| 503 more than a century and a half ago; and it plainly indicates, that the light, which ought always to shine on the pages of revelation, had not then entirely disappeared. Hear him upon the 18th chapter of Genesis.
"'And the Lord,' Jehovah, 'appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre; as he sat in the tent-door in the heat of the day, and lift up his eyes and looked, and lo, three men stood before him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground; and said, my Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant.' His first address was made to one of the three, who seemed to bear superior glory; afterward he invites them all to eat, and 'he took butter and milk,' ver. 8, 'and the calf which he had dressed, and set before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And he said, Sarah thy wife shall have a son:' at which tidings, when 'Sarah laughed within herself, the Lord,' or Jehovah, 'said unto Abraham, wherefore did Sarah laugh?' ver. 13. 'Is any thing too hard for the Lord,' or Jehovah? Now I think it is evident that one of these three men was expressly called Jehovah: two of them went on toward Sodom, but he that is called Jehovah seemed to stay behind; ver. 16, 17, and 22, 'the men,' i.e. the two men, 'turned their faces from thence, and went towards Sodom, but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah.' And a long dialogue there ensues between Abraham and the Lord, or Jehovah, about the sparing of Sodom, wherein Abraham addresses him as the true God, in ver. 33. 'The Lord,' Jehovah, 'went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.' And, Gen. xix;l. 'There came two angels to Sodom at even,' which most probably were the two men which left Abraham while Jehovah tarried and talked with him.-Now it is evident in the conversation, that neither of these two angels assumed the name of Jehovah; for, ver. 13; they say, 'the cry of the men of Sodom is waxen great before the face of the Lord,' i. e. Jehovah, 'and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it.' This narrative gives us a plain account of the great God appearing to Abraham, and conversing with him in the form of a man; for it is said, He 'appeared to Abraham,' or was seen of him, talked with him,' and 'went up from him.'
This is certainly very fair for a person without the priesthood. If he had just added that the Lord and the angels dined with Abraham upon the fatted calf, he might richly have merited the epithet of Mormon. As it is, his views of Jesus Christ, must be a rather heavy stumbling block to the divine clergy of this century; they believe in such a nondescript "God without body parts or passions." I shall examine the Doctor's writings further, and perhaps I shall discover some more fragments of Mormonism. NOT THE PROPHET S. T. P.
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
MONDAY, APRIL 15,1844
FOR PRESIDENT,
GEN. JOSEPH SMITH,
NAUVOO, ILLINOIS.
DISSERTATION UPON CHRIST'S PARABLE OF THE LABORERS AND THE VINEYARD.
(SEE MAT. 20th CHAP.)
(Continued.)
In our last, we settled the question relative to the terms "laborers," "vineyard," and 'hour;" and spoke of the manner in which Noah, Lot, and Abraham were called to perform the works of the Lord; and we will now continue the subject in its proper order down to the present time.
The circumstances, in which the Israelites were placed at the time Moses was called to do the majestic work of God, which his future history unfolds to our views, is well known to every biblical student; therefore, it would be superfluous to attempt to give a full detail of them; but it is sufficient to say, that the time had arrived for the Lord to deliver the progeny of Jacob, from the hands of their oppressors, and reinstate them upon the land of their fathers, and there establish them as an independent nation by themselves. Moses was called to superintend this work, as far as was in the power of man so to do, by revelation through the agency of an angel, and by the voice of God. Aaron was also called by revelation, and consecrated to the priest's office by the imposition of the hands of Moses. See Exo: iv;27.-Du. xxviii; 41.
All will admit that Moses received many revelations which were adapted to the work that the Lord had to accomplish in this age of the world. An ark would have effected nothing towards the deliverance of the house of Israel: the reason is obvious; they were not to be saved from a universal and overwhelming flood; but to be delivered from Egyptian bondage,
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