An Acceptable Offering.--Moses represents the Melchizedek Priesthood; Aaron the Aaronic; and "whose is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods . . . . and the magnifying of their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron, and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom and the elect of God." [12] Moses and Aaron were sons of Levi, and their sons are to offer "an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the House of the Lord," which shall be built "upon the consecrated spot" "in this generation." Such is the divine promise. Footnotes 1. Numbers 12:3. 2. Psalms 16:10. 3. The observance thus described suggests Latter-day conditions, when, like the plagues sent upon Egypt, terrible judgments are to be poured out upon the wicked, so suddenly and so overwhelmingly that even "the righteous will scarcely escape," and when the Lord, in order to save some, will "cut short his work in righteousness." 4. Gen. 25:1, 2; 1 Chr. 1:32 1 Chr. 1:32. 5. D. and C. 84:6. 6. Ex. 28:1-3. 7. Aaron, Nadab and Abihu were probably Elders acting as Priests. Such an inference is warranted by the fact that they, with Moses and seventy of the Elders of Israel, "saw the God of Israel" (Ex. 24:9, 10); which they could not have done with safety had they held only the Aaronic Priesthood (D. and C. 84:22). 8. D. and C. 84:19-22. 9. Ib., vv. 23-25. 10. Ib. 84:26-28. 11. Ib. 13. 12. Ib. 84:31-34. ARTICLE NINETEEN. To the Ends of the Earth. Calamity's Compensations.--The compensations of calamity are apparent in some of the mightiest events that history chronicles. The Fall of Man, though it brought death into the world, proved the means of peopling a planet in accordance with the Creator's design. The Crucifixion of Christ, an overwhelming calamity to His terror-stricken disciples, who were disconsolate until they looked upon the tragedy in its true light, made effectual the predestined plan for man's salvation. The Dispersion of Israel, that heavy stroke and burden of affliction under which God's people have groaned for ages, has been overruled to subserve the divine purpose, fulfilling in part the ancient promise to the Hebrew Patriarchs, that in their seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. A Martyred Nation.--The history of the house of Israel is the history of a martyred nation, suffering for the welfare of other nations--whatever may be said of the immediate cause of their woes, the transgressions that justified the Shepherd in bringing upon his sheep troubles that were doubtless among the "offenses" that "must needs come." Adam fell that man might be; Christ died to burst the bands of death; and the chosen people were scattered over the world, in order that Gospel truth, following the red track of their martyrdom, might make its way more readily among the peoples with whom they were mingled.