I think it proper in this chapter to give a brief history of the gospel—for this reason: There is a very general idea existing in the Christian world that nothing was known of the gospel of Christ—its principles and ordinances, until the personal ministry of the Messiah began; whereas the truth is, the plan of redemption, the gospel, was understood in the eternal heavens before the foundations of the earth were laid; and was revealed to the first patriarchs of the race, and extensively preached many centuries before the coming of Messiah in the flesh.

In proof of the statement that the plan of redemption was understood before even the creation of the earth, I quote the words of the Lord to Abraham: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them; and he said. These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw they were good. * * * And there stood one among them like unto God, and he said unto those that were with him. We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate, shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate, shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever."

"And the Lord said, who shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man, Here am I, send me. And another answered and said, Here am I, send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate, and, at that day, many followed after him. And then the Lord said, Let us go down: and they went down at the beginning, and they organized and formed (that is the Gods), the heavens and the earth."^[A]

[Footnote A: Pearl of Great Price, p. 41.]

This is a brief account of the controversy there was in heaven, in respect to the plan that should be adopted for the salvation of man, when in his second estate.

In the writings of Moses, as revealed to Joseph Smith, the matter is made still more clear. There we have an account of Satan appearing before Moses, and of his seeking to induce that faithful man to worship him instead of God; but Moses rebuked him in the name of the Lord Jesus, and afterwards the Lord appeared unto him and said: "Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying, Behold I, send me, I will be thy Son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore, give me thine honor. But, behold, my beloved Son, which was my beloved and chosen from the beginning, said unto me, Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because Satan rebelled against me [his plans being rejected, as we have already seen], and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also that I should give unto him mine own power, by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down, and he became Satan."^[B]

[Footnote B: Pearl of Great Price, p. 9.]

From this we learn the cause of Lucifer's rejection and rebellion—his plan for man's redemption was of such a character that it would have destroyed the agency of man, and robbed God of his honor; and because that plan was rejected, he rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. This was before the creation of the earth, and this controversy about which the rebellion took place was in relation to the plan of salvation—the gospel.

These things were revealed to the Prophet Joseph, and they throw a perfect flood of light upon the scriptures which refer to Christ as the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,"^[C] From that expression we see that Jesus was chosen to make the atonement from the foundation of the world, and that the gospel was understood from the beginning. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that "at the first organization in heaven we were all present, and saw the Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it."

[Footnote C: Rev. xiii: 8.]

Coming to the time when the gospel was introduced among men on this earth, we find it began by a commandment to Adam to worship the Lord his God, and to offer the firstlings of his flock for an offering unto the Lord. Many days after this commandment had been given, an angel of the Lord visited Adam and asked him why he offered up sacrifices. To which Adam replied: "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." "And the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father. * * * Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying, I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed; and all mankind, even as many as will."^[D]

[Footnote D: Pearl of Great Price, p. 12.]

Enoch, several centuries after this, in describing these events that occurred in the early experience of Adam, said: "He [the Lord] called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying, I am God: I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. * * * If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, * * * which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." * * * And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized; and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying, "Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever; and thou art after the order of him who was without the beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity. Behold, thou art one in me, a Son of God; and thus may all become my sons."^[E]

[Footnote E: Pearl of Great Price, p. 17.]

The reader will here observe that the same principles and ordinances were taught to Adam, as the means of salvation, as have been set forth in these pages as the First Principles of the Gospel of Christ. They continued on through the generations of the patriarchs to the days of Noah; and from Noah through the fathers to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses. At least in one of the revelations of the Lord contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, we have the continuance of the Melchisedek Priesthood traced out through the line of the fathers from Moses to Abraham, from Abraham to Noah, and from Noah to Adam,^[F] and I see not how this priesthood can exist among men and not the gospel: for that is what this priesthood is for— to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, and it is obtained through obedience to the gospel.

[Footnote F: Doc. and Cov. sec. lxxxiv.]

That the gospel was taught to Abraham and to ancient Israel is also evident from the Jewish scriptures. Paul, in writing to the saints in Galatia explained to them that, "The scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed,"^[G] From this then it is clear that the Gospel was taught to Abraham.

[Footnote G: Gal. iii: 8.]

The question, however, may arise, what gospel was it? Was it the same gospel which we have seen was taught to Adam; the same that was taught by the Messiah and his apostles? To which I reply there is but one gospel. There never was but one plan ordained by which mankind are to be saved; and that is denominated in the scriptures "The everlasting gospel," to express its sameness in all generations. Such as it was formed in the grand council of heaven, such it has remained in all ages, and in all dispensations. It is sealed by the precious blood of the Son of God, and like the great Lawgiver whose mind conceived it, whose wisdom brought it into existence, it changes not, neither is there a shadow of variableness in it.

So thoroughly imbued with this idea was the apostle Paul that he said—in writing his epistle to the Galatians: "Though we or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."^[H] The "gospel" preached to Abraham, was the gospel of the Son of God; there is no other.

[Footnote H: Gal. i: 8, 9.]

But I have also stated that the gospel was taught to ancient Israel in the days of Moses; and in proof of this I offer the following:

In the third chapter of Hebrews, Paul alludes to the transgression of ancient Israel, especially to those who, by reason of their sins, were destroyed in the wilderness. Then, in opening the fourth chapter, he says: "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us, of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us [the people of his day] was the gospel preached, as well as unto them [meaning ancient Israel]; but the word preached did not profit them [ancient Israel], not being mixed with faith in them that heard it."^[I]

[Footnote I: Heb. iv: 1, 2.]

Paul makes a further allusion to the gospel being with the children of Israel, in the days of Moses. Writing to the Corinthians he said: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."^[J]

[Footnote J: I. Cor. x: 1-4.]

But now to return to the epistle to the Galatians, in which we learned the gospel was taught to Abraham. After making that statement, Paul asks the question: "Wherefore then serveth the law?" That is, if the gospel was preached to Abraham, how came the law of Moses into existence, why was it given to ancient Israel and binding on them? To which the apostle replies: "It was added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. * * * Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."^[K]

[Footnote K: Gal. iii: 19, 24.]

The matter is still more plainly set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants. In speaking of the priesthood and the ordinances belonging thereto—through which ordinances "the power of godliness is manifest; and without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; for without this"—that is without the priesthood and its ordinances—"no man can see the face of God even the Father and live."^[L] The Lord says: "Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God: but they hardened their hearts, and could not endure his presence, therefore the Lord in his wrath (for his anger was kindled against them) swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fullness of his glory. Therefore he took Moses out of their midst, and the holy priesthood also; and the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel; which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John."^[M]

[Footnote L: Doc. and Cov., sec. lxxxiv: 21, 22.]

[Footnote M: Doc. and Cov., sec. lxxxiv: 19, 27.]

The above is confirmed by the Jewish scriptures also; for it is written in the concluding chapter of Deuteronomy—"There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt."^[N]

[Footnote N: Deut. xxxiv: 10-12.]

Of the things we have spoken respecting the gospel being presented to Israel, this is the sum: The Lord gave them the gospel, but because they would not observe its sacred requirements, he took it, that is in its fullness, from among them, and also the higher or Melchisedek Priesthood; but left them the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, and to the part of the gospel which remained, viz., repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, was added the law of carnal commandments, which was to educate them for the fullness of the gospel when Messiah should come with it. At the appointed time Messiah came and taught the gospel of the kingdom; and though the Jews as a nation rejected him, and their Sanhedrin sentenced him to death, yet a few received his teachings, and among them the Lord Jesus organized His church, established his priesthood and gave to his servants a commandment to go and teach all nations.

They were faithful in discharging their commission, and many received their testimony and obeyed the gospel. Satan, however, working in the hearts of the disobedient, stirred them up to anger against the saints of God, and they were persecuted, imprisoned, and slain. All the apostles, save John, sealed their testimony with their blood, and thousands of their followers were put to death. Edicts the most cruel and heartless were formulated against them by the Roman emperors, and executed with relentless vindictiveness, until the saints of God were well nigh destroyed.^[O]

[Footnote O: See Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, part II., "The apostasy."]

Meantime heresies crept into the churches; false teachers arose teaching perverse doctrines to draw away disciples after them; the Gospel was perverted, the laws thereof were transgressed, the ordinances were changed, the covenant was broken, until scarcely a vestige of the gospel as delivered to men by the Son of God and his authorized servants remained.

After the sword, the prison, the rack, and the flame in the hands of a powerful, pagan government, together with apostate influences and false teachers had done what they could to break down or corrupt the church of Christ, then another evil, more dangerous than all that had gone before was brought to bear upon it. A Roman Emperor, Constantine, was converted to the "Christian religion"—yet by that time, 313 A. D., no more like the religion of Christ than dim, misty twilight is like the glorious light of the noon-day sun. He soon loaded the bishops with new honors, dignities and powers. The churches were made wealthy, and luxurious living succeeded the simplicity in the manner of life characteristic of earlier times among the followers of Christ. This luxury, ever more dangerous than storms or quicksands, poverty or chains, proved more disastrous to the church, more fruitful in its corruptions of the Gospel than the storms of persecution which had beaten upon it from its inception.

Through these combined evils that I have very briefly enumerated, the gospel was corrupted, the authority of God, the priesthood, was taken from among men; and then followed long ages of spiritual darkness and wickedness. At last, however, the time came to usher in the dispensation of the fullness of times, in which all things in Christ, both things which are in heaven and things which are in earth, are to be gathered in one, and the work of the Father pertaining to the salvation of this creation, the earth, and those who inhabit it, is to be consummated.

To open up this work a prophet was raised up in the person of Joseph Smith, and to him the Lord revealed his purposes; telling him also that the creeds of men were an abomination in his sight; that men were drawing near to him with their lips but their hearts were far from him; that they taught for doctrine the commandments of men, "having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof."^[P]

[Footnote P: Pearl of Great Price, p 57.]

After this the angel Moroni was sent to reveal the Book of Mormon; and as it contained an account of the gospel as it was taught to the ancient Nephites on the western hemisphere by the Messiah, and the prophets and apostles authorized to teach in his name; and as this record had been preserved for generations from the hands of wicked men, and has never been corrupted, it contains the fullness of the gospel in its plainness.

While this Nephite record was in course of translation the Lord sent John the Baptist, as already stated in the chapter on authority, to restore the Aaronic Priesthood; afterwards Peter, James and John came and restored the Melchisedek Priesthood, and by the authority which these priesthoods conferred upon him, and under the direction of the Almighty, the Prophet Joseph Smith organized the church, and ordained men and sent them out to preach the gospel in all the world, as a witness that the end was near. For more than fifty years has this proclamation been sounded among the nations, and thousands have been gathered to the place appointed for the saints to assemble and prepare for the glorious coming of the Messiah. The work has met storms of opposition from the press, pulpit and Congress. Ridicule and the violence of mobs have assailed it; drivings, confiscations of property, imprisonment, and banishment have at various times conspired to dishearten those who have accepted it. But in spite of pulpit, press and Congress; in spite of ridicule, the violence of mobs, unjust imprisonment, schemes of confiscation and drivings, the church of Christ moves steadily on to the fulfillment of its high destiny, and the gospel is being preached in all the world.