Chapter XXVI: Conclusion: From the Foregoing (3)

When applied to Christianity no one doubts the correctness of the conclusion, if he believes in miracles at all; but if the promises are granted and the conclusion accepted in the case of Christianity, what a fearful corruption of mind there must be in a man who can deny both premises and conclusion when the rule is applied to test the claims of Joseph the Prophet. Surely, in order to be consistent, we must either accept or reject both. A third we do not see.

The evidence thus far considered is external and direct, appealing to our senses. Another class of evidence remains which has been called internal. Applied to Christianity this kind of evidence is thus explained: If Christianity is not of divine origin, it must be a cunningly devised fable. Which is the most probable supposition? Internal evidence tries to answer that question.

The same process of reasoning by which this question is answered when applied to Christianity can also be applied to the message brought by Joseph the Prophet. If this message is not from God it must be from man; it must be forged in order to deceive and must be termed the greatest fraud of the century. It is either a divine truth or a diabolical lie. _Tertium non est_. Which is the more likely supposition?

In order to decide this question we must consider the moral precepts given by the messenger, his own character, and the character of those who receive it and profess to follow its precepts. For it is very clear that any message which in itself is "good" and which also produces good results in the hearts and lives of men, is not likely to be from the evil one. What is good is from God. Was Joseph the Prophet a good man? Did he inculcate holy principles unto his fellow-men? Does the gospel he preached tend to make men holy? If so, his message must be from God.

MORAL EVIDENCE.

That the moral character of a man who professes to be a divine messenger is very important as an evidence of the truth of his message is admitted on all hands. The following is the opinion of an eminent writer: "The character of Christ is a wonderful proof of the divinity of the Bible. The Hindoo cannot think of his Brahmin saint other than possessing the abstemiousness and austerity which he admires in his living models. The Socrates of Plato is composed of elements practically {412} Greek, being a compound of the virtues deemed necessary to adorn the sage. A model of the Jewish teacher might easily be drawn from the writings of the Rabbis, and he would prove to be the very deflection of these Scribes and Pharisees who are reproved in the Gospel. But in the life of our Redeemer a character is represented which departs in every way from the national type of the writers, from the character of all ancient nations, and is at variance with all the features which custom, education, religion and patriotism seem to have consecrated as most beautiful. Four different authors have recorded different facts, but they exhibit the same conception, a conception differing from all they had ever witnessed or heard, and necessarily copied from the same original. Moreover, this glorious character, while borrowing nothing from the Greek, Indian or Jew, having nothing in common with established laws of perfection, is yet to every believer a type of excellence. He is followed by the Greek, though a founder of none of his sects, revered by the Brahmin, though preached by one of the fisherman caste, and worshiped by the red man of Canada, though belonging to the hated paleface."

This very striking picture of our Savior is true in all its details. In the Gospels we see Him described as holy (John vii, xlvi, li, 8, 46, 10, 32; Matt. xxvi, lix, 27, 23, 24; Luke xxiii, 13-45); full of benevolence and compassion (John iv, Luke ix, 55; x, 30-37); kindness and affection (Matt. xiv, 27-31; Luke xix, 5; xli, 22-61; John xi; xix, 25-27); having meekness and humility (Matt. ix, 28, xviii, 22); moral courage, firmness and resignation (Matt. xxvi, 39-46; Mark x, 32; Luke iv, 23; John xi, 7; xviii, 4); abhorring hypocrisy and popularity (Matt. vi, 1-18; x, 16-39; xxii, 18; Mark xii, 38, 40; Luke xi, 44; John xvi, 1-16); being moderate and free from enthusiastic austerity (Matt. viii, 19; xxiii, 23; Luke v, 29, 35; John ii, 1; Mark xii, 17.)

Looking at all these characteristics of our Savior, so eminently "good," and hearing Him solemnly declare that He has a message from God to man, we feel bound to admit that He is no deceiver. His words are true. He is the Son of God. Thus His character becomes an evidence.

Now, concerning the subject under consideration, must we not also admit that Joseph the Prophet was a man sent from God, when we find that his character is in perfect harmony with those qualities that are peculiar to a servant of God?

Those who want to investigate this are referred to works {413} extant, which treat on the "Life of Joseph Smith," and I think any unprejudiced reader will feel impressed with the fact that Joseph was a good man--a "man of God."

How he urges holiness as the condition of happiness! In his benevolence he seemed boundless, embracing every race of humanity, white, red and black! His kindness and affection are touching. Of meekness and humility he exhibits the most striking examples which shall ever be worthy of imitation. The moral courage and firmness which prompted him to face a hostile world and to die "calm as a summer morning," must be admired. His straightforwardness, for which hypocrisy ever stood rebuked, is well-known to his friends and acquaintances. His whole career and the doctrines he taught are indisputable proofs that, although he was inspired by a noble enthusiasm, yet he was far from being what is called an enthusiast.

Here, then, we find all the marks of a true disciple of Christ, proving, if anything at all, that Joseph the Prophet, was a man of God. His message must be therefore from God, too. We know that his antagonists have done all in their power to prove the bad character of the prophet. But we also know what credit must be attached to slanderers inspired by bigotry and hatred.

Were we to draw our information from such sources concerning Christ himself, we would have to reject even Him, the spotless Lamb of God. For the enemies did not fail to stain the character of Christ. "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils" (Luke xi, 15.) "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan (an infidel?) and hast a devil?" (John viii, 48.) A special charge against Jesus was that He was a drunkard (Matt. xi, 19), and generally he was accused of being on intimate terms with "sinners" (Luke xv, 2), by which term the Jews understood outcasts, reprobates, the company of which was contaminating in its influences. Finally, as is well known, our Savior was tried and condemned to death by the ecclesiastical authorities for blasphemy and by the civil court for treason. Must all this be believed? Certainly not. We know that those charges were dictated by hatred. Neither must we believe what hatred has dictated against Joseph the Prophet.

After all, the most diligent slanderers have not been able to bring anything against the Prophet worse than was brought as a charge against the first Christians. When a great calamity befell the Roman empire, or a part thereof, the Christians were the originators. Pests and famines, it was thought, came {414} on account of the Christians, or even that the Christians made them through secret exorcisms in their private meetings. During the reign of Nero, Rome was consumed by a conflagration that lasted for seven days. Five-sevenths of the city were laid in ashes, including temples, palaces and other monumental buildings. Although the embittered people had reason to believe that the emperor himself had caused the fire, yet as soon as the report was started that the Christians had done it, this was willingly believed and a persecution broke out in which most of the apostles of our Lord were cruelly put to death. That the Christians practiced bloody sins in their meetings, that they killed and ate the children and that they plotted against the state were common charges. But we know that these and similar accusations had no foundation in reality.

A very strong proof (as anyone acquainted with human nature will admit) that Joseph the Prophet was a man whose life corresponded with his teachings is the fact that those who knew him best from private intercourse with him were his most earnest admirers. His wife, his brothers, his parents, are all found among the first who joined the Church. How could this be if Joseph the Prophet had not in his daily life been a living witness to the fact that he really communicated with God? This is well worth consideration. A man who professes to have a divine message-must live accordingly or else stand rebuked as a liar before those who know him.

Not less remarkable is the fact that even apostates testify to the truth of the claims of Joseph. Thus David Whitmer, although his position towards the Church in later years was not exactly a friendly one, yet on being asked if he believed that Joseph was a true prophet, he invariably answered: "Do I still believe that Joseph Smith was a divinely inspired prophet? I know he was; it is not a matter of belief," and this testimony the old man has given to the world on his very death-bed.

Considering all this, we must conclude that the life of the prophet and the doctrines which he taught were in such harmony with each other as to impress his surroundings and friends with the fact that he was a man of God. If so, his message must be divine, for no evil power could operate through a righteous person.

This kind of evidence, however, is more to be felt, as it were, than described. Its force on the mind will depend on the moral character of the investigator. Pure minds, practical in holiness, will feel its force stronger than other less pure {415} minds. All will depend on those "relationships of spirits" of which even poets have dreamed. The Nathanael, the "Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile," could feel in the mere presence of Christ, through the Spirit, that emanated from Him, that here was more than man, and he had to exclaim, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." So will men whose hearts are pure, in following Joseph the Prophet through his short but exceedingly eventful career, certainly feel in their hearts that here is a messenger of God and perhaps sing with the poet:

"We thank thee, O God, for a Prophet,
To guide us in these latter days."

PECULIARITIES OF THE MESSAGE.

When Christianity was introduced into the world it was brought in contact with many different religious and philosophical systems. The Romans were proud of their military glory, the Greeks of their superior wisdom. Among the Jews a pharisaic spirit prevailed, and the whole nation was divided in factions. They mutually hated each other and all agreed in hating their Roman oppressors and the gentile world at large. A mere human teacher, it has been justly said, would under such circumstances have become either a partisan or have flattered each sect by exposing the faults of the rest, or he would have endeavored to gain the favor of the nation by condemning their conquerors. Instances of this kind of _Bessermachen_ are not unheard of in our time among the "Christian" world, when all stress is often laid on one principle at the sacrifice of the rest. But Christ did not follow this course. He stood up as an independent Teacher, rebuking all error, condemning all the sects, and yet taught principles contrary to the inclinations of the human heart. Hence, Christianity has several peculiarities of its own. In opposition to an empty ritualism it teaches personal holiness as the condition of eternal happiness. All men are alike brought before the bar of God. Even those who have been apostles and worked miracles will fall condemned if they be workers of iniquity. It bids men return good for evil, not to "get even" with everybody; it instructs men to love their enemies, to be humble and forgiving, qualities which philosophers considered weaknesses instead of virtues; it places every race and every station as on a level before God, except for the free mercy of God, whose choice has fallen upon one individual {416} or one section in preference to another. Such doctrines were acceptable to none, and yet they are again and again repeated and enforced.

In the teachings of Christianity, moreover, sin is always spoken of as transgression against God, a contrast to the idea prevalent among the Greek philosophers, who taught, according to Cicero, that "the Deity is never displeased, nor does He inflict injury on man" (De Off. iii, 28). God is traced everywhere--in nature, in history, in revelation; and as for men's acts, they are traced to their very source in the human heart, and there, if evil, condemned. Christianity does not content itself with condemning sin, when already committed, like every human law; but it condemns the thought, the feeling, if not pure, thus striking at the very root of sin.

Well may we, when we rightly understand these facts, with the theologians exclaim: "It must be felt that the morality of the Gospel is not of man. Bad men could not have taught such truths, and good men would not have deceived the people."

But when we apply this great truth to the subject under consideration we reach the same conclusion. The message delivered by Joseph the Prophet, like Christianity in its primitive purity, has peculiarities of its own, all of which prove it to be from God.

First of all, let us consider the importance which this message attaches to faith. While theologians of the world either give the pre-eminence to works, like the Catholics, or like Protestants, give to faith a secondary place in their system, here comes a young man and declares, "Faith is the first principle of revealed religion, and the foundation of all righteousness." He gives to faith its right place as the very beginning of the new life, the foundation of the structure. Where had he learnt this? There is not a theological school within the sphere of our knowledge which has discovered this great truth. Men had for centuries been exhorted to repent first and then try to believe, as if it were possible to produce repentance without faith. Or, men were instructed to do good, as if works could be meritorious without faith. Not only is faith placed in its right place, but the definition of it is given strictly in harmony with ancient revelations. Faith is declared to be the only principle from which obedience and success can flow. In relation to God faith is, indeed, a confession of our weakness and utter inability for everything that is good; and yet, as to success in all things pertaining to our {417} exaltation and glorification, it is omnipotent. (See Doc. and Cov. Lectures on Faith). Now, from whence had the youthful Prophet this discovery taught in the Bible, but not understood by the world? Who had pointed out this great philosophical truth to him? Who but God.

Nor is this all. In the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet, faith has been established on the only sure foundation ever given: The Word of God--REVELATION. This was done at a time when almost everybody thought revelation a thing of the past. No theologian in the whole wide world had discovered the great secret that faith must be based on a communication from God, given not only to people who belong to antiquity, but to the individual who is required to believe. Let everybody honestly investigate the real cause of the weakness of faith as it exists among men. How is it that, notwithstanding all preaching, faith is almost extinct on earth? It is this, that people are required to believe _only_ that which God said anciently. This is the real cause. We are so constructed that we cannot by any force of will take the same lively interest in what happened thousands of years ago as what happened to-day; nor can we realize in the same way what happens to others as that which immediately concerns ourselves. Hence, naturally, all the preaching about what God revealed formerly has only a weak impression comparatively, and it does not make the effect that it should. The faith it produces is something as powerless as faith possibly can be. In order to produce this, preachers are under the necessity of resorting to all sorts of sentimental anecdotes, death scenes, war scenes, dreams, etc., or even to drums and tambourines. Revivalists know the effects of these artificial methods and prefer them to the simple tale of Him who died on Golgotha--a proof of the poverty, spiritually, of the prevalent systems. Now, how is this changed by the simple announcement: "God has spoken!" This at once stirs the whole world and the whole hell and something definitive comes out of that. It produces either faith or condemnation. Where faith is the result it is a strong faith. What gave the former-day Saints the power to endure all for their religion? What gave the Prophet and his fellow martyrs power to endure all hardship and death at the hands of enemies? This assurance: God has spoken. God has revealed His will. Such faith this assurance will always produce. How had Joseph the Prophet come to discover this fundamental truth? No Catholic, no Lutheran, no Episcopalian, {418} no Presbyterian, no Methodist, no Baptist was in the position of teaching Joseph this truth; none but God.

Let us further consider the great truth revealed in these last days concerning God. While all the world, as far as the influence of Christianity is felt, knows how to repeat the words of the prayer which our Lord taught His disciples: "Our Father, which art in heaven," yet who has understood this one word "Father" in its full meaning? We call upon every honest, believing soul in the whole world to inquire into his own mind and see whether this beautiful prayer before the days of Joseph the Prophet had any more significance than being a beautiful figure of speech? Or was there one single theologian who had understood that God really is what He teaches us to call Him, Father? If there be, we are not aware of it. But here comes a young man, educated in no school, formed according to no existent religious system, and opens up to us an infinite view of eternities past and eternities to come by declaring that God is in reality our Father, that we are His children, and that we are here for certain purposes, which accomplished will bring us back to an eternal home, in a circle of real brothers and sisters. Say, O ye inhabitants of the world, can this glorious truth emanate from anybody but God?

Another peculiarity which marks this message is the importance it attaches to obedience to God. "By the prayer of your faith ye shall receive My law," (Doc. and Cov., sec. xli, 3); "None shall be exempt from the justice and the laws of God" (Ibid, cvii, 84); "Verily, I say unto you, that in time ye shall have no king or ruler, for I will be your King and watch over you; wherefore hear My voice and follow Me, and ye shall be a free people, and ye shall have no laws but My laws when I come, for I am your law giver." (Ibid, xxxviii 21, 22). Had Joseph the Prophet received his instructions from men he would have appointed a pope, a bishop, a presbytery, a synod, or something similar as the highest authority of the Church, but he did not. For God alone obedience is demanded; a proof that he was a messenger of God.

This will be better appreciated when it is considered that, although obedience is required, yet the liberty of man is fully preserved. Obedience is required, but not from fear, not from servitude, but from free choice. In looking over the history of the world we find that it has always been the great trouble of mankind to find the proper middle way in this respect. Nations have had their liberty, but it has not been {419} possible to regulate this so as to give no room for abuses. Liberty has been perverted into lawlessness; the people have been the victims of unprincipled agitators who, under the cover of patriotism, seduced and robbed the masses, until the people, tired of this "liberty," after many sufferings, rose and laid the power down into the hands of a few, or even of one, preferring the chance of having one or a few public robbers to many thousands. But as anciently Scylla avoided, Charybdis was near, so here. What was once done as a safeguard against spoliation and lawlessness became in course of time a curse. It developed into despotism. The people suffered for centuries perhaps, but finally the oppression becoming too great, the burdens too heavy, the people rose and crushed the tyrants under its weight. Freedom was again established, and the progress in the circle again commenced. For these two extremes, equally dangerous, despotism and licentiousness have always been the trouble with mankind. Now, here comes a young man, Joseph the Prophet, who had studied no politics, no history, and teaches us a system by which both these extremes, both these dangers are to be avoided, how to obey without becoming serfs, and at the same time to enjoy personal liberty, without placing us in danger of licentiousness. If God had not taught the prophet this "Doctrine of common consent," who had? Who was his teacher?

Another peculiarity, not less marked, is found in what might be called the rites observed in this last dispensation. Almost the entire world had lost the right form of baptism, for instance, and all had forgotten the true signification and use of that rite. A man who had only human wisdom for guidance would under such circumstances probably have either disregarded the act altogether as a mere outward form or would have attached very little importance to it. Both these tendencies are found abundantly among Christian professors. But here comes a young man and teaches us not only the right form of baptism (although this was the most unpopular one), but also its true signification and its use both for living and dead.

Looking at baptism, the doctrine of gathering, the temple services, all the rites revealed through Joseph the Prophet, as an acceptable worship, we must ask: "Is it possible that all this is from men? Is it likely that a deceiver would have taught doctrines so unpopular, so little calculated to gain public favor?" We think not. When a man wants to deceive he must follow popular roads, flatter the vanity of the masses, {420} yield to their prejudices and establish himself on the very ground of their ignorance. Advanced truth, truth trampled under the feet of men, always comes from God.

People who know the religious observances here spoken of only from representations given by a hostile press, where everything is ridiculed, cannot, of course, appreciate the force of the proof they convey. But every one who is familiar with these to the Latter-day Saint's peculiar rites, and who understands that their sole object is to teach the people "Holiness to the Lord"--any one who shall consider that similar means were adopted under the grand Mosaic dispensation in order to impress the people then living with this same lesson, "Holiness to the Lord," and any one who perceives how wonderfully well these rites, in every detail, are calculated to impress this very idea, that without holiness no one can see the Lord, he will feel in the contemplation of all this that here surely is the wisdom of God revealed to man. No analysis, however, can do full justice to this subject. It must be felt and realized in the experience of man in order to be appreciated.

In conclusion, like Scripture itself, the message of Joseph the Prophet begins its work with a recognition of our fall, our total ruin; it then brings the soul into harmony with God and with itself; it enlightens and educates the conscience, quickens and purifies the feeling, subjects instinct to reason, reason to love, and all to God. It provides us with ample means for reaching happiness never dreamt of, worlds without end. Hence, the conclusion necessarily follows that the man who taught us this must himself have been a scholar of God.

EFFECTS OF THE DOCTRINES.

When investigating the claims of a religious system it becomes necessary also to consider the effects which such a system produces in the lives and characters of those who embrace it, as well as its general influence. If a tree is known by its fruits, so are also doctrines. Those that produce good fruits cannot be evil.

It is, therefore, customary to refer to the effect of the gospel in the first part of our era as an evidence of the truth of its claims. These effects are well-known and worthy of consideration. Paul points out that some of the Corinthians had been "fornicators, adulterers, thieves, drunkards," previous to their embracing the gospel; but now they were "washed, sanctified, and justified" (I Cor. vi, 11). Peter speaks of some of the converts as having once been "walking in lasciviousness, {421} lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries" (I Peter iv, 3). But these sinners who lived in a dissolute age and under the worst of governments, became converted, became eminent in virtue above their fellowmen.

This eminence is acknowledged by all unprejudiced writers of the age. Clement of Rome (A. D. 100) says: "Who did ever live among you that did not admire your sober and moderate piety and declare the greatness of your hospitality? You are humble and not proud, content with the daily bread which God supplies, hearing diligently His word, and are enlarged in charity." Justin Martyr (A. D. 165), formerly a Platonic philosopher, says: "We who formerly delighted in adultery, now observe the strictest chastity; we who used the charms of magic have devoted ourselves to the true God, and we who valued money and gain above all things now cast what we have in common, and distribute to every man according to his necessities." It has been supposed that the United Order of which we read, and which was founded in Jerusalem at the commencement of the Church, very soon collapsed. But, judging from this expression of Justin, it appears that that order still existed more than one hundred years after Christ. Minucius Felix, to a heathen opponent, says: "You punish wickedness when it is committed. We think it sinful to indulge in a sinful thought. It is with your party that the prisons are crowded, but not a single Christian is there, except it be as a confessor or apostate."

The influence of the gospel was gradually felt among the heathen nations who heard it. In Greece, men like Lycurgus and Solon had encouraged impurities. At Rome they were openly practiced and approved; and nearly all ancient nations are said to have commended self-murder. Human sacrifices and the exposure of children were allowed. But wherever the gospel was preached and believed all such practices were condemned and finally destroyed. That this was not the work of civilization, but of the gospel, may be gathered from the fact that it was nations far above the humble Christians in refinement and education, who committed the greatest outrages. Suppression of sin never keeps pace with the progress of civilization, but with the triumph of the gospel.

Another effect of the gospel was the many charitable institutions that always followed in its track. The relief of distress and the care of the poor are peculiar to Christianity. The gospel, if rightly understood, would have already abolished the horrors of war, prevented slavery, put down feudal {422} oppression, made all men brethren. For such are its doctrines, that when once understood and practiced, they will naturally exterminate all miseries of the human family.

These effects are truly wonderful, and may justly be appealed to as evidences of the truth of the gospel.

But are such effects less strong evidence of the divine origin of the message of Joseph the Prophet, when it can be proved that they invariably follow the acceptance of this message? We think not. Here are facts open to the inspection of everybody. We need not refer to a bygone antiquity to ascertain the effects of this message upon the people who have accepted it. The Latter-day Saints live to-day and their works may be scanned by all. Every honest investigator will find that the fruits produced to-day, as seen among the Latter-day Saints, are precisely the same as those which were seen among the early Christians, and to which we have above briefly referred.

We do not say that everyone who professes to be a Latter-day Saint is an evidence of the divinity of the gospel. Nor was every individual who professed Christianity an evidence of its truth. On the contrary, many, even in the apostolic age, showed by their deeds that they were nothing but professors; and it is clearly not the profession that is the main feature. A man may profess to be what he is not.

Nor do we contend that the Latter-day Saints, considered as a religious community, are the best people on the earth. This is not for us to decide; nor is that our present question. The Saints may be the best people, taken as a whole, or they may not; yet in their present stage of development they have reached a high standard of excellence that is most desirable. This, however, does not affect our present argument.

What we do contend, and what we urgently invite everybody to ascertain for themselves, is this: that the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet, when accepted and honestly carried out in practice, has a tendency to change men for the better and produce fruits of faith, hope and charity, thus proving its divine origin by its fruits; for no deceptive fraud could produce these fruits. This is what we contend. Facts speak for themselves.

We live in an age when social questions threaten to blast society to its very foundations. Where in the whole world have these questions found their only possible solution to the satisfaction of all parties concerned? Not among the various religious bodies of the world; not among the capitalists, nor among the anarchists, communists, socialists, or nihilists, but {423} among the Saints. Over the thresholds of their peaceful homes these troublesome questions--ghosts at the appearance of which the world trembles--cannot enter. In the valleys of the mountains they are unknown, and must remain so as long as the Gospel is being carried out in practice.

Again, who has solved the question of the true relation between the sexes, at once assigning to marriage its divinity of origin and eternal importance, thereby checking the waves of sin which inundate the world, and securing happiness to all? We answer: The Latter-day Saints. One of the first fruits seen as the result of their doctrines is absolute purity.

Further, who fills the prisons as criminals? Not the Latter-day Saints, but outsiders, those who habitually speak of the degradation of the "Mormons;" those Christian associates give the stuff that contributes to the filling up of the prisons--a fact which of itself ought to be enough to convince the whole world of the divine origin of the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet. It is clear that doctrines which are strong enough to keep humanity from committing crimes--to which every human heart is more or less inclined--must be from God.

It may be asked, who fills the saloons and gambling hells? Who swears and lies and slanders? Who is proud and vain, lazy and filthy? No one who has accepted the Gospel in reality--no Latter-day Saint. The Saints are, as such, temperate, industrious, humble, clean, loving, forbearing, long-suffering, rejoicing, fearing God; in short, bearing the fruits of righteousness. Such virtues the Gospel enjoins and such fruits always accompany its real acceptance.

Could we speak of all the cases where men who were in every respect worldly, walking in sin, accepted the Gospel and became changed in every respect, this evidence would, indeed, amount to demonstration. Thousands are our witnesses to these facts--men who were fallen, on their way down to ruin and hell--families who have been happy by the restoration of their fallen ones to virtue, to society and to God.

Finally, has the world exhibited any nobler examples of self-sacrificing faith, of firmness and endurance under suffering and persecution than have many of those despised followers of the martyred Prophet?

True, persecution has been raging against the Saints; but, like the palm tree, which is said to grow all the higher the more weight there is placed thereon, they have stood firm; in persecution they have been patiently enduring, knowing {424} that, after all, God is the Supreme Ruler, and with this knowledge they have faced all adversity calmly and risen through their faith and hope far above the plots of those who know not God.

Such, then, are the effects of the message under consideration. Well may we ask: Is it possible that such noble fruits of faith, hope and charity could be produced from anything that men could invent? An honest inquirer must answer in the negative, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. v, 22, 23), and it is evident, therefore, that where these are found the Spirit of God is manifested.

Here, then, we again arrive at the same conclusion: Joseph the Prophet was sent from God. If he was not, his whole career would be an enigma, and his work the most profound of mysteries. Then we would have the problem of a man working a system of peculiar doctrines for the salvation of mankind, a religion producing the fruits of the Spirit in accordance with the Gospel of Christ; and all this through whom? Through mere human wisdom? Or, shall we say through the devil? Can any rational man for a moment think that the devil, even if he felt so inclined, could frame a moral system the effects of which upon men would be purity and holiness? The idea is so absurd that it is hardly worthy even of suggestion, and yet the Rev. Mr. Lamb has suggested that the faith of the "Mormons" is possibly due to "demoniacal" influence--a theological possibility which the reverend gentleman may have from studying the theology of the Pharisees, who were perplexed at the manifestations of the power of God in Christ.

No honest man, however good an opinion he may have of the devil, can honestly believe the adversary of God capable of making men holy and virtuous. Nor is it possible for mere human wisdom to do it without the aid of God. Our only alternative is to acknowledge the hand of God, and humbly bow in obedience to the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet.

SPIRITUAL EVIDENCE.

Stronger than any of the evidences thus far considered is another kind of evidence which may be called spiritual, being the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the soul. This testimony has been promised to every one who is willing to "do the will of God."

{425} When the Holy Spirit enlightens and operates upon the heart and mind of man, he is made to perceive intuitively, as it were, the perfect truth of the message of which we speak. Having received this testimony, a man is no longer dependent upon demonstrations for his belief. His eyes are opened; he can see for himself.

What a miserable existence we should have on this earth if everything had first to be "proved" to us before we would accept it as truth. We see that the sun shines; we hear the harmony of music; we feel or we are conscious of our existence. Such facts we do not require anybody to prove to us. So is it when our spiritual nature has been quickened and called into activity by the operations of the Holy Spirit. We "see the kingdom of heaven;" we feel and are conscious of its blessings through our spiritual senses. This is the testimony of the Spirit in our soul, and the strongest evidence that can be produced.

When we are told through the Gospel that "Ye have strayed from Mine (God's) ordinances," and "broken His everlasting covenant," and that "every man walketh in his own way," we feel this to be true. When the word of revelation declares that men stand incriminated before the bar of God, not only for the _acts_ of transgression, but also for a deep and inveterate _habit_ of ungodliness in the innermost recesses of the soul, we feel this to be so. If man, when honestly searching himself, found that, after all, he is good enough, and his desire is to serve God, to keep His commandments; that his highest anxiety is to promote not his own interests but the kingdom of God, then he might feel that the message which depicts man as a sinner, outwardly and inwardly, is not from God. But through the aid of the Spirit he feels the truth of the Gospel when it condemns sin, and is (with the Prophet) led to acknowledge the "_corruption_ of human nature," as such. (Pearl of Great Price, p. 92.)

This is not all. Through the same Spirit he is led to feel that the provisions made through the Gospel are more than sufficient to restore himself and the human family at large, and even inanimate creation, to all its original beauty and glory. Is man guilty? Here is the pardon provided. Is he corrupt? Here is provision made for his edification. Is he surrounded by temptation? Here is divine strength imparted unto him. Is he surrounded by problems, many of which he cannot solve? Is he dying and fears a coming eternity? Has he lost his dearest upon earth, and feels as if life itself were lost? Oh, here are remedies for all wants. Here is a Gospel {426} that opens the eternities to the eye once dim by tears, perhaps, and for the views the soul here perceives, all earthly troubles vanish like a light cloud, and the following words of Paul become clear: "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy, to be compared to the glory which Shall be revealed to us." (Rom. viii, 18). Thus it is observed that the message given is precisely what we in our fallen condition wanted, and, let us say, what we might expect from a merciful Father.

To this comes also that the experience of the believer in the message harmonizes exactly with the promises or threatenings accompanying it. Joseph the Prophet frequently told what would be the experience of those who would be faithful and of those who would not be faithful to their covenants made with God. Each promise of blessing to the faithful, each warning to the unfaithful, is a prediction, the fulfilment of which adds to the strength of the testimony. This experience grows with our growth, and multiplies with every step of our progress in the knowledge and love of truth.

It must be added, however, that this spiritual and experimental evidence is of value only to the believer, who already enjoys the testimony. But to him it is sufficient were it even alone. He cannot sometimes understand that it is possible for anyone to doubt what he himself already "feels," "sees," and "perceives" to be true. He has the witness within himself and needs no other; for he knows that Joseph the Prophet was a man sent from God, just with the same degree of certainty and in the same way that he knows Jesus is the Christ.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

The several evidences now considered are indeed important enough to establish the claims of Joseph Smith, and all taken together are overwhelming. We have seen the Prophet stand forth, a man whose desire was to be just, true, and righteous, and we have heard him proclaim his message: "Thus saith the Lord." We have seen that the ancient prophecies predict that such a messenger should come just about the time of Joseph; we have proved that Joseph showed his authority from God by miracles and prophecies; that his message bears peculiar internal marks of divine origin, produces fruits of righteousness in the believers, and is accompanied by that testimony of the Spirit which God alone can give. To deny the divinity of the message, or the divine authority of the messenger, in view of this overwhelming {427} evidence, seems to be nothing short of total blindness, or something much worse.

We do not claim that by each one of these evidences, nor by all together, all objections are answered, all difficulties are removed. To prove religious truth above a possibility of objection is beyond the possibilities of this earth. In religious matters, as in others, our views must necessarily be limited and dimmed by mists.

Nor is it necessary, or even desirable, that all difficulties should be removed. Were there no difficulties any longer, were everything clear even to a mere worldly mind, religion would no longer be religion, for there could be no room for the exercise of faith. Faith is, indeed, after all the very moving power of practical religion. It is therefore clear that difficulties must exist so that faith may be exercised.

It is so with Christianity at large and the Bible itself. Difficulties exist great enough to strengthen, by exercise, the faith of the believer, and to become stumbling blocks to those who do not want to believe. We are finite. Could we expect that God, when talking about matters of infinite interest, should always have that to say which we can understand in every particular, thus leaving no difficulties? Certainly not. Concerning the Bible, an eminent theologian of our own time has said: "We can dispense with nothing, not even the difficulties. Every element (the apparent discrepancies among the rest) is essential to the force of the whole."

But this important truth applies just as much to the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet. We can dispense with nothing in it, not even the apparent difficulties which follow it. Suppose that Joseph had given a code of laws or system of theology in which everything was plainly demonstrated like a handbook in geometry, having every idea defined, every step proved. Who would have believed such a work to have emanated from the Spirit of God? Would it not have carried with it a suspicion on its very surface? For God never before worked in that way. In nature everything is apparently huddled together without system. To man it has been given to arrange God's works in nature into classes, genera, and species, thereby encountering many difficulties but also learning what otherwise could not be learned. The same arrangement we find in the Bible. Principles, maxims, doctrines are given without regard to system, sometimes in plain words, sometimes in narrative or parables. To man it has been given to search diligently and arrange the facts presented into a system. Now, when we find that the message {428} of Joseph the Prophet partakes of the same characteristics as God's works in nature and in revelations recorded in the Bible, this fact is certainly more in favor of the message than otherwise. The very difficulties are evidence of its divine origin.

There is also this peculiarity: that the more we learn of the ways of God, the wider our horizon becomes. That is, we see and understand more; at the same time, we perceive that there is more to comprehend beyond. Ever more; or as Pascal puts it: "The last step of reason is to know that there is an infinitude of things which surpasses it." When a man has learned to acknowledge this, there are no longer any real difficulties to him in connection with the message sent from God. They are all more or less solved. Some are cleared by diligent research and study; others are perceived by faith to melt into unity and harmony when they can be traced back to their first sources and studied in the light which flows from the throne of God.

Our investigation is finished. We have seen that the same evidences which are thought sufficient to establish the truth of the claims of the Gospel as preached in early ages, apply with equal force to the message delivered through Joseph the Prophet. Thousands upon thousands are willing to bear their testimony that they know this to be so. What can we do better than accept it? If true--and how can it be otherwise--what an awful thing to reject it! No less interests than life and salvation are at stake. When God speaks, our greatest wisdom is clearly to hear and obey.

"Let the mountains shout for joy and all ye valleys cry aloud, and all seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your eternal king. And ye rivers and brooks and rills flow down with gladness. Let the woods, and all the trees of the field praise the Lord, and ye solid rocks weep for joy. And let the sun, moon and morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy. And let the eternal creation declare His name for ever and ever." (Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxviii, 23).

{429}

PIONEER SKETCHES--UTAH IN 1850.

BY ELDER JAMES H. MARTIN, IN _THE CONTRIBUTOR_, 1890.

It is very difficult for young men born in Utah, and still more so for those who have immigrated from other countries, to understand how Utah, with its fair valleys, which now bloom as a garden, could ever have been so barren and desolate as they have heard the old pioneers describe it. Now, look where they may, they see beautiful homes, lovely fields and orchards; majestic shade trees and waving meadows. "Is it possible," say they, "this beautiful scene could ever have been the dreary waste we have heard our fathers describe?" It is even so, and the writer, in whose memory those scenes are still fresh, will endeavor to illustrate by a few reminiscences.

It was on the 22nd of July, 1850, that on my way to the California gold fields I first entered the valley of Great Salt Lake, but it seems as if 'twere yesterday. As our little company of a half dozen wagons, emerged from the mouth of Parley's Canyon, a vast expanse of gray desert met the eye, livened only by a growth of stunted sunflowers upon the slopes of "benches" at the foot of the mountains. Gray, gray, everywhere; nothing but the bluish gray of sage-brush and greasewood covered the whole face of the land. Not an acre of meadow or green grass to be seen anywhere; the only green visible, being a thin line of willows along the Jordan, or the small streams flowing into the valley from the mountains. We saw squaws among the sunflowers with baskets and paddle in hand, beating the sunflower seeds into their baskets; the seed ground between two flat stones into a coarse meal, forming material for their only kind of bread. The Indians cultivated no land, but subsisted upon game, fish, sunflower seeds and roots; and when grasshoppers and crickets were plentiful, they gathered them by the bushel and baked them for future use in pits, which they dug in the ground and heated by fires made in them. Sometimes the poor natives had not even this to eat, and to preserve life, {430} had to subsist upon the inner bark of cedar and juniper, and seed bearing grasses. Although the scene upon entering the valley of the Great Salt Lake was desolate in the extreme, away in the distance was a sight that gladdened the eye and caused tears of joy to flow from more than one of our party. For months had we toiled slowly onward, living upon bacon and flour--flour and bacon--month after month. "And now," we thought as we saw the distant houses, "now we may get something good to eat--some milk, butter, green vegetables!" What luxuries! who can appreciate such things until long deprivation has made them precious?

We drove through the scattered town of small one-story adobe or log dwellings, but saw nowhere a sign displayed to indicate store, grocery or other place of business. I afterward found there were a few small second hand stores in town; one on Emigration street, as Fourth South was then called; one east of President Young's block; and one or two in other places, but none on Main street, which at that time was lined on both sides by a simple pole fence. No shade trees or orchards were to be seen; if any fruit trees had been planted they were too small to be casually noticed. Some tall native cotton woods stood along the south branch of City Creek, which ran southerly through the lot formerly owned by General Wells. The other branch of the creek ran westward, through the Temple Block, and thence found its way to the Jordan.

The Old Fort on the present Sixth Ward, or Pioneer Square, was still inhabited by families who had not yet been able to build upon their own lots. Everybody was busy--no loafers standing about--every man engaged in the mighty work of building a new state in the midst of the desert. And every man was a farmer. Food is the most important requisite of life; people may and do live without clothing or comforts, but food they must have or soon they die. So every man's great desire seemed to secure food for himself and family--a desire sharpened by the sufferings of the infant colony during the two previous years of partial famine.

One thing struck a stranger as very odd--the sight of money disdained and refused in making trade. For instance, I buy some butter or vegetables, and offer money for it--"Can't you let me have some sugar, sir, or some dried apples, instead of money?" I answered that we have a little of such articles left--hardly enough to last us to California, and again offer the cash. "Oh, do let us have a little dried fruit; it is so long since I had any!" And so we found there {431} are things more desirable than money. This was a common experience during the summer of 1850--money refused, and better pay--food--demanded. It may be different in Utah today.

Other things--strange things--were noticed by our party. Not an oath was heard from any of the Mormon settlers; and if a Gentile uttered one, he did so carefully, as we understood a man was liable to a fine for swearing. Not a drunken man could be seen--for there were no drinking hells allowed until Gentile Christianity forced them upon the people. And there were no houses of ill fame until the same corrupt but overpowering force introduced and sustained them. "Why," said they, "you must be like other people--you must have all these things." They judged Mormons by themselves.

No one thought to fasten a door at night--there were no thieves; and a woman might pass through the streets alone at any hour of the night with perfect safety. Is it so today? If not, is it "Mormonism" or its opposite that has wrought such a woeful change? There is no doubt as to the answer.