Part 13 (2/2)
”The next morning,” says he, ”I started for Preston where I found that I was anxiously expected by the brethren, who had received a letter from Brother Richards, and one from Brother Russell, giving an account of their proceedings since they left Preston. There was also a letter from my wife, which contained many precious items of news from Kirtland. Elder Hyde praised the Lord on seeing me. Brother Goodson had likewise returned from Bedford, where he and Brother Richards had labored; he gave us an account of their mission and success in raising up a little branch of nineteen.”
Another of Heber's prophecies--one of those seemingly casual though fateful utterances for which he was famous--must here be mentioned.
”Willard, I baptized your wife to-day,” were his words addressed to Elder Richards just after Jennetta Richards joined the Church. Willard and Jennetta had not yet seen each other. The sequel is in Willard's own words, taken from his diary. Time: March, 1838:
”I took a tour through the branches, and preached. While walking in Thornly I plucked a snowdrop, far through the hedge, and carried it to James Mercer's and hung it up in his kitchen. Soon after, Jennetta Richards came into the room, and I walked with her and Alice Parker to Ribchester, and attended meeting with Brothers Kimball and Hyde at Brother Clark's.
”While walking with these sisters, I remarked, 'Richards is a good name; I never want to change it; do you, Jennetta.' 'No; I do not,'
was her reply, 'and I think I never will.'”
”Sept. 24th, 1839, I married Jennetta Richards, daughter of the Rev.
John Richards, independent minister at Walkerfold, Chaigley, Lancas.h.i.+re. Most truly do I praise my Heavenly Father for His great kindness in providing me a partner according to His promise. I receive her from the Lord, and hold her at His disposal. I pray that He may bless us forever. Amen!”
CHAPTER XX.
THE MISSION OF ELIAS--THE SYMBOLISM OF THE UNIVERSE--THE PAST PREPARATORY TO THE PRESENT AND FUTURE--THE WAY PREPARED FOR THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL--THE ”LESSER LIGHTS” OF ENGLAND--FIELDING, MATTHEWS AND AITKEN--THE STARS PALING BEFORE THE SUN.
The mission of Elias is the mission of preparation, the lesser going before the greater, opening up the way. The day-star heralding the dawn. The wedge of truth piercing the wall of prejudice, cleaving the ranks of error, creating the gap through which shall ride on victory's flaming wheels, the chariot of Righteousness.
”Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.”
What Christ is to the Father, Elias is to the Son; messenger and symbol of His Majesty. And hath not Elias also his fore-runner? The mantle of Elias falls on many shoulders; the shadow of that mantle on many more.
Life, the universe, is one vast symbolism. Earth fore-shadows heaven.
The stars, the worlds on high, are of higher worlds typical; a climax of constellations, a ladder of light, a burning stairway of immortal glories.
”System on system, countless worlds and suns, Linked in division, one yet separate, The silver islands of a sapphire sea, Sh.o.r.eless, unfathomed, undiminished, stirred With waves which roll in restless tides of change.”
Planet above planet, step by step, l.u.s.tre upon l.u.s.tre ”until thou come nigh to Kolob;” Kolob, lord of light, king of kokaubeam, nearest unto the throne of G.o.d.
And shall it not be seen when all history is written, on earth as in heaven, where it exists as a prophecy; when all secrets are revealed and hidden things made known; that Time with all its ages is a chain, a climax, an ascending scale of dispensations, merging in each other, and all into one, like rills and rivers mingling with the ocean; that men and nations from the beginning have carved out the way for other men and nations; that human lives and human events, like sections of machinery turned by the enginery of Omnipotence, have fitted into and impelled each other, under the controlling, guiding master mind and hand that ”doeth all things well?”
Was not the past all preparatory to the present? Does not the present foreshadow the future? Are not influences at work, even now; doctrines being taught, truths put forth by pulpit, play and press; discoveries made in art and science; antiquities unveiled and mysteries brought to light, that are surely paving the way for the revelations of Jesus Christ, past, present and to come? Is not the knowledge now possessed by the Saints, glorious though it be, but a foretaste, the antepast of a greater feast of knowledge yet to follow?
The mission of Elias is the mission of preparation, the lesser going before the greater, opening up the way.
The mantle of Elias falls on many shoulders; the shadow of that mantle on many more.
In America, it was Sidney Rigdon, Alexander Campbell and other orators and divines, who prepared the way before Joseph Smith and the fullness of the everlasting gospel. In England, the Fieldings, the Matthews, the Aitkens and other lights, shed the l.u.s.tre of advanced thought over the path-way soon to be brightened by the beams of eternal truth.
Receiving not the light themselves, they nevertheless bore witness of its approach, and unknowingly made ready the minds of many for its acceptance. The more l.u.s.trously they shone, the greater their measure of power, the higher, wider, deeper, more advanced and more liberal their doctrines, the nearer they approximated, although they knew it not, to what the world terms ”Mormonism,” what men in other ages called ”Christianism,” but what the G.o.ds in eternity have glorified as the Gospel of life and salvation.
This preparatory work, like the work which was to follow, was both spiritual and temporal. In America, the sword of a Was.h.i.+ngton, the pen of a Jefferson had carved out the legend of liberty, ”All men are equal,” ere the Gospel trump was heard again proclaiming, to high and low, rich and poor, ”Peace on earth, good will to men.” In England, Victoria had ascended the throne, and the spirit of reform, in church and state, was rolling, a billow of victory, over the land. Society was moved to its center. Old inst.i.tutions were crumbling. The iconoclast was abroad. Steam and electricity had begun their miracles; science was exploding superst.i.tion; tyrant's thrones were tottering; Liberty's upheaval in the west had shaken the very pillars of the east; the ”former things” were pa.s.sing away; He that ”sat upon the throne” was making ”all things new.”
Thus had G.o.d prepared the way for the advent of the everlasting Gospel.
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