The Government of God

by John Taylor

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, Section 84: 99-102.]

It is therefore contrary to every principle of reason and intelligence to suppose such a thing.

Secondly.—It would be unjust: and "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" But what right would there be in thus permitting Satan to usurp the dominion for ever? It would be giving in the first place to Satan that which belongs to God. This earth is not Satan's inheritance; it is the Lord Jesus Christ's, he is the rightful owner and proprietor. If Satan be indeed the God of this world, and rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience, he is only an usurper. It is not his rightful dominion, for all things were created by Christ, and for Christ, whether they be principalities, or powers, or thrones, or dominions, all these were created by him, and for him, and he only has a right to rule; but Satan has subverted the ways of God, deceived the human family, introduced misery, and confusion, and blighted this beautiful creation with his contaminating curse. As an usurper, it would be unjust to permit him to rule; it would be unjust to the government of God, for, if God has a right to rule, no other power can have that right, unless it is delegated, and if delegated, still the right is vested in the power that delegates.

It is therefore derogatory to God, for the world to be yielding obedience to another power. For while God, not the Devil, provides for, feeds, sustains, and beautifies the Universe, and nourishes the millions of people who inhabit the earth, with his beneficent hand and fatherly care;—for him to be neglected and despised, or forgotten, is the height of injustice, and the very climax of perverse ingratitude. But again, it would be unjust to the good and virtuous; this earth is properly the dwelling place, and rightful inheritance of the Saints. Inasmuch as it belongs to Jesus Christ, it also belongs to his servants and followers, for we are told, "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof," and that, when things are in their proper place, "the Saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the Most High." Dan. vii. 18 and 27. It is therefore their righful inheritance, and the usurpation before referred to, while it is unjust to God, is also as unjust to his Saints. Who can contemplate the position of the world, as it has existed, without being struck with this fact, Where has God ever had a people but they have been persecuted? The testimony of God has always been rejected, and his people trodden under foot. Paul tells us that they "were tempted, tried, sawn asunder, that they wandered about in sheep skins, and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted, and tormented." Heb. xi. 37. And to such an extent had this prevailed among the ancient Jews, that Stephen gravely asks the question, "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them, which shewed before, of the coming of the Just One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers." Acts vii. 52. What did they do with Jesus! and what with his followers! We may here ask, Is it right, is it proper, is it just, for this state of things to continue? It is true that the saints have had a hope of joys to come, and this state of trial has been permitted for their ultimate good; but although this is the case, it does not make the thing the more just. "It must needs be," says Jesus, "that offences come, but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea," than that he should offend one of those little ones. Matt, xviii. "They that touch you, touch the apple of mine eye." He has cried all along, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." The saints have suffered and endured, but they have done it in the hopes of a better resurrection; and as they have always looked upon this earth as their inheritance, to deprive them of this, would be to falsify the promises of God unto them, disappoint all their hopes, render inutile their sufferings and fidelity on the earth; and be to them an act, not only of temporary, but also of eternal injustice. For men of God in former days were just as much actuated by the prospect of a reward as a merchant, a warrior, a statesman, or any other person in search of wealth, honor, or fame. The only difference is, the one sought it in this life, the other in the life to come; the one looked for his reward here, the other expected it hereafter; the one had no hope concerning the future, the other had; the one was blinded by the God of this world, and knew not his position, or possessed not a nobility of soul sufficient to make him brook the world, and the scorn of men, in search of a better inheritance; the other understood by revelation his relationship to God, the position of the world, and his high calling, and glorious hope; he sought the nearest way to eternal life, scorned to be captivated by the world's tinsel show, despised the short-lived pleasures offered by the god of this world, and possessed magnanimity of soul sufficient to lead him to acknowledge the God of the Universe, and to brook the scorn of empty fools, and ephemeral philosophers. If persecution's deadly shafts, and superstition's craven hate, were levelled against him, he dared to brook death in all its horrid forms, and live and die an honourable man, a true philosopher, a servant of God, and endure as seeing him who is invisible, in the hopes of a better resurrection. Deprive him of this hope, and you rob the just of his reward, dishonour God, and perpetuate misery and corruption in the world.

Thirdly.—As it would be unjust, so also it would be unscriptural. The Scriptures are full and clear on this subject; they represent Christ as being the rightful heir, and inheritor of this world; they represent him as having come once to atone for the sins of the world; but that he will afterwards come as its ruler, judge, and king; they represent him as the "Lord of the vineyard, the rightful heir" to the earth, and as having hitherto been dispossessed; but they again represent him as coming to claim his rights, to dispossess the usurpers; to take the authority, to rule, and reign, and to possess his own dominions. They represent the earth as labouring under a curse; but speak also of its deliverance therefrom; of its being blighted because of the transgression of man; but that it shall again yield its increase and become as the Garden of Eden. They represent the whole creation as groaning and travailing in pain, but that the creature also shall be delivered. That the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon all flesh; that the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the lion eat straw with the ox, and finally, every creature that is in the heavens, on the earth, or under the earth, shall be heard to say, glory and honor, and power, etc. That the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. That Jerusalem shall become the throne of the Lord, and that the dead saints shall live, and reign with Christ, no longer deprived of their rightful inheritance; but as Jesus said when here, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

If, then, the Scriptures are not idle phantoms, if their visions, and prophecies were not mere phantasies, and written to deceive, we have as much right to look for these things as we have to believe in any event that has taken place; but lest any of my readers should be ignorant of the Scriptures relative to these subjects, I will give a few passages which are in themselves as clear and pointed, as any other portion of the word of God.

Concerning Christ being the rightful heir, it is written, "All things were created by him, and for him, and without him was not anything made that is made." He is the "Mighty God, the everlasting Father," &c. "For of him, and from him, and to him are all things." "Thou sayest that I am a king, for this end was I born, etc." "Then the Lord shall be king over all the earth."

The Jews made a great mistake concerning the coming of Christ before; the Gentiles have made as great a mistake in regard to his second coming. The Jews expected him to come as a temporal deliverer alone, and overlooked his sufferings, trials, persecution, and death; the Gentiles having believed in his sufferings, have lost sight of his second coming; the promises of God made to the fathers; the redemption of the earth, and the kingdom of God. Both are wrong; both believed in part; neither in the whole. The Jews, in consequence of their unbelief, were cut off; but when Christ comes again, he will come in the way that their fathers looked for him, as a King, with power, and authority. The Gentiles having fallen into darkness, have lost sight of the great purposes of God, in regard to the redemption of man, and of the world; the restitution of all things, and the coming of Christ to reign. They have so far forgotten themselves, that they are actually fulfilling the prophecy of Peter: "There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?" 2 iii. 4. But to return: the Scriptures represent Christ as the lord of the vineyard, as the "heir" that was killed; as the "sower of the seed" in the world; as the "destroyer of the wicked husbandmen;" as coming to "rule the nations with a rod of iron," etc.; and to take possession of the kingdom. Daniel says, "I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." Dan. vii. 13, 14. Zechariah says, "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the East; and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah: and the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." . . . . "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." xiv. 4, 5, 9. These and many other things must be fulfilled if the Scriptures be true. These designs of God, which were the hope of the ancient Saints, and of which poets sung, and prophets wrote, were the consolation of all the faithful Saints, Prophets, and Patriarchs,—Jews and Christians. Take these away, and the world, to the Saints, is a miserable blank; the hope of the righteous futile, and the Word of God a farce.

Fourthly.—It would frustrate the designs of God, in regard to the spirits of the righteous, the dead, the progression of the world, and its final exaltation; and also the exaltation of man.

When the Lord created this world, as we have already stated, he had an object in view, not only in regard to the world, and its future destiny, but also as it regards the spirits which were then in existence. Those great and eternal purposes which our heavenly Father, in his consummate wisdom, had in view, when he issued his Divine Mandate, and this world was created, cannot be frustrated unless he cease to be God. And those enlivening hopes which cheered his sons; those spirits that lived with him, when they saw this beautiful orb fashioned, this earth made as the place for their habitation, as their possession, as the place where they should take bodies, where they should live, rule, and reign, not only in time, but in eternity, must not, cannot be destroyed. And yet what avails it all to them, if Satan triumph, the wicked rule, and God's kingdom be not established! They could not "have shouted for joy" at the prospect of this world continuing under the dominion of Satan; at the blight, degradation, misery, and ruin that have overspread it. But if we trace the matter still further, and look at the righteous dead, their position would be any thing but enviable under those circumstances. It was the hopes of the resurrection that made them endure, and it was God that implanted them in their bosoms; but if they are not raised, and if Christ's kingdom is not established, and they do not reign with him, their hopes are vain, their sufferings useless, and the purposes of God are frustrated. In vain did they bear a faithful testimony in opposition to a depraved world; in vain they endured, as seeing him that is invisible; in vain they wandered about in sheep skins, and in goat skins; in vain they looked for a city which hath foundations, as a recompense of reward; and false and deceptive are the testimonies of all the prophets who have testified of the restitution of all things, from the foundation of the world. Take away this, and our highest, and most exalted hopes are blighted; we live like fools, and die like dogs. If the world is always suffered to continue as it is, then is the hope of the righteous vain, the promises of God fail, Satan triumphs, and God's purposes are frustrated.