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General Latter-day Saint

History of the Church, 1912 edition

History of the Church, volume 6 · Volume6 p.254, concluding four paragraphs of 10March1844 discourse

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Additional reading edition: History of the Church, volume 6, introduction and notes by B.H.Roberts, Salt Lake City1912; Project Gutenberg/Mormon Texts Project e-text

1912 publication identified on electronic title page; Project Gutenberg catalog expressly says Public domain in the USA: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60758 . Historical text only, without Gutenberg trademark/license wrapper or modern commentary.

I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, "In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year: but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant. But I will take the responsibility upon myself to prophesy in the name of the Lord, that Christ will not come this year, as Father Miller has prophesied, for we have seen the bow; and I also prophesy, in the name of the Lord, that Christ will not come in forty years; and if God ever spoke by my mouth, He will not come in that length of time. Brethren, when you go home, write this down, that it may be remembered. Jesus Christ never did reveal to any man the precise time that He would come. Go and read the Scriptures, and you cannot find anything that specifies the exact hour He would come; and all that say so are false teachers. There are some important things concerning the office of the Messiah in the organization of the world, which I will speak of hereafter, May God Almighty bless you and pour out His Spirit upon you, is the prayer of your unworthy servant. Amen.