THE SECOND COMING OF THE MESSIAH
And Events To Precede It

By Elder B. H. Roberts

Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, USA, Press of Zion's Printing and 
Publishing Company

Of the  events that will take pace in the immediate future, the most 
important to mankind is the glorious appearing of  the Son of God, generally 
spoken of as the Second Advent  of  the Messiah.  And if there is one thing 
that that writers  of Scripture are more explicit in than another, it is in 
relation to this all-important event.

The writer of the Acts of the Apostles, giving an account of the last meeting 
of the Risen Messiah with His disciple in Palestine, and His last words to 
them, says:

"And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up; and 
a cloud received Him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly 
toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel 
which, also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?  
This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1:9-11) 

From this we learn that the same person whom the disciples had, seen go up 
into heaven was to return in like manner.  And this agrees with the words of 
Jesus Himself.

"For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father, with His angels; 
and then He shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. 14:27) 

From this last quotation we not only learn that the Son of God is to come in 
the glory of His Father, accompanied by His angels, but that He at that time 
"Will reward every mar according to his works." And to this testimony agrees 
that of other sacred writers.

St. Jude, after referring to certain wicked characters who  were like clouds 
without rain, or like raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame, 
says:

"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam prophesied of these, saying, Behold, 
the Lord cometh with ten- thousand, of His saints, to execute judgment upon 
all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly 
deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and all their hard speeches which 
ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."  (Jude 14, 15)

Paul bears witness to the same thing:

"For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which 
sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.  For this we say unto you by the word 
of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord 
shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord Himself shall descend 
from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump 
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and 
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord 
in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."  (1 Thessalonians 4:14-
17)

And again:

"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be 
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance 
on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be 
glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because 
our testimony among you was believed) in that day."  (2 Thessalonians 7-10)

From the foregoing passages of Scripture the reader learns two very important 
things:  first -- that the Son of Man in a glorious manner is to return to 
this earth; second -- that when He shall come, it will be to execute judgment 
-- to reward the righteous for their faithfulness, and to punish those who 
"know not God, and who obey not the gospel, with everlasting destruction from 
the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power."

No believer in the inspiration of the Scriptures can possibly doubt the truth 
of what these passages teach, viz:  that the Son of God will verily come, and 
that to judgment.  But in all other ages of the world, when God has decreed 
judgments upon a people or nation, He has first sent divinely-appointed 
messengers to warn them of the impending evil, that peradventure, some might 
repent and be saved.  For example, -- when God decreed that He would destroy 
the Antediluvians by a flood for their wickedness, He first sent Noah, a 
preacher of righteousness, among them to warn them of the approaching 
calamity.  When detection was hanging over the cities of the plain -- Sodom 
and Gomorrah   -- the Lord sent His angels to first gather out righteous Lot 
and his family.  When destruction was decreed against the prophet Jonah was 
sent to cry repentance to the people, and in this instance the warning was 
heeded, and the calamity was turned aside.  Whenever bondage, famine, 
disease, or judgment of any character was about to overtake Israel for their 
wickedness, prophets were sent to warn them, that they might repent and 
escape the sore affliction.

This has been the course pursued by the Almighty in all ages and among all 
people; and now that mighty judgments are pronounced against the ungodly at 
the coming of the Son of God, may we not reasonably expect that God will be 
true to His custom in the past, and send messengers to warn the nations of 
the near approach of these calamities.  Basing our conclusion on the 
experience of past ages, it would be reasonable to expect the Lord to so 
proceed.  But the Scriptures themselves speak of a number of incidents that 
will take place as a preparatory work to the glorious coming of our Lord.  
Among these may be mentioned:

I -- THE RESTORATION OF THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL

The great event is thus described by John the Revelator:

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting 
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and 
kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give 
glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come."  (Rev. 14:6, 7)

II -- THE COMING OF A MESSENGER

to prepare the way for the Son of God, when He shall come in the glory of His 
Father.  This event is foretold by the prophet Malachi:

"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: 
and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the 
messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith 
the Lord of hosts.  But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall 
stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiners fire, and like fullers 
soap; and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall 
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may 
offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.  Then shall the offering of 
Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as 
in former years."  (Malachi 3:1-4)

III -- THE COMING OF ELIJAH,

to whom is given the peculiar mission of turning the heart of the fathers to 
the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers.  Malachi thus 
describes Elijah's mission:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great 
and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the father's to 
the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and 
smite the earth with a curse."  (Malachi 4:5, 6)

IV -- THE GATHERING OF THE SAINTS

The scriptures are replete with passages in relation to this event, but I can 
refer here only to a few.  When John the Revelator was about to foretell the 
downfall of Babylon, he says:

"And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, 
that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.  
For her sins have reache dunto heaven, and God hath remembered her 
iniquities.  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double 
according to her works; in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her 
double."  (Rev. 18:4-6)

The Psalmist bears this testimony:

"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before 
him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.  He shall call to the 
heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.  Gather 
my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by 
sacrifice.  And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge 
himself."  (Psalms 50:3-6)

So Isaiah:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s 
house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted 
above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it."  (Isaiah 2:2-4)

"And He will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto 
them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed 
swiftly."  (Isaiah 5:26)

"And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the 
outcasts of Israel (not the Jews alone, but all Israel), and gather together 
the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."  (Isaiah 11:12)

So Paul:

"Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, … That in the 
dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all 
things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in 
him."  Eph. 1:9, 10)

And lastly the testimony of Jesus:

"And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power 
and great glory.  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a 
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from 
one end of heaven to the other."  (Matt. 24:30, 31)

All believers in the Holy Scriptures, then, must believe in and are looking 
forward to the glorious coming of the Son of God.  They also must believe 
that these four events we have named will precede that coming.  That is, they 
believe and are expecting that when those judgments connected with the coming 
of the Messiah are about to overtake the inhabitants of the earth, an angel 
will come with the Everlasting Gospel, which must be preached to all nations; 
that a messenger will come to prepare the way before the Lord, that Elijah 
will come to turn the hearts of the fathers to the Children, and vice versa; 
and that God's saints will be gathered together.

And now, in all sincerity of heart, and in the fear of God, the writer 
testifies to all men to whom his words may come, that the first three events 
have taken place, and the fourth, the gathering of the Saints, is now going 
on, and the coming of the Son of God, together with the attendant judgments 
are at hand.

THE RESTORATION OF THE GOSPEL

occurred in the following manner:

In the spring of 1820, Joseph Smith, then a lad between fourteen and fifteen 
years of age, being exercised on the subject of religion, and not knowing 
which of the contending sects of religion was accepted by God as His Church, 
fortunately came upon that excellent advice given by the Apostle James, viz.:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men 
liberally, and unbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:6.) 

In full, childlike confidence that God would fulfill His word, he called upon 
the Lord in prayer, and in answer received an open vision, in which he beheld 
the Father and the Son, who revealed to him the startling truth that man had 
transgressed the laws of the Gospel, changed the ordinances, broken the 
everlasting covenant, and that none of the churches or sects were 
acknowledged of Him, as His church or kingdom, and he was commanded to join 
none of them.  He was also informed that the time was at hand when the Gospel 
would be restored, and was told that he was a chosen instrument to assist in 
bringing about the purpose of God.

Let not the reader impatiently cast away this tract at the statement that God 
did not acknowledge any of the sects or churches as His church or kingdom.  
Let it be remembered, according to the prophecy of the Revelator we have 
quoted (Rev. 14:6, 7), that every nation, kindred, tongue, and people in the 
hour of God's judgment, are to be without the Gospel, or why would there be 
any need of an angel being sent from heaven with it to the earth, if it were 
anywhere on earth.  The learned John Wesley said that the reason the 
extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer enjoyed was because the 
love of many waxed cold, the Christians had turned heathens again and only 
had a dead form left (Wesley's works, vol. VI, ser. 89)  The Church of 
England in her Homily Against Peril of Idolatry says:  "Laity and clergy, 
learned and unlearned, all ages, sects and degrees have been drowned in 
abominable idolatry, most de- tested by God and damnable to man for eight 
hundred years or more."

But to return to our account of the Restoration of the Gospel.  More than 
three years passed before Joseph Smith was again blessed with a heavenly 
vision.  But on the night of the 21st of September, 1823, while engaged in 
prayer in his bedchamber, "I discovered," says he, 

"A light appearing in the room, which continued to increase until the room 
was lighter than at noonday. when immediately a personage appeared at my 
bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. … Not 
only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond 
description; and his countenance truly like lightning. … He called me by my 
name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God 
to me, and that his name was Moroni.  That God had a work for me to do, and 
that my name should be had for good or evil among all nations, kindred, and 
tongues; or that it should be good or evil spoken of among all people.  He 
said that there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an 
account of the former inhabitants of this (the American) Continent, and the 
source from whence they sprang.  He also said that the fullness of the 
everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the 
ancient inhabitants (of America).  Also that there were two stones in silver 
bows (and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called 
the Urim and Thummim) deposited with the plates, and the possession and use 
of these stones was what constituted Seers in ancient or former times, and 
that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."
The angel then quoted a number of prophecies from the Jewish Scriptures, 
among them the first part of the third chapter of Malachi, and also the 
fourth chapter of the same book, the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, and the 
second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the close.  He stated 
that these prophecies would be fulfilled in this generation.

Four years after this first visit of the heavenly messenger, in the meantime 
being instructed by him in doctrine and principle, the tablets containing the 
ancient history of America, together with the Urim and Thummim by which they 
were to be translated, were given into his charge.  In the course of two 
years the work of translation was completed, and in the winter of 1829-30 the 
Book of Mormon -- for so the record is called -- containing the "fullness of 
the everlasting Gospel," as taught to the ancient peoples of America, was 
given to the world.

Nor is the world asked to receive this important message on the statement of 
Joseph Smith alone, but the. Lord has given other witnesses, and their 
statement has been published with every edition of the Book of Mormon, and is 
as follows:

THE TESTIMONY OF THE THREE WITNESSES

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this 
work shall come:  That we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord 
Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a 
record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and 
also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been 
spoken.  And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and 
power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a 
surety that the work is true.  And we also testify that we have seen the 
engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the 
power of God, and not of man.  And we declare with words of soberness, that 
an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our 
eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we 
know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, 
that we beheld and bear record that these things are true.  And it is 
marvelous in our eyes.  Nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that 
we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments 
of God, we bear testimony of these things.  And we know that if we are 
faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be 
found spotless before the judgment-seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him 
eternally in the heavens.  And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God.  Amen.

"OLIVER COWDERY
"DAVID WHITMER
"MARTIN HARRIS"

Thou these three witnesses, through transgression, lost the Spirit of God and 
wandered away from the fold of Christ, they never denied the testimony they 
bore to the truth of the Book of Mormon.  Two of them previous to their death 
came back to the Church, and died in the faith.  The other -- David Whitmer -
- died at Richmond, Mo., in January, 1888, and on his death-bed, as he had 
always done previously, solemnly declared that his testimony concerning the 
Book of Mormon was true.

While the Book of Mormon was in course of translation a very important event 
took place, viz., the coming of the messenger to prepare the way for the 
coming of the Lord.  This is described by Joseph SMith as follows:

"We (Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery) still continued the work of 
translating; when in the ensuing month (May 1829,) we, on a certain day, went 
into the woods topray, and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the 
remission of sins.

"While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger 
from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, 
he ordained us, saying unto us -- 'Upon you my fellow servants, in the name 
of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the 
ministering of angels and of the gospel of repentance repentance, and of 
baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and this shall never be taken 
again from the ear until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the 
Lord in righteousness.'

"The messenger who visited us on this occasion, and conferred this Priesthood 
upon us, said that his name was John the same that is call John the Baptist 
in the New Testament; and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James 
and John who held the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood and who would in due 
season visit us and confer that, the higher Priesthood, upon us, which holds 
the keys of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the 
right to all the offices in the church."

Subsequently, in fulfillment of this promise, Peter, James and John came to 
them and conferred upon them the higher order of priesthood -- the 
Melchizedek.  This gave them the keys of all the spiritual blessings of the 
Church of Christ, and the power and authority to organize the Church and 
Kingdom of God upon the earth.

ELIJAH COMES

In 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, Ohio, Elijah the Prophet came in fulfillment 
of Malachi's prophecy (Mal. 4:5, 6), and made known these principles which 
would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the 
children the fathers, viz., the doctrine of salvation for the dead.  From the 
keys of knowledge which Elijah restored great light has been thrown upon the 
plan of salvation, showing it to be more perfect and more extensive than ever 
man dreamed of, in his philosophy.  It is learned from the keys of knowledge 
which he restored that the innumerable millions who have died without a 
knowledge of Christ or of His Gospel, together with those who have been 
deceived by the teachings of pseudo ministers of Christ, are not eternally 
lost, but that, since the spirit of man when separated from the body retains 
all the faculties of mind, the Gospel is preached in the spirit world to the 
disembodied spirits, and that on condition of their accepting the Gospel, and 
living according to the laws of God in the spirit, they may be saved on 
condition of the outward ordinances of the Gospel being administered 
vicariously for them upon the earth by their agents -- their relatives.  That 
the Gospel is preached to departed spirits is evident from the Scriptures.  
Peter said:

"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that 
He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by 
the Spirit:  by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 
which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited 
in the days of Noah, while the ark was apreparing, wherein few, that is, 
eight souls were saved by water." (1 Peter 3:18-20)

Men may turn and twist that passage all they please, but its plain, simple 
statement is that the spirit of Christ, while His body lay in the tomb, went 
and preached to the spirits which were disobedient in the days of Noah.  And 
again he says:

"For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they 
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in 
the spirit." (1 Peter 4:6)

That the ancient Saints also knew something about performing ordinances 
vicariously for the dead is evident from this remark of the Apostle Paul:

"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise 
not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" (I Cor. 15:29)

And we ask -- if there was no such thing among the ancient Saints as baptism 
for the dead, why, then, does Paul refer to it in such positive terms?

The Gospel of Christ is not limited in its power to save to this life, or 
this world alone.  Its powers enter into the spirit world.  And by its 
proclamation in the world of spirits the fathers will learn that they are 
dependent upon the children still in this world for the performance of the 
outward ordinances of the Gospel; hence, their hearts will be turned to the 
children.  The children on the earth will learn that it is within their power 
to attend to ordinances of the Gospel for their progenitors; hence, the 
hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers.  It is because of this 
-- because of the knowledge restored by Elijah, that the Latter-day Saints, 
wherever they have planted their feet, have sought, even in the days of their 
greatest poverty, to build a temple, the proper place in which to attend to 
these ordinances for the dead; and they thus witness to the world that the 
hearts of the children are turned to the fathers.

"MORMON" VIEWS OF AMERICA

 The Book of Mormon teaches that the two American continents are a promised 
land, consecrated to righteousness  and to liberty, and especially dedicated 
to the seed of the Patriarch Joseph, son of Jacob, of Bible fame, and to the 
Gentile races, who shall in the last days be gathered to the land as well as 
the descendants of Joseph.  To the "Mormons" America is a land of promise, a 
sacred land, dedicated to righteousness, and to liberty, therefore to free 
institutions which alone may preserve the liberties and the rights of men. 

When the Lord made known unto Lehi (a prophet who was warned of God in a 
vision to depart from Jerusalem with his family six hundred years before 
Christ, and was promised that he should be led to a land of promise), that 
this land of America should be his, as an inheritance, it being, the land 
that had been promised by Jacob and Moses unto Joseph and his seed (Compare 
Gen. 49:22-26, Deut. 33:13-16), the Lord, after describing how he would make 
of the Gentiles, nursing fathers and mothers unto Israel, and how the 
Gentiles would bless Israel upon this land, then he says (referring to 
America), "This land, saith God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and 
the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land.  And this land shall be a land 
of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who 
shall raise up unto the Gentiles, and I will fortify this land against all 
other nations, and he that fighteth against Zion (this whole land of America) 
shall perish, saith God; for he that raiseth up a king against me shall 
perish. … Wherefore, I will consecrate this land unto thy (Lehi's) seed, and 
them (the Gentiles) who shall be numbered among thy seed, forever, for the 
land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above 
all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they 
shall worship me, saith God."  (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 10:10-20)

The foregoing are the promises of the Lord unto the descendants of Joseph 
(who was sold into Egypt) and unto the Gentiles who shall be United with them 
in the possession of the land of America.  Jesus also, during his ministry 
among the Nephites, after His resurrection, made some remarkable promises and 
predictions respecting the prosperity and freedom and power of the Gentiles 
in the land of America on condition of their righteousness, and their 
obedience to the "God of the land," who is declared to be Jesus Christ.  They 
equally with the house of Joseph, on the conditions named, are promised an 
inheritance in the goodly land; and lot and part in building a holy city upon 
it, to be called Zion, a New Jerusalem, where the righteousness of God shall 
abound, and from which light and truth shall emanate to bless the world.  
These things are testified of at length in the twentieth and twenty-first 
chapters of third Nephi; also in the writings of Moroni, Book of Mormon.

AMERICA, THE LAND OF ZION

When the Book of Mormon was revealed and it became known that the Americas 
were precious lands of promise, and that God had such a high destiny for the 
two continents as is described in the Book of Mormon, that among other things 
America was the place where the Zion of God should be built in the last days, 
the brethren in those early days very naturally became anxious to know where 
the city of Zion would be located.

At the April conference of the Church, preceding his martyrdom, the Prophet 
Joseph Smith spoke of Zion at considerable length.  The Prophet in the course 
of his remarks said:  "You know there has been a great discussion in relation 
to Zion, where it is, and where the gathering of the dispensation is, which I 
am now going to tell you.  The prophets have  spoken and written upon it, but 
I will make a proclamation that will cover a broader ground.  The whole of 
America is Zion itself, from north to south, and is described by the prophets 
who declare that it is Zion, where the mountain of the Lord shall be, and it 
shall be in the center of the land.  I have received instructions from the 
Lord that from henceforth wherever the Elders of Israel shall build up 
churches and branches unto the Lord, through out the State, (having 
references to the United States, of course) there shall be a stake of Zion."

At the same conference, Hyrum Smith, brother of the prophet, said, "The 
gathering will be from the nations to North and South America, which is the 
land of Zion."

Shortly after this President Brigham Young, then of the twelve Apostles, 
said, "Brother Joseph (the Prophet) said, last conference, that Zion included 
North and South America." 

KEYS OF GATHERING RESTORED

The same day that Elijah came to the Kirtland Temple -- April 3rd, 1836 -- 
Moses came also, and committed the Keys of the, Gathering of Israel from the 
four quarters of the earth, and the leading of the Ten Tribes from the land 
of the north.  And it is because he came and restored that authority and 
communicated the commandment for the Saints to gather together, that 
thousands have left their homes in the land of their birth, and have cast in 
their lot with the Latter-day Saints in the land of America, and are now 
where the prophets predicted the people of God and the House of God would be, 
established in the last days -- "in the tops of the mountains" -- and some 
out of all nations are flowing unto them, and they are taught in the ways of 
the Lord, and are seeking to walk in His paths (See Isaiah 2:1-4).  The cry 
from heaven which St. John heard in his vision is now of a truth being 
sounded among the nations:  "Come out of her (Babylon), my people, that ye be 
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues; for her 
sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities." (Rev. 
18:4, 5)  And the Saints by their flight to the gathering places which God 
has appointed, as well as by word, are testifying to the world that the hour 
of God's judgment is at hand, and they are seeking to be prepared for the 
coming of the Messiah.

Thus the most important events which are to take place before the glorious 
coming of the Son of God have been fulfilled.  We know not the day nor the 
hour in which the Master will come, but we know that the preparatory work to 
that event has made considerable progress:  The Gospel has been restored to 
the earth, and is being preached to all nations for a witness that the end is 
near: -- The Messenger has come and restored the authority of God to man, 
that the way might be prepared for His coming and judgment: -- Elijah has 
come and performed his mission: -- And the Saints are gathering together to 
the tops of the mountains, and are building up the House of God.  And as the 
fig tree putteth forth its leaves proclaims the approach of summer, so these 
things indicate the near approach of that time when the Son of God will be 
"revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking 
vengeance on them that know not God and who obey not the Gospel of our Lord 
Jesus Christ."  This is the word of God, and remember, 0 reader! that it is 
written though heaven and earth pass away, not one jot nor tittle of the word 
of God shall fail, but all shall be fulfilled.

Despise not this testimony and warning because he who bears it is a 
representative of a cause and people everywhere spoken against.  Remember 
that Satan has ever opposed the work of God, and those who labor to establish 
it.  If he did so in former ages, will not this opposition be more fierce in 
the dispensation when the work of God is to become triumphant, resulting in 
the overthrow of the powers of darkness and binding them?  Such, it would 
seem, are the plain dictates of reason -- such are the facts.  Be not 
deceived, then, reader, whoever you may be, by the infamous falsehoods in 
circulation about the Latter-day Saints, but examine these things with a 
prayerful heart that you may know of their truth and escape the calamity that 
shall befall those who "reject the counsel of God against themselves."