Part 13

Christian Whitmer died November twenty-seventh, 1835, in full fellowship in the Church. Jacob Whitmer withdrew from the Church in 1838, and died April twenty-first, 1856, without returning to it. Peter Whitmer, Jr., died September twenty-second, in full fellowship in the Church. John Whitmer was excommunicated from the Church March tenth, 1838. He died out of the Church July eleventh, 1878. Hiram Page withdrew from the Church in 1838. He died outside of the faith August twelfth, 1852. Joseph Smith, Sr., died in full fellowship in the Church September fourteenth, 1840. Hyrum Smith died a martyr to the cause of Truth June twenty-seventh, 1844. Samuel Harrison Smith died in full membership, July thirtieth, 1844.

Three of the eight witnesses left the Church and died out of it. It is a remarkable fact, however, that not only the five who remained true to the Church, but the other three also, remained true to the testimony they had borne to the Book of Mormon. No one of them ever denied a word of that testimony. Most of them survived the Prophet many years. Whatever influence he had exerted over them in life was surely removed by death. But after his death, as well as during his life, these eight witnesses were firm in their assertion that they had seen the plates of the "Book of Mormon," and had examined them. No amount of persecution ever made them swerve from that direct truth. No amount of temptation ever won them to a denial of the testimony. That one truth was so fixed in their minds that they could never deny it. And each one, as his turn came to meet grim Death, testified to the last that what he had said and affirmed so long was verily true.

The testimonies of the eleven witnesses have never been broken. These testimonies never can be broken. In the wisdom of the Lord the testimonies have been strengthened by the very defections revealed in the lives of the witnesses. By their lives and their testimonies they bear witness, not only to the truth of the "Book of Mormon" and the actuality of the visions that inaugurated the great latter-day work, but also to the truth of their own testimonies. It is really remarkable that the three special witnesses to the "Book of Mormon" became estranged from the Church, and that three of the eight--making six out of eleven--forsook the Church. The testimonies of those who left the Church were made stronger by their apostasy. Had there been delusion or fraud about the restoration, these men would have revealed it. Not one of the witnesses who apostatized was related to Joseph Smith. In their positions as apostates, therefore, they added testimony to their own testimony, as well as to the divine authority of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Even in the case of the witnesses themselves, it may be re-affirmed with assurance, that, not a single important step in the progress of the restoration was taken without corroborative testimony, or the presence of witnesses.

XXI.

FURTHER WITNESSES TO THE RESTORATION.

The Latter-day Saints lay claim to so much, and there are so many impostures in the world, that it is more than fortunate to have the mission of the American prophet attested, not only by the marvelous results of his works, but also by the words of witnesses. It is asserted by the Latter-day Saints that they, and they alone of all the religious denominations in the world, possess the gospel of the Lord Jesus in its purity and in its fulness. The sects may promulgate small portions of the "law of liberty;" they may teach truth in part. It is not claimed by the Latter-day Saints that they have a monopoly of Truth. Indeed, every sect that survives the vicissitudes of time must possess some of the fabric of truth in its structure. No organization can persist on a foundation of absolute falsehood. But whereas the sectarian creeds present the "power of God unto salvation" in part only, the Mormon creed presents it in full, in its natural simplicity, and not perverted by the doctrines of men.

It is asserted by the Latter-day Saints that they, and they alone of all the religious denominations in the world, possess a correct Church organization, patterned after that of the primitive Church of Christ and the apostles. Other Church organizations retain parts of the original form. But each one has lost some part or other of the perfect body. One member has wasted away from disuse here and another there, until the process of atrophy has left but few of the original officers and duties of the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, has a perfect organization. All the officers of the primitive Church may be found in it, and their several duties are thoroughly understood.

Moreover, it is asserted by the Latter-day Saints, that, not only do they alone possess the Gospel in its fullness and the correct Church organization, but they alone have authority from heaven to officiate in the ordinances and ceremonies of the Church. Other preachers, pastors, and ministers may presume to present themselves as servants of the Most High. But they possess no divine appointment; they have received no ordination by divine authority. The Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ alone are endowed with the divine right to preach the Gospel and to administer in its ordinances.

"Few things about Jesus are more striking or unquestionable than his sense of authority," says a noted theological student.[A] To Latter-day Saints this statement is of peculiar interest. They believe that "a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands, by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof."[B] A ceremony performed by a man not so called and ordained can be of no authoritative effect. The sense of authority, then, found so strikingly present in the ministry of Jesus, is but the divine appreciation and the divine manifestation of the necessity of authority. "I am not come of myself,"[C] He was wont to say; "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."[D] That appreciation of the necessity of divine authority was so strongly marked in the ministry of Jesus, that He called attention to it even in the sending forth of His apostles. It was not enough that He should be called of God; they, too, must receive the call and be ordained. "Ye have not chosen me," He said, emphasizing the fact that a man cannot choose of himself to become an apostle of the Lord, "but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit;"[E] for "as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you."[F] And the apostles in their turn learned so well to understand the principle of divine authority that they challenged the ministry of any man who was not authorized by Jesus. "A man can receive nothing," explained John the Baptizer when his disciples complained that Jesus drew all men to Him, "except it be given him from heaven."[G] And Paul explained that no man can take the honor of the priesthood to himself, "but he that is called of God as was Aaron."[H]

[Footnote A: Prof. Samuel Dickey, "The Significance of the Baptism of Jesus for His Conception of His Ministry," in "Biblical World," June, 1911.]

[Footnote B: Fifth Article of Faith.]

[Footnote C: John 7:28.]

[Footnote D: John 5:43.]

[Footnote E: John 15:16.]

[Footnote F: John 20:21.]

[Footnote G: John 3:27.]

[Footnote H: Heb. 5:4.]

This appreciation of the necessity of divine authority was not peculiar to Jesus and His apostles. Holy men of God have felt it in every age. Only those who have been divinely called have been qualified to speak in the name of the Lord. This statement is as true for the modern Prophet as it is for the prophets of old. For it may be said with truth, that few things about Joseph Smith are more striking or unquestionable than his sense of the necessity of authority. He had seen the Father and the Son in vision; he had been visited repeatedly by an angel of heaven; he had translated a sacred record by the power of God,--yet, he did not presume to promulgate the restored Gospel, or to send others to do so, or to organize a Church. He felt that he had not yet divine authority to do these things. He waited till authority should be given him. Was he an impostor? Had he been so he might easily have assumed authority. He might have proclaimed to the world that he had received authority, and trusted that the world would believe his statement. Certainly, had he been an impostor, he would have called in no man to witness the imposture he was foisting upon the world. What did Joseph Smith do? In the previous chapter, we have learned how the opening visions of the New Dispensation--the revelations that form the foundation stone of the Church--are attested by the testimony of witnesses. It has been said that the Latter-day Saints lay claim to so much, and that there are so many impostures in the world, that it is more than fortunate to have the mission of the American prophet attested, not only by the marvelous results of his work, but also by the words of witnesses. It will be interesting now to recall the way in which Joseph Smith received authority from heaven. It will be interesting further to learn whether or not there were witnesses to the fact. It will not be too much again to assert that not a single important step in the progress of the Restoration was taken without corroborative testimony or the presence of witnesses.

The Prophet Joseph Smith, teaches that there are two divisions of the priesthood of God; and he asserts that he received the authority of both divisions by the direct ministration of heavenly beings. He does more than assert that he received the Holy Priesthood by divine ordination. An impostor might do so much. Joseph Smith describes the manner in which the priesthood was conferred upon him; and he provides a witness who, after many years confirms by his solemn testimony the words of the Prophet. Such a procedure is contrary to the methods of an impostor.

The Aaronic priesthood--the lesser division of the priesthood of God--was restored through the ministration of one heavenly being. It appears that John the Baptizer was the man of presiding authority to hold that division of the priesthood during the dispensation of the Meridian of Time. When it became necessary to restore the Aaronic Priesthood, in the new Gospel dispensation, John the Baptizer came to perform the important ceremony. Joseph Smith relates how this great forerunner of Messiah came down from heaven, and in awe-inspiring words, conferred upon him the Holy Priesthood after the order of Aaron. The relation is plain, ungarnished. There is no comment; there is no argument; there is no embellishment; there is no ecstatic eloquence. It is a matter of fact that has happened, and the Prophet states it in his usual, simple, matter of fact way. The Holy Priesthood after the Order of Aaron had been restored, May fifteenth, 1829.

But the Aaronic priesthood did not endow the Prophet with full authority to establish the Church of Christ, or even to officiate in the higher ordinances of the Church. The authority of the Higher Priesthood was still necessary to the full accomplishment of the mission of the Prophet. That authority was not long in coming. Less than two months after the appearance of John the Baptizer, Peter, James and John appeared on the banks of the Susquehanna river, and conferred upon the Prophet the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek. Peter, James, and John constituted the presidency of the primitive Church after the crucifixion of Jesus. They formed the presidency of the Priesthood after the Order of Melchizedek before the dispensation of the fulness of times. When it became necessary in the new dispensation to restore this Priesthood, Peter, James, and John attended personally to the holy ordinance. Again the narrative is plain and simple. The Prophet, however, comes nearer to ecstatic utterance in speaking of the sublime manifestation than is customary with him. Yet, it is after all a matter-of-fact narration of a matter of fact. The Holy Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek was restored through the ministration of Peter, James, and John.

Can Joseph Smith be believed in these assertions? Fortunately, he was not alone in these two marvelous manifestations, as he had been in those earlier visions that laid the foundation for the superstructure of the Church. When Joseph Smith went into the wood to pray on May fifteenth, 1829, that he might get light on the ordinance of baptism, Oliver Cowdery was with him. When John the Baptizer appeared, it was not Joseph Smith alone who saw him. Oliver Cowdery saw him as well. And when the Baptizer restored officially the Aaronic Priesthood, it was not Joseph Smith alone whom he ordained. Oliver Cowdery received the same ordination with the Prophet. And Oliver Cowdery has described the event in words of power and vividness.

"These were days never to be forgotten--to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or as the Nephites would have said, 'Interpreters,' the history or record called 'The Book of Mormon.'

"To notice, in even few words, the interesting account given by Mormon and his faithful son Moroni, of a people once beloved and favored of heaven, would supersede my present design; I shall therefore defer this to a future period, and, as I said in the introduction, pass more directly to some few incidents immediately connected with the rise of this Church, which may be entertaining to some thousands who have stepped forward amid the frowns of bigots and the calumny of hypocrites, and embraced the Gospel of Christ.

"No men, in their sober senses, could translate and write the directions given to the Nephites from the mouth of the Savior, of the precise manner in which men should build up His Church, and especially when corruption had spread an uncertainty over all forms and systems practiced among men, without desiring a privilege of showing the willingness of the heart by being buried in the liquid grave, to answer a 'good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.'

"After writing the account given of the Savior's ministry to the remnant of the seed of Jacob, upon this continent, it was easy to be seen, as the prophet said would be, that darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. On reflecting further it was easy to be seen, that amid the great strife and noise concerning religion, none had authority from God to administer the ordinances of the Gospel. For the question might be asked, have men authority to administer in the name of Christ, who deny revelations, when His testimony is no less than the spirit of prophecy and His religion based, built, and sustained by immediate revelations in all ages of the world when He has had a people on earth? If these facts were buried, and carefully concealed by men whose craft would have been in danger if once permitted to shine in the faces of men, they were no longer to us; and we only waited for the commandment to be given 'Arise and be baptized.'

"This was not long desired before it was realized. The Lord who is rich in mercy, and ever willing to answer the consistent prayer of the humble, after we had called upon Him in a fervent manner, aside from the abodes of men, condescended to manifest to us His will. On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us, while the vail was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with glory, and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement! While the world was racked and distracted--while millions were groping as the blind for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncertainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld, our ears heard, as in the 'blaze of day;' yes, more--above the glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy over the face of nature! Then his voice, though mild, pierced to the centre, and his words, 'I am thy fellow-servant,' dispelled every fear. We listened, we gazed, we admired! 'Twas the voice of an angel from glory, 'twas a message from the Most High! And as we heard we rejoiced, while his love enkindled upon our souls, and we were wrapt in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? Nowhere; uncertainty had fled, doubt, had sunk no more to rise, while fiction and deception had fled forever!

"But, dear brother, think, further think for a moment, what joy filled our hearts, and with what surprise we must have bowed, (for who would not have bowed the knee for such a blessing?) when we received under his hand the Holy Priesthood as he said, 'Upon you my fellow-servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer this Priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon earth, till the sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness!'

"I shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion; but you will believe me when I say, the earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner as this holy personage. No; nor has this earth power to give the joy, to bestow the peace, or comprehend the wisdom which was contained in each sentence as they were delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit! Man may deceive his fellow-man, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave; but one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity strikes it all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind! The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel; the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me past description, and I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior's goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to tarry; and in those mansions where perfection dwells and sin never comes, I hope to adore in that DAY which shall never cease!"[I]

[Footnote I: "Times and Seasons," p. 201.]

This description and fervent testimony was written in 1834. Four years later, however, Oliver Cowdrey was excommunicated from the Church. He left the state where the Church was located, and never again returned to the Saints during the lifetime of the Prophet Joseph Smith. But he remained true to his testimony to the last. There was no doubt in his mind as to the reality of the vision he had beheld. He had felt the hands of the angels upon his head; there was no denying the fact that had taken place. His steadfastness in this testimony included also the ministration of Peter, James, and John.

Oliver Cowdery returned to the Church at Kanesville, Iowa, in 1848. He had been out of the Church for eleven years. On his re-admittance into the Church, he delivered a public discourse, in which he said, "I was present with Joseph when an holy angel from God came down from heaven and conferred on us, or restored, the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, and said to us, at the same time, that it should remain upon the earth while the earth stands. I was also present with Joseph when the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood was conferred by the holy angels from on high. This Priesthood, we then conferred on each other by the will and commandment of God."[J] Less than three months later, under date January thirteenth, 1849, Oliver Cowdery gave a signed statement to Samuel W. Richards. In that statement Cowdery said, "John the Baptist, holding the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood; Peter, James, and John, holding the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, have also ministered for those who shall be heirs to salvation, and with these administrations ordained men to the same Priesthood. These Priesthoods, with their authority, are now, and must continue to be in the body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. * * Accept assurances, dear brother, of the unfeigned prayer of him who, in connection with Joseph, the Seer, was blessed with the above administrations."[K]

[Footnote J: "History of the Church," Vol. I, p. 41, footnote.]

[Footnote K: "History of the Church," Vol. I, p. 42, footnote.]

Thus did Oliver Cowdery testify to the last--as he did to the testimony of the Book of Mormon--that he was with the Prophet when the Holy Priesthood was restored, and shared the restoration with him. It is certainly significant that the great manifestations in which John the Baptizer, and the apostles, Peter, James, and John, appeared to restore the Holy Priesthood, did not happen to Joseph Smith alone. A mere impostor would undoubtedly have had them so occur. Oliver Cowdery also received the Aaronic Priesthood. He, too, was ordained an apostle. He became the second elder in the Church--almost a joint president with the Prophet himself. Although he became estranged from the Prophet, he remained true to his testimony; and at the last, he returned to the fold. Not a single important step in the progress of the Restoration was taken without corroborative testimony or the presence of witnesses.[L]

[Footnote L: Since these chapters were written, the following invaluable testimony has appeared in the _Improvement Era_, for March, 1912. The testimony was written by Jacob F. Gates, of Salt Lake City, whose father, Jacob Gates, was in his day a member of the First Council of Seventy:

"My father, Jacob Gates, while on his way to England, in 1849, stopped at the town of Richmond, where lived at that time Oliver Cowdery. Hearing that Oliver was in poor health, and wishing to renew old acquaintance as they had been friends in earlier days, father called on him at his home. Their conversation, during the visit drifted to early Church history, and to their mutual experiences during the troublous times in Missouri and Illinois. Finally father put this question to him: 'Oliver,' said he, 'I want you to tell me the whole truth about your testimony concerning the Book of Mormon--the testimony sent forth to the world over your signature and found in the front of that book. Was your testimony based on a dream, was it the imagination of your mind, was it an illusion, a myth--tell me truthfully?'

"To question him thus seemed to touch Oliver very deeply. He answered not a word, but arose from his easy chair, went to the book case, took down a Book of Mormon of the first edition, turned to the testimony of the Three Witnesses, and read in the most solemn manner the words to which he had subscribed his name, nearly twenty years before. Facing my father, he said: 'Jacob, I want you to remember what I say to you. I am a dying man, and what would it profit me to tell you a lie? I know,' said he, 'that this Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God. My eyes saw, my ears heard, and my understanding was touched, and I know that whereof I testified is true. It was no dream, no vain imagination of the mind--it was real.'

"Then father asked him about the angel under whose hands he received the Priesthood, to which he made answer thus: 'Jacob, I felt the hand of the angel on my head as plainly as I could feel yours, and could hear his voice as I now hear yours.'