THE PRIESTHOOD.
Liverpool, September30, 1847.
Reverend and Dear Sir,—In close connexion with an account of the character of God, I will proceed to give you a brief and succint description of THE PRIESTHOOD. It is feared, however, that the present subject will not be more congenial to your views than the foregoing. Still it shall be treated according to the spirit of the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, which you ardently profess to believe.
You will admit that God is the righteous Ruler over all the moral and intelligent creatures of the universe. His government is both temporal and spiritual. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice. He clothes the lilies of the field; much more doth He watch over all the varied interests of intelligent beings both in heaven and upon earth.
I shall then define priesthood to be that order of authoritative intelligences by which God regulates, controls, enlightens, blesses or curses, saves or condemns all beings. To it, under God, all things are subservient in righteousness, whether in heaven, earth, or hell. God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is at the head of all genuine priesthood. But as it is His will that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father, Jesus now stands accredited as the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. Subordinate priests in the same apostolic order of the Son of God, are such as he has put in his church. These are called apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, &c.
Now, sir, by means of this order, extending from Jesus the High Priest, to the lowest grade of priesthood in conjunction with the Holy Ghost, God teaches and governs all things. Out of the line of this order, there is no power whatever that is acknowledged and approved of God. Magistrates, rulers, kings, potentates and principalities, if not legitimately ordained and clothed with the authority of this priestly order of the Son of God, are usurpers and not of God—for the scriptures declare that there is no power that is not of God. Even the angelic order is in the line of subordination to Jesus Christ, and in the same chain of priesthood with apostles and prophets upon the earth.
The priesthood exhibits a regular gradation of knowledge and authority from Jesus the great High Priest in heaven, to the lowest description of ordination in the church below. Jesus said that "all power was given him in heaven and upon earth." But how did he propose to exercise all that power which was given him both among the nations of the earth and in heaven? My answer is, that he proposed to do it through a delegation of power to the different orders of his priesthood. We are told distinctly what the priesthood consists of, which is established on the earth, viz., apostles, prophets, evangelists, &c. The heavenly order, minister to the authorities of the earthly order. The ruling object to be accomplished by the latter is, the work of the ministry, the perfecting of the Saints, the edifying of the body of Christ.
The first object of this priestly order is to teach all nations to become loyal and good citizens of the kingdom of God, observing all the commandments of God. One universal commandment of God is, for all men every where to repent and be baptized, and keep all other laws of God, as they shall be dispensed from the great High Priest through the delegated authorities. Now if all men do not obey these commands, they are liable to be dealt with as transgressors, and punished as evil doers. The command to obey is imperative uponallmen. Hence whatever orders of civil government—or order of domestic compact—or order of business transaction—or order of religious worship—or rule of commercial transaction may contravene the established order of priesthood, the same must bow to the requisition of the inspired priesthood of God; and God acknowledges no other power with approbation.
Now, dear sir, it is this imperative attitude of authority and power, which the Almighty boldly claims, and fearlessly attempts to exercise, through a chosen priesthood over all mankind, Jews and Gentiles, that greatly displeases the rebellious portion of our race. They cannot bear that this "man should reign over them." False notions of independence and liberty rise against an order of delegated authorities claiming inspiration and officiality from God. The rebellious profess that they are ready to obey the Almighty God, but as for these men claiming priesthood, we will not havethem, to reign over us.
The abuses practised by an apostate and uncalled priesthood for the last seventeen hundred years, has wrought an honest but wofully misguided prejudice against the true priesthood; and a large portion of mankind demand also, that God shall communicate with themselves directly, without the intervention of agencies chosen from mere men like themselves. And this captious spirit of dictation, as to the manner in which God shall teach and govern them, has been fostered in their minds by the erroneous notion that God is such a centreless, boundless spirit of ubiquity, that he can teach and govern all worlds without the aid of other agencies. We might as well suppose that he can see without eyes, or hear without ears. But God's being like man, though infinitely exalted above him, and unspeakably perfected in every faculty and power, puts to shame these dark vagaries about the inutility of delegated powers.
During the whole period of the world, God has ever and invariably attempted to teach and govern mankind by means of an established priesthood consisting of men; and this priesthood has been as invariably resisted from the days of righteous Abel till now. By this priesthood, it is the design of God to establish a Divine government upon the earth, even as it is established in the heavens. All other forms of government have proved a complete failure in every nation and period, in which the experiment has been attempted.
But the most humiliating feature in the whole history of governments is, that many have sought to ape the Divine government with an uninspired priesthood. They have thereby made every species of religious government a stink and confusion in all the earth. Their uninspired systems have been like a fair woman without discretion, or like jewels in a swine's snout. Sometimes they have united church and state, and swayed a sceptre of oppression; at other times they have been passive and non-resistant, even to the utter extinction of thousands whose defenceless blood has crimsoned the earth. But the time for experimenting upon false forms of government, civil or religious, has nearly gone by never to return, "save for a little season."
A priesthood chosen not of men, but chosen first of God, and inspired with his wisdom, truth, and power, is now called and ordained to teach all nations, and fill the earth with the knowledge of God. By means of this order, and this order alone, the kingdoms of this world, whether temporal or spiritual, pagan or christian, are all to be merged in one universal kingdom. And this will be the best and greatest kingdom ever known this side of heaven. Its constitution, laws, and method of administration will be after the model of the heavenly order. It will embrace politics, arts, war, merchandize, science, and religion—- things temporal and things spiritual. And the energy and wisdom of Omnipotence will, like the little leaven in meal, increase and magnify in the priesthood, till the whole world is brought into happy subordination to this plan of government. The nations of the earth will then become one family and brotherhood. Kings and rulers, of all grades, will then be chosen of God through the priesthood, of which priesthood rulers will be a part and portion; and without being ordained to the priesthood, no man ever can rule in this great kingdom.
Thus, dear sir, you perceive that I attach great importance to the priesthood, and consider it the grand instrumentality of revolutionizing, and saving, and governing the whole earth. But what harm in all this? Do you think there is too much power invested in this chosen order of men? Why, certainly not! They have not chosen themselves; neither have they come to office by the votes of the unthinking mass; nor by blind hereditary lineage, nor by violence and the usurper's arts. They have been chosen of God, who knew their spirits before the foundation of the world. They are a royal priesthood and holy nation, for God will have no other in his priesthood. Says Jesus to his apostles, "Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you." Whom God approves men should not refuse.
Moses was a priest and lawgiver, and had to do with the temporal and spiritual affairs of his subjects. Moses sought to unite church and state, in obedience to the command of God. Joshua was also a priest and ruler, and united both temporal and spiritual interests in his government. David was a priest and king, and likewise Solomon, his son. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were as much directed, by God, in their temporal concerns or movements as they were in their spiritual devotions. Jesus Christ came to establish a temporal kingdom fully as much as a spiritual kingdom. Both Jews and Romans suspected his designs, and charged him with the crime of treason. They said that he called himself a King. Some will say that he explicitly declared that His kingdom was not of this world. True: He did make this declaration; but what does it prove? It proves simply, that this world was not the father, author, or origin of His kingdom. His kingdom was fromheaven, and He had come here for the very important purpose of establishing it on theearth. He called it kingdom of heaven, in distinction from kingdoms that were of earthly origin.
It is strange, indeed, that the sectarian clergy should borrow the idea that His kingdom was not a temporal kingdom as well as spiritual. It was the prayer of His heart, and the prayer that He taught His disciples, that God would establish His kingdom on earth, and cause His will to be done here as it is done in heaven. Consequently, he organized the kingdom here after the pattern of heaven, with all proper officers, and laws suited to every temporal and spiritual occasion, and then gave commandment that all nations should yield allegiance to the laws and authorities established, and also submit themselves to the ordinances of His Kingdom. And being in possession of living teachers, even the word of inspired men, they (all mankind, if they would obey) would be thoroughly furnished to "every good word and work." In other words, they would know how to act in every calling and sphere of business, whether temporal or spiritual.
Jesus Christ did not design that his servants should fight one another, or fight and conquer mankind into allegiance to Him. The world would act on these principles through disobedience, but his disciples would not, because they were shown a better way to universal dominion and government.
The priesthood being an office of great responsibility, is guarded rigidly against intruders. Man may lawfully desire this office, but he has no right to take it of himself, but he must first be called and appointed to it as Aaron was, by God, through a prophetic voice. Neither is man required to study, and artificially qualify himself for receiving it. God takes men as they are, and with the gift of priestly office He bestows the requisite qualifications. The ordination of heaven put upon the head of any man, however ignorant, is a voucher for requisite qualification and blessing. Every man is thereby thoroughly furnished for the discharge of all the duties of his respective calling. They are not all apostles, however, neither are all prophets or pastors. But every one has his calling of God, and in the legitimate sphere of that calling he acts as God, and in the authority of God.
Some have authority only to baptize unto repentance for remission of sins, as John the Baptist. Such can confer no more authority than they possess in themselves. Others have authority to bless, and whom they bless are blessed in very deed. They have similar authority to curse, and whom they curse are cursed in very deed. Jacob blessed his sons, and the heavens sealed and confirmed the same upon their heads. Paul cursed Elymas, the sorcerer, with blindness, and the same curse was sealed and confirmed upon him immediately. Elisha cursed Gehazi, his servant, and leprosy cleaved to him from that time. Elijah shut up the windows of heaven that it rained not for the space of three years and six months, by the same delegated power, and again they were opened at his voice. He was a man of like passions with ourselves. All men are not ordained to this power, and when they are not, they are wholly incapable of exercising it. It is office that gives recognition and legality to a deed of conveyance and ownership. It is divine appointment and official calling that gives efficacy to the priesthood. But many generations have contented themselves to preach and support preachers who have no divine appointment.
The consequence is, that men have been self-appointed to the ministry and spread dissention and confusion abroad. The knowledge of the true and living God has gradually receded from the earth, and darkness, even gross darkness, covered the people. The ordinances that impart healing virtue and the power and light of truth, have either been changed or abolished. The apostolic office has been counted as a thing out of date, and the spiritual gifts as being done away. The religious world has been too much like King Saul. After he had been forsaken of God, and the power and Spirit of his anointing given to David, this unhappy monarch resorted to every miserable device, (even to the aid of witches), in order to obtain knowledge and influence. But the curse of disobedience followed him to the day of his death.
The religious sects, in like manner, have resorted to seminaries and the polish of schools—also to the theological comments of time-honoured fathers, (who were as ignorant as themselves) ever learning, yet never coming to the knowledge of truth. Bibles have been translated again and again; learned volumes have been written in explanation, and even wars have been instigated by the supposed defenders of the faith, and the earth crimsoned by human gore. All these evils and curses have arisen from a spurious priesthood.
In view of these things, is it not time, sir, to let God resume the reins of government and once more establish a holy priesthood, which shall be after the calling of Aaron, and after the order and power of endless life. That this may be the unfeigned choice of all who seek after God, is the continued prayer of
Your old friend and servant,
ORSON SPENCER.
ON GATHERING.
Liverpool, October 13, 1847.
Reverend and Dear Sir,—You have doubtless been ready to ask, time and again, why this GATHERING together of such large bodies of Saints? Why can they not stay in their former residences, like other christians? And may they not do more good to their fellow-men by scattering about amongst the people promiscuously? Why, go away off to some distant part of the earth? is not the Almighty God to be found as much in one place as another? Furthermore, says one, it is exceedingly dangerous to community at large to allow any large body of people, of the same faith and doctrine, to assemble themselves in any one place, their influence being rendered formidable by reason of concentration and union.
My dear sir, have not cogitations like these passed through your mind, and been reiterated in your hearing more than once, concerning Latter-day Saints? Delusion! delusion! is reiterated on many sides. What can these Latter-day Saints mean—selling out their possessions at so great a sacrifice, and leaving a comfortable and pleasant home for a far distant land, even crossing the wide Atlantic! Has there been the like fanaticism since the time of the crusades? On the land, hundreds of wagons, yea thousands in all, are seen rolling their whitened canvas over the wide prairies, accompanied by their flocks and herds; and on the ocean a multitude of ships are wafting the inhabitants of distant islands and continents to the same destination!
Now, I propose to meet these inquiries and reflections promptly and fairly. In the first place, if the church is guided by the spirit of revelation, God, the author of all true revelation, knows what is good for his people, and He will not require them togatherwithout good and sufficient reasons. For the church that is not guided by the spirit of sacred inspiration, is guided by mammon or the devil; for every church will serve God or mammon. Well, says one, I don't believe that God ever did, or ever will, require people to gather together and leave their country and kindred. Aye, indeed; but you believe the Bible, I trust, which informs you not only how Godhasgathered his people in different periods of the world, but also, that He will gather them together in the dispensation of the fulness of times.
Do I need to remind you, sir, that God required Abraham to rise up and leave his country and kindred, and go in search of a country that he should afterwards show him. He was obedient, and went from one country to another, the Lord being his counsellor and guide. The ancient saints and prophets generally were "strangers" in consequence of being called to leave their home and country. Their obedience to such a call, through faith, constituted them heirs of an inheritance. Abraham became an heir of the country which he was not permitted to possess in time, but he will hold the same in eternity, with a city built upon it according to the counsel of God.
In the dispensation given to Moses, he was required to gather the people out of all the land of Egypt, and take them to the land of Canaan; and what was very remarkable, he was required to slay and destroy the inhabitants, in order to make room for the greatgatheringof the Hebrews. The children of God and the people of this world cannot dwell together; they are always contrary one to the other.
What fellowship hath Christ with Belial, or believers with unbelievers? The Egyptians could have no fellowship with the Hebrews after they were told that a prophet had sprung up among them. The Hebrews told a marvellous tale about the Lord appearing to Moses in the "burning bush." They pretended to have revelation and work miracles as in the early days of Potipher and Joseph; but this pretension to angels, prophets, and miracles, speedily sundered all ties of harmony and fellowship, and it was necessary for the Hebrews to leave the country. God required it of them, and even ordered them into an unpromising wilderness, to be subject to hunger, and thirst, and many hardships.
The same spirit of opposition to miracles, prophets, and angels exists now; and the righteous can no more keep the ordinances and commandments of God now, without persecution even to death from the world, than the Hebrews could do it. For the same reason Lotgatheredout of Sodom —even angels could not stop a night in Sodom without being mobbed; accordingly, the Lord commanded him to gather up so many as would go with him and flee to the mountain. His reason for the gathering in this case was, that He could not properly punish the Sodomites, unless the righteous were gathered out of the city in the first place. Likewise, when Jerusalem was about to be destroyed, Jesus instructed his disciples to flee to the mountain.
It was persecution that scattered the primitive Saints abroad in the days of Jesus. Jesus had taught Paul and Peter, that the Saints could not be preserved on the earth, and the kingdom built up, without the Saints were gathered together in one. He told them, absolutely and unequivocally, that he should gather the disciples in the day of restitution. Such was their sense of the immediateness of gathering, and of the second coming of Christ, that they were troubled when the disciples weregathered, lest the day of the Lord was at hand; but Paul disabused them, and told them that there must be a "falling away" before the notable day of the Lord should come.
Paul informed his brethren, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, God would gather together in one, all things both in heaven and upon earth and under the earth. John speaks of the same, probably as the day of the great battle of God Almighty, Jesus signified that He would gather his people, the elect, even if he had to send his angels to the four corners of the earth to bring them, after the manner in which he sent to Sodom to bring Lot out of it to a place of safety. He declared he would gather the wheat into the garner, and the tares into bundles to be burned. The prophets, too, long before the meridian of time, saw with enrapturing vision, the sons coming from afar, and the daughters from the ends of the earth.
Isaiah says, "the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see, all theygatherthemselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then shalt thou see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel. And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles. 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 corners of the earth."
The gathering of Saints to one place is necessary in order to preserve their genealogies, and to secure to them those inheritances, the title to which must be substantiated by legitimate records, kept in the archives of the house of God. Whenever God has had a people. He has been careful to instruct them to keep an accurate record of marriages and the issues of marriage; from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham, and thence to David down to Jesus Christ, the genealogy must necessarily be preserved. Says David, "God setteth people in families as a flock." "He arrangeth them in families." But if these families intermarry with those who do not keep the laws of God, nor conform to his ordinances, the records of genealogy are soon obliterated from the knowledge of men, and the proof of a legitimate title to inheritance is thereby extinct; and unless Saints are gathered out from the midst of unbelievers, they are more liable to intermarry and become alienated from the ordinances and covenants of the Lord. If Isaac and Ishmael have no records of parentage, how can one claim rights of lineage above another? God will assign rewards to men according to therecordsof their deserts, and one great pre-requisite to the final restitution of all things, is the reviving and establishing of proper records of genealogy, and covenants, and promises, and patriarchal blessings.
In one instance God had to rescind the marriages of a numerous people, because such marriages, by their issue, would tend to frustrate the grace of God to the righteous, and entail blessings upon a strange people that God designed to curse. The ordinances of the church and institutions of God's house cannot be carried into execution in a land belonging to "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel;" because aliens from God will not have the Lord to rule over them. They consider that the laws of God set two against three, and three against two, the father-in-law against the son-in-law, &c.; and so do they have this effect, and always will have it, until the Saints are separated from their adversaries. Before there can be anything like a true, godlike, peaceful millennium, a separation must take place between the righteous and disobedient; even as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, even so must God's will be done with friends and foes on earth, like as in heaven.
Had the Jews received Jesus Christ, He would have set up just such a kingdom on earth as in heaven, and the honest from all nations would have beengatheredto his standard. But seeing they would pierce the Shepherd, and scatter the sheep through a long cloudy day, as it had been prophesied of Him and his followers; He, nevertheless, assured his disciples that his people should begathered, in the latter days, as wheat into the garner. John says to the Saints in the last days, that are scattered among the confused nations of the whole earth:—"Come out of her my people, and be not partakers of her sins, that ye receive not of her plagues." Here the reason why Saints should come out of other nations is distinctly avowed—"to escape her plagues." The same reason that was assigned why Lot should go out of Sodom.
The idea prevalent that God would inflict all his judgments in one great tremendous DAY, is as absurd as the notion is universal. The famine and dearth were at the command of Elijah. The earthquake that swallowed up Dathan and the company of Abiram, was at the command of Moses. Moses also stretched out his hand as a signal to the accumulated seas to overwhelm the Egyptians, and they obeyed his mandate. But I will not multiply proofs. God will pour out his vials of wrath, and distress the nations till they will learn and practice righteousness; and his people must flee to their appointed hiding place till the indignation is overpast, otherwise they have no guaranty for their safety. The Hebrews were obliged to mark their houses, lest the destroying angel should slay both them and the Egyptians. The Lord God has decreed a consumption upon the whole earth, therefore let the righteous flee to the strongholds of Zion, that are preparing in that land that was promised to the Patriarch Joseph, while it is an accepted time, and the evil days come not.
Jesus cautioned Jerusalem saints to beware of imitating the silly and dilatory part of Lot's wife. The righteous are no more secure from approaching judgments than the wicked, except they obey the commands of God. Even a prophet was once slain by a lion, because he dared to disobey the Lord. No man should neglect any means by which he can be removed, and help to remove others, from those nations that are as inevitably doomed to destruction for rebellion, as the Canaanites of former times.
Sir, we feel the very same extraordinary interest in depositing our very bones in the land of Zion, that the patriarchs formerly felt when they commanded that their bones should be removed, to the country and burying place which God had designated. If there is enthusiasm in this sentiment, sir, it is the enthusiasm of patriarchs and prophets that kept the divine mandates, and knew well the order of the resurrection, and the necessity of having their bones laid on the identical land that should afterwards be their possession and inheritance for ever and ever. Did not the Lord apportion off the land of Canaan to the twelve tribes to be their inheritance for ever? and shall not the one hundred and forty-four thousand in the latter days be equally tenacious to possess the very inheritance that was promised them to be a perpetual possession in time and eternity? There, their bones, like the precious valley of dry bones, will be the guardian care of angels, and in the resurrection stand up like a consolidated army, while the disobedient and ungodly shall be scattered and driven as chaff before the wind.
The aged and infirm among us, fervently desire to carry their bones, while animated with life, to the land of Zion, as an expression of their faith in the promise of God, that he will resurrect them and plant them in that same "heavenly" country which they now seek. What Canaan was to ancient saints and prophets, the land of Joseph will be to the saints and prophets of the last days, and more abundantly. If men have not the spirit of gathering they are blind and cannot see afar off, and are nigh unto burning. The gathering is one great test of faith, by which you may know who is on the Lord's side. Kindred spirits long to congregate together.
The language of Ruth is expressive of the desires of God's people in all ages. "Thy people is my people, and their God is my God, and where thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge." Her sister Orpah could forego the society of saints and the ordinances of God sooner than part with her native country and kindred. A portion of Lot's family saw no wisdom in thegatheringuntil it was too late. Sir, thegatheringis the great universal nationalpreacherof the last days. It speaks in trumpet tones out of every nation where it has been commenced. As birds retire before a storm, and fowls before the darkness of night, so the multitudes that go out by sea and land is a practical warning that cannot be mistaken by those that remain.
The nations wonder at the spectacle of such multitudes going out of their midst under the warning voice of Jehovah, and are ready to cry out, who are these that fly as clouds and as doves to their windows? Who are these Latter-day Saints? What is their doctrine, and whither are they fleeing? The sound of the gathering goeth into all the earth. The fear and dread of approaching calamities take possession of the nations. The righteous are being withdrawn apart, in order that the Almighty may stretch out his chastening hand, and inflict his sore judgment upon rebellious nations. There is no room to mistake the faith and sincerity of those whose gathering together is without a parallel for magnitude of enterprise. The Israelites performed a journey that might have been compassed in about forty days, but the Latter-day gathering brings sons and daughters from the ends of the earth.
The great design of Jesus in bringing the righteous tounityof faith and the knowledge of God, is wonderfully facilitated by bringing the righteous together in one place. The ancient Jews were taught of God to build up Jerusalem as a place ofgathering; and those whose circumstances forbid them to locate there, either from political or agricultural interests, were required to visit Jerusalem at least three times a year, where they could interchange hospitalities and friendships, and contract matrimonial alliances, &c. Also, in addition to these facilities of union, their baptisms were to be performed in the national font; their marriage rites, and records of genealogy, were to be performed and deposited in the archives of the great Temple of the Lord at Jerusalem.
In this great city of gathering, their frequent and splendid national festivals were to be held from generation to generation. By these multiplied means, the union of Jews became proverbially strong; and their attachments to their nation and kindred, and national rights and usages, became as enduring as their existence. If, perchance, they should be scattered amongst the remote nations of the earth, still the recollection of their journeyings to Jerusalem in social groups—their splendid festivals at the national capitol—their royal affinity with the great and good of God's people—vibrated through their minds with resuscitating power. There it was that the Almighty condescended to reveal his acceptance of their sacrifices, and bless the people from the greatest to the least, and even speak to the people through their High Priest at least once a year.
Now, when God shall build up Zion and his Holy House in the tops of the mountains, and all nations flow into it, will He not appear in his glory? Such a measure of union, and strength of attachment to the Lord and his people, the last days will exhibit as was never before realized on the earth; then will Zion rise and shine, her light being come, and the glory of God being risen upon her—yea, be an eternal excellency and the praise and joy of the whole earth!
Who, sir, can contemplate the glory of Zion, when God shall have gathered his people from the four corners of the earth, and made of them a great nation, an "innumerable company," and blessed them with his own laws and ordinances, binding them together in a new and everlasting covenant, without the most thrilling emotions of love, gratitude, and joy in believing. Break out, O thou inhabitant of Zion, and sing for the glory that shall shortly be revealed; when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of Christ, and the stakes thereof shall no more be thrown down for ever!
Now, sir, in conclusion, may I not say, with all deference to the misguided teachers of modern christianity, that the Lord is performing a marvellous work and a wonder in the greatest of all gatherings since the foundation of the world. He is gathering his righteous hosts from the nations of the earth to one place, and setting his forces in battle array against the powers of darkness, and against all flesh that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And by truth, and by judgments, he will thoroughly cleanse the earth, and overthrow more wickedness in ten years to come, than blind, boasting, self-righteous modern christianity can in ten thousand years.
Please to accept my warmest desires for your present and everlasting peace and welfare.
Your humble servant,
ORSON SPENCER.
THE LATTER-DAY JUDGMENTS.
Liverpool, October28, 1847.
Reverend and Dear Sir,—THE LATTER-DAY JUDGMENTS, the subject of my present letter, deserve a careful consideration among the topics peculiar to Latter-day Saints.
You must be already aware that it is a part of my faith that God designs to set up his kingdomon the earth, in order that the meek may inherit theearthas their celestial abode; and as He will not employ His enemies to administer even temporal affairs within the bounds of His kingdom, His kingdom will consequently be a temporal one, and wholly and exclusively conducted by His own loyal subjects, according to His righteous will. He will proceed from conquest to conquest, until all other kingdoms are overthrown and merged in one—even His own kingdom.
The means by which he will subdue and overcome the nations of the earth are two, viz.. TRUTH and JUDGMENT. He explicitly declares, that He will layjudgmentto the line andrighteousnessto the plummet. His latter-day proclamation is, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come." The salvation that He offers is temporal, spiritual, and eternal; and the judgments which He will inflict are also similar. As a supreme lawgiver, He claims the submission of all the inhabitants of the earth. Nor is it necessary that His servants should be for ever preaching the gospel on the earth, in order to effect a universal reconciliation of all men to their God. All men will not obey the truth, therefore what the truth will not save through faith, God's judgments will destroy through their unbelief. And these judgments will be executed speedily, even as in the days of Noah and Lot. God formerly gave the inhabitants timely warning before the deluge came, and before the fire descended from heaven.
The gospel must first be preached, and then the judgments will follow in quick succession. Even as a chalk-line makes an impression for the saw and the chisel, so God's judgments will make an impression, sensible and summary. The day of vengeance has long been in His heart. A day when His jealousy and wrath shall burn like fire, even to the lowest hell. The wicked and diabolical spirits will be pursued, even to their dens of darkness, and there scourged and bound. The righteous veterans that have long since fought and bled, in order to establish a reign of righteousness and truth on the earth, and prayed with uplifted hands for this day of truth and judgment, their language is, "How long, O Lord, wilt thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" But God, who is long-suffering—not willing that any should perish, but rather that they should repent and be saved—has nevertheless reserved the worst spirits to the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. That day is even now dawned. God has commenced to reveal his wrath against all them that obey not the gospel. It is a day of revelation and prophecy.
The righteous are timely advised to gather out and separate themselves from those that will not obey the gospel. They are not disobedient to the great revelation of mercy to them that obey, and of wrath to them that are contentious and obey not the truth. The winds and waves are wafting thousands to the land of refuge. The prairies and wilderness reverberate with the songs of the outcast but chosen and elect ones of God. A more intelligent, enterprising, and bold race of Saints, perhaps, has never been summoned to the help of the Lord against the mighty, since the foundation of the world. Their fortitude, patience, and invincibility are indelibly written in their bloodstained pathway through Missouri and Illinois. The old arts of tormenting the sick by burning their houses, and of famishing the robust by plundering their crops, and forcing the sale of property by threats of murder and arson, are fruitless. Prison walls and tragic scenes of assassination and expatriation have spent their fury to no purpose. The daring sons of Pharaoh, Cain, and Judas are baffled and confounded at such godlike firmness. Occasionally a priest, goaded on by the loss of his flock, has dared to act as champion, and throw the gauntlet for public discussion, but the inevitable discomfiture that has followed, has taught him the superior policy of evading discussion. But, dear sir, no man can long be a neutral in this warfare. He must choose his side. If truth fails to bring down high looks, judgments will not fail. Those judgments which begun at the house of God, in Kirtland, Independence, and Nauvoo, have been seriously felt by the Saints of God. But if the righteous scarcely escape, where shall the sinner and ungodly appear? The latter-day judgments that shall befall their enemies will be far more insupportable and abiding.
There was no part of the United States ignorant of the murderous doings of their countrymen towards the Latter-day Saints. The news spread over the continent, and reached even the remote islands of the Pacific with almost telegraphic speed. Nobody that loved justice, or felt the bowels of humanity, had the least need to be ignorant of the distress, and famine, and sickness, and nakedness that were inflicted on the innocent worshippers of the only true God by their countrymen. Presidents and governors, judges and lawyers, priests, physicians, and common people, all were made acquainted with the diabolical outrages. They were not only warned butforewarned. What has been the consequence? For the last sixteen years the fluctuations of business have been like the troubled ocean. Panic and depression have been as successive as light and darkness, with the exception of incalculable irregularity and confusion. In the place of wealth there has followed bankruptcy; for peace, national war; and for the blood of one murdered servant of God, there has been tens, and even hundreds, laid weltering in their gore. Some of the best blood of the nation (so accounted) has been demanded by Him that said, touch not my prophets and do my anointed no harm. The word of the Lord to all Israel, on the eve of the Carthage tragedy, was, if they (the enemy) begin to shed blood, the sword shall waste the blood of the nation. And how are the sons of the mighty fallen? What wailing and lamentation are heard from high places over distinguished slaughtered Americans! And the end is not yet.
But what shall I say of time-honoured orthodoxy? Poor creature! Her glory is being fast turned into shame. Many of her lovers are forsaking her, and the balance are too sleepy to wake up. They refuse to be fascinated, notwithstanding all her meritricious arts. Education, tracts, missions, and moral reform, are a vain thing for strength. The Lord is a jealous God, and will not give His glory to another gospel; but he will curse all the systems of men that are built upon human precepts merely, without the authority of immediate revelation. The various systems of modern christianity are cursed already, wherever the true gospel is proclaimed. That sincerity, fidelity, and zeal, which your churches and your preachers once had, is taken away from them; and your preachers have no longer power to preach with effect. The reason and cause of all this is, the true light has come; consequently, they have no longer any apology for upholding systems of error and false religions. The Spirit of God will be withdrawn from your ministry and your churches, just in proportion as the true light shines and the true gospel is rejected.
When the devout Jews rejected the novel doctrines of Jesus and his apostles, the virtues which they previously possessed either withered up or were withdrawn from them, and communicated to Infidels or Gentiles. So it is now. While the devout priests and churches reject the gospel ministered by an angel to Joseph, and confirmed by the signs following, their former virtuous principles forsake them. They become filled with the spirit of envy, hatred, and malice towards the Saints. They retail groundless slanders, and often are foremost in instigating mobs, refusing common civilities and hospitality to the servants of the Most High; and so sanguine is their opposition, that they even believe it would be well for the cause of religion, if the Saints were exterminated and put to death. So believed the devout Jews, who persecuted the prophets and slew the Holy and Just One. Thus, by step after step, the professedly pious are brought to become accessory to blood-guiltiness, and bring upon themselves all the blood that has been shed from the days of righteous Abel till now.
Oh! my much-loved friend, will you not shudder at the sight of such a catastrophe before the modern churches? What an awful curse! Given up by God to believe Saints to be sinners, and then to war against them even to blood-guiltiness! Strange and deplorable infatuation! One would think that the snares and pitfalls into which God precipitated ancient persecutors, would prove an effectual warning to modern persecutors to beware how they plunged themselves into a worse destruction! Oh, how great the severity of God towards them that strive with their Maker, and spurn the faith once delivered to the Saints as no longer needed! The veryreligionof modern christianity is now about as great a curse as can be inflicted upon its possessors, without doing violence to their power of agency. It is the prolific cause of judicial blindness and hardness of heart. A false religion is worse than no religion, because it is a lure and a lullaby, that excludes true religion from taking effect.
Modern religion rejects immediate revelation; consequently, all that knowledge that flows from visions and dreams, and the ministry of angels, and the prophetic inspiration of the Holy Ghost. A greater curse cannot well be conceived. There never was a people that lived a hundred years, or even fifty years, without immediate revelation from God, but they fell into gross darkness and contention, and those hurtful lusts that drown men's souls in perdition. There never was a people that survived the gift and blessing of immediate revelation any considerable length of time, except they fell into idolatry and worshipped strange gods; and their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after strange gods. All Israel fell into the worship of Baal, and hundreds of them became prophets to Baal. They, indeed, were the descendants of the mightiest Saints that ever lived, such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, &c. They had in their possession the writings and traditions of their fathers, but still they were cursed because they rejected the knowledge of God through immediate revelation. They became like blind men groping in the dark. They taught their children to rebel against prophets and miraculous gifts.
Modern christians, with the Bible in their hands, are in as gross darkness as the worshippers of Baal. The god they worship is no more like the person of Christ, or the person of a man, than Baal was. Their order of church authorities and church gifts, and ordinances of healing and anointing, are probably about as remote from the apostolic pattern, as the worship of Mahomet or Vishnu is. Do not believe, sir, for a moment, that I intend, by this humiliating remark, any disrespect to the supporters of modern christianity. No: God forbid. As good a man as Paul the apostle was once as vehemently opposed to immediate revelation and spiritual gifts as you are, or any other abettors of modern christianity; but, by timely repentance, he escaped that awful curse of aversion to the only means of knowing the only true and living God. But multitudes of his countrymen still adhered to the belief that the gift of revelation had ceased, and prophets and miracles were no longer necessary. And you firmly believe that the curse indescribable has followed them to this day. Oh! how astonishing it is that you, sir, and your high-minded associates in modern christendom, should plunge into the same doleful abyss—reject the same doctrines and ordinances, as no longer necessary, and entail the same curse upon your children for generations to come! In this you are fighting against Jehovah. Every year and every day while you persist, the darkness of your minds will become more gross, and you will bring the worst passions into the field of conflict against the Saints. God will withdraw his Spirit from you, and you will ultimately be forced, through weakness and multiplied divisions and contentions, to unite the scattered fragments of sectarianism on some common platform of anti-scriptural invention. On this platform, and with this consolidated power of anti-Christ, the great battle is destined to be fought that shall silence the spirit of anti-revelation for a thousand years!
Alas! the deplorable destiny of those that war against prophets and apostles, and the spirit and power of primitive godliness! Such, in all former ages of the world, have been cursed with wars, conflagration, famine, pestilence, and the vagaries of an oppressive superstition. But, in the latter days, God has decreed a consumption upon the whole earth. The religion that is not based on the immediate interposition of the wisdom and power of God, from day to day, and time to time, will not, cannot, and shall not stand, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, and let all the inhabitants of the earth hear it. Yea, sir, such religions shall be as the chaff which the wind driveth away, even as the small dust of the threshing-floor. God despises the religion that professes to flourish without the aid of constant revelation from the heavens; and he will shoot out the hot arrows of his wrath against it, until there is not a vestige or semblance of it left on the face of the whole earth. The potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth, but wo unto him that striveth with his Maker!
Alas the day, when God shall withdraw his Spirit from all flesh! Then confidence between man and his fellow, will give place to distrust; and jealousy, evil surmising, hatred, robbery, and blood-guiltiness will spread their direful influence through all communities! The cords of domestic union will be severed! The weak will be compelled to bow to the yoke of the strong—might will become the strongest pretext for right! The carcases of the poor and infirm will bleach uncovered upon the earth! The stench of putrefaction will impregnate the atmosphere with poisonous pestilence; insects and noisome creatures will breed innumerably to the annoyance of man! "The sword shall devour from one end of the earth to the other,—the earth shall be soaked in blood,"—the rivers shall become bloody, and the fountains of water shall no longer be pure. Many that lie down at night shall not awake in the morning. The fruitful field shall become sterile and barren, because no man knoweth for whom his fruits are growing. "The earth becometh empty and desolate." The master and servant are brought to a level. The priest is as void of consolation as the people. Paleness and fear are depicted on every human face. Traffic in merchandize, as a business, is wholly abandoned. Men cease to sow and to plough, in hope. Never before did the Almighty commence such an awful warfare against the inhabitants of the earth; never before was there witnessed such a succession of plagues and dire calamities amongst men!
After peace is taken from the earth, an agent, by the name of Death (probably invisible except to spirits and such as have the spirit of revelation) will go forth on the face of the earth and destroy one-fourth part of mankind. In the midst of this destruction of one-fourth of mankind, martyred Saints will ask the Lord to hasten the work of human destruction. An earthquake, and the lapse of stars from heaven, then begin to destroy the frail tenure of human hope; and even the great men, and mighty and chief captains become desperate, like the most effeminate and pusillanimous. Every successive plague is increasingly awful and unendurable. The plagues that fell upon Egypt will sink into insignificance and fade out of memory before the plagues which were shown to the revelator John, and which shall usher in the final consummation of the "mystery of God." The opening of the "bottomless pit" is followed with three woes which are inflicted upon men, and which are suited to the incorrigible condition of such obdurate spirits as no inferior engines of torment and destruction could subdue. But neither the torment inflicted by the sting of the locusts, like unto scorpions; nor that which is inflicted by the horses of that great army of two millions, whose mouths emit fire, smoke, and brimstone, and whose tails, being like serpents having heads, destroy both before and behind wherever they go; yet none of these things will lead these latter-day enemies to new revelations, unto repentance.
Now, sir, in conclusion, I have endeavoured, briefly, to direct your mind to the vortex of indescribable calamities into which the sentiments of modern christianity are calculated to precipitate all who know not God (by immediate revelation), and obey not the gospel revealed from heaven in this our day—a day of mercy and judgment.
With fervent desires that you and your posterity may escape the day of wrath, and seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, I subscribe myself
Your old friend and servant,
ORSON SPENCER.