Jerusalem; and then shall they assist my people, that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, into the New Jerusalem. And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst; and then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily, I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people; yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem. Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name; yea, and then shall the work commence with the Father, among all nations, in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance. And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rereward." (Chap. x. 1.) 66 O ye remnant of Joseph, your secret is revealed, ye who are despised, smitten, scattered, and driven by the Gentiles from place to place, until you are left few in number! "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest and not comforted ;" lift up your heads and rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh: yea, we have found your record, the oracles of God once committed to your fore fathers, which have been hidden from you for a long time, because of unbelief. Behold! they are about to be restored to you again, then shall you rejoice; for you shall know that it is a blessing from the hand of God; and the scales of darkness shall begin to fall from your eyes; and the Gentiles shall not again have power over you; but you shall be gathered by them, and be built up, and again become a delightsome people; and the time has come; yea, the work has already commenced; for we have seen you gathering together, from all parts of the land, unto the place which God has appointed for the Gentiles to gather you; therefore lay down your weapons of war, cease to oppose the Gentiles in the gathering of your various tribes, for the hand of your great God is in all this, and it was all foretold by your forefathers, ten thousand moons ago. Therefore suffer them peaceably to fulfil this last act of kindness, as a kind reward for the injuries you have received from them. It is with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow that I reflect upon these things. Sorrow, when I think how you have been smitten; joy, when I reflect upon the happy change that now awaits you; and sorrow again, when I turn my thoughts to the awful destruction that awaits the Gentiles, except they repent. But the eternal purposes of Jehovah must roll on, until all His promises are fulfilled, and none can hinder; therefore, O God, thy will be done. But while I still linger upon this subject, with feelings that are easier felt than described, methinks I can almost hear the Indian's mournful chant resounding through his native woods. It whispers thus— Great Spirit of our fathers, lend an ear; Pity the red man, to his cries give ear; Long hast thou scourg'd him, with thy chastening sore; When will thy vengeance cease, thy wrath be o'er? Forbid, great Spirit! make thy mercy known; Reveal thy truth; thy wand'ring captives own; Make bare thine arm of power, for our release, And o'er the earth extend the reign of peace. CHAPTER VI. THE DEALINGS OF GOD WITH ALL NATIONS, IN REGARD TO REVELATION. "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being."-Acts xvii. 26-28. In this text we learn first, that all nations are made of one blood; secondly, they are designed to dwell on all the face of the earth, (America not excepted); thirdly, that the Lord has determined the bounds of their habitation, that is, He has divided the earth among His children, giving each nation that portion which seemed Him good -for instance, the land of Canaan, to Israel; Mount Seir, to Esau; Arabia, to Ishmael; America, to the remnant of Joseph, &c., as a father parcels off a large tract of land to his several childrenand fourthly, He has granted unto all the nations of the earth the privilege of feeling after Him and finding Him; since He is not so very far from every one of them, whether they be in Asia, Africa, Europe, or America, or even upon the islands of the sea. Now if any nation, in any age of the world, or in any part of the earth, should happen to live up to their privilege, what would they obtain? I answer, revelation, for the best of reasons, because no people ever found God in any other way, nor ever will. Therefore, if they found God, they found Him by revelation, direct from Himself, He revealing His will to them; and if they did not find Him in this way, they never knew Him. And if they did obtain revelation, it was their privilege to write it, and make a record of the same, and teach it to their children; and this record would be sacred, because it would contain the word of God; and thus it would be a HOLY BIBLE, no matter whether it was written by the Jews, the Ten Tribes, the Nephites, or the Gentiles. I would just as soon have the Gospel written by Nephi, Mormon, Moroni, or Alma, as the Gospel written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Again, I would just as soon believe a revelation given in America, as believe a revelation given in Asia; for if ever a nation failed to get a revelation, it was because they did not attain unto that which was their privilege. But why, then, was any nation ever left in darkness, from age to age, without the light of revelation to guide them? I answer, because their forefathers, in some age of the world, rejected revelation, cast out and killed the Prophets, and turned a deaf ear to the things of God, until God took away that which they enjoyed, and committed it to some other people, and left them from generation to generation to grow up in ignorance, until He should see fit again to send His light and truth to that nation; but those who reject no light are under no condemnation, and the mercy of God hath claim upon them, through |