However disagreeable it may be to my personal feeling to stand before
a congregation, the consciousness which the Elders of this Church
possess that they have had committed to them the authority of the Holy
Priesthood, and that they are entitled to the inspiration of the Holy
Ghost, and that they possess the faith and prayers of the Saints who
are their associates in the Church—those who understand their needs—is
enough, I think, to buoy up an individual when he is called upon
suddenly to address the people; indeed it is these thoughts alone
which give me courage at the present time; I count upon a measure of
the Holy Spirit; I count upon the faith and prayers of the Saints; and
while I take up a little time I hope that that which may be said will
be profitable and advantageous to all who listen and to the speaker
himself.
Numerous have been the methods and channels through which the human
family from time to time have received intelligence. Preaching is as
old as history. Men have learned from each other. The results of
individual experience have been transmitted to those who had less
opportunity, and in this way knowledge has been increased in one from
the resources of another.
But Christians believe, I think, as a rule, that men have not always
been dependent upon those who dwell in the flesh for the intelligence
which they have acquired. Those who have accepted the Bible, the Old
and New Testament, will understand that there have been in past ages
other methods by which intelligence was communicated than simply
through men who dwelt in the flesh. Spiritual communication is one of
the cornerstones of the old book. It is filled with instances where
intelligences not directly of earth have visited members of the human
family and communicated with them from time to time. Abraham, whom
Christians look upon as "the father of the faithful," was one who was
privileged to receive angelic visitations. Lot was another of those
who had experience of this character; and so were many of the
ancients, from the beginning down to the time of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, whose divine mission was announced by the visitations
and communications of the angelic hosts. Whatever the character of
these angels might have been, whether they were resurrected beings who
had dwelt upon the earth—whether they were those of higher
grades—archangels, as they are called—or whether they were de signed and appointed specially to minister to individual men—which
of these varieties they may have belonged to, it is very evident that
the scriptures are full of the history of angelic communication, and
that they were the instruments in the hands of the Almighty, sent to
communicate his will under certain conditions. It is quite true that
in our age this has been accounted one of the lost arts; it has been
numbered among the things that had been, but had fallen into disuse;
something that had become obsolete or unnecessary in the advanced
condition of human intelligence.
But the same scriptures which tell of such visits in ancient times
also point out with remarkable distinctness that there would be
periods in the history of the human family when this angelic
communication would again be restored, and that messengers would again
come from the heavens to communicate with the children of men and
introduce a new condition of things or prepare for conditions which
must and will exist in order that the economy of God might be saved.
Hence we have an account in the revelations of St. John, of the
different angels that were to follow each other in the several epochs
or dispensations of Providence among mankind. We have an account of
the opening of the seven seals, which according to that record is to
be done by angels appointed by divine authority, for the express
purpose of the unfolding of the divine program in human history. But
there is mention made there of one particular angel of whom it is said
that he was seen "flying through the midst of heaven having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto those that dwell upon the earth."
That this was to be in the far distant future from the period when
John dwelt upon the earth and was a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos, is
abundantly evident to all who have been but casual readers of the
sacred Scriptures; but to those who have been students of that book,
to those who have sought to read it understandingly, to make it their
rule of life and to be guided by it in their travels, and through its
teachings to fit themselves for the future, this statement could not
pass with common notice—it no doubt has arrested their attention many
a time, as covering a series of interesting and important periods of
events. While in the nineteenth century such an idea by religionists
has been ignored, being considered unnecessary, yet the documents have
come down to us from the primitive times and the assertion is not
denied that such an occurrence was to take place at some period of
human history, if the word was to be fulfilled. Now I think that there
are advantages to be derived from this angelic communication. Whenever
a man realizes who and why he is upon the earth; whenever he realizes
the instincts which are implanted within him and which make him soar
after something that goes beyond the reach of human life and time, I
think every one will agree that there is a vast field and need also
for the acquisition of intelligence that would tend to the advancement
of thousands and millions of the human family.
Ideas that could be communicated in regard to the past, ideas in regard
to the present, ideas in regard to the future, might thus be obtained.
Those ideas are not particularly within the range of the schools,
colleges and educational institutions of mankind, they must come from
a source and through channels where
- Henry W. Naisbitt