The "Why" of the New Dispensation

It has always been a matter of pride with me, in my more than fifty years of ministry in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that it was no trivial thing which called this Church of the New Dispensation into existence. It was not founded upon the idea that men differed in relation to how baptism should be administered, whether by sprinkling or pouring, or immersion; or whether It was for the remission of sins, or because sins had been forgiven. I always rejoice that it had a broader foundation than whether the form of church government and administration should be Episcopal or Congregational, or the Presbyterian form of government, or any other minor difference of theologians. It went to the heart of things, and astonished the world, and at the same time, of course, aroused Its opposition.

When the Prophet of the New Dispensation asked God for wisdom, and which of the many churches about him he should join, he was told to join none of them, for they were all wrong; their creeds were false; they drew near to the Lord with their lips, but their hearts were far removed from him; they had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof; that the Christian world, especially, had. In fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy, transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and had broken the everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24), of which the blood of the Christ was the blood of that everlasting covenant. He promised the incoming of a New Dispensation of the Gospel of Christ, which would link together and unite all former dispensations, from Adam down to the present time, the great stream of events speeding on towards an immense ocean of truth in which it would be united with all truth. It was a world movement. To lay the foundations of a greater faith, it brought forth the American volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon. In time the authority of God, the holy priesthood, was restored, the minor phase of it, through John the Baptist; and later Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the kingdom of heaven, bestowed upon them by the Christ, appeared to the Prophet Joseph and Oliver Cowdery, and this divine and supreme authority from God was conferred upon them. By this authority and under the power of it they organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, outlined its doctrines, and established it firmly in the earth.

That Is how the New Dispensation began—not whether baptism should be by immersion, or for the forgiveness of sins. The rubbish of accumulated ages was swept aside, the rocks made bare, and the foundations relaid. I gather an inspiration from such a movement as that, and I rejoice in it. May it never become a merely tolerated sect—merely one of many!

Now to show you what an immense field is laid before us here, and also how we connect up with these scientists, and the development of our modem knowledge, I read to you an admonition to the early elders of the Church, who were assembled in Ohio for the purpose of being Instructed and prepared for the work of the ministry unto which God had called them. The Prophet brought this to them from God:

The Ministry of the New Dispensation

And I give unto you a commandment, that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom: Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand; Of things both in heaven and in the earth; things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land, and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.

I never can read that without exclaiming: What a field of knowledge there Is laid before the elders of the Church, and which they are bidden to enter and reap abundantly! People have talked about the ignorant ministry of the Mormon Church. All the while here is our curriculum of studies marked out for us, a curriculum that we are to follow. And for what purpose? Listen to the next paragraph:

That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with which I have commissioned you.

God has no use for an ignorant ministry in his Church. This is our law of instruction and our guide, to prepare us for the work of the ministry. Therefore we want to learn and become acquainted with the trend of modern science, as well as ancient science. We want to know something that these men, who scan the heavens and reduce the elements, by analysis, to more or less true proportions—we want to know something about that, and it is our mission to find it out, and hence the connection.

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Joseph Smith obtained his knowledge also by faith, but not in any easy fashion. I remember that David Whitmer, one of the witnesses to the truth of the Booh of Mormon, said in one of his passages printed on the subject:

"Joseph Smith was a good man when I knew him. He had to be, or he could not go on with his work."

And he recites a circumstance in his book, addressed to all "Believers in Christ." He then cites a circumstance where something unpleasant had arisen among the group living at the home of the Whitmers, while and where the Book of Mormon was being translated. The Prophet had some misunderstanding with his wife, Emma; she was not always satisfied with her lot, and was sorely tried. So after this disagreement had taken place in the household he came up to the translating room, where David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery were waiting for his coming. He took up the divine Instrument, the Urim and Thummim, tried to translate, but utterly failed. Things remained dark to his vision. David Whitmer tells how Joseph left the translating room and went to the woodslot on the Whitmer farm, and there corrected himself, brought himself into a state of humiHatlon and of exaltation at the same time. He went back to the house, became reconciled to Emma, his wife, came up to the translating room, and again the visions were given and the translation went on. But he could translate only as he was in a state of exaltation of mind and In accord with the Spirit of God, which leads to the source of hidden treasures of knowledge.

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The Book of Moses

It goes further than we have come, this knowledge by faith. After the Prophet had translated the Book of Mormon he began to receive the revelations which to-day make up the "Book of Moses," the translation of which began to be published about six months after the Booh of Mormon had been translated.

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