Show THE BOOK OW OF DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS ba B J al B S half a century has been carried away on thi the e tide of life towards the ocean of eternity since the voice through which came the revelations contained inthe in the book of doctrine and Coven covenants sati was silenced in death the witness fell like a genuine witness for the truth he died as a martyr and his soul took the room prepared for him under the altar in the courts of gods holy temple in vain has the world ever since cherished the hope that the noble work for which the martyr lived and died should wither and die like a plant without nourishment the hope has not net been fulfilled the work still lives and it has grown and swelled to such dimensions that now one of mi mightiest otiest powers on OB earth finds her sell self constantly troubled with the problem while in many circles throughout the whole religious religions world its influence is being felt and it makes a progress which nothing can stay the work was not of man out oat of god the gospel te prophet the seer and tc ito iii ii i J jj smith jun with 4 von as an archangels proclaimed to the people of the nineteenth century was no cunningly devised table fable it was a clear and irrevocably irrevocable announcement that god would soon bring rin 9 the e times me of the e gentiles e to a close clos e gather ather in the falness ful ness of the gen gentiles t iles I 1 and establish on the earth t that a t k kingdom ing orn of peace of wyica he had spoken through the mouth of his holy prophets from the beginning of the world and this announcement was testified to by repeated mani manifestations feal matvs of the radiant glory of the divine ajesta on high by numerous signs bigna and wonders and prophecies and it was sealed by the blood of those who were callei called I 1 to be ines messengers between god and man ana an body whose mind is open to truth truth and who will consider the religious phenomena as recorded in the annals of the human race must be impressed by a strong convict conviction ioU that the same god who anciently spoke through noah through moses through the prophets through the t he 8 n and his apostles has in these days spoken through the prophet joseph the mission of joseph the dayi of the foundation of the church of 0 canet in the latter days is nothum but tae ane literal of the predictions of former ages many of the visions of ezekiel daniel and john the revelator elator were nothing but the re flax ex of this thi glorious work the brilliant rays of which illuminated their through the gift of prophecy enlarged horizons horizon and they rejoiced exceedingly in the view of peace and happiness which they beheld as aa the completion of this work tit it one important part of gods plan of salvation could never dever be found and the whole would wo uld be incomplete we know that the reve revelations latious doctrines and covenants covenant s contained to in the book known toy by that name claim to be divine in their origin and that the prophet shed his bis blood in testimony of 01 their truth how dare we turn away without examining them Is pot not such conduct criminal enough to con can dmn anybody before the bar ot of god it has bas bea be said that the imperfect language found in the book is an evidence of ats 9 human origin indeed this seems to be the gravest charge ever made against it V it may be true that in some instances the language does not conform t to 0 the latew rules of english grammar and yet I 1 contend that there are passages which tor for beauty of style may be compared to the most excellent language au guage of davio davia or er isaiah see bee for ia instance stance section log containing the dedicatory prayer offered up iu in the temple at kirtland but even if were as imperfect as they have been said to be b by our enemies if the book was as ax void of rhetorical beauty leanty as it is said to be how could that be a proof against its divinity A piece of gold is gold as much before a after it has been worked into an ornament A diamond is a diamond even beto before re it has been cut cat it the language an proves anything ng at all and if we are allowed to reason from analogy we wd would it L bems to mp be justified in reasoning the othea way and say that the very in grammar are proofs in favor of the divinity of the book in nature we see sold gold mixed with inferior substances diamonds ii is with gravel would it then be strange if heavenly truths were to bv bf found im bedded io in homely language indeed bupt were it otherwise we might doubt whether the god of nature were also the god of revelation I 1 we examine the writings of the new testaments or instance we will find that the language of the apostles of et our lord ia very far from perfect rom a grammatical point of view the greatest greek scholar of sweden is reported as shaving having said on one occasion vory very irreverently jesus was a pretty good MILD man but he be spoke darned bad greek those that con contend tenI that no inspired teachings can caa come through an imperfect language ought on that very ground to discard the me new neatam testament enar for the language of the new testament is very far irom classical greek it is the attic atte diale dialect qt considerably mixed with belier dialects and the whole roo dined by the alexandrian alexandria n modes of jAio ii you arl w 1 therefore tind words wards of ip r latin persian aud jonii 1 stav words are r in their ing or form so in theil in flexion and gender and some words and phrases are used in a sense peculiar altogether to these writers he who can accept the new testament need not reject the book of doctrine and covenants on account of its language lanqua ge bat af after ter all it is not by the lau ian osge the outward dress that this 9 biage oom oo 00 s or any book of god must be judged it i by its contents and if we compare the contents of the bjor of 0 doctrine aal covenants covenant with the contents con teota of the bible we will be satis lied fled for by this criterion it is ia a perfect book its pictures of god and of human nature are the exact counterparts of those pictures as fondd on the pages of the bible its morals are in every particular the murals morals ot of the bible and nd the plan of aalf salvation aaion through h faith and obedience to is identity iden identical ticY witt with that of the biblo bible the revelations given are moreover ex acely suited to the peculiar circumstances cum stances of the people of god and exhibit in this respect the perfect per fec wisdom of god as well as a perfect analogy to the revelations given to in an cleavages clea clent agea such are the conclusions to which a student of the book of doctrine and ci must come if heA hest studies wiehl u d willing willine boand to find the TBS bou w oart o art ra the marks of its d di finity vinity lf very cry ouri euri so plainly that he who runs CAU read rad let lei cheref therefore 10 re every v ery man bewsee bedara how he hecei receives ves it iland nd having received athow heto be low a its P precepts prec recep epta ttA for it i t contains the wo word r d ot of go god d |