"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto Salvation to every one that believeth."
We must not infer from this quotation that mere conviction of the mind to religious truths will secure salvation; for pure belief would lead men to actual works, thus constituting a living, active faith.
The Apostle James declares that "faith without works is dead." The Savior taught in His sermon on the mount that "Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." From these and other passages of Scripture we learn that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, obey and remain faithful to the end. This gives us a general definition of what is meant by the term Gospel.
To understand the principles which constitute the Gospel, we may remind our readers that mankind find themselves under the necessity of a redemption which is two-fold in its character. First, by the act of our first parents, all creation is subject to the death of the mortal body. Second, by individual sins man becomes unworthy to dwell in the presence of the Eternal Father.
The Gospel, then, consists of the atonement of Christ, by which all are entitled to a resurrection of the body; in the language of Paul, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." It also consists of laws and ordinances for man's obedience, by which he is redeemed from his own sins, placed in communication with God, and led back into His presence.
In the justice of the Almighty the plan of salvation must be so comprehensive and general that the human family, without distinction, shall have the opportunity of receiving it.
We learn from the Pearl of Great Price that before Adam departed to the life beyond, God revealed to him the plan of salvation. He obeyed it and communicated this knowledge to his posterity during the seven generations that lived contemporary with him. With the Gospel, necessarily came the authority of God to administer in the ordinances thereof. This authority is called the Holy Priesthood. In a revelation given the prophet Joseph Smith, September 22d and 23d, 1832, and contained in Sec. 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we learn that the priesthood was conferred through Father Adam by the laying on of hands upon Abel, and from Abel or Seth was conferred through the lineage of their descendants to Enoch, and from Enoch to Noah down to Melchisedek, who conferred it upon Abraham. In the days of Abraham lived the great prophet Esaias, who, the revelation informs us, received the priesthood under the hand of God. From Esaias it was handed down through an unbroken chain to the prophet Moses, but because of the unbelief and hardness of the people, "He took Moses out of their midst and the Holy Priesthood also, and the lesser priesthood continued." (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 84.)
This record shows an unbroken succession of the Holy Priesthood and the Gospel of Christ from Adam to Moses, a period of about 2,500 years. Then began those periods of the world's history when the fullness of the Gospel was not to be had among the children of men, periods when the spirit of darkness engrossed the human family and left mankind, in a great degree, as a blind man groping for the wall. The first of these periods continued from Moses until the Savior came and restored the higher priesthood, established His church upon the earth, and sent his apostles to preach the Gospel in all the world. Another similar period was from the time the Gospel became corrupted, in the first two or three centuries of the Christian era, to its restoration in this dispensation through the prophet Joseph Smith. The Christian dispensation of the Gospel continued to a greater length upon the American continent, extending to nearly 400 years after Christ. What success attended the Gospel among the ten lost tribes whom the Messiah visited and how long it was maintained among them is not yet revealed, but will be in the due time of the Lord.
The Elders in preaching the Gospel abroad are often confronted with an objection to this claim of apostasy from the truth, that such periods of spiritual darkness do not harmonize with the mercy and justice of God. The objectors, therefore, incline to the belief that the Christian world has enjoyed the Gospel ever since the coming of the Messiah. The query then arises, what is the cause of such apparent difference in the opportunities of human beings? Some are born in the church, heirs to the Holy Priesthood; others, in a Gospel dispensation, not in the church, but under conditions favorable to their accepting it; still another class in the same dispensation is under such adverse circumstances that believing and obeying are rendered very difficult; and yet a larger number, counted by millions, live and die where no voice from God comes to their relief.
In the absence of revelation giving any detailed information on this question, we may rest contented with the reflection that God is just, and that a just cause exists for that which appears inconsistent in the eyes of mortal man, but that reflection is not satisfying; we are in absolute need of revelation to enable us to comprehend the cause and to justify in our minds the conditions which exist.
Our works in this life are known to God, and our rewards and punishments are meted out according to the deeds done in the body. Our pre-existent merits and demerits are equally well known to our Heavenly Father. As proof that God knew before this life with all the exactness that we are known here, I here introduce the following from page 41, Pearl of Great Price: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones: and God saw these souls that they were good, and He stood in the midst of them; and He said, 'These I will make my rulers,' for He stood among those that were spirits; and He saw they were good; and there stood one among them like unto God, and He said unto those that were with Him, 'We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth, whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads forever and ever."
In the first chapter fourth and fifth verses of Jeremiah, we have the following: "Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee I knew thee, and before thou camest forth, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." From these plain teachings of the prophet, it is readily seen that the measure of integrity attached to our pre-existence was fully understood by our Father; and as our future condition is based upon our works in this life, is it not a reasonable conclusion that our situation in this world is largely due to our conduct in a pre-existent state?
That God has a distinct hand in the appointment of the time for His children to come upon the earth is very clearly stated by the Apostle Paul. In the seventeenth chapter of Acts he says: "God that made the world and all things therein, giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitations." Thus we learn that this great emigration of souls from the presence of the Lord to this earth is controlled and directed by the Almighty. That He designed them all at some time to learn of Him is stated in the verse following the above quotation, which reads, "That they should seek the Lord and find Him."
We are compelled from these facts to believe that, as God Himself sent millions into the world when the Gospel was not had among the inhabitants of the earth, then His saving plan, to be compatible with His attributes of mercy and justice, must be of such a character as to reach these people after they leave this world. We may add here that this vast host of humanity who lived when the Gospel was not extant is greatly augmented by the unnumbered millions of people who live during the dispensation of the Gospel, but who never see or hear an authorized servant of the Lord.
In connection with this branch of the subject it may be well to refer to the belief of many that, at death the wicked are consigned to their final doom and the righteous to full and complete exaltation in the presence of God. We can explode this fallacy by quotations from Holy Writ. In line with this mistaken belief we find ministers attending the culprit at the gallows, urging him to confess Christ, and telling him that by such confession he will be saved in the kingdom of heaven. In the face of such doctrine the Scriptures plainly declare that, "The murderer hath not eternal life abiding in him." We who live in this dispensation are forbidden by the living oracles of God to receive temple ordinances for even the suicide. To exhibit the error of many in the religious world on this point read the forty-second and forty-third verses of the twenty-third chapter of Luke. The thief on the cross is recorded as saying to the Savior, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." Jesus then said to him, "Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." The claim is made that such a promise amounted to salvation, taking the malefactor to a condition of eternal glory. In the face of this mistaken interpretation of the Scripture, we have the assertion of Christ Himself, made three days later to Mary: "touch me not, for I am not yet ascended unto my father." (John xx:17.) This is conclusive evidence that the paradise spoken of was not the enjoyment of the presence and glory of God. But we are not left in ignorance of where He did go. He had previously said to His apostles, as recorded in John v:25, "The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." The object of this preaching is stated in the fourth chapter, sixth verse, of I Peter, to be, "For, for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."
This Scripture establishes the truth beyond doubt that death does not perfect people, and dying without obedience to the Gospel does not relieve them of the impartial obligation placed upon all men to believe and obey. It also maintains the doctrine of man's free agency by showing that salvation is only realized when man exercises his own volition to receive the Gospel, and by education in the knowledge of God, step by step, becomes prepared to dwell in the glorious presence of the Father and the Son. With this testimony of the Savior and the Jewish apostles, the teachings of the Book of Mormon and of the Prophet Joseph Smith are in perfect harmony.
The sacred record of the Nephites informs us that the spirit which possesses a man who dies in his sins will have power to possess him in a future state. The Prophet Joseph, speaking upon this subject, also said, on April 10, 1842: "If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for, if we are not drawing towards God in principles, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil. A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for, if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth. Hence, it needs revelation to assist and give us knowledge of the things of God."
To show still more definitely Christ's mission in the spirit world, we read from Peter, third chapter, eighteenth verse, as follows: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah."
We may infer safely that the penitent thief had the privilege of going to the prison house with the Savior and hearing the Gospel; the distinction between his situation and that of the antediluvians being that they had remained in purgatory for hundreds of years, while the penitent man, who had shown some repentance in the last hour of his life, may have heard, with but little delay, the Gospel. Whether he had heard it in life and rejected it we are not informed, and how long he would remain in the spirit world without realizing its full benefits we do not know, but the above quotations are ample to disprove the fallacy of the position taken by those in the religious world who deny salvation after death.
One objection made by the world to this doctrine is, that offering salvation after this life destroys the incentive to embrace the Gospel here and holds out the inducement to indulge in the pleasures of sin, through people believing that they might be redeemed in a future state where the pleasures of sin would be less delusive. If we admit, for the sake of argument, this theory, the evil results following are incomparably less than would be those which offer salvation to some and deny it to others, for this amounts virtually to a destruction of the attributes of justice and mercy which dwell in the bosom of a wise Creator; but there is another side to this part of the question. We may illustrate by comparison. If a man obey the law of the land simply because he fears the penalty of violating the law, you have at once an individual devoid of love for right and of no strength of character, a man who is a mere slave to the influences which surround him; or if you find a being who is willing to pay the penalty of stealing or committing other crimes, for the pleasure he finds in them, with the knowledge that when he has served his term in prison he may be liberated only to steal again, you have a man devoid of character, and to say that this would be the course of mankind relative to the boon of eternal life is only to belittle the character of the human family and strip them of those attributes which come from God their Father. This mission of the Savior was contemplated by the ancient Jewish prophets. They, knowing that the atonement of Christ and the principles of the Gospel must apply to those who lived before His coming as well as to all who came after, understood that the millions who died without the Gospel in this life must hear and obey in the life to come. Isaiah prophesied concerning the mission of the Son of God: "I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes; to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isaiah xlii:6, 7.)
Thus salvation for the dead is a scriptural doctrine. The Gospel is preached to the spirits in prison. At the same time, it is evident from all that we learn upon this subject that the ordinances of baptism, confirmations, sealings, etc., are received by those living in the flesh, in behalf of those who die without the Gospel in this world, but receive it in the next. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter of I. Corinthians, speaking of the resurrection, says: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" While Paul's argument is not upon the subject of baptism for the dead, why does he thus forcibly allude to this subject if no such an ordinance belongs to the Gospel? The theologians of sectarianism have exhausted their ingenuity in a fruitless effort to mystify or explain away the true meaning of this passage, for the evident reason that it strikes a deadly blow at their unjust dogmas respecting the eternal damnation of those who die without the truth. The plain meaning of the above statement of Paul is that a living person receives baptism in behalf of those who are dead. This simple interpretation was adopted by the early writers on Christianity. Scaliger, Meyer, Erasmus, Calixtus, De Witt, Grotius and others, counted as good authority, adopted the same view.
Epiphanius, in the fourth century, writing of the Marcionites, makes use of this language: "A traditional fact concerning them has reached us, that when any of them had died without baptism, they used to baptize others in their name, lest in the resurrection they should suffer punishment as unbaptized."
Another very emphatic evidence that this ordinance was practiced by the ancient followers of Christ is that the council of Carthage, A. D., 397, in Canon No. 6, forbids the ordinance of baptism for the dead. Why would such a decree be issued against this ordinance if it had no existence in the Church?
Having shown that salvation for the dead is scriptural doctrine, adopted in theory and practice by the Former-day Saints, let us turn now to the dispensation of the fullness of times.
We have seen that the mission of Christ to the dead was spoken of by Isaiah in the forty-second chapter. The same great prophet utters a prediction in the twenty-fourth chapter as follows: "The earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant." The context shows clearly that this prophecy refers to the last days, because it predicts that "the inhabitants of the earth are burned and but few men left." The term "everlasting covenant" cannot refer to the Mosaic law, which existed under the lesser priesthood. This law consisted in the rites and ceremonies of the offering of sacrifice, pointing to the great sacrifice of the Messiah, and of the law of carnal commandments, which served, Paul says, as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. The Mosaic law was done away in Him, because he fulfilled the law. It was not everlasting. Breaking the everlasting covenant must, therefore, refer to an apostasy from the fullness of the Gospel as instituted by the Savior.
In connection with this apostasy Isaiah tells us in the same chapter: "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." In other words, we might say that they have rejected the Gospel during the Christian era, as the antediluvians rejected it in the days of Noah; the judgments of God destroyed them in the flesh, and their spirits were consigned to the prison house and could not be visited until after many days. Whether the Gospel dispensations in the spirit would correspond in their divisions of time to those delivered to men in the flesh, we do not know so far as preaching to the spirits in prison is concerned; but this much is evident, that when no Gospel dispensation exists upon the earth, those in the spirit world, whatever their opportunities to hear, cannot enjoy the blessings of the Gospel, because no one in the flesh has authority to receive the ordinances in their behalf. It, therefore, follows that the haughty ones spoken of by Isaiah could not receive the Gospel until it should be revealed again from heaven in the latter days; and to fulfill this prophecy such a revelation must come, comprehending the keys of a dispensation of the Gospel to the dead as well as to the living.
Malachi, whose prophecies are the last of those of Jewish prophets recorded in the Old Testament, in speaking of the great day of the Lord's second coming and the judgements of God which would precede, utters the following prediction (Malachi iv:5, 6): "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." This prophecy is in beautiful accord with that of the apostle Peter recorded in the twentieth and twenty-first verses of the third chapter of Acts: "And He shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." How different these joyful words to those of an apostate Christianity which denies the necessity of revelation and tells us that the canon of Scripture is full!
John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of the Messiah at His first coming, was also the forerunner of the higher priesthood in these last days. On the 15th of May, 1829, he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and ordained them to the Aaronic priesthood, the authority to preach unto and baptize those living in the flesh. Afterwards came Peter, James and John, with the keys of the Melchisedek priesthood, embodying authority to administer all the ordinances of the Gospel to men in the flesh. But the prophecy of Malachi, chapter iv., was yet to be fulfilled. On the 3d of April, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph testified that "Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us and said: 'Behold the time has fully come which was spoken of by Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the Lord come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.'"
In connection with the restoration of the keys of temple ordinances by Elijah, let us contemplate for a few moments a prediction by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He stated that the Gospel as preached by the elders would yet revolutionize the religious world. Without going into detail regarding the application of this prophecy to several principles of the Gospel, the subject in hand, salvation for the dead, will clearly prove the prophecy correct. When Joseph first taught the redemption of the dead, it was not believed, but was ridiculed by every denomination of Christendom, so far as we know, and by nearly all the religious world individually; yet during the past fifteen years this doctrine has been growing in favor in the minds of prominent men. Dr. Thomas, of the Methodist church in Illinois, was brought in question a few years ago by his church for teaching unorthodox doctrine, which consisted in claiming that those who did not hear the Gospel in this world would hear it in the spirit world. There is now a vast number in the various denominations that believe there is hope for the dead such as was never thought of before the words of the Prophet Joseph were spoken. Since the glorious visitation of Elijah, the Lord has revealed definitely how to conduct the ordinance for the dead. He has fulfilled the words of Jeremiah that He would take "one of a city and two of a family and bring them to Zion." It required "two of a family," or at least a male and a female representative of the dead, to receive the ordinances of salvation for the dead of their respective sexes.
It has been related of Henry Ward Beecher that he said, if a literal rendering of the Scriptures was to be accepted, then "Mormonism" was correct. In line with his sentiments on this subject, it has been reported that he delivered a lecture in Nashville, Tennessee, his subject being, "What Christianity Has Done to Civilize the World," in which he said: "What has Africa done for the world? She has never produced a sage, a philosopher, a poet nor a prophet, and why not? Because the name of Christ and the influence of Christianity are scarcely known in her dark regions. Millions of her children have lived and passed away without hearing the truth. What will become of them? Will they be forever damned? No, not if my God reigns, for they will hear the gospel in the spirit world." He then proceeded to show by irrefutable evidence that salvation for the dead is a scriptural doctrine.
The writer was not present at the lecture, but another Latter-day Saint elder was present, and, at the conclusion of the lecture, stepped up to the platform and said: "Mr. Beecher, I have been much interested in your lecture and would like to ask you a question. Jesus said to Nicodemus, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Now, how is it possible for a man to be baptized in water when his body has already crumbled in the earth?" The great preacher looked at the interrogator for a moment and then said: "Young man, where do you hail from?" "From the West." "From what part of the West?" "From Salt Lake City," answered the Elder. "Oh," said Mr. Beecher, "you may answer your own question. Good evening," and walked away. Mr. Beecher probably had read enough on the subject of baptism for the dead to know that such a doctrine must be coupled with preaching to departed spirits, but he did not wish to be accused of teaching "Mormonism," so he stopped short of that. He said enough, however, to verify the words of Joseph Smith, and also those of the Savior, when He said that if men put new wine into old bottles it would break them to pieces; in other words, new doctrine into old systems.
Other instances might be cited, but this will suffice to illustrate how the influence of the Gospel is working among the children of men.
We now come to one of the most important, interesting and extensive branches of this great subject, namely, that of securing the names, births, marriages and deaths of our ancestors, a class of information essential for record in order to prosecute this great work of salvation for the dead. The genealogical research must be an arduous one and ofttimes attended with great difficulty.
Nathaniel H. Morgan, author of a genealogical history entitled "James Morgan and His Descendants," makes this observation in the introduction of his work: "The task of the genealogist, in groping his way amid the dusty records of the past, is much like that of the African Indians in pursuing an obscure trail through a tangled wilderness. An acute faculty of perception and a keen and practiced eye must note and scrutinize every obscure footprint, every rustled leaf, every bent twig; now, progressing rapidly, under a clear light, and guided by sure tokens; and anon, suddenly arrested by a total absence of all further signs, and forced hopelessly to abandon the trail long and patiently pursued until, perchance, again some new and unexpected waymark greets his eye, inspiring fresh pursuit."
While there have been isolated instances of genealogical works in America since the year 1771, it is a noteworthy fact (and one showing the hand of God plainly manifest in moving upon the Gentiles to do this work) that since the coming of Elijah to the Kirtland Temple, this spirit of writing genealogies has rapidly increased in the United States.
I cannot do better at this juncture than to include as a part of our article a letter written to the writer by Elder Franklin D. Richards on this important subject. Elder Richards, through his researches, has been instrumental in furnishing printed genealogies to many families of Latter-day Saints. He says, under date of Nov. 29th, 1895:
"In answer to your question when the first genealogical history was published, either in this country or in foreign nations, I must say it is impossible for me to answer, as I have not searched the libraries of Europe or of any foreign countries to learn when their first genealogies were published; but, narrowing your question down to this country, I may say that the first that we have any account of was published in 1771, consisting of twenty-four pages and was 'A genealogy of the family of Mr. Samuel Stebbins and Hannah Stebbins, his wife, from the year 1707 to the year 1771, with their names, time of their births, marriages and deaths of those that are deceased,' published at Hartford in 1771. The author, Mr. William H. Whitmore, says: 'This I believe to be the earliest genealogy in a distinct form published in the United States.' It is safe to conclude that an interest in genealogical work did not take very deep root among the people until after the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith the great work of extending salvation to the dead. This is made evident from the dates noted in the following excerpts taken from works on genealogical lore, published in Boston and Albany. In the introduction of a work entitled 'The American Genealogist,' by William H. Whitmore, and published by Joel Munsell, Albany, 1868, the following very interesting pages occur, in which you will observe the years 1844 (the year of the Prophet's martyrdom) and 1847 are named as the respective dates when the New England Historical Genealogical Society was formed, and the 'Register' was established under its patronage.
"It seems evident that the English element has predominated throughout our country, and the greater portion of English colonists settled in New England. Hence the great activity of genealogists there has had more than a local importance, and will be the means of preserving the records of the greater portion of our nation. There is difficulty in tracing the American pedigree of any family. Mr. Savage's admirable dictionary will furnish the inquirer with the first three generations of the name, and the indices of the register will enable him to examine numerous town and county records. There are very few names which will not be found in one or the other of these easily accessible works. The county registers of wills and deeds are open to every inquirer, free of expense, and it is rarely that any town clerk demands a fee for the inspection of his books. It is safe to say that nowhere else is the genealogist so favored as in New England, and consequently no community exists where so great a proportion of its families have had their records preserved.
"We have been fortunate in our historical records from the first. Bradford and Winthrop have noted down even the minute particulars of the settlement of their respective colonies; Mather and Prince have given us numerous items concerning the lives and pedigrees of the clergy and magistrates. In establishing the registry of deeds, our forefathers not only were in advance of England in political science, but they gave the genealogist a source of information elsewhere wanting.
"Very soon after the Revolutionary war an effort was made to revive the former taste for historical research. The Massachusetts Historical Society was formed, and has continued slowly to acquire wealth and influence, having greatly extended its usefulness within the past ten years. John Farmer, secretary of the New Hampshire Historical Society, early devoted himself to the study of genealogy and biography, and by his genealogical register attracted public attention to the subject. Our list will show that but little progress was made for thirty years from the time he issued his Farmer genealogy, but enough was done to keep the fire alive. In 1844, the Register was established under his patronage; since then the study of history and genealogy has been greatly encouraged, and with good results. When the new society was formed the science of genealogy was little understood. The wealth of our records was hardly imagined, the necessity of severe examination of traditions scarcely thought of, and the simplest and most economical form of arrangement was not yet invented. Soon, however, all these points were examined, old manuscript published, and the State authorities were persuaded to enact laws for the preservation of its documents. Since 1845 numerous local societies have been established or revived; over two hundred distinct works on genealogy have been published up to 1868, and innumerable town histories and historical pamphlets have been issued. In many instances these results have been known to be due to the establishment of the new societies, and it is unquestionable that the spirit it fostered has been the mainspring in all Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island have issued large volumes of their early annals, under the patronage of the respective governments. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont possess active historical societies. New York has not only published her own records but assisted her neighbors, and established the largest and richest historical society in existence. Similar associations exist in more than half the States in the Union, and a new magazine, the"American Notes and Queries,"established as their organ, has continued to the present time. Circular No. 3 of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, issued June, 1847, signed by the following gentlemen, viz: Charles Ewer, Lemuel Shattuck, Samuel G. Drake, Samuel H. Riddle and W. H. Montague, treats of the great importance which they attach to genealogical and historical work and works; and in this connection I may be permitted to suggest that what appealed so directly to their needs in those early times applies with much greater force to the Saints of the Latter Days, who are clearly and pleasurably made aware of the glorious relationship which exists between parents and children and the vital obligations the living are under to the dead. These intimations, no doubt you will appreciate, and when time and opportunity permit let us hope that you will actively take pleasure in promoting the aims of the Genealogical Society of Utah, which was especially organized to advance temple work, which includes the salvation and redemption of both dead and living. F.D. RICHARDS."
With all these prophecies before us, with the keys of salvation restored to the earth, with the spirit of Elijah moving not only the Saints but men of the world to action, who can fail to see the truth of this doctrine and the power of God made manifest to promote the great work of salvation for the dead?
In conclusion, let us heed the voice of God to the Prophet Joseph, saying, "Therefore renounce war and proclaim peace and seek diligently to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children;" and the exhortation to us of the prophet who received this commandment, "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren and on, on to victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free."
This subject is of great moment. It should interest all people, Jew and Gentile, especially those who profess Judaism and Christianity. It involves several features which affect the claims made by the Latter-day Saints that more revelation has been given and that the gospel has been restored in these, the last days. The solution of this question involves the fulfillment of many prophecies in the Old and New Testaments.
The trend of the teachings of modern Christianity is such as to keep, from the human mind, the idea that the Lord is a practical being and has anything whatever to do with the temporal affairs of the children of men. Yet by a careful reading of the Scriptures it is readily seen that God designated various portions of the earth to be occupied by different bodies of His children. He gave Palestine to the seed of Abraham, and designated where the children of Esau and other races should dwell. This truth is beautifully expressed by the apostle Paul in Acts xvii:26, as follows: "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation."
To make this subject clear to the reader, we will first show that the seed of Abraham were promised certain countries, that they once occupied those promised lands, and were driven and scattered from them. Hence, in order to receive the fulfillment of the promise regarding their inheritance, they must of necessity be gathered home from their long dispersion.
In Genesis xiii:14, 15, we have the following: "And the Lord said unto Abraham after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." This promise was renewed to his son Isaac, as recorded in Genesis xxvi:2, 3: "And the Lord appeared unto him and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of; sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee and unto thy seed I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham, thy father." And again, the promise was made to Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. In Gen. xlviii:3, 4, it is said: "And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And said unto me, Behold I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession."
It is not necessary to make special quotations to prove to Bible readers that the tribes of Israel were led into the land of Palestine in the days of the prophet Joshua, and under his administration received their respective inheritances in the promised land.
On reading the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis we find a brief statement of the blessings pronounced by the great patriarch upon his twelve sons. In blessing Joseph it is plainly indicated that his seed was "a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall;" in other words, his posterity should receive a land beyond the limits which bound the country occupied by the other tribes of Israel. This view is corroborated by the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, in the blessing and prophecy of Moses upon the head of the tribe of Joseph.
The descriptions of the land of Joseph, given in these two chapters, together with the other passages of Holy Writ, show that the land of Joseph was no less than the Western Hemisphere, known to us as North and South America. It is well known that the tribes of Israel occupied the promised land from generation to generation, until through apostasy and transgression nearly all the tribes were carried into captivity long before the advent of the Messiah. When He came the land was occupied chiefly by the tribe of Judah, which was subsequently scattered among the various nations of the earth.
The Lord plainly warned the house of Israel that, to enjoy His blessings and to remain unmolested in the land of their fathers, they must keep His commandments. If they did not, this was to follow: "And I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste." (Lev. xxvi:32, 33.) Very much like this prophecy are the sacred words of the Messiah, spoken 1500 years later: "For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke xxi:23, 24.)
It is also stated in Deut. xxviii:63-65: "And ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy feet have rest; but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind."
History records beyond the possibility of a doubt how literally and terribly the various clauses in these predictions have been fulfilled. Israel has been scattered, and Judah has been persecuted and oppressed and become a hiss and a byword in the mouths of all the Gentile nations.
With the sacred promises before us, that Israel should receive those countries and the history which proves that they were scattered and are still unreturned to their promised land, we must be convinced, if nothing were said in the Scriptures of the restoration, that Israel must be gathered and re-established in the land of their fathers or the promises of the Almighty would come to naught. We are not left, however, without predictions which specify, in considerable detail, that the chosen people shall be gathered and the circumstances and signs of the times associated with the gathering of Israel in the last days.
Four hundred and forty-six years before Christ, the prophet Nehemiah, bowing down in sorrow because of this scattering and destruction of his people, besought the Lord in humble supplication, thus: "Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations; but if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there." (Neh. i:8, 9.)
The psalmist David said (Psalms l:5): "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The context of this psalm shows plainly that the fulfillment of the words quoted should take place in the last days, near the time of the coming of the Son of God. Those who should be called saints would be required to sacrifice the associations of their native lands as Abraham was when called upon to turn aside from the false religion of his fathers and go to a land into which the Lord should lead him. The Latter-day Saints have made a covenant with God, and through self-denial are gathering together in fulfillment of the words of David the psalmist.
Another prophecy from the same book is as follows: "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for 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. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their souls fainted in them. They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and He delivered them out of their distresses."
The provisions of this prophecy have been and are being verified in the gathering of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains. In Isaiah ii:2, 3, we have the following prediction: "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." This prediction is too plain to be mistaken when it is fulfilled. This prophecy was not fulfilled at the coming of the Messiah, neither before nor since His time, but it is being fulfilled in the gathering of the Latter-day Saints. They have established the house of the Lord in a mountainous country; many people are gathering to it, their object being to learn the ways of the Lord that they may more perfectly walk in His paths. This prediction should be verified at a time near which people should beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; "neither shall they learn war any more," as shown by the verse following those we have quoted.
Micah, fifty years after this, uttered a similar prophecy, in almost the same language, as will be found in the first and second verses of his fourth chapter.
Another prophecy of Isaiah on this subject will be found in chapter five, twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses. It reads as follows: "And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly; none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed nor the latchet of their shoes be broken." The wording of this, in connection with verses which follow, seems plainly to have its fulfillment in the manner of travel by which the Saints are being and shall be gathered to the place appointed. They come by railroad, "with speed swiftly," which prevents them, in a great measure, from stumbling or becoming weary by the way. Notice that the words of this prediction, that the ensign was to be set up from afar, undoubtedly indicate a far distant land from the place where Isaiah stood when he uttered the prophecy. He stood upon the Eastern Hemisphere; America was far distant, and upon this land the ensign has been lifted up. Is it not an ensign to the nations? The authority of God, the house of the Lord, where the nations of the earth are invited to repent of their sins and freely partake of the blessings to be obtained where the ensign is established, surely are such.
A prediction very similar to the foregoing in its provisions was uttered by the same prophet and is contained in the eleventh chapter of his book, the eleventh and twelfth verses: "And 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."
These prophecies could not be fulfilled short of bestowing more revelation upon the children of men to show them how, where and when these great events should be accomplished.
We have quoted from the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, in the twelfth verse of which this language is used: "And shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah." It will be noticed that the word outcasts applies to Israel, which means that Israel wascast out fromthe knowledge of the Gentile nations, while the seed of Judah wasscattered amongthe nations of the earth. The reason distinction is made between Israel and Judah, when Judah was one of the tribes of Israel, is that in the days of David and Solomon the Lord divided the kingdom of Israel, making Judah the distinct nation and the remaining tribes another distinct nation, having two separate kings. The tribes of Israel were led away into the north country, and became lost to the knowledge of the world, while Judah and a portion of Ephraim remained in Palestine, and were scattered among the nations. This is why the prophet applies the word "outcast" to Israel and the word "dispersed" to the tribes of Judah.
Zechariah the prophet says: "Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north." (Zech. ii:6.) This return of the tribes of Israel from the land of the north will be attended with much miraculous power. The miracles wrought in the days of Moses will not be the reference made by Israel to show the power of God in their behalf, but this prophecy will be fulfilled: "Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But the Lord liveth that brought up the Children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers." (Jer. xvi:14, 15.)
One very interesting feature associated with the gathering of Israel in the last days is expressed in the sixteenth verse of the same chapter, as follows: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." When men engage in fishing they cast their lines into the water, and know not until drawn to shore whether the fish caught be of one kind or another; but when they go hunting they know exactly the game they shoot at, whether it is a lion or a tiger, a buffalo or a deer. This Scripture is fulfilled in the preaching of the Gospel among the Gentile nations by the elders of Israel; it is not known by them whether the person who embraces the Gospel and gathers to Zion is of the blood of Israel, a Gentile or otherwise, until it is made known by the light of revelation. This, then, is as casting the Gospel net into the sea, which gathers of all kinds, who remain together until the bad are separated from the good and cast back into the sea.
Isaiah says, in chapter xxvii:12, "Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel." This is corroborated in the third chapter of Jeremiah, fourteenth and fifteen verses, which read: "I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion; and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."
How strikingly true it is that in this dispensation only one or two, in many instances, of a numerous family, receive the truth. And frequently but one, or very few, in a whole city. But these, when they receive the Holy Spirit through embracing the Gospel, at the hands of inspired and divinely authorized men, are filled with a desire to gather to Zion, and there are taught by pastors "called of God as was Aaron."
A prophecy very like the foregoing is found in the eighteenth chapter of Revelations, fourth and fifth verses: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 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." That they are out of Babylon is made clear by the verses preceding the ones quoted. Babylon signifies confusion, and is shown in the preceding chapter of Revelation to apply to "people and multitudes, and nations and tongues." Should there be among the nations of the earth any class of people professing to be the Saints of God, yet who have no desire to gather from Babylon in order to avoid her sins and thus escape her plagues, it would be proof that they had not received, in spirit and truth, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Another prophecy bearing upon the return of the tribes from the north, as well as those scattered among the nations, is found in Jer. xxxi:8, 9, 10: "Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child together: A great company shall return thither. They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them; I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born. Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock." In the twelfth verse it says, "Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion." This latter clause in the prophecy shows that the place of their gathering shall be an elevated region of country. In some instances the term Zion is used with reference to a place or land, as shown in the sixty-second chapter of Isaiah, which the reader can refer to at leisure. And in other instances the word applies to a people. Modern revelation through the prophet Joseph Smith says: "This is Zion, the pure in heart." Using the word in this sense, light is thrown upon the foregoing prophecy of Jeremiah by one found in Isaiah xl:9: "O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain." This would not have been verified if the Saints of latter days had remained in a scattered condition among the nations, or even in the lower regions first occupied by them in the United States, for America is the land of Zion. The great events which go to make up the history of the Latter-day Saints furnish indisputable evidence that they were led there by the hand of God, and that, too, in fulfillment of ancient and modern prophecy.
In reference to the saints being led by the rivers of water in a straight way, Isaiah has a similar prophecy, contained in the thirty-second chapter, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth verses: "And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; when it shall hail, coming down on the forests; and the city shall be low in a low place. Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the feet of the ox, and the ass." The prophets foresaw that the gathering place of the saints should be in a section of the country where the rains should not be abundant, and for that reason they would plant beside all waters, that the system of irrigation might be employed to water the crops of the earth, and through this also that grasses and other vegetation might be provided for their domestic animals. It is also an interesting fact that the cities built by the Saints in the valleys, in comparison with the summit of the snow-capped mountains around them, are situated in low places, so that many times when the hail comes down in fury upon the mountain forests above, the city is free from storm.
One feature of the pleasantness which characterizes the Saints of God is their custom, in their mountain homes, of coming together in a social capacity and joining in the dance. In this capacity, as in gatherings of more weighty importance, the old and the young, male and female, mingle together, that parents may rejoice in the innocent recreation of their children and that the children may be under the guiding influence of their parents. Strange as it may seem to the world, even to those professing Christianity and a consequent belief in the Bible, such a condition is in fulfillment of sacred prophecy found in the thirteenth verse of the thirty-first chapter of Jeremiah, which reads as follows: "Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." This was to be at the time of their getting up into the high mountains, and expressing their praises to the Almighty in the heights of Zion.
Closely connected with the foregoing prophecies is one found in Isaiah, thirty-fifth chapter, first and tenth verses: "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Almost the entire chapter has a bearing upon this subject.
The Lord has so abundantly blessed the labors of His people in that once barren region that truly the desert does rejoice and blossom as the rose. That Salt Lake valley was a most forbidding place cannot be denied. James Bridges, an old trapper who had seen Salt Lake valley before the Pioneers, was so confident of the perpetual sterility of the soil, rendered so by having little or no water, scarcely any rain, and frost nearly every month in the year, that he said to President Brigham Young: "I will give you a thousand dollars for the first ear of corn that can be produced in Salt Lake valley." Our geographies designated that country as the Great American Desert. Daniel Webster, the great statesman and orator, earnestly opposed the annexation of that section of the country to the United States on the ground of its almost utter worthlessness, claiming it would be a financial burden to the government.
Notwithstanding these forbidding aspects, the Prophet Joseph Smith predicted on the 6th of August, 1842, that the Latter-day Saints would become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains. This prophecy will be found readily in a work entitled "A New Witness for God," by Elder B. H. Roberts, which work also contains really other predictions of the prophet Joseph Smith, and shows their fulfillment. The following in the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter thirty-five, "For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty lands springs of water," has been fulfilled in the settlement of the Rocky Mountain region by the Latter-day Saints.
As the judgments of God come upon the earth the gathering of Israel will be accelerated, and the words of the prophet Isaiah will be fulfilled wherein he asks the question, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?" (Isa. lx:8.) As they come together from their long dispersion, and from the north country, in times of famine, pestilence and bloodshed, the Lord will strengthen them by saying, "Fear not; for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, give up; and to the south, keep not back; bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name." (Isa. xliii:5 6.) How universal will be this gathering from all points of the compass, and which will apply to all who are truly called by the name of the Lord!
This gathering will be attended by greater power than heretofore, and no power will be able to impede the progress of the great work. Hear what Ezekiel says: "And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face." (Ezekiel xx:34, 35.) The same prophet also predicts the gathering of Israel in unmistakable terms, in chapter xxxvi:24: "For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you into your own land."
The foregoing predictions are chiefly from the Old Testament, but the New Testament also contains many very definite forecasts upon this glorious subject; indeed, in the last days, when the Gospel should be restored to earth by divine revelation, the dispensation thus established was to be designated as a gathering dispensation, as stated by Paul in Ephesians, chapter i:9, 10: "Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; 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 the earth; even in Him." This is in perfect accord with the prophecy of Isaiah before quoted, that all who are called by the name of the Lord should be gathered together.
Jesus offered the gathering to the house of Judah in His day, but they rejected it. He said unto them, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Luke xiii:34, 35.) How terribly have these words been fulfilled upon the Jews through their having rejected the Messiah and the principle of gathering which He offered to them.
By reading the book of Zechariah we learn that when the Jews have gathered to their promised land, in the last days, and the armies of the Gentiles surround them, the Messiah will appear unto them on the Mount of Olives. Looking to the fulfillment of the great predictions the feeling now pervades the hearts of the Jews, to a very great extent, to furnish means for the purchase of the land of Palestine, that they may return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
When the Twelve Apostles at Jerusalem requested of the Savior to know the signs of His second coming, He gave various evidences, among which was the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom and consequently its restoration to the earth, and the raising up of prophets to warn the people, without which the comparison of the days of Noah and the days of the second coming of the Messiah would not be complete. To counterfeit the work of God through prophets that should be raised up, false prophets and teachers should also arise; kingdom should arise against kingdom; war, pestilence and bloodshed should desolate the nations of the earth; the gathering of Israel should be going on, as proved by the prophecies heretofore quoted, and when the signs of His appearing should appear in the heavens, "He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." (Matt. xxiv:31; see also Mark xiii:27.)
This is the dispensation of the fullness of times in which all the keys, power and authority enjoyed by all previous dispensations have been restored to the earth, and this includes the keys of the gathering. Under date of April 3d, 1836, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were the recipients of many splendid visions and revelations at Kirtland Ohio, in the Temple of the Lord. They solemnly testify as follows: "After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us, and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north." (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 110:11.)
From that time the spirit of gathering has rested richly upon the saints of the Most High, and tens of thousands have gathered from many nations of the earth. The Saints will continue until they are assembled in the places designated for them to occupy. Since the date mentioned, the spirit of the gathering also has been working among the Jews, and when all things are revealed it will undoubtedly be found that the spirit of gathering is working among the ten lost tribes of Israel, looking to the restoration promised to them in the predictions of their fathers. Thus in the purpose of God will be accomplished the gathering together in one, all who will serve Him and keep His commandments, that they may "learn of His ways and walk in His paths," that the earth may be "filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the mighty deep, when no man shall say to his neighbor, 'know ye the Lord,' for all shall know Him, from the least to the greatest."