A few other unsuccessful attempts to establish kingdoms on American soil have been made. Napoleon the Third, of France, for instance, offered Mexico to the Austrian Archduke Maximilian, who in 1862 was declared emperor, but after the withdrawal of the French troops from the country, the republican troops under Juarez defeated the army of the emperor, who was taken and shot in 1867. AMERICA A LAND OF LIBERTY. America was set apart by the Almighty as a land of freedom; there is no room here for an emperor; there is no room for a king nor even a duke. The Spaniards lost their grip on this laud; England had to give up the contest to maintain her kingly rule here; and thus this has become a free country. Canada to-day, ruled in one sense by England, is as free as any of the states of America. In this regard then the Book of Mormon is again proven true; no king has ever prospered in America. One peculiar circumstance, somewhat associated with our own people, I must refer to briefly. Perhaps some of you remember the story of James J. Strang, an apostate Mormon, who with other apostates tried to set up a church and a kingdom of their own. Strang organized his church in Pittsburg, Pa., April 6th, 1845, and established himself at Voree, Michigan. He soon went further and declared he was going to set up a kingdom. With this in view he crossed over to Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, where he allowed himself to be crowned king of that island; but he did not last very long in that capacity. Some of his associates rose up against him and slew him. No king in America! And if James J. Strang had had the least spark of truth in bim, and if he had remembered anything at all in regard to the Book of Mormon, he would not have attempted to set up a kingdom, even of that kind, in free America. There will never be kings in America, according to the belief of the Latter-day Saints, until Christ shall reign as King of kings, and Lord of lords, and we certainly will have no objection to His rule. God has said that the people in the western world should be a free people, and that this land would be a choice land above all other lands. A FRENCHMAN'S OPINION. The Book of Mormon, as I said before, is a most remarkable book. In conclusion, I want to quote the language of one of own brethren, Elder Louis A. Bertrand, a scholarly Frenchman, who accepted the gospel when President John Taylor labored as a missionary in France in 1850. Elder Bertrand wrote a book in the French language, at a time when the publication of such a work would almost seem impossible among the people who had not accepted "Mormonism." Elder Bertrand sums up his opinion of the Book of Mormon in these words: "Our conversion (to 'Mormonism'), the fruit of a sincere and persistent conviction, declares better than all we could say, our opinion upon the authenticity, the social and religious importance of this book. No other book, since the Koran, has given birth to a people. The Book of Mormon, in the midst of the blaze of the nineteenth century, has served as foundation to a new people in America. Who can explain this strange social phenomenon of a religious novel accomplishing such a wonder, in presence of the unheard of progress of our age? Giving birth to a people is not such a common thing. From the time of Luther the interpreters of the Bible in both worlds have been able to create sects only, and the philosophers, only systems of philosophy; Joseph Smith is the only one who has laid the foundation of a new society. In the midst of the anarchy of opinions sensible men of all parties must judge of a work only by its results." PERSONAL TESTIMONY. In conclusion, I desire to bear my own testimony in regard to the Book of Mormon. Perhaps I have had as much to do with the reading and studying of that book as most people in the Church. It has fallen to my lot on two different occasions to assist in revising the book in the language of my mother tongue. I have spent years and years, off and on, reading and revising it. The last time I did this, I labored in connection with my esteemed brother and friend, President Anthon H. Lund. During a year and a half we spent our spare time in making a thorough revision of the book, so that it might be read in as good Danish as possible. In doing such a work, my brethren and sisters, a man who is conscientious, a person who believes that man's eternal salvation depends upon the acceptance or rejection of the book, can not go through it in the manner that we did without a prayerful heart. There are indeed many passages in the book that cause people to think most profoundly, and we cannot read much of it before we come to the same conclusion that Willard Richards came to when he first read it in the early days of the Church. Said he: "Man never wrote this book. Either God or the devil produced it; men could not." That is the testimony that we bear, who have had so much to do with it. We can't do otherwise. My dear brethren and sisters and friends, I testify to you in the name of Jesus Christ that I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know this independent of the Three Witnesses, independent of the Eight Witnesses, independent of all the testimonies that have come to us from the Spanish world or the antiquities of America. I know this independent of what I learned in Polynesia and of everything else that I saw and heard while I circumnavigated the globe. I know, by the inspiration of heaven, that the Book of Mormon is true. It was written by holy prophets and inspired men who lived on this continent. They wrote it as they were moved upon by the Spirit of God; and when their work was completed they sealed up their records and hid them in the earth to come forth in the due time of the Lord. Eighty years ago to-day that sacred record was delivered into the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith that it might be translated and come forth in this dispensation. May the gospel of Jesus Christ and the grand and glorious truths contained in the Book of Mormon spread over the whole world, and may the knowledge of God finally cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. SIX REASONS WHY I AM A LATTER-DAY SAINT. I HAVE been accused-and I expect that many of the saints have also of joining this Church without giving its tenets a thorough investigation; else, I am told, I would have had more sense and would have had nothing more to do with this people and their religion. But the very opposite to this is the case. I have studied many works on theology. The result was I was confounded in a maze; but when I had thoroughly entered into an investigation of the doctrine of the Latter-day Saints I knew it to be the truth and I received light upon light. I would like to set forth my reasons for becoming a Latter-day Saint. 1. I am a Latter-day Saint because I have within me the abiding witness of the Holy Spirit that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church of God, again established in these the last days, never to be overthrown nor given to another people. 2. I am a Latter-day Saint because, apart from the doctrines promulgated by the Latter-day Saints, there is not one creed in Christendom wide enough to embrace both the justice and mercy of God. 3. I am a Latter-day Saint because my views on religion, in many cases, prior to becoming a Latter-day Saint, were synonymous to those held and taught by this Church. 4. I am a Latter-day Saint because I believe that the Creator of all things is a God of order and not confusion. And I recognize the contention and confusion that exist in the so-called Christian churches of to-day, through the doctrines of Jesus Christ having been supplanted by the doctrines of men. 5. I am a Latter-day Saint because I believe that the Church of Christ should be one in spirit and in doctrine. 6. I am a Latter-day Saint because I believe that the fount of revelation has not dried up. There is nothing secret that shall not be revealed: therefore I have a desire to be guided of the Spirit into all truth. 40 Ripon Street, Gateshead-on-Tyne. AUBREY PARKER. NEW YEAR'S DAY. "HERE you stand at the parting of the ways; some road you are to take; and as you stand here, consider and know how it is that you intend to live. Carry no bad habits, no corrupting associations, no enmities and strifes into this New Year. Leave these behind, and let the Dead Past bury its Dead; leave them behind, and thank God that you are able to leave them." EPHRAIM PEABODY. And thus to-day begins another year: Another milestone's passed on Time's highway: Another page of Life we turn-to-day. How shall we write each yet unwritten page? On the grim tramp towards another stage, What thorns and pitfalls wait the feet of men! Pause for a while and gaze, with Memory's eyes, What wars Reproach within our bosom wages! To all of us within this vale of tears There comes a certain time, however brief, And all our faults stand out in bold relief - The countless things we could and might have done. Tried in the judgment hall of our own minds We turn the leaf-to sully it again. And who can tell which leaf may be our last! Let us forget the miserable past And humbly, honestly, try once again. ANOTHER WITNESS FOR THE TRUTH. DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, Having read the testimonies which have appeared in the MILLENNIAL STAR from time to time, I desire also to bear testimony to that which I know to be true. About sixteen months ago, while looking over a weekly newspaper, I saw the reports of two addresses which had been delivered by two of our leading local clergymen, each having taken for his subject "New Theology." After reading them I compared them, more out of curios ity, I believe, than anything else. But I have since realized that that comparison, simple though it was, was the first of a series of events which were to arouse me from that state of blissful ignorance into which I had fallen (or to be more correct, had been hushed) in common with thousands of others by men posing as servants of the Most High. It is not necessary for me to give the details of those two addresses. Suffice to say, they were so conflicting that they caused me to wonder how God could expect us to find the strait and narrow way of which our Savior spoke when those claiming to be guides were not agreed upon it. From that time I began to think more seriously about religion than I had ever done before, and I prayed often to the Lord to lead me into the right way, if there was any particular church pointing out that way. I investigated the doctrines of various sects, and the further I investigated the greater became the confusion. It was during my investigations that I first became acquainted with the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints, by means of a tract which had been left at my home by one of the missionaries laboring in our town. Having read and compared it with the scriptures which it quoted, I felt as though a new light had dawned upon me, and not only this, but I felt upset also. The contents of that small tract troubled me more than whole books I had read from the pens of some of our leading divines. Eventually the missioner called again and my wife purchased from him a pamphlet entitled "Rays of Living Light," by Elder Charles W. Penrose. As I read that book and compared its teachings with those of our Savior and His Apostles, I felt its truth sink into my heart. I determined to attend a meeting of the saints, which I did, my wife accompanying me. At the close of the service one of the elders gave me an invitation to visit him at his apartments that he might explain some more of the doctrine to me. I accepted the invitation, and on the evening appointed I presented myself to learn more of the Lord and His will concerning me, and I will say that, although a regular church-goer, I heard more truth that evening than I had heard in all the churches I had ever attended. Being unwilling to deceive myself when the truth had been revealed to me, I was baptized, along with my wife, into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the 29th of January, 1908. |