven to be preached to the nations of the
Gentiles, to give them one more chance, if they will have it, to bring
in their fullness; and when that time has come, and the servants of
the Lord find that the balance of them harden their hearts and reject
the Gospel of life and salvation, then the Lord will graft in all
Israel, and they will be saved, being restored again to the tame olive
tree, and bringing forth the fruits thereof. Thus will be fulfilled
the ancient covenant that God made with them pertaining to the
latter days. Have you read that covenant that Paul quotes from? One of
the ancient prophets, Jeremiah, delivered the prophecy, as recorded in
his 31st chapter—"Behold the day shall come that I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not
according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, when I took
them by the hand and brought them forth out of the land of Egypt. And
this is the covenant I will make with them saith the Lord—I will write
my law in their hearts, print it in their thoughts, and they shall all
know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord."
Now did all Israel and all Judah know the Lord, from the least of them
to the greatest of them? Had they no more need to say, every man to
his Jewish neighbor, know ye the Lord? Was that the case anciently,
when the Lord offered them the covenant of the everlasting Gospel? No;
instead of all Israel and all Judah knowing the Lord, from the least
to the greatest, they were the very ones that were cut off and lost
the privileges of that covenant. But in the latter days when the
fullness of the Gentiles is brought in by the proclamation of the
Gospel committed by the angel, then is the time that the Lord will
renew this covenant, and the same Gospel that he offered to them
eighteen hundred years ago, and which they rejected, will be offered
to them again, and all Israel will be saved. As it is written—"There
shall come out of Zion a deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob."
It seems, then, that the Lord, when he shall fulfill this prophecy,
will have a Zion on the earth. Enquires one—"What do you mean by Zion?
I mean the Church of God, that is what I call Zion. God will have a
Church on the earth—a Zion, and out of that Church a deliverer will
come for and in behalf of all Israel, not only the Jews—the two tribes
and a half that were scattered after Christ, but the ten tribes that
were taken away out of Palestine some seven hundred years before
Christ. All Israel—the whole twelve tribes—will come to the knowledge
of the truth when God sends this deliverer out of Zion, proclaiming
the Gospel of the latter days for their salvation.
Connected with this everlasting Gospel is another very marvelous event
preparatory to the second advent. What is that? Every Christian upon
the face of the whole earth will be gathered from all nations, and all
will be assembled in one. Says one—"There are none of our Protestant
denominations gathering; the Roman Catholics do not gather; the Greek
Church do not gather, and I do not know any Church, except you
Mormons, that gather out." Now, let us see what is said about this
gathering. I have told you that the Gospel should be committed
by an angel; I have told you that it should be the hour of God's
judgment—a peculiar time of judgment, in which the nations are to be
visited with sore and terrible judgments. Now let us read
further—"Another angel followed, crying, Babylon is fallen, because she made
all nations drunk with the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
Who is Babylon? I have already explained that Babylon is a great power
that should be in the earth under the name of a church, a woman—that
generally represents a church—full of blasphemy. She had the
inscription of her name upon her forehead—"Mystery, Babylon, the mother
of harlots and abominations of the earth." What is to become of her?
Where does she sit? Upon many waters, says John; and to interpret this
to the understanding of the people, the waters are many people,
nations, kindred and tongues where the woman hath her seat. These
churches are scattered over the wide face of the earth, and this is
called Babylon. Another angel is to follow the one that brings the
Gospel, after it has been sufficiently preached, and proclaim the
downfall of this great and corrupt power in the earth. Well, will all
the Christians that are there perish, or will they be gathered out?
Hear what John says—"I heard a great voice from heaven, saying, Come
out of her, oh my people, that you partake not of her sins, that you
receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached to the heavens,
and God hath remembered her iniquities." Then there is only one way to
escape, is there? We can't stay in Babylon and be spared from these
judgments, can we? Not at all. Why not? Because her sins have reached
to the very heavens. Look at her abominations, her whore doms, her
murders, her priestcraft, her false doctrines, her forms of godliness
without any power; look at them, all the nations are following after,
and consider it popular to follow and embrace these doctrines. "Come
out of her, oh, my people." What people? God had no people in Babylon
until the Church was organized, he could not have; he sent his
servants to organize his Church, that there might be a people called
his people. But when that Church is organized among these nations,
kindred, tongues and people, its members are not permitted to remain
where they are. This is not an invention of a learned company of
divines, saying it will be a good thing for us to gather in one; it is
not something invented by human wisdom; but the Revelator John says—"I
heard a voice from heaven." What, a new revelation, John? Yes, a voice
from heaven. God was again to speak, before the downfall of Babylon;
and this should be the voice—"Come out of her, O my people."
Who has been fulfilling this among all those calling themselves
Christians? Have the Roman Catholics? Have the Greek church? Have the
Protestants, in any of their denominations, been gathering out from
all the nations of the earth? No, but you find one people doing it.
Who are they? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
organized on the earth by divine authority. They have gone forth
proclaiming these things among the inhabitants of the earth. Instead
of saying to the people—"Tarry where you are," we say to
them—"Arise,
make preparations, and gather out from this corruption." This has been
the proclamation to the people of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany,
Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and every other country the
people of which have received the Gospel, and they have been commanded
not to tarry, but to obey the word of the Lord, and gather as soon as
possible.
But where shall they gather to? Is there anything indicated in
prophecy about where they should gather? Yes. Daniel saw a Church
organized in the latter days, in a mountain or high place of the
earth. Read the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the
second chapter of Daniel's prophecies. The king could not recollect
his dream when he awoke, and he sent out to all the wise men,
musicians and astrologers, and requested them to tell him what his
dream was, and then give him an interpretation. But they could not do
it. Finally a man of God, a humble man, by the name of Daniel,
besought the Lord, and the Lord revealed to him the dream and the
interpretation thereof. Nebuchadnezzar, it seems, had seen a very
great image before him; the head of that image was gold, the breast
and arms of silver, the belly and thighs were of brass, the legs of
iron, and the feet part of iron and part of potter's clay. He saw it
in all its terrible majesty composed of these different metals,
together with potter's clay. Then, after Daniel had described to him
what he had seen in his dream, said he—"Thou sawest until that a stone
was cut out of the mountain;" not out of some low country of the earth
near the sea level, "but thou sawest until that a stone was cut out of
the mountain without hands, and it rolled forth, and smote the image
upon the feet, that were part of potter's clay and part of iron, and
the feet were broken to pieces. Then were the iron, the clay, the
brass, the silver and the gold broken to pieces together, and became
like the chaff of the summer threshingfloor, and the wind carried
them away and no place was found for them." What became of the stone?
The stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth.
Well, what was the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream? He told
the king that the head of the image represented the kingdom then
organized; that after him would come another kingdom, that of the
Medes and Persians, represented by the breast and arms of silver; then
a third kingdom should follow, the Macedonians; then a fourth kingdom,
which should be great and terrible, compared to the iron kingdom,
which everyone admits was the great power of Rome, which flourished
and had power and dominion over the whole earth. Out of that kingdom
grew other kingdoms represented by the feet and toes of the image;
these kingdoms had not all the greatness and strength of the former
kingdoms represented by the image, but they were partly strong and
partly weak.
Now what is the location of this great image from the days of
Nebuchadnezzar until now? You go into Asia and you will find there the
descendants of the old Babylonian empire still in existence. Come a
little further westward, and you find still the descendants of the
Medes and Persians who once flourished and exercised dominion over the
earth. A little further west you find the descendants of the third, or
Macedonian, empire still in existence. Come further still, into
Europe, and you find the feet and toes of the image in the latter-day
kingdoms of the earth, which have branched across the great deep and
have planted themselves in America. Are they partly strong and partly
broken? Yes. Some of them have some strength apparently, and
they have among themselves all the characteristics of miry clay with
the iron, for they are divided one against another, and they have to
keep up their standing armies because they are afraid of one another.
But where is the stone from the mountains? Where is that kingdom that
is called the stone? In the interpretation the Prophet says—"Thou
sawest until the kingdom of God was set up, and it smote the image
upon the feet," and so on. It does not commence its attack away in
Asia, where the head of gold or its descendants live, neither in any
intermediate part, but it commences at the very extremity of this
great image, as it spreads out to the west, and commences upon the
feet and the toes; it is there where the stone is cut out of the
mountain without hands, it is there where the God of heaven should set
up a kingdom, as Daniel says, that should never be destroyed, neither
shall it be given into the hands of another people, but it shall stand
forever. Not like the former-day kingdom that was set up, before the
Roman empire had attained to its zenith of power. The former-day
kingdom of Christ was set up in the days of the Apostles; that was
overcome and destroyed out of the earth. The beast made war upon them
and prevailed against them, and they were banished from the earth, and
the woman upon the scarlet-colored beast seems to have had dominion
among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, more or less. But in
the latter days the kingdom of God was to be built up on the earth,
that should never be destroyed; it was not to be like the former-day
one, but it should stand forever, while all these other kingdoms
should not only be destroyed, but, like the chaff of the summer
threshingfloor, should be carried completely away, and no place
should be found for them.
That is the destiny of all the nations. A great many wise men, and
statesmen, have meditated deeply upon the past, present and future of
the nations, and have no doubt inquired in their own minds with a
great deal of seriousness—"What will be the end of these political
powers? What will be the end, for instance, of this great republican
government of ours? What will be the end of the governments organized
in Europe?" These questions, no doubt, have occurred to thousands and
tens of thousands of reflecting men. The Bible answers the question.
No kingdom, no form of government of human invention will be permitted
to stand. When God has fulfilled the saying written by the Prophet
Daniel, there will be one universal kingdom, and only one, and that
will be the kingdom of God, and Jesus himself will be the great king.
Inquires one—"What do you mean by this breaking to pieces? Do you
think Daniel meant that they should go forth with physical force and
subdue all the nations?" No, I do not think any such thing; but when
the Lord God sends his holy angel from heaven with the everlasting
Gospel and then ordains his servants to the Apostleship, and sends
them forth among the nations of the earth, and they proclaim the
Gospel of the kingdom among the people, if the people will not hear,
the Lord himself will break them in pieces. It will be the message
that he sends that will ripen them for destruction.
And the location of his kingdom was to be in the mountains, so says
Daniel. Now you can understand that saying in Isaiah, which I read at
the commencement of my remarks. When describing the glory of the Lord
to be revealed and all flesh seeing it together, preparatory
to that work, Isaiah says there was a certain people that should get
up into the mountains. "Oh Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee
up into the high mountain." That did not mean a city called Zion, for
it is not to be supposed that a city would travel up into a high
mountain; but it meant a people, a people who were bringing good
tidings. What good tidings? What can be more glorious tidings to the
inhabitants of the earth than the everlasting Gospel sent by an angel,
to say unto the people that if they will repent of their sins and be
baptized in water for the remission of their sins, they shall receive
the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands
of the servants of God? What can be more glorious in its nature than a
proclamation of this kind to the nations of the earth? Hence when the
people come out of great Babylon and gather themselves together, they
will gather into the mountains to fulfill this prophecy.
Any other prophecies about their going to the mountains? Yes. Read the
18th chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah, when standing in Palestine delivering
his prophecy, looked off to the southwest and saw the rivers of
Ethiopia, or Africa; and after having seen these rivers in vision he
also sees a land shadowing with wings away beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia. What kind of a land was that, away beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia, from where Isaiah stood in Palestine? Why it is a land that
had the appearance of wings. You have been struck doubtless, with the
great resemblance that North and South America have to the two great
wings of a bird. While Isaiah was thus gazing upon a land away beyond
the rivers of Ethiopia, it looked so much like the wings of a bird
that he says— "A land shadowing with wings, away, beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia." Well, Isaiah, what have you to say about that land? Why,
says he, there is a proclamation to be had there. How extensive,
Isaiah? To all people. Hear the words of Isaiah. Says he, "All ye
inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, see ye when he
lifts up an ensign on the mountains." Not on the low places of that
land shadowing with wings, next to the seashore, but in the mountains.
What is the nature of this ensign? It is characteristic of a standard,
often spoken of by the Prophets, and called by the name of standard.
Isaiah speaks of it as an ensign in a number of places. What would
naturally be a standard? The kingdom of God is a standard to which the
people rally and gather together. Does it affect all people, Isaiah?
Yes. "All ye inhabitants of the world." What could be more extensive
than that? "And dwellers on the earth, see ye when he lifts up an
ensign on the mountains, and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye." What
else is to take place, Isaiah? He says that a severe judgment is to
take place on that land shadowing with wings. What kind of a judgment,
one that is to be very severe, Isaiah? Yes, for he says—"Afore the
harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruninghooks, and
take away and cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto
the fowls of the mountain and to the beasts of the earth; and the
fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall
winter upon them." When will this be, Isaiah? After this proclamation,
after all the nations of the world have heard it, after the people
have heard the sound of the warning message; then the first among all the nations where the extremities of the image have sent
forth one of its governments, there will be the commencement of a most
terrible judgment, so much so that the people on that land will not
have time to bury their dead, and the fowls shall summer upon them.
Why is all this? Because they will not hearken when that sound goes to
all people; they will not repent of their sins; they will not receive
the message that God has sent by his angel, he therefore visits them
first, because they are the first to hear those glad tidings. No
wonder, then, that Zion, that brings good tidings, was commanded by
the ancient Prophet to get up into the high mountain.
Let us go a little further, and see what immediately follows this.
Isaiah says—"For behold the Lord God shall come with a strong hand."
What! The coming of the Lord going to take place after Zion has gone
up into the mountains? Yes, that is one of the great events that will
transpire, when the people of the nations are careless and
indifferent, when they are eating and drinking, buying and selling,
and their minds wholly swallowed up with the various occupations of
life. "Behold, the Lord comes with a strong hand, his arm will rule
for him and he will reward his people; then the glory of the Lord will
be revealed and all flesh will see it together."
But one of the great preparatory works in that dispensation of the
gathering of Zion to the mountains, will be the construction of a
great highway, which is to be cast up in the desert. Let me ask you
who have been across these mountains, from Omaha for many hundred
miles westward, what kind of a country is it? Is it a country of
orchards, vineyards, and alluvial soil, that is calculated to flatter
the agriculturist? Says one—"No, I never saw such a barren plain for
hundreds and hundreds of miles. In the day time, when we had an
opportunity of looking at it, it had all one appearance, and was a
vast sage plain and desert." Now Isaiah said that when his people
should get up into the mountains a highway should be cast up in the
desert. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God." What! Is it made for the Lord? Yes. What is the
Lord going to do with it? He is going to gather his people from all
the nations on this highway through the desert. Do you want to know
anything more about this highway? Read another chapter in Isaiah; he
gives more particulars than what I have mentioned.
What I have read in the 40th chapter of Isaiah about the highway in
the desert, is only one thing connected with it. In another chapter he
says—"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the
people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a
standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end
of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation
cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Here
is the same thing spoken of again, only it speaks of tunnels, or, in
other words, gates—"Go through, go through the gates." I have no idea
but what Isaiah, in gazing down upon future generations, saw the time
when a long train of carriages would be whirled across a continent,
without any apparent animal force or power. He perhaps did not
understand the modern terms for tunnel through a rock, and hence he
calls them gates. "Go through, go through the gates; prepare the way
of the people; cast up, cast up a highway; gather out the
stones; lift up a standard for the people." Then comes in this
universal proclamation—"Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed from the ends
of the world." Now, from the ends of the world, we should naturally
suppose that, Isaiah, standing in Palestine, and delivering this,
would see a work that was to transpire on a very distant land. He
could find no better language to describe it, than the expression "to
the ends of the world." Not a work to transpire in Palestine, in his
own neighborhood, but, "Behold the Lord should proclaim from the ends
of the world, to all people, Behold, your salvation cometh." That is,
the Lord was coming with a strong hand, and this proclamation coming
from the Lord was to be sounded to all the inhabitants of the earth, a
standard was to be raised, and a way prepared by this highway being
cast up.
There are a great many in this congregation who took part in casting
up this highway. We built the most difficult portions of this
railroad, through these mountains, some four hundred miles in extent.
Did you work with a good cheerful heart when you were engaged in
gathering out the stones, and when you were making these gates that
Isaiah speaks of, through which he saw a long train of carriages dart
into the mountain, losing sight of them for a time, then seeing them
come out again with great speed, from the mountain? How could he
describe it any better than by saying—"Go through, go through the
gates?"
But what kind of a people were these to be who should be gathered from
the ends of the world by this proclamation? Read the next verse—"They
shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord." Says
one—"Well, you are called anything else but that; instead of being
called a holy people, you are represented, by the priests and
everybody else, as a very unrighteous people." Very well, the Lord
will, in his own due time, enable you to distinguish between the
righteous and the wicked. "Behold, they shall call them the holy
people, the redeemed of the Lord; and behold, they shall be called,
sought out, a city not forsaken." How different from old Jerusalem!
Was that sought out? No; Jerusalem was built up a long time before
Israel came out of Egypt, and was there ready for them to take
possession of when they entered the Holy Land. Was Jerusalem ever
forsaken? Yes, forsaken for many generations. But not so with Zion,
that should get up into the mountains; they should seek out a
location, so much so that the city should be called "Sought out;" and
instead of being forsaken, as many people suppose the "Mormons" will
be, the Lord God will protect them. According to the words of Daniel,
the kingdom shall not be destroyed, neither shall it be given to
another people, and it shall stand forever. All these characteristics
are being fulfilled.
Would you suppose that the House of Jacob, the ten tribes of Israel,
can be gathered from the four quarters of the earth, and brought back
to their own land, without the lifting of this ensign? No. Read the
11th chapter of Isaiah. There he says—"I will lift up an ensign for
the nations, I will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and I will gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four quarters of the earth."
Until the Lord God sends forth this proclamation to all the
inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, in vain may we
look for the redemption of the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of
Judah. Israel, the ten tribes, called the outcasts, will never
return, the scattered Jews will never be restored, until such an ensign
is raised. Isaiah, in the fifth chapter, speaks of that ensign—"I will
lift up for the nations an ensign from afar." Why not lift it up in
Jerusalem, Isaiah? Why not lift it up in Palestine? Why not commence
the work in Asia? Says Isaiah—"I will lift up an ensign to the nations
from afar." How far? Away off to the ends of the earth, from where
Isaiah then was.
After this ensign is raised, he speaks of how swiftly the people shall
come—"They shall come with speed swiftly." Is that the way you came,
Latter-day Saints? When you crossed the ocean, how did you come? In
steamships; and when you crossed through the United States to Omaha,
how did you come? In steam cars. And when you crossed these desert
sage plains, how did you come? With speed swiftly through most of the
desert, just as Isaiah said you would in his fifth chapter.
Many people thought that when the railroad came, "Mormonism" would be
done away. But such a supposition shows their ignorance. Why, bless
you, this people in the year 1847, when the pioneers crossed these
plains without any track to guide them, were looking for this great
highway then. Yes, I recollect, almost every day when I could get an
observation of the sun (for we had two sextants, and artificial
horizons, and mountain barometers, and one circle of reflection),
taking the latitudes and longitudes of all the prominent places,
crossing this great desert; and not satisfied with getting the
latitude and longitude we had our mountain barometers and attached and
detached thermometers and took the altitude above sea level of all the
prominent places on the route of this great highway which was to be
cast up for us in the midst of the desert. Thus this people were the
first to talk about this great highway, and we never lost sight of it.
We petitioned Congress for its construction twenty-five years ago; our
Legislature, knowing the minds of the people, sent our memorial to the
National Legislature, and requested them to cast up the highway across
this country. Our memorials were, for awhile, treated with silence;
but by and by, when the proper time comes, the Lord will stir up Congress
and the great men and capitalists of the nation to go forth and
construct this highway. Did we not rejoice and thank the Lord our God
for fulfilling that which we had been expecting, and praying for so
diligently? We certainly did.
We might continue our remarks, as there are many things connected
with this great preparatory work which, did time permit, we would be
glad to lay before the people. I will quote a passage or two more in
relation to the gathering. Paul saw this gathering, and he calls it a
new dispensation that should come after his day. He says that in the
dispensation of the fullness of times he would gather together in one
all things in Christ, whether they be things in heaven or things on
the earth. The dispensation of the fullness of times, then, was to be
characterized by the gathering of all persons that were in Christ. All
the righteous dead that are in heaven, whose bodies are asleep in the
grave, together with all the Christians on the earth, will be gathered
in one in that dispensation. Fulfilling another prophecy in the 43rd
chapter of Isaiah, where the Lord says—"I will say to the north give
up, and to the south keep not back; bring my sons from afar and my
daughters from the ends of the earth, even every one that is
called by my name." Will it leave a Christian behind? Not one. Go and
search New York, Philadelphia, and all the eastern States, and the
middle and southern States, and then all Europe, for a Christian after
this prophecy is fulfilled, and you can't find one. Why? Because they
are all gathered in one. How? By new revelation. The Lord says, "I
will say to the north give up." The Lord's going to speak, the Lord is
going to utter something—"I will say to the south keep not back. I
will say, Come ye, my sons and daughters, from the ends of the earth,
even every one that is called by my name." What an awful condition the
world will be in when there is not a Christian among them. Amen.