The Watch on the Tower.

"Haunted Houses."—Several years since, a learned gentleman was lecturing in some of our Utah towns, taking for his theme "Haunted Houses." That was his way of describing the situation of those who put faith in prophets, visions and revelations, as among the means whereby God communicates with man. He invited all such to come out of their "haunted houses," and build for their souls "more stately mansions," founded upon the rock of reason and scientific truth. The lecturer had special reference, of course, to the followers of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

A Fundamental Belief.—A belief in prophets and in spiritual gifts, whereby come visions, revelations, and miraculous "signs," following and confirming full and true belief,^[1] is fundamental with the Latter-day Saints. We regard the founding of our Church as a fulfillment of prophecy,^[2] and recognize in the decadence of long established systems of religion, a result of failure to be guided and governed by the teachings and warnings of men divinely inspired. "Where there is no vision, the people perish."^[3] Where there is no revelation, spiritual darkness reigns.

Not a Chance World.—We are not living in a world of chance. Things do not occur haphazardly, without the care or cognizance of the omniscient and omnipotent Ruler. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice. Design, not accident, governs the universe. Neither man nor Satan, though exercising to the full his free agency, can possibly thwart the Divine Will. With all their schemings and strivings, they are powerless to destroy or disarrange God's Plan, or to hinder the fulfillment of prophecy. All things, both the evil and the good, are overruled in a way to subserve one and the same great end—What Eternal Wisdom decreed before the foundation of the world.

The Function of Prophecy.—The need for prophecy must be evident to any pious and reflective mind. Prophets are as watchmen on the tower, noting the time of night, telling of the approaching dawn. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."^[4] This means, as I interpret it, that the all-wise Dispenser of human affairs will neither cause nor permit any event to take place, concerning which the world need to have fore-knowledge, until he has communicated with his chosen servants, his oracles among men, and has given them due notice of its approach.

To warn mankind of impending judgments; to prepare His people, and through them the world at large, for changes that must come in the carrying out of the divine program—changes necessary to human progress—is the function of those who see into the future and make known the word and will of the Universal Father.

Time for Preparation.—Even without the Prophet Amos and his inspired utterance, we have every reason to feel assured, from what we know of the divine attributes, that God, in his dealings with man, harbors no intent to take what is known as "a snap judgment." His object being to save, not to destroy, it is very far from his design that the world shall be caught unawares, that men or nations shall be involved in trouble of which they have had no warning, and for which, consequently, they could make no preparation. The promised sending of Elijah the Prophet "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord," was in order that certain things might be done which, if left undone, would cause that "coming" to "smite the earth with a curse."^[5]

Not that the Lord wishes to curse. His object, even in chastisement, is to bless.^[6] But a want of preparedness can change a blessing into a curse. Messiah's glorious appearing will be a wonderful blessing to the earth and its inhabitants, provided they are made ready for it. But a lack of readiness on their part would convert the boon into a calamity. Hence the need of preparation and of previous notice. Whether weal or woe is wending its way earthward, it is only fair that men should be told of it in advance.

The Supernatural Discredited.—But there is a proneness in human nature to discredit the Heaven-sent messenger. Almost invariably the supernatural is discounted, if not derided, by ultra-practical minds. All miracles are myths to the agnostic intellect. "The natural man is an enemy to God."

Dead Prophets Preferred.—Even those who revere the prophets of the past are tempted to ignore the prophets of the present. It seems natural to turn from What Is and bow down to What Has Been. Not only prophets, but poets, philosophers, and other wise and worthy teachers have been treated in this manner.

"Seven cities claimed the birth of Homer, dead,
Through which the living Homer begged for bread."

The Savior reproved the pious unbelievers of his generation for "garnishing the sepulchres of the righteous," the dead seers and revelators, and at the same time rejecting the living worthies, as their fathers had done before them.^[7] A professed reverence for Moses and the old-time prophets was a prominent characteristic of those who spurned the greatest of all prophets, the very Son of God, concerning whom Moses and other seers had testified. And this same spirit, the spirit that crucified the Christ, has caused the martyrdom of His servants in all ages.

Counterfeit and Genuine.—For the widely prevalent distrust felt toward men who come burdened with a message from on High, false prophets and the mischief they have wrought are largely responsible. But distrust, no less than credulity, can be overdone. Caution against imposition is commendable, but doubt that rejects truth is to be deprecated and condemned. All prophets are not false. There can be no counterfeit without a genuine; and to proclaim against the one is virtually to concede the existence of the other.

A Test of Prophecy.—A simple and sure test of prophecy is furnished in the following passage of Holy Writ: "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously."^[8] By this standard of judgment can be tested all that prophetic inspiration has ever uttered. Given enough time, "the thing" will clearly demonstrate whether or not it was "spoken presumptuously."

A Serious Situation.—Ponder upon this, ye who hear the testimonies of the Elders of Israel, preaching the restored Gospel of the Kingdom as a final witness to the nations. And when you see coming to pass, in these days of war, pestilence and calamity, the predictions of ancient and modern seers, give a thought, a serious thought to the situation. Ask yourselves if you can afford to be classed, either with those who look upon believers in spiritual gifts as deluded dupes living in "haunted houses," or with those who extol the prophets of former ages, and persecute or ignore the prophets of the present time.

Footnotes

1. Mark 16:17.2. Isa. 29:14.3. Prov. 29:18.4. Amos 3:7.5. Mal. 4:5, 6.6. Prov. 3:11, 12.7. Matt. 23:29.8. Deut. 18:22.