| 627 commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen, what possible reason is there to suppose that he would neglect to do likewise now-before he comes in his glory; before he gathers his elect, (the house of Israel; see Isaiah, 45:4;) and even before John the revelator must prophesy again before my peoples, and nations and tongues, and kings? (see Rev. 10.) We know of no reason in the Bible. That it comes as a harbinger of peace and good will to them that serve the Lord with a determination to have a part in the first resurrection, and finally become kings and priests to God, the Father, in the celestial Kingdom, where God and Christ is, and where they will be for eternity; and where will be also, the general assembly of the first born, the church of Enoch, who walked with God and built up Zion and Enoch the Lord translated to paradise before the flood; but Isaiah says: Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring AGAIN ZION. that it comes according to the will of God. From those who are not ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, and walk lowly in the valley of humiliation, and let the solemnities of eternity rest upon them: knowing that the great day of the Lord will soon usher in the sabbath of creation, for the rest of the saints: that the Savior may reign his thousand years of peace upon the earth, while satan is bound. That it comes in meekness and mercy to all mankind that they may do works meet for repentance and be saved in the first resurrection, and afterwards dwell with the spirits of just men made perfect in the celestial kingdom, which transends [transcends] the glory of the terrestrial as much as the terrestrial transends [transcends] the telestial, or the telestial transcends the prison of the imperfect. That it comes to bring good tidings of great joy to all people, but more especially the honse [house] of Israel scattered abroad, that the day of their redemption is near, for the Lord hath set his hand again the second time to restore them to the land of their inheritance; ready to receive the Savior in the clouds of heaven. That it comes to show that the ensign is now set up, unto which all nations shall come, and worship the Lord, the God of Jacob, acceptably. That it comes when war, and the plague of pestilence, as it is called, are sweeping their thousands and tens of thousands, to show that the day of tribulation spoken of by our Savior, are nigh at hand, even at the doors. That it comes to repeat the great caution of Paul: Beware lest any spoil you, (the disciples of Christ,) through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men and the rudiments of the world. That it comes to prepare the way of the Lord, that when he comes he may have a holy people ready to receive him. That it comes to show that no man can be too good to be saved, but that many may be too bad. That it comes to declare that goodness consists in doing good, not merely preaching it. That it comes to show that all men's religion is vain without charity. That it comes to open the way for Zion to arise and put on her beautiful garments and become the glory of the earth, that her land may be joined, or married, (according to the known translation of Isaiah,) to Jerusalem again and they be one as they were in the days of Peleg. Thus it comes.
Man, being created but little below the angels, only wants to know for himself, and not by another, that, by obeying the commands of his creator, he can rise again, after death, in the flesh, and reign with Christ a thousand years on the earth, without sin; be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and become a king and a priest to God in eternity-to forsake his sins, and say: Lord I am thine! The first words of which we have account, that Jesus Christ spake concerning the things of eternal life, were: Suffer it to be so now: For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he was baptized: and truly, if it became the savior of the world, holy as he was, to be baptized in the meridian of time, to fulfill all righteousness, how much more necessary is it for man, to be baptized on the very eve of the Sabbath of creation, to be saved? Let the heart answer the head, that the body may save the soul. As this paper is devoted to the great concerns of eternal things and the gathering of the saints, it will leave politics, the gainsaying of the world, and many other matters, for their proper channels, endeavoring by all means to set an example before the world, which, when followed, will lead our fellow men to the gates of glory, where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary will find rest. There may be errors both in us and in the paper, we readily admit, and we mean to grow better, till, from little children, we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measures of the stature of the fullness of Christ, which we pray may be the happy lot of thousands, before he comes with the hundred forty and four thousand that are without guile.
W. W. PHELPS.
June, 1832."
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