THE MESSAGE TO JERUSALEM—THE ANCIENT TONES OF MORMONISM—THE MORMON HIGH PRIESTESS IN THE HOLY LAND—ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES—OFFICIATING FOR THE ROYAL HOUSE OF JUDAH.

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she hath received double for all her sins. * * * O Zion, that bringest glad tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God!"

Themes to this day not understood by the Gentiles! Incomprehensible to the divines of Christendom!

The everlasting perpetuation of a chosen race—a diviner monument in its dispersion and preservation than in its national antiquity. Its restoration to more than its ancient empire, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, with Jehovah exalted in his chosen people as the Lord God Omnipotent, is the vast subject of the prophetic Hebrews.

It was such a theme that inspired the genius of grand Isaiah, swelling into the exultation of millennial jubilee for Israel, in his great declamatory of "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God!"

Gentile Christendom has never been en rapport with the Abrahamic subject. It has not incarnated its genius. It is destitute of the very sense to appreciate the theme of Jerusalem rebuilt.

Israelitish Mormondom does understand that subject. It has fully incarnated its genius. It has, not only the prophetic sense to appreciate the theme of Old Jerusalem rebuilt, but also the rising of the New Jerusalem of the last days, whose interpreted symbol shall be, "The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"

The divines of a Romish Christianity—Romish, notwithstanding its sectarian protestantism—have worn threadbare the New Testament; but the epic soul of the old Hebrew Bible has never possessed Gentile Christendom. To it, the prophesies and sublimities of Isaiah, and the everlasting vastness of the Abrahamic covenant and promise, are all, at best, but as glorious echoes from the vaults of dead and long buried ages.

Who has blown the trump of this Hebraic resurrection? One only—the prophet of Mormondom!

The Mormons are, as it were, clothing that soul with flesh—giving the themes of that everlasting epic forms and types. Their Israelitish action has made the very age palpitate. They render the "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God!" as literally as did they the command of their prophet to preach the gospel to the British Isles, and gather the saints from that land.

The thread of history leads us directly to a significant episode in the life of Eliza R. Snow, a prophetess and high priestess of Hebraic Mormondom, in which the "Comfort ye my people" became embodied in an actual mission to Jerusalem.

Very familiar to the Mormons is the fact that, at the period when Joseph sent the Twelve to foreign lands, two of their number, Orson Hyde and John E. Page, were appointed on mission to Jerusalem. The Apostle Page failed to fulfill his call, and ultimately apostatized; but Orson Hyde honored the voice that oracled the restoration of Israel, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He did not preach to Judah in the ordinary way, but on the Mount of Olives he reconsecrated the land, and uttered to the listening heavens a command for the Jews to gather and rebuild the waste places. It was as the refrain of the invisible fathers, concerning Israel's redemption, rising from the hearts of their Mormon children. And that mission of Orson Hyde was but a prophesy, to the sons of Judah, of coming events. Other missions were ordained, as it were, to psychologize the age into listening to the voice of Judah's comforter.

A few years since, the second mission to Jerusalem was accomplished. On the Mount of Olives this time stood also a woman—to take part in the second consecration! A woman's inspired voice to swell the divine command for Israel to gather and become again the favored nation—the crown of empires.

The journal of Sister Eliza thus opens this episode of her life:

"On the 26th of October, 1872, I started on the mission to Palestine. When I realized that I was indeed going to Jerusalem, in fulfillment of a prediction of the prophet Joseph that I should visit that antique city, uttered nearly thirty years before, and which had not only fled my anticipations, but had, for years, gone from memory, I was filled with astonishment."

The Jerusalem missionaries were President Geo. A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, his sister Eliza R. Snow, and Paul A. Schettler, their secretary, accompanied by several tourists. The following commission, given to President Smith, stamps the apostolic character of this peculiar mission, and connects it with the former one, sent by the prophet Joseph, in the person of Orson Hyde, thirty-two years before:

"SALT LAKE CITY, U. T.,

"October 15, 1872.

"PRESIDENT G. A. SMITH:

"Dear Brother: As you are about to start on an extensive tour through Europe and Asia Minor, where you will doubtless be brought in contact with men of position and influence in society, we desire that you closely observe what openings now exist, or where they may be effected, for the introduction of the gospel into the various countries you shall visit.

"When you go to the land of Palestine, we wish you to dedicate and consecrate that land to the Lord, that it may be blessed with fruitfulness preparatory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment of prophesy and the accomplishment of the purposes of our Heavenly Father.

"We pray that you may be preserved to travel in peace and safety; that you may be abundantly blessed with words of wisdom and free utterance in all your conversations pertaining to the holy gospel, dispelling prejudice and sowing seeds of righteousness among the people.

"BRIGHAM YOUNG,

"DANIEL H. WELLS."

Joseph had also predicted that, ere his mortal career closed, "George A." should see the Holy Land. In the fulfillment of this he may therefore be considered as the proxy of his great cousin; while Sister Eliza, who, it will be remembered, was declared by the prophet to be of the royal seed of Judah, may be considered as a high priestess officiating for her sacred race.

Away to the East—the cradle of empires—to bless the land where Judah shall become again a nation, clothed with more than the splendor of the days of Solomon.

Uniting at New York, the company, on the 6th of November, sailed on board the steamer Minnesota. Arriving in London, they visited some of the historic places of that great city, and then embarked for Holland. From place to place on the continent they went, visiting the famous cities, stopping a day to view the battle-field of Waterloo, then resting a day or two at Paris. At Versailles they were received with honor by President Theirs, in their peculiar character as missionaries to Jerusalem. Thence back to Paris; from Paris to Marseilles; then to Nice, where they ate Christmas dinner; thence to San Reno, Italy; to Genoa, Turin, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome. At Rome Sister Eliza passed her seventieth birthday, visiting the famous places of that classic city. On the 6th of February, 1873, the apostolic tourists reached Alexandria, Egypt; and at length they approached Jerusalem—the monument of the past, the prophesy of the future! They encamped in the "Valley of Hinnom." Here Sister Eliza writes:

"Sunday morning, March 2d, President Smith made arrangements with out dragoman, and had a tent, table, seats, and carpet taken up on the Mount of Olives, to which all the brethren of the company and myself repaired on horseback. After dismounting on the summit, and committing our animals to the care of servants, we visited the Church of Ascension, a small cathedral, said to stand on the spot from which Jesus ascended. By this time the tent was prepared, which we entered, and after an opening prayer by Brother Carrington, we united in the order of the holy priesthood, President Smith leading in humble, fervent supplications, dedicating the land of Palestine for the gathering of the Jews and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and returned heartfelt thanks and gratitude to God for the fullness of the gospel and the blessings bestowed on the Latter-day Saints. Other brethren led in turn, and we had a very interesting season; to me it seemed the crowning point of the whole tour, realizing as I did that we were worshipping on the summit of the sacred mount, once the frequent resort of the Prince of Life."

This the literal record; but what the symbolical?

A prophesy of Israel's restoration! A sign of the renewal of Jehovah's covenant to the ancient people! The "comfort ye" to Jerusalem! Zion, from the West, come to the Zion of the East, to ordain her with a present destiny! A New Jerusalem crying to the Old Jerusalem, "Lift up thy voice with strength; Lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God!"

Woman on the Mount of Olives, in her character of prophetess and high priestess of the temple! A daughter of David officiating for her Father's house!

Surely the subject is unique, view this extraordinary scene as we may—either as a romantic episode of Mormonism, or as a real and beautiful prelude to Jerusalem redeemed.

At the Sea of Gallilee the Hebraic muse of Sister Eliza thus expressed the rapture awakened by the scenes of the sacred land:

"I have stood on the shore of the beautiful sea—
The renowned and immortalized Gallilee—
When 'twas wrapped in repose, at eventide,
Like a royal queen in her conscious pride.

"No sound was astir—not a murmuring wave—
Not a motion was seen, but the tremulous lave—
A gentle heave of the water's crest—
As the infant breathes on a mother's breast.

"I thought of the past and present; it seemed
That the silent sea with instruction teemed;
For often, indeed, the heart can hear
What never, in sound, has approached the ear.

"There's a depth in the soul that's beyond the reach
Of all earthly sound—of all human speech;
A fiber, too pure and sacred, to chime
With the cold, dull music of earth and time."

* * * * * * *

On their way home our tourists visited Athens. Everywhere, going and returning, they were honored. Even princes and prime ministers took a peculiar interest in this extraordinary embassy of Mormon Israel. Evidently all were struck by its unique character.

Recrossing the Atlantic, they returned to their mountain home; thus accomplishing one of the most singular and romantic religious missions on record.