A New Witness for God (Volume 1 of 3)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
A New Witness for God (Volume 1 of 3)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
When the work reached that stage of development that men could be
taught repentance, and receive baptism for the remission of sins,
who so qualified or who with more propriety could be sent to deliver
the keys of the priesthood that is especially appointed to cry
repentance and administer baptism than _the_ teacher of repentance
and _the_ Baptist? Or, when the time came for the restoration of the
apostleship, who could restore it save those who last held the keys
of it on earth--Peter, James and John? Who so fit to restore the
keys of the gathering of Israel and leading the ten tribes back from
the north as Moses, the great prophet of Israel? Who so fitting to
restore the keys of the priesthood which should turn the hearts of
the fathers and children towards each other as Elijah, of whom it was
prophesied that he would do that work? [5] Thus throughout there was
a fitness in the development of the great work of God in the last
days--an appropriateness to be observed in the personages employed to
restore the keys of authority which opened up the several departments
of the great dispensation. And it is to be observed, too, that this
fitness of things as here pointed out was not the result of working
to a well-matured plan in the mind of Joseph Smith; he was too young
and too inexperienced to preconceive it all and then set himself at
work to unfold it in such beautiful order. It was of course working
to a well-matured plan, but the plan existed in the mind of God; and
it was given to Joseph Smith piece-meal--incident following incident
without an apparent suspicion in his mind that each incident was a step
in the progress of the mighty march of events matured in the mind of
God--each key of authority, or part of the gospel but a fragment of a
mighty and consistent whole that God was unfolding. The consistency and
appropriateness of the development Joseph Smith never spoke of; it was
left for others to note these things after the work was well advanced
in the course of its development. The Prophet received the messengers
God sent to him, and under their instruction proceeded with the
unfoldment of the purposes of the Lord, and left it to others to admire
the work and note the evidences of God's directing hand in the order of
the events and the appropriateness of the parties entrusted with the
introduction of the various departments of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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