| Show K DISCOURSE ON THEOCRACY isy E eider elder ider lder ORON oros pratt sen delivered I 1 in the tabernacle on ork sunday mornings august 11 14 1559 REPORTED BY 0 D WATT I 1 have this moment been requested to address the people upon the subject ofa ota 0 a theo theocrat theocratic crati cratl ir cal form of government or upon that particular form of government called tha the kingdom ot of god I 1 will read a few passages from the book of daniel the prophet relating to governments ern ments in general and in the days of 0 these kings khall the god of heaven set et up a kingdom which be destroyed and nd the kingdom hail hall not be lefi left to other people but it khall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall ball stand for ever forasmuch as thou rawest cawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands hind and that it bra brake brave mke yke in pieces the irony imon iron the brassy braaf the clay clays the silver and the gold cold the great god hath made roade known to til the king what shall come coma to pass berest beresf hereafter ter and the dream la is certain cerulo and the interpretation thereof sure see see daniel II 11 44 45 thou cawest till that a stone wius wits cut oue one without hands which smote the image upon his bis feet that were of iron and clay clays and break them to pieces then was the irons irony iron the clays clay the brass the silver and the coid cold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the cul ual sum cai mer thrashing floors and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them and the stone that mote smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth see see sea unhand 3 verses I 1 and the kingdom and dominion and the ibe greatness of the tho kingdom under the whole heaven hearen shall be given to the people of 0 the saints of the most host high nigh whose kingdom is its an everlasting kingdom and ail all dorn donn dominions inions shall serve and obey hU aSee asee daniel VII vil 27 the form of government given to man immediately after the creation was that is the creator became the great law giver be appointed the officers of that government established his bis own authority and arranged all things after his own order which is eternal lie he himself instituted the same form of government here in this creation that he established in other kingdoms woi ids idaer or creations so far as the capacities and circumstances of the inhabitants would permit hence such a govern government ment might inight in reality be termed a theocracy be because ause god was the author of the laws form arm and institutions of the same after a period of time men departed from god apos sized from the form of government instituted from heaven and still thinking that it was needful and necessary to have some kind of government in order to control the people and keep them within due bounds of subjection they chev concluded to form and establish governments ments of their theli own according to the best judgment and ami wisdom they had llad hence the e various liati ini iKi libations lions ons both before and after the nood hood instituted governments according to human wis wib dom doai some gome making choice of one form and some of another b bome some me giving the whole hole authority into 1 I the hands bands of a ruler called a king an emperor or monarch others reserving a portion 0 r tion of the power in the hands bands of various 1 individuals d ivi ivl duals termed nobles or prince princ F others leaving the form of government mor more or less in the bands of the people eople at large something resembling sem bling a republic republic but all these various forms instituted by man were entire entirely different in in one particular from that instituted of god the lord claims it as a right in consequence of his wisdom and superior power and in consequence tience of his having created men to govern them and if it BO so be he claims the right of originating na their laws and of dictating the form of government by which they shall be ruled this is hi hig his 9 right and every man when he be seriously reflects on this subject will be willing t to 0 acknowledge that god surely has more wisdom power and knowl edgein relation to the kind of would be best adapted to the luman human human family than those finite beings whom be has created and if be he has baa this superior wisdom power authority and knowledge we ought to give to him that right but mankind would not permit him to exercise the right which so justly belongs to him they usurped the authority and denied the right of the al almighty eighty to govern them and thus or originated all the forma forms of human governments which have existed upon this globe for the last six thousand years it is true the lord had bad a hand in the establishment of some of the laws connected with the government of israel but even that people in in consequence of the bardness hardness of their hearts rebelled against the righteous ight eotis just and holy laws that god or ordained d for their good and desired laws of a different nature and a form of government more resembling the corrupt nations around them they were a hard hearted people and arid delighted to walk in the traditions of the egyptians and to follow after the imaginations of their own hearts and when the pure law of jehovah came forth and was presented to that people it was more than they were willing to end endure lire it was too pure for them they wanted something more stilted suited to their carnal natures for instance when a man married a wife they wished to toi have the privilege of divorcing her for every trifling cause that tha t might happen to take place the lord seeing L the hardness of their hearts permitted moses to give them according to their wishes an inferior law but this additional law of carnal commandments formed no part of a plire pure theocrat I 1 cal cai code de such as the lord intended to establish colong among that people many other items of law were given to the children of israel according to the hardness of ibar their hearts that were permitted by the lord through moses mose we cannot therefore suppose that all the mosaic code was acceptable and pleasing to god some of it was given in in wrath that the wicked among them might stumble and fall and not be permitted to enter into the he fullness of his rest but god originated the most of the mosaic code while moses merely permitted the additional laws applicable io to a rebellious hardhearted people the israelites continued to be governed more or less by some of those divine laws until the comi coming g of the messiah but they often tran transgressed them through the traditions of their elder elders they often departed from the living god and lost the spirit of revelation and communion with him the powers ledges and blessings of the kingdom which w were re intended to continue among that people wre were in a measure taken from them at different periods periods of their history by and bye our cavior savior came to abolish that portion of the law of moses which was given in consequence of transgression and to retain that portion which he be intended should continue for instance the ten commandments given by the lord amidst the rings and 0 of mount sinai these were never intended to be done away by the law of christ but when he be came they were retained AS a part of the superior law of the gospel the kingdom of god was built up in the days of christ under tinder this superior law but the most of the jewish nation concluded to reject the gospel as their fathers did in the wilderness they cast it from them and were not willing t to 0 be governed by it therefore the kingdom of god instead of being a con cent rated government among 11 israel existed in detached portions portiere here and there the law of god in the days of christ did not have place among them in a national capacity it did not govern them as a people they were not subject to it they fought against it hence bonce the kingdom king dom Jom so far as it existed after a while was taken from them and transferred over into the hands of the gentiles did not receive this transferred kingdom nationally but few individuals divi duals only embracing the same bame sameal as nations they rejected it as well aa as the jews the kingdom of godin those days though governed eca ecclesiastically by divine laws was not sufficiently concentrated to exercise any hat national rational ional jurisdiction among amone any ot of the nations of the great eastern hemisphere the isolated individuals and branches receiving the kingdom were scattered here and there through all ail the countries of the east subject to the various forms and municipal laws of man made governments ern ments this ilia order of things continued down for tor a short period after the martyrdom of the apostles when mankind again departed entirely from the ecclesiastical lawa lawant of the kingdom there came a falling away so that the kingdom which existed in a scattered and broken condition through the gentile nations began bagan to lose all the power er and blessings pertaining to Th it the he gift of ealing healing was no longer made man manifest if eat the gift of prophecy no longes 0 lpez ex isnec and so complete and dreadful was the apostasy apo stacy that one might travel through the whole of the eastern continent and not noi find a prophet or apostle or revelator or any one who had heard beard the voice of god or received any communication or revelation from him open visions ceased angels no longer appeared miracles were done away and every office and power and authority and gitt gift characterizing the kingdom of god or in the least resembling sem bling a theocracy ceased from all the gentile nations they like the tha jews before them lost the fruits of the kingdom of god and the few saints who remained and had bad in any degree faith in the cause they had bad espoused became so darkened in their minds through the wickedness and apostasy apo stacy which prevailed that they were counted worthy only to be trodden under the feet of the gentile nations hence the powers of the earth made war with all those branches branches tr anches that professed to be the kingdom of god and they overcame and destroyed then them from the earth and the kingdom of god no longer existed so far as we have knowledge on the great eastern hemi bemi hemisphere sphere for something like ilke mv enteen centuries nearly seventeen long iong centuries rolled over the heads of the gentile nations in asia europe and arid africa and such a thing as the kingdom of god was entirely unknown among them it did not ex exist st either in a concentrated or scattered form instead of a government or one of divine orlin boriin origin you ou could behold nothing notting but empires absolute a Ob absolute solute and limited monarchies kingdoms principal principalities dukedoms duke doms republics and arid heterogeneous inas marses masses sels seis of conflicting revolutionary elements thrown together as if by some soma fortuitous circumstances cum stances fomenting igniting and belchin belching forth the hot lava of destruction swallowing up millions of unhappy beings and over whelm ning all countries with desolation misery and death next let us turn to the ancient history of this great western hemisphere we are aie informed by the sacred and divine record called the bok brok of mormon that the kingdom of god flourished to a greater extent here than in the eastern world on this western hemisphere the kingdom of god was established by the personal appearance of our lord arid and savior after his resurrection twelve disciples were appointed on this thia land to administer the gospel laws and institutions of that kingdom they went forth prea preaching ehing ebing prophesying working miracles receiving revelations and administering with authority divine laws divine ordinances calling appointing and ordering ing in every department of the kingdom in officers holding divine authority to judge to execute the laws aws to govern in all ail wings according to the mind of the king t of heaven whom they saw arid and whose voice they heard and whom they obeyed in all the affairs of government this was a theocracy indeed a national theocracy established in its pure form and the ancient israelites of america became universally a favored and happy people their greatest settlements were in central america and the north northern ern por portions tlona tiona of south america however about I 1 three huni red years after christ their settlements extended from cape horn hern in in the south to the frozen frideen regions in the north from the atlantic ct n the i east athe great pacific on the west large cities were built on various parts ottah land arts arta and aad sciences flourished and millions mL lions of happy beings rejoiced refaced reja iced in the bles bies blessings blessing sinis of universal peace and liberty this hapy hatgy condition of things I 1 continued for some three centuries when they began to apostatize and contend one with another bull buil building ding up a variety of sects and parties on this w abern hemisphere as well as in the old world at length one portion of the bation was permitted to overpower the other othy those who survived the overwhelm ning judgments of war and famine were left only to si ak jk into the lowest depths of degradation and miser wiser misery their descendants abts ants ts are called by ua us american kmer ican indians thus we see that the kingdom of god did not exist to our ovir knowledge t ither on the easter eastern n or western hemis bemis hemispheres marne heres ov oth our globe for many generations it became entirely extinct from the earth about four centuries buries luries after the christian era and there wis was w As nothing left on the face of the wide earth put flut the wisdom of man I 1 the governments of man roan the religion of man laan the power of man wid the ule tule of man god angela angels prophets rev rex and every vestige of divine authority and government were excluded from eatery nation under heaven and wholly rooted out oat ye if the earth this thia was the benighted woeful lamentable lamen tabia tabla condition condi condl tion in which the year 1830 found the children of men both on this fontinet cont inet and on the great eastern hemisphere Government governments st yes they have multiplied i governments upon ulion govern governments m there ere are scores of them thim to be found in europe and scores to be found in asia and in africa of all sorts and forms from the proud monarchy that crushes the liberty and hopes of millions down to the petty chieftain who degradedly wanders with his little band of fifty all pretending to be governed by some sort of principles while the iron hand band of despotism thus held the nations within its with withering L ing grasp enslaving both soul and body the great god near the close of the fifteenth century moved upon the mind of a Colum columbus hub buB and inspired him to fearlessly launch forth fosth udom the great expanse of unknown waters on the west of europe ald and guided by the invisibly agency of the holy spirit he revealed to the downtrodden down trodden dispain pairing ng nations a new world upward upwards of another century passed away during which the of despotism began to be loosened dissenters from the church multiplied protesting against many of her abominations nata nations ona espoused their cause wars raged protestants against catholics anu ant and catholics a against ainest protestants each nation establishing tab lishing their man made religion by man made laws dissenters from tibe tise there these new religions formed other sects the weaker being persecuted by the stron stronger gerawl gerami and au all being persecuted more or less by the governments from whose established |
