I will read a few verses in the latter part of the fourth and in the
forepart of the fifth chapters of Paul's first epistle to the
Thessalonians. [The speaker read from the 13th verse of the 4th
chapter, to the 6th verse of the 5th, both inclusive.]
I have read these few passages of Scripture relating to the great day
of the coming of our Lord, according as it is predicted by the mouth
of the ancient Apostle, and also concerning a very important event
which will then happen, namely, the resurrection of the righteous
dead—those who are in Christ; and also another event closely connected
with the resurrection—namely, the ascension of the Saints then living
upon the earth, to meet the Lord at his coming. These events are
looked for by most of the Christian world, indeed we may say that all
the Christian world, who do not spiritualize the Scriptures, are
looking for events similar to those here described. They believe,
according to the New Testament, that there is a time fixed in the mind
of the Almighty, when the heavens shall be parted as a scroll is
parted when it is rolled up, and that the heavens, invisible to us
now, will be unveiled before the eyes of all people; that the armies
of heaven, the spirits of just men made perfect, through obedience to
the law of God, will be revealed; that the angels who stand in
authority in the presence of God and do his bidding, will also be
numbered with that great company which will be revealed from the
heavens. We also believe, and so do the inhabitants of the Christian
world at large, that there will be an audible sound of a
trump—the trump of the archangel—in the heavens at the time this grand
scenery is opened to mankind; that at the sound of that trumpet the
dead in Christ will come forth from their silent dusty tombs; that at
the sound of that trump the Saints then living will be instantaneously
caught up to meet the Lord in the air. This doctrine is believed in by
Christians generally who do not spiritualize altogether the sense and
meaning of the Scriptures.
It may be well for us, in the examination of that great event, the
second coming of Christ, to refer to some of the predictions of
inspired writers in regard to the time of our Savior's revelation from
the heavens. I do not mean to say the day nor the hour of his coming,
for that is unknown, no man that lives on the face of the earth knows
anything about the day or the hour; neither will there be any man on
the earth prior to the coming of the Lord who will know the day and
the hour, for it is hidden from mortal man. However, the age in which
that great event will take place is very clearly revealed in both the
Old and the New Testament. That age is to be characterized by certain
events, predicted by the inspired writers, which are unmistakable in
their nature, and which can be easily understood by all, both learned
and unlearned. These events are to be so conspicuous that I presume
there will not be a nation, people, kindred or tongue upon the face of
the whole earth but what will know that, according to the Scriptures,
some great event is about to take place, for every people in that day
will be more or less enlightened in the Scriptures, for before that
great day shall come, missionaries will be sent to the uttermost parts
of the earth, to testify to all people con cerning the Gospel of the
Son of God, and they will cry in the ears of all living, saying unto
them—"Prepare ye, prepare ye, for the great and coming day of the
Bridegroom." They will have a preparatory message to deliver to all
nations.
When the Lord, in the meridian of time, came and took upon himself a
mortal body, he saw proper to send as his forerunner one of the
greatest Prophets that ever was born into our world—John the Baptist,
and he went, announcing, by the inspiration of the Spirit and by the
power of his holy calling, that there was one to come after him who
was mightier than he, whose shoe latchet he was not worthy to unloose;
and that when he should come he would thoroughly purge his floor, and
that he would baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost. Said John—"I
merely come to prepare the way. I am the voice of one crying in the
wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his paths
straight. I come preaching unto you repentance, and baptism for the
remission of sins, but he who comes after me, holding higher authority
and a greater Priesthood, shall baptize you with a baptism that is
greater than that of water—the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost."
Now, if the Lord, when he came the first time, in his humility and
meekness, born in a manger, of parents of low estate, saw that it was
necessary to prepare the way before him by raising up one of the
greatest Prophets that ever came into the world, why should it be
thought unreasonable that he should also raise up a latter-day Prophet
to prepare the way before one of the mightiest and grandest events
that ever has taken place, or that ever will take place on our earth
in its temporal condition? If the heavens are to be revealed; if the
face of the Son of God is to be unveiled; if the glory of his
countenance is to outshine the sun in his strength; if he is to come
in flaming fire, while the very heavens themselves shall shake by his
power, and the earth reel to and fro like a drunken man, the mountain
themselves, feeling his power, are sunk and the valleys are raised up;
if all these grand events are to attend the second advent of the Son
of God, is it unreasonable that he should raise up a great Prophet in
the latter days to make preparations for so great an event? Or will he
let the world pass on in blindness and darkness without any signs of
the times, without any warning voice, without any inspired man sent of
God to wake them up from their condition, and to prepare the way for
his coming? To me it looks consistent and reasonable that such a
preparatory work should be sent forth among the children of men, and
it looked consistent to the ancient inspired writers, hence they have
left an abundance of testimony on record in this good book (the Bible)
concerning this preparatory work.
One of the means which God will use to prepare the way before his
second coming, is to send angels from heaven with a proclamation, not
to benefit a few individuals, not for one nation alone, but to all the
inhabitants of our globe, and that too before he comes. Do you want to
know where this prediction is recorded? Let me refer you to the
fourteenth chapter of the revelations given to St. John on Patmos. Did
St. John behold, in vision, the coming of the Son of God? He did. How
does he describe it in that fourteenth chapter? He said, as you will
find by reading the chapter through, that he saw one sitting on a
white cloud, having a sharp sickle in his hand. He had reference to
the time when Jesus should come in the clouds of heaven; however,
before John saw the personage sitting on the cloud, he saw a
preparatory work commence, as it is declared in the sixth verse, in
which the Prophet says—"I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell
on the earth, unto every nation and kindred and tongue and people,"
declaring that the hour of God's judgment was come.
Now if that angel does not come and bring the Gospel, then the Son of
Man will not come; no trumpet will sound and call forth the nations of
the righteous from their sleeping tombs; there will be no destroying
the wicked as stubble from the face of the earth; no shaking of the
heavens and causing the earth to tremble and to remove to and fro.
None of these events will transpire if no angel comes, for one is just
as certain as the other; and to show that one is to precede the other,
there must be a time for this everlasting Gospel to be preached to
every nation, kindred, tongue and people after the angel appears with
it. That will take some length of time, however rapidly it may go
forth, for the mere preaching of the Gospel would be of no benefit,
unless there were persons authorized to administer its ordinances. The
angel might preach, but who could obey it? No one. It is true that we
might repent if we heard the angel proclaim it by his own voice, as he
flew from nation to nation and from kingdom to kingdom; and we might
also believe in Jesus Christ, but how could we be baptized for the
remission of our sins? Would the angel come down from heaven and take
every believing penitent person and baptize him himself? How long
would it take an angel to go over all the nations and baptize
all the penitent believers? It would take ages and ages for him to do
it personally. But it is very evident to every one who reflects upon
these passages, that when that angel comes with the everlasting
Gospel, there will be authority given to man on the earth to
administer the ordinances of that Gospel, to build up the Christian
Church again on the earth as it was built in ancient times, a
Christian Church organized according to the pattern that God has given
in the New Testament; a Christian Church having Apostles inspired from
heaven; a Christian Church with Prophets called of God to prophesy
future events; a Christian Church possessing the gifts and graces of
the ancient Gospel in all their beauty, power and fulness, as they
were possessed in ancient times. These works and these ordinances must
be administered by man, and not by the angel who brings the Gospel.
Will that be a preparatory work?
What other preparations are necessary to be made besides the preaching
of this Gospel to all nations? Supposing that among the nations of the
earth there were to be raised up a true Christian Church, is there
anything particular for that Christian Church to do after having
received the ordinances of the Gospel in order to more fully prepare
them for the coming of the Son of God? I answer, yes. The Christian
Churches built up in the four quarters of the earth after the angel
comes, will be required to gather from all these nations unto one
place. That is something which no Christian denomination believes in,
or if they do believe in it they do not practice it, for the members
of Churches called Christian remain in the respective nations where
they receive the truth; it is true that individuals may emi grate, but
as Churches they do not. But the Scriptures, speaking of the great
day of the coming of the Lord, say there is to be a gathering from all
the nations of the earth unto one place of those who have taken upon
them the name of the Lord Jesus. That great gathering is referred to
in the chapter I have quoted from, also in another chapter in which,
referring to the downfall of spiritual Babylon, it is declared that
there shall be a gathering of the people, and that too by inspiration,
by the command of the Almighty; it will not be left to the wisdom of
man, but it will be directed by—"Hear ye the word of the Lord," as
declared to John on the Isle of Patmos. He says—"I heard a great voice
from heaven saying—'Come out of her, my people!'" What
people? "My
people." Who are God's people? Those who obey the everlasting Gospel
which the angel brings by authority. "Come out of her, my people, that
ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her
plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath
remembered her iniquities;" and now, you who are Saints, you who have
obeyed the Gospel restored by the angel, come out of her, for the Lord
is going to punish great Babylon. How is he going to punish her? By
casting her down, and causing her overthrow. After speaking of the
bringing of the Gospel by an angel, the very next verse says—"There
followed another angel." What, two angels come. Yes, and mark the
message of the second one. "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.'"
The description of this fall of Babylon is given in various places in John's revelations. Awful and most terrible judgments will
fall upon Mystery Babylon the Great. She is to be punished with
plagues of various kinds; a grievous sore will fall upon her people,
so much so that they will blaspheme God, but they will not repent of
their sins. They are to be punished with having the fountains and
rivers turned into blood, and the waters of the great ocean are to
become as the blood of a dead man, and every living thing that is
therein will die; and one of the last plagues and judgments that will
be poured out upon her will be devouring fire, and she will sink as a
millstone, and her name will be blotted from under heaven and all that
are connected with her.
Before these terrible judgments are sent forth upon the nations of the
earth, God will save all who receive the everlasting Gospel by
gathering them to one place, where they can serve him and keep his
commandments. He will not merely give them some idea, by reading the
Scriptures, that he desires them to gather, but John says there will
be a great voice from heaven proclaiming—"Come out of her, my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues."
Then there is to be a gathering of the people of God in the latter
days? Yes. Do you marvel to see this people coming forth from all the
various nations, leaving the homes of their ancestry, the graves of
their ancient fathers, leaving their acquaintances and friends, and
gathering up here into these mountain vales? Do you see it? Do you
marvel at it? Remember, O ye inhabitants of the earth, who are looking
upon these things, that you are beholding the fulfillment of prophecy,
prophecy spoken by the Apostle Paul, in the first chapter of his
epistle to the Ephesians. Paul saw the gathering; he saw that it would
be a new dispensation, a dispensation to come after his day. Let me
repeat Paul's words—"That in the dispensation of the fullness of times
he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are
in heaven, and which are on earth." Thus you see that all things in
Christ are to be gathered together in one. What does this include? Are
the inhabitants of heaven to be made one with the inhabitants of the
earth that are in Christ? Yes. The dispensation of the fullness of
times is to bring about one of the grandest events that our earth has
ever experienced—the union of all things in Christ, both in heaven and
upon earth. Are the Saints in Christ? As many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ, consequently if you are in
Christ, if you live in the dispensation of the fullness of times, you
will be required to take part in this great and grand gathering
together of those who are on the earth. But how about all things in
Christ in heaven, are they to come too? That is what I have been
explaining. When Christ comes the inhabitants of heaven will come with
him. The spirits of the righteous of all dispensations, who have not
already received a resurrection, will then come forth, and when the
trump of the archangel shall sound, the dead in Christ shall rise
first. Then those spirits which appear in the heavens will take
possession of their renewed immortal bodies which will spring forth
from the tomb, and they will be with those who are gathered here on
the earth. Then the dispensation will be complete—all things in
Christ, whether in heaven or on earth, will be gathered in one.
Enquires one—"Do you really think that we poor mortals, frail as we are with all our imperfections, that have come because of
the fall, are going to associate with those high and exalted beings
that dwell in the presence of God in the eternal worlds? Are we to be
gathered with them?" Yes. Why not be with them? If our hearts are pure
as their hearts are pure, if we have received and obeyed the truth,
and have been sanctified by it, shall we not have boldness in that
day? Or shall we hang down our heads, and shrink with shame, before
the face of Him who sits upon his throne. If we have received the
truth we shall look upon the face of our Redeemer with all the joy
that we look upon the face of a kind and benevolent parent here on the
earth. There will be no fear, no shrinking, but we shall feel that he
is indeed our Redeemer and that we are his sons and his daughters, and
that, having obeyed his doctrine, we are prepared to associate with
him and to dwell in his presence. Oh, how happy the ancient Apostles
were when they saw their risen Redeemer! There was no shrinking. They
were out fishing on a certain time, and when they had learned that
their Redeemer was on the shore, and calling to them, they could not
wait for the ship to reach the shore, but they must plunge into the
sea, to try and get there as soon as possible. Their Redeemer was
there, and instead of shrinking they were eager to behold him once
more. Then, do not, for a moment, suppose that the people of God who
keep his commandments and live in the latter days, in the great and
grand dispensation of gathering, will shrink when the heavens shall
unveil the face of the Son of God. They will be prepared to take these
resurrected beings by the hand, and they will go forth and salute
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for they are in the kingdom of God. Jesus
said, although they were polygamists, that they are in the kingdom of
God. We shall be very glad, in the day when the heavenly hosts are
revealed to men, to take them by the hand and to sit down with them,
as Jesus has said—"Many shall come from the east and from the west,
and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven." It will be some pleasure then to be in the company of
polygamists, will it not?
Now, as I go along with item after item of the work preparatory to the
coming of the Savior, I want to ask what the belief of this people is,
and whether we are or are not fulfilling the word of the Lord which I
have quoted? Joseph Smith brought forth the Book of Mormon—the Lord
calls it the everlasting Gospel, because it is the same Gospel which
Jesus himself preached to the ancient inhabitants of this continent,
and to the people who dwelt anciently on the continent of Asia. It was
brought forth in these latter days by his power, by an angel sent from
heaven, and revealed to this generation. And have missionaries been
sent forth? Yes. What for? To carry this Book of Mormon, containing
the everlasting Gospel, to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.
And these missionaries, as far as time would permit, have fulfilled
the missions that were given unto them.
We first began to preach this Gospel in the little town where this
Church was organized with six members only, on the 6th day of April,
1830. A few missionaries then began to teach in the neighborhood, next
in the county, next in the adjoining county, next in the adjoining
States, next in the adjoining Territories, next in British America,
and finally across the great ocean among the European nations. Have these missionaries visited and preached to any other people
besides those living on the continent of Europe, and those of the
United States and the Canadas? Yes. They have preached this same
Gospel contained in the Book of Mormon on the Islands of the sea, in
Australia, New Zealand, the Society Islands, Sandwich Islands—where
thousands have received this Gospel and been baptized. Missionaries
have also carried this everlasting Gospel to the northern portions of
Europe—Norway, Denmark and Sweden; also into the German States, to
Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, some of the islands of the
Mediterranean, to Hindostan, and in fact wherever there has been a
sufficient degree of liberty to permit the proclamation of the Gospel,
thither have missionaries, called of God to declare the message of
life and salvation to the people, been and proclaimed it.
Wherever we have preached this Gospel, the word has so been published
by command of the Almighty, saying—"Come out, my people, from the
nations you now inhabit." "Where shall we go?" "Go to the place
which
I have appointed by revelation, by the voice of my servants, by my own
voice—to the mountains of the new world, where my kingdom shall be
established as a stone cut out of the mountain without hands." Daniel
predicted that, in the last days, the kingdom of God should be
established upon the earth, and that, in its commencement, it would be
like a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands, but that
it would gradually gain power and greatness among the people; and the
reason that you have gathered to these mountains from the various
nations in which you obeyed the Gospel is that you may assist in
establishing and building up that kingdom spoken of by Daniel. Not a
week has elapsed since some seven or eight hundred, from the northern
regions of Europe, arrived in our city. A few days after their arrival
we look around and we scarcely notice that there is any addition.
Where are they? Friends have taken them by the hand and invited them
to their homes. Any more coming? Yes, numerous hosts are coming. We
have sent across the Atlantic ocean between one and two hundred ships,
most of them loaded, to the fullest extent that the law would allow,
with Latter-day Saints gathering together to one place in fulfillment
of the predictions of the ancient Prophets.
Says one—"How long will this continue?" Until the people are
thoroughly warned. At the present time there are some nations who will
not permit any religion to be proclaimed within their borders except
that which is established by law. When God shall cast down thrones,
which he will soon do; when he shall overturn kingdoms and empires,
which time is very near at hand, then other governments will be formed
more favorable to religious liberty, and the missionaries of this
Church will visit those nations. Already we find greater religious
liberty advocated in the northern portions of Europe where formerly
imprisonment was the penalty of declaring any other religious doctrine
than that which was permitted by their laws. Austria, that great Roman
Catholic power, containing thirty-one millions of Catholics, is
increasing in religious liberty. Spain, which for centuries has
persecuted everything but the established religion, where countless
martyrs have been tortured and put to death by the so-called "Holy
Inquisition," is at present forming a constitution which proposes to
grant a large share of religious liberty. And so we might
enumerate what God is doing among these despotic powers, overturning
and changing long-established usages and institutions, that His
servants may go by His own command, to deliver the great and last
message of the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, preparatory to
the coming of his Son.
After the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, which period is set in
the mind of God, another scene will open up before the world, in the
grand panorama of the last days. What is that? The downfall of the
Gentile nations. Says one—"Whom do you call Gentiles?" Every nation
excepting the literal descendants of Israel. We, the Latter-day
Saints, are Gentiles; in other words, we have come from among the
Gentile nations, though many of us may have the blood of Israel within
our veins. When God has called out the righteous, when the warning
voice has been sufficiently proclaimed among these Gentile nations,
and the Lord says "It is enough," he will also say to his
servants—"O,
ye, my servants, come home, come out from the midst of these Gentile
nations, where you have labored and borne testimony for so long a
period; come out from among them, for they are not worthy; they do
not receive the message that I have sent forth, they do not repent of
their sins; come out from their midst, their times are fulfilled. Seal
up the testimony among them and bind up the law." What then? Then the
word of the Lord will be—"O, ye, my servants, I have a new commission
for you. Instead of going forth to convert the Gentile nations, go
unto the remnants of the house of Israel that are scattered in the
four quarters of the earth. Go and proclaim to them that the times of
their dispersion are accomplished; that the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled; that the time has arrived for my people Israel, who have
been scattered for generations in a dark and cloudy day, to gather
unto their own homes again, and to build up old Jerusalem on its
former heap. And then will commence the gathering of the Jews to old
Jerusalem; then the ten tribes in the northern regions, wherever they
may be, after having been concealed from the nations for twenty-five
hundred years, will come forth and will return, as Jeremiah has said,
from the north country. A great company will come, and they will sing
in the height of Zion, and "flow together for the goodness of the
Lord, for wine and for oil, and for the young of the flock; and their
souls shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more
at all." What a happy time for them, when they come from their cold
quarters in the north! The Jews dispersed among the Gentiles will not
come and sing in the height of Zion, or but very few of them, they
will go to Jerusalem. Some of them will believe in the true Messiah,
and thousands of the more righteous, whose fathers did not consent to
the shedding of the blood of the Son of God, will receive the Gospel
before they gather from among the nations. Many of them, however, will
not receive the Gospel, but seeing that others are going to Jerusalem
they will go also; and when they get back to Palestine, to the place
where their ancient Jerusalem stood, and see a certain portion of the
believing Jews endeavoring to fulfill and carry out the prophecies,
they also will take hold and assist in the same work. At the same time
they will have their synagogues, in which they will preach against
Jesus of Nazareth, "that impostor," as they call him, who was
crucified by their fathers.
After awhile, when tens of thousands of them have gathered and rebuilt
their Temple, and reestablished Jerusalem upon its own heap, the
Lord will send forth amongst them a tremendous scourge. What will be
the nature of that scourge? The nations that live in the regions round
about Jerusalem will gather up like a cloud, and cover all that land
round about Jerusalem. They will come into the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
east of Jerusalem, and they will lay siege to the city. What then? The
Lord will raise up two great Prophets, they are called witnesses, in
the Revelation of St. John. Will they have much power? Yes, during
the days of their prophesying they will have power to smite those who
undertake to destroy them, and until their testimonies are fulfilled
they will be able to keep at bay all those nations besieging
Jerusalem, so that they will not have power to take that city. How
long will that be? Three and a half years, so says John the Revelator.
If any man hurt them, they shall have power to bring upon that man,
nation or army, the various plagues that are there written. They will
have power to smite the earth with plague and famine, and to turn the
rivers of water into blood. And when they have fulfilled their
prophecy, then the nations that have been lying before Jerusalem so
long, waiting for an opportunity to destroy the city, will succeed in
killing these two Prophets, and their bodies, says John's revelations,
will lie in the streets of Jerusalem three days and a half after they
are killed. What rejoicing there will be over the death of these men!
Those who have been waiting so long and anxiously for this to take
place, will no doubt send gifts one to another, and if the telegraph
wires are not destroyed, they will telegraph to the uttermost parts of
the earth that they have succeeded in killing the two men who had so
long tormented them with plagues, turning the waters onto blood, etc.
But by and by, right in the midst of their rejoicing, when they think
the Jews will now certainly fall a prey to them, behold there is a
great earthquake, and in the midst of it these two Prophets rise from
the dead, and they hear a voice up in the heavens saying—"Come up
hither;" and they immediately ascend in the sight of their enemies.
What next? Notwithstanding all this, those nations will be so
infatuated, and so determined to persecute the people of God—as much
so as Pharaoh and his army in ancient days—that they will say—"Come,
now is the time to pitch into the Jews and destroy them." And they
will commence their work of destruction, and they will succeed so far
as to take one half the city, and while they are in the very act of
destroying Jerusalem, behold the heavens are rent, and the Son of God
with all the heavenly hosts appears, and he descends and rests upon
the summit of the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And
so great will be the power of God that will then be made manifest,
that the mountain will divide asunder, half going towards the south,
and half towards the north, producing a great valley going east and
west, from the walls of Jerusalem eastward.
What next? The Jews that are not taken captive by these nations, will
flee to the valleys of the mountains, says the Prophet Zechariah; and
when they get into that great valley, where these personages are who
have descended, they expect to find the Deliverer which their Prophets
have spoken of so long. But they do not for a moment suppose
that it is Jesus, oh no, Jesus was an impostor. The personage they
have been looking for some eighteen hundred years is the true Messiah,
and now, say they—"He has come to deliver us." But how great will be
their astonishment when, while looking at their Deliverer, they see
that his hands are marred considerably! Say they, one to
another—"There are large scars in his hands; and there is another
large scar in his side, and behold his feet, they are scarred also!"
And, as the Prophet Zechariah has said, they will begin to enquire of
him—"What are these wounds with which thou art wounded?" And he
replies—"These are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of
my friends."
What then? Then they begin to believe, then the Jews are convinced, I
mean that portion of them who formerly despised Jesus of Nazareth, and
being convinced they begin to mourn, and they mourn every family
apart, and their wives apart. The family of the house of Levi apart
and their wives apart; the family of the house of David and their
wives apart, and all their families that remain will mourn, they and
their wives apart, and there will be such mourning in Jerusalem as
that city never experienced before. What is the matter? What are they
mourning about? They have looked upon him whom their fathers pierced,
they behold the wounds, they are now convinced that they and their
fathers have been in error some eighteen hundred years, and they
repent in dust and ashes.
The next step for them will be baptism for the remission of their
sins. They look upon him whom their fathers pierced and they mourn for
him as one who mourns for his only son, and, as Zechariah says, they
are in bitterness for him. But repentance alone would not be
sufficient, they must obey the ordinances of the Gospel; hence there
will be a fountain opened at that time on purpose for baptism. Where
will it be opened? On the east side of the Temple. A stream will break
out from under the threshold of the Temple, says the Prophet, and it
will run eastward, and will probably pass directly through the deep
valley made by the parting of the Mount of Olives. It will run
eastward, and as you go down from the Temple a few thousand cubits it
increases so rapidly that it becomes a great river that cannot be
forded.
This is the fountain that Zechariah says is open to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem and to the house of David for sin and uncleanness. "How is
it that" says one? "Water for sin and uncleanness?" Why yes, baptism
for the remission of sins. Then the Jews will receive the Gospel and
they will be cleansed from all their sins by being baptized in water
for their remission. Then will be fulfilled the words of the Prophet
Isaiah, when speaking of Jerusalem—"For henceforth there shall no more
come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." But the name of the
city from that day will be—"The Lord is there;" that is, the Lord will
be personally there, there with his Apostles and with all his ancient
Saints, for Zechariah says that when he comes and stands his feet on
the Mount of Olives, all his Saints will come with him.
We have found out the place where Jesus will descend, and we have
found out who comes with him. Now we enquire will he remain on the
earth after he thus descends? Yes, he will remain on this earth as
literally and personally as he went around in ancient times,
and taught the people from house to house and synagogue to synagogue.
And in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name one. There will
not be any heathen gods, for there will be no heathens; no idolatrous
worship, but one Lord, and his name one.
And this water which breaks out from the threshold of the Temple, will
not only run eastward but westward also, and there will be a great
change in the land there, certain portions rising up, others lowered,
rough places made smooth and mountains cast down; and half the waters
of this spring which will burst forth, will go towards the former sea
and half to the other sea; in other words half towards the Dead Sea
and half toward the Mediterranean.
From that day forward there shall be written upon the bells of the
horses and upon the vessels of the house of the Lord—"Holiness to the
Lord;" and thenceforth all the people who are spared from the nations
round about, will have to go up to Jerusalem year by year to worship
the King, the Lord of Hosts.
These are some of the grand events spoken of in this Bible; these are
events that the Latter-day Saints believe in, and that so far as it
lies in their power, they are trying to fulfill. If we are not Jews we
are not required to go to old Jerusalem, but we are required to build
up a Zion; that is spoken of as well as the building of Jerusalem.
Zion is to be built up in the mountains in the last days, not at
Jerusalem. Read the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, where he speaks of the
glory of the Lord being revealed, and all flesh to see him when he
comes the second time and how the mountains and hills should be
lowered and the valleys be exalted; and in the same chapter the
Prophet also says that, before that great and terrible day of the Lord,
Zion is required to get up into the high mountains. Isaiah predicts
this. Says he, in his fortieth chapter—"Oh Zion, thou that bringest
good tidings, get thee up into the high mountains."
Thus you see that the people who organize Zion through the everlasting
Gospel which the angel brings, have good tidings to declare to all the
inhabitants of the earth. But these people are required, according to
this prophecy, to get up into the high mountains. You Latter-day
Saints are four thousand three hundred feet above the level of the
ocean, scattered over four hundred miles of Territory, north and
south, and you are extending your settlements continually, and are
building up some two hundred towns, cities and villages in the
mountains of the great American desert, fulfilling the prophecies of
the holy Prophets.
By and by you will leave this country. Says one—"What, are the Mormons
going to leave Utah?" Oh yes, most of us; we are going to leave, but
we shall disappoint some of you. You want to know which way we are
going? We are going by and by eastward. I do not say that we shall go
directly from this city eastward, but we shall, after a while, be in
Jackson County, in the western borders of Missouri. Why are we going
there? Because it is the great central gathering place for the Saints
of latter days, for all that will be gathered from South America,
Central America, Mexico, the Canadas, and from all the nations of the
Gentiles—their headquarters will be in Jackson County, in the State
of Missouri. We shall roll down from the mountains, and though we may
be considered but a little stone cut out of the mountains without
human ingenuity, without mankind under taking to carry on this
work of their own accord, the time will come when God will cause the
stone of the mountains to roll, and then it will roll down and build
up the central city of Zion, and that, too, long before this gathering
from the distant nations shall cease. I do not know how much before
the ten tribes will come from the north; but after Zion is built in
Jackson County, and after the Temple is built upon that spot of ground
where the cornerstone was laid in 1831; after the glory of God in the
form of a cloud by day shall rest upon that Temple, and by night the
shining of a flaming fire will fill the whole heavens round about;
after every dwelling place upon Mount Zion shall be clothed upon as
with a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by day, about that period
of time, the ten tribes will be heard of, away in the north, a great
company, as Jeremiah says, coming down from the northern regions,
coming to sing in the height of the latter-day Zion. Their souls will
be as a watered garden, and they will not sorrow any more at all, as
they have been doing during the twenty-five hundred long years they
have dwelt in the Arctic regions. They will come, and the Lord will be
before their camp, he will utter his voice before that great army, and
he will lead them forth as he led Israel in ancient days. This long
chain of Rocky Mountains, that extends from the cold regions of the
north away into South America, will feel the power of God, and will
tremble before the hosts of Israel as they come to sing on the heights
of Zion. In that day the trees of the field will clap like hands, says
the Prophet, and in that day the Lord will open waters in the
wilderness, and streams in the desert, to give drink to his chosen,
his people Israel. And when they come to the height of Zion they shall
be crowned with glory under the hands of the servants of God living in
those days, the children of Ephraim, crowned with certain blessings
that pertain to the Priesthood, that they could not receive in their
own lands. In that day will be set apart twelve thousand out of each
of these ten tribes—one hundred and twenty thousand persons ordained
to the High Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God, to go forth
to all people, nations, kindreds and tongues, for the salvation of the
remnants of Israel in the four quarters of the earth, to bring as many
as will come unto the Church of the Firstborn. Thus God will have
twelve thousand out of all the tribes of Israel to fulfill his
purposes; and when they have completed his work here on the earth,
they will be called home to Zion, be crowned with glory and stand upon
Mount Zion and sing the song of the redeemed, the song of the hundred
and forty-four thousand, and the Father's name will be written in
their foreheads.
By and by, when all things are prepared—when the Jews have received
their scourging, and Jesus has descended upon the Mount of Olives, the
ten tribes will leave Zion, and will go to Palestine, to inherit the
land that was given to their ancient fathers, and it will be divided
amongst the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost. They will go there to dwell in peace in their own
land from that time, until the earth shall pass away. But Zion, after
their departure, will still remain upon the western hemisphere, and
she will be crowned with glory as well as old Jerusalem, and, as the
Psalmist David says, she will become the joy of the whole earth.
"Beautiful for situation is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the
city of the great King."
Zion will be caught up when Jesus comes, to meet him. Jesus will
descend not only upon the Mount of Olives, but he will descend and
stand upon Mount Zion. But before he stands upon it, it will be caught
up to meet him in the air. Will the buildings of Zion be caught up?
Yes. And its land? Yes. And Jesus will stand upon Mount Zion,
according to the prediction of John the Revelator, and he will reign
over his people during a thousand years; and his associates will be
the resurrected righteous of all former dispensations, those, among
others, who dwelt on this continent before the flood. Says one—"Do you
mean to say that America was inhabited before the flood?" Yes, Adam
dwelt on this continent. I do not know that the Garden of Eden was
here, but we know from what God has revealed to us, that before Adam
closed his days he dwelt on a certain portion of this continent with a
great number of the righteous. All the righteous that lived on this
continent before the flood, those who lived upon this continent who
were righteous, who came from the Tower of Babel after the flood, and
lived here some sixteen hundred years, before the nation was
destroyed. All the Prophets, and wise, and good men of these several
periods, will be permitted to reign as kings and priests upon this
western hemisphere during the period of Christ's reign on the earth.
The Israelites, too, the remnants of Joseph, the forefathers of these
poor degraded Indians, who are righteous, will come forth also to
reign as kings and priests on this land.
We might continue this subject much further. We might portray before
you the duties that will be performed by these resurrected righteous
who reign as immortal beings on this continent and on the eastern
continent. We might portray some of the great doings that will be
accomplished by the King of kings and Lord of lords, when he shall sit
upon his throne in the Temple at Jerusalem, surrounded by his Twelve
Apostles, who will also sit upon twelve thrones to judge the twelve
tribes of Israel. We might also relate to you concerning the judges
and the thrones of those that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus
and for the word of God, who will reign on the western hemisphere as
well as on the eastern; but time will not permit us to continue this
subject any further.
May God bless the Latter-day Saints in the kingdom of God established
here in the tops of the mountains; bless you in your residences, in
your towns, in your cities, in your villages, and throughout the
length and breadth of the land, and increase and multiply you as the
stars of heaven that cannot be numbered, until the kingdoms of this
world shall become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ, and the
Saints shall reign forever and ever. Amen.