PUBLISHED BY THE CHURCH
SIXTH EDITION
TWENTY-EIGHTH TO THIRTIETH THOUSAND INCLUSIVE
Salt Lake City, Utah
Deseret Book Company
1922
Copyright
September 1915, December 1915, April 1916, and November 1916
By
JOSEPH F. SMITH
Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Copyright, October, 1922
By
HEBER J. GRANT
Trustee-in-Trust for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Printed in the United States of America[Pg iii]
The scope of the subject presented in this work is expressedon the title page. It will be readily seen that theauthor has departed from the course usually followed bywriters on the Life of Jesus Christ, which course, as a rule,begins with the birth of Mary's Babe and ends with theascension of the slain and risen Lord from Olivet. Thetreatment embodied in these pages, in addition to the narrativeof the Lord's life in the flesh comprizes the antemortalexistence and activities of the world's Redeemer, the revelationsand personal manifestations of the glorified and exaltedSon of God during the apostolic period of old and in moderntimes, the assured nearness of the Lord's second advent, andpredicted events beyond—all so far as the Holy Scripturesmake plain.
It is particularly congruous and appropriate that theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—the onlyChurch that affirms authority based on specific revelationand commission to use the Lord's Holy Name as a distinctivedesignation—should set forth her doctrines concerningthe Messiah and His mission.
The author of this volume entered upon his welcomeservice under request and appointment from the presidingauthorities of the Church; and the completed work has beenread to and is approved by the First Presidency and theCouncil of the Twelve. It presents, however, the writer'spersonal belief and profoundest conviction as to the truth of[Pg iv]what he has written. The book is published by the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A characteristic feature of the work is the guidanceafforded by modern scriptures and the explication of theHoly Writ of olden times in the light of present day revelation,which, as a powerful and well directed beam, illuminesmany dark passages of ancient construction.
The spirit of the sacredness inherent in the subject hasbeen a constant companion of the writer throughout hispleasing labor, and he reverently invokes the same as a ministerto the readers of the volume.
JAMES E. TALMAGE.
Salt Lake City, Utah,
September, 1915.
The second edition of this work appeared in December,1915, and the third in March, 1916. The third editionpresented several minor alterations in wording and containedadditional notes and references. Succeeding issues, includingthe fifth which was printed on India paper, and thepresent edition are practically uniform with the third.
JAMES E. TALMAGE.
Salt Lake City, Utah,
October, 1922.[Pg v]