CANTO FIVE
1—Title: **The Messenger of Morn.** The fore part of this Canto, down to and including the line, "Out, out of her, my people, saith your God," summarizes the message borne by the modern Prophet. The curtain now rises upon the last act of the redemptive drama—the final restoration of the Gospel; Joseph the Seer, as the Elias of the scene, heralding the tidings of the approaching millennial reign.
2—1052. **Whence Ye Were Hewn.** An allusion to Isaiah 51:1-3.
3—1060. **Wastes of Unbelief.** Gentile or heathen lands, refreshed by the sprinkled blood of Israel—the blood that believes—and by spiritual visitations that accompany or follow such dispersions.
4—1061. **Japheth, Thy Planet Pales.** Japheth stands for the Gentiles, whose "fulness" now "comes in."
5—1077. **Mother of Centuries.** Time, as distinguished from Eternity (though technically eternity includes time), comprises seven thousand years, or seventy centuries, covered by seven Gospel dispensations. The Quorum of the Seventy, with the presiding First Council, is a probable typing in this connection.
6—1079. **Teach Them to Be One.** "It is necessary, in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, * * * that a whole and complete and perfect union and welding together of dispensations and keys and powers and glories should take place and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time."—Joseph Smith, (D. and C. 128:18.)
7—1084. **Shiloh Reigns.** Shiloh is another Hebrew name for Messiah, whose reign of a thousand years will equal in duration one revolution of the planet Kolob. (Abraham 3:4.)
8—1085. **Hast Labored.** The seven thousand years of Earth's "temporal existence" correspond to the seven seals of the Apocalyptic Book (Rev. 5 and 6) and are as seven great days, four of which had passed before Christ came, while nearly two have gone by since. According to this reckoning we are now in the Saturday evening of human history. The Millennium will be the seventh day—the World's Sabbath. (D. and C. 77:12; Abraham 3, 4, and 5).
9—1089. **Ancient Tidings.** The Everlasting Gospel, first revealed to Adam, who presides over all the dispensations. (History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 207-209).
10—1103. **What I Know.** Joseph Smith is said to have expressed the wish that he might reveal his identity and declare all that God had made known to him.
11—1117. **Gibborim.** Mighty ones. King David's six hundred guards were called "The Gibborim," for their heroic bravery. (Geike, "Hours With the Bible," Vol. III, pp. 254, 276, 325, 339).
12—1118. **Worthy The Word.** The explanation of this phrase is in that saying of the Saviour's: "Is it not written that they are gods to whom the word of God comes?"—meaning, of course, a superior race of men.
13—1136. **Fifth of Seven.** The Fifth Angel is he who "committeth the everlasting gospel." (D. and C., 88:103).
14—1165. **From Wintry Sleep.** At this point begins the personal history of the Prophet, who is also the subject of previous allusions. ("Writings of Joseph Smith"—Pearl of Great Price).
15—1214. **Dual Presence.** Joseph's vision of the Father and the Son.
16—1217. **Unknown Mount.** A mountain referred to in the Book of Moses. (1:1).
17—1235. **An Atlas.** Atlas was one of the Titans. He is depicted with the globe on his back.
18—1247. **Exalted Man.** "God himself is an exalted man."—Joseph Smith, ("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844).
"As man now is, God once was;
As God now is, man may be."—
Lorenzo Snow, Biography, p. 46.
19—1261. **Wisdom of the Wise.** The stanza in which this phrase occurs is based upon Isaiah 29:13, 14.
20—1283. **A Messenger From God.** The Angel Moroni.
21—1302. **Page to Page.** The Book of Mormon, or Stick of Joseph, joins with the Hebrew Bible, or Stick of Judah, as foretold by Ezekiel (37:16-20).
22—1310. **Ready For The Fall.** Prophecy ripe for fulfillment.
23—1311. **Elias Comes.** Moroni, restoring the Gospel, predicts the coming of a greater, to restore all things.
24—1324. **Fullest Freedom.** The Kingdom of God will protect all men in the enjoyment of their rights. The citizens and lawmakers of that Kingdom will not be all of one religious faith. So taught Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
25—1331. **Primal Language.** The Adamic tongue or Pure Language, brought back in the restoration of all things.
26—1407. **Ramah * * * Cumorah.** Book of Mormon names. That book is an abridged history of two great races, the Jaredites and the Nephites, who inhabited America prior to its discovery by Europeans. Their occupancy of the land was successive, the Jaredites coming from the Tower of Babel, B. C. 2218; and the founders of the Nephite nation from Judea, B. C. 600. The Jaredites perished about the time that the Nephites came. The latter were destroyed, A. D. 384, by the Lamanites, a degenerate and savage faction of their own people, whose remnants were found by Columbus and named Indians. The golden plates containing the Nephite-Jaredite record were taken by Joseph Smith from the Jaredite hill Ramah, called by the Nephites, Cumorah.
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