History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

CHURCH DOCTRINE. 335
revelation. 1 Man is a free agent. The laying on of
hands for ordination, and for the healing of the sick,
descends from the early to the later apostles. 2 There
will be a resurrection of the body and a second coming
of Christ. Israel is a chosen people; there has been
a scattering of Israel, and there will be a gathering.
Joseph Smith was the fulfiller not only of bible prophecies,
but of the book of Mormon prophecies, and of
his own prophecies. Foreordination, election, and
dispensation of the fulness of times are held. There
was an apostasy of the primitive church, and now
there is a return. There was the Jerusalem of the
eastern hemisphere; on the continent of North America
is planted the new Jerusalem. Miracles obtain;
also visions and dreams, signs and tokens, and angels
of light and darkness. There are free spirits and
spirits imprisoned; the wicked will be destro}^ed, and
there will be a millennial reign. The saints are largely
of the house of Israel, and heirs to the promises made
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The aboriginal inhabitants
of America and the Pacific isles were the
1 In 1853, Benjamin Brown, high-priest, and pastor of the London, Read
ing, Kent, and Essex conferences, published at Liverpool a tract entitled
Testimonies for the Truth; a Record of Manifestations of the Power of God
Miraculous and Providential, witnessed by him in his travels and experiences
The author was a native of New York, and born in 1794. He was a firm be
liever in latter-day revelations from God, and that the ancient gifts of the
gospel still remained, long before he joined the Mormons. He labored long
and in various places. He held property in Nauvoo when the saints were
driven out, and was obliged to take §250 for what was worth §3,000. Afterward
he underwent all the sufferings and vicissitudes of the overland journey
to Salt Lake. Mr Brown was an earnest and honest man; his book is the
record of his life, and is simple and attractive in style and substance.
2 Healing the sick. Joseph early laid it clown as a rule that all diseases
and sickness among them were to be cured by the elders, and by the use of
herbs alone. Physicians of the world were denounced as enemies to mankind,
and the use of their medicines was prohibited. Afterw -d, anointing with oil,
prayer, and laying on hands were resorted to in add. ;on to the iirst mentioned.
Says Mrs Richards, ' In all sicknesses we use,, no medicines, with
the exception of herb teas that we ourselves prepared, trusting exclusively
to the efficacy of the anointing with oil and prayer.' Reminiscences, MS., 34.
Joseph said, 'All wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution,
nature, and use of man. Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit
in the season thereof.' The use of flesh was not forbidden, but rather restricted
to seasons of cold and famine. All grain was pronounced good for
man, but wheat was particularly recommended, with corn for the ox, oats for
the horse, rye for fowls and swine, and barley for all useful animals, and for
mild drinks; as also other grain. Times and Seasons, v. 736.