Purpose of prophecy — The supernatural discredited —

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." — Amos 3:7. ¶

The words are those of a prophet of God who figured in the midst of the Hebrew nation about eight hundred years before the birth of the Savior. A more modern translation of the text might have rendered it thus : Surely the Lord God will do nothing, without first revealing it to his servants the prophets. But it is sufficiently plain in its present ¶

form. The meaning I understand to be this : The all-wise Dispenser of human affairs will neither cause nor permit any event to take place, affecting the weal or woe of the human family, until he has first communicated with his chosen servants, his oracles among men, and given them due notice of its approach, making them wise as to his purpose, that they in turn may make wise the people; the object being that some sort of preparation shall precede the event in question. The promised sending of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, as foretold by Malachi, was in order that certain things might be done which, if left undone, would cause that coming to smite the earth with a curse. ¶

To prepare God's people, and through them the world at large, for changes that must come in the carrying out of the divine program, is the function of the prophet, who foretells the future; of the seer, who looks through time into eternity; of the revelator, who delivers the word and will of the Universal Father to his children. The aims of the prophets are high and noble. They desire the happiness and progress of the race ; yet almost invariably they are misunderstood, ridiculed, opposed and persecuted. ¶

There is a proneness in human nature to discredit prophets and other divinely inspired men. The supernatural is nearly always discounted, if not derided, by ultrapractical minds. "The natural man is an enemy to God." All miracles are myths to modern pseudo-science and its arrogant handmaid, the socalled "Higher Criticism." To believe in prophecies, visions and revelations, is "to live in haunted ¶

houses." So one learned gentleman asserted in an educational address recently delivered in some of our western towns. Even those who revere the prophets of the past are tempted to ignore the prophets of the present. It seems natural to turn from What Is and bow down to What Has Been. ¶

"Seven cities claimed the birth of ¶

Homer, dead, Through which the living Homer ¶

begged for bread." ¶

The Savior reproved the pious unbelievers of his generation for garnishing the sepulchres of the dead prophets and rejecting the living ones, as their fathers had done before them. A professed reverence for Moses and the old-time servants of God was a prominent characteristic of those who spurned the greatest of all prophets, the very Son of God, concerning whom Moses and others had testified. And this same spirit, the spirit that crucified the Christ, brought about in the Nineteenth Century the martyrdom of the prophet, revelator and seer, Joseph Smith. ¶

I want to read to you one of his predictions, of interest to us all. from the fact that it constitutes the reason why "Mormonism" came into the world. That reason was, in brief, that Israel might be gathered, that Zion might be brought forth, and the way prepared for the coming of the Lord in his glory. This revelation, only a part of which I will read, came to the Prophet in the month of March, 1831 : ¶

"Verily I say unto you, that great things await you. Ye hear of wars in foreign lands, but behold I say unto you, they are nigh, even at your doors, and not many years hence ye shall hear of wars in your own land. ¶

"Wherefore I the Lord have said, Gather ye out from the eastern lands, assemble ye yourselves together, ye elders of my church, go ye forth into the western countries, call upon the inhabitants to repent, and inasmuch as they do repent build up churches unto me; [that is, branches of the Church] ¶

"And with one heart and with one mind gather up your riches, that ye may purchase an inheritance which shall hereafter be appointed unto you. ¶

"And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God; ¶

"And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion. ¶

"And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor, must needs flee unto Zion for safety. ¶

"And there shall be gathered unto it out of every .nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another, ¶

"And it shall be said among the wicked, Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible, wherefore we cannot stand. ¶

"And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy" (Doctrine and Covenants 45: 62-71). ¶

This Church was less than one year old when that revelation was given, and but little more than a year old when an attempt was made to carry out the divine instruction. The place for the City was revealed — Jackson County, Missouri — and the plan whereby Zion would be established was also made known. Then why — this being our mission — are we not engaged in it? Well, we are engaged in it. But why are we up here in the Rocky Mountains, instead of down in Missouri, building up Zion? Well, there are several reasons why the Latter-day Saints have not yet been able to completely carry out the terms of this prophecy. One reason was mentioned yesterday in the splendid address delivered by President Smith. The people who received these instructions had to "flee from the wrath to come." The mam reason, however, was selfishness on these instructions had to "flee sary unity. "There were jarrings and contentions and envyings and strifes and lustful and covetous desires among them ;" and because of these things the Lord permitted their enemies to come upon them and drive them from the goodly land. They were a good people, better than those who persecuted them, but not good enough to carry out the high and holy purposes of Deity. Had they been in all respects what the Lord wanted them to be, and what their .descendants will have to be in order to fulfil prophecy, Zion might have been redeemed in their day. But they did not prove equal to the undertaking, and consequently a next-best course had to be pursued. ¶

A great storm-cloud was gather ing over this Nation and over the whole world, and on Christmas day. 1832, the Prophet uttered a prediction concerning it. He said that war would be "poured out upon all nations," beginning at a certain place — South Carolina — and subsequently be declared that the conflict would arise over the slave question. Twenty-eight years and a few months from that time, this prediction began to have its fulfilment, when the first gun was fired on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861 ; an act precipitating the war between the North and the South. The greater ¶

part of the prophecy is, of course, in the future. ¶

Now, because of these events and their own unpreparedness, the Lord's people had to "wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion." They were told that they must first become mighty — not only in numbers and material influence, but by the power of God, descending upon them as an endowment from on high. And meanwhile, as the President informed us, they had to "flee the wrath to come" — had to seek shelter from the tempest.which, when it burst, spent much of its fury upon those lands from which the Saints had been driven. Nearly twenty years before the Civil War the Prophet predicted the removal of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains, and four years later that removal began. Here they were to become a mighty people, the prospective saviors of the Nation. Here they have founded stakes of Zion, preparatory to the redemption of Zion proper. That is why we are up here in the tops of the mountains, instead of down there in the State of Missouri. ¶

The tempest of war did not end with the strife between the Northern and the Southern States. That was only the beginning of the storm. God's people were warned to keep out of the way until the calamities foretold should have done their work and until the way should be prepared before them. The Prophet having been slain, his successor, President Brigham Young, led the people to these mountain fastnesses. He also was inspired by the spirit of prophecy and revelation ; and I testify that every man who has since occupied the same position and presided over this ¶

Church, has likewise been a prophet of the Most High God. ¶

I wish now to refer to one of these men and to certain predictions that he made. I heard President Wilford Woodruff, in April, 1893, when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, declare that from that time forth the Latter-day Saints would have more influence in the world and their representatives would be treated with greater respect and consideration by their fellow men than ever before. In the autumn of that year I accompanied President Woodruff and his counselors, Presidents George O. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, with the Tabernacle Choir, to the World's Fair at Chicago. Among the points visited en route was Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. Just sixty years before, our people had been ruthlessly driven from that part, and every form of indignity heaped upon them. Fifty-eight years before, this same Wilford Woodruff, then a priest on his way to fill a mission in the Southern States, had passed through Jackson County, at a time when it was almost as much as a "Mormon's" life was worth to be seen there. Because of this hostile sentiment he had to conceal his identity and almost skulk through the county, to avoid the danger. But how was it in the autumn of 1893? Why, the whole town of Independence came out to greet the "Mormon" leader ; the Mayor delivered a speech of welcome, and the people vied with each other in doing honor and showing courtesy to the head of the unpopular and hated Church. ¶

Here is another prediction, uttered by President Woodruff the year after that visit to Jackson County. I will not read it all, for ¶

my time is limited. This was delivered at Brigham City, in June, 1894. The President said : ¶

"God has held the angels of destruction for many years, lest they should reap down the wheat with the tares. I want to tell you now that these angels have left the portals of heaven, and they stand over this people and this nation now, and are hovering over the earth, waiting to pour out the judgments, and from this very day they shall be poured out. Calamities and troubles are increasing in the earth, and there is a meaning to these things. Remember this, and reflect upon these matters. If you do your duty, and I do my duty, we shall have protection and be shielded and pass through the afflictions in peace and in safety. Read the scriptures and the revelations; they will tell you about all these things. Great changes are at our doors. The next twenty years will see mighty changes among the nations of the earth. You will live to see these things, whether I do or not. I have felt oppressed with the weight of these matters, and I felt I must speak of them here." ¶

It was just twenty years from the time these fateful words were spoken, when the great war broke out in Europe — a war that has caused many "mighty changes among the nations" and is evidently destined to cause many more. ¶

Just before the strife began, a learned gentleman from another state, a great and good man, stood up in this Tabernacle and expressed the positive conviction that there could not be another great war. He gave his reasons, and they were most plausible. Others had done the same. They said the world had advanced too far ; the nations were too civilized, too cultured to permit of it : it simply could not be. The Savior said, two thousand years ago, that such things must be ''Matthew 24 :6) — they were one of the signs of his second coming; and God's prophet in latter days declared that war would be "poured out upon all nations." But this learned man maintained that such things were impossible. It was only a few days after he had so expressed himself, when the greatest hell of conflict that this world has ever known broke out, and now threatens to wrap the world in flames. In the light of such developments, which do you deem the more trustworthy, the theories of men, or the revelations of Almighty God? ¶

One frightful phase of the great conflict is the havoc wrought by the German U-boats, otherwise known as submarines. A revelation given through Joseph Smith in August, 1831, connects closely with these fearful happenings. The Prophet, with a company of Elders, was returning from his first visit to Missouri. They had made their camp at a place called McIlwair's Bend, on the Missouri River, where one of the party, William W. Phelps, had a vision of the destroyer riding in fury upon the waters. This incident brought forth the revelation, a part of which ran as follows : ¶

"Behold, there are many dangers upon the waters, and more especially hereafter; ¶

"For I the Lord have decreed in mine anger, many destructions upon the waters: yea, and especially upon these waters; ¶

"Nevertheless, all flesh is in mine hand, and he that is faithful among you shall not perish by the waters. ¶

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"Behold I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters, but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters: ¶

"Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters, ¶

"And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to ¶

the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart. ¶

"And as I the Lord in the beginning cursed the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake the fatness thereof. ¶

"And now I give unto you a commandment that what I say unto one I say unto all, that you shall forewarn your brethren concerning these waters, that they come not in journeying upon them, lest their faith fail and they are caught in her snares. ¶

"I the Lord have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree" (Doc. and Gov. 61:4-6, 14-19). ¶

"No flesh shall be safe upon the waters." Isn't that time almost here? Even upon the calm Pacific no ship dares to pursue consecutively the same track twice. The companies operating the great ocean liners no longer announce the dates of departure from one port, or of expected arrival at another. They dare not. The destroyer is abroad, death is in the depths, and the spirit of dread broods upon the bosom of the waters. And this upon the comparatively peaceful Western Ocean. Upon the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and in the North Sea, the terrible submarine tells the tale of danger and disaster. ¶

Another phase of the gigantic struggle is the food question. Joseph Smith predicted famine, and President Brigham Young, many years ago, placed upon the sisters of the Relief Society a special mission, that of gathering and storing grain against a time of scarcity. I well remember how lightly esteemed by some were the labors of these devoted women. Some of them went to one of our bishops and asked him to build them a granary. He smiled benignantly and told them to bring along their grain and ¶

he would store it for them in his barn, implying that they would not gather very much. The sentiment at that time, in certain places, was that there could not be another famine in this world. Too much of the acreage of the earth was under cultivation, and the means of rapid transit and communication were too plentiful. If a famine threatened any part of the planet, word of it could come in the twinkling of an eye, and millions on millions of tons of food-stuffs could be transported to the scene, staving off the straitness and rendering such a calamity impossible. ¶

Alas for those who put their trust in the arm of flesh ! How is it today? In spite of the great and ever-increasing productivity of the earth, in spite of railroads, steamships and telegraphs, this is a famine-threatened world. Europe calls to America for food ; America responds ; but as fast as she consigns her cargoes of grain and other food-stuffs to the needy nations, the merciless and devouring submarine sends them to the bottom of the sea. ¶

Efforts have not been wanting to meet the situation and ward off the impending catastrophe. Six months ago President Smith, addressing a general priesthood meeting, with a view to encouraging a wider cultivation of the soil, offered, as Trustee-in-Trust, cash premiums in generous amounts for the best yields of agricultural products .resulting from the labors of various local organizations. The Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association seconded this action of the Trustee-in-Trust, by furnishing and sending to the boys of Utah free seed for the raising of more abundant crops. The whole nation ¶

has been aroused to the necessity existing for the avoidance of waste and the conservation of food-stuffs ; and the entire civilized world has awakened to the same urgent call. The "Mormon" grain-storing movement is no longer a joke, subject for ridicule. God has vindicated the patient labors of the Sisters, and fulfilled the forebodings of prophecy. ¶

What of the Outcome?

What will be the outcome of the awful strife now raging? Will the world be "made safe for democracy," or will it be ground under the iron heel of an autocratic military despotism ? I cannot believe that such a calamity is in store. He who died to make man free, and whose gospel is "the perfect law of liberty," will never permit the enslavement of the human race. He who in the beginning instituted laws for man's advancement will never tolerate such a turning back of the wheels of eternal progress. Having decreed the world's emancipation from every form of misrule, he will never allow the enthronement of universal tyranny. ¶

Nevertheless, He will accomplish in his own way the work that he has set his hand to do, and will use this people and all peoples in the process. His gospel must have free access into and among all nations, and the nation that fights against him will perish. All power is his, both in heaven and on earth, and he will never let his work be thwarted by any scheme for personal or national aggrandizement. More to God is man's salvation than the perpetuity of any dynasty or the glory of any earthly empire. ¶

A greater warfare is in progress than now shakes the shores of Europe — a warfare whose beginning was coeval with the foundation of the world. Far greater than any strife between man and man, is the world-old controversy between God and Satan, between freedom and oppression, between right and wrong. And right will triumph, and God will be glorified. The world will be made safe for democracy— safe for all righteous institutions. Israel will be gathered, Zion redeemed, and the way prepared for the King of kings and the Millennial reign of universal freedom and peace. ¶

An instrumental piece of music entitled, "A Pastoral Offertory," was given by Prof. Kellersberger and Tracy Y. Cannon, the solo for the English horn by Prof. Kellersberger,— Tracy Y. Cannon at the great organ. ¶