flight. The noise they make while flying, is like that of a hurricane playing in the rigging of a ship. The color of those beetles is a dark bronze. STRENGTH OF THE PRUSSIAN ARMY AND NAVY.-THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.The following is a translated extract from a letter written by a German officer: "Many people think that Prussia can dispose of millions of soldiers. Here is the truth, which can be corroborated by the Prussian Military Almanac. At present the efficient strength of the Prussian army consists of 304 battalions of infantry, 105 batteries of artillery, 256 'escadrons' of cavalry, amounting together to 240,000 men, 175 000 of whom are infantry. It is true that the calling of the reserves and landwehrs would triple that number; but the garrisons for the fortressess of the annexed States (annexed against their will, as, for instance, Saxony and Hanover) will require the greater part of those reserves and of those landwehrs, which, after all, cannot be organized in a few days. Up to this time, of all the annexed countries there are but Brunswick and Oldenburg that possess the Prussian system and armament. Brunswick gives 1900, and Oldenburg 3000 soldiers. This is not a very terrible amount. case of a war on the Rhine, the French army would find before it there but 244,500 Prussians capable of sustaining the shock." In THE PRUSSIAN NAVY.-The Journal du Havre gives the following details as to the actual state of the Prussian navy :-Ironclads,-Arminius, 300 horse power, 4 guns; Prince Albert, 300, 3. Corvettes,-Martha and Vinetta, 400, 28 each; Gazelle and Aurora, 286, 28 each; Nymphe and Victoria, 400, 14. Despatch boats,-Prussian Eagle, 300, 4; Lorely, 120, 2; Royal yacht, Grillon, 160, 2. Eight steamers of the first-class, 630, 24; fifteen of the second, 900, 30; total, 36 steam vessels, 5482-horse power, and 243 guns. Sailing frigates, Gefion, 48; Thetis, 38; and Niobe, 28. Sailing brigs, Rover, 16; Mosquito, 6; and Hela 6; 32 gunboats, 2 each, or in all 64; four, 1 each, 4; total, 42 sailing vessels with 210 guns. The Prussian navy, therefore, consists of 78 ships and 453 guns. The Vinetta is at this moment in the extreme East; the Gazelle, the Mosquito, and the Rover in the Mediterranean; and the Niobe at the Cape Verde Islands. Besides the above-named vessels, Prussia possesses a certain number of small sailing and steam boats, which only perform the service of the ports. In course of construction she has three ironclad frigates and one corvette of 400-horse power. "French commerce," observes the journal quoted above, "would not have much to dread from a navy which hardly reaches the tenth part of that of France." DR. LIVINGSTONE.-The following is an extract of a letter, dated Johanna, Feb. 23rd, received by the late mail, which, it is feared, places the fate of the unfortunate celebrated traveller, Dr. Livingstone, beyond a doubt:-" You have heard long before you get this, that Dr. Livingstone was killed. The Johanna-men whom I engaged last March to accompany Dr. Livingstone into Africa, arrived at Zanzibar last December, and were sent here by the consul. I have received an account of their journey, and of the attack of the savages on the doctor's party, in which he was killed. The only witness of his death states that about noon they were travelling over a large plain-the doctor and nine Africans were ahead. Suddenly he heard the Africans cry out, 'Mavela! Mavela!' He ran on and saw a number of men rushing on the doctor and the Africans. Three made for the doctor, who shot two, but was cut down himself by the third. Moosa, the narrator of this sad event, fired his gun and ran back to his countrymen, and they escaped into the grass and bushes. At. dusk they returned to the spot where Dr. Livingstone was attacked, and found his body, the bodies of the two Mavelas whom he shot, also the bodies of four of the Africans. They buried the doctor, and then set off as fast as they could go on their return to the coast; and after escaping two or three times from bands of Mavelas, reached Kulloa on the coast. Unless some of the Africans survive and reach Zanzibar, which is very improbable, this is all that will ever be known of the fate of Dr. Livingstone. The Mavelas, who have come from the South in considerable numbers, are killing the unfortunate negroes, who have neither courage nor the means of defending themselves." NICHOLSON.-At Middlesbro-on-Tees, Yorkshire, on the 19th March, last, John Henry Nicholson, aged 20 years, 9 months and 13 days-DESERET NEWS, please copy. ANDREWS-At Brandon Road, Brixton, Surrey, on the 28th December, 1866, Elizabeth, wife of Wm Andrews, aged 38 years. She died in good faith and in the hope of a glorious resurrection.DESERAT NEws, please copy. ADDRESS. J. S. Horie, Maison Augsburger, à Saint Imier, Canton de Berne, Switzerland. MARRIED: At Stavely, Derbyshire, De ember £rd, 1865, by Elder W. 8. Wa ren, Charles Alfred Clark to Ana Hadfield. EDITED, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY BRIGHAM YOUNG, JUN., 42, ISLINGTON. LONDON: FOR SALE AT THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' BOOK DEFOT, 30, FLORENCE STREET, ISLINGTON, AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR. ARISE YE, AND LET US GO UP TO ZION, UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD."-Jeremiah. No. 23. Vol. XXIX. Saturday, June 8, 1867. Price One Penny. PRESENT REVELATION INDISPENSABLE. The only true guide to salvation is present inspiration. The office of the Holy Spirit is to guide into all truth; its teachings must be imparted through divinely appointed ministers, and its own influence must bear witness to the principles communicated. This was God's appointed guide in all ages. Prophets spoke the word of the Lord, and the Spirit by which they spoke bore witness to the truth of their words. Whenever the world was left without men inspired of God, mankind went into darkness, and were led astray by seducing spirits; and when inspired men came with "the burden of the word of the Lord," and the people were too corrupt to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's influences, the heavenly truths the Prophets brought fell upon ears that heard not, and hearts that comprehended not. The word of the Lord given for the guidance of one generation, is not sufficient for the guidance of another generation; as circumstances change, so must the laws by which people are governed. The commandment given to Noah was not applicable to Lot, for if Lot had built an ark as a means of deliverance from the judgment upon Sodom, no doubt he and his ark would have been burned together; and the commandment given to the Israelites when about to depart from the land of bondage, would not be suitable to the emigrating Israel of modern times, for if they were to borrow of their neighbors "jewels of gold and of silver not a few," and start for the West, they would find their progress stopped by a police officer, and would return to a bondage worse, if possible, than that from which they were escaping. Not only are the commandments given to one generation generally inapplicable to another, but the same generation of mankind having continually to pass through a variety of scenes and actions, requires, day by day, fresh directions from the Almighty, each of which must be suited to the circumstances of the period. Take, as an example, the history of the travelling Israelites under Moses. one time the commandment is given, "Thou shalt not kill;" at another, "Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to 66 At 354 PRESENT REVELATION INDISPENSABLE. gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor." (Exodus xxxii, 27.) So in the days of Jesus, at one time he commands his disciples to travel "without purse or scrip," and tells them that "he that taketh up the sword shall perish by the sword;" and at another says, "he that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise his scrip, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. (Luke xxii, 36.) So in all God's dealings with his people in every age, he gave them directions according to the position in which they were placed. It is true there are certain divine laws which are in their nature adapted to the condition of the children of men in all ages and under all circumstances, and these general laws must be faithfully obeyed by all who desire salvation. The "everlasting Gospel" embodying the principles of faith, repentance, baptism for the remission of sins, the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, &c., is a universal and unchangeable code, as essential to the salvation of the first dwellers on the earth, and to the people of the latest generations, as to the salvation of those who heard these principles enunciated by the Savior of mankind, or proclaimed by the special witnesses of his glorious resurrection. But there are no fixed rules and regulations which could possibly be adapted to the various generations of men, in the ever-shifting scenes of mortal life, as a perfect and complete rule of action; neither has the Almighty ever attempted to establish such a universal code, but has sent inspired men, from age to age, to expound his laws and reveal his will, and those laws have always been framed according to the capacity, position, and necessities of the people to whom they were communicated. By the commandments so delivered will each generation be judged. Those who lived under the law of Moses, will be judged by that law. Those who lived under the Gospel, will be judged by the Gospel. Those who lived without the voice of inspiration to guide, will be judged by the inward law of their nature, and the principles by them acknowledged as a standard of right. The testimony of the ancient Prophets of God will come up in judgment against the nations who rejected them, and the present generation, if they receive not the word of God now made known unto them will, upon the same principle, be condemned by the testimony of the Prophets of latter days. The people of the nineteenth century have struck upon the same rock that caused the wreck of former generations. They puzzle their brains over the obscure sentences of Prophets long since dead, and shut their ears against the plain and simple truths of heaven now being proclaimed for their especial benefit. They strain their eyes gazing into the mists of the dim and distant past, and refuse to look upon the shining beacon light of present revelation. When the Redeemer of the world came to the creed-fettered sectaries who labored under the bondage of the Mosaic law, and offered them the perfect law of liberty, "We have Moses and the Prophets," said they, "we need no further revelation;" and in our own times, when Joseph Smith brought the fulness of the everlasting Gospel to this priest-ridden generation, bewildered by opposing creedsthe offspring of human interpretations of Holy Writ-the cry is raised, "We have the Bible, the precious Bible, and we need no other guide." If the Pharisees, Saducees, &c., of former days, had really believed in the writings of ancient Prophets, they would have received the Messiah, for the Scriptures testified of him; and if religious teachers of modern times really believed and understood the Bible, they would joyfully receive this great latter-day work, for both the Old and New Testaments refer to it in the plainest manner. But the very act of looking to past and ignoring present revelation, brings spiritual darkness and leads to spiritual death. This is a subject of great importance to the Saints, as well as to those who have not opened their eyes to the light of present revelation; for there is a possibility of their falling into the PRESENT REVELATION INDISPENSABLE. 355 changes upon the growing kingdom of our God, truth after truth will be same blinding and destructive error as that in which the world is involved. Let them once set a limit to their re-made manifest, commandment after ception of revealed truth, and their commandment will be given, laws reprogress is stayed immediately; and vealed in the infancy of the Church as there is no standing still in the will be repealed, and others made work of God, their path from that known, more adapted to the enlarged moment is a downward one, and will and spreading kingdom, until oldland them in a darker spot than that fashioned traditions will flee from the from which the Gospel rescued them. human mind, and the soul bursting If Israel of old had obeyed Moses and off all the fetters which has enchained refused to hearken to Joshua, they and contracted it, will swell with joywould never have inherited the pro- ful emotion as it drinks in the streams mised land, and if latter-day Israel of eternal truth flowing from the founreceive the revelations through Joseph tain which is never dry. Smith, and refuse the word of the Lord through Brigham Young, they will also fail to obtain the exaltation they have started to gain. We may take the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and, if we had them, all the sacred books that were ever written, bind them to our hearts and worship them, as modern sectarians do the dead letter of the word, and without living Prophets to guide, and the Holy Ghost to bear testimony, we would be speedily involved in darkness, doubt, and soul-destroying confusion. The Lord may have revealed yesterday a law which would be inapplicable to-day. He may have given a statute through Joseph that he will repeal through Brigham; and should we hold to the former and refuse the latter, we immediately shroud ourselves in a mantle of darkness, and shut out from our souls the pure light of everlasting life. The great principle must ever be borne in mind, that the laws of God are always adapted to the circumstances of his people. At the beginning of this last dispensation, the Lord permitted his servants to have but one wife; at a further period in the progress of his work, he revealed the law of celestial matrimony, restoring the most holy order of plural marriage as practised by the purest and holiest of God's ancient servants. The fulness of that law is not yet made manifest, as we can read in the revelation itself; and as time wings its flight, and brings its inevitable It must also be borne in mind that though we may live under "the droppings of the sanctuary," and have the voice of inspired Prophets continually sounding in our ears, without the witness of the Holy Spirit in our own hearts, the precious things of the house of God will be esteemed of little worth, and the music of inspiration will sound discordant and unwelcome. It requires the Spirit of inspiration to declare the word of the Lord, and it requires the same Spirit to understand and appreciate it. How foolish and vain are the attempts of uninspired theologians to explain the teachings of the Prophets of God! as well might a man boru blind attempt to delineate the various and beautiful tints of the bow of promise. And were it possible for them to make plain to others that which they do not comprehend themselves, the principles thus explained would be insufficient for their hearers, and many of them totally inapplicable, because they were given and adapted to a people long since passed away. Let all who desire to be led in the one path that leadeth unto life, hearken unto the servants of the Most High God, who are now sent forth as in days of old, and seek to the Lord for the inspiration of his Spirit, and they will then understand the words of Jesus, which contain the whole duty of mortals: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” C. W. PENROSE. The goal of yesterday will be the starting-point of to-morrow. -CARLYLE. |