FITNESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW DISPENSATION.  
Having considered the objections urged against Joseph Smith and ascertained their value, I am now prepared to proceed with the testimony and argument which sustains my fourth thesis; viz.:—Joseph Smith is a New Witness for God, a Prophet divinely authorized to teach the gospel and establish the Church of Christ on earth.
 
I have already argued at some length that the only way the gospel could be restored to the earth when once taken from it was by a new revelation. It was upon the principle of revelation that Jesus promised to build his church; it was through the ministration of an angel that the Apostle John foresaw that the gospel would be restored in the hour of God's judgment; and it was at this particular point that Joseph Smith started, thus differing from all other religious teachers who have arisen in modern times.
 
He appealed to God for wisdom, as we have seen; and that appeal brought a revelation from God the Father, who introduced his Son Jesus Christ. The lad was informed that God accepted none of the religious societies as his church or kingdom, but was promised that the Church of Christ would be restored to the earth and that he should be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in bringing the event to pass. Subsequently, the angel Moroni visited him, revealing the existence of the Book of Mormon and finally giving it into his hands to translate into the English language. This book itself contains the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught to the ancient inhabitants of the western hemisphere; but in addition to this the angel Moroni met with Joseph Smith at the hill Cumorah on the 22nd of September for four successive years, and from him, at each of the annual meetings, he "received instruction and intelligence * * * respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the last days."[1] Thus Joseph Smith started right. He started upon the only principle that the church could again be re-established; he received the gospel through the ministration of an angel—in just the manner a recognized prophet of God had foretold it would be restored.
 
All this, however, I may be told, was but a bold stroke of genius on the part of a bold imposter. That might answer for an explanation if it were not for the fact that it all happened in connection with a youth not yet parted from the innocence of childhood. Then, again, why is it, if this happiness on the part of Joseph Smith in starting right is to be attributed to the master stroke of genius—why is it that some one of the many imposters who have arisen among Christians, and founded sects, have not hit upon the plan of announcing a new revelation from God and the restoration of the gospel through the ministration of an angel? Surely among the many imposters and "reformers" who have arisen since the days of Jesus there have been some who were not lacking that which men recognize as genius! Why was it left for a mere lad in the wilds of Western New York to display more "genius" than all the imposters since the days of Christ? The fact that one so unsophisticated in the ways of the world had the boldness to announce a new revelation to the world, and proclaim a restoration of the gospel through the ministration of an angel, carries on the face of it much evidence of its truth.
 
Not only, however, did our Prophet start right but he continued right. He not only received the gospel through the ministration of an angel; but he received his authority to preach it, administer its ordinances and build up the Church of Christ from those who last held the keys of that authority on earth. From John who when on earth was called the Baptist, now raised from the dead and become an angel of God, he received the Aaronic Priesthood, which gave him power to preach repentance and baptize for the remission of sins; from Peter, James and John, the three chief apostles of the dispensation ushered in by the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus, he received the keys of the Melchisedek Priesthood—the Holy Apostleship, which gave him power to establish the church of Christ to the uttermost and regulate all its affairs; from Moses he received the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four quarters of the earth and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north;[2] from Elijah the keys of the priesthood to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, according to the prediction of Malachi.[3]
 
Thus he was called and ordained of God through divinely appointed agents as was Aaron, and therefore fulfilled the law which provides that those who minister for men in things pertaining to God, must be called of God as Aaron was, by prophecy and revelation.
 
In this development of the work of God, one sees a fitness of things. Look for a moment at the work God has proposed to himself to accomplish: The time has come for the restoration of the gospel; for the reestablishment of his church; for the ushering in of the dispensation of the fullness of times in which he has promised to gather together in one all things in Christ, "both which are in heaven, and which are on earth."[4] A reign of peace, a reign of righteousness is about to be inaugurated—the Millennium which the scriptures promised—long looked for by earth's troubled children—despaired of—given up—is about to be realized! The remnant of Israel is............