A Grandfather's Prediction

;

A Grandfather's Prediction By Joseph Smith Fish

Among the snow-clad hills which rise above the Canadian boundary, in the state of New York, is today a lone and simple grave of a meek and humble man. The winds and the storms of eighty-six winters have defaced the mound, and the ravages of time have beaten bare the tombstone which once bore his name. But there, under the sod and dew, rest the mortal remains of an aged patriarch who, in the course of his life, made the wonderful prediction that out of his posterity would arise one who would be sent of God to bring joy and peace to the souls of men whose mission would be to bring new light and truth into a night of darkness; and who would revolutionize the world of religious thought. This old man lived and hoped and died, and was gathered to his fathers. But let us see if his prediction has come true. The days came and went; the years rolled on, and with them brought the dawning of a new century whose golden morn

;

208 IMPROVEMENT ERA

was to bring the birth of one whose name is now spoken of throughout the earth for evil and for good. It is now almost a hundred years since that flaxen-haired youth kneeled beneath the skies and asked the living God, who rules beyond the stars, for the light of truth to guide him on hi< way. And what has the world received as the direct result of one humble prayer? It has received the joyful message that Christ lives today as truly as he did nineteen hundred years ago. It has received the sublime truth that the faith of a little child is strong enough to push open the gates of heaven, though locked for seventeen centuries by the chains of ignorance and doubt. It has received the sweet assurance that the soul that calls to God for help will receive an aswer to his wailing cry. It has been taught the simple lesson that prayer is the key to the universe; that divine trust conquers all things; that faith is the connecting link between God and man. It has received the added strength of another witness that Jesus is the Christ. For ever since the Son of Righteousness has arisen with healing in his soul, and with a crown of glory on his head, he has stood on trial. The world has doubted and argued; it has debated and contended; but it has refused to believe. Only one-third of the world has yet accepted his name and many of those who have, give honor only with their lips, but in their hearts, deny his power. In the broad, eternal courts of justice, before the great jury of all men everywhere, what can be a stronger evidence of the divinity of Him who was the servant of all, or a more convincing proof that the Bible is indeed the word of the Lord, than the sacred testimony of this great Latter-day witness for God? Or what better answer can be found to silence the doctrine of higher criticism; the unbelief of the Christian clergy; the cold creeds and dogmas which deny a real answer to prayer, than the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. This was the great mission of Joseph Smith to give to the world a true knowledge of God; this is the true object of the Nephite Record, to add yet another testimony before the eternal bar of judgment. On the very fly leaf of its translation, we read these words : "A record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites; written to the Lamanites and also to Jew and Gentile to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations." Have we ever stopped to think of the real purpose of this book, and why it was written to Jew, to Gentile, and to the Lamanites, but mentions only the convincing of Jew and Gentile? It is because the Lamanites have never rejected the Messiah as have the Jews; neither have they, like the Gentile Christians,

A GRANDFATHER'S PREDICTION 209

been infected with the doctrine of higher criticism which denies His divinity. But they know the Shepherd's voice. They accept the book; for their story is truth. And their story and their acceptance become yet another witness. For that story the boy Prophet gave his life. And what of the testimony which shines through the story of its latter-day followers and devotees, who have lived that story by a hundred campfires on the plains; who have heard that story through the cries of its martyrs; who have written that story in blood and tears? And, again, in accordance with that grandfather's prediction, the world has received the answer to the question, "What is the object of life?" By that answer we know that this life is but one stage of our eternal existence; that it is only a school of experience, an opportunity for graduation, so as to enter a higher life, a standing examination test which marks our starting place in that greater school beyond the skies. By that answer we know that the poet who dies in the very flower of his strength will have all eternity in which to write hie epic. By that answer we know that the gifted Mozart, who was stricken down in the fair bloom of his young manhood, will have years and years to compose his masterpiece. By that answer we know that the soul of Sir Isaac Newton is today gathering new shells of truth and knowledge, as he sails onward and onward across the boundless ocean of time. By that answer we know that the spirit of Abraham Lincoln might be at this very moment uttering grander thoughts than are found even in his immortal address at Gettysburg, and the hand that freed a nation's slaves may also lift the yoke of bondage from millions of his fellow spirits. By that answer we know of the sacredness and the eternity of the family relation. By that answer we know of the glory of womanhood, whose place is side by side with man, and we have that sweet, comforting thought that we also have a Mother in heaven. By that answer we know that there will be eternal progression beyond the stars, and that somewhere, sometime, we may become something worthy to be called divine. The world has never before produced so grand a thought of life. It can produce none grander. And yet again, and according to that wonderful prophecy, the world has received the faith of the ancient Saints. It has had restored the gospel of Christ, it has been given a plan which enables people of all nations to dwell here together in brotherhood and peace: and a plan which, if followed, will develop