Classic Works of Orson F. Whitney

The Strength of the Mormon Position

Upon the pinnacle of the temple in Salt Lake City, there stands the gilded statue of an angel in the act of sounding a trumpet, symbolizing the restoration and proclamation of the everlasting gospel, in fulfillment of the scripture that says:
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come” (Rev. 14:6–7).

The Mormon Prophet's Tragedy

I have often pondered over the fulfillment of these prophetic words with reference to the lofty and the learned and their relations to what the world terms “Mormonism.” Why is it that men and women, intelligent, educated, and even profound, cannot see in this great social and religious phenomenon something more than a topic to be treated in a light and flippant vein, or in a spirit of harshness and intolerance? Giants in intellect as to other things, when they deal with the history, doctrines, aims, and motives of the Latter-day Saints, they seem suddenly changed into dwarfs, mere children, as powerless to cope with the mighty problem as were the learned rabbis in the temple with the youthful and divine Son of God. Especially is this the case with those who approach it in a captious spirit, determined to find fault, to attack and ridicule rather than to fairly investigate. They cannot analyze it, cannot even grasp it, and are incapable of forming any just or proper conclusion in relation to it.
To those who understand the subject, even in part, it presents the most beautiful and most attractive phases. It is truly “a marvelous work and a wonder.” Nothing in the whole wide realm of thought, in the universal domain of reason, science, poetry, and philosophy, compares with it in sublimity and loveliness.

Elias - An Epic of the Ages
The aim of this poem is to point out those manifestations of the Divine Mind, those impulsions of human enterprise, to which have been due in all ages the progress of the race toward perfection.  The title “Elias,” signifying restoration and preparation—the lesser going before the greater with those objects in view—is used to denote and personify the genius of progress, whose beneficent workings, under the guidance of the Infinite Spirit, through the aeons and the ages, behind the scenes and upon the stage of human action, are the thread, warp, and woof of the entire poem. The medial point is the dispensation of the fulness of times, the era of restitution, when the house of God is to be set in order and all things in Christ gathered into one.