Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 1/Number 8/Faith of the church

Faith of the Church.

Having seen what the gift of the Holy Spirit and its effects are, it is worthy of notice, that this gift was the thing which was promised by the Savior to those who would hear and obey the proclamation which he had sent into the world, and had authorized the apostles to proclaim to all the world, and that to the latest ages; even as long as the Lord shall call any of the human family to obey his commandments.—For when the apostle made the proclamation first at Jerusalem, he told them that the promise was to them and their children, and to all [not part] them that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

We shall descend to some particulars respecting this promise. It was said of those who received it, that they should dream dreams, see visions, and prophesy; speak with other tongues, and interpret tongues, &c. &c. Let us ask, what are we to understand by seeing visions? This question can only be answered by having recourse to the revelations of God, and there see what the former day saints saw when they saw visions; for if we can ascertain what they saw when they saw visions, we will know what the "Latter Day Saints" must see if they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, as promised in the gospel.

In the 6th chapter of Isaiah's prophecy, 1, 2, 3, & 4th verses, he gives us an account of a vision which he had in the year that king UZZIAH died: I saw also the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings: with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

In this vision the prophet both saw and heard: he saw the Lord, as well as those who attended him; and beyond all controversy must have obtained great knowledge of future things and of the eternal world, so as to be a great support to him through the great afflictions which he had afterwards to endure for righteousness' sake; for after this time he could say in truth, what few could say; and that was, that he knew there was a God and another state of existence beside this, admitting what he said to be true. The prophet Ezekiel gives us an account of a vision which he had. He begins with the beginning of his prophecy, and gives us a marvelous account of what he saw and heard of the glory of the Lord, and of his seeing it; and of a marvelous something which is not easily understood. But the whole vision shews us that, in that vision—which he says was on the banks, or rather, began on the banks of the river Cheber, while he was among the captives in Babylon—he had a very extensive view of the eternal world; the hand of the Lord was upon him, and the Spirit of the Lord fell on him also; and he beheld the glory of the Lord, and he heard his voice, for the Lord talked with him. In addition to these he saw and heard many things respecting the house of Israel; their great wickedness and corruption at that time, with what should befall them in after times: and to sum up the substance of his vision, he saw, and heard, and understood many, yea, very many things about both time and eternity; the inhabitants of this world as well as that which is to come. Let the reader take the trouble, if it should be considered such, beginning at the first chapter of his prophecy and reading carefully, and noticing particularly, what a vast of knowledge he must have obtained in that vision of things not seen in any other way but in vision; and he cannot avoid seeing the great advantages which flow from visions, and the unbounded knowledge obtained by them; such as cannot be obtained on any other principle nor by any other means.

Daniel gives us an account of a number of visions which he had, and very similar to those seen by Isaiah and Ezekiel, or sufficiently so to give us a correct idea of the character of a vision. It was in a vision that he had the dream of Nebuchadnezer manifested to him, with the interpretation thereof: he doubtless saw in the vision what Nebuchadnezer dreamed of, that is the great image: see the 2d chapter of his prophecy, from the 19th verse and onward. In this vision the Lord gave Daniel a great knowledge of future things: he shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, from the days of Nebuchadnezer down, until the stone cut out of the mountains without hands, which began at the feet of the image and beat it to pieces and destroyed it. Surely, then, this vision must have enlightened his mind greatly; he must have in a very short space of time, found out that which could not have been unfolded for hundreds of years; yea, more than hundreds—thousands. What a great blessing, then, this vision must have been to Daniel.

From this short notice of visions, the heart of the saint must begin to fall greatly in love with visions, and desire them above all things, as a peculiar means of obtaining, not only knowledge, but knowledge of hidden things. And what a most happy effect it had on Daniel: he praised and glorified the God of heaven, who was a God of Gods, and a king of kings, and a revealer of secrets, and who had so greatly enlightened his mind as to fill him with wisdom and understanding to comprehend hidden things.

Daniel favors us with the account of another vision, in the 7th chapter of his prophecy: let the reader turn to it and read for himself. It is a vision of four beasts, which were a description of the kings of the earth, very similar to the former one; and he beheld, he informs us, until thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, and till the beasts were cast down, and one of them slain. And the situation of the world was shewn unto him until the son of man came in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and got a kingdom in which all people, nations and languages should serve him. Reader, reflect! and see what a vast of knowledge this man Daniel must have obtained in these visions, which no man could communicate to his fellow man: his ideas must have been much clearer on all the scenes which passed before him in vision, than the mind of any person could be to whom he only told it, or who had no idea of those things only what he had received from others. Must not the vision itself have had greater influence upon the mind than the relation of it could have? Every rational being would answer, that it would; and Daniel must have known many things which he could not communicate.

In the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we have an account of a vision of Cornelius of Cesarea, a Roman centurion, in which he saw an angel of God coming in to him and talking with him, and giving direction to him how to proceed in order to be saved. Peter, the apostle, also had a vision in order to prepare him to receive favorably the messengers sent from Cornelius, to him, in which vision he saw heaven opened and a vessel let down unto him as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, wherein were all manner of four footed beasts, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, and he heard a voice saying unto him, Arise, Peter, slay and eat, &c. Let the reader peruse the 10th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where he will find the account alluded to above. In the 26th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul gives us an account of a vision which he had: read from the 12th verse and onward. He says that he saw, at mid-day a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun shining round about him, and he also heard a voice speaking to him in the Hebrew tongue. In the 12th chapter of 2d Corinthians, he gives an account of another vision in which a man was caught up to the third heavens, and heard things which were unlawful to utter, or were unutterable, whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell; but from the description which he gives of it he must have obtained great knowledge, and certainty about future things.

From all these accounts we are not left in the dark respecting the true character of a vision: those who had them, both saw and heard them; they beheld the Lord himself with the heavenly hosts; they saw the heavens opened, and looked into the eternal world; they heard the voice of God and of angels; they had explanation after explanation; they beheld all future time, the rising and falling of nations and kingdoms, so as to give them the clearest understanding of these things; they were made familiar with both time and eternity, angels and men, the Father and the Son, and the glory of God stood before them, his hand was upon them and his spirit in them, so as to get knowledge that could not be obtained in any other way; for they saw the things as they will actually take place, even the events of time until the Son of man shall come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And who cannot see that this was an extent of knowledge, which cannot be obtained in any other way? Indeed, beyond this, they saw the future glory of the saints, and through this medium they obtained a certainty about eternal things which could not be obtained in any other way. They had an understanding of things which they never could give to others: they were unutterable things, and things which were unlawful to utter; but the account given of them greatly stirs up the mind of the saint to seek after and obtain the same things, if it is their privilege.