Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 1/Number 8/Millennium No. XIV

MILLEN[N]IUM NO. XIV.

Continued from Page 87.

Every thing said in the scriptures about the thousand years of Christ's reign on the earth, called by the scriptures "that day:" as one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and that day in particular is noticed above all others, as the day in which the Lord will do the greatest things for his people, that ever were done for them since the world began,—most clearly sets forth that it is to be a time of miracles, and a day of power, such as has not been since man was on the earth; nor could it be possible for the Millen[n]ium to exist without; in truth it is the "restitution of all things" which constitutes the glory of the latter day of which all the holy prophets have spoken since the world began; take "the restitution of all things" from the latter day glory and what is left—nothing—there would be nothing of any consequence to take place, no material change; nature would continue the same; the seasons the same; animals and vegetables the same; nothing to talk about nor to sing about. The curse would still rest on the earth and upon all things which are on it: the trees would never clap their hands; nor would the earth bring forth in her strength, nor the mountains drop down new wine, nor would the ploughman overtake the reaper, nor the treader of grapes him that soweth seed. Jerusalem would never be built, so as never to be thrown down; nor would the tabernacle of David ever be built. In a word, where would the Millen[n]ium be? No where but in the imagination of man. Those, then, who say that the days of miracles are past, literally say that there is to be no millen[n]ium, and that Christ is not to reign a thousand years on earth; for if ever Christ reigns a thousand years on earth, there will be a time of miracles, or if ever there is a "restitution of all things" there will be a time of miracles, for what is a restitution but restoring or making good—that is getting that which was lost, and possessing that which had been previously enjoyed. And when the apostle Peter says that the heavens must receive the Savior until the times of the restitution of all things, he meant we presume, what he said; that when all things (not some things) which the Lord had at any time bestowed on the world by way of blessing should be restored to the earth, the Savior also should return or be restored with the all things: See Acts of the Apostles, chap. 3: ver. 19, 20, 21.

Let me ask, what will the Lord do when he restores all things? The answer is, that he will restore to the world every blessing which had ever been enjoyed among men from the first to the last; not even the Savior himself excepted. "And he shall send Jesus Christ who was before preached unto you:" Acts 3: 20. And nothing short of this can be a restitution of all things; and it is this of which all the holy prophets have spoken since the world began;—it has been the great burden of their teaching that there was to be a time of "the restitution of all things." Surely the vision of these prophets must have been peculiarly delightful, to gaze upon the various scenes which took place before their day and which was passing before their eyes, and should take place until the times of the restitution of all things. Those prophets who lived before the days of the Savior's humiliation, beheld him first with his Father before he was veiled in the flesh, and then in the flesh; after that crucified; then beheld him rise from the dead and ascend up into heaven and sit down on the right hand of power. And after that look through a lapse of nearly two thousand years, and then behold him descend to the earth again in all the glory of the heavens, and all the saints with him, and reign with him a thousand years on the earth. Surely a scene like this must have been astonishing beyond description.

But not only to gaze upon this scene, but also to behold the dealings of God among men in connection with the series of events relating to the Savior.—Behold all the spiritual gifts bestowed in the world at one time and another, with all the powers and blessings ever enjoyed at any period of the world among men, while those possessing them were persecuted, reviled, hated, scourged, buffeted, smitten, put to death, chased from place to place, to caves and dens of the earth; being afflicted and tormented, without any clothing but sheep skins and goat skins, until they were wasted and destroyed, and the whole church disappeared; and all the spiritual gifts ceased, and revelations were obtained no longer among men. And they looked until darkness covered the earth, and gross darkness the people; and until the vision of all had become as the words of a book which was sealed; and the people groped their way in darkness having no light; and party arose after party; sect after sect multiplied until the earth become a scene of confusion; sentiment warring with sentiment, and opinion lashing against opinion; and the true light of heaven was lost. But in the midst of this confusion the prophets beheld the God of heaven setting his hand the second time to recover his people, and to restore to the world what they had lost. Beginning as a grain of mustard planted in the earth; and from this small beginning the work began to roll; the spiritual gifts began to return one after one, until the blind began to see, the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, and all manner of disea-ses and sicknesses pass away from among the people of God. And the power become so great that the waters were again smitten and the foundations of rivers and seas were discovered; and people went over dry shod, as they did in the day when the children of Israel came out of the land of Egypt. The very heavens themselves were shaken, and all things were rebuked by their Creator. The spirit of God began to be poured out as in days of old, until it fell upon all flesh. The lion become peaceable; the leopard and the bear ceased to devour the asp; and the cockatrices lost their venom; & all the spiritual gifts that were ever enjoyed on earth among men at any period of the world returned and was possessed by men again: even all that were numbered among the living. And revelation followed revelation; vision came after vision; men and women became prophets and prophetesses, until the knowledge of God covered the earth as the waters covered the sea. The earth put on a new aspect; the curse was taken away, and it yielded in its strength, and all creation smiled. The trees clapped their hands, while animal and vegetable life united together to praise their Maker, with the mountains, the floods, and the flames. The Savior also come down from heaven and all the saints with him, who received their bodies glorified like his glorious body. The people of God they beheld gathered from all nations, tongues, languages and kindreds under heaven, unto the mountain of the Lord to rejoice before him. And when they beheld all this glory returning to the earth they sang of the latter day glory, and of that which was to come.—And from these visions came our ideas of a Millen[n]ium.