A Voice of Warning by Parley P. Pratt (read aloud books .txt) 📕

unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." From the last verse of this quotation we learn to our astonishment that this sum of awful wickedness applies to professors of religion ONLY; that is, this would be the character of the (so called) Christian part of the community in the last days. Do not startle, kind reader; we do not make the application without proof positive to the point, for, remember, non-professors have no form of godliness, but those ungodly characters spoken of were to have a form of godliness, denying the power thereof. But, if you doubt Paul's testimony on the subject, look around you, examine for yourselves. "By their fruits ye shall know them." My heart is pained while I write. Alas, has it come to this; has the Spirit of Truth removed the veil of obscurity from the last days, only to present us with the vision of a fallen people; an apostate church, full of all manner of abominations, and even despising those who are good; while they themselves have nothing left but the form of godliness, denying the power of God; that is, setting aside the direct inspiration and supernatural gifts of the Spirit, which ever characterize the Church of Christ? Was it for this only that the Holy Spirit opened to the view of holy men the events of unborn time, enabling them to gaze upon the opening glories of the latter days? O ye Prophets and Apostles, ye holy men of old, what have you done if you stop here; if your prophetic vision only extended down the stream of time to the present year? Alas! you have filled our minds with sorrow and despair: the Jews you have left wandering in sorrow and darkness, far from all their hearts hold most dear on earth; their land a desolation, their city and temple in ruins, and they, without the knowledge of the true Messiah. The Gentiles, after partaking of the root and fatness of the tame olive tree, having fallen, after the same example of unbelief, are left without fruit, dead, plucked up by the roots, with naught but a form of godliness; while the powers that characterized the ancient church have fled from among men. Is this the consummation of all your labors? Was it for this you searched, toiled, bled, and died? I pause for a reply; if you have a word of comfort yet in store, concerning the future, let it quickly speak, lest our souls should linger in the dark valley of sorrow and despair! CHAPTER II. ON THE FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY YET FUTURE.

What is Prophecy but History reversed?

Having made the discovery and produced sufficient proof that the prophecies, thus far, have been LITERALLY fulfilled—to the very letter—we hope the reader will never lose sight of the same rule with regard to those yet future. And, while we stand upon the threshold of futurity, with the wonders of unborn time about to open upon our view, presenting before our astonished vision the most mighty and majestic scenes, the most astonishing revolutions, the most extraordinary destructions, as well as the most miraculous displays of the power and majesty of Jehovah, in His great restoration of His long dispersed covenant people from the four quarters of the earth: I say, as these scenes are about to open to our view, let us bow before the great I AM, in the name of Jesus, and pray in faith for His Spirit to enlarge our hearts and enlighten our minds, that we may understand and believe all that is written, however miraculous it may be. But, O! kind reader, whoever you are, if you are not prepared for persecution, if you are unprepared to have your name cast out as evil, if you cannot bear to be called a knave, an impostor, or madman, or one that hath a devil; or if you are bound by the creeds of men to believe just so much and no more, you had better stop here; for if you were to believe the things written in the Bible that are yet to come, you will be under the necessity of believing miracles, signs and wonders, revelations, and manifestations of the power of God, even beyond anything that any former generation has witnessed; yes, you will believe that the waters will be divided and Israel go through dryshod, as they journey to their own land, as they did in the days of Moses; for no man ever yet believed the Bible without believing and expecting such glorious events in the latter days. And I will now venture to say that a believer in the Bible would be something that very few men have ever seen in this generation, with all its boasted religion: for there is a great difference between believing the book to be true when shut, and believing the things therein written. It is now considered in Christendom a great disgrace not to believe the Bible when shut: but whosoever tries the experiment will find it a greater disgrace to believe that the things therein written will surely come to pass. Indeed, it is our firm belief in the things written in the Bible, and careful teaching of them, that is one great cause of the persecution we suffer. For let the prophecies be understood by the people, and let them roll on in their fulfilment, and this will blow to the four winds every religious craft in Christendom, and cause the kingdom of Christ to rise upon their ruins, while the actual knowledge of the truth will cover the earth as the waters do the sea.

Having said so much by way of caution, if there are any of my readers so bold, and regardless of consequences, as to dare with me to gaze upon the future, we will commence with Isaiah xi, 11, 12, 15, 16: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."

Here you behold an ensign to be reared for the nations; not only for the dispersed of Judah, but the outcasts of Israel. The Jews are called dispersed, because they are scattered among the nations; but the ten tribes are called outcasts, because they are cast out from the knowledge of the nations, into a land by themselves. Now, the reader will bear in mind that the ten tribes have not dwelt in the land of Canaan since they were led captive by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria. We have also presented before us, in the fifteenth verse, the marvelous power of God, which will be displayed in the destruction of a small branch of the Red Sea, called the tongue of the Egyptian Sea; and also the dividing of the seven streams of some river, and causing men to go over dryshod; and, lest any should not understand it literally, the fifteenth verse says: "There shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, like as it was to Israel when he came up out of the land of Egypt." Now, we have only to ask whether, in the days of Moses, the Red Sea was literally divided, or whether it was only a figure? For as it was then so shall it be again. And yet we are told by modern divines that the days of miracles have gone forever; and those who believe in miracles, in our day, are counted as impostors, or, at least, poor ignorant fanatics, and the public are warned against them, as false teachers who would, if possible, deceive the very elect. On the subject of this restoration the Prophets have spoken so fully and repeatedly, that we can only notice a few of the most striking instances, which will go to show the particular circumstances and incidents attending it, and the manner and means of its accomplishment. The sixteenth chapter of Jeremiah, fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth verses, says: "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." Now it has ever been the case with Israel, when they wished to express the greatness of their God, to say, The Lord liveth, which brought up our fathers out of the land of Egypt. This saying at once called to mind the power and miracles of that memorable event, and associated with it all that was great and grand, and was calculated to strike the mind with awe, under a lively sense of the power of Israel's God. But, to our astonishment, something is yet to transpire which will cast into momentary forgetfulness all the great events of that day, and the children of Israel shall know that their God liveth, by casting their minds upon events of recent date, which shall have transpired, still more glorious and wonderful than their coming out of Egypt. They will exclaim, The Lord liveth, which recently brought the children of Israel from the north, and from all lands whither He had driven them, and hath planted them in the land of Canaan, which He gave our fathers. With this idea will be associated every display of grandeur and sublimity, of wonder and amazement; while they call to mind the revelations, manifestations, miracles and mercies displayed in bringing about this great event, in the eyes of all the nations. In view of this, Jeremiah exclaims, in the last verse of this chapter: "Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is the Lord."

But the means made use of to bring about this glorious event are, not only the raising of a standard, the lifting up of an ensign, so that we may know when the time is fulfilled, but fishers and hunters are to be employed to fish and hunt them from every mountain, from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. Let the reader mark here: men were not to send missionaries, who were not inspired, to go and teach Israel several hundred different doctrines, and opinions of men, and to tell them they supposed the time had about arrived for them to gather; but the God of heaven is to call men by actual revelation, direct from heaven, and to tell them who Israel is; who the Indians of America are, if they should be of Israel; and also where the ten tribes are, and all the scattered remnants of that long lost people. He it is who is to give them their errand and mission, and to clothe them with power from on high to execute the great work, in defiance of opposing elements, and all the opposition of earth and hell combined. But do you ask: "Why is the Lord to commission men by actual revelation?" I reply, because He has no other way of sending men in any age. "No man," says the Apostle, "taketh this honor upon himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." Now, we all acknowledge that Aaron was called by revelation.

Now the great Jehovah never did, nor never will, acknowledge the priesthood or ministry of any man who