Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate/Volume 1/Number 11/Faith of the Church No. XV

Faith of the Church.

We deem it unnecessary to pursue the subject of visions very lengthily, as the bible is so full and clear on it, as to render it only necessary to excite the mind of the inquirer after truth to it, and he will see for himself, the office which is assigned unto visions in the salvation of men.

It will not, I presume, be allowed, by those who profess to believe in revelations, that the apostles could not have taught the world the things of righteousness, unless they had obtained visions through which they could have the knowledge necessary to perform this great work, and that without visions they could not have obtained this knowledge.

The degree of knowledge, which is proposed in the bible to those who embrace the gospel cannot be obtained by any person or persons, without visions, and more particularly in the last days, as they were to be the days of light and knowledge; to an unparalleled degree, even so great was to be the knowledge of the last days as to dry up all the tears of sorrow, and drain all the fountains of sickness, and leave the inhabitants of the world in peace and health. If we ask, how are these great blessings to be attained? The answer is, through an increase of knowledge and intelijgence [intelligence], and if we ask by what means the people are to obtain this knowledge? The answer is, through visions; for it is by visions, that the knowledge of God shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the face of the great deep.

When this day of knowledge and intelligence comes, all the causes of sickness, disease and sorrow, will be found out, and removed, so that through the intelligence and knowledge obtained by means of visions, all the blessings of heaven proposed to the subjects of the gospel in the last days shall be realized. If sickness and diseases ever cease among men, there must be more knowledge on earth than there is now; and if there is an end to sorrow and crying, there must be a great increase of intelligence, from what there ever has been; for to talk about the earth resting from all her affliction, without obtaining a knowledge of the cause of all the evils which afflict her, is to think and talk most unreasonably; for the reason that the heavens are not afflicted is because of the great intelligence, and perfect knowledge which abounds there. And if the earth ceases to be afflicted, it will be because of the increased intelligence which will abound on her surface; knowledge sufficient to understand the causes of all evils, and through this knowledge, power to remove them.

It would be enthusiasm to perfection to even think of the removal of all the evils which afflict the world, without the people in the first instance understanding the cause of those evils, and through this understanding, obtain the removal of them; for it to be otherwise, would be to save the world in blindness, and make ignorance the mother of devotion; and who does not know that this knowledge is alone attainable by visions and revelations; for the world has experimented on the evils which afflict her for the space of nearly six thousand years, without being able to make these discoveries, and we have no reason to expect that six thousand years to come will make it any better, unless the God of heaven takes it in hand himself and accomplishes the work, by giving to the people visions and revelations sufficient to understand all these things and remove them; for notwithstanding all things are to be done by faith, yet, it would be impossible for a man to have faith without intelligence, as it would be, for him to have this natural life without blood, and intelligence produces faith, and faith produces intelligence, and faith and intelligence produce knowledge, and knowledge perfects faith, and thus they mutually assist and advance each other until they are all perfected, and visions and revelations, are their constant companions, and without them, intelligence, faith, or knowledge could not be perfected.

From the whole surface of the subject as it now lays before us, the conclusion is inevitable, that without visions, the blessings proposed in the scriptures to the saints of the last days can never be enjoyed.

It is necessary to observe in this place that, if there are visions, there must of necessity be manifestations also; for if angels did not manifest themselves, there would be no seeing of angels in visions, and if there were no manifestations of the Son, the Saviour of the world, there would be no seeing of him in visions, and if there were no manifestations of the Father there would be no seeing of him in visions, so that without manifestations, visions would loose all their glory. If the Lord the king of glory had never manifested himself, the eyes of Isaiah would never have beheld him, neither would he have seen him high and lifted up, and his train filling the temple: and if the Savior had never manifested himself after his ascension, Paul would never have seen him so as to be a witness for him, neither would Stephen have said in the very article of death, "That I see the heavens open and the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power," neither would it ever have been said by the prophet Joel and confirmed and re-promulgated by Peter, that in the last days God would pour out his spirit on all flesh, and sons and daughters would prophecy, old men dream dreams and young ones see visions.

From the foregoing we learn that the office which is assigned to the saints in the salvation of their fellow men, does not consist alone in their going forth during the days of their flesh to preach, and testify to their fellow men of the things of God; but also after they leave this world to enjoy another state of being, to manifest themselves to their brethren, who are in the flesh, and who have the testimony of Jesus, and to administer unto them, and to make them acquainted with those things which pertain to the kingdom of God, and to be ministering spirits unto them who are the heirs of salvation. This ministration of the angels or messengers, who were once in the flesh, is to those who are heirs of salvation, and who are approved of in the sight of God: the reason that they do not appear to the sectarian world is, because they are not approbated in the sight of heaven, not heirs of sa[l]vation, for they are ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who are heirs of salvation, not to them who are not the heirs of salvation; but to them who are. When a society of people denies the ministering of angels, they declare vir-tually that they are not heirs of salvation.

It also belongs to the work of the Savior to manifest himself to the saints, in order that they may be witnesses for him to those who believe not that they may be made acquainted with his glory also. Thus says Paul in the 1st epistle to the Corinthians 15:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8th verses. Therefore, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have beli[e]ved in vain. For I declare unto you first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain unto this present; but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also as one born out of due time.

This quotation puts the matter beyond a doubt, that part of the Savior's work in the salvation of men was, to manifest himself to them after his resurrection and ascension, and to shew [show] himself after his passion, not to all the world; but to witnesses chosen of God, who appear to have been very numerous among the former day saints, for not only the apostles, but the multitude of brethren, even five hundred at once, and how many more at other times it is not our province to say at present; but no doubt vast multitudes; for as he was without respect of persons, he could doubtless deal with all alike, and if so, he manifested himself to the saints according to their faith and holiness before him.—(CONCLUDED.)