Beyond Comprehension

I trust that I may be permitted also to express my appreciation and gratitude for the services held here this morning. ¶

Beyond Comprehension

I have been thinking of a remark made by an ancient prophet when he considered the great works of the Lord. He said : "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high. I cannot attain unto it." The broadcast we heard this morning is too wonderful for me. I do not comprehend it. Forty years ago I heard one of the members of the Council of the Twelve say the time would come when men would be able to converse from city to city without the aid of telephone wires. I believed him, but I looked upon that as something that was going to come in some future time, that I would not live to see. But I have seen it ; it is marvelous. I do not comprehend it, you do not, but the virtue in it, the power and the force that may be used in the preaching of the Gospel and bringing to pass the purposes of the Lord are wonderful and also beyond our comprehension. ¶

The Lord declared that he would cut short his work in righteousness, and I can understand how that can be brought about. ¶

I want to thank this choir for their integrity and faithfulness, their devotion to this cause. ¶

An Event of Great Significance

And now I would like to enlarge somewhat upon a statement made by Elder Widtsoe, but mentioned by him incidentally. We witnessed this morning a demonstration as wonderful as anything we have ever seen. One hundred years ago last Friday there occurred another most wonderful event, the effects of which are being felt in every nation upon the face of the earth today. It was not a broadcast, no one knew of it except two men who stood, as we have heard, before the pulpit in the House of the Lord in the presence of the Son of God as he spoke to them. I am going to read one or two verses that he declared unto them on that occasion. ¶

For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. ¶

Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house. ¶

Yea, the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out, and the endowment with which my servants have been endowed in this house. ¶

And the fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands; and this is the beginning of the blessing which shall be poured out upon the heads of my people. Even so. Amen. (Doctrine and Covenants, 110:7-10.) ¶

That which took place on the third day of April in the year 1836 has spread forth to all lands. Thousands and tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands have been blessed because of what took place upon that occasion. Not only the thousands in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but thousands upon thousands who are not members of the Church have partaken of the blessings which came at that time and which have spread forth throughout the earth. And while they may not know it, they have been influenced, and have many of them performed a wonderful work because of the things that took place, and because of the fulfilment of this prediction made by the Son of God. ¶

Keys of Gathering Bestowed

After this vision closed, we are informed that there was another vision. ¶

• • • the heavens were again opened unto us; and 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. (Id. 110:11.)

Through the bestowal of those keys which were held by Moses and which were essential to the salvation of men and the success of the work ¶

of the Lord in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times in which we live, you people, who are here assembled, have been gathered. The word of the Lord has been carried to the nations, many of the honest have been gathered out and have come with their songs of everlasting joy to the House of the Lord and to Zion, to learn of his ways ; and that, if you please, through the restoration of the Gospel and the restoration of the keys held by the ancient prophet who held the keys of the Gathering of Israel. ¶

Elias and His Mission

Then when this vision closed, another vision burst upon them : ¶

After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. (Id. 110:12.) ¶

This Elias was a prophet who lived in the days of Abraham and who held the keys of that dispensation. He came and bestowed the gifts and the blessings that were pronounced upon Abraham's head, and his posterity after him, and all that pertained to that dispensation, for in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times in which we live, all dispensations had to be revealed, all keys had to be restored, and hence the prophets of old, having the keys of dispensations had to come declaring their honors, their authority, the power of their priesthood. ¶

In Fulfilment of Prediction

Then came another glorious manifestation in fulfilment of the prediction made by the prophet Malachi some four hundred years before the birth of Christ. We read again: ¶

.... Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said : ¶

Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi — testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come — To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse — ■ ¶

Therefore, 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. (Doctrine and Covenants 110:13-16.) ¶

Since the bestowal of these keys the work of salvation for the dead has been proclaimed, has taken hold of the hearts of the children of men, I say, both in the Church and out of it. There are thousands who are working in the gathering of the records of the dead, and why they do it they do not know. ¶

I asked one man in the city of Salem, Massachusetts, in the year 1902 why he was gathering the records of the dead. He was undertaking a marvelous work. He said to me : "I do not know, but I got started and I cannot quit." I know why. ¶

Jewish Tradition Regarding the Paschal Season

I want to call your attention to an incident which I think is of some importance. I am going to read to you a statement from Alfred Edersheim in his work "The Temple." Speaking of "The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper," he says : ¶

Jewish tradition has this curious conceit: that the most important events in Israel's history were connected with the Paschal season. Thus it is said to have been on the present Paschal night that, after his sacrifice, the "horror of darkness" fell upon Abraham when God revealed to him the future of his race. Similarly, it is supposed to have been at Passover time that the patriarch entertained his heavenly guests, that Sodom was destroyed and Lot escaped, and that the walls of Jericho fell before the Lord. More than that — the "cake of barley bread" seen in the dream which led to the destruction of Midian's hosts, had been prepared from the Omer, presented on the second day of the feast of unleavened bread ; just as at a later period alike the captains of Sennacherib and the king of Assyria, who tarried at Nob, were overtaken by the hand of God at the Passover season. It was at the Paschal time also that the mysterious handwriting appeared on the wall to declare Babylon's doom, and again at the Passover that Esther and the Jews fasted, and that wicked Haman perished. ¶

Now here is something of great significance : ¶

And so also in the last days it would be the Paschal night when the final judgment should come upon "Edom," and the glorious deliverance of Israel take place. Hence to this day, in every Jewish home, at a certain part of the Paschal service — the door is opened to admit Elijah the prophet as forerunner of the Messiah, while appropriate passages are at the same time read which foretell the destruction of all heathen nations. It is a remarkable coincidence that, in instituting his own Supper, the Lord Jesus connected the symbol, not of judgment, but of his dying love, with his "third cup." ¶

The Coming of Elijah

It was, I am informed, on the third day of April, 1836, that the Jews, in their homes at the Paschal feast, opened their doors for Elijah to enter. On that very day Elijah did enter — not in the home of the Jews to partake of the Passover with them, but he appeared in the House of the Lord, erected to his name and received by the Lord in Kirtland, and there bestowed his keys to bring to pass the very things for which these Jews, assembled in their homes, were seeking. ¶

The Coming of the Lord is Near

The day of the coming of the Lord is near. I do not know when. I am not looking, however, upon the coming of the Son of Man as I looked once upon the day when men would speak from city to city and throughout the land without the aid of wires, and would be heard, as something that may come in some far distant time, because I sincerely believe it will come in the very, day when some of us who are here today will be living upon the face of the earth. That day is close at hand. ¶

It behooves us as Latter-day Saints to set our houses in order, to keep the commandments of God, to turn from evil to righteousness if it is necessary, and serve the Lord in humility and faith and prayer. ¶

So I pray that we may do in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶