A Voice of Warning, Parley P. Pratt [classic books for 11 year olds txt] 📗

the face of the earth (America not excepted). Thirdly, that the Lord has determined the bounds of their habitation, that is, He has divided the earth among His children, giving each nation that portion which seemed Him good—for instance the land of Canaan, to Israel; Mount Seir, to Esau; Arabia, to Ishmael; America, to the remnant of Joseph, etc., as a father parcels off a large tract of land to his several children. And fourthly, He has granted unto all the nations of the earth the privilege of feeling after Him and finding Him; since He is not so very far from every one of them, whether they be in Asia, Africa, Europe, America, or even upon the islands of the sea. Now, if any nation, in any age of the world, or in any part of the earth, should happen to live up to their privilege, what would they obtain? I answer, revelation, for the best of reasons, because no people ever found God in any other way, nor ever will. Therefore, if they found God, they found Him by revelation, direct from Himself, He revealing His will to them; and if they did not find Him in this way, they never knew Him. And if they did obtain revelation, it was their privilege to write it, and make a record of the same, and teach it to their children; and this record would be sacred, because it would contain the word of God; and thus it would be a HOLY BIBLE, no matter whether it was written by the Jews, the Ten Tribes, the Nephites, or the Gentiles. I would just as soon have the Gospel written by Nephi, Mormon, Moroni or Alma, as the Gospel written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Again, I would just as soon believe a revelation given in America, as believe a revelation given in Asia; for if ever a nation failed to get a revelation, it was because they did not attain unto that which was their privilege But why, then, was any nation over left in darkness, from age to age, without the light of revelation to guide them? I answer, because their forefathers, in some age of the world, rejected revelation, cast out and killed the Prophets, and turned a deaf ear to the things of God, until God took away that which they enjoyed, and committed it to some other people, and left them from generation to generation to grow up in ignorance, until He should see fit again to send His light and truth to that nation; but those who reject no light are under no condemnation, and the mercy of God hath claim upon them, through the blood of Christ which atoneth for the sins of the world. The heathen who never had the light of revelation will be saved by the blood of Christ; while their forefathers who rejected the light are condemned, for this is their condemnation, that when light came they rejected it.

Now on this subject, let us examine the history of various ages. In the morn of creation, men had light by direct revelation, for Adam, Cain and Abel talked with the Lord. In the next age, men had light by revelation, for Enoch walked with the Lord, and not only saw the first coming of Christ, but His second coming also, and he exclaimed: "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to take vengeance on the ungodly," etc., as it is written in Jude. From which it appears that Enoch knew and prophesied concerning the Messiah, with all the plainness of an Apostle. Again, in Noah's day there was positive revelation. And all these were Gentiles, or, rather, the word Israel had not yet been named upon Jacob by the angel. Now, if it was the privilege of so many Gentiles to get the word of the Lord, and to have the knowledge of the true God by revelation, it was the privilege of all the rest; and if any ran into darkness and worshiped idols, until God gave them over to work all uncleanness with greediness, and finally took the oracles of God from them, and confined them more particularly to Abraham, it was because they had for a long time rejected them, and rendered themselves unworthy of them; so that from the days of Israel the oracles of God seemed to pertain more particularly to the chosen seed, chosen for that very purpose, namely, that to them might be committed the oracles of God, the Priesthood, the service of God, and the promises which had been in existence from the beginning, among the Gentiles, who had long rendered themselves unworthy of such blessings.

But in process of time Israel rendered themselves unworthy of a continuance of such blessings, by stoning and killing the Prophets, and rejecting the Messiah, and all those that God sent unto them, until at length the Lord took the kingdom from them as a nation, and gave it again to the Gentiles; in the meantime winking at all the ignorance through which the Gentiles had passed, from the time the kingdom had been taken from them until restored again. But as soon as the kingdom of God was restored again to the Gentiles, He commanded them all everywhere to repent, and then if they did not do it they were under condemnation, but not before. But no sooner was the kingdom taken from the Jews, than the fruits of it disappeared from among them, and they were dispersed into all the nations of the earth where they have never again heard the voice of inspiration commanding them to repent. And if any Gentile has commanded them to repent and be baptized (in the name of the Lord), without being inspired and commanded to do it, it was an imposition practised upon them. Not that repentance was any harm, but the imposition consisted in professing to be sent with a message when they were not, for when God commands men to repent, He sends somebody with the command, in order that they may teach it to those for whom He designs it; and when He does not command them to do a thing, He does not require it at their hand. Any man who says that the Jews, as a nation, have been commanded to repent and be baptized, for the last seventeen hundred years, says that which he cannot prove, unless he can prove that there has been a new revelation within that time, commissioning some man to go to them with such an errand; neither will any generation of Jews, which have existed since inspiration ceased, be condemned for rejecting any message from God, for He has sent no message to them, consequently they have rejected none; but their forefathers, who did reject the things of God, are under condemnation.

Again, when men were sent with the Gospel to the Gentiles, they were commanded to repent; and this command was in force, whenever men came preaching, who were sent by proper authority, and inspired by the Holy Ghost; but when they had killed the Apostles and inspired men, and abused their privileges, until God took them away, and left them without inspiration, then the sin was answered upon that generation; and those who have since come upon the stage of action have never been commanded to repent and be baptized (except by some new revelation), and any man who says that God has commanded a Gentile to repent and obey the Gospel since the days that inspiration ceased, or since the days that Apostles and Prophets ceased from among men, says that which he will not be able to prove, unless he proves that some revelation has been given since that time, again commissioning men to go to the Gentiles with such an errand.

The fact is, God requires nothing more of a generation than to do those things which He commands them, and a generation to whom He reveals nothing, or to whom He does not send men with a message from Him, have no message to obey, and none to reject, and consequently nothing is binding on them, except the moral principles of right and wrong, which are equally binding on all ages of the world, according to the knowledge people have of moral rectitude.

But in these last days God has again spoken from the heavens, and commissioned men to go, first to the Gentiles, commanding them everywhere to repent and obey the Gospel; and then He has commanded them to go to the Jews also, and command them to repent, and obey the Gospel; thus restoring again that which has been so long lost from the earth. And wherever their voices shall be heard issuing this proclamation, in the name of Jesus, according as He has commanded them, then and there the people are under obligation to repent and be baptized. And he that repents and is baptized shall be saved; and he that does not believe their testimony, and repent and be baptized, shall be damned, for this plain reason, because God has sent them, by revelation, with this very errand, to this very generation, and they who reject the least of God's ambassadors reject Him that sent him, and therefore they are under condemnation from that time forth. But the message which God has sent these men with, is binding only on the generation to whom it is sent, and is not binding at all upon those who are dead and gone before it came; neither will it be binding on any generation which shall come after, unless God should raise up men and send unto them with the same Gospel, and then that generation to whom He sends them, will be saved or damned, according as they receive or reject their testimony.

People frequently ask this question—"If God has sent men with certain truths which are binding on the people, and without which they cannot be saved, what will become of the good people who have died before the message came?" I answer, if they obey the message which God sent to their own generation, they will be saved; but if not, they will be damned: but if God sent no message to that generation, then they rejected none, and, consequently, are under no condemnation; and they will rise up in judgment against this generation, and condemn it; for if they had received the same blessings which are now offered to us, they would no doubt have received them gladly. The principle of condemnation, in all ages of the world, is no other than rejecting the very message which God sends to them while they pretend to cleave closely to that which He has sent in former ages.

Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! ye garnish the sepulchres of the Prophets, and say: "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have stoned and killed the Prophets as they did." But ye yourselves are witnesses, that you allow the deeds of your fathers; for they killed the Prophets, and you build their sepulchres. This was the testimony of the Savior to the Jews, who were pretending to stand stiffly for their former Prophets, and at the same time rejecting Jesus and His Apostles. And so it is now in the nineteenth century. You Christians (so called) garnish the tombs of the Messiah and His former Apostles, and even build fine chapels to their memory, entitling them Saint Peter's Church, Saint Paul's Church, Saint John's Church, etc.; and you say: "If we had lived in the days of the Apostles, we would not have stoned and killed them." But ye yourselves are witnesses, that ye allow the deeds of your fathers: for they killed the Apostles, and you build chapels in honor of them; while at the same time, if a Prophet or an Apostle comes among you, you will forthwith shut your houses against him, as soon as he testifies of what God has sent him to testify, for you say there are to be no more Prophets or Apostles on the earth, and you forthwith pronounce him a false Prophet; and if a mob rise and kill him, or burn his house, or destroy his goods, you will either rejoice, or sit in silence and give countenance to the deed, and perhaps cry, "False Prophet!" while your press and pulpits teem with all manner of lies concerning him. Woe unto you, priests, Pharisees, hypocrites! but fill ye up the measure of your fathers, for as they did, so do ye. Vengeance belongs to God. He will speedily avenge His elect, who cry unto Him day and night.

But to return to the subject of Revelation. "There is nothing secret that shall not be revealed: neither hid that shall not be known;" this was a maxim of the Savior. And again: "The knowledge of the Lord is to cover