5.

[128] Mic. 5:2; compare Matt 2:6; John 7:42.

[129] Zech. 9:9; compare Matt. 21:4-9.

[130] Zech. 12:10; compare John 19:37.

[131] Zech. 13:6.

[132] Zech. 11:12, 13; compare Matt. 26:15; 27:3-10.

[133] Luke 24:44, 46; see also verses 25-27.

[134] Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:15, 26, 27, 29-36; see
also Acts 1:5, 8; 11:16; 19:4.

[135] Note 3, end of chapter.

[136] B. of M., 1 Nephi 10:4-11.

[137] B. of M., 1 Nephi chapters 11 and 12; see also 19:10.

[138] B. of M., 2 Nephi 9:5, 6; 10:3. See also Nephi's prophecy
25:12-14; and chap. 26.

[139] B. of M., Mosiah 13:33-35; 15:1-13.

[140] B. of M., Alma 39:15; 40:1-3.

[141] B. of M., Alma 11:31-44.

[142] B. of M., Helaman 14:1-6; compare 3 Nephi 1:4-21.

[143] Rev. 19:10.

CHAPTER 6.

THE MERIDIAN OF TIME.

Unto Moses, with whom the Lord spake "face to face, as a man speaketh
unto his friend,"[144] the course of the human race, both as then past
and future, was made known; and the coming of the Redeemer was
recognized by him as the event of greatest import in all the happenings
to which the earth and its inhabitants would be witness. The curse of
God had aforetime fallen upon the wicked, and upon the earth because of
them, "For they would not hearken unto his voice, nor believe on his
Only Begotten Son, even him whom he declared should come in the meridian
of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the world."[145]
In this scripture appears the earliest mention of the expressive and
profoundly significant designation of the period in which the Christ
should appear--the meridian of time. If the expression be regarded as
figurative, be it remembered the figure is the Lord's.

The term "meridian", as commonly used, conveys the thought of a
principal division of time or space[146] thus we speak of the hours
before the daily noon as ante-meridian (a.m.) and those after noon as
post-meridian (p.m.). So the years and the centuries of human history
are divided by the great event of the birth of Jesus Christ. The years
preceding that epoch-making occurrence are now designated as time
_Before Christ_ (B.C.); while subsequent years are each specified as a
certain _Year of our Lord_, or, as in the Latin tongue, _Anno Domini_
(A.D.). Thus the world's chronology has been adjusted and systematized
with reference to the time of the Savior's birth; and this method of
reckoning is in use among all Christian nations. It i