Chapter XXXVII. Rejoicing at the Prophet's Deliverance

A Great Sermon. Setting up the Kingdom. The Oracles of Heaven. His Sacri- ,fice again Foretold.

The year 1843 was thus fairly and auspiciously opened to the saints by Joseph's release from the long and malignant persecution under which he and they had suffered; and their joy and gratitude found formal expression in a proclamation of thanksgiving, issued by the Twelve, under the hand of Brigham Young.

Returning at once to the themes of his mission, Joseph, on the 22d and the Sunday following, preached one of his most famous sermons. From among its novel and striking utterances we cull the following :

" Some say the kingdom of God was not set up until the day of Pentecost, and that John did not preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; but I say, in the name of the Lord, that the kingdom of God was set up on the earth from the days of Adam to the present time.

" Whenever there has been a righteous man on earth unto whom God revealed his word, and gave power and authority to administer in his name, and

where there is a priest of God, a minister who has power and authority from God to administer in the ordinances of the gospel and officiate in the priesthood of God, there is the kingdom of God ; and in consequence of rejecting the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the prophets whom God hath sent, the judgments of God have rested upon people, cities and nations, in various ages of the world, which was the case with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed for rejecting the prophets.

" Now I will give my testimony. I care not for man. I speak boldly and faithfully, and with authority. How is it with the kingdom of God? Where did the kingdom of God begin ? Where there is no kingdom of God there is no salvation. What constitutes the kingdom Gf God? Where there is a prophet, a priest, or a righteous man, unto whom God gives his oracles, there is the kingdom of God. And where the oracles of God are not, there the kingdom of God is not. * * *

"The plea of many in this day is, that we have no right to receive revelations ; but if we do not get revelations we do not have the oracles of God ; and if they have not the oracles of God they are not the people of God. But say you, what will become of the world, or of the various professors of religion who do not believe in revelation and the oracles of God as continued to his church in all ages of the world, when he has a people on earth ? I tell you, in the name of Jesus Christ, they will be damned ; and when you get into the eternal world you will find it is so : they cannot escape the damnation of hell.

"As touching the gospel and baptism that John preached, I would say that John came preaching the gospel for the remission of sins. He had his authority from God, and the oracles of God were with him, and the kingdom of God for a season seemed to rest with John alone. * *

"There is a difference between the kingdom of God and the fruits and blessings that flow from that kingdom, because there were more miracles, gifts, visions, healings, tongues, &c, in the days of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and on the day of Pentecost, than under John's administration. It does not prove by any means that John had not the kingdom of God any more than it would that a woman had not a milk-pan because she had not a pan of milk, for while the pan might be compared to the kingdom, the milk might be compared to the blessings of the kingdom.

"John was a priest after the order of Aaron, and had the. keys of that priesthood, and came forth preaching repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, but at the same time cries out, 'There cometh one after me more mighty than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.' And Christ came according to the words of John, and he was greater than John, because he held the keys of the Melchisedek priesthood and kingdom of God, and had before revealed the priesthood to Moses ; yet Christ was baptized by John to fulfill all righteousness ; and Jesus in his teachings says, ' Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' What rock? Revelation ! * * *

"John, at that time, was the only legal administrator in the affairs of the kingdom there was then on the earth and holding the keys of power. The Jews had to obey his instructions or be damned by their own law, and Christ himself fulfilled all righteousness in becoming obedient to the law which he had given to Moses on the Mount, and thereby magnified it and made it honorable, instead of destroying it. The son of Zachariah wrested the keys, the glory, the kingdom, the power from the Jews, by the holy anointing and decree of heaven. * *

" I know what I say; I understand my mission ; * * God Almighty is my shield ; * * I shall not be sacrificed until my time comes ; then I shall be offered freely ! "

The passages quoted are eminently suggestive. Notably this: " Where there is a prophet, a priest, or a righteous man, unto whom God gives his oracles, there is the kingdom of God ; and where the oracles of God are not, there the kingdom of God is not!" In fact, the very alpha and omega of Joseph's teachings to his disciples signified that it was present communion with heaven that constituted the kingdom of God, or the church of Christ. The oracles of heaven cannot be silent. They are given to earth that man may have speech with heaven. Does not Joseph's own history sufficiently illustrate this ? Joseph was the oracle of heaven, restored to earth ! Divine speech was in and through him ! When the heavens are silent there is no oracle ; "and where the oracles of God are not, there the kinofdom of God is not!"

And mark, his example is Israel, not Christendom.

The priesthood had continued from Aaron, but the oracles to the Jewish nation had been silent four hundred years, from Malachi to John the Baptist. Jehovah, through his angel Gabriel, had spoken to individuals, as instance Zachariah, and Joseph, and Elizabeth, and Mary; but not to the nation, for not until John had he an oracle through which to speak. "Then," says Joseph, who so well understoodwhat the living oracles meant, " the son of Zachariah wrested the keys, the kingdom, the power, the glory from the Jews, by the holy anointing and the decree of heaven."

Nor should we neglect to emphasize his personal revealing, in the declaration concerning his own sacrifice. How exact the parallel : " My time is not yet come," says Jesus; " I shall not be sacrificed until my time comes," says Joseph, but "then I shall be offered freely / "

This sermon is indeed worthy to live, both as a chapter of theology and as a revelation of the significant meaning of the living oracles, as touching the matter of God's kingdom on the earth. And its significance appeals not only to Gentile Christians, but to Israel of the latter days.