The Purpose of Prophecy, and Necessity for Prophets

Had it been suggested yesterday, my brethren and sisters, that I address you this afternoon I should have thought it impossible, for I have been suffering because of bodily conditions to an extent that it would have been very painful for ¶

me to have attempted to do so, but I feel very grateful to the Lord, and give Him credit, that I am so far relieved from pain that with His assistance and your faith I am able to occupy a few moments of the time. ¶

I believe in the Lord. I believe in the vital forces which characterize His Gospel, and apply to all those who put their faith in Him ; and so I depend upon Him as I have all my life. Whatever I do I think of the Lord, and my utter dependence upon Him for strength to accomplish it. So I feel very grateful this afternoon, my brethren and sisters, and wish to make this acknowledgment here in your presence, that my life has been prolonged and preserved until today ; that your lives have been preserved ; that we are permitted through His mercy and goodness to come up here again as we are wont to do, to worship the Lord, to bear witness of His goodness to us, to review the condition of the Church, to compare our progress, our development, our work, with the words of His servants, the prophets, that we may know whether or not we are in harmony with that which the Lord expects us to accomplish. ¶

I feel very grateful, my brethren and sisters, for my membership in the Church, for the testimony which has come to me, and which has been so convincing that I do not remember a moment in my life, either my mature life or my childhood, when I have ever doubted, when my faith in the Lord has ever wavered. I believe in Him and recognize Him as the Creator of the earth upon which I dwell, the organizer of the universe with which we are surrounded, the Father of my spirit and the spirits of all men, and that He did send in the meridian of time His only begotten Son that we might see God in the flesh as He was manifested in our Lord, Jesus Christ, with the doctrines of the everlasting Gospel which have been taught aforetime, through obedience to which men and women might be brought back into His presence. I believe in these things, my brethren and sisters, with all my heart. ¶

I thank the Lord for the written word which we have that is contained in the scripture ; that He has sent prophets into every dispensation of the world. From the time that this earth was created and mankind began to inhabit it the Lord has been very near to His children. He has always guided them or sought to guide them in the right way. He has revealed Himself to them through His servants. Prophecy does not come to us simply that we may know that which is to transpire. The Lord sends inspired men to outline to us the future in order that, having that knowledge we may be brought to repentance ; that we may avoid, by repentance, the inevitable judgments which come to men because of their wickedness-; that we may become partakers of the blessings which are vouchsafed to all those who repent and serve the Lord. This is the purpose of prophecy, this is the spirit of prophecy, and the prophets have always been with God's children from the beginning of time, and they are with them today to warn and admonish them and to point out to them the way in which they should walk. A prophet is not only one who foretells events that are to come, but one who, inspired of the Lord, instructs people in that which they ought to do in the day of their own probation, that they may be brought back into the presence of the Lord. ¶

It never has been very popular to be a prophet. I am reminded of that; from the very beginning the inclination of man seems to have been to disbelieve in the Lord, to drift away from Him and to treat lightly the admonitions which have come to them through His servants. When Noah preached repentance to the antediluvians, warning them of their wickedness, there were only a few who believed. O, he was a visionary man ; the earth would not be submerged with water; they would not be destroyed; and they laughed him to scorn ; but there were just a few who had sufficient faith to believe in him and be saved. Only a few people believed in the Redeemer, notwithstanding the fact that they professed faith in the scripture and that His coming had been clearly outlined, the time, the place, the manner, there were just a few wise men, who understood the signs of the times, who came and did homage to the Babe of Bethlehem. The world at large rejected Him. The Jews rejected His doctrines, they were not warned by those signs which were manifest clearly before their very eyes, and they rejected the Lord. They knew not of His coming, and rejected His doctrines and ridiculed Him and scorned Him and finally crucified Him. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, I might go on and recount many such instances. There have been times when people have listened to the words of the prophet and through obedience and repentance have been saved. When Jonah went down to Ninevah and warned those people that because of their wickedness the judgment of the Almighty hung over them and that they would be destroyed except they should repent, they were pricked in their hearts and did repent. They fasted before the Lord; they clothed themselves in sackcloth and threw ashes upon their heads and cried mightily to the Lord for forgiveness ; and He heard them just as He always hears those who turn to Him. It was not that the deluge had been irrevocably decreed; it was not that the Lord desired the destruction of multitudes of men who were on the earth ; not at all. He desired their redemption, that they should repent, and had they repented of their sins and turned to Him, there would have been rejoicing in the heavens. That generation of men would have been redeemed ; but they refused to listen, acting upon the agency which the Lord had given them. That is what I want to call your attention to, my brethren and sisters, that prophecy is given to us that we may profit by it, and by having fore-knowledge of those things which are to come, we may so square our lives that we will be prepared for them. So it is not very strange that this latter dispensation, in which the restoration of the Gospel had been just as clearly outlined as had been the dispensation of Christ, our Savior, should be revealed by the Lord, through His servants, the prophets. He revealed it to John, the divine, upon the Isle of Patmos : He revealed it to Isaiah and others of His prophets, the time, the place and the manner of the restoration, and we know as we know that we live, that through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, just a boy, but a boy chosen of the Lord and loved of Him, that this latter Gospel dispensation has been ushered in, as the Lord said it would be. ¶

The world does not believe this. They will never believe it except ¶

they shall turn from their wickedness and do the will of the Lord. But that does not change the truth at all. We bear witness of it to the world. I bear witness of it here this afternoon, that Joseph Smith was and is today the prophet of this dispensation, the chosen instrument of the Lord, through whom by the agency of that angel that was to fly through heaven, seen of John, the Revelator, the Gospel has been restored to earth, that its inhabitants may be warned and brought to repentance if they are to avoid the judgments of the Almighty which hangs over them. Not because He has declared that they shall be destroyed, not at all. He does not love war; and there would be rejoicing if the nations would repent; but without repentance, without humility, unless they shall .acknowledge Him and acknowledge the restoration of the Gospel in this dispensation, through these agencies to which I referred, there can come no salvation for them. ¶

Nearly thirty years before it occurred, Joseph Smith predicted the great civil war which should occur in our own country. Well, the unbeliever says, "Any far-seeing man might have known that the Southern states would be divided against the Northern states and there would be war." But the prophet states more than that. He told us just where the war would begin. He told us just what the result would be, and has the sequel not proven that that war began just as this revelation said it would begin, in South Carolina? We might have some reason to doubt or to question the inspiration of this prophet of the Lord, if during that war the Southern states had not called upon Great Britain for assistance. There might be some reason to doubt if in a single detail there had been a mistake, but it chanced that the Southern states did call upon Great Britain, and we were very nearly at war with that nation because of her participation in behalf of the Confederacy in that struggle. ¶

So, my brethren and sisters, you may read the word of the Lord as it is contained in these books and there you will find outlined for your benefit, that you may be governed by it, the destiny of all the nations of "the earth. Now, we are not so much interested in the deluge, we are not so much interested in things that occurred in the meridian of time, although they are of very great interest to us, as we are in the word of the Lord as it applies to the present. We are here in peace today: thank the Lord for it. We pray for peace! we desire it. I want to say to you that all the prayers that we offer for peace, however great our desires may be, will not stay the judgments of the Almighty which hang over this nation as they hang over the nations of the old world, except repentance shall come to it, and faith in God, our Father. ¶

There is no land in the world, no people upon earth to whom greater promises have been made than this nation of which we form a part. There is no part of the earth's surface of which the Lord has said more plainly and with greater emphasis than He has of this, that it is a land choice above all other lands. There is no other place where He has said with greater emphasis that it is His eternal and irrevocable decree that whatever nation or people shall inhabit this promised land shall serve Him, the true and the living God, or they shall be removed from it. There is no nation to which He ¶

has made greater promises than the nation of which we form a part, and which exists here today. Neither is there any other nation that He was warned more plainly than He has this nation. ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, let us look the situation squarely in the face. We see the ravages of war in the old world. They have been referred to here. I want to admonish my brothers and sisters and I want to admonish this nation to read the word of the Lord, to believe in this book, the Book of Mormon, which is the scripture of this American continent, and which contains the irrevocable decrees of the Almighty as they apply to this land, that they may, by coming into possession of this knowledge, avoid the pitfalls which are before them. ¶

It is not my purpose, not my intention to make lengthy remarks. We are living in the dispensation of the fulness of times. My brethren and sisters, I would like to read here just a few words, the words of the Savior, and which apply very directly to us and to this nation : ¶

"Ye say that ye know .that the end of the world cometh, ye say also that ye know that the heavensi and the earth shall pass away; ¶

"And in this ye say truly, for so it is; but these things which I have told you shall not pass away until all shall be fulfilled. ¶

"And this I have told you concerning Jerusalem; and when that day shall come, shall a remnant be scattered among all nations; ¶

"But they shall be gathered again, but they shall remain until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." ¶

Now, my brethren and sisters, follow me a little further. ¶

"And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be ' in commotion, and men's hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth His coming until the end of the earth. ¶

"And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound; ¶

"And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fullness of My Gospel; ¶

"But they receive it not, for they perceive not the light and they turn their hearts from Me because of the precepts of men ; ¶

"And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." ¶

That light has broken forth with the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith, the prophet. That prophecy was fulfilled but they perceive not the light, recognize it no more than did the Jews perceive the light when Christ ministered among them, or the antediluvians believe the words of Noah, or the Nephites the words of Samuel, the prophet, or the Jaredites the words of Ether, but they went on in their wickedness and transgression until by their own acts they brought down upon themselves the judgment and indignation of an offended God. ¶

I say unto you, my brethren and sisters, the time has come in this nation when the Lord will have its people to serve Him — to turn from, their profanity, to turn from their blasphemy which we hear wherever we go, and honor the name of' God, our Father, and serve Him and keep His commandments; a time when their whoredoms must cease, when they must cease to corrupt the fountains of life and yield obedience to that first command in honorable marriage, increase and multiply and replenish the earth, as God designed that His children should do from the beginning; a time when they must cease from their drunkenness and abolish from among them those ¶

things which corrupt men and debase them and make them easy victims to the wiles of the adversary; a time when the rich must cease to persecute and bear down upon the poor, a time when the poor must in humility recognize and acknowledge the Lord and, without envy, treat properly those who have been blessed more greatly than they with the necessities of life; a time when the legislators who frame the law, must, in righteousness before the Lord, seek the enactment of righteous laws; and a time when the judges who execute the law must be incorruptible and not to be purchased with money, or because of the love of the world's honor, corrupt the trust that is reposed in them. In other words, a time when all men, those who profess faith, those who profess it not, must turn unto God, and except they return I bear witness that God's judgment is hanging over them and that it will fall upon them. All men upon this earth must come to recognize the Lord and acknowledge His Son, Jesus Christ, if they would be saved from the judgments which are to come. ¶

God bless you, brethren and sisters, keep us in the faith, increase our testimony, give us strength that we may bear this witness before the world, that when the Lord's judgments come, our garments may be clean of the blood of this generation, because of having fulfilled this great mission of ours, to be witnesses of the Lord, testifying of the importance and truth of His written word, and the word uttered by His servants; for just as prophetic words have been uttered in the past, so does that prophetic spirit exist in the Church today through His servants who preside over us. I bear witness of this and pray that the Spirit of the Lord may help us to bear witness of it in all the world, that the people may be brought to repentance and God's judgments averted, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶