PART FIVE

IN TIME'S MERIDIAN

ARTICLE TWENTY.

The Lamb of God.

A stranger Star, that came from far, To filing its silver ray Where, cradled in a lowly cave, A lowlier infant lay; And led by soft sidereal light, The Orient sages bring Rare gifts of gold and frankincense, To greet the homeless King.

* * *

He wandered through the faithfulness world, A Prince in shepherd guise; He called his scattered flock, but few The Voice did recognize; For minds unborne by hollow pride, Or dimmed by sordid lust, Ne'er look for kings in beggar's garb, For diamonds in the dust.

* * *

Transfixt he hung--O crime of crimes!-- The God whom worlds adore. "Father forgive them!" Drained the dregs; Immanuel--no more. No more where thunders shook the earth, Where lightnings, 'thwart the gloom, Saw that unconquered Spirit spurn The shackles of the tomb. Far-flaming falchion, sword of light, Swift-flashing from its sheath, It cleft the realms of darkness and Dissolved the bands of death. Hell's dungeons burst! Wide open swung The everlasting bars, Whereby the ransomed soul shall win Those heights beyond the stars! [1]

The Crucified and Crowned.--An attempt to tell, even in brief, the sublime story of the Christ, would be foreign to my present purpose, Even if space permitted, what pen could do justice to the theme? Suffice it that the Christ came, in the Meridian of Time, as ancient seers and prophets had foretold. Surrendering himself to to death, that there might be no more death, He arose from the grave and ascended on High, glorified with that glory which the Eternal Son had with the Eternal Father before this world was formed.

The Passover Realized.--In the Savior's crucifixion, the prophetic symbolism of the Passover had a most remarkable realization. In nothing was this more strikingly manifest than in certain incidents immediately following the Death on Calvary. The commandment instituting the Paschal Feast required that no bone of the lamb should be broken, and no fragment of it be left to decay, representing as it did the body of the Holy One, which was not "to see corruption." [2] Mark now the exact fulfillment: The Savior had been crucified between two thieves, and at sundown on the day of crucifixion the Jewish Sabbath began. In order that the day might not be "desecrated," the Rabbis prevailed upon the Roman governor to have the three bodies taken down from the crosses and buried. [3] When the soldiers went to remove the bodies, finding the two thieves still alive, they put an end to them by breaking their legs; but Jesus was spared this further indignity, he being "dead already." [4] Pierced with five wounds, yet not a bone of him broken, the Lamb of God, answering in every particular to the likeness of the paschal lamb, was laid in the rocky tomb, whence He came forth on the third day, his perfectly preserved tabernacle glorified in immortality.

The Lord's Supper.--The night before the Crucifixion, Jesus, having partaken of the Passover with his disciples, instituted in its stead the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, commanding them to observe it thenceforth. [5] The Supper, like the Feast, pointed to the Atonement; but in the Passover the pointing was forward to an even that had not yet occurred, while in the Supper, for the reverse reason, the indication is backward. It is said that the paschal lamb was offered in the Temple at Jerusalem about the same hour that Christ died; the substance and the shadow thus corresponding. Thereafter the Passover was obsolete, having fulfilled its purpose, and as the type no longer typified, it should have been discontinued. The Jews, however, perpetuated the old-time observance, not recognizing in Jesus their Messiah.

"It is Finished."--The Savior's dying words, as reported by the Beloved Disciple, [6] have been the subject of much controversy. "It is finished." What did those words signify? The notion has been entertained that Christ's crucifixion completed his work, so far as personal ministrations went, and that after the opening of the so-called Christian Dispensation, there was no further need of communication between God and man. "O most lame and impotent conclusion!" Whatever construction be placed upon that final utterance of our Lord's, it is perfectly clear, from what followed, that it never was intended to convey such a meaning.

Birth and Death Incidental.--The Death on Calvary was no more the ending, than the Birth at Bethlehem was the beginning, of that Divine Career. Both were mere incidents. The Savior's work is universal, extending from Eternity into Time, and back again into Eternity. All the Gospel dispensations, from Adam down to Joseph Smith, are parts of the all-embracing mission of Jesus Christ. Not until "the beginning of the seventh thousand years," the Morning of the Resurrection, "will the Lord God sanctify the earth and complete the salvation of man." [7] Moreover, sanctification will be succeeded by glorification, still another phase of the work of Him who bringeth to pass "the immortality and eternal life of man."

The Sacrifice Complete.--What, then, was "finished" by the Death on the Cross? Simply the pain and sorrow that the Son of God had willed to undergo, that He might ransom a lost creation, and make it possible for redeemed man, by faith and good works, to lay hold upon eternal life. The Savior's self-imposed humiliation, his voluntary sacrifice, his mysterious all-comprehensive suffering, the piled up agony of the human race, endured by him vicariously, to the end that his atonement might be infinite, reaching to every son and daughter of Adam [8]--this was finished, this was at an end; not the work of God, nor the continuous revelation of his word and will to man.

In the Spirit.--While the Savior's body was lying in the tomb, his spirit entered Paradise, and there preached to the spirits of the departed, opening, or causing to be opened, the dungeons of the damned. Returning, He took up his glorified body, and appeared in it to his astonished, half-doubting disciples.

On Both Hemispheres.--Christ died for all; but all are not entitled to his personal ministrations. The sheep, however, have the right to see their Shepherd and to hear his voice. Accordingly, after he had confirmed the faith of his Jewish disciples, had chosen twelve apostles, and sent them forth to preach the Gospel in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit, he visited the Nephites, in America, for a similar purpose. They, in common with all Israel, had been warned by prophets to prepare for his coming; and the righteous were ready to receive him. Already they had the Gospel and the Priesthood, and now the Savior organized his Church among them. This done, He visited other broken-off branches of the "tame olive tree," [9] their whereabouts as unknown to Lehi's descendants in the Land Bountiful, as was the existence of the Nephites to the inhabitants of Judea.

The "Other Sheep."--Jesus had said to his Jewish followers: "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice." [10] They inferred that He meant the Gentiles; but such was not his meaning. His direct, special errand was to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." [11] The Gentiles were to be converted through the preaching of Jewish-Christian evangels. [12]

The "other sheep" were the Nephites, to whom the Savior explained his half-veiled utterance; [13] also declaring that He had still "other sheep," not of the Nephite fold nor of the Jewish fold, and that they likewise should see him and hear his voice. [14] Undoubtedly this allusion was to the "Lost Tribes;" but not to them alone. It included other Hebrew remnants, unknown to man, but known to Jehovah, "keeping watch above his own" in the mystical and remote regions whither his judgments had driven them.

In Remembrance of Him.--Both in Judea and in the Land Bountiful, the Savior instituted, among those who had received the Gospel, the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that memorial of his sacrifice, once prospective, now retrospective; once a prophecy, now a fulfillment. But its institution among the Nephites, unlike its introduction among the Jews, was after his resurrection. Concerning the earlier incident, the New Testament says:

"As they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.

"And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it:

"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." [15]

"The Real Presence."--After the living oracles had departed, and only the dead letter of the Scriptures remained, uninspired "private interpretation" [16] conceived the notion that Jesus, when he said, "This is my body" and "my blood," meant the words to be taken literally. From that erroneous inference sprang the doctrine of transubstantiation, with its twin heresy, consubstantiation; the former a Roman Catholic tenet, the latter an unorthodox Protestant tenet relating to the Eucharist. So insistent was the Catholic Church upon this point, that men and women were condemned and punished as heretics, for denying "the real presence," the actual flesh and blood of Christ, in the elements of the Lord's Supper. [17]

Figurative, not Literal.--The language of Jesus, when he instituted the Lord's Supper at Jerusalem, was undoubtedly figurative. When He said, of the bread and wine, "This is my body" and "my blood," his body was intact, his spirit in his body, and his blood yet unsplit. He was there in person, whole, complete. This being the case, how could he have meant to identify the bread and wine with the constituents of his mortal tabernacle? "These are the emblems of my body and blood"--that was his meaning. He made this clear to the Nephites, in saying: "This shall ye do in remembrance of my body." Remembrance presupposes absence. Because he would be absent in body thereafter, they were to do this "in remembrance of" his body. What need to remember him, if he were present in person? As well require faith from one having a perfect knowledge. [18]

Use of Wine Forbidden.--The Latter-day Saints have been criticized for using water in the Sacrament; the Savior having sanctioned the use of wine both among the Jews and the Nephites. The explanation for the change is simple. The Church of Christ is not dependent upon books, nor upon tradition. It has an inspired Priesthood, led by immediate, continuous and direct revelation. The Lord has commanded his people in these days not to use wine in the Sacrament under existing conditions. This is the word they are under obligation to obey--not the word given to other peoples in former dispensations. [19]

Christ to Come Again.--Neither the Savior's resurrection, nor his ascension into Heaven [20] signalized the end of his personal ministry, the cessation of his labors in behalf of mankind. After his resurrection, He "went in body to minister to translated and resurrected bodies;" [21] and with these He will return when Enoch's City descends and all is ready for his glorious advent.

Footnotes

1. "Elias," Canto 3, Part 2.

2. Psalms 16:10.

3. The hypocrites! They could commit murder, could cause the death of the innocent, and feel no compunction: but they were horrified at the thought of a technical Sabbath-day desecration. Could there be a more glaring instance of "straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel"?

4. John 19:33.

5. Matt. 26:17-20; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20.

6. John 19:30.

7. D. & C. 77:12.

8. Ib. 19:16-19.

Such was the mission of him concerning whom Nephi of old prophesied: "And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day." (2 Nephi 9:21, 22.)

9. Jacob 5:3.

10. John 10:16.

11. Matt. 15:24.

12. Nevertheless, it was all the work of the Lord; for those evangels were his servants, his messengers, clothed with his authority and acting in his name and stead. The subordinate is swallowed up in the principal. It is the general of an army who wins victory or suffers defeat, though millions of soldiers may have been fighting under his direction. The Roman myrmidons who nailed Jesus to the cross were not so much to blame for the cruel deed, as were Pilate, the Procurator, who permitted, nay, ordered it to be done, and the Jewish Rabbis who instigated the "judicial murder" of the sinless Son of God.

13. 3 Nephi 15:21-24.

14. Ib. 16:1-3.

15. Matt. 26:26-28. Compare 3 Nephi 18:1-7.

16. 2 Peter 1:20.

17. A fact sufficient, of itself, to show that the Church was in an apostate condition.

18. Too much reliance upon either the literal or the figurative in language, is apt to be misleading. An attendant in an art gallery or other public place where statues or paintings are on exhibit, might point out one and say to the visitor: "That is Caesar" or "That is Washington;" but the one addressed would not be likely to infer that Caesar or Washington was there in actual flesh and blood, or that the attendant meant to be so understood. Nor would the visitor need to be told that the statue or the painting represented the original. Such an explanation would be superfluous. The form of the Savior's instruction on the Sacrament--assuming that the correct translation has come down to us--may be accounted for in like manner. He knew that his disciples would understand him--and they did. They were not dependent upon the letter alone; the interpreting Spirit was with them to give it life.

19. D. & C. 27:2-5.

20. Acts 1:10, 11.

21. "Mediation and Atonement," p. 76.

ARTICLE TWENTY-ONE.

The Special Witnesses.

The Men Who Knew.--The Twelve Apostles were the special witnesses of Jesus Christ. As such they had to _know_, not merely believe that he had risen from the dead. And they did know, for they had seen him, and heard him, and had even been permitted to touch him, that they might be convinced beyond all question that he was indeed what he proclaimed himself--the Author of the Resurrection, the Giver of eternal life. It was their right to receive this rare evidence, owing to the unique character of their mission. But the world was required to believe what the Apostles testified concerning Him. If men desired salvation, which could come only through the Savior, they must receive in faith the message He had sent his servants to deliver.

The Case of Thomas.--One of the Twelve was absent when his brethren received their first visitation from the risen Redeemer; and when they said, "We have seen the Lord," he answered: "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." Subsequently the Savior appeared to this Apostle (Thomas) saying: "Behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing." "My Lord and my God!" exclaimed the doubter--and was convinced. [1]

Complete Qualification.--Thomas has been censured for demanding to see and to feel before he would believe. How much blame attaches to him for doubting, I will not presume to say. But this much seems clear: He had the same right as the rest of the Twelve to a personal appearing of the Lord--the right to come in contact with Him of whose resurrection he was required to testify. The others had seen and heard--perhaps had even felt, for Jesus offered them that privilege. [2] Why should not Thomas share in the experience? What else could completely qualify him as a special witness?

A Peculiar Position.--Sign-seeking is an abomination, indicating an adulterous disposition. [3] It is blessed to believe without seeing, [4] since through the exercise of faith comes spiritual development; while knowledge, by swallowing up faith, prevents its exercise, thus hindering that development. "Knowledge is power;" and all things are to be known in due season. But premature knowledge--knowing at the wrong time--is fatal both to progress and to happiness. The case of the Apostles was exceptional. They stood in a peculiar position. It was better for them to know--nay, absolutely essential, in order to give the requisite force and power to their tremendous testimony.

The Commission of the Twelve.--"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.

"He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned.

"And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." [5] "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;

"Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." [6]

The Promised Signs.--Thus we see that certain miraculous "signs" were promised to "them that believe." But these signs were intended to comfort the Saints, not to encourage the sign-seeker; and they were to "follow," not precede, belief. It is not the sign, but the seeking, that the Lord deprecates, the motive being evil. [7]

Apostolic Activities.--Obedient to the divine mandate, the Apostles at Jerusalem, having been "endued with power from on high" [8] went forth with their fellows, preaching. "Christ and him crucified," calling upon men to believe, to repent, and have their sins remitted by baptism, that they might receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Great power accompanied their ministrations. Within the next half century the glad tidings borne by them had spread over the whole Roman Empire and into barbarian realms beyond.

Equality and Unity.--The Apostles must have known of Enoch's wonderful work. Jude refers to Enoch's prophecy of the Lord's coming "with ten thousand of his saints." [9] Possibly the Twelve had access to the Book of Enoch, [10] one of the lost books of Scripture. At all events, they sought to introduce, among the earliest proselytes to the Christian faith, a similar order to that established in Enoch's day. Concerning the later attempt to "bring forth Zion." it is written:

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. . . . .

"Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold,

"And laid them down at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need." [11]

How long this condition lasted with the Jewish Saints, we are not told. Among their contemporaries, the Nephite followers of Christ, the splendid results flowing from the practice of the Law of Consecration are thus portrayed:

"The people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly, one with another;

"And they had all things common among them, therefore they were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift." [12]

The Apostles Taken.--One by one the Apostles were taken. James was slain with the sword at Jerusalem. Peter, if the tradition be trustworthy, was crucified at Rome, where Paul likewise suffered martyrdom, by decapitation. All were put to death, save one, concerning whom Peter had inquired of the Lord: "What shall this man do?" And the Lord had said: "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" "Then went this saying abroad among the brethren; that that disciple should not die." [13]

John Tarries.--Modern revelation confirms the ancient tradition that John the Beloved did not taste of death, but obtained from the Lord a promise that he should remain in the flesh, fortified against disease and dissolution, and do a wondrous work. He was to "prophesy before nations, kindred, tongues and peoples, and continue on earth until the Lord came in his glory." [14] It is traditional that an attempt was made upon John's life by throwing him into a cauldron of boiling oil; but he escaped miraculously.

A Falling-Away Foreseen.--In the ninety-sixth year of the Christian era this Apostle was on the Isle of Patmos, in the Aegean Sea. Patmos served the Romans very much as Siberia has since served the Russians. To that desolate place the Empire banished its criminals, compelling them to work in the mines. John was an exile for Truth's sake. But the Lord had not forgotten his servant, though men had rejected him and cast him out. The Heavens were opened to him, and he was shown things that would come to pass thereafter, also events that were even then taking place. He beheld the sad spectacle of a paganized Christendom, the "falling away" that St. Paul had predicted. [15]

Restoration and Judgment.--But John also looked forward to a time when the pure Christian faith would be restored; when an Angel would "fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth;" [16] when Israel would be called out from the nations; [17] when the hour of God's judgment would come, and the dead, small and great, would stand before the Great White Throne, to give answer for the deeds done in the body. [18]

Among the Nephites.--The experience of the Church of Christ on the Western continents was in many respects a duplicate of its experience in Oriental lands. Here as well as there, special witnesses were chosen, [19] and to three of the Nephite Twelve, Christ gave the same promise that he had given to the Apostle John--a promise that they should remain in the body, not subject to death, and bring souls to Him. [20]

A Foretaste of the Millennium.--The Nephite Church had a marvelous career--even more marvelous than had the Jewish Church. "The people were all converted unto the Lord," and for two full centuries [21] a social condition similar to that which had characterized Enoch's ancient commonwealth, was the favored lot of this flourishing branch of the House of Israel. It was a foretaste of the Millennium, a foreshadowing of the great Day of Peace.

Japheth Smites Jacob.--Then came pride, the besetting sin of the Nephite nation, with class divisions, envyings, covetousness, strife, and--for the civilized portion of the once delightsome people--extermination. Darkened in body and in mind, the degenerate Lamanites were left to meet the on-rolling tide of over-seas immigration, and be over whelmed thereby; "a remnant of Jacob," to be smitten and driven by the children of Japheth, "until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled." [22]

Footnotes

1. John 20:24-28.

2. Luke 24:39.

3. Matt. 16:4.

4. John 20:29.

5. Mark 16:15-18.

6. Matt. 28:19, 20.

7. Says the Prophet Joseph: "When I was preaching in Philadelphia, a Quaker called out for a sign. I told him to be still. After the sermon he again asked for a sign. I told the congregation that the man was an adulterer; . . . . that the Lord had said to me in a revelation that any man who wanted a sign was an adulterous person. 'It is true,' cried one, 'for I caught him in the very act,' which the man afterwards confessed when he was baptized." (Hist. Ch. Vol. 5 p. 268). More than one "Mormon" missionary, pestered by sign-seekers, has applied the test furnished by the Prophet, with invariable and complete success.

8. Luke 24:49; Acts 2:1-4.

9. Jude 14.

10. D. & C. 107:57

11. Acts 4:32, 34, 35.

12. 4 Nephi 1:2, 3.

13. John 21:20-23.

14. D. & C. 7.

15. Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. Chaps. 17, 18.

16. Rev. 14:6.

17. Ib. 18:4.

18. Ib. 20:11, 12.

19. 3 Nephi 19:4.

20. Ib.28:4-23.

21. 4 Ib. 1:22.

22. Though tramped upon for many generations, the Lamanites are not a dying race, as is generally supposed. According to Doctor Lawrence W. White, of the United States Indian Bureau, the Indian population in 1870, when the first reliable census was made by the bureau, was placed at 313,712. It is now 333,702, a number not exceeded, thinks that expert, by the total of aborigines in America at the time of its discovery by Columbus.--See editorial article, "Indians Reviving," Salt Lake Tribune, February 13, 1920.