The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old WestWilson, Harry Leon
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The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old West
Wilson, Harry Leon
Historical fiction; Latter Day Saint pioneers -- Fiction; Western stories
In the valley of which Amalon was the centre, they made ready for the
end of the world. It is true that in the north, as the appointed year
drew nigh, an opinion had begun to prevail that the Son of Man might
defer his coming; and presently it became known that Brigham himself
was doubtful about the year 1870, and was inspiring others to doubt.
But in Amalon they were untainted by this heresy, choosing to rely upon
what Brigham had said in moments more inspired.
He had taught that Joseph was to be the first person resurrected; that
after his frame had been knit together and clothed with immortal flesh
he would resurrect those who had died in the faith, according to their
rank in the priesthood; then all his wives and children. Resurrected
Elders, having had the keys of the resurrection conferred upon them by
Joseph, would in turn call from the grave their own households; and
when the last of the faithful had come forth, another great work would
be performed; the Gentiles would then be resurrected to act as servants
and slaves to the Saints. In his lighter moments Brigham had been wont
to name a couple of Presidents of the United States who would then act
as his valets.
Some doubt had been expressed that the earth’s surface could contain
the resurrected host, but Apostle Orson Pratt had removed this. He
cited the prophet who had foretold that the hills should be laid low,
the valleys exalted, and the crooked places made straight. With the
earth thus free of mountains and waste places, he had demonstrated that
there would be an acre and a quarter of ground for each Saint that had
ever lived from the morning of creation to the day of doom. And, lest
some carping mathematician should dispute his figures, he had declared
that if, by any miscalculation, the earth’s surface should not suffice
for the Saints and their Gentile slaves, the Lord “would build a
gallery around the earth.” Thus had confusion been brought to the last
quibbler in Zion.
It was this earlier teaching that the faithful of Amalon clung to,
perhaps not a little by reason that immediately over them was a
spiritual guide who had been trained from infancy to know that
salvation lay in belief,—never in doubt. For a sign of the end they
believed that on the night before the day of it there would be no
darkness. This would be as it had been before the birth of the Saviour,
as told in the Book of Mormon: “At the going down of the sun there was
no darkness, and the people began to be astonished because there was no
darkness when the night came; and there was no darkness in all that
night, but it was as light as if it were midday.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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