Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 1/Number 8/Gospel No. VII

Gospel No. VII.

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There is nothing which gives greater peace and satisfaction to the mind, than clear views on the gospel; to understand it correctly is to understand the will of God to men, and to put a person in possession of truths which will guard him against the various impositions which have been imposed on the world, at one period of it and another; and to give him power to become extensively acquainted with God, as well as the heavenly worlds. But it is necessary in order to a clear understanding of the gospel, that we should have a correct understanding of its origin, and of its progress among men; for without this knowledge, we are liable to be led into darkness, and all the glory of the gospel be hid from our eyes.

Let me here observe, that whatever the gospel was, it now is, and ever will be, that it has not nor will it change; its laws are the same; its ordinances are the same; its institutions are the same; its commands are the same, and its regulations are the same: whatever it required of one man in order to obtain eternal life, it required of all men, and that in every age of the world, and will require the same until all shall be gathered that will be gathered, and those who have obeyed its requisitio[n]s enter into the rest, which God has prepared for them. And it is not only the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, and changes not: but it is the only scheme of things by which any portion of the human family has been, or will be saved; for it is only by virtue of the gospel that salvation was ever proclaimed among men, from first to last; for by it life and immortality came to light; so says Paul, 2d, Timothy 1:15, and as the knowledge of life and immortality is essential to salvation, it is easily seen, that there could be no salvation without the gospel, and not only without the gospel, but without the knowledge of it also; for how could a man have faith in that of which he never heard.

Seeing then, that life and immortality came to light by the gospel, and without the knowledge of life and immortality no person could be saved; there can no difficulty exist on the minds of any of the human family, unless they create one where none really exists as to the time the gospel was promulgated to man; it must have been promulgated as early as life and immortality was known, and they were known ever since the time that salvation was proclaimed among the family of man; for salvation is a matter of faith, and faith cannot exist in relation to it without hearing the word of the Lord, for it is by hearing the word of the Lord, that faith in relation to salvation comes. As far back then as we date salvation, so far back we date the proclamation of the gospel to man; and it must be so unless it can be proven that God had more ways than one of saving mankind, and to do this Paul must be refuted, for he says that the plan which he proclaimed was before the foundation of the world, and that no other foundation could any man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus, and Peter says that there is no other name given under heaven among men, by which they can be saved but in the name of Christ Jesus.

May we not reason a little upon this subject. Let us ask then, what was the most important thing which God could communicate to his creature man? The answer is, the thing which would save him; if God ever at any time condescended to speak to man, there can no good reason be shewn why he did not communicate to him the things which were of the greatest consequence to him, and as God always acts according to reason and never against it we may conclude that he did declare unto man the gospel or the way by which he was to be saved; but what would be very strange would be that there should be a great number of persons saved in the earlier ages of the world, and yet not know how they were saved, be saved in ignorance! It would be equally as strange that prophets, such as Enoch for instance, the seventh from Adam, could prophecy of the second coming of Christ and of his judging the world, and yet not know of his first coming and of his dying for the world. And what would be stranger still would be, that men could be saved by faith, and yet never hear, nor know, of the way of salvation thro' the blood of the Lamb. This would be believing without hearing, and being saved without understanding, and having faith without hearing the word of God, or in other words it would be believing on him of whom they had not heard, or else it would be hearing without a preacher, and if it were any of these things, it would put the shame on all the sacred writers, and expose them to just ridicule. But while it is written in the pages of the divine oracles, that salvation is of faith, and men cannot have faith in a being of whom they have not heard, nor hear without one to tell them, or a preacher, and that life and immortality came to light by the gospel, and that Abel was a prophet, and that Enoch the seventh from Adam was translated, and that God saves men by the gospel and nothing else, for whatever will save men is gospel; so long it will be believed by every thinking man that, the gospel was made known to the ancients as well as to us. But what seems to put the matter at rest as relates to the antiquity of the gospel proclamation is, that the apostle Paul says that the gospel which he proclaimed, or what was to the same effect, that the scheme of things which he taught, was devised before the foundation of the world, and that it was God's fixed purpose to save men in that way or by that plan and none other; so that if there was salvation at all among the ancients, it was because they had the gospel among them.

There are are some other considerations which force the conclusion on the mind, that the ancients had the gospel among them, and that is, that according to the sacred record the fruits of it abounded among them as far back as to the days of Abel. If we inquire what are the things which attend the gospel? we will find that prophecying was one thing, and we are told that Abel was a prophet, for the Savior said to the Jews, that the blood of all the prophets should be required at their hands, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zacharias. Matthew 23:34, 35 verses, Enoch was also a prophet; for he foretold of the second advent as recorded by Jude. Who does not know, that when the apostles proclaimed the gospel, they promised to those who received it that they should prophesy, seeing then that prophesying was a fruit of the gospel who can help seeing that it was by virtue of it that men prophecied, we cannot see where there can be a risk in believing that wherever there are or were prophets there the gospel is, or was, and one strong reason which confirms this belief is that whenever the gospel is lost prophecying is lost also; this generation is all the proof we need on this subject; for if we ask why has prophecying ceased in this generation? the answer is, because they have lost the gospel. And not having the gospel, they cannot have the fruits of it; but we see the ancients had the fruits of it, and how could they have the fruits of it and yet not have the gospel? is a question we will leave for those more learned than ourselves to answer.