Rays of Living Light on the One Way of Salvation

by Charles W. Penrose

When the angel appeared to him three years later, it was in his chamber, just as he had retired for the night. Coming in glory, the angel showed to Joseph the place where an ancient record was hidden in the side of a hill, containing the history of the former inhabitants of the American continent, including an account of a visit made to them by Jesus Christ after his resurrection from the dead when he declared to them the same gospel that he had preached in Palestine and also established his Church among them after the same pattern as that organized on the eastern hemisphere. He was informed that this record should be subsequently placed in his hands to translate by the gift and power of God to be given to him through means which the Lord had prepared for that purpose. This manifestation was thrice repeated that night that Joseph might be fully assured of its reality. Under the inspiration of Almighty God, the young man was able to obtain possession of this precious record, inscribed in small and curious characters upon metallic plates. The gospel is there set forth in plain and simple language, and no one who reads the book, which is called the Book of Mormon, with a prayerful and unprejudiced heart, will fail to be impressed with its divine origin.

After being thus favored of the Lord, Joseph Smith received a visitation from John the Baptist, who held authority in ancient times to preach and administer baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. He came as a ministering angel, and ordained Joseph Smith and his companion, Oliver Cowdery, to that priesthood and authority. Thus endowed, these young men baptized each other, and at a later date were ministered to by the Apostles Peter and James and John, who ordained them to the apostleship, with authority to lay hands on baptized believers and confer the gift of the Holy Ghost, also to build and organize the Church of Christ according to the original pattern.

On the sixth day of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ was organized in the State of New York, with six members, Latter-day Saints who had been baptized for the remission of sins and had been confirmed by the laying on of hands. The Holy Ghost was manifested unto them, and as the Church grew in numbers the gifts of the Spirit were imparted, and the organization was eventually made complete with apostles, prophets, seventies, elders, priests, teachers, deacons, also bishops and other officers that were in the primitive Christian Church; indeed, all the grades of the Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthood, with their keys, powers and endowments, and all the ordinances, ministrations and divine manifestations necessary to the true Church of Christ. Men thus divinely authorized, were sent out into the world to preach the gospel like the apostles of old, without purse or scrip, without salary and without pay of any kind, depending upon the Lord and friends whom he might raise up to minister to their temporal wants. Wherever they went and people received their testimony and were baptized for the remission of sins, the Holy Ghost was poured out upon them through the laying on of hands, and they invariably obtained a testimony from God that they were accepted of him, and that he had in very deed re-established his Church on earth. There are now many thousands of living witnesses to the truth of these things. They are natives of various countries, speaking different languages, reared in divers religions; they are now brought to the unity of the faith; they have come to a knowledge of the truth; doubt has fled and darkness has been dispersed; the light of heaven shines in their souls. They are in the straight and narrow way. They are members of the body of Christ, and his Spirit, which searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God, is the abiding witness from on high and shows them things past, present and to come.

This is the latter-day work spoken of by the holy prophets. It is the dispensation of the fulness of times, in the which God will "gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him" (Ephesians 1:10). It is the last and greatest of all dispensations. In it will be accomplished the "restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:21). It is to prepare the way for the second advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will come "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," and "in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . . when he shall come to be glorified in his saints" (II Thessalonians 1:8, 10). In this dispensation, after all people have been warned and the gospel has been preached for a witness to all nations, and the elect are gathered together from the four winds, namely, the east, west, north and south, the great tribulations and judgments will be poured out, the end of the world, that is, the end of the rule of Satan and of the wicked will come, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and his Christ, and he will reign over them forever.

"The times of ignorance God hath winked at, but he now commands all men everywhere to repent." Therefore, O, ye inhabitants of the earth, hearken to the voice of the Lord, which is unto all people, Christian and Pagan, preachers and hearers, Papists, Protestants, infidels, secularists and agnostics, rich and poor, kings, presidents, rulers, peasants and men and women of all races, religions and degrees, saying, Repent of your sins, of your false creeds, of your dead forms, and of all your unbelief and iniquities, and come unto me and be baptized by my servants, on whom I have placed my authority, and receive the laying on of their hands, and you shall have the remission of your sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and shall know that I am God, and that I have set my hand to accomplish my great work in the earth, and if you abide in me you shall inherit the earth when it is cleansed and glorified, and shall be crowned with eternal life!

RAY NO. 8.

"Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven." So prophesied the Psalm 1st (Ps. 85:11). This may be viewed as a figurative expression, but it has been literally fulfilled in the 19th century. In the midst of the disputations over the meaning of many parts of the Bible, which have caused so many heart-burnings and bitter feelings among preachers and professors of religion, out of the earth has come forth a sacred record containing divine truth in such plainness and simplicity as to settle in the minds of believers those controversies which have agitated the world of theology. When the American continent was discovered by Columbus and others, who were led to cross the great waters in search of unknown lands, a dark-skinned race, composed of many different tribes but evidently of a common origin, was found in possession of the western continent. Varying in their characteristics from the white, the black, the yellow, and all the European, Asiatic and Ethiopian branches of the human family, their origin became a cause of wonder and scientific investigation. The general conclusion arrived at was that at some remote period their ancestors had migrated from some portion of the eastern hemisphere, but when, or how, or why this emigration had taken place was a profound mystery.

But in the year 1829 a book was published in the State of New York, claiming to have been translated from metallic plates found in a hill-side in that State by a young man who, was directed to their place of deposit by an angel of God, and who was inspired in the work of translation to decipher the hieroglyphics inscribed on those plates, being aided in the work by an instrument, discovered with them, called the Urim and Thummim. The plates had the appearance of gold, were not quite so thick as common tin, were about six by seven inches in size, were engraved on both sides, and were fastened together in the shape of a book by three rings at the back. Acting under instruction of the heavenly messenger, the young man, Joseph Smith, proceeded as quietly as possible to perform the arduous task required of him. As he was but a poor scholar, he obtained the assistance of a scribe to write, as he dictated word by word. The news of the discovery, however, became noised around, and ridicule from both preachers and people was followed by attempts at violence, so that the plates had to be concealed, and, with their translator, removed from place to place.

A farmer, named Martin Harris, who had become interested in the work, received from Joseph Smith a copy of some of the hieroglyphics with their translation. These he carried to New York and submitted them to some learned linguists, among them Prof. Anthon, who, after examining them, pronounced them true characters and the translations, so far as he could determine, to be correct. He wrote a certificate to this effect, and gave it to Martin Harris. But questioning him as to how the young man had obtained the record containing these characters, he was informed that it was revealed to him by an angel of God. He then requested Martin Harris to let him look at the certificate he had given him. On receiving it he tore it up, declaring that there was no such thing as angels from heaven now-a-days, but said if the book was brought to him he would endeavor to translate it. A portion of the record being sealed, Martin Harris informed him of that fact, when he exclaimed, "I cannot read a sealed book." As will be seen subsequently, he was, though unwittingly, fulfilling a scriptural prophecy.

That portion of the record which was not sealed was finally translated into the English language by Joseph Smith and formed a volume of about 600 pages, which was published as the Book of Mormon. This title was given to it because a prophet named Mormon, by command of God, about four hundred years after Christ, compiled and abridged the records of prophets who ministered on the American continent, back to to about 600 years before Christ, when a colony of Israelites were led from Palestine across the waters and became a numerous people, the ancestors of the present race of American Indians. The account of their travels, their establishment on the western hemisphere, the revelations of God to them, their division through wickedness into separate tribes, the manner in which the hue of their complexion was changed, their wars, their works, their buildings, their customs, their language, the words of their prophets, are all given in great plainness in the Book of Mormon. An account is also given of the visit of our Lord Jesus Christ to this people after his resurrection, fulfilling his own prediction recorded in John 10:16: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd." That these "other sheep" were not the Gentiles, as popularly supposed, is clear from Christ's statement, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). He established his Church among them, ordaining twelve apostles, and giving them the same gospel, authority, gifts, powers, ordinances and blessings as he gave to his "sheep" on the eastern hemisphere. Thus the fulness of the gospel is contained in the Book of Mormon, which stands as a witness of the truth of the Bible; the two records supporting each other, and both united bearing testimony to an unbelieving world that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the eternal God and the Savior of the world.