Letter to the Queen of England, by Parley P Pratt

8/22/2019 Letter to the Queen of England, by Parley P Pratt

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A LETTER f^iGSt,TO THE

QUEEN OF EXGLAl^fD,TOUCHING THE

SIGKS 0 THE tlMES,AND THE

POLITICAL DESTINY OF THE WORLD.

BY P. P. PRATT.

M^ntixtmn\ sub,1841.


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ADDRESSTo Her Gradous Majesty Queen Victoria^Sovreign ofBritain

It has fallen to the lot of your Majesty notonly to live in a most eventful period of theworld, but to occupy a station the most conspi-cuous of any individual of the present age.It has pleased the Almighty disposer of eventswho governs and rules among the kingdoms ofthe earth, to raise your Majesty, while in themorning of life, to a throne of power, at the headof an empire, which, in many respects, standsforemost among the nations and kingdoms of theworld. It is with feelings of that profound res-pect which is justly due to so high an office that Ioffer this address. The importance of the sub-ject and the obligations which 1 am under to theGod whom I serve, and to the people of the agein which I live, are the only apologies which 1offer for thus intruding upon the attention ofyourMajesty.Know assuredly, that the world in which welive is on the eve of a revolution^ more wonderfulin its beginning, more rapid in its progress, morepowerful in its operations, more extensive in itseffects, more lasting in its influence, and moreimportant in its consequences than anywhich man has y(it witnessed upon the earth;a revolution in which all the inhabitants ofthe earth are vitally interested, both religiouslyand politically, temporally and spiritually; oneon which the fate of all nations is suspended, andupon which the future destiny of all the affairs ofihe earth is made to depend. Nay, the angels

^x* desired to look into i(. and heaven itself has


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( 3 )waited with longing expectation for its consummation,

I will now proceed to show from the scripturesfirst, what this revolution is; secondly, that thepresent is the time of its fulfilment.The first great and universal monarchy afterthe deluge was the kingdom of Babel, or Baby-lon. This was founded by Nimrod, on the plainsof Euphrates, and continued to strengthen itselfuntil the time of Nebuchadnezzer, whom theLord raised up to be his servant, lo execute hisvengeance upon the nations. By a series of themost striking prophetic declarations of Jeremiahthe prophet and others, and their no less strikingfulfilment, this monarch majched forth, conquer-ing and to conquer, till Tyre, Egypt and Judea,and all the surrounding nations, were subduedand brought into captivity for seventy years.This was so extensive that Daniel the prophetexclaimed to the king of Babylon, "The God ofHeaven hath given thee a kingdom, power,strength and glory. And wheresoever the chil-dren of men dwell, the beasts of the field, andthe fowls of the heaven hath he given into thinehand, and hath made thee ruler over them all."

This monarch, standing at the head of nationsand swaying his sceptre over all the kingdoms ofthe world, was the favored instrument to whomthe Almighty made known his purposes touchingthe government of the world in all succeedingages. "While resting upon his bed in the deepsilence of midnight, when the busy world was lostin slumbers, and wearied n.iture hushed to silencr*and repose an anxious enquiry arose in his breastin regard to the things which should "come topass'hereafter.-' His mind roamed down throughthe dark vista of fuiure and distant periods, andwould fain have understood and contemplatedthe events of the "latter days." Thus lost incontemplation, and overwhelmed in deep sleep


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( 4 )his mind was guddenly caught from the subjectof his meditation, aud'the visions of heaven wereopened to his view. A great image stood beforehim whose head was of fine gold, his breast andarms of silver, his belly and thighs of brass, hislegs of iron, and his feet and toes part ofiron andpart of clay. '* Lie behold till a stone was cut outof the mountnin without hands, which smote theimage upon the toes; then was the whole imagebroken to pieces together, and became like thechaff of the summer threshing-fioor, and the windblew it away: bat the stone became a greatmountain and filled the whole earth. When theking awoke from this vision, he sent for his wisemen, but none of them could unfold unto him hisdream and the meaning thereof, till Daniel wasfortlwbminsr with this strikingr declaration:"Tfv&i^'is a God in heaven thatrevealeth secrets."This rhan of God then proceeded to tell the44:eam and the interpretation thereof. The headof gold represented Nebuchadnezzer, and thekingdoms over which he reigned, the breast andarms of silver represented the Modes and Per-sians, who next succeeded in the government ofthe world; the belly and thighs of brass repre-sented the empire of Alexander and his success-ors, this being the next in succession; the legs ofiron represented the Roman empire, which wasthe fourth great monarchy of the world; and thefeet and toes, part of iron and part of clay, rep-resented the dissolution of the Roman empireand its subdivision into the kingdoms of modernEurope, as they now exist in their divided state,partly Roman and partly Protestant, and notcleaving one to another, even as iron and claywill not adhere or unite in mutual strength.

Ol course then, the government of Englandis one of the toes of this image.Now, "in the days of these kings, [or kingdomsrepresented by the feet and toes.J the God of


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( 5 )heaven should set up a kingdom which should notbe left to other people, but should break in pie-ces all these kingdoms and stand forever," as rep-resented by the little stone.

This is the interpretation which the God ofheaven himselfgave to Daniel, and which Danielhas given in the scriptures; and England has giv-en the scriptures to the worldthus actually re-vealing to the world its destiny and her own....But before we proceed further, we shall goback and take another view" of the same subject,as revealed to Daniel on another occasion, andunder a different figure. He saw (Dan. vii.)thesesame four kingdoms, viz: the Babylonians, Medesand Persians, Greeks, and Romans rise and reignin succession under the 6guie of four beasts. Outofthe fourth beast he saw, under the figure often horns, ten kingdoms rise, which are the samethat the feet and toes represented, viz: the king-doms of modern Europe. "And he beheld tillthe thrones were cast down, and the Ancient ofDays did sit, and judgment was given to theSain rs, and the time came that the saints pos-sessed the kingdom.'* Again he said, "Thesaints of the Most High shall take the kingdom,and possess the kingdom forever, even for everand ever." Again, "The kingdom and dominion,and the greatness of the kingdom under thewhole heaven, shall be given to the people of thesaints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an ev-erlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serveand obey him." Again, he says, "I saw in thenight visions, and behold one like the Son ofMan, came with the


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( 6 )not pass away, and bis kingdom that which shallnot be destroyed." The kingdom so often spok-en of in this 7th of Daniel is evidently the samethat is represented by the stone which smote theimage, as recorded in the 2'2d chapter.From this it appears that this new kingdomwill be established over the whole earth, to thedestruction of all other kingdoms, by nothing lessthan the personal advent of the Messiah in theclouds of heaven, with power and great glory, butpreceded by a personage called the '*Ancient ofDays."The 11th chapter of Zechariah confirms thistestimony, by predicting that the Lord will standwith his feet on the mount ofOlives; that he shallomc and all the saints with him, and that in thaiday there shall be one Lord, and his name One,and he shall be king over all the earth.The Revelation of John bears the same testi-mony, saying, "The kingdoms of this world shall

become the kingdoms of our God and his Christ."There are many other scripture illustrations of

the same subject, which would be extremely in-teresting to your Majesty, and to the world, butthese must suffice.From all these facts so clearly set forth in the

scriptures, I feel warranted in saying that, assure as all these events have succeeded each oth-er from the days of Nebuchadnezzer, king of Bab*vlou, undl the days of Victoria I on the throneof Britain, so sure will that portion be fulfilledwhich is yet future, and which relates to thecasting down of thrones, the termination of thepolitical and religious establishments ofthe earth,and the setting up of a new and universal kirig-dom, under the immediate administration of theMeeslah and his aints.Connected with the ushering in of this new


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( 7 )to their own land, and rebuild Jerusalem and thecities ofJudea, and rear up the temple of theirGod. This city will be the seat of empire for theeastern world, and all the surrounding nationsfor the next thousand years at least. See Zech-ariah 14.

This restoration will take place by a series otmiracles, signs, wonders, revelations, judgments&c. which will far exceed the dispensation ofMoses, and the deliverance of Israel from Egyp-tian bondage. Jer. 16, Ez. 20, Isa. 1 1, Ez. 3(5 to39 inclusive. With the revolution will be con-nected the resurrection of the saints that haveslept. See Dan. xii, 2; Job xix, 25, 26, 27; andRev. XX.A physical change also awaits the earth at thistime. The mountains will be thrown down, thevalleys exalted, the rough places will becomesmooth and the crooked places straight, the bar-ren deserts fruitful and the parched ground wellwatered, and even the beasts of prey will bewrought upon by the Spirit of Godwill losetheir thirst for blood, and become perfectly harm-less, feeding on vegetable food only.

Isaiah and others have written upon all thesethings so extensively that it would be needlessfor me to give the quotations in this place. Con-nected with this restitution will be judgments andsigns in heaven above and earth beneath, whichwill distress the nations by famine, pestilence,sword, tempests, hail, earthquakes, Hoods andwhirlwinds, and which will finally terminate in afire, as fatal to all the proud and them that dowickedly as the Hood ,of Noah, and the fire thatfell upon Sodom. Then, as Noah was a survivorof a world destroyed, and himselfand family thesole proprietors of the earth, so will the saints ofthe Most High possess the earth and its'whole do-minion, and tread upon the ashes of the wickedSeelsa. xxiv, 1 to 6,Malachi last; Luke xxi. 25


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( 8 )to 30, and Joel ii.Having laid before your Majesty a faint des-cription of that great revolution which awaitsthe world, I now come to the second part of mysubject, viz:

THE TIME OF ITS FULFILMENT.The Apostles were in expectation of its imme-diate fulfilment while Jesus was yet with themuntil he taught them better. They inquired ofhim, saying, "Wilt thou at this time restore thekingdom to Israel?" But he answered them say-ing, "It is not given for you to know the 'timesand seasons which the Father hath put in his ownpower." As much as to say, it was no part oftheir mission, and was not to be fulfilled in theirday. So, being corrected in this thing, the Apos-tle Peter afterwards informs us (Acts iii.)^that theheavens must receive Jesus Christ until thetimes of restoration of all things spoken of bythe Lord, by the Holy Prophets, and that at thetimes of restititution God would send him again.Jesus himself speaks of this same time when hesaj's [Luke xxi.] "Jerusalem shall be troddendown of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gen-tiles be fulfilled. Paul also comes to the samepoint of time, [Romans xi.] "Blindness in part ishappaned to Isiael until the fulness of the Gen-tiles is


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( 9 )not possibly allude to the kingdom oi God whichwas set up in the days of the apostles, for thatkingdom was already at hand when the Saviourpredicted these things, and was set up immedi-ately after his resurrection, and without the signsspoken of in the 21st of Luke having come topass. Therefore he must have alluded to thekingdom of which Daniel and others spoke,which was to be set up "in the days of thesekings," as represented by the feet and toes of theimage: and it is well known to your Majesty,and to all Christendom, that these ten kingdomsout of the ruins of the Roman empire did notarise until many hundred years after the days ofthe apostles.

Let us here enumerate the signs spoken ofwhich are to precede theMessiah's second comingand the setting up of his kingdom. "There shallbe signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in thestars, and upon the earth distress of nations, withperplexitythe sea and the waves roaring, men'shearts failing them for fear, and for looking afterthose things which are coming on the earth:, forthe powers of heaven shall be shaken, and thexshall they see the Son of Man coming in theclouds of heaven with power and great glory."

I beg leave barely to remind your Majestythat these signs have 'for the last ten years beenfulfilling in the eyes of all people. I need nothere particularize, or point out their fulfilment,for passing events are too notorious to be hidden.

I now beg leave to call the attention of yourMajesty to an important discovery, which haspoured a flood oflight upon these subjects, andwhich h|as actually rovealed, and demonstratedthat the present age is the time of their fulfil-ment. I allude to the discovery of an ancientrecord among the antiquities of America, a copyof the translation of which was lately presentedto your Majesty; and another to liis Royal High-


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( 10 )ness Prince Albert, by Mr.Brigham Young. Thediscovery of this record and the things connectedwith it, as they are now ushering in upon theworld, are of more importance than any singleevent which has transpired in modern times.The discovery of America by Columbus 300years since opened a new era upon the world,and poured a flood of liglit upon the startling na-tions. They awoke from the slumber of ages,and gazed with astonishment and wonder. Asthe first transports of admiration subsided, a spiritof enterprize seized the people, and a new im-pulse was given to the minds of men, which hasresulted in the mighty changes in the scientific,commercial and poHtical departments; and whichhas mainly contributed in forming all the greatoutlines of modern character.But it remained for the nineteenth century toopen a treasure of knowledge, and to present tothe world a discovery more extensive in its in-formation, more glorious in its intelligence, and ofgreater magnitude in its final bearing upon menand things than all the discoveries of Columbusand his contemporaries. I allude to this ancientAmerican record. By this means the history ofthe past in relation to half the world, has beenopened as far back as the confusion of languagesat Babel. A nation whose 'bones are dried"and whose ruined temples and monuments havereposed for ages in silent, solemn and awfulgrandeur, has now spoken from the dust, and re-vealed to the world their history, and with ittheir prophecies and their testimony of Jesus asthe risen Messiah, and the Savior of the world,not of Asia, only, but America also. From thisrecord, we learn the astonishing fact that theGospel was revealed among the ancient inhabit-ants of that continent, and the risen Jesus minis-tered in person unto them, seiting in order all theoffices and ordinances of his kingdom,and opening


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( 11 )all the great outlinies of his doctrine, togetherwith a knowledge of the future down to the res-toration of which we have spoken. By thismeans we are enabled to come to a knowledgeof these points of doctrine and prophecy, and tounderstand clearly that which has been renderedobscure by coming down to us through the darkages, robbed of its plainness by priestcraft andsuperstition, and mingled with the traditions ofmen. By this means we are enabled to under-stand definitely the signs of thr times, and howand when the prophecies are to be fulfilled in re-lati)n to the great revolution so cle ar)y set forthin this letter. And by this means we understandthe fate of the world and the destiny to whichthe nations are hastening.

This ancient record was discovered in 1827 inWestern New York in the bowels of the earth,where it had been concealed for 1400 years. Itwas there deposited by a holy prophet whosename was Moroni, in order to preserve it, at atime when a great nation was overthrown. Itwas translated, and published in English in 1830.Since that time it has been a principal means inthe hands of God, of working a greater revolu-tion among men than was ever known in soshort a time. It has given rise to the Church ofChrist of Latter-Da)' Saints,which was first organ-ized with six members on the 6th of April, 1830,but which now numbers many thousands, both inAmerica and Europe.This Church professes to hold to the ancientorder of the Gospel as revealed both in the Bible

and in this American record. They discard in-fant baptisni as an invention of priestcraft, andhold to the baptism of penitent believers for re-mission of sins and to the gift of the Holy Ghostby the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus;and to the gifts of healing, prophecy, miracles,&LC, as Jesus has promised in his word.


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( 12 )The Church of the Saints thus organized uponthe ancient faith once ilelivered to the Saints,must grow and flourish, and spread among allnations, and must increase in faith and powerand might and glory, until as a bride adorned forher husband, she is jprepared for her comingLord, and for the marriage supper of the Lamb.Perhaps a few words of one of the prophets, ascontained m this ancient record will serve toshew what is at hand to be fulfilled in plainerterms than any modern style of language canexpress. From the 57th page of the First Bookof Nephi, as contained in this ancient record, Iextract the following:"The Lord will proceed to make bare his armm the eyes of all nations, in bringing about hiscovenants and his gospel unto those who are ofthe house of Israel. Wherefore he will bringthem again out of captivity, and they shall begathered together to the lan'ds of their inheritanceand they shall be brought out of obscurity andout of darkness, and they shall know that theLord is their Savior and their Redeemer, theMighty One of Israel. And the blood of thatgreat and abominable Church, which is the whoreof all the earth shall turn upon their own heads,and they shall be drunk with their own blood.And every nation which shall war against thee Ohouse of Israel, shall be turned one against anoth-er, and they shall fall into the pit which they dig-ged to ensnare the people of the Lord; and allthat fight against Zion shall be destroyed. Andthat great whore who hath perverted the ways of

tlie Lord, yea that great and abominable ^Church, shall tumble to the dust, and greatshallbe the fall of it. For behold the time comethspeedily, that Satan shall have no more powerover the hearts of the children of men; for theday soon cometh that all the proud and theywho do wickedly shall be as stubble; and the day


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( ^ 13 )cometh that they must he burned. For thetime soon cometh that the fulness of the wrathof God shall be poured out upon all the childrenof men, for he will not suffer that the wicked shalldestroy the righteous, therefore he will preservethe righteous by his power, even if it so be thatthe fulness of his wrath must come, and the right-eous preserved even unto the destruction of theirenemies by fire. Behold I sdy unto you thatthese things must shortly come, yea, even blood,and fire and vapour of smoke, must cofne, and itmust needs be upon the face of this earth; and itcometh unto men according to the flesh, if it so bethat they harden their hearts against the HolyOne of Israel; for behold the righteous shall notperish: for the time surely must come, that allwho fight against Zion shall be cut off. And theLord will surely prepare a way for his people,unto the fulfilling of the words of Moses, which hespake saying, "A prophet shall the Lord yourGod raise up unto yon, like unto me; him youshall hear in all things whatsoever he shall sayunto you." And it shall come to pass that allthose who shall not hear that prophet shall be cutoff from among the people.And now I, Nephi. declare unto you that thisprophet of whom Moses spake wai the Holy Oneoflsrael, wherefore he shall execute judgment inrighteousness; and the righteous need not fear,for they are those who shall not be confounded.But it is the kingdom of the Devil which shall bebuilt up among the children of men, which king-dom is established among them which are in theflesh, for the time speedily shall come that all thechurches which are built up to get gain, and allthose which are built up to get power over theflesh, and those which are built up to become pop-ular in the eyes of the world, and those who seekthe lusts of the flesh and the things of

the worldand to do all manner ofiniquity.yea, in fine, all


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( 14 )those who belong to the kingdom of the Devil nrethey who need fear and tremble, and quake; theyare those who must be brought low in the dust:they are those who must be consumed as stubble.And the lime cometh speedily that the righteousmust be led up as calves of the stall, and the HolyOne of Israel must reign in dominion and might,and power and great glory. And he gatherethhis children from, the four quarters of the earthand he numberethhis sheep and they know him,and there shall be one fold and one shepherd;and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shallfind pasture."

I have given the above extract from this an-cient prophecy, in order that your Majesty andthe people of your dominion, may be aware of fu-ture events which are nigh, even at the door.

I must close this letter by forewarning theSovreign and people of England, in the most af-fectionate manner, to repent and turn to theLord with full purpose of heart. When 1 say re-pent, I mean my message for the lords and nobles,clergy and gentry, as well as Sovreign and peo-ple. Let them deal their bread to the hungrytheir clothing to the naked; let them be mercifulto the poor, the needj,the sick and the afflicted,the widow and the fatherless.let them set theoppressed free and break every yoke; and in or-der to be able the more effectually to do this, letthem dispense with their pride, extravagance,their luxury and excess, for the cries of the poorhave ascended up to heaven, and their groansand tears have ascended up before the Lord, andhis anger is kindled and he will no longer suffertheir sufferings to go unnoticed.

In short, let thcin bring forth fruits meet forre-pentance,and come and be baptised in the nameofJesus for remission of sins, and then shall theyreceive the Holy Spirit,and become the saints of

I! the Most JJic^ii, the '^hildrrnof liirht: and signs


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( 15 )shall follow them that believe; the sick shall behealed in the name of Jesus, devils shall be castout, the deaf shall hear, and the dumb shall speakand the poor have the gospel preached unto them.Now,if the rulers, clergy, and people of Eng-land hearken to this message they shall have part

in this glorious kingdom so clearly set forth in thisletter, but if they will not hearken to the words ofthe prophets and apostles,they will be overthrownwith the wicked, and perish from the earth.The God of Israel hath sent his angel with thismessage to the children of men; "to them thatdwell upon the earth, and to every nation,andkindred and tongue and people, saying with aloud voice, "fear God, and give glory to him: forthe hour of his judgment is come, and worshiphim that made heaven and earth, and the sea,and the fountains of waters."With sentiments ofprofound respect, and withthe most anxious desire for the welfare andprosperity of the Sovreign and people of Eng-land, I have the honor to subscribe myself,

Your Majesty's Humble Servant,And Loyal Subject,PARLEY P. PRATT.

Manchester, May 28, 184L


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Letter to the Queen of England, by Parley P Pratt