The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTalmage, James E. (James Edward)
Religion
The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Talmage, James E. (James Edward)
Latter Day Saint churches; Latter Day Saints
The record made by that division of the house of Israel which took its
departure from Jerusalem, and made its way to the Western Hemisphere
about 600 B. C., contains many references to the dispersions that had
already taken place, and to the continuation of the scattering which
was to the writers of the Book of Mormon yet future. In the course of
the journey to the coast, the prophet Lehi, while encamped with his
family and other followers in the valley of Lemuel on the borders of
the Red Sea, declared what he had learned by revelation of the future
"dwindling of the Jews in unbelief," of their crucifying the Messiah,
and of their scattering "upon all the face of the earth." He compared
Israel to an olive tree, the branches of which were to be broken off
and distributed; and he recognized the exodus of his colony, and their
journeying afar, as an incident in the general plan of dispersion.
Nephi, the son of Lehi, also beheld in vision the scattering of the
covenant people of God, and on this point added his testimony to that
of his prophet-father. He saw also that the seed of his brethren,
subsequently known as the Lamanites, were to be chastened for their
unbelief, and that they were destined to become subject to the
Gentiles, and to be scattered before them. Down the prophetic vista of
years, he saw also the bringing forth of sacred records, other than
those then known, "unto the convincing of the Gentiles, and the remnant
of the seed of my brethren, and also the Jews who were scattered upon
all the face of the earth."
After their arrival on the promised land, the colony led by Lehi
received further information regarding the dispersion of Israel. The
prophet Zenos, quoted by Nephi, had predicted the unbelief of the house
of Israel, in consequence of which these covenant ones of God were to
"wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a by-word, and
be hated among all nations."
The brothers of Nephi, skeptical in regard to these teachings, asked
whether the things of which he spake were to come to pass in a
spiritual sense, or more literally; and were informed that "the house
of Israel, sooner or later, will be scattered upon all the face of
the earth, and also among all nations"; and further, in reference to
dispersions then already accomplished, that "the more part of all the
tribes have been led away; and they are scattered to and fro upon the
isles of the sea"; and then, by way of prediction concerning further
division and separation, Nephi adds that the Gentiles shall be given
power over the people of Israel, "and by them shall our seed be
scattered."
The day of deliverance for Israel is near at hand; the restoration of
the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and of the remnants of all the tribes
distributed throughout the earth, as well as bringing forth from their
long exile the tribes that have been lost, are particularly specified
as events of the current dispensation, directly precedent to the second
advent of the Christ.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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