Chapter 37.
THE RESURRECTION AND THE ASCENSION.
Christ is risen.--The women at the sepulchre.--Angelic communications.--The risen Lord seen by Mary Magdalene.--And by other women.--A priestly conspiracy of falsehood.--The Lord and two disciples on the Emmaus road.--He appears to disciples in Jerusalem and eats in their presence.--Doubting Thomas.--The Lord appears to the apostles at the sea of Tiberias.--Other manifestations in Galilee.--Final commission to the apostles.--The ascension
Chapter 38.
THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY.
Matthias ordained to the apostleship.--Bestowal of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost.--The apostles' preaching.--Imprisoned and delivered.--Gamaliel's advice to the council.--Stephen the martyr.--Saul of Tarsus, his conversion.--Becomes Paul the apostle.--The record by John the Revelator.--Close of the apostolic ministry
Chapter 39.
MINISTRY OF THE RESURRECTED CHRIST ON THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.
The Lord's death signalized by great calamities on western continent.--The Voice of the Lord Jesus Christ heard.--His visitations to the Nephites.--The Nephite Twelve.--Baptism among Nephites.--The Mosaic law fulfilled.--Address to Nephites compared with Sermon on the Mount.--Sacrament of bread and wine instituted among Nephites.--Name of Christ's Church.--The Three Nephites.--Growth of the Church.--Final apostasy of Nephite nation
Chapter 40.
THE LONG NIGHT OF APOSTASY.
The great falling away as predicted.--Individual apostasy from the Church.--Apostasy of the Church.--Constantine makes Christianity the religion of state.--Papal claims to secular authority.--Churchly tyranny.--The Dark Ages.--The inevitable revolt.--The Reformation.--Rise of Church of England.--Catholicism and Protestantism.--The apostasy affirmed.--Mission of Columbus and the Pilgrim Fathers predicted in ancient scripture.--Fulfilment of the prophecies.--Establishment of American nation provided for[Pg xi]
Chapter 41.
PERSONAL MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD THE ETERNAL FATHER AND OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST IN MODERN TIMES.
A new dispensation.--Joseph Smith's perplexity over sectarian strife.--The Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ appear to and personally instruct Joseph Smith.--Visitation of Moroni.--The Book of Mormon.--Aaronic Priesthood restored by John the Baptist.--Melchizedek Priesthood restored by Peter, James, and John.--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.--Divine manifestations in Kirtland Temple.--The Lord Jesus Christ appears.--Specific authority of olden dispensations conferred by Moses, Elias, and Elijah.--The Holy Priesthood now operative on earth
Chapter 42.
JESUS THE CHRIST TO RETURN.
Ancient predictions of the Lord's second advent.--Modern revelation affirms the same.--Today and tomorrow.--The great and
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dreadful day near at hand.--Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven.--The Millennium.--The celestial consummation
Index [Pg 1] CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION.
It is a matter of history that, at or near the beginning of what has since come to be known as the Christian era, the Man Jesus, surnamed the Christ, was born in Bethlehem of Judea.[1] The principal data as to His birth, life, and death are so well attested as to be reasonably indisputable; they are facts of record, and are accepted as essentially authentic by the civilized world at large. True, there are diversities of deduction based on alleged discrepancies in the records of the past as to circumstantial details; but such differences are of strictly minor importance, for none of them nor all taken together cast a shadow of rational doubt upon the historicity of the earthly existence of the Man known in literature as Jesus of Nazareth.
As to who and what He was there are dissensions of grave moment dividing the opinions of men; and this divergence of conception and belief is most pronounced upon those matters to which the greatest importance attaches. The solemn testimonies of millions dead and of millions living unite in proclaiming Him as divine, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer and Savior of the human race, the Eternal Judge of the souls of men, the Chosen and Anointed[Pg 2] of the Father--in short, the Christ. Others there are who deny His Godhood while extolling the transcendent qualities of His unparalleled and unapproachable Manhood.
To the student of history this Man among men stands first, foremost, and alone, as a directing personality in the world's progression. Mankind has never produced a leader to rank with Him. Regarded solely as a historic personage He is unique. Judged by the standard of human estimation, Jesus of Nazareth is supreme among men by reason of the excellence of His personal character, the simplicity, beauty, and genuine worth of His precepts, and the influence of His example and doctrines in the advancement of the race. To these distinguishing characteristics of surpassing greatness the devout Christian soul adds an attribute that far exceeds the sum of all the others--the divinity of Christ's origin and the eternal reality of His status as Lord and God.
Christian and unbeliever alike acknowledge His supremacy as a Man, and respect the epoch-making significance of His birth. Christ
was born in the meridian of time;[2] and His life on earth marked at once the culmination of the past and the inauguration of an
era distinctive in human hope, endeavor, and achievement. His advent determined a new order in the reckoning of the years; and by common consent the centuries antedating His birth have been counted backward from the pivotal event and are designated accordingly. The rise and fall of dynasties, the birth and dissolution of nations, all the cycles of history as to war and peace, as to prosperity and adversity, as to health and pestilence, seasons of plenty and of famine, the awful happenings of earthquake and storm,
the triumphs of invention and discovery, the epochs of man's development in godliness and the long periods of his dwindling in unbelief--all the occurrences that make history--are chronicled throughout Christendom by reference to the year before or after the birth of Jesus Christ.
[Pg 3]
His earthly life covered a period of thirty-three years; and of these but three were spent by Him as an acknowledged Teacher openly engaged in the activities of public ministry. He was brought to a violent death before He had attained what we now regard as the age of manhood's prime. As an individual He was personally known to but few; and His fame as a world character became general only after His death.
Brief account of some of His words and works has been preserved to us; and this record, fragmentary and incomplete though it be, is rightly esteemed as the world's greatest treasure. The earliest and most extended history of His mortal existence is embodied within the compilation of scriptures known as the New Testament; indeed but little is said of Him by secular historians of His time. Few and short as are the allusions to Him made by non-scriptural writers in the period immediately following that of His ministry, enough is found to corroborate the sacred record as to the actuality and period of Christ's earthly existence.
No adequate biography of Jesus as Boy and Man has been or can be written, for the sufficing reason that a fulness of data is lacking. Nevertheless, man never lived of whom more has been said and sung, none to whom is devoted a greater proportion of the world's literature. He is extolled by Christian, Mohammedan and Jew, by skeptic and infidel, by the world's greatest poets, philosophers, statesmen, scientists, and historian. Even the profane sinner in the foul, sacrilege of his oath acclaims the divine supremacy of Him whose name he desecrates.
The purpose of the present treatise is that of considering the life and mission of Jesus as the Christ. In this undertaking we are to
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be guided by the light of both ancient and modern scriptures; and, thus led, we shall discover, even in the early stages of our course, that the word of God as revealed in latter days is effective in illuming and making plain[Pg 4] the Holy Writ of ancient times, and this, in many matters of the profoundest imports.[3]
Instead of beginning our study with the earthly birth of the Holy Babe of Bethlehem, we shall consider