I will read the latter part of the 32nd chapter of Isaiah, commencing
at the 13th verse. [The speaker read from the 13th to the 20th verse
inclusive.]
It is very evident from these predictions of the Prophet Isaiah, that
he, by that spirit which opens the future, was able to see the
calamities that would come upon the house of Israel, and not only upon
the people, but also upon the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, now
called Palestine. A curse was predicted upon that land, that instead
of bringing forth those things that were necessary to sustain a
people, it should bring forth briars and thorns. We are also told that
this desolation should remain for a long period, until the Spirit
should be poured out from on high, until, in the purposes of the Most
High, he should pour out his Spirit, and that would produce a great
change upon that land, but until that time it was to be desolate. All
the houses of joy in the Jewish city were to be desolate, and, as it
is recorded in other passages in Isaiah, they were to be the
desolations of many generations. Not the desolation of seventy years,
as happened to Israel in their Babylonish captivity, which only
comprised about one generation, but the desolations were to be for
many generations, during which that land was to lie uncultivated. The
latter rains were to be withheld, and the land was to become dry and
parched up, bringing forth thorns and briars, and this was to continue
until the Lord poured out his Spirit from on high.
It seems, then, that the Lord had a particular set time in his own
mind, when he would again pour out his Spirit from on high upon his
people, and more especially upon the house of Israel; and when that
time arrives, there will not only be a great moral reformation among
the people, but we are told that the revolution will extend to the
land also, for the Prophet says here, that when the Spirit is poured
out from on high, the wilderness shall be a fruitful field, and the
fruitful field shall be counted for a forest. What are we to
understand by the prediction that the wilderness shall be a fruitful
field when the Spirit is poured out from on high? We are to
understand the same as is recorded in the thirty-fifth chapter of this
prophecy, a small portion of which I will read. Speaking of the
gathering of the Israelites in the latter times, he says—"The
wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the
desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom
abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of
Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon;
they shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God."
Now, to comprehend that this is to be a latter-day work, and not a
work that was to take place soon after the prediction was uttered, we
will read the following verses—"Strengthen ye the weak hands, and
confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be
strong and fear not; behold your God will come with vengeance, even
God with a recompense; he will come and save you."
That has never been fulfilled; but preparatory to the time when God
will come with vengeance to sweep away wickedness from the face of the
earth, the house of Israel will be gathered back to their own lands,
and the people of God will be permitted to dwell in the wilderness,
and that wilderness will become a fruitful field. It is even said that
the desert should rejoice because of those who are gathered, and
should blossom as the rose.
Now that is something that has been fulfilled during the last quarter
of a century, here in this wilderness, barren, desert country. The
great latter-day work has commenced, the kingdom of God has been
reorganized on the earth; in other words, the Christian Church in all
its purity and with all its ordinances, has been reorganized upon the
face of the earth, and the time has at length come when the Spirit of
God has been poured out from on high. Until that period arrived, there
was no hope for Israel, no hope for the land of Palestine, no hope for
the redemption of the tribes scattered in the four quarters of the
earth; but when the wilderness should become as a fruitful field, when
the spirit should again be poured out from on high, through the
everlasting Gospel of the Son of God, then the people should be
gathered together by the commandment of the Lord. As is here stated,
his Spirit should be the instrument in gathering them together. "My
mouth, it hath commanded this great gathering." Then we may look out
for a change upon the face of the land where this gathering takes
place; we may look for the deserts to become like the garden of Eden,
to blossom as the rose that blossoms in rich and fertile gardens, to
blossom abundantly, and the desert to rejoice with joy and singing. We
are to look also, soon after this period of time, for the great
Redeemer to come. "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong,
fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance; he will come and
save you," having reference to his second coming in the clouds of
heaven, with power and with great glory, attended by all the angelic
hosts; coming in flaming fire to consume the wicked from the face of
the earth as stubble, to burn them up, both root and branch, while the
Saints that are left will go forth upon the face of the earth and grow
up as calves of the stall, and tread upon the ashes of the wicked.
The Prophet says that, when Jesus comes with vengeance and destroys the wicked, redeems the desert, and causes the wilderness to
become a fruitful field, then the lame man shall leap as a hart, the
tongue of the dumb shall speak, the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped, for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams
in the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the
thirsty land springs of water.
A great many people enquire of the Latter-day Saints—"Why is it that
you do not heal up all of your sick and those who are afflicted among
you?" This question is often asked. Says the enquirer—"If you are the
true Christian Church; if God has indeed sent his angel from heaven,
as you Latter-day Saints testify that he has; if he has indeed
organized his kingdom on the earth for the last time, preparatory to
the day of his coming; how is it, if you have those gifts that they
had in the ancient Christian Church, that all your lame and blind and
dumb, and those who are afflicted are not healed up?" I answer, for
the same reasons that the ancient Christians were not all healed. If
they had always been healed in ancient times in the Church, they would
have been living now. The time came for them to die, and they did die,
notwithstanding all the faith of the ancient Christians, and
notwithstanding they had power to say to the lame—"Be thou healed,"
and the lame would leap as a hart; notwithstanding they had power, in
the name of Jesus, to command blindness to depart from the children of
men, and to command all manner of plagues and pestilences and they
were subject to their command in the name of Jesus, yet, after all,
the ancient Christians died. Why did they not heal them, keep them
along, and not let them die? Because that was not according to the
order which God had es tablished. When a man or woman is appointed unto
death you, nor I, nor Peter, nor James, nor Paul, nor John, nor any
other man of God can heal them in the name of Jesus. Why? Because God
has otherwise determined. But that did not do away the gift of healing
in ancient times; that gift was abundantly made manifest,
notwithstanding there were many who were sick who were not healed.
So in the latter-day kingdom, when the spirit is poured out again from
on high, when God begins to manifest these ancient gifts again among
his people, and the blind among them are made to see, and the deaf to
hear, and the tongue of the dumb is made to speak, and the lame is
made to walk—when all these things begin to take place among the
people of God, still there will be many, very many, that will not be
healed, otherwise the prophecy will not be fulfilled.
At the very time the Savior makes his appearance and comes with
vengeance, there will be the sick, the lame, the blind, the dumb, the
maimed, and those afflicted with all manner of diseases. The Prophet
says that when he comes and finds them in this condition, "Then shall
the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be unstopped,
the tongue of the dumb speak, and the lame man shall leap like a
hart," &c. So there will be something left for Jesus to do, when he
comes in flaming fire, to heal all the sick who have not faith to be
healed prior to that time. But when Jesus comes, he brings all the
Saints with him; he raises the righteous dead from their graves, not
as he raised Lazarus into mortality, but he raises them up, male and
female, with immortal bodies, to reign here on the earth during the
period that he himself shall reign, during the great Sabbath
of creation, the millennial reign of one thousand years.
Now, we would naturally suppose that during that period of a thousand
years everybody would have the power of faith to be healed. But no,
though the Son of God is there, though the righteous dead with their
immortal bodies are there, yet old men will die even then, for it is
according to the design and purpose of the great Jehovah. Though there
will be no one to fall asleep in infancy; though none of the youth
will die in that day; though there will be no middle-aged persons upon
whom death will lay his powerful grasp, yet the aged, or, as Isaiah
says in his last chapter but one—"The days of my people shall be as
the days of a tree, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their
hands. A child shall not die until he is a hundred years old." We
would naturally suppose that, the Lord being here, all the resurrected
Saints being here, he would not let them die when they become old; but
he lets them pass away according to the decree that was made when man
fell and was cast out from the presence of the Lord. They must die,
the penalty must come upon them.
But with regard to the wilderness that is here spoken of—"Water shall
break forth in the desert, springs of living water, streams also in
the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty
land springs of water" —have you seen anything of the nature of this
prediction fulfilled? Latter-day Saints, how was it with this
wilderness twenty-eight years ago this summer when the pioneers
entered this land, and when several thousands followed them in the
autumn of that same year? What did you, who were appointed to explore
the country, find? Many places parched up, looking as though there had
been no water or rain from heaven for many years. You began to form
your settlements on the streams that ran down from the melting snows
in the mountains; and in a very short period of time you began to send
forth your settlements, north and south and west. Occasionally you
would find a little spring that would break out from under the
threshold of the mountain, sufficient to water perhaps an acre of
ground, and only one family could go there and settle. What do you
find now? The same streams that would only water one acre of ground
then—you know I am speaking to people who know for themselves, for
they have seen it—the water in those very localities is now sufficient
to water from one hundred to five hundred acres. What do you think of
that? Have you realized that the hand of the Lord is with you?—that he
has indeed fulfilled that which he spoke by the mouth of his ancient
Prophet, when he said—"For in the wilderness waters shall break forth
and streams in the desert, etc.?" He meant just what he said, and you
have come hither and proved his words to be true.
I recollect traveling through this country, some three or four hundred
miles, in the early days, soon after we had begun to branch out from
this city to the north and the south, I found sometimes on a little
stream of water from two to three families, and one or two of them
would be talking about breaking up and going elsewhere, because there
was not sufficient water to enable them to raise what was necessary to
sustain themselves. Now we visit the same settlements and what do we
find?—flourishing villages containing from thirty to fifty families.
What is the matter? The Lord has fulfilled that which he
spoke, causing streams in the desert.
I recollect that the pioneers, in the month of July, 1847, went over
onto the north point of the west mountain to see the Great Salt Lake,
to see what it looked like, what was the nature of the water, &c. We
went to a place that has been called for many years "Black Rock," a
rock that is out in the lake a few rods from the shore. We concluded
that we would go out to this rock to see what the depth of the water
was beyond it. We did so, on dry ground, the waters of the lake being
then several feet below the place where we walked to the Black Rock.
What do we see now, and what have we seen for several years past? The
path on which the pioneers traveled on foot to Black Rock is now
covered with water ten feet deep. Showing that Salt Lake has risen
some twelve or fifteen feet during the last quarter of a century. What
is the meaning of this? Can you tell? Says one—"I should have thought
the lake would have become lower." That would be a very natural
supposition; for our people have gone to work and made scores and
scores of canals to carry on to their farms the water from the
mountains that formerly ran into the lake, and hence the lake has had
very little water running into it compared with what it would have had
if the streams from the mountains had not been so diverted. But God
has said that he would make the wilderness a fruitful field, and
streams in the desert, and he has fulfilled his promise.
Pioneers, if any of you are here today, let me ask you a
question—When you came down from the mouth of Emigration Canyon, where
Camp Douglas is now situated, into this region of country, in July,
1847, what did the ground appear like? Did you dig down and make any
experiments? "O yes, in many places." How far did you dig down?
"Some
of us dug many feet to see if there was any appearance of moisture."
Did you find anything? What was the appearance of the soil? It looked
as though there had been no rain for many generations. What do we find
now? We find this same parched-up soil, for some five square miles,
where Salt Lake City is located, converted into fruitful gardens,
planted with apple, pear, peach, plum, and other kinds of fruit trees
adapted to the climate, and in the spring season of the year, in the
months of May and June, this locality is like one vast garden full of
blossoms, so much so that strangers are astonished beyond measure to
see such a large extent of country so much like a garden.
Now let us see what Isaiah says about it, for he looked upon it as
well as you, if he did live twenty-five hundred years ago. "The Lord
shall comfort Zion, he will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert
like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein,
thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Indeed! Did you see it, Isaiah,
as well as the people that live in our day? Did you see a people go
into the desert and offer up thanksgiving and the voice of melody? Did
you see that desert and wilderness redeemed from its sterile condition
and become like the garden of Eden? "O yes," says Isaiah, "I saw it
all, and I left it on record for the benefit of the generation that
should live some two or three thousand years after my day." But
Isaiah, are we to understand that the people are to be gathered
together in that desert, and that the gathered people are to be
instrumental in the hands of God, in redeeming that desert? Yes,
Isaiah has told us all this. We will go back to what we read
in his thirty-second chapter—"Until the spirit be poured out upon us
from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful
field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the
wilderness and righteousness remain in the fruitful field." What
fruitful field? Why, the wilderness that will be converted into a
fruitful field. "The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the
effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance forever; and my
people shall dwell in peaceable habitations, and in sure dwellings and
in quiet resting places."
Was that the way we dwelt in Missouri or Illinois? Did we live in
quietness and with assurance continually in those States? Oh, no, we
were tossed about; as Isaiah says—"tossed to and fro and not
comforted." That was the case with Zion while down in the States, and
that was in accordance with a modern revelation, in which, speaking of
Zion, the Lord says—"You shall be persecuted from city to city and
from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive their
inheritance. But when the time should come for Zion to go up into the
wilderness things would be changed; then my people shall dwell in
peaceable habitations, in sure dwelling places, and in quietness and
assurance."
Will they have any capital city when they get up into the mountain
desert? O, yes. Isaiah says here—"When it shall hail, coming down on
the forest, the city shall be low in a low place." How often have I
thought of this since we laid out this great city, twenty-eight years
ago! How often have this people reflected in their meditations upon
the fulfillment of this prophecy! They have seen, on this eastern
range of mountains and on the range of mountains to the west of this
valley, snow and storms pelting down with great fury, as though winter
in all its rigor and ferocity had overtaken the mountain territory,
and at the same time, here, "low in a low place," was a city,
organized at the very base of these mountains, enjoying all the
blessings of a spring temperature, the blessings of a temperature not
sufficient to cut off our vegetation. What a contrast! "When it shall
hail, coming down on the forest, the city shall be low in a low
place." That could not be Jerusalem, no such contrast in the land of
Palestine round about Jerusalem! It had reference to the latter-day
Zion, the Zion of the mountains.
Says one—"Is there anything in Isaiah that speaks of Zion being
located in a high or elevated region in the mountains?" Oh yes, let us
read and see what he says about it in his fortieth chapter: "Comfort
ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God." Then he goes on to speak
of the second coming of the Son of Man, and he says—"Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God."
The same as you have made, or assisted in making, the great highway
through this desert region, and constructed highways here in the
desert called the iron railroad. "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God."
Says one—"That meant his first coming, John the Baptist, etc." Let us
see. "Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall
be laid low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places be made plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and
all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken
it."
Did that mean his first coming? Was the glory of God then
revealed? Did all flesh see it together? No; it has reference to the
second advent, the coming of the Lord in his glory and in his power,
when every eye shall see him. Then the mountains shall be laid low,
then the valleys shall be raised up, then the rough places will be
made smooth, then the glory of God will be made manifest to all flesh
living, and every eye—the wicked and the righteous—will behold him,
and they also who pierced him.
But before that day what will take place? We will read the 9th verse
in the same chapter. "O Zion" —something about Zion now, before the
Lord comes—"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the
high mountains." Did you come up into these high mountains, you people
of the latter-day Zion? What did you come here for? Because Isaiah
predicted that this was the place you should come to, you should get
up into the high mountain. He foretold it, and you have fulfilled it.
"O Zion, that bringest good tidings." What good tidings? What tidings
have you been declaring the last forty-five years to the nations and
kingdoms of the earth? What have you testified to, you missionaries?
Your missionaries have gone from nation to nation and from kingdom to
kingdom, proclaiming to the people that God has sent his angel from
heaven with the everlasting Gospel to be preached unto all people upon
the face of the whole earth. This is what you have been proclaiming.
Is not the everlasting Gospel glad tidings to the children of men? I
think it is, and especially when it is brought by an angel to prepare
the way for the great and glorious day of the coming of the King of
kings and Lord of lords. It is good tidings that people who receive
this everlast ing Gospel, are commanded to get up into the high
mountain. You have fulfilled it, you have been at it now for
twenty-eight years, coming up from the eastern slope, from the great
Atlantic seaboard, and gradually rising and ascending until you have
located yourselves in a place upwards of four thousand feet above the
level of the sea. And here in the Zion of the mountains you have
founded a great Territory, with some two hundred towns and villages,
with your capital city "low in a low place," where the temperature of
spring prevails, while all the rigors of an arctic winter are beating
upon the tops of the mountains in our immediate vicinity.
But lest any should suppose that this getting up into the mountains
was a former-day work, let me read the next verse—"Behold the Lord God
will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him. Behold
his reward is with him and his work before him." Not coming to be
smitten and spat upon, and despised, and to hang upon a cross, as was
the case in ancient days; but the Lord God is to come with a strong
hand, and his arm is to rule in that day as a king, as a lawgiver, as
a mighty potentate to reign over all the kingdoms of the world, which
will then become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, I mean that
portion of them that are not swept off with devouring fire.
But I said that this people, called the Zion of the mountains, that
were to cause the wilderness to blossom as the rose, were to be a
people gathered from the four quarters of the earth. Can it be proved?
Yes. I will refer you to the 107th Psalm, where it is said—"Oh, give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is God, and his mercy endureth forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from
the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south" —a
gathered people. Let us see what this people were to do. "They
wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to
dwell in." I wish you had all been with the pioneers in the year 1847.
When we started out, in the dead of the winter of 1846, upon the
prairies of Iowa, after leaving the great Mississippi, and getting out
about fifty miles from that river, we did not as much as find a foot
track, and no signs of a human habitation. We wandered over that
uninhabited territory some four hundred miles, until we reached the
Pottawattamie and Omaha tribes of Indians, then located on the
Missouri River. Then, early the next spring, we started forth (one
hundred and forty-three pioneers), with our faces still westward, and
went up on the north side of the Platte River several hundred miles.
Did we find a road most of that distance? No road at all. We found
tens of thousands of buffalo and their paths; we found a great many
hostile tribes of Indians, who sought very diligently to take away our
horses and mules, and to cripple us in this manner. But we continued
our journey, and at length came through these mountains, after having
crossed at the South Pass, and come forth to a little fort called Fort
Bridger. We then started into an unknown country, still bending our
course southwesterly, for there was a rumor, and not only a rumor, but
it had been testified, that there was a great inland sea, called the
Salt Lake, in the midst of the great American desert. We had heard
this rumor, and had read some of Fremont's travels in the midst of
hostile Indian tribes. We came forth into this desert, wandering in
the wilderness in a solitary way. Who were they that thus wandered?
People that had been gathered but from the east and the west, from the
north and the south, redeemed from the hand of those who sought to
destroy them. "They wandered in the wilderness, in a solitary way, and
they found no city to dwell in." How different this was from the
ancient Israelites when they entered the land of Palestine! They found
numerous cities, built by the former inhabitants of the land.
Jerusalem was a city that had been known for a long period before the
Israelites went into that land, built up by its former heathen
inhabitants. They found large vineyards, with grapes and fruit in
great abundance, and cities, towns, and villages spread throughout the
land, which the Lord God gave them for their possession. How different
was that from the latter-day work, when the redeemed of the Lord
should gather from the four quarters of the earth, and wander in a
wilderness in a solitary way; they were to find no city to dwell in.
Did we suffer anything? Yes. Did the old Prophet speak of these
sufferings? Yes. "Hungry and thirsty, their souls fainted in them;
then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them
out of their distresses, and he led them forth by the right way." Yes,
when our food gave out; when the crickets came in here by armies; when
tons and tons of them poured in on the little crops first planted,
ready to devour everything before them, and we were living on quarter
rations, what did we do? We cried unto the Lord in our distress, in
our hunger and thirst, believing that he would have compassion on us,
and open some way for our relief, and he did so—he sent forth large
flocks of gulls that lit down upon these crickets and devoured
them up, and thus the crops of the people were saved.
"Well," says one, "does this have reference to the same desert and
wilderness that you have been reading about?" Let us see. "Let them
exalt him, also, in the congregation of the people, and praise him in
the assembly of the elders. He turns rivers into the wilderness, and
water springs into dry grounds, and a fruitful land into barrenness
for the wickedness of them that dwell therein." Now notice the next
prediction—"He turns the wilderness into a standing water, and dry
ground into water springs, and there he makes the hungry to dwell."
What for? "That they may prepare a city for habitation." Though we did
not find any cities already built here, we had to prepare one, and we
have done so, and a very fine one indeed it is, and the wonder and
astonishment of strangers who come here and see what has been done in
the midst of a desert. The Lord predicted it, and you are the ones who
have fulfilled it. "That they may prepare a city for habitation."
What else? Were they to be lazy and indolent? No. That they may "sow
fields and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He
blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth
not their cattle to decrease." Strangers, if you want to know how fast
we are multiplying, just go through our settlements, and look at the
numerous children in our Sabbath schools; you never heard of such an
increase and multiplication, and the Lord foretold that it would be
so.
There is another very curious thing concerning this people who should
come into the desert wilderness. Isaiah says—"He setteth the poor on
high from affliction." Now, a great many of this people were very poor
on arriving here; they had been robbed five times of all they had, and
driven out. After having been thus plundered, we came here very poor;
but the Lord "setteth the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him
families like a flock." What a wonderful prophecy this is! A poor man
to have not only a family like a flock, but even families. If you do
not believe it strangers, go through our Territory, and see the large
families, and in some cases you will find in the same vicinity six or
eight different families, with their houses and farms, all belonging
to one man, and he perhaps a poor man when he came here. "He setteth
the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a
flock. The righteous shall see it and rejoice." What! The righteous
see this and have joy in it? So says the prophecy. "But," says one, "I
should have thought everyone would have been disgusted with it." To
think that a man should have a family or families like a flock, while
the righteous see it and rejoice! What else? "And all iniquity shall
stop her mouth." That has not yet been fulfilled. "Whosoever is wise
and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord." That is, those who observe these things are
called a wise people, those who have gathered from the east, and the
west, and the north, and the south, that wander in the wilderness in a
solitary place, finding no city to dwell in, hungry and thirsty, poor,
stripped, robbed, plundered, forced into the desert, driven by their
enemies, that very people should multiply exceedingly, the families of
the poor man should become like a flock, and the people should rejoice
in the midst of all their afflictions, while all the wicked
should eventually stop their mouths. That will be their destiny sooner
or later.
We will now return to our text, the 32nd of Isaiah—"Blessed are ye
that sow by the side of all waters, and send forth thither the feet of
the ox and the ass." Why did Isaiah say that a blessing should be
given to a certain people that should happen to sow by the side of
streams of water? Why did he not bless the others who lived on the
hills and mountains, as they do all over our States and many other
countries of the globe? Because he saw, in looking at this people,
that they, in their location, were to go into a desert, and the
redeemed of the Lord would be under the necessity of getting along the
sides of streams; they could not go out several miles from a stream or
spring and trust to the rains of heaven; no, the rains do not come
here, or did not when we first located, so as to bless those who would
naturally desire to reside far from a stream of water, but we were all
under the necessity of getting down close to the side of some stream
of water. What for? That it would be handy to build little canals to
get water out to throw over the land. "Blessed are they who sow by the
side of all waters and send forth thither the feet of the ox and the
ass."
We have read these words of the ancient Prophet, in order that the
Latter-day Saints may call to mind how completely the Lord is
fulfilling every jot and every tittle, so far as time will permit, of
that which he caused to be spoken, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
through his ancient Prophets. Strangers think it very curious that
this people should have such large families. If such were not the
case, we would not be the people predicted about that were to be so
blessed; but we are that people, and it is in vain for us to undertake
to turn the hand of the Lord to the right or to the left. He has his
own eternal course to pursue, and all his purposes he will fulfil, and
there is no power beneath the heavens that can stay his almighty hand.
He will fulfill that which he has spoken, in order that there may be
no room for infidelity in the four quarters of the earth. There are a
great many infidels nowadays, and I do not wonder at it. Looking at
modern Christendom, without any Prophets, inspiration, gifts, or the
ancient powers of the Gospel, it is enough to make three quarters or
nine-tenths of the people infidel in regard to religion. But the Lord
is going to leave the people without any excuse, for every jot and
tittle of that which he spoke by the mouths of his ancient Prophets he
will bring to pass in its time and in its season. Zion is destined to
fill the mountains in the last days; Zion will become, as Isaiah says,
in his 60th chapter, a great people. A little one shall become a
thousand, and a small one a strong nation. The Lord shall bring it
forth in its time, says Isaiah, and in the same chapter he speaks of
the future glory of that people, and declares that while darkness
should cover the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people,
Zion should arise and shine. These are the words of the Prophet—"Zion
shall arise and shine, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon her.
The Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of
thy rising."
Inquires one—"Is Zion going to become popular, so that Gentiles and
kings and great men will come to her light?" Yes, certainly; and not
only Gentiles, kings and great men, but many of all the nations of the
earth have got to come to Zion, and, according to this very chapter,
that nation and kingdom that will not serve Zion shall perish,
and be utterly wasted away. Has there ever been such a people as this
since the day Isaiah lived? There never has; but such a people and
such a time are coming, and Zion will be that people. "The Gentiles
shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Thy
gates shall be open continually, that men may bring the forces of the
Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought."
It will be a time of great plenty of the precious metals. In those
days God will give the keys of the treasures of the earth and he will
open them up to the people, Isaiah says, in this connection—"For brass
I will bring gold, for iron I will bring silver, for wood brass, and
for stones iron." Gold and silver will be so plentiful that they will
be used for the pavement of streets. But the covetous may say—"That
will be a fine chance for us to steal; if you get pavements made with
gold and silver we shall be along after them." I think you will not.
Why? Because God will be there, and I do not think you will have any
chance to steal; for it is said in the fourth chapter of Isaiah's
prophecy, that in that day every dwelling place in Mount Zion and all
her assemblies shall have a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of
a flaming fire by night. Do you think you would like to go into a city
where every dwelling place is lighted up with a pillar of fire by
night, and undertake to dig up the pavements? I think you would not
have the heart to do it, you would fear that light would go forth from
the presence of the Lord, and consume you, as it did many rebellious
and wicked ones among the Israelites. Gold will be very good for
pavements, if they are only constructed properly; and Mount Zion will
be a very beautiful city, one of the most beautiful that has ever been
on the face of the whole earth. It is spoken of by the Psalmist David,
in the 50th psalm and also in another psalm—"Beautiful for situation,
the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north,
the city of the great King."
You Christians quote the Psalmist David, and sing about this in your
chapels and meetinghouses, and you sing about the desert becoming
like the Garden of Eden, and joy and gladness being found therein; you
have it all fixed up so that it makes melody in the ears of your
respective congregations. You sing about the fulfillment of these
prophecies, but let a man of God be sent forth by the inspiration and
power of the Almighty to warn you concerning the great day of the Lord
that is coming; and concerning the fulfillment of these prophecies,
and you will gnash your teeth upon him. He reads to you the same
things that you sing, and brings forth the same testimony and the same
Scriptures that are, every Sabbath day, repeated in your hearing, and
yet you stone him and close the doors of your synagogues and chapels
against him, and cry "False Prophets," "delusions," "false
teachers,"
and every evil epithet you can possibly invent to prejudice the minds
of the people against him. Why? Because he comes to you with the
truth; because he comes to you as a messenger from heaven; because he
comes to you, testifying that the Lord God has spoken by his own
voice, that he has sent his angel with the everlasting Gospel to be
proclaimed to the nations as a preparatory work for the great day of
bringing in the fullness of the Gentiles and the salvation and
gathering of all the house of Israel. You cannot bear the
truth, you will not hear it, and you cast out the servants of God, and
stir up prejudice against them. Amen.