Show EVIDENCES OF THE GOSPEL hearken 0 ye people of my church saith the voice of him who 0 o dwells on high and whose eyes are upon all men yea verily I 1 say gay hearken ye people from afar and ye that are upon the he islands of the sea listen together por for verily the voice 0 of Y the J w U unto au all men 12 doe doc and cov sec seca 1 1 12 2 por for centuries past the world had cherished the thought that the voice of w the lord should no more be eard when suddenly thunder like ke a messenger appeared heraldic 1149 from rom one end of heaven to an other oer the above quoted intelligence god has spoken to the chosen seed these were indeed tidings of great joy j oy but the world orld at large influenced arge as the jews ewa formerly were by priests and rabbis 18 denounced renounced the as 0 a i messenger bold impostor he offered the strongest proof a mau man ever can offer 48 a 4 demion demonstration of the truth of ws message he gave his life seal ing g his testimony with his blood bloed fet et a 9 sceptical world refused to be lieve aeve refused to a large extent eya to investigate esti gate what was then the nature of his yge that the day of the ard ord is at hand that the inhabit ts a of the earth their earth must repent of 6 turn tr blue and add false se doctrines and unto god that those ose who obey sho uld be made happy the i but kingdom of the son of god fearful fony that on an all disobedient souls rol judgments would speedily fall to prepare for the coming of christ was the message sent from god to man through his servant the prophet joseph that was the nature of the message it will be perceived that this is in full harmony with sacred writ and its very nature should be a sufficient proof of its divine origin if it harmonizes with the bible how can it be false how can those who believe the one reject the other Is not that the very same contradiction as those of which the jews were guilty who believed the sacred writings of the old testament ut A the same time they rejected christ clearly when the bible is first proved to be true everything that is is in perfect harmony with the bible must be true too in such relation to the bible stands the divine message of which we are speaking this is a subject that must not be treated lightly the highest interests are here at stake interests dearer than life itself which lasts but a moment if god has spoken to this generation woe woe woe unto those who wilfully shut their ears and harden their hearts against the word of god I 1 he be antediluvian world was drowned by a flood because the people did not heed the warning voice the cities of the plain were wrapped in flames and buried ina in a sulphurous tomb because they rejected the message of goi go i jerusalem fell because she did not know the time of her visitation and how can the present world escape a bimeler fate under similar circumstances with these lessons of past ages before us let every honest soul investigate the evidences of the truth of this message of the latter days an honest investigation is the very least than can be demanded for a subject of this vast importance the attention of theolog theological leAl students who are familiar with the ep evidences of the truth of christianity is particularly called to the line of thought here offered as it is reposed proposed to show that the message delivered slivered eli vered by joseph smith is supported by the same evidence as the message delivered by former prophets or apostles christianity an and mormonism must stand or fall together if the evidente evidence here presented is sufficient for the one it is sufficient clent for both retrospective EVIDENCE the books of the old testament abound with predictions foretelling the work of christ on earth it is distinctly foretold that a deliverer should come the seed of woman he should spring out of the people of abraham a new covenant would be made the deliverer would be despised despised put to death and yet reign forever for ever and ever such wonderful predictions run like a string through the old testament and are always pointed to as an evidence of the truth of christianity christ himself points to these predictions as such evidence ought not christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory beginning with moses and all ah the prophets he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself luke 27 compare john v 46 47 but the same prophets foretell with equal clearness the grand work in which the latter day saints are now engaged as will appear on investigation of the following passages isaiah who lived almost years before christ has many remarkable predictions some of which were fulfilled shortly after their delivery livery dA syria and israel for instance were to be conquered by assyria before the infant son of the prophet could sabiny say my father isaiah viii all 4 the glory of kedar was to fall fail in one year axt 6 that of moab in three years xv xvi 14 that of E ephraim in sixty five years vii 8 that at of tyre in seventy years 15 other predictions relate to more distant times thus that portion of his book which is contained in chapter x al to leiv embraces the whole period from the babylonian captivity to the end of the christian dispensation in this portion of the book the prophet predicts the deliverance of the the jews by cyrus aliv alv 16 1 6 the return to judea alv viii vill the coming suffering and glory of the messiah the downfall of idolatry the rejection of ab christ rast by the j Jew aws and sand their r consequent ue rejection by god also alao their final nal conversion and recovery lii Iii ill iii icv loii speaking of this last even event the final gathering of the jews an event which is about to be fulfilled in our own time the prophet chapter iv says that there should be a people or a nation previously unknown to the jews who should be willing to join the jews in their worship of god almighty 11 behold thou shall call a people which thou not know and a peo people ale which did not know thee ee shall run to thee for the sake of jehovah thy god and for the sake of the holy one in israel for he hath glorified thee could language more clearly convey that at the time of the final restoration of the jews there should exist another people too who would share with the jews the glory in store for them in the next chapter levi 6 8 this other people is more nearly described and the sons of the stranger who follow jehovah in order to serve him and to love Jehova hs name those I 1 will bring to my holy mountain and they shall rejoice in my house 21 these predictions arp are very clear and it is a literal ful ailment thereof that the saints are called out of all nations of the earth so that they may form that one nation here spoken of and the latter part of isaials Isaia hs predictions are as literally verified as that part which relates to former events further the prophet micah was with isaiah among his predictions we notice the invasion of aneser 1 68 6 8 and 1 9 16 the dispersion of israel 5 78 7 8 the destruction truc tion of jerusalem 3 12 he also foretells the gathering of israel and the exaltation of the kingdom of christ ever all nations speaking of the gathering of israel he says that a forerunner should first come and this forerunner is described as a people with a leader at their head and jehovah as their juide aide alluding to israel in the wil erness where moses was their prophet jehovah going before them thus saith micah certainly I 1 will gather thee jacob and bring together the rest of israel the forerunner or rather the one who prepares the way goes before them the prince goes before them and jehovah leads in chapter 4 the prophet more fully describes what should happen before the gathering of jacob at the end of the days the mountain of the house of jehovah shall be established upon the top of the mountains and the nations shall run thereto in the same days saith jehovah shall I 1 gather the remnant read bead chapter 4 1 10 carefully it predicts unmistakably that at the time of the final delivery and gathering hering of the jews there should exist a people gathered among the mountains in order to amont serve the he lord a people endowed with wisdom to exercise judgment in the affairs of the nations of the world and yet be a peaceful agricultural people who had thrown away their swords for peaceful mccu nations pat pit ions this prediction is as clear as any ever given concerning christ and his work and it is fulfilled in the gathering of the saints if prophetic evidence is required god has given it to us but let us turn to jeremiah who flourished a hundred years later the chronological arrangement of the predictions of this prophet is not very plain but passages relating to the first salvation i of grael are easily recognized chapter 3 15 and 18 are among these here the prophet in words that cannot be mistaken says that the house of judah shall go to the house of israel and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land which I 1 have given your fathers that this prediction does not relate to the efrom babylon is evident from the fact that the prophet says the house of judah shall go to the house of israel the house of israel must then already be gathered or else the house of udah judah J could not go to them at the return from babylon judah took the lead and the israelites who returned had to come to judah judah took the lead here is a deliverance and return predicted in which israel takes the lead israel must consequently be gathered as well as judah and previous to judah compare this with the message e delivered through joseph the maphet prophet and the evidence is both strong and conclusive no less clear is daniel in his second chapter this great prophet predicts coming events with the clearness of bf hf history story four kingdoms are described the babylonian under the dynasty of the medo persian the grecian and the roman the last named is divided into ten all of which in their composition carry the seed of their dissolution iron political power and clay manin man in vented religion mixed together was their inheritance from rome and the cause of their weakness but in the days of these ten kingdoms the kingdom of heaven is founded a stone cut out without hands of man yet of miraculous origin mighty as a mountain n and finally superior to the finest metals the most splendid earthly thrones that this prediction was not fulfilled at the time of christ is borne out by two facts first that christ came before the dissolution of the roman empire into ten and secondly that christ did not found a kingdom at all when here only by the most lamentable perversion of scripture can this passage be made to apply to the first coming of christ it must apply to his second coming coming or have no meaning at all to his is second coming it also applies then his kingdom will fill fl 11 all the earth but the stone atone must first roll and while so doing grow until it becomes fit to perform the work assigned to it in chapter seven the prophet treats of the same subject the four kingdoms are represented by four beasts and the ten kingdoms by ten horns three of these horns or kingdoms are subdued by a little horn the papal power which exercises its tyrannical reign and overcomes the saints for fora a period of 1260 years here too the time is fully defined showing beyond the possibility of doubt that the restoration of the kingdom of god belongs to this century counting from the appearance of the little horn the papal power thus the ancient prophets have spoken of the time in which we live and their predictions axe are irrefutable evidence of the truth of the message accepted by the latter day sainte let us add one more testimony john the great prophet of the new testament while on patmos has a vision in which the turkish conquest is shown chapter 9 four angels bound in the great river euphrates are let loose to spread war and desol desolation atlon upon the earth for a period of about beare revelation 9 15 their great numbers are described their armors their national colors their power to hurt an idolatrous christian world tormenting those who had abandoned the worship of god for the worship of saints and it images nages after this chapter 10 a messenger appears with a little book signifying that the spirit of prophecy should again be manifested before many people and nations and tongues and kings revelation 10 1 11 how very clear is this prediction as to the great event of our time in reading the vision we feel that john saw the youthful prophet joseph with the little book in his handland han dand heard his mighty voice declaring that the falness of times had come and the angel or messenger which I 1 saw raw stand upon the sea and upon the earth embracing both hemispheres lifted up his hands to heaven and swore by him that liveth for ever and ever that there should be time no longer but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel the mystery of god should be finished 11 10 5 7 Is not this the very essence of the message delivered by joseph joseh the prophet with such frequency and with such clearness plear ness the sprit of prophecy in all ali past ages foretells the work in abi which ch the latter day saints are now engaged if christ can point to predictions as an evidence of his divine mission if christians can point to prophecy ey as an evidence of the truth of ef christianity why are not these F predictions re dictions these prophecies equal equally y infallible evidence of the truth of the divine mission of joseph smith how one can be accepted and the other rejected I 1 fall to see prospective E EVIDENCE our lord refers more than once to prophecies delivered by himself as evidences of his divine mission and now I 1 have told you before it came to pabs that when it is come to pass ye might believe john xiv 29 when we read for instance the prophecy of our lord announcing the destruction of jerusalem compare the prediction with the description crip tion of the fearful event given by josephus and see how literally everything was fulfilled we can understand der stand what strong evl evidence denee the prophecy is of the divine mission of the lord jerusalem babylon nineveh are all witnesses of the truth of the word of god and their testimony is unanimously accepted by everyone who is able to trace the finger of god the conclusion is this that when a man foretells an event which no human wisdom could foresee the occur occurrence renee of such an event is a sure proof that god s spoke 0 k e through that man so god himself W 1 nu dlf reasons who hath declared this from ancient times have H a e not 1 I the lord isaiah alv 20 22 if we apply this rule to the message delivered through joseph smith we unavoidably reach the same conclusion we are forced by the most plain and sound logic to acknowledge his divine mission the fol following lowin tv is offered for consideration in the book of doctrine and covenants many predictions are given concerning the saints some of which have already been fulfilled while others are still awaiting fulfillment fulfilment in 1830 when the church was still in her earliest infancy it was predicted zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish before the final salvation of israel doctrine and covenants see sec 24 25 this remarkable prediction is often repeated and finally nally fl in the year 1838 at far west missouri it is again announced therefore will I 1 not make solitary places to bud and to blossom and to bring forth in abundance saith the lord la Is there not room enough upon the mountains doctrine and covenants If nants tants sec 7 8 prom the very foundation of the church eSpirit th of god through the prophet thus announces in no uncertain way that zion the saints should move to the hills the mountains 11 the solitary places and there be e prosperous 61 blossom gloriously ay it must be remembered that |