Authenticity of Joseph Smith’s Mission
The evidence of divine authority in the work established by Joseph Smith, and of the justification of the claims made by and for the man, may be summarized as follows:
1. Ancient prophecy has been fulfilled in the restoration of the Gospel and the reestablishment of the Church upon the earth through his instrumentality.
2. He received by direct ordination and appointment, at the hands of those who held the power in former dispensations, authority to minister in the various ordinances of the Holy Priesthood.
3. His possession of the power of true prophecy, and of other spiritual gifts, is shown by the results of his ministry.
4. The doctrines he proclaimed are true and scriptural.
Each of these classes of evidence will receive attention and find ample demonstration in the course of the present study; and no detailed consideration will be attempted at this stage of our investigation; though a few illustrations, briefly stated, will be cited.
1. Fulfilment of Prophecy, wrought through the lifework of Joseph Smith, is abundantly attested. John the Revelator, from his prophetic vision of the latter-day dispensation, understood and predicted that the Gospel would be again sent from the heavens, and be restored to the earth through the direct ministration of an angel in the latter days: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." A partial fulfilment of this prediction appears in the coming of the angel Moroni to Joseph Smith, as already described, whereby the restoration of the Gospel was announced, and the speedy realization of other ancient prophecies was promised; and a record, described in part as containing "the fulness of the everlasting Gospel" as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants of the western continent was committed to his care for translation and publication amongst all nations, kindred, and tongues. A further fulfilment was realized in the personal visitations of resurrected beings, who had ministered as bearers of the Holy Priesthood during their time of mortality, this Priesthood comprising divine authority and appointment to preach the Gospel and administer the ordinances thereof. The remainder of John’s fateful utterance, regarding the authorized call for repentance and the execution of God’s judgment preparatory to the scenes of the last days, is now in process of rapid and literal fulfilment.
Malachi predicted the coming of Elijah especially commissioned with power to inaugurate the work of cooperation between the fathers and the children, and announced this mission as a necessary preliminary to "the great and dreadful day of the Lord." The angel Moroni confirmed the truth and significance of this prediction in an emphatic reiteration as already set forth. Joseph Smith and his associate in the ministry, Oliver Cowdery, solemnly testify that they were visited by Elijah the prophet, in the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio, on the third day of April, 1836; on which occasion the ancient prophet declared to the prophet of the latter days that the day spoken of by Malachi had come: "Therefore," continued he, "the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors." The particular nature of the union of the fathers and the children, upon which Malachi, Moroni, and Elijah laid great stress, has been explained as comprising vicarious ordinances, including baptism for the dead who have passed from earth without a knowledge of the Gospel or opportunity of complying with its laws and ordinances. In the teaching and practise of this doctrine, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands alone amongst all the churches professing Christianity.
The ancient scriptures teem with prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel in the last days, and the gathering of the people from among the nations and from the lands into which they have been led or driven as a penalty for their waywardness. In the predictions of olden times such prominence and importance are attached to this work of gathering that, from the days of Israel’s exodus, the last days have been characterized in sacred writ as distinctively a gathering dispensation. The return of the tribes after their long and wide dispersion is made a preliminary work to the establishment of the predicted reign of righteousness with Christ upon the earth as Lord and King; and its accomplishment is given as a sure precursor of the Millennium. Jerusalem is to be reestablished as the City of the Great King on the eastern hemisphere; and Zion, or the New Jerusalem, is to be built on the western continent; the Lost Tribes are to be brought from their place of exile in the north; and the curse is to be removed from Israel.
From the early days of Joseph Smith’s ministry he taught the doctrine of the gathering as imposing a present duty upon the Church; and this phase of Latter-day Saint labor is one of its most characteristic features. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery affirm that the commission for prosecuting this work was committed to the Church through them by Moses, who held authority as Israel’s leader in the dispensation known specifically as the Mosaic. Their testimony is thus stated, in the description given of manifestations in the Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836: "Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north." As to the earnestness with which this labor has been begun, and the fair progress already made therein, consider the hundreds of thousands belonging to the families of Israel already assembled in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains, about the Temples of the Lord now established; and hear the psalm of the hosts of Israel among the nations, chanted to the accompaniment of effective deeds: "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
The bringing forth of the Book of Mormon is held by the Latter-day Saints to be a direct fulfilment of prophecy. In predicting the humiliation of Israel, to whom had been committed the power of the Priesthood in early days, Isaiah gave voice to the word of the Lord in this wise: "And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust." The Book of Mormon is verily the voice of a people brought low, speaking from the dust, for from the earth the book was literally taken. The record is the history of a small division of the house of Israel, a part of the family of Joseph indeed, who were led by a miraculous power to the western continent six centuries prior to the Christian era.
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Of the record of Joseph and its coming forth as a parallel testimony to that of Judah, or the Bible in part, the Lord thus spake through the prophet Ezekiel: "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand." The succeeding verses declare that the gathering and restoration of Israel would immediately follow the united testimony of the records of Judah and Joseph. The two records are before the world, a unit in their testimony of the everlasting Gospel; and the work of gathering is in effective progress.
It is further evident from the scriptures that the dispensation of the Gospel in the latter days is to be one of restoration and restitution, truly a "dispensation of the fulness of times." Paul declares it to be the good pleasure of the Lord, "That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him." This prediction finds a parallel in an utterance of the prophet Nephi: "Wherefore, all things which have been revealed unto the children of men shall at that day be revealed." And in accord with this is the teaching of Peter: "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."
Now comes Joseph Smith with the declaration that unto him has been given the authority to open up this, the dispensation of fulness, restitution, and restoration; and that through him the Church has been endowed with all the keys and powers of the Priesthood as held and exercised in earlier periods. Unto the Church "is the power of this priesthood given, for the last days and for the last time, in the which is the dispensation of the fulness of times. Which power you hold, in connection with all those who have received a dispensation at any time from the beginning of the creation." The actual possession of these combined and unified powers is sufficiently demonstrated by the comprehensive work of the Church in its present-day ministry.
2. Joseph Smith’s Authority was conferred upon him by direct ministrations of heavenly beings, each of whom had once exercised the same power upon the earth. We have already seen how the angel Moroni, formerly a mortal prophet among the Nephites, transmitted to Joseph the appointment to bring forth the record which he, Moroni, had buried in the earth over fourteen hundred years before. We learn further, that on the 15th of May, 1829, the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood was conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery under the hands of John the Baptist, who came in his immortalized state with that particular order of Priesthood, which comprises the keys of the ministrations of angels, the doctrine of repentance and of baptism for the remission of sins. This was the same John who, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, had preached the same doctrine and administered the same ordinance in Judea, as the immediate forerunner of the Messiah. In delivering his message John the Baptist stated that he was acting under the direction of Peter, James, and John, apostles of the Lord, in whose hands reposed the keys of the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood, which in time would also be given. This promise was fulfilled a month or so later, when the apostles named visited in person Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, ordaining them to the apostleship, which comprises all the offices of the higher order of Priesthood and which carries authority to minister in all the established ordinances of the Gospel.
Then, some time after the Church had been duly organized, commission for certain special functions was given, the appointing messenger in each case being the one whose right it was so to officiate by virtue of the authority he had held in the days of his mortality. Thus, as has been seen, Moses conferred the authority to prosecute the work of gathering; and Elijah, who, not having tasted death, held a peculiar relation to both the living and the dead, delivered the appointment of vicarious ministry for the departed. To these divine commissions is added that given by Elias, who appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and "committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham," saying as was said of the patriarch named and his descendants in olden times, that in them and in their seed should all succeeding generations be blessed.
It is evident, then, that the claims made by the Church with respect to its authority are complete and consistent as to the source of the powers professed and the channels through which such have been delivered again to earth. Scripture and revelation, both ancient and modern, support as an unalterable law the principle that no one can delegate to another an authority which the giver does not possess.
3. Joseph Smith was a true Prophet-In the days of ancient Israel an effective method of testing the claims of a professed prophet was prescribed. "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." Conversely, if the words of the prophet are verified by fulfilment there is at least proof presumptive of his divine calling. Of the many predictions uttered by Joseph Smith and already fulfilled or awaiting the set time of their realization, a few citations will suffice.
One of the earliest prophecies delivered through him, which, while not his independent utterance but that of the angel Moroni was nevertheless given to the world by Joseph Smith, had specific reference to the Book of Mormon, of which the angel said: "The knowledge that this record contains will go to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, under the whole heaven." This declaration was made four years before the work of translation was begun, and fourteen years before the elders of the Church began their missionary labor in foreign lands. Since that time the Book of Mormon has been published in many languages and the work of its world-wide distribution is still in progress.
In August, 1842, while the Church was suffering persecution in Illinois, and when the western part of what is now the United States of America was but little known and so only as the territory of an alien nation, Joseph Smith prophesied "that the saints would continue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains," and that while many then professing allegiance to the Church would apostatize, and others, faithful to their testimony, would meet the martyr’s fate, some would live to "assist in making settlements and build cities and see the saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains." The literal fulfilment of this prediction, uttered in 1842, and it may be added, foreshadowed by an earlier prophecy in 1831, the one five, the other sixteen years before the migration of the Church to the west, is attested by the common history of the settlement and development of this once forbidding region. Even skeptics and pronounced opponents of the Church proclaim the miracle of the establishment of a great commonwealth in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains.
A remarkable prediction regarding national affairs was uttered by Joseph Smith, December 25, 1832; it was soon thereafter promulgated among the members of the Church and was preached by the elders, but did not appear in print until 1851. The revelation reads in part as follows: "Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls; And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place. For behold, the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain * * * And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war."
Every student of United States history is acquainted with the facts establishing a complete fulfilment of this astounding prophecy. In 1861, more than twenty-eight years after the foregoing prediction was recorded, and ten years after its publication in England, the Civil War broke out, beginning in South Carolina. The ghastly records of that fratricidal strife sadly support the prediction concerning "the death and misery of many souls," though this constituted but a partial fulfilment. It is known that slaves deserted the South and were marshaled in the armies of the North, and that the Confederate States solicited aid of Great Britain. While no open alliance between the Southern States and the English government was effected, British influence gave indirect assistance and substantial encouragement to the South, and this in such a way as to produce serious international complications. Vessels were built and equipped at British ports in the interests of the Confederacy; and the results of this violation of the laws of neutrality cost Great Britain fifteen and a half millions of dollars, which sum was awarded the United States at the Geneva arbitration in settlement of the Alabama claims. The Confederacy appointed commissioners to Great Britain and France; these appointees were forcibly taken by United States officers from the British steamer on which they had embarked. This act, which the United States government had to admit as overt, threatened for a time to precipitate a war between this nation and Great Britain.
A careful study of the Revelation and Prophecy on War, given, as stated, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, December 25, 1832, makes plain that the conflict between North and South in America was to be, as now we know it to have been, but the beginning of a new era of strife and bloodshed. The Lord’s words were definite in predicting wars "beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina"; and declared further: "And the time will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at this place." The great World War, 1914-1918, embroiled, directly or indirectly, every nation of the earth; and recovery from the effects of that stupendous conflict is beyond the horizon of human vision. Nations have been dismembered or destroyed; thrones have fallen; kingly crowns have lost all value beyond the market price of their gold and jewels; and, withal, new units of government have been created, and nations have sprung into existence, literally born in a day. The very elements are in anger, and what we call natural phenomena are surpassing in destructive fury all records made by man; and verily the end is not reached. The word of the Lord through His prophet, Joseph Smith, has never been revoked: "And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations."
The revelation cited, as given through Joseph Smith, contained other predictions, some of which are yet awaiting fulfilment. The evidence presented is sufficient to prove that Joseph Smith is prominent among men by reason of his instrumentality in fulfilling prophecies uttered by the Lord’s representatives in former times, and that his own place as a prophet is abundantly vindicated. But the endowment of prophecy so richly bestowed upon this Elias of the last days, and so freely yet unerringly exercised by him, is but one of the many spiritual gifts by which he, in common with a host of others who have received the Priesthood through him, was distinguished. The scriptures declare that certain signs shall attend the Church of Christ, among them the gifts of tongues, healing, immunity from threatening death and the power to control evil spirits. The exercise of these powers, resulting in what are ordinarily termed miracles, is by no means an infallible proof of divine authority; for some true prophets have wrought no such wonders, so far as records show, and men have been known to work miracles at the instigation of evil spirits. Nevertheless, the possession of the power implied by the working of miracles is an essential characteristic of the Church; and when such acts are wrought in the accomplishment of holy purposes they serve as confirmatory evidence of divine authority. Therefore we may expect to find, as find we do in the ministry of Joseph Smith and in that of the Church in general, the attested record of miracles, comprising manifestations of all the promised gifts of the Spirit.
4. The Doctrines Taught by Joseph Smith, and by the Church today, are true and scriptural. To sustain this statement we must examine the principal teachings of the Church in separate order.
Joseph Smith the Prophet
Joseph Smith’s Search and Results
Angelic Visitations
Later Developments: the Martyrdom