strong. It presents an unbroken front, and is unafraid. Its attitude is not tile, nevertheless it is strongly aggressive. Its methods of work are those of reason and persuasion, coupled with a fearless affirmation of testimony as to the surpassing importance of its message, which message it labors to convey to every nation, kindred, tongue and people.

"Mormonism" lives because it is healthy, normal and undeformed. In general, a healthy organism is assured of life, barring destruction from external violence or deprivation of physical necessities; whereas one that is abnormal and sickly is doomed to decline. Opposition to the Church, the pitiless maltreatment to which its people have been subjected, comprising mobbings, drivings, spoliation, scourgings, assassination, and murder marked by every conceivable accompaniment of barbarity, have operated to strengthen the Church, body and soul. True, the heat of persecution has scorched and withered a few of the sickly plants such as had no depth of sincerity; but the general effect has been to promote a fuller growth, and to make richer and more fertile the Garden of the Lord.

"Mormonism" thrives and is extending its influence, leavening the thoughts of men, because its distinctive doctrines are those of progression, in accord with the better manifestations of the spirit of the times, best adapted to meet the vital needs of the age. The timeliness of its establishment is significant and largely explanatory of its success.

The seed of the restored Gospel was planted by the Divine Husbandman only after due preparation of the soil. The place of planting was no less carefully selected than the time of seeding. In the economy of God, America, which is veritably the land of Zion, was aforetime consecrated as the home of a free and independent nation. Only in such soil could the germ of the Gospel of true liberty sprout and thrive.

"Mormonism" lives because its claims are consistent and its position impregnable. It affirms the literal fulfilment of scriptural predictions of a great falling away from the truth, a cessation of spiritual gifts and Divine authority, in short a world-wide apostasy from the Church established by the Lord Jesus Christ in the meridian of time. This condition of apostasy is that pictured by Isaiah:

"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." (Isaiah 24:5.)

And by Amos, in his fateful utterance:

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11, 12.)

The certainty of a general declension in spirituality among men, the rise of false Christs and false prophets, of mystic and deceiving voices from the desert and from secret chambers was foretold by the Christ Himself (Matt. 24:4-5, 10, 13, 25-26). So avowed also the Apostles Peter (2 Peter 2:1-3), and Paul (Acts 20:29-30, 1 Tim. 4:1-3, 2 Tim. 4:1-4, 2 Thess. 2:3-4), Jude (17, 18), and John (Rev. 13:4, 6-9).

The apostate condition of Christendom has been recognized and affirmed by high ecclesiastical authority Let a single citation suffice. The Church of England thus proclaims the fact of degeneracy, as set forth in her "Homily against Peril of Idolatry," published about the middle of the sixteenth century and retained to this day as an official declaration:

"So that laity and clergy, learned and unlearned, all ages, sects, and degrees of men, women, and children of whole Christendom an horrible and most dreadful thing to think have been at once drowned in abominable idolatry; of all other vices most detested of God, and most damnable to man; and that by the space of eight hundred years and more."

No less definite than the prophecy of apostasy is the scriptural prediction of a restoration in the last days:

"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: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Rev. 14:6-7.)

"Mormonism" affirms that the "everlasting Gospel" has been restored to earth in the manner specified, that is by angelic ministration. The necessity of a restoration postulates the prior removal of the thing restored; and the restoration of the Gospel is proof of the precedent apostasy of mankind. But, it may be asked, had not we the Holy Bible, the scriptural repository of the Gospel record? The letter, yes. But surely the Gospel is more than a book. The Holy Bible prescribes administrative ordinances as essential to salvation baptism by water and the bestowal of the Holy Ghost by the authoritative imposition of hands, the rebirth of water and of the Spirit, without which, unless the Lord Christ spoke to Nicodemus falsely, no man can enter the kingdom of God. Who will venture to affirm that a possession of a copy of the Holy Bible, or even a letter-perfect memorization of the contents thereof, can give to men the right to administer in the ordinances therein prescribed?

The angel seen by the Revelator while on Patmos was to restore not the letter of requirement as to baptism and other essentials, for this the world had; but he was to bring again to earth the commission to officiate in those saving ordinances, that is, to restore the authority of the Holy Priesthood.

"Mormonism" affirms that on the 15th of May, 1829, a heavenly messenger descended in light and glory, and, laying his hands upon Joseph Smith and his companion in the ministry, Oliver Cowdery, bestowed upon them the Lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, saying:

"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, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins."

The angelic personage announced himself as John, known of old as the Baptist, and declared that he acted under instructions from Peter, James, and John, who held the presidency of the Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood in the apostolic dispensation of old. At a later date Joseph Smith and his fellow laborer were visited by Peter, James, and John, who ordained the two to the Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, which comprises all the authority operative in the Church of Jesus Christ.

Whatever criticism may be offered, exception taken, or denial asserted against these solemn declarations, the consistency of the claims themselves must be admitted. Authority to officiate in the ordinances of the Gospel was brought by angel messengers, and they the very ones in whom were vested the powers of the respective order of Priesthood in the earlier Gospel dispensation. This same strict consistency appears in subsequent manifestations. Thus Moses appeared in the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio, and conferred the keys of the gathering of the tribes of Israel after their long dispersion, which work is abundantly predicted in ancient scripture as a characteristic feature of the latter days the time immediately precedent to the glorious advent of the Son of Man. Elijah the prophet, in literal fulfilment of Malachi's prediction (Mai. 4:5-6) has brought and committed to the modern prophet the authority of vicarious labor in behalf of the dead, by which the hearts of the departed fathers are turned to their living posterity, and the hearts of the yet mortal children drawn to their progenitors in the spirit world. True to this particular