Miracles and Faith

Jesus giveth a blind man sight. ¶

A MIRACLE OF HEALING ¶

And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. ¶

And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought ¶

And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. ¶

After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. ¶

He took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of town. Great humility and condescension ! What a lesson to the overseers of the flock of Christ, to take men by the hand and lead them out of the corruption of the world ! ¶

Come along, come along, is the call that will win, ¶

To lead us to virtue and keep us from sin; Most men can be led, but few can be driven, ¶

In shunning perdition and striving for heaven. ¶

This is the only recorded example of a progressive cure — a progressive miracle. All the others wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ were instantaneous. There must be a lesson in this. Is it not reasonable to believe that this miracle is intended to exemplify in the lives of men the gradual progress of spiritual vision ? Certainly it illustrates the methods employed in the spiritual kingdom. ¶

Professor Agassiz, the great scientist, said every scientific truth passes through three stages: First, men say it is not true. Then, they declare it is hostile to religion. Finally, they say that everyone has always known it. ¶

Mormonism is entering the third stage. I believe that it is in some ways the most dangerous stage of our progress. I think it was Emerson who said that blame is safer than praise. ¶

A MIGHTY NATION ¶

There is a wonderful promise in the Book of Mormon respecting the great republic in which we live. We are told in that sacred volume of scripture that the Almighty would raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles would nourish the people of God, likened unto carrying them in their arms and on their shoulders. We are living in that mighty republic. I hope and pray that America, the United States, will be kept out of that inferno (the Ethiopian-Italian War) in Europe. I humbly pray that not one drop of American blood shall be shed on foreign shores in a foreign war. Let the United States keep out of it. ¶

I think the people of this land are fulfilling a wonderful mission — I mean the non-Mormons, — a God-given mission. He has given them a heaven-inspired Constitution, and if we will stick close to that bulwark of liberty the sun of freedom shall never set on the people of this favored land. ¶

THE GOSP.EL LEAVEN ¶

It is remarkable how the Gospel is appealing to people. The leaven of the Gospel is leavening the whole lump. It is in the hearts of men, ¶

secretly urging them and working with them to come to the obedience of the faith. ¶

Some time ago Frank A. Munsey, the great American author and publisher, had a book prepared containing the genealogy of the families of his father and mother. It cost him, so I was credibly informed, the sum of $75,000. In his introduction he says: ¶

The absence of trustworthy family records all the way down from the time of the Pilgrim settlers was so well nigh universal throughout New England, that it would almost seem that all interest in ancestry was regarded as a kind of snobbishness unbecoming in the hard-working, Godfearing American — unbecoming, unmanly, or even sinful. One of my mother's unsatisfied desires was to know, — actually to know — whether the old Hopkins family tradition was really true. Her faith told her that it was true. I know with deep appreciation what those dreams and aspirations must have been, for I am her son. One of these services, with me, was to do for my mother what she would have liked to do for herself with respect to the Mayflower ancestry of her family. I had no other purpose in the undertaking. ¶

One doctrine of the Gospel, a glorious doctrine, is the doctrine of salvation for the dead. It seems that this is captivating the hearts of men and they are rallying to it and helping the people of God to gather genealogy. ¶

In the time of which Frank A. Munsey wrote there were few if any large genealogical libraries or institutions, but now the College of Heralds in London, the great collection of genealogies in the Library of Congress and the files of the Daughters of the American Revolution, contain invaluable data respecting the genealogical status of multitudes. It seems to me that this is a remarkable contribution to the work of the Lord. Are not the Gentiles, God bless them, nourishing and carrying in their arms and on their shoulders the chosen people of God? And when I say the chosen people of God, I mean those who show us by their works that they are worthy of the name of Christ. ¶

With every American I sincerely deplore the fight that is made on any race or creed. We cannot afford to join in such a crusade. It is unmanly; it is un-American. ¶

a minister's opinion ¶

Some time ago a minister who delivers nation-wide broadcast sermons weekly was asked this question: What, in your opinion, becomes of those souls who in this life had no opportunity of accepting or rejecting the truth as it is found in the Gospels ? The minister replied: ¶

Those who never heard the name of Jesus, since human beings first appeared on the earth, constitute the vast majority who have lived and died here. Moreover, hundreds of millions now living are in the same condition. Imagination cannot conceive their endless array. ¶

Even today multitudes exist in Christian lands who, because of the circumstances of their birth and upbringing, are almost as ignorant of ¶

the New Testament faith as were the ancient Greeks who never heard of Christ. Think also of the hosts of innocent children who pass on before arriving at conscious responsibility for their own lives. ¶

Even when dimly understood your question would be unbearably oppressive if none except those who have intelligently and voluntarily believed in Christ are hereafter admitted to the Divine Presence. If, as we are taught to believe, the incalculable myriads of human beings who have occupied, or now occupy this life, exist for eternity, and must spend it somewhere, how can we limit the redemptive efficacy of divine love to the brief span of man's mortal existence here? ¶

SPIRIT OF ELIJAH AT WORK ¶

Isn't this a remarkable work that brothers and sisters not of our faith are doing? I believe we talk too much about indifference. True, it exists, but what I have read proves that many people are not indifferent to the work of God, but there is an urge, an inner urge which tells them some power not of man is with this Church. ¶

Behold, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: ¶

And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. ¶

I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh. ¶

These things I have read are beautiful, but there is one thing lacking. These good men who are gathering genealogy, and who are inspired by the spirit of Elijah, do not belong to churches that have the power to give expression to their noble thoughts. Godliness cannot be expressed only through the authority of the priesthood of God and the ordinances of the Gospel. More and more it becomes evident that Joseph Smith, the prophet of God, spoke the feelings of men and women who were longing to express themselves with respect to this glorious doctrine. ¶

PROPHECY BY ORSON PRATT ¶

Another thing that the Gentiles are doing. Listen to this prophecy by Orson Pratt. In the course of a sermon he made this statement: ¶

There must be something connected with the sounding of this trump that is miraculous in order that all nations may hear it. Any sound that can be produced by mortal man does not reach, generally speaking, over about thirty miles from where it originates, which is a very small space indeed. But there will be something connected with the sounding of the trump of the first of the seven angels which will manifest a power which we know nothing of. The sound of that trump will be heard by all people, nations, kindreds and tongues in the four corners of the globe. I do not know that the sound will be so much louder than some we have heard, but it will be carried by some miraculous power so that all people will hear it. ¶

I am quoting from the Millennial Star: ¶

These words were uttered sixty-two years ago. They were uttered three years before the Edinburgh-born genius, Alexander Graham Bell, ¶

had even exhibited the invention which was to develop into the telephone, and twenty-three years before Marchese Marconi patented the first simple wireless apparatus. Who would have thought in those days, when the voice was untouched by science and invention, that in years to come millions would hear simultaneously a sound "No louder than some that had been heard"? ¶

Through the facilities of this same invention that was foretold by Orson Pratt, President Heber J. Grant recently proclaimed the Gospel message in a sermon that sounded around the world and was received by the ears of millions of people. He was speaking over a chain of sixtyeight leading broadcasting stations of the Columbia network in the United States and Canada. ¶

Only a few weeks earlier President Grant delivered a sermon on an "Around the World" program of Station K. S. L. in Salt Lake City. Letters describing perfect reception in far-off Japan were received by station officials. ¶

Isn't this another example that the mission God Almighty gave to the Gentiles is being splendidly fulfilled? God is touching their spiritual vision. They may not be converted — they may not be spiritually healed by one sermon or a dozen sermons, but sooner or later the word of God shall reach their hearts, their spiritual vision shall be touched, and they shall see Mormonism clearly, — not as they did see it, "men as trees, walking." ¶

SEEING WITH SPIRITUAL EYES ¶

At the time when Syrian soldiers surrounded Dothan to take captive Elisha, the prophet, his servant, paralyzed with fear said unto him: ¶

Alas, my master! how shall we do? ¶

And he answered, fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. ¶

And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. — (2 Kings, 6:15-17.) ¶

The eyes which Elisha prayed should be opened were those of the spirit, not of the body. ¶

More than twenty-four centuries later, William Tyndale, the English reformer, translator of the Bible, and a martyr, was strangled and his body burned at the stake. Midst flame and smoke he gasped forth this dying prayer: "Lord, open the king of England's eyes." God's answer to that pathetic supplication was King James' translation of the Bible, as it is popularly called. ¶

Joseph Smith, prophet, seer, revelator, translator of the scriptures, and martyr, by his death proved his words to be true. He proved the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. ¶

Oh God, open the eyes, the spiritual eyes of the world, of all men and women, that they may come into the spiritual Canaan flowing with thy word and filled with truth and joy and salvation, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶