The preaching of the Gospel and the gathering of the Lord's elect will take time, and may proceed together. It is plainly evident that before the preaching or the gathering the Lord's authorized messenger must appear to begin the work and to show how the Lord desires it carried out.
SIGNS ALREADY APPARENT.
The "wars and rumors of wars," the rising of "kingdom against kingdom," the "distress of nations," and the "famines, pestilences, and earthquakes" of the present time proclaim that THE COMING OF THE LORD "IS NEAR, EVEN AT THE DOORS." The desire awakened among the Jews to return to Jerusalem, and the efforts being made for them to do so, are also witnesses that THE TIME OF THEIR "REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH."
WHO BELIEVES THESE THINGS.
But what about the messenger to prepare the way before the Lord? How about the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom in all the world? Where are the gifts and blessings of the Gospel—the signs to follow the believers? Where are the chosen people being gathered? And where is the house of the Lord being established?
In this age of unbelief who is looking for the fulfillment of these important events which must surely come to pass? Well might the Savior ask the question: "When the Son of Man Cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." There were but few believers in Noah's day.
A PEOPLE PREPARING FOR CHRIST'S COMING.
The Latter-day Saints claim that the divinely inspired messenger has come to prepare the way before the Lord. They know that the gifts, powers and blessings of the Gospel have been restored, for they are partakers of them. Among them the eyes of the blind have been opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, and the lame healed. Their missionaries in a humble way have been proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom for over sixty years; and thousands of them are among the nations of the earth declaring it at the present time. Many of those who have believed their message have been gathered out from all nations, "from the four winds," from the "islands of the sea," from the "mountains" and "hills," and the "holes of the rocks." They have built the Lord's house in "the top of the mountains," where "all nations shall flow unto it," as they are now doing. There they are being taught the Lord's ways, that they might more fully "walk in His paths." The claims of the Latter-day Saints are worthy of the earnest and prayerful consideration of all who are seeking to prepare for the coming of the Lord.
"We have turned the barren, bleak prairies and swamps into beautiful towns, farms and cities, by our industry; and the men who seek our destruction and cry thief, treason, riot, are those who themselves violate the laws, steal and plunder from their neighbors, and seek to destroy the innocent, heralding forth lies to screen themselves from the just punishment of their crimes by bringing destruction upon innocent people."
—Joseph Smith.