Naturally, if there had been no apostasy, there would have been no need of another angel flying in the midst of heaven to restore the gospel,—neither to a community, nor to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. Naturally, too, since this condition was seen in vision by John while on the Isle of Patmos, it could not have been fulfilled in the ministry of the Savior. It belonged to a future time, to a time subsequent to that of John. It confirms the prediction of Daniel, that the kingdom of God should be established at some time after the fall of Rome. And it reveals the manner of the restoration: there should come an angel flying, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth.
In conclusion, it may be observed that the restoration was, according to the prophets, to be a restoration in very deed—a restitution of all things. In the sermon delivered on Solomon's porch, Peter predicted "the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."[H] Peter understood that there must be a period of restoration before the end of the world—before, indeed, Jesus the Christ could come again. Undoubtedly, it was the same thing Jesus had in mind, when He said, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come."[I]
[Footnote H: Acts 3:21.]
[Footnote I: Matt. 24:14.]
The restoration was, then, a part of the general plan, as well as the apostasy. It must of necessity follow after the apostasy. Not only the great falling-away, but the splendid restoration also, was clearly foreseen and predicted by the ancient prophets. The time of the restoration was to be the time of the kings that should follow the fourth great world-empire—that is, it was to be modern time. And the act of the restoration was to come through no human means, but should be like a stone cut out of the mountain without hands. It was to be brought about by the ministry of angels.
V.
AN ANGEL FLYING.
Three and a half years passed silently by after Joseph Smith received the vision of the Father and the Son. During that time there was no further communication from heaven. That he had received one vision, Joseph stoutly and fearlessly maintained. Neither persuasion nor persecution could break the testimony he had borne, nor dispel the knowledge he had divinely gained. The vision he had seen was real; the knowledge he had gained was real. He could not deny it. For three and a half years after this vision, however, he was apparently shut out from the presence of God. The young seer was left to himself. It was a period of silence.
Two things are notable in the conduct of Joseph's life during these years. First, he manifested the same self-control and absence of emotion or excitement, that he possessed when he went into the wood to pray. Had he been a victim of the "potent influence of the psychological 'crowd'"[A] he would undoubtedly have suffered from the religious disease and fanaticism common to revival movements. The excitement of the revival would have remained with him—as it did with everyone else—for an extended period of time. With the conviction of the glorious vision of the Father and the Son upon his mind, the boy would undoubtedly have felt still further emotional excitement, and would have been led to see further visions after the first one. Moreover, had he become subject to any derangement of mind, or diseased condition like epilepsy, as has been claimed by some of his defamers, he would have become even more liable to visionary manifestations. It was not so, however. His health was perfect; his self-control, complete. For three and a half years the heavens were shut above him. For three and a half years the God of heaven spoke no further word to him. For three and a half years he was left alone to ponder what he had seen, and to bear persecution unaided for testifying to truth. Always he was calm, unruffled, unaffected by religious passion or frenzy.
[Footnote A: The term "psychological crowd" is used in this chapter and elsewhere in the sense in which it is used by Prof. Davenport in the quotation in the first chapter of this book.]
Next, Joseph Smith manifested no desire, even though he had seen and talked with God Himself, to arrogate to himself any authority whatsoever. Many others in the history of the world claim to have seen visions. Mohammed, when forty years of age, saw in vision—he says—the angel Gabriel, and was commanded to preach a new religion. The authority to do so, he assumed at once. Joan of Arc, in response to the alleged heavenly voice which spoke to her, hurried to the side of the dauphin of France. Emmanuel Swedenborg, after years of scientific activity, began suddenly to herald a new church, and to interpret the word of God in a score of theological works—for, he claimed, the Lord had appeared to him in vision. With Joseph Smith, however, it was different. While he maintained stoutly, against the ridicule of friends even, that he had beheld a vision of the Father and the Son, he did not presume therefore to promulgate a new doctrine, or to establish a new church. He continued in the routine of his daily labor. He meditated what the Lord had said to him. He had been told that the sectarian churches of the world were wrong. He might have proceeded to establish a church that should be right. But Joseph had not yet received a full commission. He did not presume to do what undoubtedly he would have done had he been merely a victim of the "psychological crowd." For three and a half years, he waited for further instructions from the God of heaven.