Outlines of Ecclesiastical History

by B. H. Roberts

3. The Youth of Christ.—It is written that there was once a pious, godly bishop who had often earnestly prayed that God would manifest unto him what Jesus had done in his youth. Once the bishop had a dream to this effect. He seemed in his sleep to see a carpenter working at his trade, and beside him a little boy who was gathering up chips. Then came in a maiden clothed in green, who called them both to come to the meal, and set porridge before them. All this the bishop seemed to see in his dream, himself standing behind the door that he might not be perceived. Then the little boy began and said: Why does that man stand there? Shall he not also eat with us? And this so frightened the bishop that he awoke. Let this be what it may, a true history or a fable, I none the less believe that Christ in his childhood and youth looked and acted like other children, yet without sin; in fashion like a man.—Martin Luther.

4. Messiah's Life for Thirty Years.—What was his manner of life during those thirty years? It is a question which the Christians cannot help asking in deep reverence, and with yearning love; but the words in which the Gospels answer it are very calm and very few. * * * * * His development was a strictly human development. He did not come to the world endowed with infinite knowledge, but, as St. Luke tells us, he gradually advanced in wisdom. He was not clothed with infinite power, but experienced the weakness and imperfections of human infancy. He grew as other children grow, only in a childhood of stainless and sinless beauty—as the "flower of roses in the spring of the year and as lilies by the waters." * * * * * It was in utter stillness, in prayerfulness, in the quiet round of daily duties—like Moses in the wilderness, like David among the sheep folds, like Elijah among the tents of the Bedouin, like Jeremiah in his quiet home at Anathoth, like Amos in the sycamore groves of Tekoa—that the boy Jesus prepared himself, amid a hallowed obscurity, for his mighty work on earth. His outward life was the life of all those of his age, and station and place of birth. He lived as lived other children of peasant parents in that quiet town, and in great measure as they live now.—Canon Farrar.

5. Was John the Elias?—"Art thou Elias?" said the messengers from Jesus to John. "And he saith, I am not" (John i). Afterwards, as Jesus, Peter, James and John were descending the mountain on whose summit they had seen in vision Moses and Elias, the following conversation occurred:

JESUS: Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.

DISCIPLES: Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?

JESUS: Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things; but I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. * * * * Then the disciples knew that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. (Matt. xvii.) From this it appears that John denied being Elias, while Jesus declared that he was, and in consequence much controversy has arisen on this subject. The matter may be easily understood, however, when it is known that Elias is the name of a person, the name of a prophet who lived, doubtless, in the days of Abraham (Doc. and Cov. sec cx: 12), and who also appeared to Jesus on the occasion above named; Elias is also the name of an office—the office of Restorer. "The spirit of Elias," said the Prophet Joseph (March 10, 1844) "is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of God, which is the priesthood of Elias. * * * * And when God sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called the doctrine of Elias, even from the early ages of the world." Hence any man who came to prepare the way for a greater revelation was an Elias, and in this sense John the Baptist was pre-eminently Elias; but it is equally true that he was not Elias, the prophet who lived in the days of Abraham, who appeared unto Jesus in the mountain and who also appeared to the Prophet Joseph and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple.

In the revision of the New Testament, by the Prophet Joseph Smith, often improperly called the new translation, the difficulty in respect to the denial of John that he was Elias is easily understood. We quote the passage: "This is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and seventies from Jerusalem, to ask him: Who art thou? And he confessed and denied not that he was Elias; but he confessed, saying, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, saying: How art thou then Elias? And he said, I am not that Elias who was to restore all things. And they asked him, saying, Art thou that Prophet? And he answered, No." (St. John i: 20-22.) From the above it may be plainly seen that while John was not the particular Elias who is to restore all things, yet he is an Elias because he restored some things in respect to the gospel.—Roberts.

6. John the Only Witness of the Descent of the Holy Ghost.—I suppose that John the Baptist was the only one who was a witness of the Holy Ghost resting upon Jesus in the form of a dove. In all the accounts given of this event, except by Luke, the pronoun "he," referring to John, is used. While in Luke it is not said that anyone else saw it, but it is merely stated that "the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him." John's own testimony is as follows: "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."—"The Gospel" (note), Roberts.

7. The Fate of Herod Antipas.—He was not allowed to enjoy his prosperity long. His nephew Agrippa having obtained the title of king, Herodias urged him to make a journey to Italy and demand the same honor. He weakly assented to his wife's ambitious representations; but the project proved fatal to them both. Agrippa anticipated their design; and when they appeared before Caligula, they were met by accusations of hostility to Rome, the truth of which they in vain attempted to disprove. Sentence of deposition was accordingly passed upon Herod, and both he and his wife [Herodias] were sent into banishment and died at Lyons in Gaul.—Kitto.

8. The Sign of the Dove.—The Holy Ghost descended in the form of a dove, or rather in the sign of a dove, in witness of that administration [Messiah's baptism]. The sign of the dove was instituted before the creation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil cannot come in the sign of a dove. The Holy Ghost is a personage, and is in the form of a personage. It (he) does not confine itself to the form of a dove, but in the sign of a dove. The Holy Ghost cannot be transformed into a dove; but the sign of a dove was given to John to signify the truth of the deed, as the dove is an emblem or token of truth and innocence.—Joseph Smith.