Show THE APOCALYPSE A Discourse Delivered by Elder O 0 F Whitney at the Tabernacle Salt t Lake Qty City Sunday Afternoon August 1894 The speaker began by reading from rom the Revelation of St St John as follows After this I looked and behold a- a adoor a door was opened in heaven heave and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said Come Came up hither and I will spew shew thee things which must be hereafter And immediately I was in the Spirit and behold a throne was set in heaven and one sat On the throne And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone and there was a rain rain- rainbow rainbow rainbow bow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald And Before before the throne there was a sea of glass glass like unto crystal and in the midst of the and around at und ab about abut ut the he throne were beam hill of it eyes before Chap and and Chap behind iv v i a 2 3 6 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat I Ion on the throne a book written within and on the back side sealed with seven seals And I wept much because no man can was found worthy to open and to read the th book neither to look thereon And one of the elders saith unto into me Weep not behold the Lion of the tribe of J Juda uda the i Root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof thereof- thereof Chap Vi v v 14 x I 4 5 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 Saving with a loud voice Fear God and give five glory glori to 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 And there followed another angel saying Babylon is fallen is fallen Alien that great city be because be- be because because cause she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication fornication Chap Chap xiv v 6 78 79 And I heard another voice from heaven say say- saying saying saying ing Come Cume out of her my people that ye be benot benot not ot partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto heaven and God hath bath remembered her iniquities iniquities Chap v 45 And I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God and which had not worshipped the beast neither his image image neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in in their hands and they 1 lived and reigned with Christ Chrict a thousand years 1 But the rest of the dead lived not again until I the thousand years were finished This is the first fint resurrection Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath bath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years And I saw a great white throng throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found lound no place for them And I saw the dead small and great stand standi i before God and the books were opened and andI I another book was opened which is the book of I life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books accord accord- according according according ing their works And the sea gave up the dead which were In it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man ran according to their works Chap works Chap v 4 5 6 n II la 12 13 He then said The words I have read as moW met mo of f you doubtless know are a portion of St Johns John's Revelation otherwise called the Apocalypse the closing book in the volume v lume ot of the he Bible The word Apocalypse se signifies a revelation or disclosure The The book is isa isa a record of a glorious and awful vision vouchsafed to the Apostle John who to toward to- to toward toward ward the close of ot the first century of the Christian era was a prisoner prisoner for the Gospels Gospel's sake on the Isle Isle of ing been thither by a decree of the Emperor during one of the early persecutions of the Christian Church Patmos was the Roman Siberia It was to that place that Rome sent her criminals such as she did not execute execute or dispose of in other ways condemning them to toil in the mines I The Apostle John was thus condemned though he had committed no crime and it was while he was a prisoner on andI the I island that God revealed to him the I things recorded in the Revelation From the position occupied by this book as the last one in the Bible and certain words used words used by John in closing his testimony many Christians haye have be- be believed believed be believed and taught that God would n never ver again Fp speak ak to m man man n Because John Jolin said if any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto him plagues tile tile- tl pla plagues es that are written in this book book Christians generally have deemed blasphemous and contrary to to to- S Sto Sto to claim any later revelation as They say that the canon of Scrip Sil fa full that the Creator no longer co t with his creatures that have ceased that they were only de- de designed denow signed to introduce the Gospel and ana now the world has no need of such man nun A notable exception to this tb rule among Christian ministers is Ill W Talmage of Brooklyn who if co reported has recently declared t l tf miracles have ceased it is because fh belief in them has ceased This is i tree trae and and it is the position that Mon O has always assumed a as evidenced eviden the teachings of the Book of Mon a It is the testimony of the Latter Latter-df Latter Latte Saints miracle that faith today will work mira- mira Iles cle the same as in any other r- r age God never had a church upon the t i ed that that He did not communicate with w k through inspired men chosen by lead His people that in our day H opened the heavens restored the Hi Del pel 1 and the Priesthood and that only angels but Gods have visited visited- planet in in this the nineteenth nineteenth cen centi the the- early part of which witnessed opening opening of the last dispensation T But this the Christian world world will u t t tS receive S They They consider it cont contrary to Holy Writ and when confronted wi withe the Book of Mormon or the BOG el Bo-el Doctrine and Covenants j revelations subsequent to that J veD to John on Patmos they shake their heath dubiously and solemnly point to t tom words in the Apocalypse If any any i shall shaH add unto these things God a add unto him the plagues that are writ ten in this book They claim tip this book means the Bible and tb no other book can possibly be divi But their argument falls to pieces oft of lift own weight It is utterly group from the fact that at the time John those words the Bible was not in edw fc ence ence as a compiled volume but the th books composing it it or most of of L written by inspired men in di meach parts of the world were separate separated lire m mx x each other and it was not until years years afterwards that Christian c collected the various manuscripts piled Moreover fled them ln and madel made a Bi Bible le of th r d r It JS is a historical islet John jonn alter after after his ms return from from from- fromN N Po wrote at the of the Christie request Christ Ephesus his account of the S vie y the ministry the Gospel according t ta a which John is incorporated in the the though written later than the A g- g 1 Consequently if John f t I closing words of that book Wik meant meant 1 i Christians say he meant he tri 1 down upon upon his own head the cost coU tion of the Almighty and adder added l UI t A himself the plagues of which he ed written But he did no such the simple reason that in speak of this book he had no reference tb t t Bible at all but to his own book title Revelation which he warned men men not mutilate or change by adding to or 01 or tak- tak t ing taking ing from what was therein recorded The Savior after His when about to leave the earth earth coM His Apostles s to go unto into nt 41 world and preach the Gospel tb creature He declared that whom w believed and waS was baptized h it s 's saved v d and whosoever b believed lle tr should be damned and that certa certain signs should follow them that believed Prior to that time while He Bak was yet in mortality He had said at this gospel of the kingdom kin dom a id be preached in all the world world as a awi wi unto all nations and then should tie die end come He described the signs t were to prec precede de His second advent In speaking of the end it is evident that He a was referring to more than one event It is the opinion of Canon Far Far- Farand sar and other Christian scholars that He had in view two horizons one of them ending at the destruction of Jerusalem the annihilation of the Jewish common- common we fth and the other referring to thee the end e of o the world the fall faU of Bab Babylon aad ed the tire termination of ot wickedness One of f the ends was the type and fore fore- foreshadowing shadowing of the other The terrible judgments ts that fell upon the guilty and doomed city of the Jews in the year 70 were wa-e symbolical of the more awful judg judg- judgments judgments ments meatS that are to overtake the world In inthe inthe the die last days These judgments John Johnf f fos esaw and they were also foreseen by Joseph h Smith the Prophet of the last dispensation We We may may read in the Acts of the Apos Apos- Apostles tIeS how the promise made to them by bythe bydie the Savior regarding the miraculous s was fulfilled The Holy Ghost fell upon OD them and they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them qu rance They tarried at Jerusalem until n they w were ere endued with power on OD on High and then went forth toi to toach ach the Gospel and scatter its bless bless- bless i i among ong all nations healing nations healing the ther raising raising the dead casting out outs s and doing many other wonderful ks irks This was the type of a still f r diffusion of the Gospel a still display of ot Gods God's power that was oaf to be witnessed in the latter to days In forty years bears ars the Apostles had planted d the standard of Christianity in all a 1 parts of the tI the Roman koman oman empire founding churches its Asia Asa Minor Greece and Italy the thet t theaters of ot human action at that ne and bad penetrated to the barbar- barbar igers countries fringing on all al sides the thea a empire from Scythia on the db a to Ethiopia on the south and froJD l India dh on the east to Spain and on the west One by one the laid down their lives as mar mar- mar or the trUth Peter it is said per per- per at Rome This however is by no certain though our Catholic J Jn iu their zeal to establish apos- apos j c e lion for the much p dart fou foundation dation Peter is said to tort eB crucified during the reign reign of jap wont for Nero a monster of cruelty riM ted th the first great p parse perse- at at the Christians The tradis s death is that fleeing from he be was in danger he met I d a walking king toward the he city V t aest thou 0 Lord inquired ode le I am going to Rome to tote C wed d agaIn again was the sad and re- re ret pre re-pre t J cN i t answer Peter took the hint ahem eS eft his timidity timidity-a timidity a temporary Mien ea of his former weakness weakness-re- weakness re IId II d to the city and heroically met his Not Nat deeming himself worthy to todie todie todie die as did his begged the boon R learning J i that he was to be crucified t it if might be with his bis head down down- wards down words a r request quest that was granted by byh his h executioners Paul is known to martyrdom at Rome un un- un fr Nero eco One of his epistles to fig written at Rome speaks of 1 biag cad cad d and aad among 3 the last words of this noble servant of God were the sublime sentences I have fought a good fight it I have finished m my course I have kept the faith Paul Pau mr being a Roman citizen had the honor of being beheaded beheaded instead of suffering the theare ignominious death of crucifixion These are samples of the treatment meted out outto outto outto to the servants of the God God the Apostles of Christ in in ancient times All but one were put to death for the testimony ony ot of Jesus The survivor John after an in- in ineffectual ineffectual in ineffectual effectual attempt had haa been made upon his life by throwing him into a caldron of boiling oil was banished A D 96 to the Isle of Patmos where God gave him the great vision recorded in 10 the Apocalypse What was that vision What meant that wonderful revelation Christendom says it is a sealed book an enigma enigma and but few profess to understand even a small portion of its sublime and poetic mystery It remained for tor Joseph Smith to unlock that sealed book and declare by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost the meaning of many of the things therein written The first portion of the book speaks for itself It is a warning to the seven churches of Asia founded by Paul and others of the Apostles Already were the signs of the apostasy that falling away which Paul had predicted be- be beginning ginning inning to show themselves in in the Christian Church already were its dis dis- disciples disciples disciples turning away their ears ean from the truth and turning them unto fables fabes The days when they would not endure sound doctrine were approaching They were therefore reminded of ot their condition admonished of the conse conse- consequences consequences consequences of pride sensuality and the neglect of their duties as Saints and John was told to write what the Spirit said unto the churches But the warning seems to have been unheeded The falling away continued the apos apos- apostasy apostasy apostasy tasy gradually went on Christianity be- be became became be became came worldly wealthy proud luxurious luxurious lous ous corrupt until finally it lost its spirit spirit- spiritual spiritual spiritual ual gifts and graces The Gospel was perverted the Priesthood taken away and the Church was left with an empty form of godliness denying the power thereof Christianity Christianity Itself in order to be popular with the theRoman theRoman theRoman Roman world and escape persecution It became so popular that the emperor himself Constantine Constantine became a Chris Chris- Christian Christian Christian tian But that hour fo o seemingly aus aus- auspicious auspicious auspicious was not so in reality It was the hour of the Churchs Church's decay and from that time though many good men and women remained in it Ichabod was written upon its towers its pristine power and glory had departed Hence the necessity for the Gospels Gospel's restoration in the latter days John after being told what he should write unto the seven churches saw a vision of the past and the future He be- be beheld beheld be beheld held a sea of ot glass like unto crystal shi shining ing before a heavenly throne upon which sat a glorious being holding in his hand a book sealed with seven seals Joseph Smith declares that that sea of glass was the earth in its sanctified and Immortal state and that the book with seven seals symbolized the history of the its earth true the history hidden acts of men and the mysteries of God pertaining to this planet during the seven thousand years of its temporal ex- ex existence existence ex existence The opening of the first seal was the revealing of of t the acts of the first thousand years the opening of the sec sec- ond seal the revealing of the acts of the second thousand years and so on until the seventh We gather from this and other teachings of the Prophet that this earth has been appointed a certain time in which to accomplish its mortal probation prior to |