It is not the purpose in this brief chapter to enter into a detailed argument on the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, but to state sufficiently what the sacred record purports to be. The Bible records some of the leading events in the dealings of the Almighty with His children upon the Eastern hemisphere, prefaced by the Mosaic history of the creation. The Book of Mormon is to the American continent what the Bible is to the Eastern. The Bible is more especially the stick of Judah, being written by Jewish prophets and apostles. Of the ten tribes carried into the North countries and lost from the world, the Bible gives no account, beyond brief statements which go to prove that they were lost to the rest of mankind.
Of the various colonies "scattered from the tower of Babel" upon all the face of the earth, according to Genesis, chapter xi., the Bible offers no information. Of the branches of Joseph which ran over the boundary walls of the other tribes of Jacob, extending to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, the Jewish record is silent.
What became of them? Whither did they flee, and are they lost to God? Are they less His offspring because they went to people other lands? From the time the ten tribes were carried away, no communication has been established between them and the Gentile nations, and not until the discovery of America by Columbus was there any correspondence between the aborigines of America and the countries of Europe and the East. Because these were lost to Jew and Gentile, is it reasonable to suppose they were lost also to Him who is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and who made of one blood all nations to dwell upon all the face of the earth? Reason, mercy, justice and the Bible all deny that these should not have revelations from God and write them as well as did the Jews. Jesus Himself most emphatically declared, "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed, neither hid, that shall not be known." (Luke xii:2.) The Book of Mormon reveals the fact that from the Tower of Babel came a colony of people to the Western continent. They were led by a prophet to whom God spake and His words were written. They became a mighty nation on this land, having prophets and inspired men to lead them. Finally, like the Jews, they fell into apostasy and through war and bloodshed became extinct as a nation. The Book of Mormon gives a brief review of their rise, progress and fall. It also records the fact that in the days of Jeremiah, two colonies came from Jerusalem to America, years before Christ. It gives a history of God's dealings with them until four hundred years after Christ, covering a period of one thousand years.
From the Book of Mormon we also have light thrown upon sayings of the Savior, recorded in the New Testament. He said to the Twelve, "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." (St. John x:16.) Who can tell us where those other sheep were and when the Savior visited them? He said they should hear His voice. The Book of Mormon gives the history of this visit to the descendants of Jacob upon this land. He organized His church among them, with apostles, prophets, etc., "one fold and one shepherd." This occurred subsequent to His resurrection. While teaching His disciples on this land, He told them of this statement to the Jewish apostles, that He had other sheep to visit; and to the apostles chosen upon this land He said, "I have other sheep which are not of this land; neither of the land of Jerusalem; neither in any parts of that land round about, whither I have been to minister. For they of whom I speak are they who have not as yet heard my voice; neither have I at any time manifested myself unto them. But I have received a commandment of the Father that I shall go unto them, and that they shall hear my voice and shall be numbered among my sheep, that there may be one fold and one shepherd; Therefore I go to show myself unto them." (III. Nephi, chapter xvi:1-3.)
These sayings of our Savior afford the only present scriptural and reasonable interpretation of the parable in Matthew, thirteenth chapter: "The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened." The leaven must be a symbol of the Gospel, as its effects upon the meal to lighten and prepare it for use are like the effects of the Gospel of Christ upon the hearts of those who obey the same, viz., to refine and purify that men may be prepared for the kingdom of the Father. The three measures of meal doubtless are representative of three divisions of the house of Israel. These were, according to the Book of Mormon, the Jews in Palestine, the seed of Joseph on the Western hemisphere, and the ten tribes in the North country. These all were visited by the Savior. They heard His voice and were taught of Him "one Lord, one faith, one baptism," that there might be "one fold and one shepherd." The Gospel going to the Gentiles could have no part in the fulfillment of the parable of the three measures of meal, because the Messiah never did visit the Gentiles, and He says of the other sheep, "they shall hear my voice." The only account of such an event given to mankind thus far is that recorded in the Book of Mormon. If that is not the true one, then we must look for one no less remarkable and no less in conflict with the spiritual bigotry and ignorance of the nineteenth century. That there should be a record kept by another branch of Israel than the Jewish tribe, is plainly set forth by Ezekiel in his thirty-seventh chapter, where the Lord commands the prophet to take "one stick" and write upon it for Judah and his brethren, and another stick and write upon it for Ephraim and his brethren, and then predicts that they shall become one in the hand of the Lord. The Book of Mormon claims to be the stick of Joseph, and it and the Bible have become one in the hand of the Lord in these last days. Each corroborates the other. They are one in doctrine, one in prophecy, one in history so far as they treat upon the same events. Each throws light upon the other, and yet bear the marks of having been written far apart by a different people, of different surroundings and education.
Isaiah speaks of a book (see Isa. xxix.) that should come forth. And "the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, read this, I pray thee: and he sayeth, I can not; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he sayeth, I am not learned." This prophecy was verified as set out in a previous chapter. The book itself was delivered by an angel to the young man Joseph Smith, with the injunction that they should never be used to get gain, but for the salvation of mankind. Joseph, feeling his own weakness and knowing that he could not of himself translate them, acknowledged that he was not learned. He was told that he should translate them by the gift and power of God, which he did by the use of the Urim and Thummim, the instrument used by seers of old. Thus were the words of the prophet Isaiah verified.
No amount of credulity could make a reasonable mind believe that Joseph Smith, an unlettered, unsophisticated boy of twenty-two years, could prepare such a scheme, conniving with men of maturer years to aid him in the fraud, that the words of an ancient prophet, spoken 2,500 years before, should be literally fulfilled. The probability is that neither Joseph Smith, Martin Harris nor Prof. Anthon knew anything of the words of Isaiah relating to such a record. Prof. Anthon was not in sympathy with Joseph Smith and became an avowed opponent of the Book of Mormon. What he said in fulfillment of prophecy in this instance regarding the Book of Mormon may be said of all others, for many have been verified since it came forth—prophecies regarding it and predictions in the book itself.
The Psalmist David said that "Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven." The Book of Mormon was written upon metallic plates, and hidden in the earth 400 years after Christ. They literally came out of the earth, and righteousness in the personage of a holy angel came down from heaven and placed them in the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Isaiah speaks of the ancient seers being covered, and that in the latter days their speech should be "low out of the dust." The Book of Mormon was written by seers upon the American continent. Through martyrdom they had been covered and their words lost to the apostate Lamanites for many generations. In the last days, however, their words came forth. They speak "out of the dust" and light shines upon the hidden mysteries of a whole continent, revealing a period of ten centuries.
Among the many prophecies in the Book of Mormon verified since its publication in 1829, is one found in II. Nephi, chapter 29, verse 3: "And because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall say, A Bible! A Bible! we have got a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible.
"But thus saith the Lord God: O fools, they shall have a Bible; and it shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travels, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people. Thou fool, that shall say, A Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. Have ye obtained a Bible, save it were by the Jews?
"Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also. And I do this that I may prove unto many, that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man; neither from that time henceforth and forever.
"Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written: For I command all men, both in the East and in the West, and in the North, and in the South, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written, I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written.
"For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it. And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will shew unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham, that I would remember his seed forever."
It has been decreed by the Almighty, and spoken of by Book of Mormon prophets that slavery should not obtain and be perpetuated upon this land: "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written." (Ether ii:12.) This decree of the Almighty has determined the history of this country from the beginning, so far as internal slavery and freedom from bondage of other nations is concerned. If the skeptic shall say that the prophecy was published to the world long after the freedom of the American colonies and the independence of this government were attained, we call attention to the fact that slavery has been abolished in this land since then, and that no nation which has made war with the United States has ever succeeded, and never will, unless the inhabitants of this land shall become overwhelmed in iniquity and abominations.
Another striking prediction contained in the Book of Mormon is the following: "And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles; and I will fortify this land against all other nations; and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God; For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words." (II. Nephi x:11-14.) Gradually, yet with certain progress, has the government of kings been abolished from the American continent until nearly all governments in North and South America are republics. Canada is still under the rule of Great Britain, but is managed in such a manner that the liberties of the people are almost, if not quite equal to those of a republican territory. Those who know the history of the effort to make Maximilian a king in Mexico also know how terribly the words of the Book of Mormon have been verified: "For he that raiseth up a king unto me shall perish."
This continent is the land of Zion, "and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God." Before the late Spanish-American war, George Q. Cannon read these predictions from the Book of Mormon before a congregation in the Tabernacle, and with a knowledge that these prophecies were given of the Lord foretold the result of the war and the certain banishment of Spanish kingly power from the American isles. Other prophecies of the sacred volume have been verified since its publication to the world. Those verified should establish faith in reasonable minds that the unfulfilled parts will surely come to pass.
The external evidences afforded by archaeologists to the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon are very numerous; they may be ascertained by a careful study of the sacred volume and a comparison with the discoveries of later times, in the ruins of ancient cities, towns, temples, roadways, etc., which have been brought to light and are treated upon in the writings of Stevens and Catherwood, Dr. Le Plongeon, and many other eminent antiquarians. While the Book of Mormon without investigation is discarded, its opponent is led to prove its divinity by his researches into archaeology. In connection with the coming forth of this word Isaiah said, "The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."
All the old subterfuges published against the book have been exploded long since, and yet people are still repeating them. It was stated that Joseph Smith's ingenuity and Sidney Rigdon's learning devised the Book of Mormon from the Solomon Spaulding romance. The Book of Mormon was published to the world before Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon ever saw each other. Prof. Fairchild of the Oberlin College in Ohio, examined the Spaulding manuscript and compared it with the Book of Mormon; he then testified over his signature that there was no similarity between them.
Some people have ridiculed the record because in point of literary merit it did not equal the Jewish record, the Holy Bible. If this were any just cause of rejection, why not discard several books in the Bible because their literature does not equal in merit the writings of the patriarch Job? But laying this aside, the Book of Mormon offers its own explanation of literary defect. "Condemn me not because of mine imperfection; neither my father, because of his imperfections; neither them who have written before him, but rather give thanks unto God that He hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the Reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech. And if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew; but the Hebrew hath been altered by us also: and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold, ye would have had no imperfection in our record. But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also that none other people knoweth our language, therefore He hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof." (Mormon ix:31-34.) In the preface of the record is written: "And now if there be faults, they are the mistakes of men, wherefore condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment seat of Christ." "But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record. For because of my Spirit, he shall know that these things are true; for it persuadeth men to do good." (Ether iv:11.) Again, "And whoso receiveth this record, and shall not condemn it because of the imperfections which are in it, the same shall know of greater things than these. Behold, I am Moroni; and were it possible, I would make all things known unto you." (Mormon viii:12.) Those persons who would esteem literary imperfections an evidence against the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon must belong to one of two classes—they are either not honest at heart and are seeking opportunity to evade the responsibility of knowing the truth, or they are shallow-minded, and to the world of sound reason, good judgment, and practical ability prefer the shadow compared with the substance. He "that will do the will of the Father shall know of the doctrine," is the promise of our Savior; and the promises in the Book of Mormon that those who will not condemn the things of God because of human imperfections, but shall receive greater knowledge, are plain enough to condemn the world if they reject them, as much as the teachings of the Jewish record shall condemn mankind if they will not hearken.
The truth of the Book of Mormon is affirmed by the direct testimony of four witnesses-Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, who saw the angel Moroni, and the ancient plates from which the sacred volume was translated. None of them ever wavered from that testimony. They maintained it under great trials and persecutions to the end, and Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his life, a martyr to the truth. Eight other men, whose names are recorded in the fore part of the book, saw and handled the plates. Many thousands of people from various lands and climes have read the book with prayerful hearts, have received the ordinances of the Gospel and by the power of the Holy Ghost solemnly testify that the Book of Mormon is a divine record. Added to this I testify, as an humble disciple of the Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ who is our Redeemer, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God and the Book of Mormon is a divine record, revealed by the God of heaven and translated by the gift and power of God as a witness unto this and all future generations that Jesus is the Christ, that the Bible is true, that there is but one plan of salvation, and that Jesus taught the same plan to the Jews, to the seed of Joseph and to the lost tribes by his own personal ministrations. He also sent the Gospel to the Gentiles by the hands of His apostles, and thereby shows to all men in every land and in all ages that God changes not, and is the same today, yesterday and forever.
No people hold more sacred the principle of marriage, nor esteem more highly the possession of chastity, than do the Latter-day Saints. Among no people, either Catholic or Protestant, is a lapse of virtue so rare as among this people. We consider sexual crime the most blighting curse that infests the earth today. Adultery is considered as next in the catalogue of crime to murder. Individuals guilty of fornication or adultery are promptly excommunicated from the church, unless the sin is followed by the most profound repentance and the best reparation which can possibly be made. The children around the family altar, in Sunday school, Mutual Improvement Associations, Primary Associations, and all the institutions of the church, are taught to hold their virtue more sacred to them than life itself. When they attain to years of maturity and enter the holy state of matrimony, they vow before God, angels and living witnesses that they will never violate the marriage covenants.
We believe that God ordained the union of the sexes in marriage, not only for time but for all eternity. It is greatly due to this fact and the deeply religious element which enters into marriage among our people, that divorces are so rare. Young men and women are taught that, while pure love and perfect congeniality should exist between the parties to the marriage covenants, passion and infatuation should not be the ruling motive, but principle should control; and that in the weakness of humanity the dangers of mistakes in the mating of the sexes are so great, the only safe way is to seek in prayer and supplication the guidance of divine Providence; they are, also taught to so live in daily walk and conversation that their heavenly Father will answer their prayers. To feel sublimely impressed that marriage is for all eternity, and that God is directly interested in us, tends to make people more careful and considerate, more prayerful in choosing a husband or wife, than otherwise they would be. The result of such teaching is a far greater percentage of happy unions and a much smaller percentage of divorces among the Latter-day Saints than among other Christian communities.
The primary design of marriage, to "multiply and replenish the earth" and not to gratify lust, is upheld by the Latter-day Saints as in no other community. The consequence is twofold. Infanticide, foeticide and illegitimacy are very rare. The two former practices, so common in the world and adopted to lessen the responsibility of child-bearing while increasing the facilities for lustful gratification, are esteemed by this people as abominations in the sight of God, little short of outright murder in heinousness. Parties known to be guilty of such acts would not be fellowshiped in any sense, but would be cast out of the church without hesitation. The result of such high regard for the purposes of the Lord in marriage is, that the percentage of children in every family is much larger on the average than it is among any other Christian community of equal population. Because the children are numerous they are not weaker but usually stronger in body and intellect than in communities where the blighting curse of a reprehensible modern custom prevails. The wives of men thus taught and convinced of the sacredness of their procreative functions are healthier and happier in the home than are the wives and mothers in other communities. Prof. Phineas Priest, a non-"Mormon" phrenologist who traveled among the "Mormon" people in Idaho and Utah, said that in all his travels he had not found so large a percentage of healthy and intelligent children, with a corresponding condition of health and happiness on the part of the mothers, as he had among the "Mormon" people.
As to the eternity of the marriage covenant, a helpmeet was provided for man before death entered the world and therefore death could not prevail against the covenants of the Lord. "And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him an helpmeet for him." (Gen. ii:18.) The Savior came and offered up a sacrifice to redeem man from the fall, to destroy death and all the effects thereof. If His atonement simply redeemed the body from the grave, without restoring the condition of the Paradise lost, it would be altogether incomplete, and the words of Paul would be without effect wherein he said to the Corinthians, "O, grave, where is thy victory? O, death, where is thy sting?" If death destroyed and the grave buried the covenants of the Lord, we would indeed be, as Paul says, "of all men most miserable." God is eternal, and "I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." (Eccl. iii:14.)
When the ceremony of marriage is performed by a true servant of God, and the parties to the agreement are under the same covenant, he pronounces them one for time and all eternity. If this were not true of what avail was the authority delegated to Peter, when the Lord said unto him, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. xvi:19.) The apostle Peter, performing the marriage ceremony for members of the Church of Christ, would not pronounce them husband and wife "until death do you part;" for death was to be banished and "immortality brought to light" through the atonement of Christ.
All Christians pray and sing and preach about going to heaven. Will they be in the Lord there? If so, and they have embraced the true Gospel here, they will be united as husband and wife for all eternity, and that covenant will prevail there; hence, the apostle Paul says, "Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord." (I. Cor. xi:11. ) If they are in the Lord, then they are united; if not in the lord, they are damned.
Again the same apostle tells us, "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church." (Eph. v:23.) Will any man say that Christ was the head of the church for time only, during His few years of brief mortality, and that then the church is left without a head? No; Christ is the head of the church for all eternity and God so designed the husband to be the head of the wife.
The doctrine of marriage until death, appears to be a Sadducee doctrine, for they denied the resurrection. It was the Sadducee who asked the Savior whose wife should the woman be who had seven husbands in this world. The answer was undoubtedly designed to apply to those who rejected the Gospel of Christ, while pretending to cling to the laws of Moses. They virtually made a covenant with death. Isaiah says, "And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." (Isa. xxviii:18.) In making a covenant with death they broke the "everlasting covenant" and dishonored God, for He is everlasting and His ordinances endure forever, unimpaired by death, hell or the grave.
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have "transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant." (Isa. xxiv:5.) As a result of this condition the prophet says: "Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left." (Isa. xxiv:6.) Among the causes of this great desolation yet to come upon the earth is the breaking of the everlasting covenant. The earth is to be burned and few men left. Jesus says that except "those days shall be shortened there should be no flesh saved." To shorten those days and provide the way for honorable women to fill the measure of their creation in holy wedlock, God has restored this everlasting covenant and will yet cleanse the earth of wicked men by His judgments, until few men shall be left. Whoredoms, adultery and all sexual abominations will be swept away, and the words of Isaiah in the fourth chapter will be verified. They that are the "seed of Abraham will do the works of Abraham." As the apostle Paul says, "And if ye be Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. iii:29.) That all honorable women, who desire wifehood and motherhood under the laws of God may have this privilege and not be left to live and die as spinsters, nor become a prey to wicked, lustful men, God will fulfill the prophecy found in Isaiah, chapter iv., verses 1, 2: "In that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel; only let us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel."
The Latter-day Saints are looking for the coming of the Savior to reign upon the earth, at which coming will commence the reign of peace for one thousand years. This is the Millennium, during which period Satan will be bound and all iniquity shall be done away. When Jesus had finished his ministry at Jerusalem and had ascended into heaven from the presence of His apostles, two heavenly beings "stood by them in white apparel; which also said, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.'" (Acts i:10, 11.) He ascended in glory and power. In glory and power will He come to reign. The preparation shown forth in the restoration of the Gospel by a holy angel; the gathering of Israel; the restoration of the ten tribes; the return of the Jews; the establishment of Zion and Jerusalem—all are signs to precede His second coming, as referred to in preceding chapters of this little work, in its discussion of several subjects.
That Jesus will come in power and glory is evident from many prophecies. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all." (Jude i:14, 15.) Malachi says: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple. But who will abide the day of His coming, and who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap." (Mal. iii:1, 2.) Unlike this first advent as the meek and lowly babe of Bethlehem, He next comes in glory, to avenge the blood of His Saints, to purify the sons of Levi, to cleanse and purify the earth that it may enjoy a reign of peace and rest.
When Jerusalem is partly rebuilt by her ancient covenant people, the Gentile nations will be gathered against them to battle. Then will the crucified Redeemer appear to the Jews. He will set his feet upon the Mount of Olives, and the mount will cleave in twain. The house of Judah will look upon Him, and seeing the wounds in His hands and feet, will ask where He obtained them. When He shall answer, "in the house of my friends," they will weep and mourn, their separate houses and families apart, to realize that He whom their fathers rejected is in truth their Deliverer and Redeemer. Then will the fountain for uncleanness be opened, and the house of Judah will be baptized for the remission of their sins.
"Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against the nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall move toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (Zech. xiv:1-4.)
"And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands?" Then He shall answer, "Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." (Zech. xiii:6.) "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; All the families that remain: every family apart, and their wives apart." (Zech. xii:9-14.) "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech xiii:1.)
Many other plain and precious prophecies of the Old and New Testaments might be cited to show forth the second coming of our Savior. These predictions are corroborated by the prophecies in the Book of Mormon, and by the predictions of the prophet Joseph Smith, made in the revelations of God to him in these latter days.
In close connection with the Savior's second coming will be presented the glorious conditions of the Millennium. "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (Hab. ii:14.) "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Isa. xi:6-10.)
Man is the great head of God's creation, the image of his Maker. He has made him "a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." (Ps. viii:5.) Man led the way to the fall by which came the enmity between himself and the lower animal creation. Should man not lead the way, as the Lord directs, back to his "Paradise Lost"?
As an incident pointing the way to and expressing the true spirit of the Millennium, when Zion's Camp, a body of more than 200 men, journeyed through the wilderness of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri from Kirtland to Western Missouri, the Camp at night would be visited by serpents, which the brethren were inclined to destroy. The Prophet Joseph told them not to kill the snakes, but to carry them peaceably from their tents with sticks. Joseph promised them that if they kept this counsel none should be bitten, adding that it was man's duty to set the example of peace and lead the way back to the perfect harmony existing in Eden before the fall. The Camp observed his advice and realized his promise.
The time spoken of by Isaiah, as already referred to here, was also predicted by Joel when he said: "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and none else: And my people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit." (Joel ii: 27-29.) The apostle Peter, upon the day of Pentecost, gave the multitude to understand that the Spirit which gave utterance to the apostles on that occasion was the same Spirit concerning which Joel the prophet said in the last days should be poured out, not upon the few only, but upon all flesh. The Spirit of God alone can bring perfect unity, destroy enmity, and fill the earth with the knowledge and glory of God.
Of this glorious epoch the prophet Jeremiah says: "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." (Jer. xxxi:34.) Such a condition would be in harmony with the promise of the Savior that there should be "one fold and one shepherd." The Spirit of Truth is the guide into all truth, rather than to man-made theories taught by men devoid of the authority and inspiration of Almighty God.
Paul says, "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away." (I Cor. xiii.) Prophecy and tongues and the gifts of the Gospel imperfectly enjoyed by man in his weakness were never designed to be done away until we come to enjoy a more perfect fullness, "when we see as we are seen and know as we are known." Zephania says: "For then will I turn to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." (Zeph. iii:9.) The pure language was confounded at the tower of Babel, because men sought to thwart the purposes of Jehovah. When the time comes that the wicked who will not obey are swept from the earth, the Lord will restore to His children the language which they learned from their mother tongue and which was spoken from Adam to the time of the tower of Babel. He will also unite the great bodies of water into a mighty ocean and roll it back to its place in the North, while the lands of the earth will be reunited and become one vast continent.
Isaiah says, speaking of the land of Zion, which is the Western hemisphere, and the land of Jerusalem, on the Eastern continent: "Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." (Isa. lxii:4.) In other words, the lands shall be united. What a glorious period and condition! The earth geographically restored, spiritually redeemed and politically exalted to the government of God. John, the revelator, prophesied: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." (Rev. xi:15.) And again, in the twentieth chapter, fourth verse, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands: And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
The further writings of the apostle John in the Apocalypse describe the conditions of peace during the Millennium, and subsequently the last resurrection, the change of the earth, the banishment of Lucifer therefrom, and the earth celestialized as man's eternal abode, our heaven. The apostle Peter says "the elements shall melt with fervent heat," and John the apostle informs us that the earth shall become as a sea of glass, a great Urim and Thummim. What a joyous consummation to the labors of the faithful, in the great and marvelous blessings that will bring such glory to those that serve the Lord and to their heavenly abode!
Various apparent printer's errors (e.g. "whem" for "when") and mismatched quotation marks have been resolved as seemed reasonable.