"And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another;
"And they had all things common among them, therefore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift."—(IV Ne. 1:2, 3.)
The Apostasy.—Then came the universal apostasy—a departure from the pure, primitive faith, as general and as worldwide as the known promulgation of its principles; and the Gospel and the Priesthood were taken back to heaven, to await the decreed time of their final restoration. This apostasy, foretold by Paul and other apostles, is represented symbolically in the Revelation of St. John, the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of which are particularly pertinent in this connection.
CHAPTER VIII.
Dawn of the Last Dispensation
THE MESSENGER OF MORN.
Wake, slumbering world! Vain dreamer, dream no more!
The shadows lift, and o'er night's dusky beach
Ripple the white waves of morn. Awake! Arise!Ocean of dispensations—rivers, rills,
Roll to your source! End, to thine origin!
And Israel, to the rock whence ye were hewn!
For He that scattered, gathereth his flock,
His ancient flock, and plants their pilgrim feet
On Joseph's mountain top and Judah's plains;
Recalls the Children of the Covenant
From long dispersion o'er the Gentile world,
Mingling their spirits with the mystic sea
Which sent them forth as freshening showers to save
The parched and withered wastes of unbelief.
Japheth! thy planet pales, it sinks, it sets;
Henceforth 't is Jacob's star must rise and reign.* * * * * * * * *
Time, mighty daughter of Eternity!
Mother of centuries—seventy, seven-crowned!
Assemble now thy children at thy side,
And ere thou diest teach them to be one.
Link to its link rebind the broken chain
Of dispensations, glories, keys, and powers,
From Adam's fall unto Messiah's reign;
A thousand years of rest, a day with God,
While Shiloh reigns and Kolob once revolves!Six days thou, Earth, hast labored; and the seventh,
Thy Sabbath, comes apace!—Night's sceptre wanes,
And in the East the silvery Messenger
Gives silent token of the golden dawn.* * * * * * * * *
A living Prophet unto dying Time,
Heralding the Dispensation of the End,
When Christ once more his vineyard comes to prune,
When potent weak confound the puny strong,
Threshing the nations by the Spirit's power,
Rending the kingdoms with a word of flame;
That here the Father's work may crown the Son's,
And Earth be joined a holy bride to Heaven,
A queen 'mid queens, crowned, throned, and glorified.Wherefore a Noble of the Skies came down,
In strength divine, a stirring role to play
In Time's tense tragedy, whose acts are seven.His part to fell the false, replant the true,
To clear away the debris of the past,
The ashes of its dead and dying creeds,
And kindle newly on earth's ancient shrine
The Light that points to Life unerringly;
Crowning what has been with what now must be,
A mighty still bespeaking Mightier.Earth rose from wintry sleep, baptized and cleansed,
And on her tranquil brow, that seemed to feel
The holy and confirming hand of Heaven,
The warm light in a wealth of glory streamed;Nature's great floor green-carpeting anew
For some glad change, some joyful happening,
Told in the countless carolling of birds,
Gilding the foliage, brightening the flowers,
Mirroring mingled hues of earth and sky.Glad happening, in sooth, for ne'er before,
Since burst the heavens when Judah's star-lit hills
Heard angel choristers peal joy's refrain
Above the mangered Babe of Bethlehem,
Had earth such scene beheld, as now within
The bosom of a sylvan solitude,
Hard by the borders of a humble home,
Upon that fair and fateful morn was played.Players, immortal Twain, and mortal one,
Standing but fourteen steps upon life's stair;
Boy and yet man, thinker of thoughts profound,
Boy and yet man, dreamer of lofty dreams.
Not solemn, save betimes, when hovered near
Some winged inspiration from far worlds,
Some great idea's all-subduing spell;
Not melancholy—mirthful, loving life,
And brimming o'er with health and wholesome glee.
A stalwart spirit in a sturdy frame,
Maturing unto future mightiness.Bowing to God, yet bending to no creed,
Adoring not a loveless deity,
That saved or damned regardless of desert,
Ne'er reckoning the good or evil done;
Loving and worshiping the God of love,
The gracious God of reason and of right,
Long-suffering and just and merciful,
Meting to every work fit recompense,
Yet giving more, far more, than merit's claim;
Bowing to Him, but not to man-made gods,
And shunning shameful strife where peace should dwell,
He holds aloof from those degenerate sects,
Bewildering Babel of conflicting creeds,
And pondering the apostolic line,
"Let any lacking wisdom, wisdom ask,"
In childlike faith, godlike humility,
Resolves to prove the promise by the test.What pen can paint the marvel that befell?
What tongue the wondrous miracle portray?
Than theirs, the Vision's own, what voice proclaim
Whose dual presence dimmed the noonday beam,
Communing with him there, as friend with friend,
And giving to that prayer reply of peace?Tell how, as Moses on the unknown Mount,
From whom in rage fled baffled Lucifer,
Who fain had guised him as the Son of God,
And won the worship of that prophet pure;—
Tell how with gloom he strove ere glory dawned,
And black despair met bright deliverance.
Tell how, in heart of that sweet solitude,
Within the silent grove, sequestered shade,
While spirit hosts unseen spectators stood,
Watching the simple scene's sublimity,
Eternity high converse held with Time.Time, parent of the hovering centuries,
Mother of dispensations, travailing,
And bringing forth her last and mightiest child;
Heaven's awful Sire, through him both Sire and Son,
There blazoning the beginning of the End.* * * * * * * * *
"'Twas from below!" Thus Bigotry in rage.
"Nay, from above," Faith's simple, firm reply.
"No vision is there now—the time is past."
"But I have seen," affirms the youthful Seer.
"God is a mystery, unknowable."
"God is a man—I saw Him, talked with Him."
"Man?" "Ay, of holiness—Exalted Man."A strife of words, of warring tongues, now waged,
And weapons vied with words the truth to slay;
Nor truth alone, but her brave oracle,
A boy, by men, by neighborhoods, oppressed.
The wrangling sects forgave—well nigh forgot
Their former feuds and fears and jealousies;
And, joining hands, as Pilate Herod joined,
One guilty day when God stood man-condemned,In friendly reconcilement's cordial clasp,
They doomed to death and hell "this heresy."
None sought, from "Satan's wile," a soul's reclaim,
But all were bent his humble name to blast;
And pious, would-be murder led the van
Of common hatred and hostility.But Truth, thou mother of the living thought,
The deathless word, the everduring deed!
What puny hand thy giant arm can stay?
When crushed, or backward held, thine hour beyond?
Can bigot frown or tyrant fetter quell
Thy high revolt, O light omnipotent!
When God would speak with man, who tells him nay?
Can hell prevent, when heaven and earth would join?Still through his soul the solemn warning rang;
Still from his mouth the startling message flamed:
"No church the Christ's! None, therefore, can I join.
All sects and creeds have wandered from the way.
Priestcraft, in lieu of Priesthood, sits enthroned,
Dead forms deny the power of godliness.
Men worship with their lips, their hearts afar.
None serve acceptably in sight of heaven.
Wherefore a work of wonder shall be wrought,
And perish all the wisdom of the wise."
—("Elias," Canto V.)
A Decreed Consummation.—The Gospel dispensation introduced by the Prophet Joseph Smith was rendered necessary by the apostasy of the Christian world from the ancient Faith, as delivered to the Saints in the Meridian of Time. Nevertheless, according to the foreknowledge of God, and in consonance with his all-wise purposes, this great, all-comprehending dispensation had been preordained from the beginning, as the "winding up scene," or final development, in the divine plan, having for its object the salvation of the sons and daughters of Adam.
"It is necessary, in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times; which dispensation is now beginning to usher in, that a whole and complete and perfect union, and welding together of dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories, should take place and be revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time; and not only this, but those things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and sucklings in this the dispensation of the fulness of times."—(D. and C. 128:18.)