But, coming to a closer consideration of this "gathering of Israel"—Israel is gathering all right; perhaps not after our conception of it, not after our ideas as to how Israel should or would be gathered. Nevertheless, Israel, I say, is gathering to the land of Zion. You Latter-day Saints—whence came you? From the British isles, from Germany, from the Scandinavian countries, from the islands of the sea. Who are you? Israelites, gathered by the gospel message, which includes the word of God to you to gather together on this land of Zion. You are chiefly of the tribe of Ephraim, according to the inspired utterances of the patriarchs who pronounce blessings upon your heads. Well, if you—gathered from a multitude of nations—are of Israel, may not Israel, by hundreds of thousands and millions, be in the lands whence you came, which was chiefly from the northern lands of Europe? for our mission has had little success among the Latin races of southern Europe. You have been gathered by the proclamation of the gospel and are of Israel; and not only are you who have received the gospel gathered, but your kindred Germans, your kindred Scandinavians, your kindred Britishers, have also been coming to the land of Zion. Indeed, it seems that America is an asylum for all people; and even races that we fain would close our gates against, in spite of all the wisdom and caution and legislation of our national legislators and the administrative officers of our government, they, too, come to the land of Zion; and who shall say that these races have not inheritance in Zion? This western hemisphere is not only granted to the descendants of Joseph in Israel, not only to it will come those of the lost tribes of Israel, but the gentile races also have promise of an inheritance in this land; and here shall they receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ; receiving it at the hands of the children of Ephraim, upon whom commission has been bestowed and divine authority given to preach the gospel and administer in its ordinances. So Israel is being gathered in these last days to the land of Zion, and here gentile races are also assembling. Here in the United States alone we can reach more Germans than we can preach to in Germany, because of the limitations of religious liberty in Germany. Here we may preach to more English people than in England. Here we may preach to more Scandinavians than we can preach to in Scandinavia. Here we have opportunity to teach the truth unto gathered Israel in this blest land of Zion, and here and among the other known nations of the earth is full scope and opportunity for the accomplishment of all those things that have been predicted by the servants of God in all ages of the world respecting Israel, without assuming that it is necessary to go into the north polar regions or to detached portions of the earth somewhere in illimitable space.
VI.
PURPOSES OF GOD WILL NOT FAIL.
The purposes of God are not failing. God is imminent in this world, and is fashioning it according to his own divine purposes. There will be no failure in Jehovah's plans. The only thing is, Can we so enlarge our thought, can we lift ourselves from the narrow limits of our thinking in which we are so contented to walk—can we take broader views in relation to God's purposes and messages to the children of men? That is the only question. The Lord Almighty, I repeat, is accomplishing his designs in relation to the land of Zion; in relation to the gathering of Israel and the return of the ten tribes; just as he will accomplish his purposes with reference to the re-establishment of Judah upon the promised land of Canaan, and the redemption of Jerusalem. All this will come about in its times and seasons. The word of the Lord will go forth from Jerusalem, and the law will go forth from Zion—nay, in my view, it is now going forth in large measure from Zion—in a manner to reach the inhabitants of the earth, and bring to them the blessings that God has decreed for the children of men.
My brethren and sisters, I rejoice in the largeness of this work of God—this dispensation of the fulness of times. I love it, in part, because of its greatness—in its very bigness there is inspiration. I love to contemplate the purposes of God in their far-reaching possibilities. I rejoice to feel that today the children of men are moving up to a higher and truer conception of the things of God. We talk about, and we sometimes even dare to hope for, the coming of the millennium! I wonder what our sensations will be if some morning we wake up to a realization that the millennium is already on its way, and has been on its way for some time? When I think of the mighty progress that has been made in these modern days, and especially since God opened the heavens and revealed himself unto his servant Joseph Smith; when I take that circumstance as a starting point and contrast conditions as they are today with conditions as they were when that first revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, it seems to me that the prediction that old things shall pass away and all things shall become new is on the way to a very rapid fulfillment. At that time—early in the third decade of the nineteenth century—not a single foot of railroad existed anywhere in the world; today, all civilized nations are a network of railroads and railroad systems. We have moved all the way from the ox-cart and stage-coach to the mighty express train that thunders with lightning speed throughout the land. Distance is discounted—well nigh annihilated, in comparison with former times. In ocean navigation we have come from the rude vessel that could only be driven by the wind, to the mighty ocean greyhounds that speed across the oceans like express trains; and the oceans, once a dreaded mystery, are now but the convenient highways between the continents, the highways of commerce! Man, within the period we are considering, has not only mastered transportation upon the earth and upon the ocean; but we have recent demonstrations that man has mastered also the element of air; and may navigate the air with as great speed and ease as the land or the water. Within the period named—1820-1909—we have come all the way from the tallow dip to the electric light. In communication we have come from the pony express to the telegraph, and to the wireless telegraph, and the telephone; so that now we are in instant communication with all portions of the earth. No event of any moment may happen tonight that will not be spread upon the pages of tomorrow morning's press, which will await us upon our breakfast tables! Then in the way of advancements that give promise of peace—so mighty have become the engines of destruction; so revolutionary the promises of this recent mastery of the air, that it would seem that war must be an impossibility in the near future; and it becomes imperative that men devise—statesmen must devise, philanthropists must devise, patriots must devise—some means by which the international questions that arise may be settled without allowing nations to go to the dreadful arbitrament of war for a settlement. The time when swords shall be beaten into plow-shares, and spears into pruning hooks seems not far distant, even the time when nations shall learn war no more—the vision of the prophets! These are the conditions in the midst of which we live: A time when property is more secure than it ever was before in the world; a time when personal liberty is more secure than ever it was before in the world; a time when the comforts of life among the masses of mankind well nigh equal conditions that only kings could enjoy in ages that are past! When I see all these blessings, and realize that year by year they are increasing with accelerated speed—when I see the sentiment of universal brotherhood enlarging—when I see great and mighty intellects pushing far out upon the frontier of Christian thought, grasping the truths of God and weaving them into systems of practical philosophy, tending to make ready the inhabitants of the earth for that fulness of truth that God, through his prophets, has decreed should be poured out upon the nations of the earth in the last days,—when I see these evidences of man's progress within the last three-quarters of a century, since God spoke from heaven to Joseph Smith, I can not help but believe that there is some connection between the re-opening of the heavens to restore the gospel, and this wider diffusion of knowledge by which the comfort and enlightenment of men as to material things has been brought to pass—the golden age that prophets dreamed of, that prophets sang about—the golden age—the millennium—has at last dawned upon the earth! And right here, in the midst of it, God has established his Church. He has given to it the knowledge of the means of salvation. He has given to the Church divine authority to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, and the coming forth of this work is the herald of the modern world's awakening! For when the Book of Mormon came forth, by that token Israel might know, and the world might know, that God had set his hand to fulfil and accomplish the things that he had decreed concerning the gathering of Israel, and concerning all the inhabitants of the earth—their happiness and peace and glory and security. (II Nephi 30, and III Nephi 21.) This is our part of the work; to make proclamation of these things; to exemplify the law of God and the excellence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; to proclaim to the children of men that God is not a God afar off—One who transcends the world; but God imminent in the world, and that men may connect their lives with the life of God; and feel the inspiration of his life vibrating in their lives, uplifting, purifying, exalting—until man, the individual, and communities of men, nations—may walk with God in this great age now dawning on the world! And yet, great as our conceptions may be of the things of God—divine things—be assured that the divine things themselves are infinitely greater than our conceptions of them can be—then how great indeed they must be! The prophet spoke truly when he said of God: "His thoughts are not as your thoughts; his ways are not as your ways; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his thoughts above your thoughts, and his ways above your ways." But while we are under the necessity of conceding the truth of that, may we not share in and enjoy in some measure a knowledge of divine things and therein rejoice, as I feel we do this day by this brief glimpse of some of the things of God?
IV.
MORMONISM AS A BODY OF DOCTRINE.
A discourse at the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Sunday, March 13, 1910. (Reported by F. W. Otterstrom.)
I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Some time ago, within a year at least, a gentleman of some prominence in the public life of our state felt that he had occasion in a public address to allude to our religious faith as a "body of doctrine," and in doing so I think he exhausted his skill in framing an expression of contempt for it. He said:
"I will venture it as my individual opinion, that considered as a body of doctrine, no well instructed person would give this priesthood creed, the cold respect of a passing glance."
It is not worth while getting vexed over such expressions as that. They do no harm to our faith, nor to our society—the Church. Such a remark may lead one to wonder if the gentleman, who has some reputation for intelligence, and especially for his ability in following to logical conclusions any investigation he may undertake—I say such a remark may lead one to wonder if the gentleman himself has paid our faith the "cold respect of the passing glance" to which he refers; or has he presumed to pass judgment upon it without even such "a passing glance"—since he assumes with such air-sniffing loftiness and pride of intellect that "no well instructed person"—of which he is one, of course—would give it? For my own part, the only effect that this remark had upon me was to send me back in a half amused frame of mind to see if things pertaining to our creed were really as bad as that; and once more, I examined the foundations of our faith. I returned from that examination with my convictions deepened, with my respect and admiration very much increased for this body of doctrine so contemptuously characterized by this gentleman, and my faith in it strengthened. When called upon, this afternoon, to address you, it seemed to me that I could do you no better service than to give you the benefit of an examination of our faith as a body of doctrine—so far as possible in one sitting; and this holds good whether you be strangers within our gates, or members of the Church.