BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 o 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 

A SERIES OF LECTURES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY, THE DREAM OF 
 [NEBUCHADNEZZAR, THE VISION OF DANIEL, THE 
 PERIHELIA OF THE PLANETS, THE CONSTEL- 
 LATIONS OF THE SERPENT AND DRAGON, 
 STAR OF BETHLEHEM, SHEPHERD STAR 
 AND THE ORE A T SIGNS IN THE HE A V- 
 ENS, WITH THE SEVEN WONDERS 
 OF THE WORLD, PYRAMIDS AND 
 CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES; 
 EVENTS IN HISTORY, 
 ITS SIEGES AND BAT- 
 TLES, WITH SCENES 
 IN ZION AND 
 
 BY 
 
 ELDER ROBERT SMITH, 
 
 PAYSON, UTAH. 
 
 1887. 
 
PRINTED AT THE JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE. 
 
O 
 
 
 M/f. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction. Page 13. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Abraham, his Parentage, his Nativity Extracts from the Talmud Concern- 
 ing his life His Destruction of his Father's Idols He leaves Ur of the 
 Chaldees Visits Egypt Incidents in his Life. 14. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 First Wonder Outside View of the Great Pyramid Distance from the Nile 
 Singular Marks Passage and Rooms-Herodotus' Description of Pyra- 
 mid Abraham the Architect Years in Building Where the Rock was 
 Brought from Size, etc History of Grand Cairo Object of Building, 
 etc Great Causeway for Conveying Rock to Pyramid Geographical 
 Position Circle of Time Israel and the Pyramid Cephren the Sec- 
 ond Largest Pyramid History of Sphinx Myceranus the Third Larg- 
 est Pyramid. 19. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Inside of the Great Pyramid Date of Building Astronomical Markings 
 Hieroglyphics Dragon Star Uranus North Polar Star at Pyramid 
 Building Perihelia of Planets Entrance Passage Meridian of Pyra- 
 mid Lowest Position of Dragon in 1891 Position of Serpent Inch 
 Marks in Entrance Passage Length of Passages Time from Fall of 
 Adam to Birth of Christ Length of Grand Gallery Narrow Passage 
 Stone Steps and 1830 Ante-Chamber King's Chamber Stone Cof- 
 fer and Ark of Covenant Square Room or New Jerusalem Pyramid 
 in Center of the Earth Lower Room Representing Hades Alma- 
 moun's Passage Joseph Smith and the year 1891 Pyramid a Sign and 
 Witness of End of World Pyramid and Millennium. 29. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Perihelia of Planets Date of Great Perihelia Two Great Perihelia To- 
 getherTheir Mark in Great Pyramid The Position of the Earth and 
 
ii CONTENTS. 
 
 five Planets The Star of Bethlehem This Perihelia a Sign of the 
 End. 42. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Cleopatra's Needles Description of Pillars Location Size Object of 
 Rearing When Reared By Whom When Taken Down Where 
 Moved Needle in London Pillar in New York The Square and Com- 
 pass on .Needle Free Masonry and the Cleopatra's Needles. 44. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Second Wonder The City of Babylon Its Origin Its Location Herodo- 
 tus' Visit Nimrod and Babel Tower of Babel Palace of King- 
 Hanging Gardens Euphrates River Great Walls Confusion of 
 Tongues and Brother of Jared Cyrus Besieging the City Fall of 
 Babylon End of Jewish Captivity Alexander the Great and Babylon 
 Hand-writing on the Wall. 48 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Third Wonder, Jupiter Olympus Commencement of Image Worship 
 Nimrod and the Star Jupiter Phidas the SculptorOlympic games 
 Dimensions of Image Size of Temple Description of Statue When 
 Destroyed, and by Whom. 57. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Fourth Wonder, Temple of Diana Geographical Position of Ephesus 
 Paul preaching in Ephesus Origin of Diana Description of the 
 Foundation The Marble Columns Size of Temple 220 years in build- 
 ing Incidents Pertaining to Temple Justinian Destroys the Temple 
 Gospel of John Written at Ephesus. 63. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Fifth Wonder, the Pharos The City of AlexandriaConception of Great 
 Light-house By Whom Built Incidents in life of Ptloemy Soter and 
 Ptolemy Philadelphus Walls and Streets of Alexandria Its Popula- 
 tionSize of Pharos Bible first Translated in the Time of the Pharos 
 Great Alexandrian Library Pharos Destroyed by an Earthquake 
 Other Light- houses. 70. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Sixth Wonder, the Mausoleum Description of Caria and Halicarnassus 
 Death of King Mausolus His Queen Artemesia Mourns his Death 
 
CONTENTS. iii 
 
 Buildslone'of the Seven Wonders Description of Tomb Death of 
 Queen Comments of Tomb. 74. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Seventh Wonder, the Colossus The City of Rhodes Antigones and the 
 Rhodians Siege of Rhodes Origin of Image Size Description of 
 Colossus Knight of St. John's Monuments of Rhodes Destruction 
 of Image. 79. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Siege of Jerusalem The Holy City Its Antiquity Geographical Position 
 Shem the Founder Melchisedec Who was Melchisedec Abraham 
 and Jerusalem Jebusites Occupation David's overthrow of Jerusa- 
 lemThe City Under David The Benjamites were the Christians who 
 Received the Gospel The Revolt of the Jews A. D. 68 Siege of Jeru- 
 salem Under Titus Sufferings of the Jews Solomon's Temple Also 
 Herod's End of the Siege. 83. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Colosseum of Rome, or Zion as it Was Jews Build Colosseum Vespasian 
 Emperor of Rome The Great Amphitheatre Its Size The Dedica- 
 tion Jews and Christians Destroyed by Nero Flight of Early Chris- 
 tians Their Sufferings in the Catacombs Their Extinction A. D. 570 
 The JVlelchisedec Priesthood and the Former- day Saints Comparison 
 Between Former and Latter-day Saints The Church Driven into the 
 Wilderness 1260 years Prophetic Numbers Restoration of Gospel 
 1830. 89. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Zion as it Was The Little Horn Daniel's Explanation The Latter-day 
 Saints the People Meant by Daniel Must be the People as History 
 Proves Never to be Overthrown 1830 the Prophetic Year 1891 the 
 End Prison Scene, etc. 93. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Zion as it will be Means of Knowing the Things Concerning Zion Revela- 
 tion and Prophecy on Zion Proof Positive that Zion will be Redeemed 
 Prophecy of Babyloc The Caliph Omar and Mohammed The 
 Saracens Isaiah on Zion Battles of Zion to be Fought by the Lord 
 The Tribes of the North The icy Barriers to Melt at their Approach 
 They will Come to Ephraim to Receive their Confirmations Temples 
 to be Reared The Ancient of Days The Temple in Jackson County. 
 
 102. 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Last Judgments Rewards and Punishments John the Revelator on last 
 Judgment The Lake of Fire Comments Thereon Fate of the 
 Wicked Rewards of the Just Remorse of those who Neglect Salva- 
 tionThe Holy City Its Streets of Grold Precious Stones the Walls 
 Comments on this Probation The Law of Increase only by the Celes- 
 tial The Twelve gates of the New Jerusalem The Names over the 
 Gates The Celestial life only Worth Living for The Records Kept by 
 Man Himself and How The Lagt Judgment Sure. 108. 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 HAVING been solicited by many patrons, who have wit- 
 nessed our exhibition of paintings, to print the lectures on the 
 subjects of our title-page, and, having carefully penned our 
 researches on said subjects, we cordially hope that this little 
 book may prove a source of good, and aid the students of his- 
 tory and prophecy to unravel some of the mysteries of godli- 
 ness, and to pursue the path of knowledge, leading upwards 
 to God, that by diligence and faithfulness in His most holy 
 cause, they might know more of the things that will surely 
 come to pass in the latter days. It is the earnest wish of the 
 author that this little work may be the means of inducing the 
 lukewarm to consider well their ways and be wise. 
 
 The times indicate rapid changes, and the mind, imbued 
 with heavenly aspirations, cannot fail to read in holy writ, in 
 the great pyramid and in the constellations of the heavens, 
 the signs of the near approach of the King of kings and Lord 
 of lords, to reign in power and great glory. 
 
 That the seed sown may bear precious fruit, and the les- 
 sons of history and prophecy contained herein leave their 
 lasting impress, I subscribe myself the friend of the truth- 
 loving everywhere. 
 
 ROBERT SMITH. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ABRAHAM. 
 
 ABRAHAM was the first great patriarch. He was born in 
 Ur of the Chaldees, beyond the Euphrates. His father's name 
 was Terah, who was a descendant of Shem. Abram lived in 
 Ur until he was seventy-five years old, when, being called of 
 God by revelation, he left his native land and emigrated to 
 Canaan (Gen. xii, 1 5). A famine drove him into the land of 
 Egypt, where he fell in favor with the king, and afterwards 
 influenced him to build the "Great First Wonder," the pyra- 
 mid of Gizeh, or Cheops, as called by moderns. It will interest 
 our readers to give a short account of this great character, 
 who was the "Father of Israel," and the most faithful of the 
 human family. Extracts from The Talmud (Chap, ii, page 30) 
 read: 
 
 Terah was chief officer to King Nimrod, and a great 
 favorite with his royal master, and was granted many priv- 
 ileges, and when Abram was born, Terah, as was the custom 
 of the country, made a great feast to commemorate the event, 
 and asked his friends and relatives to the celebration, for in 
 the ancient time they rejoiced over the birth of a son. The 
 guests on entering early in the morning saw a brilliant star 
 arise in the east, and they also saw four other stars arise from 
 the different points of the compass in the heavens, and the first 
 star swallowed up the other four stars from the four quarters 
 of the heavens. The magicians, who were guests of Terah and 
 witnessess of this remarkable phenomena, considered this an 
 evil omen to the new-born child of Terah, so they returned to 
 the king, and said that the wonderful event of the stars was a 
 symbol that the child would grow up to be a faithful man, and 
 that his descendants would increase in the land until they 
 would destroy this kingdom and possess its lands, so they ad- 
 vised the king to buy the child and destroy it before its matur- 
 ity, or the event predicted by them would surely come to pass. 
 So the king sent for Terah, and related the story of the magi- 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 15 
 
 cians concerning the stars, with the modest request that he sell 
 him the child. Terah evaded the request of the king by ask- 
 ing him about the sale of a horse. Terah said, 'Ayon, the son 
 of Morad, came to my house yesterday desiring to purchase 
 the beautiful steed, which thou, oh king, didst graciously give 
 me. 'Sell me the horse,' says Ayon, and I will pay you his full 
 value and likewise fill thy stables with straw and provender, 
 and I answered him I could not without the consent of the 
 king.' 'What,' said the king, 'art thou in such need that thou 
 wouldst sell the gift of the king and barter a steed unequalled 
 in all the land for gold or silver?' And the king was wroth; 
 then Terah bowed down before the king and said if such was 
 the feeling of the king concerning a horse, how could he ask 
 him to part with his child for gold or silver? 'But,' said Terah, 
 'all I have is thine, oh king, so, without force, take the child/ 
 'No,' said the king, 'but with money will I buy the child.' Tar- 
 don me,' said Terah, 'but give me three days for consideration, 
 and [ will lay the matter' before the mother of the boy and 
 give thee word of the result.' But after three days the king 
 sent to Terah demanding the infant, or he and all his house 
 should be destroyed. Terah then took the child of one of 
 his slaves, born on the same day as Abram, and sent it to 
 the king. Terah received the money for the child 
 from the king's purser, and the king slew the child, 
 thinking it to be Abram. And Terah hid the mother and 
 child and its nurse in a lonely cave, where they were concealed 
 for ten years, until the king and his courtiers had forgotten 
 the episode of the birth and death of the child. Then Terah 
 took the child and his mother from the cave and sent him to 
 Noah and Shem, his (Noah's) son, that he might learn the ways 
 of the Lord, who had saved them (Noah and Shem) in the 
 great flood, and Abram lived with them thirty-nine years. 
 Being then about fifty years old he returned to his father's 
 house, and was grieved to find that his father had forgotten 
 the God of Noah and Shem, and had turned to worshiping 
 idols, as the Chaldeans did, and on entering a room, where 
 were twelve images of wood and stone, (each one of these 
 idols were for different months in the year) Abram, when he 
 beheld these images, said: 'By the life of the Lord, if these 
 idols remain here three days longer, may the God who created 
 me make me such as they.' So Abram sought his father and 
 asked him to show him the Gods who had made the heaven 
 and the earth, thee, me, and all the people of the earth; and 
 Terah said, 'My son, the creator of all things is here in mine 
 
1G THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 house.' Then Abram asked him to show him to him. Then 
 Terah led Abram into an inner apartment, and pointing to 
 the twelve images, he said: 'These are the gods who made 
 the earth, thee, me, and all the people of the earth.' 
 
 The next day Abram requested his mother to prepare a 
 kid in her best manner, and he brought it before the gods, 
 and laid it conveniently beside them, but none stretched forth 
 a hand to partake of the savory mess. He went to his mother 
 and told her to prepare two kids, 'for,' said he, 'it is not to their 
 taste or mayhap the quantity was not great enough;' so he 
 caused his mother to prepare two kids in her best manner, and 
 he laid them, as before, at the feet of the images, with the 
 same result as on the previous day. Then said Abram: 'Woe 
 to my father and this evil generation, woe to those who wor- 
 ship senseless images, without power to smell or eat, to see or 
 hear. Mouths have they but sounds they cannot utter; eyes 
 they have but lack power to see. hands and feet, but cannot 
 move or walk, senseless as they are the men who wrought 
 them, and senseless all who bow down to them or put their 
 trust in them.' And, seizing an iron implement, he broke in 
 pieces all except one, and he placed the iron tool in the hand 
 of the remaining image. Terah, in his house, heard the noise 
 made by the destruction of his gods, and hastened to the 
 apartment, and found Abram there and the food he had laid 
 at their feet, and Ire demanded of Abram how the destruction 
 had been done. Abram said: 'I brought them savory meat, 
 and behold, they all grasped for it with eagerness, but the 
 largest one, displeased at their greed, seized that iron imple- 
 ment which he holds and destroyed them all.' 
 
 'False are thy words,' said Terah, with anger. 'Did not 
 I fashion these with mine own hand, and know that they 
 could not move or speak, or act as thou sayest they did.' 
 
 'Then,' said Abram, 'how could the larger destroy the 
 smaller ones? Then why serve senseless gods who cannot 
 help thee or hear thy supplications? Cease, oh, my father, 
 to serve such gods.' And, seizing the iron implement, he 
 destroyed the remaining idol. 
 
 Terah, in great rage, hastened before the king, and re- 
 hearsed the act of Abram, and the king commanded that 
 Abram be seized and cast into the fiery furnace, which was 
 heated to a great and consuming heat, and Abram was led out 
 to be thrust therein. Then cried out the magicians, 'we know 
 this man: this is none other than the child at whose birth one 
 large star consumed four others. His father hath mocked 
 
TIIK SHIN'S Ol< TIN'] TI.MKS. 17 
 
 thee, and played thee false, and has given thee another child 
 in his stead/ 
 
 Then the king in great wrath commanded. Terah to be 
 brought before him, and demanded of him why he had 
 mocked him, and Terah answered: 'It is even as they have 
 said. I had compassion on my child, and took one of my 
 slave's children, born on the same day, and sent in his stead.' 
 
 Then the king demanded who had counseled him to do 
 the deed, and Terah in his consternation and without founda- 
 tion, said Charan, my son, counseled me. Then the king 
 commanded Charan to be also cast into the fiery furnace. 
 Now the heat was so great that it slew the men who cast them 
 into the furnace, but God remembered His servant Abram, 
 and although the ropes that bound him were burned off from 
 his limbs, he arose unharmed from the bottom of the furnace, 
 but Charan, the brother of Abram, perished in the flames; 
 but Abram walked to and fro in the furnace, and when it was 
 told the king he refused to believe it, until viewing the servant 
 of God walking in the midst of the fire he commanded that 
 they take him out, but the men who attempted to do the bid- 
 ing of the king were driven back by the intense heat, and 
 eight men were slain in the attempt to do the king's bidding. 
 Then the king came as near the furnace as he could, and he 
 called thus: 'Servant of the living God, come forth!' And 
 Abram came out of the furnace, and not a hair of his head 
 was singed or the smell of fire upon his clothing. The king 
 expressed great wonder. Then said Abram: 'The God of 
 heaven, whom I trust, hath delivered me from the flames.' 
 Then the king made him presents, and he was in favor with 
 the king, until the latter remembered the episode of the stars, 
 and he then sent secret assassins to take Abram's life; but, 
 learning the king's plans, the intended victim went again to 
 Noah, where he remained until the king had forgotten him. 
 
 Terah, being still a favorite of the king, requested per- 
 mission to go and visit his friends in Haran, but the king 
 would not allow him, so he went secretly to visit Noah and 
 his son Abram, who persuaded him (Terah) to accompany his 
 son to the land of Canaan. So he did, and they settled in 
 Charan, where Terah died." 
 
 There God appeared to Abram in Charan and blessed 
 him and made His covenant with him, that in blessings he 
 would bless him, and that his seed should be as the sand upon 
 the sea-shore for multitude (Gen. xvii). Here God changed his 
 
18 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 name from Abram to Abraham, which signifies "father of a 
 multitude." He was eighty-six years old when Ishmael was 
 born, and Ishmael was sixteen years old when Isaac was born, 
 Abraham being one hundred years old (Gen. xxi). The token 
 of the covenant was circumcision, and Abraham was ninety- 
 nine years old when he was circumcised, Ishmael thirteen 
 years old, and all the males of Abraham's house were circum- 
 cised that day. (Gen. xvii, 24 27.) 
 
 After this Abraham reared altars to the Lord of hosts, 
 and when he was driven from the land of Canaan, by a severe 
 famine, he became the architect of the greatest altar on the 
 footstool of God. It is considered by pyramid-readers, both 
 Israelite and Gentile, that the great pyramid is of divine 
 origin, and, as Professor Seiss, of Philadelphia, expresses it, it 
 is a "miracle in stone." We call it the stone-book of Abra- 
 ham, who, knowing all things that would come to pass in the 
 last days, made it as an imperishable mile stone in the journey 
 of time; that when the Ephrairnites, who should become the 
 head (for the birthright of Reuben was lost to him through 
 transgression), it should then be given to Joseph, who, trans- 
 mitting it to his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, in the last 
 days were to open up the dispensation of the fullness of times, 
 and prepare the house for the return of the scattered tribes. 
 In this great altar to the Lord, as Isaiah calls it, we have the 
 record of Abraham to the Ephraimites, a sure guide, a record 
 that cannot be ignored by infidel or skeptic. We now proceed 
 to the history of the "Great First Wonder," the pyramid of 
 Cheops. 
 
TIIK SIGNS OF THK TIMKS. 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PYRAMID OF CM HOPS, OR GREAT FIRST WONDER. 
 
 ON a fine plateau, nearly half a mile from the river Nile, 
 stands the most remarkable building ever erected by man. Its 
 immense size, shape, artistic workmanship, remarkable inter- 
 ior, with its singular marks and passage-ways, rooms and 
 tubes, all prove it of divine origin. It has been explored by 
 many learned men of different nations, who have attempted 
 to prove when and by whom it was built, arid the purpose of 
 its erection. They have tried to decipher its curious signs, 
 figures and problems, astronomical bearings, etc., and nearly 
 all writers, both in the old and new world, agree as touching 
 its divine origin. Dr. Seiss calls it a "miracle in stone," and 
 Pyazza Smythe, of Edinburg, has written one of the best works 
 on the pyramid, extant, entitled "Our Inheritance in the Great 
 Pyramid," which the late Prof. Orson Pratt preferred to all 
 others. The last named work is undoubtedly authentic, as 
 Mr. Smythe went to Egypt expressly to take observations on 
 the pyramid, and, that he might not be retarded by family 
 ties, he took them with him. He spent five months at the 
 pyramid, his wife an*d children living in a rifled Egyptian 
 tomb, adjacent thereto, that they might benefit him in his re- 
 searches. His drawings contain measurements, angles, squares, 
 circles, with planetary markings, passages, rooms, tubes, etc., 
 to aid the reader in unraveling the mysteries recorded in the 
 altar of Abraham. We will refer to some of these points as 
 we proceed. 
 
 A celebrated historian, Herodotus, who was born in Hali- 
 carnassus, in the kingdom of Caria in the year 484, B. C., and 
 who had to flee his native country to escape that tyrant ruler 
 
20 
 
 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
Tllfl SU'JNS OF THE TIMES. in 
 
 Lygdamus, arriving at Greece, was received favorably by the 
 Grecians, and wrote an account of his travels and observa- 
 tions in the countries he visited, in such truthful style that he 
 won the name of the father of history, from the great Cicero. 
 In his travels through Egypt, he visited the pyramids in the 
 year 445, B. C., and states that he received his information con- 
 cerning the great building from the priests of Memphis, who 
 had an oracle and a temple adjacent to the pyramid at that 
 time. They informed him that they were forbidden to men- 
 tion the name of Cheops, as he was a renegade or apostate 
 from the worship of the gods of his fathers; he and his brother 
 Cephren having been influenced by Philetus, a shepherd king, 
 to forsake the worship of idols and adopt that of the God of 
 heaven. He then influenced him to rear the great pyramid, 
 and Herodotus states that Cheops employed one hundred 
 thousand men, thirty years in constructing the building. Ten 
 years of the time was spent in laying the foundation. 
 
 The pyramid stands on four feet, on a flinty granite ledge 
 of rock, which the builder has let into the granite 8 inches 
 deep, and 16 feet square on each of the corners of the building. 
 The first course, or foundation layer, is 4 feet thick and covers 
 the entire 13J acres of land. Commentators cannot explain 
 the use of these feet or corners let into the rock of the build- 
 ing, which surely did not need to be secured by such means, 
 to prevent its sliding into the Nile. It is also cemented with 
 a cement of lime and sand to make it as nearly solid as pos- 
 sible. The first course, as we mentioned, covered the entire 
 surface of 13J acres and was 4 feet high. Then, all around 
 the entire building it receded 4 feet inward, and this peculiar- 
 ity was maintained clear to the top, or where the caption rock 
 was placed. The courses of rock are not all uniform in thick- 
 ness, as the pyramid, when completed, was but 511 feet high, 
 and there are 208 courses of rock, now forming the platform 
 or top of the pyramid, as they have taken 30 feet from the top, 
 and left a 32 foot square platform. This was done by the 
 Caliphs and builders of Grand Cairo, a city a few miles down 
 the Nile from where the pyramids stand. The rock of which 
 
22 THE SIGNS OF THE TD*ES. 
 
 they are composed, is limestone, and was taken for the pur- 
 pose of making lime. Probably the great pyramid was thus 
 roughly handled by the builders of Cairo, as this has been a 
 city from time immemorial, some writers stating that it was 
 the first city built in Egypt, and that a son of Ham, named 
 Mesraim, or Mezraim, was its builder; which has a shade of 
 truth, as the natives call the city by that name to this day) 
 and one of the sons of Ham bore that name (Gen. x, 6). 
 
 The 32 foot platform, comprising the top of the pyramid, 
 is composed of six rocks and upon it are the names of 
 Greek, Italian, German, Russian, Spanish and American trav- 
 elers, who have visited the pyramid and left their mark there; 
 and, as we have been informed, a name or two from Utah is 
 inscribed on this high platform. The workmanship is of a 
 very high grade, and critics of our own age confess that it 
 equals any modern work of art in every particular. The rocks 
 are immense in size, mostly 12 feet long, 4 feet thick and 8 
 feet wide. It is stated by Professor Seiss, in his "Miracle in 
 Stone/' that these rocks were brought a distance of 700 miles 
 from the quarries of Syena, on the borders of Abyssinia, in 
 Upper Egypt, and that 90 miles of the journey lay over a 
 branch of the desert of Sahara, a sandy waste; but how they 
 managed to convey such ponderous blocks so far, is a query to 
 the scientific world. Herodotus does not enlighten us much 
 on this question, he, however, mentions a machine made of 
 short pieces of wood whereby they were enabled to raise the 
 immense rock from one step to another above it. That is all 
 our information on so great a question; as there are none of 
 the Egyptian hieroglyphics that throw light upon it, we are 
 simply left to conjecture how it was done. There is an account 
 in "Chambers' Information for the People" ( Vol. ii, page 487) r 
 which states that the Egyptians were adepts in mechanical 
 expedients, and conveyed their rocks, often weighing 1,000 
 tons, by means of sledges, the men being yolked in rows with 
 rings fastened to the rock and ropes attached, and as many 
 men were in this wise attached as could drag the block along; 
 that it took a long time to reach the pyramid one can easily 
 
THE* SIGNS OF THE TIMKS. 23 
 
 conjecture. Chambers tells of one instance that required 2,000 
 men three years to bring a single rock to its place of deposit. 
 When possible, they conveyed them on floats on the Nile; but 
 it must have cost a great labor and expense to convey the im- 
 mense pile of material composing the pyramid, over the 90 
 miles of loose, shifting sand, from Syena to the Nile. The 
 men were trained to pull together to the cadence of a song, 
 and there were men ready with jars to throw water on the 
 ground before the sledges. A master to each squad 
 of men was in attendance, .to mark the time of the song, 
 so that all would pull simultaneously. 
 
 Herodotus states that a causeway was made from the edge 
 of the Nile to the plateau where the building was being 
 erected, and that it was 8,000 feet long, 60 feet wide, and was 
 beautifully sculptured and finished, by aid of which they were 
 enabled to drag the huge blocks up the causeway, and with the 
 lever and inclined plane they placed the rocks in position. The 
 height of the causeway commenced like a sharp wedge at the 
 river; it arose to 48 feet at the plateau. This grand piece of 
 masonry was exhumed from the sand where it has so long 
 been hid, and found to be as described by Herodotus. On the 
 sides the hieroglyphics give a true history of the tools and 
 implements used in the times we are describing. The archi- 
 tect spared no time or expense in the work of this causeway, 
 as the fine cut stone and pictures on its sides testify. Here, 
 then, is a monument of artistic skill unsurpassed by man, 
 even in modern times, with all of his inventions. The ques- 
 tion will be asked, why did not the king use the rock imme- 
 diately under the pyramid to rear his building? This is readily 
 answered by stating that anciently nothing but hardened cop- 
 per was known or used in the manufacture of tools, and the 
 limestone could be wrought with them, whereas the red granite 
 could not be easily worked, its flinty nature turning the edge 
 of the best tools known. The king, therefore, chose to bring 
 the material from a distance, and have rock that he could 
 fashion as he desired. It would have taken ten times as long 
 to prepare six millions of tons of flinty granite, that being the 
 
24 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 quantity used in the great building, as the same amount of 
 soft limestone. 
 
 The pyramid stands on the 30th degree of latitude, north 
 of the equator, and is, therefore, the perpendicular or plum- 
 line of the earth, and as Pyazza Smythe states, on the exact 
 centre of the land portion of our globe, which proves that 
 something vastly important was intended by its architect, 
 something requiring no less than the earth's centre as a base, 
 but this point we will fully explain in the chapter on the con- 
 stellations. Our patriarch father knowing that nothing short 
 of a wonder would attract all nations to this master stone book, 
 erected an altar so large that it could never be lost or hid away 
 in some dark recess, to moulder and decay like the stupendous 
 edifices of the eastern and western world. 
 
 Now, having sufficiently described the great pyramid for 
 present purposes, we will endeavor to explain its use and the 
 object of its erection. As before stated, Abraham, the archi- 
 tect, knowing that in the end of the time, when the Gentiles were 
 come to the fullness, and apostles and prophets would again 
 be restored, that there would be needed a sure guide, a monu- 
 ment that had always been in sight of the different generations 
 who should come after him. To prove that this great record 
 had not been put up by any new sect, or religious body, con- 
 structed it to portray in signs, marks, symbols, types and star- 
 markings, dates and great events, what would come to pass 
 before the end of this week of Satan, as the six thousand years, 
 from the fall of Adam to the end of the world, is called by 
 some, therefore, that the prophets understood what the build- 
 ing was reared for. Joseph, when in the palace of Pharaoh could 
 look upon the great pyramid, and when the exodus transpired, 
 the children of Israel, under Moses, had to pass near it on their 
 way to the Red Sea; the great law-giver thus probably knew 
 the object of its erection. Isaiah knew it to be for a sign and 
 witness of the Lord of hosts, and so records it in his 19th chap., 
 verses 19 and 20. The building was a land-mark for many 
 miles, from any point of the compass. It could be distinctly 
 seen from Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile; also from 
 
THE SKINS OF THE TIM KS. 25 
 
 
 
 Memphis, the capital city of Egypt. During the time of Jos- 
 eph, Moses, and the Exodus, and from the city of On, and on 
 the desert which lay immediately behind it, it was a land- 
 mark most conspicuous. The Israelites, while under their 
 cruel task-masters, could lift up their eyes from Goshen and 
 see the emblem of deliverance from, all trials and tribulations 
 after their former and latter-day brethren had suffered even as 
 they. It is only through tribulation we can expect to win sal- 
 vation; as the Redeemer suffered to give us redemption through 
 the atonement, so we must be in some degree like Him, to 
 join Him in the mansions He is preparing. 
 
 Now, where is Israel, on whom so many promises are 
 centered? Judah is scattered over all the earth. Nine and a 
 half tribes are in the north country. Benjamin is in a scat- 
 tered condition, for, after the day of Pentecost the apostles 
 who were of that tribe, carried the gospel to the world. Paul 
 was sent to the Gentiles; for the wild olive branches could, by 
 being grafted into the tame olive become part of the tree (Rom- 
 ans Hth chap. 17th to 27th verses); but we must look to Ephraim^ 
 the first-born of Israel, who was blessed by Jacob before his elder 
 brother Manasseh, and who received the birthright through 
 the transgression of Reuben( see j Chronicles oth chap., 1st 
 and 2nd verses)tev great works in the last days; and where 
 is he? We trace him in the dispersion, under Shalamanezer 
 king of Assyria, to the borders of the Arctic regions, thence 
 back to Normandy and Saxony and the British Isles, the 
 greater group of the tribe settling in Saxony and when that 
 country(England)was taken by the Saxons we have the be- 
 ginning of the fulfillment of prophecy that Israel should pos- 
 sess the gates of her enemies( Gen . xxii, 17)being literally fulfilled. 
 The English nation is, therefore, according to all signs and 
 texts, the nation spoken of by the prophets, for they do pos- 
 sess the gates of their enemies, which means the holding of 
 the entrances to the nations, or water-ways; and to show this 
 we note their possession of the Guernsey Islands, in the Eng- 
 lish Channel, which is nearer France than England, as the 
 majority of the inhabitants speak the French language; then 
 
26 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 t 
 
 Gibraltar and Malta, the gates of the Mediterranean; the Suez 
 Canal, the gate to the Red Sea in Egypt and to the Indian 
 Ocean; the Island of Perim in the Straits of Babelmandeb in 
 the Red Sea; Socata and Aden covering Arabia and Peshawar; 
 the gate from India, Afghanistan, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, 
 Rangoon, in the Irawaddy River, commanding the entrance 
 to the Burmah nation; the gates of Hong Kong, Penang 
 Mallacca, Singapore and Cowloon. Now we come to an im- 
 portant point; does England hold the gates to America, the 
 land of Joseph? She does in partnership with her brother 
 Manasseh, as he owns America by birthright or right of pos- 
 session, therefore Ephraim and Manasseh hold the Golden Gate 
 at San Francisco, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
 and, as we have gone round the world surely Ephraim and 
 Manasseh hold the gates of their enemies. Shall they alwavs 
 hold them? Only on condition of obedience to the revealed 
 commands of God. For transgressing His commands the 
 tribes were scattered, and their countries given to the Gentiles, 
 but God has again spoken and expects Israel to obey. The 
 command was "Come out of her, my people, that ye partake 
 not of her sins and receive not of her plagues." 
 
 Israel and Judah were punished seven times for trans- 
 gression. In 725 B. C. the House of Israel was taken captive 
 to the north country when they entered upon the seven times 
 of punishment (Leviticus xxvi, 14-46.) Now, when Ephraim 
 (England) made her treaty with Manasseh (America), A. D. 
 1783, she commenced to prosper. The seven times ended, and 
 the return of Israel commenced. This being the land of Jos- 
 eph and he the firstborn by partriarchal blessing, conferring 
 his right on his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh. They com- 
 menced in the year 1783 to return to the land of their fathers ? 
 the land of Joseph. The prophet Hosea(w, l-3)speaks of Ephraim 
 and his return thus: "After two days he would revive us and 
 the third day he would raise us up." Now, the prophetic day 
 in Israel was counted one thousand years which was God's 
 mode of computing time; the two days, therefore, would be 
 2,000 years. Now, in the the third day of the 3,000 years, not 
 
THK SIGNS OF THE TIM MS 27 
 
 at the end, or past meridian (Israel computed time at the 
 middle of the day) we shall see how these figures give us the 
 time of reviving. In the year 1783 America was given by 
 treaty to Ephraim and Manasseh, add the 725 years B. C. 
 when the Israelites were carried away captive, and you have 
 the past of the middle of the third day 2508, so we say Israel 
 headed by the firstborn, Ephraim, is now reviving, and let 
 us inquire if he knows the Lord, as Hosea says (mi), would be the 
 only way God would accept him, (13-16 verses) for how he will 
 deal with him if he does not find God and know Him. 
 
 This gospel of a tangible God with body, parts and pas- 
 sions was revealed to Joseph Smith, and the fullness of this 
 restoration of Israel in our day, agreeing exactly in dates and 
 particulars. We, therefore, know the Lord. The Book of 
 Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants were presented to 
 Queen Victoria, who, some writers claim, is a literal descend- 
 ant of the house of David (see Lost Ten Tribes by Joseph Wild D. 
 D.) but she did not accept the call to "come out of her," my peo- 
 ple and to know the Lord, but to this day, in their book of com- 
 mon prayer, they acknowledge a God without body, parts or 
 passions a nonentity or nothing. The Ephraimites will in 
 the day of revival hear the voice of the Shepherd and will an- 
 swer by name, for, although it might be asked what is in a 
 name we think much depends upon it. No people can lay 
 claim to being Saints but the early Christians and the Latter- 
 day Saints. Why? asks one. Because a church is known by 
 the name it takes. History accounts for only two churches 
 Former-day Saints (early Christians) and Latter-day Saints 
 (last-day Christians). The Savior placed in His church apos- 
 les and prophets, pastors, teachers, etc; healings, gifts, miracles 
 and tongues. Does any sect answer to this description but the 
 Latter-day Saints? No, the early Christians did until they 
 were driven from the earth, and the year 570 saw the last of 
 the Church of Christ of former days. In the year 1830 it was re- 
 stored with every officer, gift and ordinance. A few of the inhab- 
 ants of Babylon are taking the warning and fleeing to Zion. They 
 are of Ephraim. These have forsaken all: native land, kin- 
 
28 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 dred, home, natural ties, the graves of their loved ones and, in 
 some instances, husbands and wives, to learn God. Here His 
 royal Priesthood are honored. 
 
 One pyramid sign of Ephraim is the grand gallery which 
 measures in cubic inches 36 millions, and in straight line 
 measurement the same gallery measures 1,882 inches, which 
 singular to relate, was the number of England in that very 
 year (1882) so that we have the mark of the tribe, as the ma- 
 jority of the Ephraimites came from England. Another 
 sign of the restoration of this date (1882) is in the Queen's 
 Chamber: in the year referred to, the Jews in all the world 
 numbered just nine millions, which is the cubic inch measure 
 of the Queen's Chamber, or place of the Jews, as it is called, 
 in that year 1882, and, most singular to state, in that same year 
 the little horn prefigured by Daniel was making war on the 
 Saints. For in 1882 the nation passed the Edmund's law,so called, 
 and Ephraim is to be prevailed against from that mark 1882 until 
 1891, which will be further explained. Now, we have shown 
 that the majority of Ephraim is of England; but, says an object- 
 or they (England) do not speak the language of Ephraim. We 
 read that the sons of God, in the restoration would speak 
 another tongue (Zephdnia, Hi, 9). Now, did it never strike you, 
 dear reader, that the English language is gaining prestige in 
 all the world, that nations owning possessions round the globe 
 make that a fact, and that America, the land of Joseph, are al- 
 most all English speaking, most speakers and lecturers ad opting 
 that form of utterance? Thus the prophecy is being literally 
 fullfiled. As present indications are, it is destined to become 
 universal. The Ephraimites, then, predominate in the Anglo- 
 Saxon, Norman, ancient Briton, also in England, and, to 
 a greater or less extent, among the Scandinavians, etc., in 
 which countries we trace them in their wanderings. Now, the 
 Jewish language had only 7,000 words, whereas the English 
 has 100,000, according to Chambers, and in English there are 
 1,000 Hebrew roots, in the names of persons and places. We 
 hope, therefore, dear reader, that we know without doubt who 
 the people of God are, where they are, and where Zion is; and 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 29 
 
 we will in future chapters prove more about the Kingdom of 
 God. We now turn to the inside of the pyramid, and note 
 its curious signs, symbols, and star-markings, measurements 
 etc., which will be the subject of our next lecture. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INSIDE OP THE GREAT PYRAMID. 
 
 THE date of the building of the pyramid is set at 2170 B. C., 
 which is plainly marked by the different tubes and passages in 
 the building, as the shafts and openings were made to mark the 
 position of certain stars, which we will explain as we proceed. 
 Our best proof that Abraham was the architect of this build- 
 ing is that, firstly, it was built when Egypt was at its climax 
 in idolatry, yet, not one of its many gods are found painted or 
 sculptured in all the stupendous fabric; nor yet on any of its 
 approaches, nor even on the mighty causeway, but on the 
 other pyramids the individual gods of the founders or occu- 
 pants wer<3 always found, and the hieroglyphics on every one 
 of them show the gods and persons for whom they were built; 
 secondly, no painting or hieroglyphic is found in or around 
 the pyramid, except two insignificant ones in the narrow pas- 
 sage between the Grand Gallery and the ante-chamber, which 
 merely refer to the two brother kings of Egypt, Cheops and 
 Cephren, proving that the building was not of Egyptian struc- 
 ture; for they invariably covered their great buildings with 
 sculpture and hieroglyphics of their gods, but so modest was 
 the architect of this vast structure, that he left not a trace of 
 his name or object to signify it in the building. At this time, 
 let it be remembered, Israel was not born, and one capable of 
 rearing such a structure would, if an idolator, would have been 
 
30 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 sure to place his name there that it might be transmitted to fu- 
 ture ages, but Abraham was a meek servant of God, who left it 
 for the faithful to discover, by inspiration, who was the architect. 
 The third proof that the Egyptians were not the builders is, 
 that it is built throughout astronomically, and, at that time, 
 2170 B. C., we learn by history, and by the hieroglyphics of 
 the period, and even before, that they understood nothing 
 about astronomy; and Josephus, a Jewish historian, states that 
 Abraham taught the Egyptians astronomy, and the best proof 
 of this is that after his time the hieroglyphics of Egypt were 
 plentifully bestowed in representation of the heavenly bodies. 
 We now turn to the star-markings of the great pyramid. 
 The south polar star, at that time, 2170, looked down a tube 
 on the south side of the building made of red granite, and 
 which is eight inches in diameter, nicely polished, and runs 
 to the king's chamber and marks a period about 250 inches 
 from the entrance, and as the inch, in the pyramids, denotes 
 one year in time, about the year 250 of the Millennium we 
 shall have some great event which we are unable to explain 
 at present, but we can assure our readers, who remain faithful 
 till that period, that they will find the star in its place as 
 marked in the pyramid. On the opposite side there is another 
 tube of the same size and material, and although at a differ- 
 ent angle, marks the position of the north polar star at the 
 date 2170, B. C. and strikes the grand gallery at the twelfth 
 inch from the south end, and as the gallery measures 1891 
 inches (according to Orson Pratt's interpretation of the stone 
 step which we will explain) 12 from 91 leaves 79 so in the 
 year 1879, the polar star Uranus (which was polar star at the 
 time 2170) is to mark some great event in that year, and as 
 that year is already past, the event was that the star Uranus 
 appeared, as truly as he is marked in the pyramid, and in that 
 year 1879 he governed a 4 planet perihelion of planets, and 
 marked the beginning of signs, we believe, that were pre- 
 dicted by our Savior, as appearing in the last days, who, 
 when asked by His disciples what would be the sign of His 
 coming and of the end of the world, said "There will be signs 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 31 
 
 in the heavens, and on earth; earthquakes in divers places, 
 etc." (Matthew xxiv). Uranus gives the first sign, which with 
 its mates remained in perihelion until 1881, when we had the 
 second great sign: a perihelia of five planets, and, as there 
 have never been five planets in perihelia before in all planet 
 history, it is regarded as one of the signs of the coming of our 
 Lord; the polar star, therefore, gave us a sure mark both of the 
 building, and also of the great sign of destruction which com- 
 menced in that year, for the angel of the Lord flew through the 
 midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel to preach to those 
 who dwell on earth, saying with a loud voice, "Fear God, and 
 give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come." 
 
 Now, according to good authority, sixty years with us is 
 one hour with God, and, as the angel came in 1830 with wit- 
 nesses sufficient to prove to honest minds, that He did come 
 in that year; for four witnesses have given their names to the 
 world in testimony thereof. We know, therefore, that the 
 prophetic hour commenced in that year. During the first 
 part of that hour God sent messengers to almost every nation 
 proclaiming that the kingdom had come, and within the last 
 ten minutes of the hour He has preached with judgments, 
 and since 1879 the world's statistics record earthquakes, as on 
 on the Isle of Java where 300,000 lost their lives; another in the 
 Grecian Archipelago where a city was hurled down in a 
 moment, and thousands perished. Read the record of lives 
 lost by cyclones since the year 1879 which is one hundred 
 times greater than in any previous year. Let us note a few only 
 In the year 1885 there were 172 tornadoes; on the 19th of Feb. 
 one which killed 800 persons, and wounded 2500, demolish- 
 ing 15,000 homes and sweeping millions of dollars worth of 
 property out of existence; and since the year 1879 there have 
 been earthquake shocks in different parts of our globe, one 
 for every day of the year. The record of accidents by rail- 
 road since 1879 is unparalleled, as also that of destructions by 
 fire; the sea's dark record is appalling in wrecks and loss of life. 
 
 The next great star mark is Draconis, or the Dragon, as 
 it is termed in Revelation, located in the constellation of the 
 
32 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 Serpent. At the building of the pyramid it shone down the 
 entrance passage to the lower room, which is located just 100 
 feet below the foundation, and was placed there to represent 
 the lower regions, or prison house for refractory spirits until 
 the time of restitution, and is the only star that ever did look 
 down into that miserable room. It is recorded by Professor 
 Seiss that the Turks under Al Mamoun when they first entered 
 this lower room were overcome x by the fumes of sulphur 
 to such an extent that they had to be carried out before they 
 could be restored to consciousness. He states, on page 84 of 
 his book, that the astronomical markings of the pyramid 
 are proved to be time charts. The tubular passages are 
 scrolls of human history and the notations of the one cor- 
 respond exactly with the fulfillment of the other, or world's 
 history. To illustrate: the entrance passage is downward, 
 directly under a Dragon star, reaching to the room called the 
 bottomless pit, but the inch markings on each side of the pas- 
 sage give the year from the building of the pyramid to the 
 end of time; thus, the first ascending passage marks exactly 
 the time of the exodus, 628 years from the time the entrance 
 passage was made to the date of Israel's leaving Egypt, of the 
 world's history 2577. The first ascending passage commences 
 at that date, then the inch marks give a sure guide for the 
 mark 1542 inches, or years to the end of said passage-way. 
 Before entering the Grand Gallery, and describing its interest- 
 ing symbols, let us trace the course of the Dragon from the 
 Fall of Adam to the end of the world; and here we observe, 
 that the term "end of the world" signifies the end of the 
 reign of wickedness, the commencement of the reign of right- 
 eousness which will endure forever. The position of the Dra- 
 gon star at the fall of Adam was exactly overhead, or high 
 meridian. The pyramid stands on the perpendicular of the 
 earth which stands at an angle of 23 degrees north up, and 
 south down the perpendicular or plumb-line of the earth 
 which is on the 30th degree north of the equator, exactly the 
 position of the pyramid, and still more singular, the pyramid 
 stands on the exact center of the land portion of our globe; 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 33 
 
 thus we have the symbol of the impartiality of God, who, 
 through His servant placed his altar or "sign and witness" on 
 the center and perpendicular of our globe. The position of 
 the Serpent, a constellation of stars, was at high meridian at 
 that time, the Fall of Adam, the Dragon being one of the stars 
 in the constellation of the Serpent; thus, that reptile beguiled 
 Eve and she fell. This is a remarkable coincidence, if nothing 
 more; but we assure our readers that it is more than a coinci- 
 dence, a symbol of the great kingdom of the latter-days 
 which we will show in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. We 
 read (Rev. xii.) what the Dragon would do to destroy the wo- 
 man and child (the Church of Christ) but was not to succeed, 
 and that the Dragon "gave power to the beast." Now, the 
 beast means Babylon, and Babylon, the world, and the world 
 the wicked people of the earth, so that the wicked derive their 
 power from the Dragon. We have then, at once, a key, for if 
 the Dragon gives power to the beast we would like to know 
 his position, and when he will wane, or cease to have power 
 over the earth, which is all nicely shown in the pyramid and 
 in the circle that surrounds it (in our illustration) we trace a 
 period of 12,000 years. This circle of time is obtained by 
 placing the point of the compass in the center of the pyramid 
 at the foundation, and the other point at the top of the build- 
 ing, then making the circle with the compass and we have 
 it squared, which exactly fits the square of the base of the 
 building. The four corners of the foundation would rest on 
 this circle when laid horizontally as the radius does the build- 
 ing proper with circle. We thus get the 12,000 year circle of 
 time, and the Dragon star was exactly at zenith or high meri- 
 dian at the time of the Fall, the serpent, then standing pre- 
 cisely overhead, or over the earth, with head erect, on its feet, 
 so to speak; the Dragon on the meridian or looking down the 
 plumb-line of the earth. That this was the position of the 
 Dragon at the Fall, all astronomers agree. 
 
 Now, the Dragon star, as marked in the pyramid, com- 
 menced his downward course, and Adam and Eve being 
 driven from the Garden of Eden, commenced their down- 
 
34 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 ward course also, their descendents being on the downward 
 journey, or a great majority of them, and we show, by this 
 circle of time and the Dragon star, when this downward 
 tendency will terminate. From the Fall of Adam, as marked 
 by the Dragon at upper meridian of the building, at the 
 entrance passage we have exactly 1949 years. We get this 
 result in two ways: first, the Dragon, then, was looking down 
 the entrance passage, mark it, at that identical time, the year 
 1949 from the fall of Adam; secondly, the entrance or mouth 
 of the passage-way, gives in the outer frame-work, (the stones 
 that are so nicely fitted with arched rocks and beautiful key- 
 stone) the remarkable measurement in cubic inches of 1949 
 inches, or the key that the Dragon has been governor 1949 
 years. From that time, the building of the pyramid, to the 
 birth of Christ, measuring from the mouth or entrance, we 
 have just 2170 inches, the exact years from the building of 
 the pyramid to the birth of Christ; thence from the birth of 
 Christ the entrance to the Grand Gallery 1882 inches to the end, 
 which is the straight line measure of the Grand Gallery. Thus 
 we have in demonstrated marks, the duration of the Dragon, 
 1949, plus 2170, plus 1882, making exactly 6001 years, which 
 is the week of Satan, the Creator having taken six days to 
 frame the earth, and Satan probably demanding a similar 
 time to try to rear himself a kingdom, the Father in His 
 mercy and justice, let him try. The result we know, being 
 under his power for a time, but deliverance comes on the 
 beginning there of 1891, or the exact end of the measurement 
 of the week of Satan. At that time, 1891 , the Dragon will be at 
 lower meridian, precisely opposite where he was at the Fall 
 and the Serpent, one of the group of stars which form the con- 
 stellation, will be on its back, instead of standing erect as at 
 the time of the Fall. The Dragon, which is one of the feet, 
 will be looking upward, along the line or perpendicular, as if 
 pleading for mercy. Then commences the upward travel of 
 the Saints, they being under the guidance of the Shepherd 
 star, for, curious to relate, precisely as the Dragon is passing 
 under the lower meridian, the Shepherd arises and takes the 
 
THE SIG-XS OF THE TIMES. 35 
 
 upper; this star representing the Shepherd of Israel, being 
 located in the constellation of Aries (or the ram) we thereafter 
 shall be governed by the Shepherd, a guarantee of a better 
 reign. We commence our upward journey, as the circle 
 plainly shows, under a shepherd, therefore, brethren, look for 
 the reign of righteousness to commence in the year 1891, and 
 during the journey upward from 1891, or lower meridian, we 
 shall gain the knowledge to become children of our great 
 Father! 
 
 As soon as we enter the pyramid the sign-marks, on each 
 side of the passage, are finely cut and polished to represent 
 something important, and as the inch, in the pyramid, gives 
 one year, we have exact dates for all that occurred from 1949 
 to 2170 B. C. These lines run cross- wise to the passage, at 
 irregular intervals, up the side of the wall, as if to represent 
 some extra event, as, for instance, the epoch of the burning 
 bush is clearly marked by a long line up the wall, at the exact 
 year represented in sacred writ; then we have the Exodus at the 
 junction of the two passages where the choice can be made 
 either to the right hand up to the place of the atonement, 
 or the left downward to the bottomless pit or prison-house. 
 
 A curious incident is related of this junction of the two 
 passages, by Prof. Seiss, relating to the Turks under Al Ma- 
 moun, the Caliph of Egypt, who first entered the pyramid: the 
 entrance passage-way was hidden by the casing rock which cover- 
 ed the entire pyramid, and Al Mamoun thinking the building 
 was filled with treasure forced a passage 16 feet from the 
 foundation. The original one was 40 feet from the base. 
 The sand of the desert had filled up to that point, 16 feet, in 
 the year 825 of the Christian Era. The workmen were a long 
 time in forcing their tunnel through the hard lime-stone, as 
 they had only drills and dry wooden plugs, which they wet 
 and the expansion would break off the piece of rock required. 
 By this slow process they toiled, and by chance chose the spot to 
 enter the building immediately under the main passage-way. 
 When, they, the workmen, had labored a long time and found 
 no room, or vacuum, they were on the point of abandoning 
 
36 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 the scheme, thinking the building to be solid, when lo, as they 
 were consulting on the question of abandonment, and yet in 
 the tunnel they had made, and on the very eve of departure, 
 a crash of some large body falling is heard by all; they bound 
 to their feet and the cry is "a room, a room" for the sound of 
 the falling body plainly indicated that such was the fact. The 
 men were now encouraged to prosecute the work and were re- 
 warded by striking the passage at the junction. The falling 
 body was found to be a dove-tailed rock, suspended on an in- 
 clined plane and which had been gradually slipping for 2900 
 years, and at the precise moment that Al Mamoun's men were 
 going to quit their tunnel-work, the rock falls, they learn that 
 the building is not solid, as supposed, and open the great 
 pyramid to the world. Now, it is. supposed that had Al Ma- 
 moun been suffered to fail none would have attempted the work 
 in future. Skeptics may doubt the matter of the falling rock 
 after so many years, but when they view the rock with its 
 dove-tailed edges, and grooves on each side, its gradual incline 
 and length, they generally become converts to the theory of 
 its original intention, viz., a rock of warning that the build- 
 ing was not solid. For a full description of this part of the 
 pyramid see "Miracle in Stone." 
 
 The Grand Gallery has a very fine mark at its entrance 
 and a line running across the passage-way and up the wall on 
 each side, which marks the exact time of the birth of the 
 Savior in the 4119th year from the Fall of Adam. Here the 
 gallery enlarges from 4 feet in height to 28 feet, or just 7 
 times, and 7 red granite lines are found running the entire 
 length of the gallery, which, it is understood, mark the seven 
 dispensations, we being in the last or seventh. By the 33 
 inches from the entrance of the grand gallery, we come to the 
 tomb of the Savior, or its representation, at the exact time re- 
 corded in the gospels, viz., 33 years. This tomb has no bottom, 
 as it descends through a long well and terminates in the pris- 
 on-room, at the end of the downward passage; which signifies 
 that the Savior descended into the prison-house after death, 
 and preached to the captives, that through the atonement they 
 might have a way of escape. Precisely at this 33 inches from 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 37 
 
 the entrance of the Grand Gallery a passage-way runs horizon- 
 tally from the tomb of the Savior, or place of the Jews, as it 
 is named by pyramid readers. Its real name, however, is the 
 Queen's Chamber. It runs straight and level to the entrace 
 where it sinks one step, showing that the Jews are still falling. 
 
 They will not arise to salvation until the Dragon passes the 
 lower meridian, when righteousness predominates. Through 
 the atonement Jesus will save Judah by signs and wonders. 
 There are 56 tombs, 28 on each side of the Grand Gallery, and 
 it is thought, by some of the Latter-day Saints, that they mark 
 
38 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 the ascension of as many of the saints as arose at the time of 
 the resurrection of the Savior. Their little lids are leaning 
 against the wall indicating that they have been opened, and 
 that the object they held has departed. At the 1815 inches we 
 come to the stone step which reaches across the passage, and is 
 three feet high. The first dead level is reached at this point. 
 The great men, who have investigated this step, are at a 
 loss to account for the greatest sign-mark in the pyramid. 
 Nations have applied it to themselves. The French say 1815 
 was when Napoleon's star waned. The English claim it as 
 the year when the gospel was sent to India, but let us reason 
 upon it. Prof. Orson Pratt was inspired to square this step. 
 As the angle of ascension is twenty-three degrees, he placed 
 the square upon it, and the squaring of that angle gave the 
 year 1830 as the top or commencing of the step, so the great 
 mark, by that measurement notes the setting up of the king- 
 dom of God through Joseph Smith. Now, who, in all the 
 world can claim that year as the time of the setting up of the 
 kingdom of Christ? Simply, the "Mormons." The Prophet 
 Daniel, in his vision of the four beasts, wherein we get the 
 world's history, gives that as the time when the kingdom 
 should be set up never to be thrown down. In our lecture of 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream we will prove this point. Now, the 
 square is the key to the pyramid, and by laying it on the 
 angle 23, which is the angle thereof, both outside and in, and 
 also the earth's angle of inclination we get Prof. Pratt's theory 
 of the squaring of the circle, and also the step referred to, by 
 placing the common 24 inch square thereon. We measure in- 
 to the masonry 15 inches to enable the upward angle of the 
 square to strike the outer corner of the step at the top, then 
 measure 61 inches to the end of the gallery making the 6(V 
 years, which the angel declared to be the time of the Lord, 
 for 60 years with man is one hour with God; and, in that year 
 the angel proclaimed to Joseph Smith the hour of God's judg- 
 ments. Now, the end of the gallery proves the end of the 
 Christian era, it began at the sign -mark of the birth of Christ, 
 and terminates at the sign-mark 1891, and as the room meas- 
 
THK SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 39 
 
 ures, in straight line measurement, 1882, and by squaring the 
 step 1891, we have a very peculiar sign that 1882 would be 
 very marked in the history of the people of the kingdom, as 
 the freedom of the Grand Gallery ends at 1882. 
 
 Those wishing to continue the journey to the King's 
 Chamber must endure a time of trial, as the narrow passage- 
 way at the end of the gallery is only 42 inches high and lies 
 under a shaking, frowning rock, placed overhead, loose and 
 rolling, but cannot fall as it is fitted on two side ledges 
 which support it; but it shows the time of trials upon 
 those who remain steadfast in the endeavor to reach the 
 upper rooms above or beyond the Grand Gallery. We then 
 learn that we are in the narrow passage-way according to 
 man's time and that the little horn (the United States) passed 
 the law to stop celestial marriage in 1882. Now, dear reader, 
 is this chance or prophecy fulfilled in the time of the Lord, 
 1891, as striking the center of the pyramid, which denotes 
 the center of time, or 6000 years, the reign of the Serpent? 
 In that year we look for great events. We have shown that 
 the Christain Era ends in that year, and that the end of the 
 reign of the Dragon is then. We have proved that the lowest 
 point in the downward scale of the circle of time is then reached, 
 and that the beginning of the upward tendency is also in that 
 year. 
 
 Now, we will prove by the prophet Joseph Smith that 
 the same year, 1891, is the commencement of the reign of 
 righteousness. In Section 130, Doctrine and Covenants, Jos- 
 eph was told that if he lived to be 85 years old he would 
 live to see the scene wound up or the Redeemer on the earth. 
 He was born December 23rd, 1805, and if we give him the 85 
 years, we could not count the year 1805, we should have to 
 count 1806, as the year 1805 was mostly gone before he was 
 born, therefore, we have 1806 and 85, making 1891; again in 
 the year 1835 Joseph was told positively that 56 years would 
 wind up the scene, which we believe was the reign of iniquity 
 and transgression: 56 and 1835 are 1891. Thus we have 
 abundant proof that that year will begin the reign of right- 
 
40 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 eousness, and God's people be acknowledged, for the earth is 
 to be given to them. He has said: "Fear not, little flock, 
 for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." 
 Therefore, we trust to__see iniquity commence to wane, on 
 this planet, with the Dragon and (Serpent in 189 L. 
 
 On leaving the Grand Gallery we enter the narrow pas- 
 sage 42 inches high, and leading to the ante-chamber a room of 
 preparation. This passage is 53 inches long, with two frown- 
 ing rocks hanging overhead. There is quite a space above 
 them, as they have been probed, and a large vacuum found 
 there. Our opinion is that the records of the architect will 
 be found above this aperture of the two loose rocks, as in all 
 this vast building no hieroglyphic, sculpture, picture, or 
 device of any kind has, so far, been found to give a trace of 
 the object of the architect. Perhaps the records of Abraham, 
 the architect, concerning the pyramid could be found here, 
 which, like many of the records of the family of God, have 
 been hid for wise purposes until a certain time known to the 
 Lord. When Cumorah and other repositories of the records 
 of God's people are revealed you may be sure that the great 
 altar of the Lord of hosts will not be dumb, as at present, on 
 the matter of record. Parley P. Pratt in Liverpool, England, 
 prophesied that in 1945 the first conference would be held 
 in the Millennium on the 6th of April. The measurement of 
 the pyramid from the birth of Christ, or beginning of the 
 Grand Gallery, to entrance of ante-chamber is exactly 1945 
 inches, so that we must undergo trials 53 years before the 
 millennial era, when a great battle will be fought between 
 Christ and Satan, prior to the resurrection morn. The 
 ante-chamber has a few interesting rocks for the general 
 information of which we refer our readers to the "Miracle in 
 Stone" 
 
 We pass into the King's Chamber and note its peculiari- 
 ties; it is nearly 37 feet long by 17 wide, making what is 
 called the 1000 inch chamber, representing the millennial era: 
 it has nine large, flat, red, granite, polished slabs for its ceil, 
 ing, which reach from wall to wall. The walls are about 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 41 
 
 20 feet high. In the center of this room stands the only arti- 
 cle of furniture in the pyramid, viz., a stone box, length 7 
 feet 6 inches, width 3 feet 3 inches, and depth 3 feet 6 inches, 
 made to represent the ark of the covenant that Israel carried 
 in the wilderness, its dimensions being identical in measure- 
 ment therewith. Another very peculiar coincidence is that 
 the King's Chamber was made the same size as the "holy of 
 holies" in the tabernacle of the wilderness, and also that of 
 the holy of holies in the temple at Jerusalem. The chamber, 
 therefore, represents the millennial year or day of the Lord. 
 
 Above the King's Chamber are five rooms, called the 
 rooms of construction which are reached by a narrow tube 
 25 feet up the south wall of the Grand Gallery, and are very 
 finely finished on the walls and ceiling, but the floors are 
 rough, typifying that perfection is not yet reached. It is 
 supposed that these rooms denote the degrees of glory. There 
 is supposed to be a room above the King's Chamber to rep- 
 resent the new Jerusalem coming down from above. Pyazza 
 Smythe, astronomer royal, discovered the rock of which it is 
 made, in the yard adjacent to the building, a fine granite 
 rock, enough of which was dressed to make a room 16 feet 
 square, with three gates on each side and 16 feet high. That 
 this room will be found is believed by most pyramid readers, 
 and that it will give us more keys is plainly forecast in the 
 entire structure. The object of the building is to awaken 
 Israel to the regeneration, and as Ephraim is the first born, 
 he is now reading it; and as the Latter-day Saints are Eph- 
 hraim they will yet decipher it. 
 
 Joseph Smith was a descendant of Joseph and revealed 
 to the world the message he was commanded of angels to de- 
 liver, but like many ancient prophets he sealed his testimony 
 with his blood, but he first set in order the kingdom by rev- 
 elation, and commandment. We know he was a true prophet, 
 and trust the youth of Zion know it also, as they may yet be 
 entrusted with the keys of the great structure, and become 
 versed in history, biography, ancient and modern, and that 
 they will especially study the sacred scriptures that they may 
 
42 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 have power to refute error and establish the truth in this in- 
 fidel age. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PERIHELIA OF THE PLANETS. 
 
 ON the 19th day of June 1881, the singular phenomena 
 of five planets in perihelia transpired. The Salt Lake Herald 
 commenting upon it, inserted a diagram in its columns, of its 
 position in the heavens, with comments on the singular phen- 
 omena, arid further 'commenting on the singular coincidence 
 of two great perihelia coming almost together, as the perihe- 
 lia of the above date was superceded by a four planet perihelia 
 which occurred in the year 1879, a singular fact of which was 
 that the star that was governor of the perihelia of 1879, called 
 Uranus, and marked in the pyramid at the north air tube, 
 striking the Grand Gallery at the 12th inch from the end, we 
 were convinced that these are some of the signs referred to by 
 Jesus, who foretold "signs in the heavens, wars, and rumors of 
 wars, earthquakes, etc." (Matt. xxiv). 
 
 Now, students of the signs of the times agree that the end 
 approaches. Saints and sinners, Jew and Gentile believe this 
 to be the evening of time, and that, therefore, we may look 
 for signs and wonders on earth and in the heavens, as foretold 
 by prophets ages ago. Only instance the fearful accidents, 
 the daily horrors, devastation by cyclone, water and fire to 
 show that these are the last days. Astronomers state that 
 this perihelia of 1881 has never had a parallel; for never have 
 five planets been in perihelia before, and as this followed the 
 four-planet perihelia of 1879, marked in the pyramid as com- 
 ing in that year, which was followed by the star of Bethlehem, 
 which became visible in that year, and now is shining in the 
 constellation of Andromeda, and it is recorded by some 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TI.MKS 43 
 
 astronomers will shine brilliantly in the day-time in 1887: this 
 without doubt, is markedly indicative. In the mouth of two 
 or three witnesses truth is established; we have, then, three 
 great signs in the heavens; viz, the four-planet perihelia, the 
 five-planet perihelia, and the star of Bethlehem, following in 
 succession; the first recorded in the pyramid as shown in 
 1879, and the five planets in perihelia after. We had Mars, 
 which is represented as the war planet controlling star or gov- 
 ernor of the perihelia, we therefore look for war after this ad- 
 vent. The second planet is Saturn, the beautiful, with three 
 rings or belts of light and 8 moons; next is Mercury, the 
 nearest the sun except the moon, of any of the planets. 
 Mercury requires only 88 days to complete a revolution 
 therefore a year in that planet is but 88 of OUP days. Next' 
 in the perihelia, is Jupiter, the largest, fourteen hundred 
 times larger than ours, with 4 moons; the 5th planet Nep- 
 tune, farthest from the sun, requires 33 years to complete a revolu- 
 tion. Comstock states that if Adam and Eve had taken rail- 
 road at the Fall, at fifty miles an hour without stoppages they 
 would now only be two-thirds of the journey from Neptune 
 to the sun, and, judging from our relative distance from the 
 sun, should the concentration of the sun's rays be the same as 
 on our own planet, Neptune must be frozen through with no 
 living thing upon it. It is probable, however, that they are 
 not under the same laws as we are, and other provisions may 
 be furnished. We believe the great north tube and star Ura- 
 nus mark 1879 is the sign of the angels being in the land, as 
 statistics, since 1879, give no such record before, as since, 
 Cyclone, earthquake, fire and flood have been common events. 
 To the people of the kingdom this is not unlocked for. "Be 
 ye also ready" is the warning, Saints understand these signs, 
 and will frame their lives accordingly. Avoid selfishness. 
 "Seek first the kingdom" and all things will be added. Be 
 valiant. Revile not the revilsr. Let temperance prevail. 
 Preserve yourselves unspotted by evil. "Avoid fleshly lusts 
 that war against the spirit," and remember these signs were 
 given to warn you that the end is near. 
 
44 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLES. 
 
 THE Cleopatra's needles are two red granite obelisks or 
 pillars, 96 feet. high. One stands on the banks of the Thames 
 River, London, the other in Central Park, New York. They 
 are very ancient, having been built by a king of Egypt, 
 named Thothmes, the third king before Moses. He reared 
 them at the gateway on each side of the temple of the Sun, in 
 the city of On, called Heliopolis, in profane history, but On 
 in scripture. It is situated 4 miles above Memphis on the 
 river Nile, and was a great college in the time of Joseph and 
 Moses. Joseph was sent here to be educated, as a prince, in 
 Egyptian lore, and here he found his wife, states the sacred 
 narrative. He married the daughter of the priest of On. 
 The pillars stood at Heliopolis until 33 B. C., when they were 
 taken down and removed to Alexandria to beautify the city, 
 as some writers say, for the reception of Mark Antony, who 
 was paying his addresses to the Egyptian queen. They were 
 reared near the Nile gate to Alexandria, and when Mark 
 Antony, riding from his vessel in a chariot of queen Cleo- 
 patra, came to the tall pillars, he commanded a halt, and 
 viewing them, asked where they came from, was told by the 
 attendants, that the queen had brought them from Heliopolis. 
 "Well," said he, "they are truly queen needles," hence their 
 name Cleopatra's needles, which they bear to this day. They 
 were square and of red granite, tapering very gradually from 
 base to top, and on each side, in hieroglyphics, were recorded 
 the histories of the kings of Egypt. The one in London, bears 
 the name of Thothmes, and records a period from 1550 to 
 1450 B. C. or the time before Moses, Thothmes being the third 
 king before his time; it also bears the name of Ramasses who 
 lived about the time of the Exodus 1495 B. C. On the base 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 45 
 
 of the American needle were found the emblems of ancient 
 masonry, the square and compass. The fraternity were elated 
 at this find, as substantiating the order of Free Masonry in 
 its ancient origin. Even the progressive steps of the order 
 are represented on this pillar, the three steps of the pedestal; the 
 author being one of the fraternity and knowing that ancient 
 Free Masonry commenced with Solomon king of Israel, at the 
 building of the great temple at Jerusalem. How, therefore, 
 does this pillar give the signs or mystic emblems of the order 
 when made ages before it existed? We will endeavor to solve 
 this problem historically. 
 
 There is no doubt that the children of Israel, being the 
 only people serving the true and living God, had a code of 
 laws, signs, pass-words and grips, whereby one tribe might 
 know another to be as represented; for the mark of circumci- 
 sion could not be relied on, as the Ishmaelites circumcised their 
 children, therefore it is reasonable to suppose that these signs 
 would exist for mutual protection, that none may be taken into 
 trust but the genuine. Thus an enemy could not take advan- 
 tage. It is believed that after the flood when the dispersion 
 had caused colonies to settle the eastern country that the sons 
 of Noah, his son Shern being at the head, Melchisedec ruling 
 in Salem, this order was known, and that Abraham taught it 
 to Isaac, he to Jacob, and Jacob to his son Joseph, and that when 
 Joseph was sold by his brethren to the Ishmaelites he was 
 carried into Egypt and there found favor with the king, who 
 put him in college to learn the science of the Egyptians. 
 He, after marrying the priest's daughter, it is reasonable 
 to suppose, would teach his father-in-law the knowledge of 
 the true and living God, and that he would accept the same, 
 knowing that Joseph's God had done so many mighty things 
 for him. Therefore, we presume, the mystery was given by 
 Joseph to his father-in-law, and that he taught it to the 
 princes and great ones who came to this temple of learning. 
 By this means Thothmes obtained (for we cannot find another 
 clue in sacred or profane history to give us any other theory), 
 the emblems recorded on the American pillar. Solomon was 
 
46 
 
 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 of the blood royal, the son of David from whom even the 
 Savior of the world descended. He, knowing these mysteries 
 of the Priesthood, with the aid of the king of Tyre organized 
 the degrees of workmen, and building a holy house used the 
 mystic emblems, words, etc. of the Priesthood, with some vari- 
 ation to accomodate the different people engaged in the work. 
 
 The order after the completion of the temple, left many of 
 the lower orders or degrees without a knowledge of the higher 
 orders of the master mason, and it is supposed that they 
 would use what knowledge they had, and add all they could 
 to what they knew to aid them to get employment elsewhere; 
 hence the decline of the Priesthood, and the adoption of the 
 ancient order. The knowledge of the true and living God, 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMKS. 47 
 
 being the foundation of masonry, proves this to be probable, 
 as after Solomon's time it was carried into foreign countries 
 far from Palestine, (where only the great Jehovah was known.) 
 Immediately after the building of the temple these lodges 
 commenced and increased until to-day it is the greatest and 
 most honorable society of men on earth, being numbered 
 by millions. The British needle was bought from the Egyptians 
 and a vessel made purposely to handle the pillar constructed. 
 The front part was taken out and a small rail-way laid to 
 convey the needle into the hold; for each one weighed 200 tons. 
 When snugly shipped they started with the needle boat in tow, 
 but in the Bay of Biscay a storm parted the needle boat and its 
 convoy, and they thought it had sunk during the night, and 
 returning to London reported its loss, but instead thereof, 
 the needle boat weathered the storm. Some fishermen 
 found the dismasted vessel and towed it into Flanders. When 
 the English found this to be a fact they claimed their prop- 
 erty, but the fishermen claimed such a price for their find 
 that the English could not entertain it. It was finally left 
 to arbitration. It was afterward erected on the Thames 
 embankment, a beautiful garden on the bank of the river. 
 The other needle was presented to the United States. Major 
 Goring was sent to bring the needle home: he took ma- 
 chinery and a ship that could be taken apart, and then 
 made a canal from the Nile to where the pillar stood, to be 
 able to ship it. It was, however, shipped without accident, 
 reaching New York safely, and after immense labor reared 
 in Central Park, New York. 
 
48 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE CITY OF BABYLON, OR SECOND WONDER. 
 
 THE city of Babylon, the capital of the Babylonian 
 Empire was situated on the Euphrates River, about 50 miles 
 south of Bagdad. Its origin is so remote that the time 
 thereof is simply traditionary. It is strange that Herodotus 
 gives no intimation of the founder; we, therefore conclude 
 that its antiquity was so great that this historian and traveler 
 could not satisfy himself concerning its origin. It was 
 located in a great plain called Shinar, anciently. In the 
 midst of this vast plain, on both sides of the river Euphrates, 
 this wonderful city was built, and Nebuchadnezzar turned 
 the river through its center. The city was founded by Nim- 
 rod, for we read (Gen. x) that he built the city of Babel, and 
 that he was a mighty hunter before the Lord, and became a 
 great king or leader and was called Belos, in the allotment 
 of land to the sons of Noah. The rich plain of Shinar was 
 given to the sons of Shem, but Nimrod and his people 
 rebelled against the allotment, left their territory and settled 
 on the banks of the Euphrates and, with the rest of the des- 
 cendents of Noah commenced a tower whose top should reach 
 to heaven. They were acquainted with the history of the 
 flood; and, although Noah told them that the Lord had prom- 
 ised that the world should never again be drowned, they 
 doubted and proceeded with the work, reaching a height of 
 600 feet before they were stopped by the confusion of tongues. 
 This, according to the best commentators, was a most singular 
 phenomenon, for no man could understand his neighbor; 
 utter confusion reigned and dispersion resulted. There was 
 one exception, however: the brother of Jared, a mighty man 
 of God who, it is thought, believed the words of Noah, but 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 49 
 
 aided in the work of the tower, either through" policy or, as 
 some writers say, from compulsion. When he beheld the 
 confusion among the people went immediately before God, 
 and in earnest supplication besought Him that his people 
 might retain their language, and the Lord granted his request 
 and they left the plain of Shinar and migrated westward 
 across the mighty deep, landing on the west coast of America, 
 where they multiplied until they became a mighty nation, 
 but were finally destroyed in a great civil war among them- 
 selves, (see Book of Ether in Book of Mormon, page 572.) 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolessar, who is noted 
 in the Book of Daniel as the head of gold, was the builder 
 of the great city of Babylon. Nabopolessar, his father, had 
 been sent by the king of Assyria to drive back the Medians, 
 who had invaded the kingdom; but when he met the invaders, 
 who had probably offered him a kingdom, if he would come 
 over to their side and turn his arms against his king and 
 country. He laid the flattering bait in most glowing colors 
 before his officers and soldiers, who, to a man, agreed to follow 
 where he led; so they deserted the Assyrians, joined the Med- 
 ians, and laid seige to the capital of Ninevah which fell 
 under their combined attack. The king of Assyria, with 
 his family, shut themselves up in their palace, set it on fire, 
 and all therein perished. Nabopolassar was rewarded for his 
 treachery by getting the kingdom of Babylon for his share of 
 the campaign. His son Nebuchadnezzar became king after 
 him, and figures historically as the mightiest on record, as 
 his works amply prove. His city, the second wonder, we 
 here explain that he took the city of Babel and enlarged it 
 to 15 miles square, a circumference of 60 miles, and reared a 
 wall around this vast square 350 feet high and 87 feet thick. 
 The material of this stupendous wall was taken from a deep 
 ditch or moat, and made into brick which were baked in 
 large ovens, and hot bitumen poured over them to cement 
 them together and to strengthen the wall. At every thirtieth 
 course a layer of reeds was laid on and cemented; the sides of 
 the ditch were lined with brick, when it was filled with water 
 
50 ' THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 rendering it inaccessible to an enemy. In the walls were 25 
 brass gates on each of its four sides, at the ends of the 25 
 streets that crossed the city. These brass gates were lowered 
 and raised by grooves on the inside of the walls, so that they 
 could not be reached by battering-rams. The river ran on 
 the outside of the city, but Nebuchadnezzar, to beautify the 
 city and give it a plentiful supply of water, cut a channel 
 through it 15 miles in length, and turned the Euphrates 
 down through it. The wall spanned the river by an immense 
 arch, and on the inside thereof a huge brass gate was placed 
 to prevent persons from entering by means of the river; and at 
 both the entrance and exit of the river to the city the brass 
 gates were placed. 
 
 Now, the king having besieged many cities, knew that the 
 river was a weak point, so he endeavored to strengthen it by 
 these gates; but after they were in position he was not satis- 
 fied, so, for safety, he set men to make a high wall along the 
 river, and at the ends of the 25 streets that came down to the 
 river. On each side he placed brass gates in the wall. At 
 night fall the law of Babylon required the close of these gates 
 as well as the ones on the outer or great wall. The channel 
 through the city was straight as an arrow, and paved with 
 flag rock. Steps of cut stone were placed at the ends of the 
 streets that came down to the river. On the top of the 
 outside wall six horsemen could ride abreast the entire 
 60 miles. Between every two gates on the wall, forts 10 feet high 
 were built for the shelter of the guards. There were 626 
 blocks in this great city. The streets were all wide, and on 
 each side shade trees were planted to beautify and make a 
 delightful shade. Herodotus visited Babylon in the year 455 
 B. C., five years after he had visited the pyramids, and in his 
 narrative concerning the great city says that the temple of 
 Belos was walled in by gates of brass, making a stronghold 
 in case of siege, and as the royal treasures were deposited 
 there, a constant guard was necessary; and that the reason 
 of this repository being selected, was probably on account of 
 its sacredness: none, unless an actual brigand, would touch 
 
THK SIGNS OF THE TIMKS. 51 
 
 anything in the temple, lest he might incur the anger of the 
 gods. The sacred enclosure was two stada in length on each 
 side, making a perfect square, and the massive building was 
 600 feet high, composed of 8 stories of 75 feet each from 
 ceiling to floor. The top story was fitted up most magnifi- 
 cently, with a golden bedstead, table and chairs, with hang- 
 ings and furnishings that far excelled those of the king's 
 palace, as this was supposed to be the home of the god, Bel, 
 who on coming from heaven to attend to his interests on 
 this planet, was supposed to have a fitting palace for a god 
 above the turmoil of the busy city. Bel was the god of 
 heaven and earth: he was Nimrod deified, and was wor- 
 shiped by all the eastern countries, in Canaan as Baal, in 
 Greece as Jupiter, in Babylon as Bel. 
 
 The temple of Belos in Babylon was so huge a building 
 that Strabo, an eminent historian, considered it almost 
 equal to the great pyramid. He states that it was half a 
 mile around at the base, but was not built by Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, but many years before his time, and was merely 
 enclosed with the walls and brass gates set in their place by 
 this king. Herodotus says the ascent was made by means 
 of a winding roadway commencing at the base, and, by a 
 gradual ascent wound its way to the top. He also states 
 that it never was finished, but after reaching a height of 600 
 feet was abandoned, proving the building to be the notorious 
 tower of Babel. On the top was the celebrated observatory 
 of the Babylonish astronomers, who, in the time of Abra- 
 ham were noted for their knowledge of the heavenly bodies, 
 for when Alexander took Babylon, Calisthenes, the philoso- 
 pher, who accompanied him, found they had made astronomi- 
 cal observations for 1903 years backward, which would carry 
 the account up to 215 years after the flood. This is proved 
 by the Grecian account, which was sent by Calisthenes from 
 Babylon to Aristotle, and is handed down to us by the 
 authority of Prophyry. In the different rooms of the temple 
 (except the upper one) there were massive images of gold 
 and silver, valued by Herodotus at about 5000 talents, which, 
 
52 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 in our currency, would make nearly $120,000,000. Diador- 
 ous Siculus mentions one of gold, 40 feet high, that was 
 worshiped in this temple, which was brobably the one Nebu- 
 chadnezzar set up on the plains of Dura. This image, in 
 scripture, is called 60 cubits high; but this must be under- 
 stood as the image and pedestal, as none of the ancient 
 historians record such an image. Diadorus states that it 
 contained 1000 Babylonish talents in gold, but if it had 
 been as high as the Bible narrative states, without the ped- 
 estal, it would have cost nearly three times as much. The 
 temple with its immense treasure was despoiled by Xerxes 
 who carried away its images and treasures, the accumulation 
 of a thousand years. 
 
 The palace was next in order of wonder which was 
 exactly on the opposite side of tho old one, and was, with 
 the residences of the nobles, 8 miles in circumference, and 
 guarded by three walls inside of each other, with a moat 
 between each, and secured by solid brass gates. But the 
 most wonderful of all his works were the hanging gardens, 
 made to please his queen, who being a native of Media, 
 longed for her native forests and green fields, and it was to 
 wean her from that notion that the gardens were made. 
 They contained a square of 4000 feet, and by terraces were 
 carried up one above another to the height of the city walls. 
 Immense arches sustained the terraces, and steps from them 
 ten feet wide, so that a person would not get weary in the 
 ascent, and the whole garden was surrounded by a wall 22 
 feet thick. The floors of the terraces were cemented and 
 leaded, to prevent moisture from escaping. Here the giants 
 of the forest were transplanted the oak the larch, and the 
 elegant mimosa, and the silk tasseled acacia; indeed, every 
 fruit and flower known to the Orient, grew luxuriantly in this 
 paradise. On the ascent or broad steps, flowers and beauti- 
 ful trees shaded the pathway on either side; making as Hero- 
 dotus describes "a paradise on earth, the most delightful spot 
 in all the world." From the top a lovely view of the city 
 and the winding Euphrates could be seen, and as far as the 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 53 
 
 could reach, the vast plain of Shinar, with its great 
 canals which Nebuchadnezzar had made to carry of the 
 surplus water of the river in high water time was visible. 
 He made a reservoir, probably the largest in the world; its 
 circumference was 40 miles and so deep that pleasure boats 
 sailed on its ample bosom. This also, was a great source of 
 wealth, for in the dry time of Summer, the water was drawn 
 off to irrigate the parched land and made abundant harvests. 
 Cyrus, no doubt, was more persistent in pushing the siege 
 of Babylon that he might view its wonders and, especially 
 its remarkable gardens of which he was passionately fond; 
 for wherever he went he caused beautiful gardens to be 
 planted. Of him Xenophon writes that his first care after 
 subduing a city was to plant gardens, and Plutarch in his 
 "Lives of Great men" says that Lysander, the Spartan gener- 
 al, praised the gardens of Cyrus. In ancient times gardens 
 were thought to be superior to any luxury, and kings and 
 queens were their patrons. 
 
 Thus after explaining somewhat of the .wonders of Baby- 
 lon, its wall, temple and palace, hanging gardens, and river, 
 all of which were completed in the reign of King Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, who was rightly designated the "head of gold", 
 for no king ever left behind him such marvellous works; 
 his son Belshazzar succeeded him and in his reign the king- 
 dom ended. The prophet had already predicted its fall. 
 "Babylon, the glory of the Chaldees shall be as when God 
 overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabi- 
 ted neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to genera- 
 tion. The Arabian shall not pitch tent thereon, nor the 
 shepherd make fold there, but the wild beasts of the desert 
 shall-be there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures, 
 and owls shall dwell there." (Isaiah xiii). All of this pro- 
 phecy has been literally fulfilled; its downfall commenced 
 in the reign of Belshazzar by Cyrus the Persian king, whom 
 the Lord raised up for this express work. He laid siege to 
 the city and spent months in vain attempts to break down 
 the wall, but, after repeated attempts, finding it invulnera- 
 
54 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 ble, being 87 feet thick the battering-rams could not pene- 
 trate such immense thickness, he had to resort to other 
 means. To attempt to scale the walls was impossible; 350 feet 
 in height could not be reached with scaling ladders; in. 
 the face of a vigilent army. Two vast canals were cut around 
 the city and when the troops of Cyrus informed them that their 
 object was to rear a high bank to enable them to reach the 
 top of the wall, the Babylonians laughed them to scorn. The 
 Babylonians had always considered the Euphrates their 
 greatest security, with its huge walls spanning the river by 
 a mighty arch, the mammoth brass gates shutting everything 
 out, and the same protection at the lower end of the city 
 at the exit of the river, they never thought of danger in 
 this direction; but Cyrus, the servant of the Most High, although 
 he did not know it was inspired to make the river the 
 means of destruction, was over a year, in making the two 
 canals, and on the night of the festival of Bel, Cyrus had 
 completed his arrangements for entrance. He placed his 
 men so that as the sun went down they cut the sluice-ways 
 from the river to the canals and dammed it above the 
 city. In a short time the troops were walking under the 
 brass gates, and the dry bed of the river made a level road 
 for them; for the bottom of the Euphrates is quicksand, and 
 when the water is removed, it becomes hard. The guards of 
 the city, partaking of the wine that is freely distributed on 
 such occasions, were speedily slain, and Cyrus distributing 
 his men in different parts of the city, even the temple of Belus, 
 and the hanging gardens became scenes of carnage. 
 
 While this was going on a remarkable scene was transpir- 
 ing in the palace. Belshazzar had made a feast for his nobles 
 on this great holiday, a thousand of whom were entertained 
 at this royal banquet, here he committed an act which God 
 could not overlook, a sacrilegious act of which even his father 
 Nebuchadnezzar never dreamed, that of drinking wine from 
 the sacred vessels of the temple, which Solomon had made 
 and dedicated for its use. Belshazzar sent for them to the 
 temple of Belus where Nebuchadnezzar had placed them. 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 55 
 
 After destroying Jerusalem and making captives of the Jews 
 he destroyed the temple and its treasures, carried them to 
 
 Babylon, and placed them in the temple of Belus, where they 
 remained during his life and were not disturbed until the 
 
56 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 feast, when they drank wine from the sacred vessels and praised 
 the gods of gold and silver, of wood and stone; but in that 
 hour came forth fingers of a man's hand and wrote over the 
 candlestick Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. The king was appalled 
 by this apparition, the joints of his loins were loosened, and 
 his knees smote together. He called for the wise men, and 
 astrologers to read the writing, but they could not. The 
 queen thought of Daniel who was brought in and, as is well 
 known, predicted, in the interpretation, the capture of the 
 kingdom that very night. How short a period for so absolute 
 a monarch, how dreadful to tamper with Jehovah! The fate 
 of an empire hangs upon the fact of an invasion of the holy 
 places and an unhallowed use of the sacred vessels. The 
 scene has changed, the cup of trembling is substituted for the 
 wine-cup. How dreadful to invade the domain of God's holy 
 places. The guards whose duty it was to lock the gates at 
 evening were drunk. God had said that Cyrus should break 
 down the gates of brass and enter. Who shall prevent it? Not 
 Belshazzar, he fell a victim to the sword. His men fell around 
 him like hail. Babylon is taken. Darius, the Median king, 
 an alley of Cyrus, took the lower part of the city. When the 
 water was withdrawn they filed right and left and in ONE 
 HOUR Babylon was taken. 
 
 Cyrus, on becoming the sovereign of Babylon, was kind 
 to the Jews and aided them to return to their own country and 
 to build their temple, which they did 515 B. C. He was a 
 good king and exercised sovereignty, peaceably, until his 
 death. In a good old age he was succeeded by his son Cam- 
 byses who also had a peaceable reign. He was succeeded by 
 a Persian monarch named Darius Hystaspas, when the line of 
 Cyrus became extinct. Alexander the Great in the great bat- 
 tle of Arebella, beat Darius and the last great battle of the 
 Persians was fought. He moved the seat of his empire from 
 Media to Babylon, the beauties of that place enchanting him, 
 and tried to rebuild the walls, that had partly been thrown 
 down in the seige, but he did not know or care for what the 
 prophet of God had said, She shall become a desolate waste; 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 57 
 
 doleful creatures shall dwell in her palaces, and he who 
 attempts to rebuild it shall do so in the death of his firstborn, 
 which befell Alexander; yet was. he determined to prosecute 
 the work. The Lord removed him and he died at the age of 
 33. The city gradually sank to decay, and became literally a 
 "doleful place" for the satyr, owl and venomous reptile dwelt 
 there. No man could pitch tent there. Even the Arab who was 
 wont to pass the night here dare do so no more. Thus was 
 God's word fulfilled upon it. Babylon is to fall again accord- 
 ing to the Revelator John, in the "last days." He could not 
 refer to the ancient city, but to its emblem in the world, the 
 wicked which we will explain in our chapter on the last judg- 
 ment. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 % 
 
 JUPITER OLYMPUS, THE THIRD WONDER. 
 
 IMAGE worship is stated by Bancroft, in his "Footprints 
 of Time" as commencing in the worship of nature. On page 
 44 he writes that "the religious nature was first awakened by 
 the mysteries of growth, the power of wind-storms and waters, 
 the calm beauty and brilliancy of the sun, moon and stars, 
 riding undisturbed in the heavens, impressed in man a sense 
 of something superior to himself, and his sense of weakness 
 and dependence led him to propitiate these unknown powers 
 to aid him." The head of the family was naturally looked up 
 to as a priest or head that all revered, and, after his death it 
 was supposed that he was taken to some of the heavenly bodies. 
 They thus worshiped the hosts of heaven, the scriptural writ- 
 ers said, and it was to call the attention of the head to a cer- 
 tain star such as Jupiter, which was supposed to contain Nim- 
 
58 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 rod, the mighty hunter, that they supplicated the persons who 
 lived in certain stars, but as the stars would be hid from their 
 view part of the time, they made images of their deities, and 
 worshiped the representation until the star returned, and 
 finally they lost the worship of the stars in the worship of the 
 representative or image. Nimrod was deified, after his death, 
 and was supposed to have taken his abode in the star Jupiter, 
 and was invariably worshiped by the sons of men, who were 
 under him at the building of the great tower. Some called 
 him Bel, others Baal, and the Grecians, Jupiter, the great head 
 or god of gods, and many minor images were made to gratify 
 various cities who held the worship of Jupiter as most sacred; 
 but it was left for Elis, a city of Greece, situated near Olympia, 
 to carry off the palm of victory in its worship of Jupiter. 
 
 In the year 490 B. C., a child was born at Athens, who 
 was destined to become the greatest sculptor the world ever 
 saw. From his youth he showed great genius, and many of 
 his works are still extant, one image, especially, of the god- 
 dess, Diana, now in the British Museum, and allowed by mod- 
 ern critics to be nearly perfection. " He was commissioned by 
 the Athenians to make them an image of the goddess, Miner- 
 va, and everything needed was furnished by the city gold, 
 silver, ivory, precious stones, etc. He made it so beautiful and 
 life-like that it was pronounced the goddess herself, and the 
 sculptor was almost deified, but he had rivals who circulated 
 a story that Phidias, the sculptor, had stolen part of the ivory 
 and gold entrusted to his care for rearing the image, and the 
 story gained ground. The enemies of Phidias worked faith- 
 fully for his destruction; theft, in those days, being a death 
 punishment. The rivals bribed false witnesses who swore 
 that they saw him carry off gold, ivory, and precious stones; 
 he could not disprove it, and therefore fled the country to save 
 his life, settling in a city of the Spartans near where the 
 Olympic games were held, a principality not governed by the 
 Athenians. When the Elians found they had the great sculp- 
 tor in their midst, they commissioned him to make a statue of 
 Jupiter Olympus, for them, and he to avenge himself on the 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TI31KS. 59 
 
 Athenians for their lack of confidence, and their willingness 
 to credit false rumors determined to make this image so vastly 
 superior to Minerva that she would not be accounted a wonder, 
 and therefore set to work on the celebrated idol. Minerva was 
 only 39 feet high; he made Jupiter 55 feet high. He placed 
 him upon a throne covered with ivory and gold and precious 
 stones. A celebrated writer, Pausanias states, "He sits majes- 
 tic and appears endued with life," and, although the temple 
 was 60 feet high to the ceiling, it would appear that if Jupiter 
 were to arise from his throne and stand erect he would lift the 
 roof from the temple. His head was covered by an olive 
 branch to denote peace to the faithful; in his right hand he 
 held an image of the goddess of victory. This image was 18 
 feet high, of gold, ivory and precious stones; its wings were 
 bespangled with precious stones, mostly rubies and pearls; in 
 his left hand he held the sceptre as king of kings. This scep- 
 tre was also of gold, and surmounted by a golden eagle to 
 show that the fowls of the air were the messengers of Jupiter; 
 at his feet were full grown lions, of solid gold, to denote that 
 the animal kingdom was subservient to their god, they being 
 represented by their king, the lion. The sides, back and 
 top of the throne, were supported by gods of gold to denote 
 that the throne of Jupiter was supported by the aid of the lesser 
 gods, of the statue of full-grown mortals. These were lavish- 
 ed in profusion around the throne and were of solid gold. 
 His robe was elaborated with figures of lilies, animals and 
 birds; his sandals were wrought in festoons of flowers, the 
 dew-drops being pearls. 
 
 The great throne was as much a marvel of workmanship 
 as the image itself; it was made of ivor}- and gold and the 
 pedestal was pure pentelic marble; its four sides were elabor- 
 ately wrought in figures of the victories of the gods, who were 
 the subjects of Jupiter and under his especial care. Thus 
 Phidias labored most assidously for the Elians and immortal- 
 ized himself forever, the critics of every age accredit him as 
 being the master of sculpture. Phidias, says tradition, wish- 
 ing to know whether his work was accepted by the gods or 
 
60 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 not, evoked them to manifest it by some sign, and no sooner 
 was the request made than it was answered by a bolt of light- 
 ning striking the marble pavement in front of the image, do- 
 ing no damage. A beautiful vase was placed there to mark 
 the spot forever. 
 
 The temple was in every way worthy of the god; its di- 
 mensions being 350 feet in length, 200 feet wide, and 60 feet 
 high on the inside; eighty feet outside the dome, and was sus- 
 tained by 220 columns of fine white marble, each a solid 
 piece 60 feet high. They were fluted most elaborately, and so- 
 deeply that a man could stand inside of one, and be hidden 
 from view. This part of the history is amply proved, for, to 
 this day, 17 of those grand columns remain standing in the 
 ruins of the temple of Jupiter, and three of the immense rocks, 
 spanning from column to column, are still in their place on 
 the top. In this century an old hermit made his home there, 
 but being missed a search was made, and his body was found 
 on top of the columns where he had died. 
 
 The Olympic games were a national series of athletic 
 sports, open to all competitors who were riot under bane. 
 They were celebrated at a city called Olympia, close to Elis. 
 There was an oracle of Jupiter at Olympia, and, tradition 
 states that Hercules came there in person and established the 
 games, in honor of Jupiter, after a great victory 1222 years 
 B. C. They were to be celebrated every 59 years. The care 
 of the games was given to the Elians, and by these national 
 festivities we get accurate dates for history, as the winners 
 were recorded in a great book and their names immortalized 
 in song; and even kings did not think it beneath them to con- 
 tend for the championship. Every person tried to visit the 
 temple as many times as possible, as it was considered a calam- 
 ity to not have visited it and worshiped the god, at least, once 
 in a life, and not to have their names recorded in the temple 
 book. The Olympic, citizens of Elis became very wealthy, as 
 crowds wended their way to and from the temple at all seasons 
 of the year; but, there is an end to all mortal things, and the 
 great Jupiter, with its magnificent temple, had to yield to the 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 61 
 
 inevitable. The Greeks and Persians were rivals, the latter 
 jealous of their growing renown, invaded their country and 
 tried to subdue it, but were repulsed again and again, but 
 still persisted until Xerxes, with a million of men, beaten and 
 retreating, finally lays waste all he finds and plunders all 
 worthy thereof; among the rest the temple of Jupiter falls 
 under his scourge. He pillaged the temple of its immense 
 treasure and caused the image, with its attendant gods to be 
 taken down and melted into bars convenient for transporta- 
 tion, and then carried them to Persia. The treasures of this 
 temple alone made him very rich. 
 
 These were the times of greatest glory for Greece. Hon- 
 or and liberty were regarded of more value than life, and 
 it, although a small kingdom, was so united, that with an 
 army of only 10,000 men beat Darius on a fair battle-ground 
 with 300,000 on the famed field of Marathon. The valor of 
 the Greeks lay in their unity and bravery, for, when once 
 engaged, they never turned to the foe. Death was preferable 
 to that. At the time of the famed destruction of the temple 
 of Jupiter, the Greeks, with a small army drove Xerxes, 
 with two millions before them, and he could not have entered 
 Athens but for the treachery of a malcontent who showed 
 him a hidden passage between the mountains but the Greeks 
 were not yet discouraged, but united more closely, and the 
 result was the destruction of the Persian fleet at Salamis, 
 which compelled Xerxes to abandon 200,000 of his men, and 
 compelled his retreat to his own country with his great 
 spoils, but the 200,000 left, the Greeks cut into pieces at 
 the battle of Platea, they having only 40,000 .men. After 
 these great victories by the Greeks, the Olympic games 
 were revived, and from being celebrated every 59 years 
 were celebrated every fifth year. The games consisted of char- 
 iot races, boxing, running, leaping, throwing the hammer and 
 pitching quoits. No criminal was allowed to compete with the 
 wrestlers, and competitors were chosen by lot. The eques- 
 trian competitors were mostly of the higher caste, as they 
 had to furnish horses, chariots, etc., at their own expense. 
 
62 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 Those competing for prizes had to eater their names ten 
 months before the festival and to name the prize they would 
 compete for, and on the day of the festival their names 
 were proclaimed from the Stadium. They were then led 
 to the throne of Jupiter and there they swore before the 
 great god that they would not be guilty of any under-handed 
 measure or hinder the fair course of the games. At first 
 the prizes were very valuable, but they finally became mere- 
 ly honorary, such as a garland of white olives cut fc from th e 
 grove- of Olympia; but great triumphs awaited the victors 
 in their native city. There they were seized and carried 
 through a breach made in the wall of the city, on purpose 
 for this mark of their approval; and a great feast was made 
 to honor them, and poets composed songs in their praise, and 
 they were exhibited in their processions. These games were 
 found beneficial in holding surrounding nations in friendly 
 relations, for all were eligible to the Olympic games, and all 
 were anxious as to the result. There was no betting noth- 
 ing but the victor's prizes are recorded in history. This was 
 the acme of ambition. Pindar, the Grecian poet, entered 
 the lists and competed for a prize in an ode in which he in- 
 vokes Jupiter to aid him. The ode runs in one stanza, thus: 
 
 Thy circling hours immortal Jove 
 Who makes the unvaried lightning move 
 With songs and lyres ascendant string, 
 Rouse me the victor's praise to sing. 
 When friends succeed the good rejoice, 
 And hail the sweet-tuned Herald's voice. 
 
 Greece has an immortal record. She has given the world 
 the greatest warriors, the greatest poets, philosophers and law- 
 givers, the greatest gods and temples, and her ruins vie with 
 those of the Egyptians. To her we are indebted for much art 
 and science. Our alphabet was copied by Greeks from the 
 Egyptians and afterwards improved. They invented most of 
 the arithmetical figures in use. We have the Grecian mythol- 
 ogy; their marks in literature are found in all the world and 
 their festival styles are somewhat still in existence, such as 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 03 
 
 May-day, the festival of the harvest home, but now we need 
 not mythology to enlighten us, the more sure word of proph- 
 esy is our guiding star to the mansions of eternal bliss. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TEMPLE OF DIANA, FOURTH WONDER. 
 
 EPHESUS was situated 38 miles from Smyrna, in Asia 
 Minor, and was anciently one of the most splendid cities, and 
 in the time of John the Revelator, the seat of one of the seven 
 churches of Asia. Strabo calls it "the best and most glorious 
 city," another writer calls it the "Eye of Asia." It was situated 
 on a rolling table-land, with a round hill, in the center, called 
 Mars Hill, and a splendid public building erected upon it. 
 On the steps of this building, Paul the Apostle, preached the 
 gospel. The people listened with rapt attention; but while 
 he was unfolding the plan of salvation, a tumult caused by a 
 mob's taking Aristarchus and Gaius, ensued. The mob, 
 headed by Demetrius and other silversmiths, (whose craft was 
 sustained by making images of the temple and the goddess, Di- 
 ana), pushed them into the theatre, and there, for two hours, a 
 tumult, so great, was kept up, that Paul could not be heard, their 
 cry being "'Great is Diana of the Ephesians." This cry was 
 raised by these smiths, who, knowing, that if Paul's doctrine 
 succeeded, their craft was ruined. The religion of Paul was 
 offered them without price. Paul, however, was not dis- 
 couraged by this first reception at Ephesus, but worked dili- 
 gently, soon establishing a church there, which became one of 
 the greatest of the early churches of Asia; but was afterwards 
 hreatened by the Revelator John (Rev. ii.) with "The removal 
 
64 
 
 THE SIONS OF THE TIMES, 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 05 
 
 of its candlestick" if they did not return to iheir "first love." 
 (For the history of Paul's mission to Ephesus see Acts xix). Diana 
 was reputed to be the daughter of Jupiter, and was sent, tradi- 
 tion states, to the earth by her father to rule and govern it (the 
 absurdity originated with a man named Cananatus, who 
 brought the image to Ephesus and told this story). 
 
 "I was working in my field one day, and saw 
 this image descend from heaven and alight therein; it ad- 
 vanced towards me and calling me by name said, 'I am the 
 daughter of Jupiter and am sent to rule over the earth during 
 my father's absence and you must take me to Ephesus/ at the 
 same time pointing with her hand towards me, 'and tell them 
 what I have told you, and that it is the express command of 
 Jupiter that they build me a temple to dwell in, failing to do 
 so they would incur the displeasure of the god of heaven and 
 earth.' ); 
 
 Cananatus took the image, which he had made out of a 
 block of black ebony, to Ephesus and told his story; and, won- 
 derful to relate, it was believed, and he was rewarded hand- 
 somely as the messenger of Jupiter and the patron of Diana. 
 The Ephesians, then built a temple of wood which perished 
 by fire; another of wood shared the same fate; a third, made 
 of the same material, on the night of the birth of Alexander 
 the Great, also perished by fire. The image was every time 
 saved by the Ephesians rushing in and carrying her out bodily. 
 By this time they were tired of building 'temples, but finally 
 at a great conference, concluded to build one that would not 
 burn, and, that all the world could be pleased to contribute to- 
 wards the erection. This proclaimed, Alexander, who was 
 then climbing the ladder of fame, proposed to build it, if he 
 could be allowed the front part of the building in which to 
 place his victories in sculpture. The generous offer was re- 
 spectfully declined, as they preferred to have all the space for 
 sculpture appropriated to the wars of the gods and their vic- 
 tories, so they went to work. The first wooden temple was 
 built on Mars Hill, in the reign of Servius Tullius 570 B. C., 
 the second in the year 540 B. C., which was finished on the 
 day the philosopher Socrates was poisoned. The third was 
 
66 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 destroyed, as we stated above, on the night of Alexander's 
 birth. Ephesus has been, from time immemorial, subject to 
 shocks of earthquake, therefore the commissioners of the build- 
 ing concluded to move its site from Mars Hill to a low spot of 
 land between the Mediterranean Sea and the city; it was a 
 low, marshy spot, but they determined to drain it. Here, 
 they supposed, earthquakes would not be so severe, and the 
 building would escape cracking. The temple was built of 
 marble, not an atom of anything combustible being allowed in 
 its construction. The foundation was laid after the marsh 
 had been drained by vast sewers, eight feet wide, and 16 
 feet deep; at the bottom charcoal was rammed solid, 18 inches 
 of wool were laid over it, then the foundation rock. It was 
 thought charcoal and wool, being imperishable, would make it 
 last forever. The building was made of pure white marble? 
 and was 425 feet long, 220 wide, and 88 feet high; it had 127 
 columns of marble to sustain the roof, each 60 feet high and 
 eight feet eight inches thick; each was a solid piece of marble 
 and was the gift of a prince or king, who had merely the privi- 
 lege to place his name and country on the square chapter of the 
 top of the columns; 36 of them were richly carved and placed in 
 the front part of the building; a marble pavement surrounded 
 the entire building and three polished marble steps extended 
 around the temple. In the parapet the lesser gods, composed of 
 pure pentelic marble, were placed on pedestals to guard the ex- 
 terior of the temple. On the inside a great throne was erected, 
 covered with gold and ivory, and the goddess seated thereon. 
 Seventeen gods of silver were placed on pedestals surrounding 
 the goddess, whose duty it was to protect the image. 
 
 Tradition says during the progess of the building Chesis- 
 phron, the architect, contemplated suicide, on account of his 
 troubles in rearing the building, as far as constructed, and had 
 sought a secluded place to end his troubles by a cup of poison, 
 when Diana appeared to him and encouraged him to live and 
 push the work with a promise of reward both here and 
 hereafter; and, to the time of his death he kept all his plans 
 in sketch on the tressel-board, but feeling the- hand of death 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 67 
 
 upon him, he perfected the plan of the building, which 
 aided afterwards materially in its completion. It cost the 
 Ephesians 220 years' labor, and the idolatrous world contrib- 
 uted to its erection; even the ladies gave the commissioners 
 their earrings and nose-rings to aid in its decoration. 
 
 The rites of the temple are worthy of note, one of which 
 consisted in slaying a fat bullock, without blemish, at the 
 festival of Diana, in her honor, the people partaking of the 
 flesh after the rite ended. Thus we see here a custom of the 
 Jews adopted by the heathen; and to such an extent was 
 this festival engrafted upon the lives of the people that, even 
 after the true worship of Messiah was adopted, the people 
 still celebrated the feast of the fat buck, as we read in the 
 history of England. The city of London had a temple to 
 Diana, and slew a fat buck at the festival, when the carcass 
 was given to the people, which was done by blowing of bucks' 
 horns amid the cheers of the multitude; and, after Christi- 
 anity became the religion the custom could not be abolished, 
 for even at the St. Paul cathedral, during divine service on the 
 holiday of Diana, they introduced the fat buck with the 
 blowing of horns and cheers of the people. It is even 
 recorded that Gregory Thamaturgas, a Christian bishop, 
 instituted annual festivals to the saints, to wean the people 
 from their heathen ones, and to put them out of mind. 
 Thus Christianity was inaugurated as Christ's Day (Christmas) 
 as a national holiday, happening at the time of the festival of 
 Bachanalia and Saturnalia. The May-day was made to take 
 the place of the festival of Floralia, the Goddess of Flowers, 
 and the holidays to the virgin Mary and the apostles, to 
 supersede the solemnities of the ancient Julian Calendar. 
 
 Pope Gregory in the 6th century, in a letter to August- 
 ine, first archbishop of Canterbury, says "Destroy the idols, 
 but not the temples, and cause the people, instead of sac- 
 rificing oxen to the gods, to sacrifice them to the memory of 
 the martyrs, and to cleanse the temples." He says, "Sprinkle 
 them with holy water, and have them, in these parts, build 
 temporary huts of green boughs, and not permit them to 
 
68 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 enter the temple on these days, that the heathen worship may 
 die out." That the heathen derived their rites and festivals from 
 God's ancient people is easily proved; for instance, in the 
 front of the temple of Delhi the words THOU ART were en- 
 graved in mystic letters. The Egyptians inscribed on one of 
 their temples i AM, and on one of the temples of Mars Hill 
 at Ephesus, Paul saw the engraving TO THE UNKNOWN GOD T 
 and in the mythology of the gods, we read that some names 
 of the heathen gods could not be written. It is recorded in 
 the Antiquities of the Jews, that the Almighty appeared to 
 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as Al Shaddai, but my name 
 Jehovah was not known to them, and that Moses, by hav- 
 ing this great name of God engraved on his staff, was enabled 
 to perform the mighty miracles that he did before Pharoah. 
 To prove that the customs of ancient idolators have not 
 wholly died out, even in this day of revealed religion, we 
 note the unlucky day of Friday, which was devoted to the 
 worship of Priga, an ancient god of whom it is recorded that 
 being improperly propitiated, the reverse being given, there- 
 fore Friday became an unlucky day. To this day the judges 
 choose black Friday on which to execute criminals. To show 
 our connections with ancient customs and rites would re- 
 quire a volume, we, therefore desist and continue our narra- 
 tive of the fourth wonder. 
 
 The temple of Diana, it is written, was destroyed by the 
 Goths, but it can easily be shown that Justinian, in the 
 6th century, laid seige to Ephesus and conquered it, and 
 that he entered the temple and plundered it; that even Xer- 
 xes, the Persian king, when he plundered the temple of 
 Jupiter Olympus, Memon and Minerva did not touch the 
 temple of Diana, or allow his troops to set foot in the sacred 
 enclosure, regarding it as too holy for pollution, but Jus- 
 tinian was a Mohammedan and cared not for idols, indeed, 
 the instructions of the Koran required their destruction and 
 that of the idolator. After he had thrown down Diana on 
 the marble pavement, and had stripped the gold and ivory 
 from the throne and appropriated the 17 gods of silver, he 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 69 
 
 commanded his troops to destroy the marble images that 
 surrounded the temple; then looking upon the beautiful 
 columns in the front part of the building, he transported 
 them to Constantinople and reared a mosque upon them, and 
 they stand there now. Even the names of the kings are 
 visible. They should be seen by all who visit Constantinople. 
 The apostle told the church at Ephesus that if they did not 
 return to their first love he would remove their candlestick. 
 Have they remained steadfast? Do they exist now? No. 
 Look at what they were in the time of Paul. Ephesus was 
 the "eye to Asia, the glorious city," now it is a rude hamlet; 
 a few poor people till the impoverished soil of the spot of 
 the once famous temple, not a vestige of which remains. 
 Behold here prophecy fullfilled; the candlestick is removed. 
 
 Some historical item, worthy of recollection, touching 
 Ephesus deserve note. Timothy, the beloved disciple of Paul, 
 was its first bishop, who was finally martyred by the Ephe- 
 sians, who fastened him to a horse's tail and dragged him to 
 death. John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, with Mary, the 
 mother of our Lord, came to Ephesus, and while there, Mary 
 sickened and died. John wrote his gospel there, and John 
 the Revelator passed through the city on his way to the Isle 
 of Patmos to which he was banished where he was shown the 
 things recorded in his book of Revelation. In closing this lect- 
 ure, we would say to the youth of Zion: study well the word of 
 the Lord, remembering that the words of God's prophets 
 never fail. We shall be held accountable as were the early 
 churches to hold fast to our love of the gospel. 
 
70 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PHAROS OR GREAT LIGHT-HOUSE AT THE MOUTH OF THE 
 NILE, FIFTH WONDER. 
 
 THE city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander the 
 Great when returning from the conquest of India by the great 
 highway of nations, the pyramids and the isthmus of Suez. 
 At the the mouth of the river Nile stood Alexander viewing 
 the Mediterranean and the fine harbor of Alexandria. He, 
 turning to his generals, said, "If we only had a city built 
 here, with a proper lighthouse to aid the mariner in passing 
 that reef of rocks, we should have the key to the East." On 
 arriving in Babylon and commencing the rebuilding thereof, 
 he did not forget this fine location, but sent Ptolemy Soter 
 with men and means to build a city and a lighthouse there. 
 This general commenced his labors, but during the building 
 of the city Alexander died at Babylon, and the council decreed 
 to entomb him at Macedonia, but although the body was taken 
 to Memphis it was finally deposited at Alexandria, and Ptol- 
 emy made a tomb befitting the conqueror of the world, the 
 ruins of which can still be seen. The city was enclosed by a lofty 
 wall, having 150 towers, after the manner of Babylon, and 
 the center street was most magnificent. It was 2,000 feet 
 broad, and ran the length of the city, from the gate of the sea 
 to the Canopic gate, which commanded a view of the harbor 
 and shipping, both on the Mediterranean and LakeMareotic. 
 On each side of the broad street, and through its center, trees 
 were planted for a delightful shade for the promenaders, who 
 could either walk or drive in the delightful avenue. Outside 
 of the Canopic gate was a spacious circus for chariot races, and 
 on the east of the circus a gymnasium 600 feet in length, 
 with baths, saloons and booths, tables and seats, that all might 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 71 
 
 gratify their tastes in eating and drinking, or in games and 
 plays to their fancy. 
 
 In the distribution of the provinces, Egypt was given to 
 Ptolemy Soter who soon made it an independent kingdom. 
 During his reign he developed its great resources and lived to 
 see the prediction of Alexander verified, as it became the 
 greatest commercial city of the world, the commerce of the 
 eastern world entering its ports and enriching its citizens. 
 Ptolemy Soter lived to build the lighthouse to the third story 
 and died. His son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, succeeded him, 
 and finished the building which was built in the bay on an 
 island called Pharos, quite a distance from the main-land. 
 Dinocrates, the architect, united the main-land with the island 
 by a causeway of rock and earth, thus dividing the bay in two. 
 It is thought that Ptolemy Soter contemplated ruling Egypt 
 as he was vieing with Babylon during the life of Alexander. 
 The city, even in his lifetime, was 15 miles in circumference, 
 and contained a population of 300,000 free people with nearly 
 as many slaves. 
 
 In 640 A. D., when the Saracens captured Alexandria, 
 they found 4,000 palaces, 4,000 baths, 400 theaters, 12,000 
 shops and 40,000 Jews attending them, who paid tribute for 
 the privilege. Ptolem} 7 Philadelphus was of a literary turn 
 and collected all the manuscripts he could find; and it was his 
 ambition to have in his library a copy of every book in the 
 world. He therefore tried to get the Jewish scriptures but 
 was, of course, refused; but he at length invited 70 of the 
 Jewish Rabbis, who were learned in Hebrew and Greek, to 
 translate their sacred scriptures into his language, who agreed 
 to the proposition and translated the Old Testament from the 
 Hebrew to the Greek. Thus the scriptures were first given to 
 the Gentiles. It required over a year to complete the trans- 
 lation. They were maintained by the king. During his reign, 
 he collected a library of 700,000 volumes which were des- 
 troyed by Omar in the sixth century. 
 
 This Mohammedan caliph, on pillaging the city, found this 
 noted collection of books and asked the question of those who 
 
72 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 wanted to save them: "Do they agree with the Koran? If they 
 do we don't want them, and if they don't we must destroy 
 them. Burn them anyway," and the precious volumes were 
 fed to the furnaces to heat the baths for his soldiers. The 
 books were kept in a building constructed for that purpose, on 
 shelves. Librarians were in attendance to find any volume 
 wanted. The burning of this library was a great loss to the 
 world, as many unanswerable questions could be solved by 
 them, such as the art of embalming dead bodies, as note the 
 body of Myciranus in the British Museum, embalmed in the 
 time of Abraham. The art of hardening copper has been 
 lost since the time of Omar. 
 
 The Pharos was made of freestone of several stories, each 
 receding as erected. Ptolemy Soter finished the third story 
 before his death and Ptolemy Philadelphius made a round shaft 
 or column which he carried to the height of 450 feet and erected 
 a room or place for fire on the top which could be seen at sea 100 
 miles, and the smoke a much greater distance by day. The 
 smoke was as essential as the fire, there being no mariner's com- 
 pass in those days some familiar object was needed to steer by. 
 Ptolemy, for the benefit of the sailors, kept fire continually burn- 
 ing, and ordered his architect to place his inscription on the 
 building, thus: "King Ptolemy to the Gods, the Saviors for 
 the Benefit of Sailors," but Sostratus, the architect, wishing to 
 claim all the glory for the celebrated building engraved his own 
 name on the hard marble which read: "Sostratus the Snidian to 
 the Gods, the Saviors for the benefit of Sailors." and coated it 
 with cement, and on the cement he placed the king's inscription. 
 When time had decayed the cement, the name of Ptolemy 
 disappeared and that of Sostratus became visible, but instead 
 of immortalizing his name it became a proverb for evil 
 among all nations, or a by-word for fraud. (The "snide"). 
 
 This celebrated wonder stood for many years the glory of 
 the Egyptians when it suddenly came to an end by an earth- 
 quake. As the tidal wave rushed shoreward the Pharos was 
 toppled from its immense height of 450 feet and disappeared 
 in the sea. Its cost was 800 Alexandrian talents, which in our 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TI.MKS 73 
 
 coin would be $1,650,000. It was finely ornamented with 
 marble and surrounded by a sea wall to protect it from storms. 
 Many buildings in its imitation have been reared but none 
 have approached this great wonder. The nearest approach 
 to it was the Eddystone lighthouse situated in Plymouth 
 Sound, about ten miles from Ram's Head, England. 
 
 This Pharos (for all lighthouses are called after the great 
 fifth wonder) of the British is a great boon to the sailors of the 
 sound, as it is high tide at Plymouth Rock at full moon at 
 5:15, when the tide rises eighteen feet and the current runs 
 with a great velocity in a contrary way to that of the channel, 
 making it very dangerous for navigators. 
 
 The first Eddystone lighthouse was begun by Henry 
 Winstanley in 1696 and and finished in 1703. While super- 
 intending some repairs that year the unfortunate architect and 
 all his men were caught in the lighthouse in a terrific storm, 
 and they, with the entire building, were blown into the ocean. 
 Nothing but an iron stanchion and a piece of chain were left to 
 tell the sad story of their destruction. 
 
 In 1706, Rudyerd, a silk mercer of Ludgate, London, 
 advanced the theory that a wooden building constructed on a 
 certain plan would stand the storms of the sound better than 
 anything else, so he was commissioned to build one which he 
 did on an improved plan of his own, which did resist the fury 
 of the waves that so frequently visit the sound, but could not 
 resist fire and in 1755 it perished by that element. In 1756 
 John Smeaton commenced to build the present Eddystone 
 lighthouse, copying after the great fifth wonder, making it of 
 stone and round, and each story receding inward like the 
 Egyptian wonder. He completed it in 1759. It stands to this 
 day, and, from indications, will stand for centuries, proving 
 that the pyramidal plan is the only one for standing severe 
 usage. Ptolemy Soter, living in the third century before 
 Christ, knew this, and built his fifth wonder in this shape ? 
 which, but for the earthquake, would be standing yet. 
 
74 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MAUSOLEUM, SIXTH WONDER. 
 
 THE kingdom of Caria flourished in the fourth century 
 B. C. and was a powerful nation previous to the time of Mau- 
 solus, to whose memory the wonder was reared. The city of 
 Halicarnassus was the capital which was built on the Mediter- 
 ranean where the Turkish city of Budrun now stands. It 
 was beautifully situated; the bay of Halicarnassus receding 
 inland in the shape of a horse-shoe. The city was built on 
 both sides of this circle, the celebrated tomb of the king, the 
 Mausoleum on what would be called the toe calk of the horse- 
 shoe, the site being visible from any part of the city. The death 
 of the king was 353 B. C., and Artemesia, the queen, was so 
 grief-stricken thereat that she committed one of the most sin- 
 gular freaks recorded in history, viz., that of taking the king's 
 heart from his body, reducing it to ashes and drinking them 
 in wine. It was the custom to reduce bodies to ashes. The 
 king's were placed in a very magnificent urn made of gold ? 
 ivory and precious stones. As a repository for this little urn 
 the great sixth wonder was reared as a loving tribute to the 
 memory of Mausolus, the king. Artemesia, after the crema- 
 tion df the body of her beloved, conceived the idea of making 
 a tomb for the urn that held these ashes, so she gathered her 
 architects and the result of their decisions was the celebrated 
 Mausoleum. As we before stated, the city was in shape an 
 amphitheater. In the lowest part was the forum; up the hill 
 in the middle of the curve was a large square; in this square 
 the tomb was erected; above the tomb on top of the hill stood 
 the temple of Mars, which contained a colossal statue of the 
 god; on the right were temples to Venus and Minerva. The 
 palace commanded a view of the harbor, temples, forum and 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 75 
 
 and the square referred to. Artemesia chose this site for the 
 tomb that it might ever be in view from the palace which 
 was built by Mausolus so strong and lasting that Pausanias 
 found it in splendid shape 500 years after Mausolus' time. 
 The tomb was commenced by the great architects Pythis and 
 Satyrus and was nearly square; its length was 113 feet, width 
 93 and height 140 feet. The first terrace was 60 feet, and was 
 
 TOMBS IN INDIA. 
 
 supported by 3G columns of polished marble, and 'between the 
 columns on the ground floor were placed statues of the gods of 
 the Carians, and four different artists were engaged on these 
 statues. Scopus of Ephesus made the statue of Venus, which 
 is still to be seen in the British Museum, Leochares the 
 Spartan, made all the statues on the !.west side, Timothus 
 those on the south side and Bryaxis, those on the north.. 
 
76 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 The steps, three in number, to reach the floor were polished 
 marble and extended around the building. The first terrace 
 was ornamented with bass reliefs, instead of statues, and on 
 these were painted the wars of the Trojans. Two doors in 
 the second terrace were placed east and west to enter the 
 tomb, the terrace receding inward, like the pyramid, left a 
 walk wide enough for six persons to walk abreast, and at the 
 four corners of the terrace the four favorite gods of the king 
 were placed in statue to guard his tomb. On the top of 
 the second terrace was a flower garden with forest trees. 
 Artemesia intended to walk in the beautiful garden with her 
 maids of honor and mourn the loss of her beloved king, but 
 she did not live to see the garden planted, nor even the 
 second terrace completed, but died two years after her hus- 
 band and her body was reduced to ashes, and it is supposed 
 they were deposited with those of her husband. The archi- 
 tects did not abandon the work after the death of the queen, 
 but completed it according to the plan laid down by her, for 
 the benefit of science and for their own honor. The third 
 terrace was most beautifully decorated with sloping panels, 
 with hieroglyphics of the wars of the Greeks and Amazons, 
 Hercules being among the combatants, and these finely fin- 
 ished sculptures were eleven in number and are now in the 
 British Museum. The Sultan, Ab-dul-Megid, gave them to 
 Sir Stratford Canning for the British government. They 
 were found by the Knights of Rhodes in A. D. 1522 in a heap 
 of rubbish at Halicarnassus and were used by them in con- 
 structing the castle of St. Peter in the city above mentioned. 
 On the top was a splendid statue of Pheaton with a four horse 
 chariot supposed to represent the charioteer driving the 
 king to the realms of bliss. On the angle of the terrace 
 facing the city, was a high monument and on top a full-life 
 statue, on the other angle opposite another monument was 
 reared to represent the good queen, a female figure wringing 
 her hands, the hair dishevelled and the tears flowing, and 
 she in a prostrate position, as though looking for the return 
 of her lord. The expense of this tomb must have been 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 77 
 
 enormous; for the great philosopher Anaxagoris, on viewing 
 it said, "What an immense amount of money is here ex- 
 changed into stone!" 
 
 The sight of the mausoleum on entering the bay, when 
 the trees were in full bloom as also the lovliest flowers, left 
 an impression for the beauties of nature not easily forgotten. 
 At the erection of the base of the mausoleum the queen 
 offered a large reward for the best elegy on the virtues and 
 excellencies of Mausoles which was awarded Theopmpus, 
 a pupil of Socrates. This tomb was vastly the finest ever 
 conceived by man and should justly rank as one of the 
 seven wonders. The urn containing the king's ashes was 
 placed on an altar covered with ivory and gold, and the 
 interior most elaborately bespangled with gold. The bar- 
 barians, in after ages, overran the eastern world and tore it 
 down in their search for treasure. 
 
 We must not, however, omit to mention some of the 
 great tombs of both ancient and modern architects, in our 
 description of this great wonder, which, although vastly 
 inferior to the mausoleum, are still worthy of notice in our 
 lecture. One of the tombs of the ancients worthy of note 
 is that of Darius, king of Persia, which was carved out of a 
 huge rock to hold his remains when he should die, which, 
 although made 2300 years ago still exists in an excellent 
 state of preservation. The portico is supported by four 
 columns, 20 feet high; in the center is the form of a doorway, 
 the entrance to the tomb. The doorway consists of an ark 
 supported by two rows of figures, life size, holding the ark 
 with uplifted hands, and on each angle stands a griffin 
 to guard it. This animal was one of the gods of the ancient 
 Persians. On each side of the ark were nine niches con- 
 taining each a statue in bass relief; on the ark stands the 
 image of the king with a bent bow in his hand, worshiping 
 the sun, which is seen above the altar where he stands, while 
 over his head stands his ferouher or disembodied spirit. 
 Darius was placed in this tomb, his body being preserved in 
 honey and wax. 
 
78 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 Diodorus Siciclus mentions a tomb, made by Alexander 
 the Great in honor of Hepastion, a Macedonian officer much 
 endeared to Alexander, and his constant companion in scenes 
 of conquest or of pleasure, at whose death Alexander was 
 so inconsolable that he shed tears and ordered the sacred 
 fire to be extinguished which had only been done at the 
 death of a Persian king. The physician who attended 
 Hepastion in his last illness, was accused of negligence and 
 inhumanly put to death. This tomb was made in the same 
 style as the great mausoleum, benching in, the lower part 
 was adorned by the beaks of 240 ships; the next story 
 was decorated with statues of the gods of the Grecians; 
 the third story was finished with various animals and birds, 
 and on the top were figures of syrens. The singers, who 
 sang dirges for the dead, were concealed within them. 
 
 The tomb of the emperor Hadrian also deserves note. 
 It was a circular building of the characteristics of those men- 
 tioned, consisting of one smaller story above another, and 
 was square at the base, having a circular building above it, 
 then a smaller, etc. On the top were numerous fine marble 
 statues, which were broken to pieces and hurled down upon 
 the Goths, by the soldiers of Belisarius, when the Goths were 
 attempting to storm the building. This tomb of Hadrian 
 stands without the portico aurilla, about a stone's throw from 
 the walls and is called the castle of St. Angelo since the time 
 of Pope Gregory the Great, who, it is said, in crossing the 
 bridge as he went to pray for the cessation of a pestilence 
 then raging, beheld on the summit of the tomb of Hadrian 
 the figure of an angel waving a sword. In commemoration 
 of this very doubtful vision, the brazen statue, which now 
 crowns the top of the building, with its new name was given 
 to the tomb of the Maximilian church at Jarspruck and is wor- 
 thy of note as being a modern tomb; this tomb is placed in 
 the middle of the church on a platform approached by steps 
 of red marble. The sides of the tomb are divided into twen- 
 ty-four compartments, on the sides of which are represented 
 in sculpture, the warlike deeds of the emperors. The work- 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 79 
 
 manship of these bass reliefs is most exquisite and comprises 
 the most princely decorations ever seen. The tomb is sur- 
 mounted by a colossal statue of the emperor, kneeling in 
 prayer, and around it are four figures of smaller size in bronze; 
 but the most striking feature is two long lines of bronze stat- 
 ues on each side, as if to guard it. There are 28 statues 
 of which 20 represent kings and princes of the house of 
 Hapsburg, and 8 of them represent relatives of Maximilian. 
 Nothing more impressive than these rows of guards can be 
 conceived. They appear solemn and gloomy and as though 
 waiting for the occupants to arise and start them off to their 
 palaces. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES. 
 
 RHODES is a city on an island in the Mediterranean, 
 lying nearly opposite the coasts of Lycia and Caria, from 
 which it is about twenty miles distant. The island is 120 
 miles in circumference, with an uneven breadth, and, as 
 Josephus relates, was settled by the Phoenecians as a supply 
 station in their voyages between Egypt and the British Isles. The 
 tin mines of Cornwall were known to those early navigators and 
 commerce in tin established. Their vessels being small they 
 had supply stations for their accommodation. The city of 
 Rhodes has a renowned history and is situated on the east side 
 of the island, being built in the form of an amphitheatre with 
 many splendid buildings. Of its sufferings the world can 
 attest. Like all the rest of Greece it submitted to Alexander 
 the Great, but at his death the Rhodians drove out his troops 
 and regained their independence; and perceiving the grow 
 
80 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 ing importance of Ptolemy Soter, they were wise enough to 
 court his favor and allied themselves to the Egyptian king. 
 Their island had been invaded by the barbarian hordes, who 
 overran the eastern world, and Antigones was implored for 
 aid to repel the invaders, who expelled them by aid of the 
 Rhodians and pledged themselves to aid them again when 
 needed. After a time Antigones declared war against Egypt, 
 raising an army to invade it. He called on the Rhodians to 
 assist in prosecuting the war, but they being allies to the 
 Egyptians and receiving their supplies from Egypt, thought 
 it impolitic to make enemies of their best friends; they, there- 
 fore refused to aid Antigones which incensed that monarch 
 to such a degree that he sent his army to conquer Rhodes. 
 His son Demetrius, its commander was furnished with the 
 best war armaments, consisting of battering-rams, engines 
 catapults, etc., as Rhodes was no mean city, being defended 
 by no less than three walls on the sea side, and a huge wall 
 and inoat on the land side. Setting sail with 370 vessels of 
 war and 40,000 soldiers, he beseiged the city and for 14 
 months tried, ineffectually, to enter it, but the Rhodians, 
 having received aid from their ally Ptolemy, were ena- 
 bled to repulse him and compelled him to accede to peace 
 on condition that they should be his allies against all but 
 Ptolemy. These terms he accepted, the seige was raised, and 
 being invited to participate in a festival given in honor of 
 their ally he entered Rhodes and was so well treated by his 
 late enemy, whose valor in defending their city against his 
 veterans he greatly admired, he presented them with his war 
 implements. 
 
 After his departure, the Rhodians, believing that Apollo, 
 their tutelary god, had been there in person aiding them 
 against Demetrius: they sought to show him gratitude by 
 public demonstration; they therefore sold the war implements, 
 the present of Demetrius, for 300 talents which enabled them 
 to buy brass and rear the Colossus. The finest building in 
 the city was the temple of Apollo, containing a magnificent 
 image of that god, yet they must have an image outside 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 81 
 
 that all might view, and thus remember this great victory. 
 The Colossus was therefore set up on the outer wall of the 
 harbor, its face to the sea and holding in its right hand a 
 torch or vessel containing fire. It was admirably made, 
 with fine flowing hair, the lyre, an instrument of music, in 
 his left hand; a bow and torch in his right, as though looking 
 for his prey. He stood with one foot on each side of the 
 harbor wall on an abutment made to sustain his immense 
 weight. The vessels sailed into port between his feet. He 
 was made hollow and of plates of brass riveted together, and 
 stood 125 feet high. Strabo, the historian, says that when he 
 was set upon the outer wall and the torch lighted, a gale 
 blowing inland revealed the fact that he was top heavy, and 
 that a severe gale, (no uncommon thing for the Isle of Rhodes,) 
 would topple him over, they therefore ballasted his legs with 
 cut stone, riveting them to the inside of the leg up to the 
 knee. Strabo states that the fire tender would open a door 
 in the right heel, and that a winding staircase went through 
 the leg, body and right arm, and in this way he could reach 
 the fire vessel and replenish it. This was the only way to 
 the top of the Colossus. From the torch of the Colossus a 
 magnificent view could be had of the Mediterranean Sea, 
 Syria, and of the ships sailing to Egypt; as also the main, 
 land. The image was most artistically executed, and when 
 viewed at a distance from the shore, looked like a golden man 
 holding up his inviting torch to light mariners to the hospi- 
 table port of Rhodes. 
 
 The colossus was first constructed 300 years B. C. and 
 after standing 60 years it was thrown down by an earthquake 
 which rent the island. It fell backwards through a large 
 building called the arsenal, where the arms and war imple- 
 ments were stored. The Rhodians after the fall of the image 
 discovered that a great source of wealth was lost to the city 
 as vast numbers constantly came to gaze upon this great wonder. 
 Urged by the loss of this revenue they therefore solicited aid 
 from the various powers of Asia to raise the fallen image. 
 This was speedily sent by all the powers called upon, and the 
 
82 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 fallen statue would soon have been reinstated but it was for- 
 bidden by the oracle at Delhi; it therefore remained in ruins 
 894 years, and was finally sold as old brass by the Saracens, 
 who had taken possession of the island, in 672, A. D., to a Jew 
 of Odessa. The Jew loaded 900 camels each with 800 pounds 
 of this metal. This gives the weight of the Colossus, 720,000 fibs. 
 
 There were also in Rhodes 100 other magnificent statues 
 on such a scale of grandeur that the historian states that any 
 one of them would ennoble a city. 
 
 The Saracens took Rhodes in the sixth century and re- 
 tained it until the eighth, when it was restored to the Greeks 
 who retained it until the year 1365 of the Christian era. It 
 was then taken by the Knights of the order of St. John, and 
 became the headquarters of the order. Five years after their 
 occupation they sustained a formidable siege from Ottoman, 
 sultan of Turkey, but repulsed him. They then carried the 
 war into the enemy's country and took Smyrna, maintaining 
 it as an outpost. In 1365 they made a descent on Egypt and 
 plundered Alexandria, which had been taken by the Turks 
 1401, A. D. Tamerlane, emperor of the Turks, took Smyrna 
 back from them and sought to take Rhodes, but was repulsed 
 by the Knights. Three times after this the city was besieged 
 by the Turks without avail, but in 1552 Solyman, sultan of 
 Turkey, laid siege to it and with cannon and gunpowder over- 
 powered the Knights, who were abandoned by their breth- 
 ren in Europe, who thought it useless to try to relieve 
 Rhodes as they held such a distant outpost. Valeret, the 
 grand master of the order, on learning this concluded terms 
 with Solyman, and the vanquished were allowed to take all 
 their effects and depart as free men with their wives and chil- 
 dren. The island has remained in possession of the Turks ever 
 since. There are none of the splendid monuments of the 
 Knights left in the city of Rhodes, the Turks having demol- 
 ished all of the fine towers and monuments. 
 
 The climate here is most delightful, the air is fragrant 
 with rare flowers, orange and citron groves and aromatic herbs 
 which everywhere abound. The fig tree, lemon and vine 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 83 
 
 grow luxuriantly. In ancient times an export trade was car- 
 ried on with the island but Turkish misrule, as it always has 
 done, has caused it to be dependent on import for the sustain- 
 ance of its inhabitants. Apollo was the god of fine arts, 
 medicine, music, poetry and eloquence, of all of which, he is 
 stated in mythology, to be the inventor. Mythology also says 
 that he invented the flute, hence his worship by the Rhodians, 
 a people inventive in the above-named arts. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 THERE is no city more revered than Jerusalem. Almost 
 every nation considers it a sacred city. The psalmist says it 
 is "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth." 
 
 It stands on a fine plateau and is surrounded on three 
 sides by deep ravines, or valleys, as called in scripture. The 
 main road and gateway, as well as the Mount of Olives, are 
 on the east. It stands in latitude 31 N. and longitude 35 E. and 
 32 miles east of the Mediterranean, and 18 from the Jordan 
 River, 36 from Samaria and 20 from Hebron. It was founded by 
 Shem, son of Noah; Arphaxad, son of Shem, built the city and 
 reigned king and was the Melchisedec of Bible histor}- to whom 
 Abraham paid tithes when returning from the slaughter of 
 the five kings. In the Book of Mormon, (Alma xii.,) we find 
 the record of Melchisedec's reigning king of Salem, under 
 his father. So Shem lived longer than Abraham and was the 
 great high priest by right, Ham and Japhet losing their right 
 by transgression, it follows that Arphaxad, the son, must have 
 been the noted Melchisedec. The city was taken by the Jeb- 
 usites after the time of Melchisedec, and made a stronghold, 
 
84 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 its three natural fortifications making it -an easy place to pro- 
 tect. When Joshua crossed the Jordan, after taking Jericho, 
 he laid siege to Jebus but could not take it. The children of 
 Benjamin tried to capture it but failed, (Judges xxi.,21.) It 
 remained in the hands of the Jebusites through the reign of 
 the Judges. It was afterwards besieged by King Saul who 
 also failed, but David, when he became king, went up against 
 it and took the lower city as Judah and Simeon had done 
 before, but the citadel they could not take. They were on the 
 point of raising the siege when the Jebusites brought on 
 their own destruction, for, thinking this fortress impregnable, 
 they sent their lame and blind upon the walls and taunted 
 the Israelites with cowardice, which fact enraged David to 
 such an extent that he proclaimed to his army that the first 
 man who scaled the wall and slew a Jebusite should be made 
 chief captain of the host. A rush of the warriors followed 
 this proclamation, but Joab, being most agile of foot, got upon 
 the wall first. The warriors soon followed and the way to enter 
 the city was found and the city quickly taken. (Samuel v, 6-8 
 and I Chronicles xi., 4-6). David then made it his capital, 
 reared many splendid buildings therein and when Solomon 
 became king he made his palace and built the temple there, 
 and thus it received the name of the city of the great king. 
 
 No city has sustained so many sieges and been taken so 
 many times. It was taken by the Philistines and Arabians 
 in the reign of Jehoram, 886 B. C. It was thrice taken by 
 Nebuchadnezzar 607, 597 and 586 B. C., and was utterly des- 
 troyed in the last mentioned year. Cyrus restored it to the 
 Jews. 
 
 In 332 B. C. it was taken by Alexander the Great, and 
 Antiohus Epiphanes sacked it 170 B. C. Pompey took it 63 
 B. C. and the temple was plundered by Crasus 54 B. C. and 
 the city by the Parthians 40 B. C. The siege it sustained in 
 70 A. D. under Titus, the Roman general, was, however, the 
 most terrific siege of any recorded either in ancient or modern 
 times. 
 
 The magnificent temple that Herod built was completely 
 destroyed by fire. The first temple was built by Solomon in 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 85- 
 
 the fourth year of his reign, 1012 B. C., he being assisted by 
 Hyrum, king of Tyre. It was built on Mout Moriah, on the 
 spot where Abraham stood when he attempted to offer up 
 Isaac; and it afterwards became the threshing-floor of Arnon. 
 The whole area was 600 feet, but we will not attempt a des- 
 cription of that magnificent temple where gold was plentiful 
 as silver and silver as brass and brass as iron; where no sound of 
 a hammer or any iron tool was heard, but the rocks were pre- 
 pared in the quarry, numbered and sent by floats to Joppa and 
 landed at Jerusalem, nor yet how Solomon, in his wisdom, 
 arranged his men in classes or orders, first the apprentices,, 
 who were bearers of burden or tenders, then the fellow crafts, 
 who assisted the master masons. So well did every part fit 
 together that when, with wooden mauls they were driven into 
 place, they fitted so exactly that it appeared to be the work of 
 the Deity and not of human hands. This temple was destroyed 
 by Nebuchadnezzar 586 B. C. Zerubbabel rebuilt it 520 B. C. 
 It was afterwards enlarged by Herod. It was finally destroyed 
 by Titus 70 A. D., of which we will make mention as we pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 After the death of Herod, who was the last king of 
 Judah, the Jews were governed by governors sent from Rome,, 
 but, after the advent of the Messiah, whom they hoped would 
 have freed Israel, they revolted and tried to gain their inde- 
 pendence, for they looked for a temporal prince who would 
 raise them to the glory of Solomon and David, and when 
 Jesus came, born in a manger of a lowly maiden, they could 
 not accept Him as their deliverer to wrest the kingdom from 
 the hated Roman. Even the disciples did not fully under- 
 stand his mission. We read of two who were journeying to 
 Emmaus to whom the Savior appeared, who said, "We trusted 
 it had been He who should have redeemed Israel," showing 
 that they looked for a temporal prince. (Luke xxiv., 21.) 
 
 After most of the apostles were slain for the testimony of 
 Jesus, the Jews revolted 67 A. D. In that year they were in- 
 stigated to revolt by the cruelty of Florses, the Roman gover- 
 nor. (Josephus xvi., Wars of the Jews.} Agrippa, with his 
 
S6 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 sister Bernice, stood before the multitude and eloquently 
 sought to dissuade them from revolt, but to no purpose. The 
 war began by the Jews taking the fortress of Massada by 
 treachery, and slaying the Roman garrison. Josephus was 
 elected general by the Jews, who looked upon him with dis- 
 trust as he tried to unite and discipline them for the common 
 defense, but they had brought on the war for the purpose of 
 plundering the city. Vespasian was sent by the Roman emper- 
 or to Judea to quell the rebellion. Titus was son of Vespas- 
 ian and a general in the Roman army, and, after subduing 
 many of the cities of Judah and while preparing to lay siege 
 to Jerusalem, the news came that the emperor of Rome, Nero, 
 was dead. Vespasian was elected emperor and he returned to 
 Rome, leaving Titus to prosecute the war. When Titus threw 
 his legions around the city it was the feast of Tabernacles and 
 it is estimated that there were three and a half millions of 
 Jews there; some to attend the ceremony, others as refugees 
 from the cities taken from the Jews in different parts of Judea, 
 conquered by Vespasian, and Titus shut them all in, and 
 what was worse there were different factions of the Jews who, 
 with their followers, were trying to get the mastery of the 
 city. These factions, in their insane fights, destroyed the pro- 
 visions that should have been kept for the defense of the city. 
 Josephus states that the famine was more severe on the Jews 
 than the terrible war. Many of them went over to the enemy 
 on account of the famine. Titus received them kindly, placed 
 food before them, but they ate so voraciously that many died. 
 Two thousand of these deserters were murdered by the sol- 
 diery and their stomachs were cut open in the search for the 
 gold they had swallowed before deserting. There was no 
 escape, for the Jews had slain the Messiah, and the curse fol- 
 lowed them and is with them to this day. 
 
 Josephus says: "The Jews now were so wicked that if the 
 Romans had not come against them, God would either have 
 caused the ground to swallow them up or water to overflow 
 the city and destroy them or thunder and fire to devour them 
 as Sodom and Gomorrah," (Josephus, Page 639.) When we read 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 87 
 
 of the awful scenes enacted in this most terrible siege in which 
 rats and mice were hunted for food, and mothers ate their own 
 children, we can say truly that it is a fearful thing to sanction 
 the shedding of innocent blood. Josephus further says that 
 100,000 Jews who died by famine and war were thrown over 
 the wall to be buried by the Romans, there not being room to 
 bury them in the city. The Savior, when gazing upon the 
 city previous to His betrayal, wept over it, saying pathetically, 
 "Oh, Jerusalem! Thou that killest the prophets and stonest 
 them that are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered 
 thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye 
 would not." Surely such a terrible destruction as did occur 
 in the year 70, just 37 years after Jesus had delivered His 
 touching prediction concerning the city, was enough to cause 
 weeping. 
 
 There is one item of history concerning the tribe of Ben- 
 jamin not generally known that we will explain here as it re- 
 lates to the siege and to a warning of the Savior. We read 
 ( I. Kings xi. 13-29) that Solomon's kingdom would be divided in 
 the time of his son and, that Jeroboam, having clad himself 
 in a new garment, was met by the prophet Ahijah, and as the 
 two were in the field Ahijah caught the garment that was on 
 him and tore it in twelve pieces and gave him ten pieces, 
 leaving two tribes or pieces for Judah. This fact is also prov- 
 en (xii. 21) when Rehoboam assembles Judah and Benjamin 
 to try to restore the kingdom to him again, but were com- 
 manded by the prophet not to do so, and they obeyed. We 
 also read that Paul was of that tribe, and it is believed that 
 the twelve apostles were mostly of Benjamin, but what we 
 wish to show is the Jews rejected the Messiah. The tribe 
 of Benjamin had been united to Judah for 800 years, and 
 when the Savior came they gladly accepted the gospel and at 
 Pentecost they, with devout Jews, scattered to the four quar- 
 ters of the earth to preach the glad tidings to their brethren. 
 At the siege of Jerusalem were many Christians, and their 
 deliverance from the doomed city was miraculous. Titus had 
 commanded a strict blockade; none could enter or leave the 
 
88 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES 
 
 city, but the Savior had said, "When ye see Jerusalem encom- 
 passed with armies flee to the mountains," which admonition 
 was strictly carried out by the Christians at the siege, for the 
 Roman general Cestius, who should have obeyed the orders 
 of his superior, Titus, withdrew his army a short distance 
 from the gate he was guarding, from some unaccountable 
 cause, and the Christians fled through the gate, crossed the 
 mountains of Judea and founded a city called Plevna, which 
 stands to this day. Here is an instance of God's special pro- 
 tection when His people obey him. 
 
 The Jews, after the most heart-rending suffering, sur- 
 rendered to Titus and 30,000 prisoners were taken to Rome 
 where Vespasian set them to work on a large public building 
 called the Colosseum and on other works. 
 
 After this awful seige wherein, according to Josephus, 
 1,100,000 people perished, the city passed through many 
 frightful scourges. In 637 the patriarch Sophronius surren- 
 dered to the Caliph Omar which was retained under his des- 
 cendants until 1084 A. D. when it was taken by the Turkish 
 chief Ortok who, with his sons, were so severe upon the Chris- 
 tians that the war of the Crusades resulted and in 1099 A. D. 
 it was taken by the Christians. In 1187 A. D., it was retaken 
 by the sultan, Saladin; in 1191 Richard Coeur De Lion met 
 Saladin on the field of Askelon, and with 30,000 German, 
 French and English troops beat him in a hard fought battle 
 wherein 40,000 Turks were slain, but the Christians, after los- 
 ing two millions, were finally driven from the Holy Land 
 1291 A. D. In 1837 it was ceded to the sultan of Turkey and 
 remains in his realm. 
 
 Jerusalem is destined to be the theatre of startling events. 
 The Mount of Olives will be cleft in twain and a highway 
 cast up for the righteous to pass to their inheritance. The 
 door has been opened for the Jews to return to their Zion. In 
 1841 Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Lord, sent Apostle 
 Orson Hyde to Palestine to dedicate the land for the gather- 
 ing of the Jews to their Zion, who accomplished that mission 
 and on a fine Sabbath morning in January, 1841, knelt 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIM US. 89 
 
 down on the Mount of Olives, with his face to Jerusalem, and 
 dedicated the Holy Land for the return of Judah. Since that 
 time they are slowly returning to the land of their fathers, 
 and after the passage of the Dragon, or low meridian in 1891, 
 they will build a temple which will vie with that built by 
 Herod. 
 
 Then the Savior has promised to visit them after the ad- 
 vent of the two witnesses who will be slain. He will then show 
 them the prints of the nails; they will believe on Him and 
 the scriptures saying that a nation will be born in a day will 
 be verified. (For full particulars of the Wars of the Jews 
 and of -the siege of Jerusalem see Josephus and Chamber's 
 Information for the People, Vol. II., also William Smith's 
 Dictionary of the Bible.) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 COLOSSEUM OF ROME, Z1ON AS IT WAS. 
 
 AFTER the fall of Jerusalem, the emperor, Vespasian had 
 so many captives in Rome that to keep them in employment 
 he conceived the idea of an amphitheatre, which became a 
 wonder. It was called the Colosseum. 30,000 Jews were en- 
 gaged on it. Gibbon, the Roman historian, gives its dimen- 
 sions at 564 feet long, 467 feet wide and 140 feet high, having 
 four ranges of seats, with seating capacity for 87,000 specta- 
 tors. It was oblong in shape and covered nearly five acres of 
 ground. The seats were so arranged that the people in the 
 back seats, although they could not hear all that was said, 
 could see all that was going on in the arena. The seats sold 
 according to the range; the front or lowest one being for the 
 
90 
 
 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 aristocrats, the next for the middle class, the third for arti- 
 zans, merchants and traders; the fourth or back seat for 
 slaves, beggars, and the scum of society, for all were admitted. 
 The great building was not completed in Vespasian's time: he 
 
 was succeeded by Titus, his son. At the dedication of the 
 Colosseum 100 days were spent, during which, 5000 wild beasts 
 were slain by human beings, necessarily entailing a great 
 loss of human lives, so that it was baptized in blood, and 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 91 
 
 the awful scenes afterwards enacted here were characteristic 
 of its opening. Here gladiators fought each other to the 
 death, and when one had vanquished another and the victor 
 had placed his foot upon the neck of the fallen, he would 
 look up to the royal pavillion for his cue as to whether to 
 slay the fallen outright or not. If the court ladies held their 
 thumbs down he was to be slain; if up, he was to be spared, 
 but not many were spared. Their weapons were a short 
 sword and shield. Soldiers were brought into this arena to 
 meet the wild, starved lion, leopard or tiger; soldiers of the 
 cross too, who being hated by the tyrant Nero, were set upon 
 by this fiend, persecuted and martyred in many cruel ways. 
 
 This tyrant caused the city of Rome to be set on fire in a 
 number of places simultaneously, and sat upon a high balcony 
 viewing the conflagration, at the same time amusing himself 
 by playing a flute. He, then, accused the Christians of setting 
 the fire and condemned many of them to death for his crime, 
 he often aiding the executioners in the work. He ordered a 
 number of Christians to be burnt after covering their bodies 
 with pitch, oil, etc. He also descended into the arena and 
 threw combustibles upon the poor, helpless victims, and threw 
 many to starved lions. This destruction continued, in one 
 form or another, until it resulted in the final overthrow of the 
 early Christian faith. 
 
 Nero was the bloodiest tyrant of Rome. He had a loving 
 wife, who tenderly showed her affection for this inhuman 
 brute, who finally kicked her to death in a fit of passion. He 
 also killed his own mother and finally had to kill himself to 
 prevent assassins from doing so. So detested was he by the 
 Romans that his very name was vexatious. This monster 
 had, however, started a kind of show that did not die with 
 him, viz., the public execution of Christians in the arena. 
 Vespasian and Titus, and many of the Roman emperors, kept 
 up the shows in the Colosseum, which were looked upon with 
 admiration and fiendish delight, and those refusing to bow 
 down to heathen gods perished by hundreds rather than to 
 apostatize. Some fled into foreign countries to escape their bloody 
 
92 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 persecutors, but were often caught and returned to be placed in 
 the arena of the Colosseum where in view of nearly 100,000 of 
 their enemies they would pass into eternity. Many fled to 
 the catacombs of Rome, underground tunnels, where three 
 different stories, miles in length, were made. Under the seven 
 hills of Rome a recent survey gives the measurement of 900 
 rniles of tunnel. Here the Christian could find a safe retreat. 
 Many lived and died in the catacombs and many saw the day. 
 light but seldom, as the Roman governor had a price on their 
 heads; they therefore kept underground, and made their liv- 
 ing by cutting rocks for builders andf contractors; taking them 
 to the mouth of the catacombs, from whence they were re- 
 moved by the purchasers who furnished food, raiment and 
 fuel in exchange. Here they could worship God without fear 
 of being thrust into the Colosseum and devoured by wild 
 beasts. They had a little chapel cut out of the rock, contain- 
 ing stone benches and pulpit, where the true gospel was 
 preached, the Saints assembling by torch light. On each side 
 of the tunnels where the Christians buried their dead can still 
 be traced the names of those who sleep there awaiting the 
 resurrection morn. They are cut in the soft rock of the panel 
 of the Christian's grave, who is named and recorded as being 
 faithful to the last. On reading these inscriptions a spirit of 
 holiness permeates the air and you are led to pray that your 
 awakening may be as glorious as theirs. They were the form- 
 er-day Saints having the true Priesthood of Melchisedec, and 
 because of this power Satan was arrayed against them, and 
 through his agents sought to destroy their lives. 
 
 Daniel (vii), speaking of them says, they would be worn 
 out and in A. D. 570 this was accomplished, the Roman gov- 
 ernment driving the woman into the wilderness that year, and 
 the church of the mother of harlots, with a counterfeit priest- 
 hood was set up, whom John saw drunken with the blood of 
 the saints and martyrs, (Rev. xvii, 5, 6). We now trace her 
 origin: 
 
 Constantine the Great, on the eve of going to battle saw 
 (a mirage it is supposed) a cross in the air whereon were these 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 93 
 
 words: "By this conquer." He was baptized and became a 
 Christian and from this authority came the church of Rome. 
 Paganism was abolished by Constantine at the conference of 
 Milan, who repealed all laws unfriendly to Christianity, but 
 instead of apostles and prophets, with the gifts of the spirit, 
 we have emperors of heathen origin setting up and pulling 
 down to suit themselves, as instance Alexander, son of Mami- 
 ca, who built a chapel and set up three images therein, one for 
 Abraham, one for Jesus Christ and one for Apollo. He, like 
 the Irishman, not knowing whose hands he would fall into, 
 prepared for Judaism, Paganism and Christianity. From this 
 it is said the image worship of Rome began. Martin Luther 
 without a revelation or angel's visit, and from this bitter 
 fountain, himself as monk, has given us modern Christianity, 
 and these man teachers, totally uninspired, say there is no 
 need of present revelation. The Latter-day Saints have the 
 New Testament gospel with the gifts pertaining thereto. Paul 
 says, (/ Cor. xiv,) they shall continue in the church as 
 proof of its genuineness, and that unbelievers may know the 
 true from false churches. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 
 THE DREAM OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND ZION AS IT IS. 
 
 DANIEL was the fourth prophet, there being three greater: 
 Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah and twelve lesser: Hosea, Joel, 
 Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephania, 
 Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Daniel was taken captive to 
 Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar in the year 588 B. C. Though of 
 royal blood, of his parentage we have no account. His agree- 
 able manners won for him the king's favor, who adopted him 
 
94 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 with three other Hebrew youths, and a provision from his 
 table was ordered for them, a mark of the highest esteem. 
 But Daniel refused the rich food and requested a test of the 
 vegetable diet of his country, which was granted, and at a 
 stated time he looked so much better than his companions, that 
 the king granted his request for pulse and cold water. By 
 keeping these laws of diet, which are our "Word of Wisdom," 
 they received knowledge of heavenly things, and Daniel had 
 understanding in all visions and dreams. In the second year 
 of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the king had a most singu- 
 lar dream. It is recorded in the second chapter of Daniel, that 
 when he awoke in the morning he had forgotten it; in his 
 perplexity he called to his aid the soothsayers, astrologers, 
 magicians and wise men informing them of the dream and 
 that it had left him; and that he required them to recall both 
 it and give its interpretation, under penalty of death. They ex- 
 postulating said, "No man can make known this thing unless his 
 habitation is with the gods, but tell us the dream and we will 
 give the interpretation;" but the king proclaimed that unless 
 the dream was produced they should all be slain, but that a 
 great reward awaited them if they made it known. Daniel 
 was absent, at the time, on business for the king, but when he 
 found that the king had so harshly decreed, and that he and 
 his comrades, the three Hebrews were included among the 
 wise men of Babylon, although hated by the Babylonians 
 through jealousy of their position in court, and also on ac- 
 count of their parentage, he hastened to Babylon and asked for 
 time, promising the recall of the dream and its interpreta- 
 tion. After fasting and prayer the dream was made known 
 in a night vision to Daniel who quickly appeared before the 
 king and stated thus: 
 
 "Thou sawest, a great image whose form was terrible; its 
 head was of fine gold; its arms and breasts of silver; its belly 
 and thighs of brass; its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and 
 part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out of the 
 mountain, without hands, which smote the image upon its 
 feet, that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces: 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 95 
 
 then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the 
 gold broken to pieces together and became as the chaff of the 
 summer threshing-floors, and the wind carried them away 
 that no place was found for them, and the stone that smote the 
 image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 
 This is the dream and we will tell the interpretation thereof 
 to the king. Thou, oh king, art this head of gold, and after 
 thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and a third 
 kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 
 The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron. * * * In the 
 feet and toes miry clay and iron were equally divided, there- 
 fore, the kingdom is represented as partly strong and partly 
 broken. Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they 
 shall mingle with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave 
 one to another. In the days of these kings shall the God of 
 heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and 
 the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall 
 break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall 
 stand forever." 
 
 We have quoted the dream and interpretation somewhat 
 fully and will endeavor to analyze the same by the light of 
 history and revelation, for, from the time of the hand-writing 
 on the wall, when Belshazzar's dream was interpreted by the 
 prophet, this great, historic dream has been fulfilling. We 
 mark the stages of this dream. From 600 B. C. to 1945 of our 
 era A. D., by using Daniel's vision of the four beasts (mi) it be- 
 ing the same as the dream of the king, in theory, but in 
 the shape of four beasts instead of an image. To begin our 
 research we lay the image on its back to see what countries it 
 embraces; the head of gold will rest in Babylon; the arms 
 and breast will cover Media and Persia; its belly and thighs 
 will include Greece, and the legs will make Rome, which are 
 the four great monarchies mentioned by Daniel, and corrobo- 
 rated, historically, as the great image seen by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 Russia is Babylon and Czar is a part of the head or great king 
 Nebuchadnezzar. By putting a C before the last syllable we 
 have a part of the head of Babylon, viz., Czar. Persia is rep- 
 resented as silver, next in value to gold. It seemed once that 
 Persia would never decay, but it has dwindled to a little mon- 
 
96 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 archy, which remains to this day. The kingdom of brass is 
 Greece which in history stands unequalled; its brass has, how- 
 ever, corroded, and, from being the most glorious kingdom, 
 has fallen quite low. Rome, the iron and clay, which brake 
 in pieces all other kingdoms has only a name left to represent 
 her proud history. The little stone kingdom must stand, for 
 it has the word of the Lord that it shall never be thrown down 
 or given to another people, and that it shall subdue all other 
 kingdoms. We read (Daniel, vii,) that the fourth beast was 
 strong and terrible, having great iron teeth, and it devoured^ 
 brake in pieces and stamped the residue under its feet. It 
 was diverse from all the other beasts and had seven heads 
 and ten horns. The Romans in their conquests did all they 
 could to remove every vestige of the customs and habits of 
 the people they subdued, changing laws, governments and 
 land-marks, and removing all that would remind the van- 
 quished of their former glory and independence, but were kind 
 and indulgent to their subjects, until they showed rivalry, 
 which they could not bear, but would crush out of existence 
 rather than have an enemy match them in anything. 
 
 We have now noticed the image to the setting up of the 
 little stone kingdom, and as there are many versions in history 
 of this stone kingdom, all trying to make Protestant Christian- 
 ity the true church, we shall see whether it will agree with 
 the image, or with the plan of Apostle Paul, who states what 
 the officers of the church or kingdom of Christ would be: 
 First apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then mira- 
 cles, gifts of healing, etc. Now, as this is the form and these 
 the ordinances of the Church of Christ, there need be but 
 one faith, one baptism, and one Lord over all. Do the Chris- 
 tian sects have these officers and gifts? They answer, that 
 they used to be in the church but are now done away. We 
 will establish the fact that the true church, with all these offi- 
 cers, gifts and blessings, has been restored to the earth, and as 
 the explanation of the ten kings and the little horns with their 
 times, and position will help to prove the divinity of this 
 church, we use the figures the prophets have given us and 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 97 
 
 note the prophetic numbers. Angel's time, which means one 
 revolution of our earth around the sun, or 365 days, times, 
 signifying two revolutions or 720 years; half a time, 180 years. 
 Man's time, times and a half, signifies three and a half years; 
 and as we need both times to explain the little stone kingdom, 
 we trust our readers will understand these different number- 
 ings of time. Our authority for using these numbers we find 
 in Genesis, (xxix, 27), where a week is called seven years; also 
 Numbers, (xiv, 34), where a day stands for a year. We note 
 also the 1260 years that has passed since the church was driv- 
 en from the earth which Daniel sets as time, times and a half 
 or 1260 years. The angel (Rev. xii, 6,) calls the same time, in 
 which the woman is taken care of 1260 days, which we know 
 by history is 1260 years. Again, we have it recorded (Dan. ix, 
 26), that from the decree of the Persian king to rebuild the 
 walls of Jerusalem 62 weeks are determined, making 434 
 years, a day for each year, which were exactly the years from 
 the commencement of rebuilding to the crucifixion of Messiah. 
 Ten weeks were given as the time of the Babylonish captivity, 
 which was 70 years, and seven weeks are recorded by Daniel 
 from the crucifixion to the destruction of Jerusalem, which 
 seven weeks make 49 years, which was exactly the time Titus 
 dispersed the Jews. Seventy and one half are given (Dan. ix, 
 24,) as the time of the people of God after the destruction of 
 the holy city to their being driven into the wilderness, and 
 this half week added to the seven weeks makes the exact time 
 of the woman's being pursued into the wilderness, or 570, the 
 year of the Priesthood's being taken from the earth. Its re- 
 storation in 1260 years would give 1830, according to "Pro- 
 phetic Numbers," a book published by Angus McDonald. He 
 makes the 1290 years that were given to Daniel by the angel 
 to be 30 years before the 1260 began, and carries his prophet- 
 ic numbers up to 1945, and takes up the the birth of Joseph 
 Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor which are finely 
 carri ed out. (see his Table of Numbers, page 14.) 
 
 Having given the reader proof of the accuracy of these 
 prophetic numbers, we now resume our history of the ten 
 
98 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 horns of the beast, or the ten toes of the image: Constantine 
 changed the religion of Rome from Pagan to Christian by the 
 edict of Milan, A. D. 313, and moved his capital from Rome 
 to Constantinople. From this beginning we trace the Christi- 
 anity of to-day. The ten toes were formed by a mingling of 
 races with the Roman, which is where the clay and iron ap- 
 pear. The Vandals were first in their descent on Italy. The 
 Goths were next. They and the Vandals were of German ex- 
 traction, who in 455 A. D., descended on Italy, took Rome and 
 plundered the city fourteen days. These, with the Ostrogoths, 
 Huns, Visigoths and Tartars settled in Europe and thus we 
 find the toes or horns forming, and about the time of Moham- 
 med, when the Church had all passed away, these bands of 
 adventurers had settled in Europe and Asia Minor, and Rome 
 had fallen, and that shortly after they had accomplished the 
 banishment of the woman and child. We have not space to 
 give the history of the middle ages, but jump from Moham- 
 med's time to Luther's. The Reformation beginning in the 
 fifteenth century, we find the clay and iron trying to unite in 
 the case of Henry VIII. of England. Henry was a zealous 
 Catholic and had written a book against the Reformation by 
 Martin Luther, for which he was blessed by the pope and given 
 the title of Defender of the Faith. He was amply prepared 
 for this defense of the church, for, being the second son of 
 Henry the VII. he was educated for the church, but the death 
 of his brother Arthur made him heir to the throne. He mar- 
 ried Catherine, a Spanish princess, who had married his 
 brother Arthur before him, and it was to annul this marriage 
 with Catherine that caused the formation of the first toe, or a 
 separation from the body politic, or iron rule of the pope. 
 Henry had fallen in love with a gentlewoman, an attendant 
 upon his wife, and he conceived the idea of divorcing Cather- 
 ine on account of her former marriage with his brother, 
 which then would leave him free to marry again, but the 
 pope, when applied to for a divorce, refused to grant it on ac- 
 count of the influence of Charles V. emperor of Germany and 
 brother of Catherine, who was one of the pope's chief sup- 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 99 
 
 porters. Clement VII. was very much perplexed by this re- 
 quest, yet did not dare a direct refusal, but put Henry off 
 from time to time, for two years. Henry saw through the 
 ruse of the pope, who hoped that his love for Anne Boleyn 
 would wane and that he would retain his good, virtuous queen; 
 but this deception enraged him to such an extent that he 
 vowed he, himself, would become a pope and that he would 
 divorce himself and marry Anne. He, therefore, proclaimed 
 himself head of the church in England, put away Catherine 
 and married Anne Boleyn. He was excommunicated by the 
 pope, but persisted in making new queens for England until 
 his death. The only daughter of Anne was Elizabeth, who 
 on becoming queen, ratified what her father had begun, and 
 the result was the established church of England which makes 
 the separation, or first great toe. 
 
 The second toe is France. Read her history and learn 
 how she has fought the popes to free herself from their iron 
 rule. Napoleon Bonaparte went so far, in teaching them their 
 place, as to besiege Rome and take it, but seeing twelve im- 
 ages, life-size, of the apostles, in solid silver, he took them, 
 converted them into cash, and paid himself, partly, for the ex- 
 penses of the war. The clay and iron could not adhere, and 
 another separation from the body politic resulted. We can- 
 not in this little work give the history of each toe; that would 
 form a large volume, itself; but will name the other eight and 
 leave the reader to find them in history, as they show the 
 cause of the separation from the pope's temporal power. Al- 
 though most of these kings representing the toes, acknowledge 
 the pope spiritually they ignore him temporally. The third 
 toe we find is Germany, the fourth is Spain, the little toe of 
 the right foot Greece, which was under the Turkish yoke until 
 1820, when it become an independent kingdom by aid of the 
 French and English. In this year the little stone kingdom 
 made its appearance. 
 
 Joseph Smith jun., while asking the Lord which of all 
 the religious sects was the true church, was visited by the 
 Father and Son, in the woods, where he had retired to pray, 
 
100 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 and was instructed by them that none of these churches were 
 right but that he should be instructed to set up the true 
 church. According to "Prophetic Numbers," the first woe com- 
 menced in this year, there being but nine toes on the image now, 
 and the kingdom was to be set up in the time of ten kings. On 
 the left foot of the image we find Russia, Turkey, Austria, 
 Italy, and Belgium, which last toe did not make its appear- 
 ance until 1830. In that year the Netherlands gained their 
 independence and Leopold I. ascended the throne of Belgium 
 and in a few months after, the tenth toe made its appearance. 
 On the 6th of April, 1830, the little stone kingdom was set up 
 with six members, and every gift and blessing established in 
 proper order. The church thus established was named the 
 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph was 
 instructed continually by holy angels, and by the Savior himself, 
 who gave it His name. Jesus said His church should be hated by 
 all men. Does it ever occur to you that the Mormon Church, so 
 called, is the only church of which this hatred is true? Driven 
 and persecuted since its rise, and finally expelled to the Rocky 
 Mountains, it still survives. The little horn is still making 
 war upon the Saints, imprisoning and harassing, as Daniel 
 says it would do until the Ancient of Days would sit. 
 This little horn is easily known as it was to arise after the ten 
 kings, have two eyes and a mouth speaking great things 
 against the Almighty, and think to change times and laws. 
 The blind horn is, in this verse, clearly defined as the beast. 
 Rome, ruled over blind subjects, put itself in place of God, 
 and wore out the Saints who were given into its hands until 
 a time and times and the dividing of time, or 1260 years. 
 The seeing horn, referred to above will make war on the Saints 
 and prevail against them until the Ancient of Days will come. 
 This horn is the United States, which came out of the ten 
 kingdoms of the beast. Three kings fell before it, viz., Eng- 
 land, France and Spain who had possessions in the land of 
 Joseph, but the little horn fought one and bought out two, 
 thus all fell from possessing a hold on Zion, the Zion of Eph- 
 rairn and Manasseh, but the Ancient of Days will come and 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 101 
 
 give the judgment and dominion to the Saints who will retain 
 it forever. 
 
 When this kingdom is given to the Saints it will not be 
 by bloodshed, but by the judgments of an offended God. The 
 Apostle Paul says "No man taketh this honor upon himself 
 except he be called of God as was Aaron." (Heb. v, 4.) Aaron 
 was called of God by a prophet and Moses was called out of 
 the burning bush. Joseph Smith proves his divine commis- 
 sion by three witnesses who testify to the world that they saw 
 an angel, that he held the plates in his hand and spoke to 
 them, and that they heard him commission Joseph Smith. 
 These men have given their names to the world in solemn 
 soberness and one of them, David Whitmer is living to-day, 
 1887, in Richmond, Mo., and is not a Mormon, but belongs to 
 one of the sectarian churches, yet avows the truth of his tes- 
 timony of the visit of the angel and of Joseph's being divine- 
 ly inspired, and Mr. Whitmer retains as a most sacred relic the 
 manuscript of the Book of Mormon, as translated by the gift 
 and power of God through the aid of the Urim and Thum- 
 mirn. After Joseph suffered martyrdom, Brigham Young was 
 proclaimed president of the Church, and many fell on that 
 account, but it was through ignorance or wilful faithlessness, 
 for in 1841, Joseph received a revelation naming the officers 
 of the Church and denning their duties, (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 
 124) and in paragraph 127 of said section Brigham Young is 
 called to do a certain work which he did faithfully, as the 
 legal successor of Joseph Smith, he being the president of the 
 Twelve Apostles in the time of Joseph. Brother John Taylor 
 became president of the Church for the same reason, he being 
 president of the Twelve at the death of Brigham Young. 
 
102 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ZiON AS IT WILL BE. 
 
 WE mast depend on prophecy and revelation for what 
 Zion will be, starting out with the rule given by Peter that 
 "no prophecy of scripture is of any private interpretation." 
 The Bible to the truth-seeker is a positive guide, revealing 
 the future in a most marvelous manner as in the predictions 
 on Babylon and concerning the captivity and dispersion of 
 Israel. Let us refer for accuracy of prophecy to the 53rd 
 chapter of Isaiah and compare it with history for a complete 
 account of the birth, life and sufferings of the Savior which 
 commences "Who hath believed our report and to whom is 
 the arm of the Lord revealed?" There are any number of 
 witnesses who prove this verse to be literal. Infidelity is 
 seizing upon many and a person believing the Bible is set 
 down as being behind the times and unversed in scientific 
 knowledge. Even preachers, in some instances, aid this idea. 
 One divine said recently that scientifically speaking the Bible 
 is no better than a last year's almanac, and the student of 
 geology labors to show that the world is much older than the 
 Bible account makes it. Isaiah saw all this, hence his ques- 
 tion. He further says, "He hath no form nor comeliness, and 
 when we shall see Him there is no beauty that men should 
 desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of 
 sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our 
 faces from Him." 
 
 The Jews looked for a Messiah whom they hoped would 
 free Israel from the hated Roman, come in pomp with a reti- 
 nue of angels, set up a temporal kingdom that would excel 
 the pompous reign of Herod. The Jews thus fulfilled to the- 
 letter the first part of the prophecy. The literal fulfillment 
 of every other word is so plainly seen by the truth-seeker 
 
THE SKINS OF THE TIMES. 103 
 
 that some of the most profligate have been converted when 
 brought to investigate this remarkable prophecy. When we 
 consider the time it was given, about 600 B". C., its divine 
 origin becomes apparent. "But", says the infidel, "How can 
 you prove that the prophecy was uttered as you have stated, 
 which might have been written years after the events occurred. 
 To such we say, and challenge successful contradiction, that 
 the prophecies of the old Testament were translated over two 
 hundred years before the birth of our Savior. Ptolemy Philr 
 adelphus sought to purchase the Jewish scriptures, but the 
 Jews could not be induced to sell their holy record, the 
 king therefore hired 70 of the Jews most learned in the 
 Greek language to translate a copy of their scriptures from 
 the Hebrew into the Greek, which they did, and our Bible 
 is a copy of that very translation as every student of history 
 will testify. For after this translation was placed in the 
 Alexandrian library it was copied into every known language 
 and it spread even to the Indies, and that hundreds of years 
 before the advent of the Savior. Here, then, is positive 
 proof that this narrative of the birth, life, suffering and 
 death of our Savior was written in almost every language 
 nearly 200 years before it happened, and the other prophe- 
 cies were also in the same book, as our King James' transla- 
 tion is a copy of that same Greek copy. Coupled with this 
 proof please note one that will make the connecting link of 
 the chain of years, which we gave in the life of the early 
 Christians, which brings the 70 weeks or 490 years of the 
 prophet Daniel to an end. The prophet says "Seventy weeks 
 are determined on thy people and on thy holy city to finish 
 the transgression," etc. Each day of the week was a year,, 
 therefore the seven weeks from the time of the command- 
 ment until the finish of the work was 49 years (7 times 7); 
 then from the finishing of said building 62 weeks or 434 
 years elapsed to the anointing of Jesus as the great High 
 Priest. His 3} years then commence, for in the midst of 
 the week Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself, mak- 
 ing the 483 years, for in the midst of the last week, he shall 
 
104 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 confirm the covenant with many for one week, and in the 
 midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice to cease. He 
 being the great sacrifice, of course, it ended in his offering 
 himself at the end of his 3J year's ministry. 
 
 Now for the last half of the week. Jesus, after His 
 resurrection, gave commandment to His disciples to "tarry 
 at Jerusalem until they were endowed with power from on 
 high," which they did, and in just 3J years after the cruci- 
 fixion they were driven out of Jerusalem, the 70 weeks being 
 ended and the 490 years of Daniel accomplished. The 
 abomination of desolation was set up in the holy city, the 
 Saints were persecuted, righteous Stephen heading the list of 
 martyrs. All this remarkable prophecy, like his interpreta- 
 tion of the vision of the image, was literally fulfilled as even 
 profane historians amply prove, and even Herodotus the 
 Grecian traveler testifies of the fulfillment of very many 
 things recorded in the prophecies. 
 
 Again, Isaiah foretold about Cyrus and his siege of 
 Babylon 150 years before he (Cyrus) was born, calling him 
 by name and even mentioning the animals and water-fowl 
 that should inhabit her beautiful palaces which would have 
 been a bold step for any man to take. Suppose an imposter 
 to predict that the great city of London would be destroyed 
 by abandonment, and her streets become infested by wild 
 beasts, her palaces by owls, etc., how soon his reputation would be 
 jeopardized. Had some of the infidels of to-day lived in 
 the time of Christ how they would have made capital of 
 the prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple where 
 the Savior says, "See ye not all these things? Verily I 
 say unto you there shall not be one stone left upon another 
 that shall not be thrown down." Titus burned the temple, 
 but left the walls standing, and through the entire persecu- 
 tion of the early Christain church, and past the time of its 
 banishment and to the time of the Caliph Omar and the 
 siege of Jerusalem these walls still stood as in refutation of 
 the prophecy of the Son of God. But when Omar conceived 
 the idea of building a mosque on the sacred site he caused 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 105 
 
 every stone of these walls to be removed to make place for 
 the great mosque which still stands on the temple ground: 
 thus fulfilling the words of Jesus literally; not one stone was 
 left standing upon another. It was over 600 years in its ful- 
 fillment, but like all the words of the prophets it was veri- 
 fied. 
 
 John the Revelator (ix) speaks of an event that should 
 come to pass thus: "And the shape of the locusts was like unto 
 horses prepared for battle, and on their heads were as it were 
 crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men, and 
 they had hair like women, and their teeth were as the teeth of 
 lions, and they had breast plates as it were breast plates of 
 iron, and the sound of their wings were the sound of many 
 chariots driven to battle." This was foretold several hundred 
 years before it transpired, but herein was a minute description 
 of the Saracen army, the scourge of the east. Their cavalry 
 was such as had never been seen before or since. Their Arabian 
 horses were proverbial for speed. They charged with the 
 impetuosity of the wind; their steel scabbards clanking and 
 the noise of the horses rushing in the furious charge made the 
 earth tremble. Their long hair waving in the wind gave 
 them the appearance of women and each having a yellow 
 turban of silk, it looked like a crown of gold on the head of a 
 king; and their extended line sweeping over the plain was the 
 most imposing sight ever looked upon. They were com- 
 manded to eat no green thing. Now had they been locusts 
 they must have eaten green things to live, but the Saracen, 
 wherever he went, never cut down a tree nor trampled down 
 grain nor anything that gave sustenance to man. This was 
 the universal law of the Saracens. The Koran taught it to 
 them and that is the only army with a written history which 
 requires this humane law. 
 
 The prophet Isaiah (i. 26) says, Zion shall have judges 
 and counsellors to rule over her as at the first. We know 
 that has not yet taken place, for the little horn is ruling over 
 her and will continue until the Ancient of Days sits and gives 
 them dominion, all nations and languages serving Jesus. He 
 
106 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 further says, "The Saints will possess the kingdom forever and 
 ever." Can we endure the trials, the hatred and the frowns 
 of the world, and its persecutions for such a kingdom? Most 
 assuredly with the help of the Lord. When the Lord has 
 purged Zion, and she has come under bondage and the weak 
 that cannot see His hand in the great work of redemption 
 spoken of by the prophets (for it will seem as though the Lord 
 had forsaken Zion) shall have gone over to the other side, then 
 will the Lord deliver Zion. (Isaiah li.) He says, "Fear not 
 man who dies and forgets his Maker, but fear Him who can 
 save and exalt him." Now this work cannot be done by the 
 Saints rebelling against the governments under which they 
 may live. The revelations of our Church forbid to shed blood 
 or to fight against human governments, but the Lord will 
 fight our battles as He has abundantly promised. We are 
 taught by Jesus to be merciful as we hope to obtain mercy. 
 We should use every means but force to convert all to the gos- 
 pel of Christ, but never exterminate men because they do not 
 believe as we do. 
 
 Preach repentance, not war and extermination that savors 
 of Lucifer. The Latter-day Saints are willing to endorse all 
 truth. We hope to endure all things for Christ's sake, having 
 the word of the prophet Daniel that three and a half years 
 will end it. The kingdom will then commence to shine forth 
 and Zion will be a delight. The Lord says, "I will rebuke 
 the devourer for your sakes, and all nations shall call you 
 blessed. Neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time 
 for ye shall be a delightsome land." The land of Utah is be- 
 coming thus, pools of water are breaking out, but the nations 
 do not call us blessed. Instead of being a delightsome people 
 we are represented as being the most monstrously degraded 
 and deluded beings; but the Lord has promised to redeem 
 Zion. 
 
 Read the newspaper accounts of the awful accidents by 
 land and sea; the dreadful fires, earthquakes and cyclones, and 
 with all our modern improvements, the fearful loss of life. 
 These prove that the judgments of an offended God are upon 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMKS. 107 
 
 us. Ephraim, we trust, will be faithful and do the work as- 
 signed him as the first-born, and as the lost tribes will soon 
 come from the north to receive their ordinations under his 
 hands, we should be very zealous. They will bring their rich 
 treasures to Ephraim and fall down and be crowned with glory 
 even in Zion by the hands of the servants of the Lord. In 
 view of this what manner of persons should we be? Already 
 the ice is coming southward. Read accounts of the ice moun- 
 tains in the Atlantic which are frequently met between New 
 York and Liverpool causing dreadful shipwrecks, often delay- 
 ing vessels for days. In the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR you will 
 find nine pictures of these ice fields of the Atlantic. 
 
 The Latter-day Saints are building temples to receive 
 their northern brethren. With them we can unite in restor- 
 ing the Kingdom of God and in building the temple at Jack- 
 son County, Missouri, where the pillar of fire by night and 
 cloud by day will appear. Thus shall we know that the Lord 
 remembers His people. A deliverer like unto Moses will be 
 with us and the former deliverance from Egypt be absorbed in 
 the greater one in Zion. Those who have not the mark of the 
 beast in their foreheads will enjoy the millennial morn and 
 prepare for the New Jerusalem which will be let down from 
 above and there will be no more persecutions. 
 
 Israel and Judah will occupy their proper places. The 
 Saints will enjoy perpetual peace and the door to the deliver- 
 ance of the honest dead be opened. Those who have suffered 
 persecution will have part in the first resurrection and be 
 -crowned kings and priests to the Most High and reign with 
 Him a thousand years. 
 
108 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE LAST JUDGMENT. 
 
 "AND I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it 
 from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there 
 was found no place for them. And I saw the dead both small 
 and great stand before God, and the books were opened, and 
 another book was opened which is the Book of Life, and the 
 dead were judged out of those things that were written in the 
 books, and the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death 
 and hell delivered up the dead that were in them and they 
 were judged every man according to his works, and death and 
 hell were cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death, 
 and whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was 
 cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. xx. 11 to end.) 
 
 Some few have taken exceptions to the lake of fire and a 
 ,few would rather it were cut out, but the majority wish it re- 
 tained, as the Savior and the Apostles use the term. John(Rev* 
 xxii. 18, 19) uses it with a positive threat that whosoever should 
 change the text should be accursed. It makes no difference 
 to the Saints what the punishment of the wicked will be as 
 the Saints enter upon their exaltation. We thus leave the sol- 
 ution of the lake of fire to the wicked and ungodly, and to aid 
 the righteous we refer to the last judgment. John refers to a 
 new heaven and a new earth, and describes the Holy City, 
 stating that God will wipe away all tears from the eyes ' of the 
 pure in heart. There shall be no more death nor sorrow, pain 
 nor crying. The city is of pure gold like unto clear glass, and 
 the twelve gates each a pearl. The city wall is composed of 
 precious stones, at each gate is an angel, and on each gate 
 one of the names of the twelve sons of Jacob, which are the 
 twelve tribes of Israel. 
 
 We find (Rev. xiv, 6) that an angel should bring the 
 gospel arid we are also told what shall befall those who wor- 
 ship the beast. The beast is Babylon, and Babylon is the 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 109 
 
 world, and the world is the wicked who will fall under the 
 overwhelming judgments of an offended God, it therefore 
 behooves all to search diligently for salvation. The time of 
 the end is at our doors, and one of the signs thereof is the 
 great increase of merchandise in all the world. It would 
 seem that the world is turning to merchandise. John saw 
 the merchants mourning the fall of Babylon. The righteous 
 will have joy in their reign of a thousand years and increase 
 to all eternity. INCREASE, dear reader, is a word we should 
 contemplate; it is the key to eternal glories; it is the key of 
 this probation, for without increase labor would be useless. 
 Without it, we could never hope to gain anything. Without 
 it, the farmer would plow and sow in vain, the merchant 
 speculate in vain, the manufacturer produce for naught; in 
 fact, increase is life's incentive. Without it, there would be 
 no hope for hereafter, no reward, no punishment, no advance- 
 ment. Creation would be at a standstill forever. There 
 could be no family ties as this is the key to the family rela- 
 tion. There could be no children. In fact, our lives hinge 
 on this one word, and Satan is using his utmost endeavors to 
 found his kingdom upon this very word, but he makes his 
 subjects interpret it as they choose. One part of the human 
 family say "God is love", and that he will never damn any- 
 one, another says "Only believe in Jesus and you will be 
 saved;" still another "All I have to do is to join such a church," 
 and a third, "It is predestined that I should do exactly as I 
 am doing, and it is no use my trying to do otherwise, and, 
 therefore, I will risk it." A fourth says there is no hereafter, 
 that all ends in death; that there is nothing beyond the grave: 
 thus all are in one way or another arranging the future to 
 suit themselves although the Father has laid down a code of 
 laws to govern all things. Who does not love his family? 
 All the human family love more or less and yet the majority 
 utterly fail to understand the greatest point in this all-impor- 
 tant question, the way to increase or perpetuate posterity 
 forever. To illustrate, we will relate an instance that came 
 under our observation: 
 
110 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 We were in a distant territory exhibiting our paint- 
 ings and while in the capital city of the county to spend 
 the Sabbath we encountered at a hotel an infidel whom 
 we should judge would scorn to do a wrong action and 
 would suffer death rather than dishonor his good name 
 and bring reproach on his family. He engaged us in conver- 
 sation, after our noon meal, and the subject turned on the 
 future or destiny of man. He expressed himself thus: "Give 
 me a good living for myself and family and you can have all 
 the hereafter." He was quite willing to give all his interest 
 in the world to come for a very moderate sum down, and, 
 with a hearty laugh, gave us to understand he was in earnest 
 in his convictions of the hereafter. I asked him if he had a 
 family; he promptly answered with a proud look upon his 
 handsome face, "Yes Sir," at the same time taking a photo 
 from his breast pocket, of a sweet little girl. "There," said 
 he, "is my daughter, and here is her mother," exhibiting 
 another photo of a very fine looking lady; "These are my 
 family and I am not ashamed of them either. I am soon 
 going home to see them. I have been gone some months 
 from them, and it seems an age." 
 
 "Ah," replied I, "and for these loved ones you travel, 
 risking life and limb to increase their happiness, and, although 
 you value them higher than any other thing mortal, still 
 you virtually give them a deed of separation at death, for 
 there is no marriage in heaven as all things must be sealed 
 up for eternity in this life. Peter was given the keys that 
 bind on earth and in heaven, and that loose on earth and in 
 heaven. This power has been restored to earth through the 
 ancient presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ, even Peter, 
 James and John who conferred it upon Joseph Smith jun., 
 and he upon the Church; thus the same power is restored by 
 the holy angels in our day, and I am thankful to inform you 
 that I can claim my wife and children when I am resurrected, 
 but when the record is searched it will show that you have 
 cut yourself off from the only thing worthy of retaining from 
 this mortal sphere. Should you complain you would be 
 shown that it was your own act, and the comparison might 
 be shown you of how careful you were of securing your title 
 to houses and lands, the deed of which gave your right to 
 your heirs and assigns forever, but which you knew (admit- 
 ting a hereafter) you could not hold, as the owner, Jehovah, 
 said He would make the earth new and change and prepare it 
 for his Saints. Thus the only real property (your wife and 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 1 11 
 
 children) you were willing to deed away after death. Not so 
 with the "Mormons", to whose God we are indebted for 
 the fact that a man can marry a wife for all eternity, and the 
 children born before the parents were sealed up for eternity 
 could be adopted as their own in the house of the Lord, mak- 
 ing record to fall back to for reference." 
 
 Our friend was very much entertained with our recital, 
 and expressed himself that if that was "Mormonism" he liked 
 it exceedingly, and that he wished he could believe it; and 
 said if he ever could see into any religion it would be one like 
 that. 
 
 A large majority of the human family are in this pre- 
 dicament, and this is why so many will be shut out of the 
 Celestial kingdom where alone there is increase. The other 
 glories comprise the angels etc., who have no increase, and here 
 is where, in our opinion, is the fire that is never quenched. 
 When men see others with their families and a kingdom 
 that will endure forever, after having lost the same oppor- 
 tunities through refusing to accept the unpopular doctrine 
 called "Mormonism," the fire of conscience will, indeed, be 
 most awful, as no torment equals that of mental agony. The 
 New Testament teaches that unless we have faith and works 
 we can in no wise enter the Celestial city. The Savior says 
 ''When ye see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob sit down in my 
 father's kingdom and ye yourselves are shut out, there 
 will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth." 
 Such choose the things of the world which fade away; and 
 reject those pertaining to eternity. Many will thank God 
 that they were poor as they will learn that it is hard for the 
 rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, on account of the many 
 temptations to allure them, such as taste, fashion, luxury 
 and a neglect of the poor, waste of precious time, thank- 
 less squandering of God's stores, and neglect to prepare for 
 the second coming of the Lord. Others will mourn over 
 sins of omission, ever trifling with something they knew 
 should be done. Others will meet in judgment their broken 
 vows. How many will meet the record of Sabbath-breaking 
 and neglect of worship! We are commanded to fast and pray 
 
112 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 and bring our donations to feed the poor. On the first 
 Thursday of every month how many can say "I have a clean 
 record in this covenant?" There is a revelation which 
 concerns us now living, that is much neglected, a revelation 
 of promises and benefits in this life to all who will obey it, 
 viz., the "Word of Wisdom." He who keeps that law has 
 the promise that the destroying angel shall pass by him, and 
 that he shall have rich stores of knowledge, and run and not 
 be weary, walk and not faint. Read it, for one of our omis- 
 sions is that we perhaps do not read sufficiently. Strong 
 drink is therein forbidden except for the washing of the body. 
 The filthy weed tobacco is also forbidden in that revelation 
 and is pronounced as only good for sick cattle. There is 
 more cash expended on this noxious weed, and on spirituous 
 liquors in all the world, than would enrich every poor person 
 on the globe. What a crying disgrace is this to meet in 
 judgment. What a wilful waste of means and strength; 
 enough to bring happiness to every family. Who can estimate 
 the misery entailed to the human race by the wilful breaking 
 of this "Word of Wisdom?" How many will be punished, 
 not only for their own sins, but for their influence on others! 
 How many will bless their friends who, in the time of danger, 
 warned them faithfully of such practices! 
 
 One of the regrets of the condemned will be for loss of 
 time. A grain of sand on the ocean shore is all we can call 
 this probation; even Methusalah's 969 years was but an atom 
 in the great ocean of time. If you do not grasp the idea fully 
 by this illustration, take all the waters on the face of the 
 earth and convert them into ink, -and if you could use the 
 canopy of heaven for a copy book, wherein to make a little 
 stroke every year, when you had covered the sky with tiny 
 marks, eternity would still expand before you. In the econo- 
 my of God every man is an agent unto himself; there is no 
 force employed to coerce agency. All are volunteers in the 
 army of Emmanuel. Such will have come up through sore 
 trials; choosing imprisonment, suffering and death itself to a 
 loss of title to exaltation and glory. 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 113 
 
 We may ask ourselves a few questions, the answers to 
 which will determine our present status. If we have a family 
 do we command it as did Abraham, for God said of him, "I 
 know that he will command his household." Where are your 
 
 children at night? Do you know what company they keep? 
 Do you instruct them in things pertaining to the Kingdom of 
 God? Thorough instruction on the nature of atonement is 
 all-important. To attract children to the home circle they 
 
114 THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 
 
 should have home amusements, such as music, innocent games; 
 but never allow card-playing, as many are thereby led off into 
 gambling. We should correct our children when they need 
 correction, instruct them in cleanliness, tidiness and accom- 
 pany them to Sabbath School, instilling a love for divine 
 things into their hearts. Never show violent passion in cor- 
 recting a child, better your child see you in tears than to see 
 you in angry passion. By thus guarding ourselves our child-. 
 ren will grow up as "plants of renown," dispensing the frag- 
 rance of love wherever they may reside. 
 
 Thus conducting ourselves we may be able to pass the an- 
 gels and the Gods to glory celestial. 
 
 The question may be asked: how are the records of the 
 recording angel to be kept for each individual of our globe, 
 which numbers at present fourteen hundred million souls; and 
 some have excused themselves in wrong-doing on what they 
 have regarded as the impossibility of such record. The Book 
 of Mormon says, "All things are written by the Father," but 
 the system of writing there and the number engaged in the 
 business are matters we know little about; besides, anatomists 
 believe, from the nature and structure of the brain itself, that 
 not a thought rolls through the mind without leaving its im- 
 press there. If this is not so, whence do we call up the dead 
 forms of those who have left us years ago? We certainly call 
 them up from the mind. Then they must be impressed upon 
 that delicate structure or purposely constructed register. It 
 is believed that not even a shadow falls against a wall with- 
 out leaving its impress there, and it has been chemically 
 demonstrated that if a wafer be placed upon a highly polished 
 steel surface and removed for months, that, by resorting to the 
 proper chemical processes, the wafer impression can be restor- 
 ed. How much greater must the purposely constructed reg- 
 ister of the mind or brain be in its capability for such impress. 
 Here is a record we cannot deceive, and every moment, we 
 are writing indelibly upon it. Men under the impressions 
 made by fearful accident prove this theory beyond question. 
 I am informed by persons rescued from drowning that the 
 
THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 115 
 
 events of life have passed in regular succession from child- 
 hood, vividly and distinctly before them. What methods, 
 besides that of the mind itself, there are for recording the acts 
 of men our finite minds can have but feeble conception of. 
 He who formed the mind must have methods of record-mak- 
 ing infinitely above our comprehension. 
 
 But I pass on. Some have thought that the final judg- 
 ment will occur at Christ's next or first personal appearance 
 from this time. This is a great error. Every scripture on 
 the subject conveys a contrary idea. That judgment will be 
 after the thousand years reign. "Blessed is he that shall come 
 unto the thousand years, on such the second death shall have 
 no power." 
 
 Our ambition is that this little work may be the means of 
 converting one soul who may yet take us by the hand and say, 
 "I am indebted to you or your exhibition of paintings for the 
 idea of starting me on the path to endless life," if so, we 
 shall be extremely happy. Do not let anything deter you 
 form choosing the way of life. Make your calling and elec- 
 tion sure. Whatever tends to happiness will be yours. If 
 gold, the streets of the heavenly city will be adorned there- 
 with, its gates of pearls and its walls of precious stones. 
 "Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be add- 
 ed unto you." Honors that never fade, powers that pertain to 
 celestial spheres are yours. That we may meet each other in 
 those blest realms is the earnest prayer of the author of these 
 humble pages. 
 
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