Does that sound as if "Mormonism" takes no cognizance of what is going on in the outside world? How can any intelligent reader arise from a study of the "Mormon" faith, convinced that the Latter-day Saints are not interested in anything beyond the bounds of their own social and religious system? That one selection from the Book of Mormon suffices to refute the false notion.
Of Their Own Nation and Tongue.—All down the ages, men bearing the Priesthood, the authority to represent God, have officiated for him and ministered in behalf of mankind. And other good and great spirits, not holding that authority, but imbued with a desire to benefit and uplift their fellows, have been sent into different nations, to give them, not the fulness of the Gospel, but that measure of truth and light that they had the power to appreciate and put to worthy use.
Why came Socrates, Confucius,
Zoroaster and Gautama?
Why not Christ alone?
Truth answers:
Graded are the Master's teachings,
Lest come wasteful overflowing,
With a swifter condemnation
For indifference or rejection.
Milk, not meat, for infant palates,
Spirit babes, though mental giants,
Unprepared for strong nutrition,
Ministered by agents mightier.[[5]]
The Arab and the Caliph.—But spirit waters, like the waters of earth, will lose their sweetness and purity, if separated too far or too long from their Fountain-head. They will become stagnant and unwholesome, like the drink carried by the poor Arab in his leathern bottle, from the sparkling spring in the desert to the distant palace of the Caliph, who magnanimously rewarded the giver, not for the rank draught presented for his acceptance, but for the goodness of his motive, the sincerity of his soul.
An Oft-restored Religion.—Man's proneness to depart from God and to mix with the clear precepts of divine truth his own muddy imaginings, has made necessary more than one restoration of the primal and pure religion. The Gospel of Christ did not make its first appearance upon this planet at the time of the Savior's crucifixion. While it seemed a new thing to that generation, who were "astonished at his doctrine," in reality it was older than all the ages, older than Earth itself. Originating in the heavens before this world was framed, it had been revealed to man in a series of dispensations, beginning with Adam and extending down to Christ.
The Book with Seven Seals.—Revelation is silent as to the number of the Gospel dispensations. But there are those—and the present writer is among them—who incline to the belief that seven is the correct figure; a belief partly founded upon the Scriptural or symbolical character of that number, and partly upon Joseph Smith's teachings relative to the seven great periods corresponding to the seven seals of the mystical book seen by John the Revelator in his vision on Patmos.[[6]]
The World's Hidden History.—According to the Prophet's exegesis, the book mentioned in the Apocalypse "contains the revealed will, mysteries and works of God—the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance or its temporal existence." Each thousand years is represented by one of the seals upon the book—the first seal containing "the things of the first thousand years, and the second also of the second thousand years, and so on until the seventh."[[7]] The opening of these seals by the Lamb of God signifies, as I understand, the revealing of a Heaven-kept record of God's dealings with man upon this planet.[[8]]
Are They Dispensations?—These seven periods—millenniums—may or may not be Gospel dispensations, periods of religious enlightenment, during which the Plan of Salvation and the powers of the Priesthood have been among men, alternating with seasons of spiritual darkness. But whether or not they be so regarded, it is interesting to think of them as covering the same ground, paralleling those dispensations, or extending through the same vast stretch of duration, and dealing with events and epochs, principles and personages, connected therewith.
Symbolical and Prophetic.—Whatever their number, or the names by which they may be properly known, it is evident that the Gospel dispensations are inter-related and progressive, each preparing the way before its successor. Altogether, they represent God's special dealings with man, from the beginning down to the end of the world. They are also symbolical and prophetic, pointing forward to a great and wonderful Consummation, the long-heralded era of Restitution, when part will blend with perfect, when past dispensations will all be gathered into one—the Eternal Present, God's great Today, wherein is neither past nor future.[[9]]