And this is the woman's age! All humanity is proclaiming it!
The women of the age are obeying the impulses of the age. Do they know what those impulses mean? They have heard the cry, and have come forth. Do they comprehend what that cry has signified?—"Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him!"
Unwittingly they are testing the Scriptures, and proving that the coming of Messiah is the crowning truth of the world. However, the five wise virgins of Zion are coming forth in faith. They are not unwittingly fulfilling their Lord's word. They have interpreted the cry, and are trimming their lamps.
Man may as well attempt to throw back the ocean with the hollow of his hand, or put out the sun with the breath of his command, as to attempt to defeat the oncoming of "woman's hour."
Let the God of humanity be praised for this; for did not the virgins come out at this eleventh hour, the fishermen might go again to their nets, and let the midnight pass, and earth take the consequence.
But how wondrously are the divine themes of earth's grace from God revealed. Down through the ages they came as echoes mellowed into more celestial tones.
Creation begins again! Zion—the New Jerusalem—is the Lamb's bride. She is the coming Eve.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. * * *
"And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels * * * saying, come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
"And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of many thunderings, saying Alleluia: for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
"Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage supper of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
"And he saith unto me, write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."
Surely there is a glorious prophesy and a sublime truth, hallelujahed from the ages down, in this proclamation of the woman's mission at the hour of the Lord's coming.
The lives of the Mormon women are as a testament to the age. The very character which their church has taken, as the literal Zion of the latter days, shall soon be recognized as the symbol of the hour.