48. 15-20 Jacob's blessings on the sons of Joseph. 49 1 Jacob called his sons together to bless them. 22-24 Joseph a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall; * * * from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. Book of Mormon. 1 _Nephi_ 5. 5 I have attained a land of promise. 2 _Nephi_ 1. 31, 32 the seed of Zoram to be blessed with the seed of Nephi. 3. 3 Lehi promised Joseph that his seed should not be utterly destroyed. 25. 5 a righteous branch to be raised up from the loins of Joseph. 24 a mighty man to be raised up among the seed of Joseph the son of Lehi. 4. 9 the blessing of the children of Laman left on the children of Lemuel. _Ether_ 1. 43 none greater than the nation I will make of thee. 2. 7, 15 but they shall come forth to a land of promise choice above all other lands. Pearl of Great Price. _Page_ 26. Abraham sought for the blessings of the fathers, and obtained his right to the office of high priest, which came down to him through the fathers from Adam. _See sermon by P. P. Pratt, J. of D., Vol. 1. page 256_. " _J. Smith, " " 6, " 237_. " _B. Young, " " 9, " 86, at Mill Creek_. " _B. Young, " " 9, " 279_. " _B. Young, Des. News, " 11, " 68_. " _B. Young, Des. Eve. News, June 2, 1877, at Logan_. " _B. Young, Mil. Star, Vol. 15, page 493_. _Article, Mil. Star, Vol. 4, page 1_. " " " _15, page 486_. " _J. A. Little, Mil. Star, Vol. 18, page 145_. " _Geo. Taylor, " " 19, page 796_. " _C. W. Penrose, " " 29, page 177_. _O. Spencer's Letters to Rev. Wm. Crowel, No. 9_. _A pamphlet, Items on Priesthood, by John Taylor_. _A Pamphlet, Succession in the Priesthood, by John Taylor_. _History of J. Smith, June 1829_. " " _April 13, 1833_. " " _May 2, 1835_. " " _July 2, 1839_. " " _April 28, 1842_. " " _May 1, 1842_. CHRIST'S FIRST COMING. The oldest Bible prophecy, of the coming of Christ, is in Jacob's blessing on Judah: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come;" _Gen_. 49. 10. When Christ was born, the sceptre had not wholly departed from Judah, for Herod the king, who reigned at the time of his birth, was virtually king of Judea. Christ was condemned to be crucified by Pontius Pilate, a Roman governor. The Shiloh had come and the sceptre had entirely departed, for Judah was under Gentile rule. The records of three dispensations assert that Christ came to his own, and they did not receive him; _John_ 1. 11. 3 _Nephi_ 9. 16. _Doc. & Cov_. 6. 21. He came to his own covenant people, the house of Israel, and, though they still retained most of the forms of the Mosaic ritual, they had apostatized from the faith of their fathers, had drank deep into pagan philosophy, had become wicked and corrupt, and, when the Shiloh came, they new him not, rejected him, and were the means of his death.