The Articles of Faith / A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

by James E. Talmage

I. Ancient prophecy has been fulfilled in the restoration of the gospel and the re-establishment of the Church upon the earth through his instrumentality.

II. He received by direct ordination and appointment, at the hands of those who held the power in former dispensations, the authority to minister in the various ordinances of the gospel.

III. His possession of the power of true prophecy, and of other spiritual gifts, is shown by the results of his ministry.

IV. His doctrines are both true and scriptural.

Each of these classes of evidence will receive attention and find ample demonstration in the course of our study of the Articles of Faith; and a detailed consideration will not be attempted at this stage of our investigation; a few illustrations, briefly stated, however, may not be out of place.

22. I. The Fulfilment of Prophecy, wrought through the life work of Joseph Smith, is abundantly shown. John the Revelator, from his prophetic vision of the latter-day dispensation, understood and predicted that the gospel would be again sent from the heavens, and be restored to the earth through the direct ministration of an angel:—"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."[21] A partial fulfilment of this prediction is claimed in the manifestation of the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith, as already described, whereby the restoration of the gospel was announced, and the speedy realization of other ancient prophecies was promised; and a record, described in part as containing "the fulness of the everlasting gospel," was committed to his care for translation and publication among all nations, kindred, and tongues. The remainder of John's fateful utterance, regarding the authorized call for repentance and the execution of God's judgment preparatory to the awful scenes of the last days, is now in process of rapid and literal fulfilment.

23. Malachi predicted the coming of Elijah specially commissioned with power to inaugurate the work of co-operation between the fathers and the children, and announced this mission as a necessary preliminary to the advent of "the great and dreadful day of the Lord."[22] The angel Moroni confirmed the truth and significance of this prediction in an emphatic reiteration.[23] Joseph Smith and his associate in the ministry, Oliver Cowdery, solemnly testify that they were visited by Elijah the prophet, in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, on the third day of April, 1836; on which occasion the heavenly messenger declared that the day spoken of by Malachi had fully come; "Therefore," continued he, "the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."[24] The particular nature of the union of the fathers and the children, upon which both Malachi and Moroni laid great stress, has been explained as consisting in the work of vicarious ordinances, including baptism for the dead who have passed from earth without a knowledge of the gospel. In teaching this doctrine, and in complying with its behests, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands to-day alone amongst all the sects professing Christianity.

24. The ancient scriptures are teeming with prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel in the last days, and the gathering of the chosen people from among the nations and from the lands into which they have been led or driven as a penalty for their waywardness and sin.[25] Such prominence and importance are attached to this work of gathering, in the predictions of olden times, that from the days of Israel's exodus, the last days have been characterized in sacred writ as a gathering dispensation. The return of the tribes after their long and wide dispersion is made a preliminary work to the establishment of the predicted reign of righteousness with Christ on the throne of the world; and its accomplishment is given as a sure precursor of the millennium. Jerusalem is to be re-established as the City of the Great King on the eastern Hemisphere; and Zion, or the New Jerusalem, is to be built on the western continent; the Ten Tribes are to be brought back from their hiding place in the north; and the curse is to be removed from Israel.[26] From the early days of Joseph Smith's ministry, he taught the doctrine of the gathering as imposing a present duty upon the Church; and this phase of the Latter-day Saint labor is one of its most characteristic features. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery declare that the authority for prosecuting this work was committed to the Church through them by Moses, who held the keys of authority as Israel's leader in former times. Their testimony is thus stated, in the description given of manifestations in the Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836:—"Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north."[27] As to the earnestness with which this labor has been begun, and the fair progress already made therein, consider the hundreds of thousands belonging to the families of Israel already gathered in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, about the house of the Lord, now established; and hear the hymn of the chosen seed among the nations, chanted to the accompaniment of effective deeds, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."[28]

25. The bringing forth of the Book of Mormon is held by the Latter-day Saints to be a direct fulfilment of prophecy.[29] In predicting the humiliation of Israel, to whom had been committed the power of the priesthood in early days, Isaiah gave voice to the word of the Lord in this wise:—"And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust."[30] The Book of Mormon is verily the voice of a people brought low, speaking from the dust, for from the dust the book was literally taken. The volume professes to be the history of but a small division of the house of Israel,—a part of the family of Joseph indeed, who were led by a miraculous power to the western continent six centuries prior to the Christian era. Of the record of Joseph, and its coming forth as a parallel testimony to that of Judah, or the Bible in part, the Lord thus spake through the prophet Ezekiel:—"Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand."[31] The succeeding verses declare that the gathering and restoration of Israel would immediately follow the united testimony of the records of Judah and Joseph. The two records are before the world, a unit in their testimony of the everlasting Gospel; and the work of gathering is in effective progress.