I will read a passage with which the Latter-day Saints, especially,
are familiar—"All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the
earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when
he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye." This is the third verse of the 18th
chapter of the prophecies of Isaiah.
All people who have any confidence in the Old and New Testaments, and
who have read the pages of the Bible, are expecting certain great and
important events to transpire upon the earth; they look for an entire
change to come over the nations, and also for a universal kingdom to
be established on the earth never to be overthrown. These things are
so clearly predicted in the prophecies of the holy Prophets, that I
believe all who profess any faith in the Bible are looking for
something of this kind to take place. All who believe in the New
Testament believe that the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, is to come, not as he did formerly, in a meek and lowly
manner, born in a manger, hated, derided, buffeted and spit upon, and
finally crucified by the hands of wicked men, but that when he comes
again, it will be in very great majesty and glory, accompanied by all
the armies of heaven and by the Saints of all dispensations, who will
be raised from the dead at that important time, and who will be caught
up into the clouds and come with him. All people who believe in the
New Testament believe that such an event as this has got to transpire.
Those who believe in the Old Testament, and discard the New, believe
that there has to be a great change come over the inhabitants of the
earth and over the whole of this creation. The Old Testament speaks of
the day of the Lord, when the sun will be darkened, when the moon and
the stars will refuse to shine, when the Lord will punish the wicked
for their wickedness, when sinners will be swept from the face of the
earth, and when there will be none but the righteous left. It is
believed that a day will come, when the wicked among the inhabitants
of this globe will be burned as stubble, and when there will be
neither root nor branch left of the proud and of them that do
wickedly. So that believers in both the Old and New Testaments, or in
either of them, are expecting that such a great and terrible event
will come. But very few, however, of the inhabitants of our
globe have taken into consideration the great preparatory work for
this grand change; they have not searched the Scriptures in regard to
how this work is to be accomplished, and who the persons will be who
will be ready and prepared to abide that day; how that great change
will come, and what the signs of it will be they know not, and yet the
Bible is very plain and full in relation to these matters.
The words of our text communicate to us the knowledge that a
proclamation is to become so conspicuous at that day, that all the
inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth will be required to
see and understand, when the Lord commences this work, when he lifts
up an ensign on the mountains. I suppose that a great many have been
looking for the Lord to do something, but in what portion of our globe
he would commence his work they did not know. There are some few, who
have searched the Bible diligently, who have been looking for the
kingdom of God to be set up on the earth in the latter times, never to
be destroyed. Some have supposed that the kingdom that was built up by
the early Christians, some eighteen hundred years ago, was that
kingdom predicted by the Prophet Daniel. Others, not being able to
reconcile the ideas communicated by Daniel on this subject, have
looked forward to a day when there should be, literally, a kingdom
established on this earth by the power of God in fulfillment of the
prophecy of Daniel. Those who have believed, or tried to believe, that
the ancient Christians constituted that kingdom, have been at a loss
as to how it could exist broken up into a thousand fragments, a
thousand different classes of people with as many different faiths
clashing one with another. They have said in their hearts—"Is this the
kingdom of God, where there is no union?" Some two hundred millions of
the human family professing Christianity, and yet contending one with
another about their doctrines and principles, one believing a doctrine
and another condemning that doctrine and believing something directly
different. Another discarding both these doctrines and believing in
something else, and so on, until inextricable confusion is the result.
They have looked upon the babel thus created as something so different
from the nature of that kingdom predicted by the ancient Prophets,
that they have been unable to reconcile the idea in their own minds
that it could possibly be the kingdom of God.
Suppose that we quote the passage in the second chapter of Daniel, in
regard to the setting up of God's kingdom. It is there said that
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a dream, which portrayed before
him all the kingdoms of the earth for many generations, under the
similitude of a great image, whose head was of gold, breast and arms
of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet part of
iron and part of potter's clay. Besides the image he, in his dream,
beheld something entirely distinct therefrom, and forming no part nor
portion of it, cut out of the mountains without hands. It was called a
stone from the mountains, which smote this great image, representing
the kingdoms of the world, upon the feet, and when the feet were
smitten all the other kingdoms crumbled to pieces, and they were
carried away before the force of this little stone like the chaff of
the summer threshingfloor, and no place could be found for them; but
the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and
filled the whole earth.
Now, ancient Christianity, or, in other words, the kingdom which God
set up eighteen hundred years ago, did not accomplish the prediction
or fulfill that which was spoken by Daniel; neither was that kingdom
which was then set up at a time when this great image had been
completed. No feet nor toes of the image were yet formed when the
ancient kingdom of God was set up on the earth. It is true that
Nebuchadnezzer, and the Babylonish kingdom over which he ruled,
representing the head of gold, had existed. The Medes and Persians,
who succeeded him, had existed, and they represented the breast and
arms of silver; the Macedonians or Grecians existed, representing the
third kingdom that bore rule over all the earth; the great Roman
empire had begun to exist, but it was not yet divided in its two legs
of iron as it was several centuries after Christ. The feet and toes of
the image were not yet formed, but it will be noticed, by the
testimony of Daniel, that when that stone, cut out of the mountain
without hands, that is, without the hand of human wisdom; when that
should be cut out and should commence its rolling forth from the
mountain, the very first attack that it should make would be on the
feet and toes of the image.
The ancient kingdom of God could not do this, for the reason that the
feet and toes on the two legs of iron were not yet in existence, and
hence that kingdom did not represent the one that Daniel spoke of,
though the kingdom then set up was the kingdom of God, but not the one
that was to bear rule over all the earth, as predicted.
Another reason why that kingdom was not the one spoken of by Daniel is
this—the kingdom spoken of by the ancient Prophet, that was to be set
up by the God of heaven, was never to be destroyed, but it should
break in pieces all other kingdoms and should stand forever, and
never be left to another people. Did the kingdom commenced by Christ
and his Apostles fulfill these predictions? No. Why not? Because it
was predicted both by Daniel and by John the Revelator that the
kingdom which was to be built up in the days of Christ's first coming,
instead of prevailing against the kingdoms of the world, was to be
overcome. It was written concerning that kingdom that war should be
made upon it by the powers of this world, and that they should prevail
and overcome it. Not so with the latter-day kingdom—that never can be
overcome or prevailed against.
Was the prophecy of John and Daniel, concerning the former-day kingdom
being overcome, fulfilled? Yes. Certain powers arose and made war upon
that kingdom, and spread forth their doctrines and principles until
all nations became drunk with the wine of the wrath of the fornication
of that great ecclesiastical power. Instead, then, of the kingdom of
God overcoming the nations, it was overcome and banished from the
earth.
Perhaps some may inquire—"Do you believe, then, that the Christian
Church has been so overcome that it has not existed on the earth?"
That is what we believe, that is one of the principles taught by this
people during the last forty-four years of the existence of this
Church. Says one—"You have no charity." Yes, we have charity just as
far as the Lord God permits us to have charity; but we have not
charity sufficient to call darkness light, nor the doctrines and
creeds of men the doctrines of heavens. We have not charity
sufficient to say that that which is organized by human wisdom is of
God, or that the traditions and commandments of men can be substituted
for those of God. Charity does not lead us to make these assertions.
Perhaps you may inquire—"What evidence have you then, that the kingdom
of God was overcome, besides the predictions that you have quoted?" We
have this evidence—in the kingdom of God there were always inspired
Apostles. There is no testimony in this sacred volume, the New
Testament, that the kingdom of God ever existed without Apostles in
it. Where are your Apostles inspired of God, modern Christendom? Where
have they been for the last seventeen centuries of the Christian era?
If you had had Apostles during that time they would have continued to
exercise the functions and gifts of Apostles: they would have received
revelation from heaven, and those revelations would have been just as
sacred as the revelations that were given to the first twelve
Apostles, and it would have been just as necessary to have them
compiled in the sacred canon as to compile the revelations of those
who lived in the first century of the Christian era. This, then, is a
testimony and a very important one too, that the kingdom that was set
up anciently did not continue, but was overcome, so much so that
Apostles had no existence on the earth, and they have not had for many
long centuries of darkness that are passed and gone.
Recollect now, that in the New Testament order of things, given for
the organization of the true Christian Church, Paul says—"God hath set
in the Church first, Apostles, secondarily Prophets," &c. Take away,
then, this first officer of the Church, and say that no Apostles are
needed to inquire of God and receive revelations, and you do away with
the foremost and most essential member in the kingdom of God from what
you call the Christian Church. "Secondarily Prophets." Who does not
know that for seventeen centuries past the Christian world so-called
has not believed in any prophecy, that is the foretelling of future
events, or in inspiration from heaven? Who does not know that all new
revelation has been discarded, not only by the great mother Church,
called the Roman Catholic, but by the Greek Catholics, and also by all
her descendants, her daughters, the various Protestant sects? They
have all denounced everything in the shape of new revelation. But the
kingdom or Church of God never did, and it never can, exist without
inspiration and new revelation, without inspired Apostles and
Prophets; therefore this, besides the predictions that I have named,
proves to every person who believes in the sacred text that the
kingdom of God has not been upon the earth for a long period of time.
We might go on and show other reasons why it has not been upon the
earth. In order for the kingdom of God to be upon the earth there must
be a continuation of authority. Says one—"Authority for what?"
Authority to administer its ordinances. Where that authority ceases
the sacrament cannot be administered; where that authority ceases no
person can administer baptism, or the laying on of hands for the
baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. In fact, where that authority
ceases all the ordinances of the kingdom of God cease. Says one—"Have
they not had the Christian ministry among the Roman Catholics, among
the Greek Catholics, and among all the Protestants who have
dissented from those two ancient Churches?" Yes, they have had a
ministry, but has that ministry had divine authority? That is the
great question to be determined. If they have had divine authority,
then the kingdom of God has existed on the earth just as long as that
authority has existed; if they have not had divine authority, the
kingdom of God upon the earth ceased when that authority ceased. How
are we to determine this? Says one—"Determine it by the standard, the
holy Scriptures." In appealing to them we find that Paul says—"No man
taketh this honor unto himself, save he be called of God as was
Aaron." Every person who has read the Old Testament Scriptures, knows
that Aaron was called by immediate and direct revelation in his day.
He was not called by revelation that was given several hundred years
before he was born, to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac or Jacob; he was
not called by some commission that was given in former generations,
but by direct revelation in his day. Can no person, then, take this
ministry to himself, unless he is called the same as Aaron was called?
So says Paul. Have any of these ministers, among all these so-called
Christian denominations, been called by new revelations? If they have,
they deny their own words, for they have incorporated in their
disciplines, creeds and articles of faith that the sixty-six books
contained in the Old and New Testament are all the revelations that
God has ever given to man. Is that so? Let us search these sixty-six
books and see if any man that lived in the second century of the
Christian era is mentioned therein, or in the third or fourth, or in
any succeeding century down to this day. Has any man in the Christian
world from the days of the ancient Apostles down to this time been
called by name to the ministry? If so, that will alter the case. But
I find that this ancient compilation of revelations does not mention
by name a solitary individual who has dwelt on the earth for the last
seventeen hundred years, hence none of them have been called by
ancient revelation; and, in order to be called, according to the
declaration of Paul, as Aaron was, they must be called by new
revelation.
Says one—"Stop, that will not do, the very moment that we admit new
revelation, we say that the canon of Scripture is not full, and that
will lead us right in opposition to all the declarations and traditions
of our fathers, therefore we will not take that ground, and we will
not say that we have been called by new revelation as Aaron was." How
will you get around it, then? Says one—"I think that we can get
authority from this good old book, though our names are not mentioned
therein as being called as Aaron was, by direct revelation." Well, let
us examine. What authority do you think you can get from this ancient
record? Says one—"You turn to the last chapter of Mark. It is there
written that Jesus said unto his eleven disciples, after he rose from
the dead—'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every
creature.'" Indeed! Does that call you? Did it call Paul, Timothy or
Titus? Did it call any other person that lived even then, except the
eleven to whom Jesus spoke? No, it did not; every other person who
received any call had to receive it by new revelation. Even then, in
that age, a commission given to eleven men did not commission the
twelfth. A commission given to those eleven men did not commission any
Christian minister who lived in the first century of the
Christian era. Hence we find in the 13th chapter of the Acts of the
Apostles that there were certain prophets in the Christian church at
Antioch—do not be astonished, professed Christians, that there were
prophets in the Christian church at Antioch—"And the Holy Ghost said
unto them," prepare yourselves for hearing a new revelation—"separate
unto me Barnabas and Saul unto the work of the ministry to which I
have called them." Here then was a new revelation for Barnabas and
Saul in relation to their ministry and calling. But could they
undertake their ministry by virtue of some old commission given prior
to their calling? No. Timothy, who lived contemporary with the ancient
Apostles, was not called by virtue of a commission given to the
eleven, neither was he called by virtue of a commission given to Paul
and Barnabas; but he was called as the Apostle Paul has declared in
his epistle to Timothy—"Neglect not the gift which is in thee, which
was given thee by the spirit of prophecy, and by the laying on of the
hands." What! Did Timothy live in the day of Prophets, and when
Prophets could find out in relation to his calling, and lay their
hands upon him and set him apart to the work of the ministry unto
which God had called him? Yes, and so with all the rest, and no man
can take this honor to himself, save he be called of God as was Aaron.
God is a very consistent being; he does not do things at haphazard,
but he is very orderly in his work, and everything in his kingdom is
consistent and according to law. That is the way the Lord works. He is
far more consistent than the political governments of our day; and
even they, with all their imperfections, would never be so unwise as
to re ceive a foreign minister simply because some other foreign
minister had been called. Supposing that a man from Great Britain
should go to Washington, and should declare to the President of the
United States, and to the various authorities of the government
there—"I am a minister plenipotentiary, I have authority from the
British Government to transact whatever business it may have to
transact with the Government of the United States." "Very well," say
the President and those associated with him at the head of the
Government, "let us see your credentials." "My credentials!" says
this
man. "Bless you, I have not any new commission. The authorities of
Great Britain have not said anything to me about being sent to
represent them in the United States, but nevertheless I have authority
to act as their minister." "Well, what is the nature of your
authority? pray tell us." "Why," says he, "having access to some
old
documents I found, in searching them over, that there was a man called
about fifty or sixty years ago to act in this nation as minister
plenipotentiary for Great Britain." "What has that to do with you?"
say those who are questioning him. Says he—"I did not suppose that I
needed any new commission, so I just took this old document and put it
in my pocket, I thought it would authorize me to act as minister
because one that is dead and gone acted by virtue of the authority it
conferred." What do you suppose our Government would think of such a
minister? Don't you think they would regard him as a little insane, or
beside himself? They certainly would. Do you suppose that God has less
wisdom than our general Government? Do you suppose that he lets things
run at random? Or does he have a system to his kingdom? If our
Government would not receive a man on an old commission given to a
person dead and gone, why should it be supposed that the Lord is so
inconsistent as to say that Tom, Dick and Harry, and all the world, or
part of it, were called to be ministers because a commission was given
to eleven men some eighteen hundred years ago? Why, that commission
did not authorize any but those to whom it was given; and to my mind
it looks supremely ridiculous for any person to claim that he is
commissioned to preach and to administer the ordinances of the Gospel,
because eleven men received authority to do so eighteen hundred years ago.
Says one—"You are very uncharitable." Can't help it; if that is
uncharitable, I will confess that I am uncharitable, and I cannot help
it; though I believe that true charity leads us to believe things that
are reasonable, consistent, and in accordance with the word of God,
and that I try to do. However numerous my own imperfections may be, it
is my real desire, and has been from my youth to the present time, to
be consistent. These are some reasons, among a multitude that might be
named, why we, as Latter-day Saints, believe that the kingdom of God
which was set up in ancient days has had no place on the earth for
some seventeen centuries past, so far as the eastern continent is
concerned. The kingdom of God was set up in ancient America, and it
existed until between three and four centuries after Christ,
consequently when we say that it has not existed upon the earth for
upwards of seventeen centuries past, we have reference particularly to
the nations of the east.
Says one—"That is an awful condition for our earth to be in to have no
Christian Church upon it for so long a period. Cannot help it. If it
is a woeful condition, it is necessary for us to search the Scriptures
in order that we may learn if God ever intends to alter this order of
things, and if he ever intends to again establish his kingdom upon the
earth. Daniel, in his prophecy, has informed us that such will be the
case. He saw the time when that great event would take place. He saw
the four great kingdoms which should bear rule over all the earth. The
fourth great power which bore rule over the world was the great Roman
Empire, which was represented by the two legs of the great image which
he saw. And as the world grew older this empire was divided, and the
various kingdoms which sprang therefrom became so weakened that they
were represented, not by iron altogether, but by iron mixed with miry
clay. They had not the strength of former kingdoms, and they are the
kingdoms of modern Europe and the Republic of America, which has been
built up by people who have come over to the American continent, and
have established one of the wisest and best governments upon the face
of the whole earth, but yet not established altogether after the order
of the kingdom of God.
All these modern kingdoms as you now behold them, the Scandinavians,
for instance, in the north, and the Germans, Italians, Swiss, French,
the Spaniards and Austrians, and all other kingdoms representing
Christendom, have grown out of the great Roman Empire, which once had
dominion over all these lands, and they were represented by the feet
of the image spoken of by the Prophet Daniel.
It is comparatively an easy task to locate the kingdoms represented by
the various portions of the completed image. The head of gold
we may place away in Asia, representing the Babylonish Empire, with
Nebuchadnezzar at its head. Next the Medes and Persians, represented
by the breast and arms of silver; their location was also in Asia,
running partially into Europe. Then came the Macedonians and Greeks,
represented by the belly and thighs of brass; and finally the Romans,
represented by the legs of iron. Thus we can locate the great image,
with his head in Asia, his feet reaching over here to the western
continent, all of them governments of human institution instead of
having been organized by divine authority; they have all been
organized without having a direct "Thus saith the Lord" in relation to
the matter.
By and by the time came when, in the providence of God, it became
necessary to set up his kingdom on the earth. How is it set up? Is it
cut out of the mountain with hands, that is, with human wisdom alone?
Oh no, the Lord spake; the Lord sent his angel; the Lord gave
commandment from the heavens; the Lord informed his servants how to
organize his kingdom; the Lord fulfilled that which he spoke by the
mouth of the ancient Apostles; the Lord sent that angel which he
promised that he would send in the 14th chapter of the Revelation of
St. John. What did he send that angel for? To restore the Gospel of
the kingdom. "Then you mean to say that the kingdom of God cannot be
established without the Gospel being sent, do you?" Yes. "But," says
one, "have we not got the Gospel in this good book of ours, the
Bible?" We have a history of it. But can you and I embrace it? No, I
have already proved that we could not be baptized, and baptism is one
of the first essential ordinances to become citizens of the kingdom of
God. I have also shown that we cannot legally partake of the
sacrament, because it requires a divinely authorized person to
administer it. We cannot have hands laid upon us for the baptism of
fire and the Holy Ghost, because that requires God's ministers to
administer it, and the Lord would not pour out the Holy Ghost through
an unauthorized minister. Hence you see, however much we might read
the history of the Gospel as preached in ancient times, and the
history of the organization of the ancient church, it could not do us
any good so far as receiving the ordinances is concerned. It is true
that we might be benefited by observing the moral principles taught
therein, and being moral, virtuous, upright and just before all men;
but to become citizens of the kingdom of God requires divine
authority, and therefore it was necessary that we should have
something more than a mere history of the Gospel, and that something
was, and must be, authority sent down from heaven. This is what John
predicted. I will quote the passage for the benefit of strangers, for
our people are familiar with it, even our Sunday school children
understand it. The passage I refer to is contained in the 6th verse of
the 14th chapter of Revelation. It reads as follows—"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, kindred, tongue and people." Accompanying this message of the
everlasting Gospel brought by an angel were these remarkable
words—"Fear God and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment
is come." That is the eleventh hour, the last time that he will send
laborers to labor in his vineyard. When he sends these last laborers to prune his vineyard for the last time, he communicates the
message of the everlasting Gospel by an angel sent from heaven. Not
for one people or one nation only, but to be preached to every nation,
tongue and people that dwell upon the earth.
This alone, if I had not brought any evidence or testimony to prove
that the kingdom of God has been done away from the earth, this alone
proves it. If there had been any people on the face of this wide world
of ours, who had the Gospel, it would have been unnecessary to send an
angel from heaven with it. If there had been in any part of the earth
a people who had the everlasting Gospel, and authority to administer
its ordinances, do you suppose that an angel would have been sent from
heaven to restore that Gospel? Such a supposition is unreasonable. All
we would have had to do, would have been to find them and to have them
to administer baptism, the laying on of hands and the other ordinances
of the Gospel unto us, and then to have ordained us to the work of the
ministry. But no; so completely had the world of mankind apostatized
that no authority existed; no kingdom or Church of God, no voice of
revelation, no Prophet or inspired man among all the nations, hence
God sent his angel in our day, and here I hold in my hands a book of
between five and six hundred pages, containing the everlasting Gospel
as it was taught on this continent by the risen Savior eighteen
hundred years ago. Jesus, after he had finished his ministry and burst
the tombs at Jerusalem, came to this western hemisphere of ours, and
chose twelve disciples and ordained them and sent them forth to preach
the Gospel among the inhabitants of this land. Those men went forth
and organized the Church, and the doctrines and Gospel which Jesus
administered on this continent were recorded in this book. When the
angel came from heaven he brought this book to light. He did not
reveal it to the great and learned of the earth, or to those who were
wise in their own eyes, but he found a farmer's boy between fourteen
and fifteen years of age, and set him to do this work, and it has come
forth, and the Gospel is revealed.
But there is one thing I wish to state now very pointedly, that though
this angel brought forth the everlasting Gospel and revealed it by the
Urim and Thummim to Joseph Smith, the unlearned farmer's boy, yet that
did not authorize Joseph Smith to baptize you or me; it did not
authorize him to lay hands upon me nor you for the gift of the Holy
Ghost; it did not authorize him to administer the Lord's supper; it
merely revealed the fulness of the everlasting Gospel through him for
the benefit of every people, nation, kindred and tongue of our globe.
"Well," says one, "if he could not baptize you, how were you first
baptized?" I answer that the Lord was consistent, and that when he
sent this everlasting Gospel by his angel, he did not forget, when the
work was translated by the Urim and Thummim, to again send an angel
from heaven to ordain individuals by the laying on of hands to
administer the ordinances of the Gospel, and to call them as Aaron was
called, by new revelation. Angels were sent down from heaven, and the
Apostleship was conferred, that same authority which Peter, James and
John and the rest of the Apostles held in ancient days was conferred,
and many others were called and the Church was organized, not by the
wisdom of man and by his cunning and craft, but everything, even to the very month and day on which it should be organized was
revealed of God from heaven, and no person was called to the work of
the ministry, only by revelation. The Apostleship was conferred by
revelation, and the work began and spread forth, and the people began
to believe in this everlasting Gospel, and the Church was organized
again with inspired Apostles and Prophets, according to the ancient
pattern.
It may be said—"This is a very high pretension." We do not pretend
this thing of ourselves; all the glory is unto God. He sent the
Gospel, he restored the everlasting Priesthood and Apostleship, and to
him be all the glory. He bestowed these blessings; we received them
and we feel thankful for them. And in connection with the restoration
of the Priesthood, and the kingdom—for God calls it his kingdom—in the
midst of this people, though they may be hated, persecuted, driven
time and time again, and finally driven into these mountain wilds, yet
the kingdom is here, it is not overcome: God's kingdom is here and it
will endure forever, for that is the prediction of Daniel.
Is this an appropriate place for the kingdom, away up in this mountain
region, so isolated from all the nations? We are not so isolated but
what we can fulfill the prediction given in ancient times through
John; not so isolated but what this Gospel, which was sent by an angel
from heaven, can be published to all the nations of the earth. Look at
what has been already accomplished, during the short period of its
existence. Forty-five years have not rolled over our heads since we
were organized with only six members. What has God done since then in
rolling forth his work? He has sent missionaries by hundreds, not only
to the inhab itants of the various States of this Union and to those of
British America; but he has sent them by hundreds to foreign lands.
They have lifted up their voices in the midst of the British nation,
among the Welsh, the Scotch, the Irish, among the Scandinavians of the
north, among the Germans, among the French, the Swiss, the Italians,
among the Hindostanese and the inhabitants of South Australia and New
Zealand, and various islands of the sea; and from the midst of these
various peoples a hundred thousand souls have been gathered to these
mountains, whence the kingdom of God—the stone cut out of the
mountains—is to roll forth, until it fills the whole earth. We did not
come here with the idea of fulfilling that prophecy. I doubt whether
there was scarcely one among us, when we were driven here, who
entertained the idea that this was the appropriate place for the
kingdom of God. It is true, we had read in Daniel that the stone
should be cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it should
accomplish the great work that God had decreed, in filling the whole
earth. We had read this, but did we realize it when our enemies
cannonaded us from our lands and homes in the States? While living
there we were driven time after time, and finally were driven to these
mountains; and before leaving, our enemies made us enter into an
agreement that we would not stop short of the Rocky Mountains, and
that we would go even beyond the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Said
they—"You must do this or we will kill you. We have killed your
Prophet and some of your best men, and we have robbed and driven you
four or five times; and now, this time, we will not suffer you to stop
within our borders, you must go beyond the Rocky Mountains."
We started because we were obliged to; we got here; and now we are
becoming quite a people. But what was the object of our enemies in
driving us here, into what was termed the Great American desert? They
no doubt thought that if we once got here, we should surely perish,
for they supposed that no human being could ever gain a livelihood by
cultivating the earth in this desert. The only inhabitants it then
contained was a few Indians, who lived by digging roots, and catching
and drying crickets, and grasshoppers and rattlesnakes, with now and
then a rabbit; and these Indians would, once in a while, be able to
partially clothe themselves with rabbit skins. Our enemies thought—"If
we can only get the 'Mormons' into that desert, that will be the end
of 'Mormonism.'"
We are here, what have we done, with the blessing of the Lord and his
multiplied kindness and mercies upon us? We have found that God has
blessed the land and blessed the exertions of his people. He has
blessed them in building up many cities, towns and villages, for some
four hundred miles in extent, in the very heart of these great
interior mountains of America. He has blessed us in erecting several
hundred schoolhouses; he has blessed us in reclaiming the desert, and
with many blessings that might be named. All praise be to him! He it
is who has sent rains upon this burnt and parched-up soil. When we
came here, Salt Lake was twelve feet lower than it is now. We took all
these little streams and turned them on to our land, and according to
all natural supposition, the waters of Salt Lake would have become
lower and lower. Why? Because all these streams were cut off from
entering it. But instead of becoming lower and lower, we find that,
after taking stream after stream, and rivulet after rivulet to
irrigate our crops, God has actually sent rains from the heavens in
such abundance that Salt Lake is now about twelve feet higher than
when the pioneers came here in 1847.
Is there anything said about this desert in prophecy? Yes. You can
find many prophecies in Isaiah, David's psalms, and other Prophets,
predicting that, about or near the time of the coming of the Lord,
"the wilderness and the solitary place shall be made glad for them."
That the "desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall
blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing." Isaiah
further says that "the Lord shall comfort Zion; he shall comfort all
her waste places, he shall 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." Also that he would
"cause springs of water to break out in the desert, and that the
parched ground should become pools of living water."
How is it brethren? I appeal to you who are acquainted and were here
in 1847? Many of you know that, in places where there would be a
little spring then, about sufficient to water half an acre, now there
is water enough to water land sufficient to sustain several hundred
families. This is a literal fulfillment of the prophecy which says
that "the parched ground shall become pools of living water."
Now let us come more directly to the words of our text. I had almost
forgotten the text. "All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on
the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign upon the mountains;
and when he bloweth a trumpet; hear ye." It seems then that God
is going to lift up an ensign upon the mountains. What do you mean by
an ensign? According to the definitions given by our lexicographers an
ensign is a kind of a standard to which people rally and around which
they gather. The Lord is going then, to lift up an ensign on the
mountains, and it is to be so wonderful in its nature, something of so
much importance that not part of the people are required to understand
it; but in the language of Isaiah, "all ye inhabitants of the world,"
all nations, languages and kindreds are required to see, when the Lord
lifts up an ensign on the mountains: "When he bloweth a trumpet hear
ye." What kind of a trumpet? The trumpet of the Gospel, that which
takes the Gospel to all these nations, calling upon them to flee out
of their own lands. Gather out from the nations, come together in one,
go up into the mountains where the kingdom of God is established for
the last time. What for? To escape the judgments and tribulations
which must come upon the nations of great Babylon.
There is an indication in prophecy where these mountains, in which
this ensign is to be raised, are located; the Lord has not left us in
the dark concerning this matter. Let us read the first verse of the
chapter from which our text is taken. "Woe to the land shadowing with
wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: All ye inhabitants of
the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an
ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye." I
will also read the fifth and sixth verses—"For 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 mountains, 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."
It seems, then, that the Prophet saw in vision a land that seemed to
represent two great wings, and a land, too, that was beyond the rivers
of Ethiopia, from where the Prophet delivered this prophecy.
Palestine, the land where Isaiah dwelt when he delivered this
prophecy, was northeast from Ethiopia, and he speaks of a land
shadowing with wings beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. We have not any
map in this room, or we might point out how the two divisions of the
continent of North and South America resemble two great wings,
connected together at the Isthmus. I scarcely ever look at the
outlines of the two divisions of this continent as depicted on a map,
without being reminded of the wings of a bird; and I presume that when
Isaiah, in vision, saw this western continent, it made the same
impression upon his mind, and, as he did not know what name would be
given to the continent of America, he had no better way to give
expression to his ideas, than to call it the land shadowing with
wings, in other words, having the appearance of huge wings, and that
it would be beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, from where he dwelt. If you
trace the maps, and pass through the land of Ethiopia, where could you
find a land the outlines of which so much resemble the wings of a
bird, as the land of America? I do not know of any. And it seems that
this land so described, had a woe pronounced upon it. "For afore the
harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in
the flower, he shall 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." This is an awful judgment to come upon that land
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia.
But first, before this judgment is to come upon the wicked of that
land, the Prophet speaks of a message, or something that should
concern all the inhabitants of the world and the dwellers on the
earth, showing that the people will, in God's mercy, be warned before
these awful judgments come; showing, also, that after the raising of
the ensign on the mountains, the inhabitants of this western
continent will be among the first to experience these terrible
judgments.
The harvest is said to be the end of the wicked world; and if it is
so, "afore the harvest," that is, before the final end comes he will
visit the inhabitants of the land shadowing with wings, beyond the
rivers of Ethiopia with judgments that are terribly severe, that will
cause them to lie by hundreds and thousands unburied, from one end of
the land to the other, to be meat for the fowls of the air and the
beasts of the earth. Why? Because the judgments will be swift, giving
no time for burial.
Inquires one—"Do you really believe that such judgments are coming
upon our nation?" I do not merely believe, but I know it, just as well
as I knew, twenty-eight years before it commenced, that there would be
war between the North and the South. We knew that by a revelation
which God gave through his servant Joseph Smith, twenty-eight years
before the war of the rebellion commenced; and it was published in the
languages of various nations years and years before the war was
inaugurated, and it took place precisely according to the words of the
Prophet, and it began in the very locality specified in the
revelation, namely, South Carolina. We know that these judgments are
coming with the same certainty that we knew concerning the war of the
rebellion.
But there will be a chance to escape from these judgments for all who
are willing to gather to the place of refuge which God has appointed
in the mountains; all people can rally and gather to that place if
they wish to do so. This is spoken of in many places. Let us turn to
the fifth chapter of Isaiah, and see what is said there, concerning
the ensign. In the 26th verse we read—"And he will lift up an ensign
to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the ends of the
earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly." An ensign for
the nations lifted up from afar! Isaiah, where were you, when you
delivered that prophecy? In Palestine. What land would be far off from
Palestine, where you resided? I think this American continent would be
about as far off as almost any portion of the globe.
When the Lord commences this message it will be sent from the nation
"afar off" to the ends of the earth; and there will be a gathering
connected with it, of that people who shall come with speed swiftly.
The Prophet probably did not know the nature and power of steam in the
days to which he referred, and that the gathering would be effected
by means of steamboats and railroads; but he did understand that there
would be some very swift method of conveyance. He did not understand
the meaning of railroads, and many things connected with them, for
they are a modern invention, and the terms used in designating them are also of modern origin. But he saw in vision that people
should come with speed swiftly from the ends of the earth, when the
Lord should hiss unto them. He, of course, described the events he saw
in the best language at his command. In his sixty-second chapter,
Isaiah says—"Go through, go through the gates; prepare 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." It
seems then that he did describe something about making these
railroads. "But," inquires one, "what did he mean by saying 'go
through, go through the gates?'" I do not know. Probably he did not
understand what a tunnel was in those days, but when he saw in vision
a long train of cars, without any animal power to draw them, dart into
the mountain, and emerge on the opposite side of the mountain, I do
not know that he could describe it in any better language than by
saying—"Go through, go through the gates;" and then, when he wanted
to
represent the smoothness of the railroads, I do not know that he could
do it any better than by saying—"Cast up a highway, gather out the
stones," etc.
With the casting up of this highway a proclamation was to be made. How
extensive? In one region of country? Oh, no. "Behold, the Lord has
proclaimed unto the ends of the world, behold thy salvation cometh,
his reward is with him, and his work before him." What else? "They
shall call them the holy people." What people? Why, the people that
should lift up the standard spoken of in the preceding verse. Lift up
a standard for the people, prepare the way for the people; behold they
shall call thee the redeemed of the Lord; thou shalt be called,
sought out, a city not forsaken. Jerusalem was not sought out, neither
has it been a city not forsaken. Everyone knows that Jerusalem was in
existence before Joshua led the people into the land of Canaan, it was
an ancient city among the heathen before it was conquered and taken
possession of by the house of Israel. And everyone knows that
Jerusalem was to be forsaken for a good many centuries before the
generation should come that this proclamation should be made, or this
highway should be cast up, or the ensign should be raised upon the
mountains, when the people should be called a holy people, the
redeemed of the Lord, called, sought out, a city not forsaken, etc.
I can bear testimony, so can a great many other men, that when we came
here in the summer of 1847, and sought out this city, the headquarters
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we sought it out
by the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of revelation which rested upon
us, and we were guided by that Spirit. We did not lay out a little
narrow tract of land, half a mile square, but understanding the
purposes of God in some measure, we laid out this city with broad
streets, and extended it over an area of several square miles, and as
you see it at the present time. Why did we take this course? Because
we knew by the Spirit of God that rested upon us, the great work that
the Lord our God intended to accomplish here in the midst of the
desert. We knew that he would gather his people from the various
nations and establish them here in Zion, as a standard or ensign to
the nations, that as many as would might gather here before
the judgments should come. Read the 11th chapter of Isaiah about this
same ensign. "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."
Before Judah and the ten tribes of Israel could ever be gathered an
ensign has to be lifted up for the nations. Not for Judah and Israel
alone, but for the nations afar off, for the Gospel has been restored
for the benefit of the Gentiles—every nation, kindred, tongue and
people—as well as for the benefit of the dispersed tribes of Israel.
So far the work has progressed, so far the Lord our God has stretched
forth his hand to establish his kingdom upon the earth. But what is
the destiny of this kingdom? Read the Prophets; hear what Daniel says.
He saw the kingdom of the latter days, which, in its commencement, was
like a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, become a great
mountain and fill not only the American continent, but the whole
earth. What else does Daniel say? "And the kingdom, and the dominion
and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be
given into the hands of the Saints of the Most High, for his kingdom
is an ever lasting kingdom, and it shall stand forever."
It seems then that this is the destiny of this kingdom. If you want to
know the destiny of the nations of our globe, it is this—one
government, one kingdom, not half a dozen empires, republics, and
this, that and the other governments, but one kingdom, everlasting in
its nature, will have dominion over the whole of our globe. But are
you not committing treason to preach in this way? If such predictions
mean treason, perhaps it would be well enough for some of our good
judges to get out an indictment against the Prophet Daniel and other
ancient Prophets, and bring them up and try them, and see if they are
treasonable characters or not. We are preaching their words; and if it
is treason to preach the Bible, would it not be a good plan to burn it
up, and not have such things for the people to read and preach about?
But if we have the liberty in this glorious land of ours, to believe
the Bible and the prophecies it contains, have we not also the liberty
to tell them from that good Book what is going to take place on the
face of the earth? I think so. And I have, this afternoon, as simply
as I know how, in the simplest language I have at my command,
endeavored to convey to your judgments and understandings that which
God has spoken by the mouths of his ancient Prophets, that you may
know what he is now doing, and what he intends to do until the
consummation determined upon is performed upon all the face of the
earth, and the elect gathered out from the four winds of heaven.
Amen.