The blessings of Jacob had "prevailed above," (i. e. exceeded) the blessings of his progenitors, "unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills;" and these greater blessings the patriarch declared should be "on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren." Joseph was to be as a fruitful bough whose branches run over the wall, indicating a largeness and fruitfulness that would exceed the other tribes in Israel. Moses is more explicit as to the character of the land Joseph should possess: "Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven"—is reference here made to the revelations of God that shall be given on the land of Joseph, does it contemplate a knowledge of the gospel of Christ that shall be had on the land in "the precious things of heaven" for which the land shall be noted? Again "Blessed of the Lord be his land . . . . for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun; . . . . for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush," that is, for the good will of God who appeared unto Moses in the burning bush, this allusion is obvious; so that Joseph's land is to be under God's good will in addition to all the natural advantages it is to possess. Joseph, too, is to be the power that shall "push the people together to the ends of the earth;" a declaration which, when considered in connection with the many promises of God that he who scattered Israel will gather him again, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock, "For I, the Lord, am a Father to Israel and Ephraim is my first born"—a declaration I say which is significant of prominence for Joseph in the work of the gathering of Israel in the last days.
And now I submit to you the question: Where is the evidence of the fulfilment of these great promises of God to Joseph? The world seems to have lost sight of this chief prince in Israel, this man holding the birthright. Where is that land of his described by Moses and Jacob, so far more extensive and richer in resources than old Canaan—to reach which perhaps Joseph's branches run over the wall? Where in the history of the world is the account of the fulfilment of the blessings pronounced upon Joseph by his father?
All the tribes of Israel, save Judah only, are lost to the knowledge of the world, and Judah is known chiefly for the things that he has suffered, and not for the realization of those blessings that were pronounced upon him by his father. Can it be that those special blessings pronounced upon the head of Joseph by the Lord have failed? Have the promises of Jehovah gone for naught? Well, so far as any knowledge the world has to the contrary these promises of God to this patriarch have failed. But it happens that the Latter-day Saints know that those promises have not failed. They have been fulfilled in part, and what remains will be gloriously fulfilled. Your choir, this afternoon sang:
"An angel from on high
The long, long silence broke;
Descending from the sky these
Gracious words he spoke:
Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill
A sacred record lies concealed."It speaks of Joseph's seed,
And makes the remnant known
Of nations long since dead
Who once had dwelt alone.
The fulness of the gospel, too,
Its pages will reveal to view."
The hymn has reference, of course, to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and the knowledge it reveals to the world concerning America and the nations that have inhabited it. Her ancient inhabitants in part sprang from a colony of Israelites who left Jerusalem about six hundred years B.C. That colony was made up of the descendants of Joseph. One family, Ishmael's, being the descendants of Ephraim, and the family of Lehi being of the tribe of Manasseh. Here in America this colony—descendants of the Patriarch Joseph—grew into kingdoms, republics, and empires, taking possession of this goodly land of America and occupying it both in the south continent and in the north continent. Their kingdoms and empires rivaled in greatness and in civilization some of the contemporary empires and kingdoms of the old world. Here flourished cities that evidently equaled in extent and grandeur Nineveh and Tyre and Sidon. From Joseph's seed in America there came a race of statesmen, warriors, and prophets rivaling the statesmen and warriors and prophets of the old world contemporary with them. Here the tribe of Joseph enjoyed not only the blessings of the earth, the boundless resources of his promised land, the continents of America, but here, too, his descendants received the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and were favored, after Messiah's resurrection, with a personal visitation from the Son of God himself, who taught them the gospel, gave to them a church organization, deposited the revealed truth of God with it, and gave that Church commandment to teach the gospel, and perfect the lives of those who received it. Then followed the golden age of America, reference to which is frequently made in the native traditions. For 200 years a reign of righteousness prevailed, during which time there was a rich harvest of souls unto God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The land was blessed "with the precious things of heaven," truly.
Because of the things, then, that befell the descendants of Joseph in this promised land of America, which things are made known in our Book of Mormon, the Latter-day Saints, at least, know that the promises of the Lord to the house of Joseph have not failed—and a hundredth part of their fulfilment I have not been able even to indicate. And but for the partial fulfilment of God's promises to Joseph in the land of America, the world would be compelled to admit that the promises, the blessings pronounced upon the head of Joseph had failed; for surely nowhere else in the world have they been fulfilled. They were promises that could not have been fulfilled in a corner, they are too large for that. I call upon the Bible scholarship of the world to tell us where these great promises of God to Joseph have been kept—so far as the wheels of time have brought their fulfilment due—if not in America. And if it shall be contended that the time for Joseph to realize his promises has not yet arrived—for the failure of them, since they were given under inspiration of God, is unthinkable—then where can they be fulfilled save in America? What land so well corresponds to that described both by Jacob and Moses as the inheritance of Joseph? And what events in history, what movements among the people of the earth, outside of those with which the Latter-day Saints are connected, give promise of the fulfilment of Joseph's blessings?
The blessings of Joseph, however, even with all that has been made known through the Book of Mormon, have been realized only in part. Much remains to be fulfilled. There is in store yet much more glory, much more honor, for this branch of the house of Israel, this tribe which holds the right to lead in the gathering, and in the salvation of Israel, in whom is lodged the right and the power to "push the people (Israel) together to the ends of the earth—and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh."
Allow me to call your attention to a singular circumstance. We believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in our day, and is being preached in all the world; for its message is not confined to America. It is said in the scripture that predicts its restoration by an angel, in the hour of God's judgment—that it is to be preached to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people (Revelation xiv:6, 7); to Gentile and Jew, to bond and free—all are to have this gospel proclaimed to them in the due time of the Lord; but the dispensation of the fulness of times is a period when the blessings of God shall especially turn upon the house of Israel. So that while there is a message in the restored gospel for all mankind, there is something special in it for the house of Israel. It is the gathering dispensation of the gospel, in which "all things will be gathered together in one," even in Christ. This gospel, then, is proclaimed to all the nations of the earth, and what happens? Its message fell upon the ears of our fathers and mothers; some were in this nation, some in that. It was the case of taking one of a city and two of a family out of which to form a people. They were not convinced of the truth by eloquence or argument, or logic, but there was something in the very sound of the gospel congenial to the souls of our fathers as soon as they heard it, and they responded to its message; they laid hold of its principles by a spiritual power, and they loved them better than they loved the honors and applause of the world. When they heard the gospel proclaimed it had in it a familiar sound like the refrain of some only half-forgotten song. It was congenial to their souls. Was it not an unconscious awakening of spirit-recollections; the recurrence to the soul of principles familiar to it in the pre-existent estate, when the spirit dwelt with the heavenly Father in the mansions of the blessed? The thought may be illustrated by an incident that occurred in one of the early frontier wars between the Indians and the British settlers of our country. In 1764, after several years of intermittent border warfare, Colonel Boquet was sent from Fort Pitt, against the Indian tribes located in the Ohio valley, with instructions to bring them to terms. The British commander pitilessly pursued the Indians to their very homes, refusing to listen to parleys until the spirit of the native tribes was subdued and they were ready to accept such terms as he chose to dictate. One of these terms was that all the whites held captive by the Indians should be brought in and surrendered. This was acceded to, and some three hundred captives were brought to the British encampment. It was a pathetic scene which attended this event. Some of the captives had been held for years by the Indians, some of them as long as nine years. Those who had been captured in their childhood had forgotten the very language of their race. One instance is related of a mother who recognized her child among the captives surrendered to Colonel Boquet, but the child gave no sign of recognizing the mother, and in tears she complained to the colonel that the daughter she had so often sung to sleep in her arms had forgotten her. "Sing the song to her that you used to sing when she was a child," said the commander. She did so, and "with a passionate flood of tears" the daughter rushed to the mother's arms. So it was with the proclamation of the gospel to our fathers. God was merely having sung to them again the songs of the home in heaven, in the preaching of the gospel. It stirred in their souls half recollections of by-gone ages, and with tears of joy at those awakened soul-recollections they sought again their Father's house, the Church of Christ. Our fathers loved the gospel, I say, more than their station in society, or the approval of their kindred; and hence they cast in their lot with a despised people. For the most part they remained true to that awakening which came to their souls through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They gathered out from the nations of the earth, and came to the land of Zion. And now something peculiar happens. The patriarchs of the Church place their hands upon the heads of these people, and under the inspiration of God, earnestly sought, these men—in the exercise of their holy office—pronounce those who are thus gathered to be, not only of the house of Israel, but, in the main, as belonging to the tribe of Ephraim. There is something beautifully fitting in this circumstance; something that goes a long way towards establishing its truth. Certainly the tribe to whom is given the right of the first born should be gathered first. To the first born is given the work of gathering the people from the nations of the earth; he holds the keys of authority and power in the ordinances of the gospel, especially as pertaining to the patriarchal order, and hence he is gathered first. Where? To the land of Joseph, to the promised inheritance of that patriarch and his seed, to the land of Zion, here to raise the standard of Israel, the ensign of peace to the world, through the proclamation of the gospel of peace. Here in this chosen land Joseph, through Ephraim, erects the temples of his God, and calls all Israel to come and participate in the blessings that are being restored to his father's house.
In one of the revelations in our Doctrine and Covenants (sec. 123) we are assured that Israel in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord, "And their prophets shall hear his voice and shall no longer stay themselves. . . . And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim my servants. And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence. And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim; and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy. Behold, this is the blessing of the Everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessings upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows."
Thus the tribe on which was bestowed the birthright in Israel, is being gathered to the land promised him of God, to the land, choice above all other lands in the earth, to the land of Joseph. And here stands Joseph in the midst of his temples in that promised land, waiting to bestow blessings upon the other tribes of Israel. Joseph's dreams of the sheaves of his brethren doing obeisance to his sheaf: and the sun and the moon and the eleven stars making obeisance to him shall have, here in his own promised land—in these two American continents—a larger fulfilment than they did in Egypt, when his brothers bowed before Joseph, ruler of Egypt. For here in the land of Joseph shall his tribe of Ephraim, holding the birthright in Israel, stand to receive the gathering tribes of his father's house, and they shall "fall down" before Joseph—do "obeisance to him," in the language of the dreams; but not that they may be humiliated, or oppressed, but that they may be "crowned with glory, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim, and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy." God does not humiliate in order to oppress; such humility as he requires is that he may exalt. Joseph's brethren in their blind jealousy of him mistook the meaning of his dreams. Those dreams while they were a prophecy of Joseph's prominence in Israel, also were a prophecy of saving and blessing unto Israel, not of tyrannical domination or usurpation of the rights of the other brothers or tribes; and as Joseph's mission in Egypt resulted in preserving Israel "a posterity in the earth," and of saving the lives of his father's household, "by a great deliverance;" (Genesis xlv:5, 7), so his mission in the last days, in his own land of Zion, shall culminate in a much larger way in the salvation of Israel.