"And now I say unto you, keep these things from going abroad unto the world, until it is expedient in me that ye may accomplish this work in the eyes of the people, and in the eyes of your enemies, that they may not know your works until ye have accomplished the thing which I have commanded you."
When the Prophet Joseph gave his charge to the first foreign missionaries of the Church, Elders Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde, Joseph Fielding, and others, he said:
"My instructions to the brethren were, when they arrived in England, to adhere closely to the first principles of the Gospel, and remain silent concerning the gathering, the vision, (D. & C., Sec. 76), and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, until such time as the work was fully established, and it should be clearly made manifest by the Spirit to do otherwise. (Hist. of Church, 2:492).
Was there anything in the doctrine of gathering, in the vision, or the Doctrine and Covenants, that Joseph Smith was ashamed of? Was he "afraid that people would ask his followers what he taught?" that he gave such a charge to these first foreign missionaries of the Church! Was he afraid, a coward? No, he was merely obeying the voice of the Spirit, for the people were not prepared to receive these things. Brigham Young was no more "afraid that the people would ask his followers what he taught," than was Joseph Smith, or even the Master Himself, when He commanded certain of His disciples to withhold some of His teachings from the world, until after His resurrection.
Now, our Reorganite friends have attempted to make considerable capital out of the statement of President Brigham Young, that there were "keys that the written word never spoke of, nor never will." In the light of the facts herein set forth, that "it is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command, that they shall not impart only according to the portion of His word, which He doth grant unto the children of men; according to the heed and diligence which they give unto Him, and that things have been revealed to the faithful even to babes, that were "forbidden, that there should not any man write them," and that many of them have seen and heard "unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written," (III. Nephi 26:16, 18). is it, after all, so unreasonable that there should be keys that the written word does not and will not speak of? Joseph Smith the Prophet held the "keys" of the mystery of things which have been sealed, even things which were from the foundation of the world." (D. & C. 35:18), which mysteries it was given to the Saints to know, "but unto the world it is not given to know them." (D. & C. 42:65). Again: "But unto him that keepeth my commandments, I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life." (D. & C. 63:23).
Now, how were these keys and mysteries to be kept from the world, if they were to be published to the world in the written word? And if the Saints through faithfulness are to receive the mysteries of the kingdom, then they must be withheld from the world and from the unfaithful. How is this to be if they are to be published to the world in the written word? Therefore, when our friends of the "Reorganization" attack President Young because there were keys not spoken of in the written word, which keys we have seen were held by Joseph Smith, they merely display their own ignorance and folly in raising the question.
TEMPLE BUILDING AND CEREMONIAL ENDOWMENTS THEREIN.
Another phase of this same subject is Temple work, which is so bitterly attacked by the Reorganites. They say:
"That as to the alleged 'temple building and ceremonial endowments therein,' that we know of no temple building, except as edifices wherein to worship God, and no endowment except the endowment of the Holy Spirit of the kind experienced by the early Saints on Pentecost day." (Book of Resolutions, p. 82).
They take the ground that the Temple work of the Latter-day Saints is contrary to the teachings of the Prophet, and it was not contemplated before the martyrdom that in the Temple of God anything of a secret nature should take place. Of course it is to be expected that the "Reorganization" knows of "no Temple building or ceremonial endowments therein," for they have rejected the "greater things" and therefore the Lord has withheld from them this knowledge "to their condemnation." This charge has been already answered in part in what goes before, but we will see what is in the revelations to Joseph Smith which justify still further the actions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the belief and practice of "ceremonial endowments," etc., in the Temples.