the seer - el vidente

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All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah xviii, 3.

VOL. I. JANUARY, 1853. No. 1.

PROSPECTUS OF " THE SEER."

THE SEER is a title assumed forthis Periodical in commemoration ofJOSEPH SMITH, the great SEER of thelast days, who, as an instrument in thehands of the Lord, laid the foundationof the Kingdom of God, preparatoryto the second coming of the Messiahto reign with universal dominion overall the Earth.

The pages of the SEER will be most-ly occupied with original matter, illu-cidating ihe doctrines of the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, asrevealed in both ancient and modernRevelations. The Prophecies, relat-ing to the grand and remarkable eventsof the last days, will be carefully ex-amined and unfolded. The doctrineof Celestial Marriage, or Marriagefor all eternity, as believed and prac-tised by the Saints in Utah Territc ry,will be clearly explained. The viewsof the Saints in regard to the ancient.Patriarchal Order of Matrimony, orPlurality of Wives, as developed ina Revelation, given through JOSEPH,the SEER, will be fully published.The Celestial origin and pre-existenceof the spirits of men—their first estateor probation in a previous world—thegreat benefits, derived by descendingfrom Heaven, and entering fleshly ta-bernacles, and keeping the laws of

their second estate, and their final re-demption and exaltation, as Gods, intheir future state—are subjects whichwill, more or less, occupy the pagesof the SEER.

It is hoped that the President elect,the Hon. Members of Congress, theHeads of the various Departments ofthe National Government, the high-minded Governors and Legislative As-semblies of the several States andTerritories, the Ministers of every Re-ligious denomination, and all the in-habitants of this great Republic, willpatronize this Periodical, that throughthe medium of our own writings theymay be more correctly and fully in-formed in regard to the peculiar doc-trines, views, practices, and expecta-tions of the Saints who now flourishin the Mountain Territory, and whowill eventually flourish over the wholeEarth. And we say to all nations,subscribe for the SEER, and we pro-.mise you a True and Faithful descrip-tion of all the principal features, char-acterizing this great and last " dispen-sation of the fulness of times."

The SEER will be published Month-ly, at $1 per annum, in advance.

ORSON PRATT, Editor,Washington City, D. C.

DECEMBER 21, 1852.

2 FIRST EIPSTLE OF ORSON PRATT.

First Epistle of ORSON PRATT to the Saints scattered throughout the UnitedStates and British Provinces—Greeting :

DEAR BRETHERN Having been ap-pointed by the First Presidency withthe sanction of a special Conferenceof the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter Day Saints, held in Great SaltLake City on the 28th of August,1852, to preside over the Saintsthroughout the United States andBritish Provinces in North America ;in accordance therewith, I have leftmy family and my home in the peace-ful vales of the mountains and, aftercrossing the wild desert plains whichintervene between the happy land ofthe Saints and the Gentile lands ofstrife and wickedness, 1 find myselfwithin the field of my mission: thatthe Saints may more fully learn thenature of my mission among them, Iwill insert the following:

LETTER OF APPOINTMENT.This certifies that Professor Orson

Pratt of the University of Deseret,one of the Apostles of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-Day Saitns, isappointed by us, with the sanction ofthe special Conference, convened inthis city on the twenty-eighth day ofAugust, A. D. One Thousand EightHundred and Fifty-two, to presideover the affairs of the Church through-out the United States and the BritishProvinces in North America ; andalso, to write and Publish Periodicals,Pamphlets, Books, &c., illustrative ofthe principles and doctrines of theChurch, and to do all other thingsnecessary for the advancement of thework of the Lord among all nationsELDER PRATT iS authorized and re-quired to receive and collect tithing ofthe Saints through all his field of labors:and we request the Elders and otherofficers and members of the Churchto give diligent heed to his counselsas the words of life and salvation, andassist him to funds to enable him totravel, print, establish book agEncies,and perform all other duties of hiscalling, and the blessings of our Fatherin Heaven shall rest upon them.BRO. PRATT is one of the Perpetual

Emigrating Fund Company, and ishereby appointed and authorized toact as Traveling-Agent in the UnitedStates and British Provinces in North.America, and he is instructed to col-lect, and disburse and aid to promotethe emigration of poor Saints to thevalleys of the mountains.

BRO. ORSON PRATT is too well andfavorably known to need any testimo-nial further Than his own presence andacquaintance to secure the Esteem andconfidence of all among whom his lotmay be cast. His acquirements andattainments are of the highest order,and possessing, as he Eminently does,every requisite of an honorable andhigh-minded gentleman, we take greatpleasure in recommending him to thekindness and consideration of allgood men.

BRIGHAM YOUNG,

HEBER C. KIMBALL,WILLARD RICHARDS,

Presidency of said Church.Signed and sealed at Great Salt

Lake City, U. T., Sept. 13, 1852.

The principal features of my mis-sion are contained in the foregoingletter ; but ever feeling a deep interestin the welfare of the saints, you willpermit me, through the medium ofthis epistle to impart to you such in-structions as the Holy Spirit maywhisper to my mind. I wish to askthe saints who still remain scatteredabroad, Do you enjoy as great a meas-ure of the Spirit of God as when youwere first baptized into this kingdom ?Or are your minds barren ? Your un-derstandings unfruitful ? Y our souls indarkness ? and your feelings cold andindifferent towards the great workwhich you have embraced, and whichonce made you joyful and happy ? Ifthis be your condition, it is of theutmost importance that you know thecauses of these unhappy changes inyour feelings. Is it because the Lordhas changed and forgotten to be gra-cious ? is it because the fulness ofhis gospel does not produce the same

FIRST EPISTLE OF ORSON PRATT. 3

effects or happiness now, as it did inancient times ? Is it because the Bookof Mormon, or any of the Revelationsgiven through Joseph, the Seer, havefailed to accomplish those purposesfor which they were sent ? Is it be-cause the saints have passed throughgreat tribulation, and have been drivenfrom city to city, from State to State,and finally banished from this grea tRepublic to seek a home in the wildglens of the Rocky Mountains? Is itbecause God has forsaken his peopleand will no longer show them mercy ?No, verily, no ; none of these causeshave conspired to drive away theComforter from your hearts, or to en-velope you in darkness, or to makeyou cold, and indifferent, and unhappy.But the principal cause of your un-pleasant and unhappy state of mind,is your own disobedience to one ofthe most important commands whichGod has given to his people in thislast dispensation, namely : to fleeout of Babylon, and gather themselvestogether, and stand in holy places,that they may escape the plagues anddesolating scourges which the Lordhas decreed to pour out upon the na-tions, because of their great sins andwickedness which continually cryunto the heavens for vengeance. Canany saint neglect so important a com-mand, when it is within their powerto keep it, and still be justified, andretain the peaceable Spirit of the Lord ?No : the Spirit of the Lord is grievedwith such, and will, by degrees, with-draw from them, and they will gropein the dark, and be liable to beovercome by temptation, and he ledcaptive by the will of the Devil :such ones, not having the Spirit thatleads into all truth, are liable to be de-ceived by the doctrines of men andDevils ; for the Lord will frequentlysuffer strong delusions to overpowersuch that their damnation may bethe greater, because they profess toknow the Lord, and yet will not obeyHim. Remember the word of theLord which came by the mouth ofJoseph, the Seer, saying, " Hearkenand hear, 0 ye my people, saith theLord and your God, ye whom I de-

light to bless with the greatest bles-sings, ye that hear me; and ye thathear me not will I curse, that haveprofessed my name, with the heaviestof all cursings." Have you hearken-ed to the word of God ? Have youexerted yourselves to the utmost toflee from Babylon ? If not, no won-der that you are in darkness—nowonder that the peaceable Spirit hasbeen grieved from your bosom. Re-pent, therefore, speedily, and obey the.voice of the Lord and gather your-selves among his people, lest the de-stroyer lay hold upon you in an houryou think not, and you perish in dis-obedience, and your name be cut offfrom the generations of Zion. If youwill awake from the slumber of deathwhich has seized upon you, and useevery exertion to obey the voice of theLord your God, His anger shall beturned away from you, and He willshow you mercy, and His Spirit shallbe restored unto you again, and Hishand shall be stretched out over youto shield and protect you, and togather you even as a lien gatherethher chickens under her wings to savethem from the approaching storms;so shall the Lord your God save you rand comfort your hearts, and makeyou to sing with joy and gladness, andyou shall be His people, and He wbe the Lord your God. Awake then,0 awake! flee to the mountains forrefuge ! For a day of trouble is athand—a day of -fierce battle and war--a day of mourning and lamentationfor widows and orphans whose hus-bands and fathers shall fall in battle :it shall be the day of the Lord's con-troversy for His people—a day of re-compence for the innocent blood ofprophets and saints which has beenshed among this nation.

The time is drawing nigh forthese things to be fulfilled ; for this na-tion have rejected the Book of Mor-mon, which the Lord brought forthby the mininistering of Angels, andsent unto them by the hands of Hisservants ; they have rejected theChurch of Christ which the LordGod in mercy established in theirmidst; they have suffered His Saints

4 FIRST EPISTLE OF ORSON PRATT.

to be trampled upon by mobs, to bescourged, afflicted, abused, driven fromtheir homes, deprived of the most sa-cred rights of American citizenship,and finally to be banished from theirmidst, and obliged to seek refuge inthe solitary wilds and deserts of theRocky Mountains. They have closedtheir doors, their synagogues, theireyes, and their hearts against one ofthe most glorious and important mes-sages that ever saluted the ears ofmortals ; they have suffered one ofthe greatest, most renowned, and mostcelebrated prophets that ever livedupon the earth to be murdered in coldblood, without bringing the murderersto justice ; they have suffered scoresof innocent men, women, and chil-dren to be tortured, shot down, andbutchered, in open day, by beings whoafterwards boasted of their horriddeeds, and yet, no means are institu-ted to bring these guilty wretchesto punishment. Does not the bloodof the Saints and of prophets cryaloud to the Heavens for vengeance ?And shall this nation escape the judg-ments decreed against them ? Andwill the Almighty forbear to executethe vengeance written ? Verify No.For in December, 1833, the word ofthe Lord came through JOSEPH, theSEER, concerning His Saints who hadbeen driven from their homes in Jack-son Co., Missouri, saying :

" Let them importune at the feet ofthe judge ; and if he heed them not,let them importune at the feet of theGovernor and if the Governor heedthem not, let them importune at thefeet of the President ; and if the Presi-dent heed them not, then will theLord arise and come forth out of Hishiding place, and in His fury vex thenation, and in His hot displeasure,and in His fierce anger, in His time,wilt cut off those wicked, unfaithful,and unjust stewards, and appoint themtheir portion among hypocrites andunbelievers ; even in outer darkness,where there is weeping, and wailing,and gnashing of teeth. Pray ye, there-fore, that their ears may be openedunto your cries, that 1 be may merci-

ful unto them, that these things maynot come upon them." (Book of Cov-enants, page 282, English edition.)

For nineteen years the Saints haveimportuned, according to this com-mandment. But have they obtainedredress ? No. The Judges and theGovernor of the State of Missouri, in-stead of redressing our wrongs, suf-fered us, under the force of arms, tobe killed, immured in dungeons, andbanished from the State. The Presi-dent, instead of restoring us to ourhomes and lands which we purchasedof the National Government, sufferedus to be deprived of the dearest rightsof American citizenship, and to bebanished by the force of arms fromthis great Republic to seek refugeamong hostile savages in the barrenwastes of the snowy mountains. Thecries and importunities of the Saintsfor redress and protection, were metwith the cold reply, "Your cause isjust, but we have no power to protectyou." The Saints have long criedunto the Lord that He would openthe ears and soften the hearts of theRulers and Authorities of our countrythat they might execute justice andright in behalf of the suffering, down-trodden, Exiled citizens of this greatRepublic, who have been, by the forceof arms, driven into banishment. Buttheir ears are closed to our cries, theireyes are shut to our sufferings, andtheir hearts hardened against themourning and lamentations of wid-ows and orphans, whose husbandsand fathers have been cruelly mar,tyred for the testimony of Jesus, andfor the word of God. The cup ofthe iniquity of this nation is nearlyfull and woe unto them, when thetime shall come that they are fullyripe in their abominations, for theyshall utterly perish from off the faceof this choice land, and the land shallbe left empty and desolate—yea, theircities shall he destroyed, and theirhouses shall be desolate. For theLord shall rise up as in mount Pera-zim ; He shall be wroth as in the val-ley of Gibeon, that He may do Hiswork, His strange work and bring

FIRST EPISTLE OF ORSON PRATT. 5

to pass His act, His strange act." (Isa.28 : 21.) Yea, He shall destroy andlay waste, and none shall hinder.

I will again say to the Saints scat-tered abroad in this land, do you wishdeliverance in the day of trouble? Ifyou do, arise and flee to the moun-tains, and prepare for the day of theLord, for it is near. Let all the chil-dren of Zion go up into the moun-tains ; for thus said the prophet, Isaiah,in his prophetic exhortation to theZion of the last days, "0 Zion, thatbringest good tidings, get thee up intothe high mountain." For 4 ` behold, theLord God will come with strong hand,and His arm shall rule for Him : be-hold, His reward is with Him and Hiswork before Him. He shall feed Hisflock like a shepherd: He shall gatherthe lambs with His arm, and carrythem in His bosom." (Isa. 40 : 9-11.)Isaiah clearly saw that before the sec-ond coming of the Lord, to rule "witha strong hand," that Zion would berequired to "get up into the highmountain." Many of the children ofZion have fulfilled this exhortation ofIsaiah ; and I now say to the balance ofher children, "GET THEE UP INTOTHE HIGH MOUNTAIN," and sanc-tify yourselves that you may be as anensign upon the mountains—a standardfor the people unto whom the meek andvirtuous of all nations shall flow. Forthus said the prophet Isaiah, "He shallset up an ensign for the nations, andshall assemble the outcasts of Israel,and gather together the dispersed ofJudah from the four corners of theearth." (Isaiah 11 : 12.) This en-sign remember was not to be set upin Palestine, where Isaiah lived at thetime he delivered the prophecy, but itwas to be set up "from afar," or at agreat distance from that country: hence,he says, again, "And He will lift up anensign to the nations from far, andwill hiss unto them from the end of theearth : and behold, they shall comewith speed swiftly." (Isa. 5 : 26.)Four things are clearly predicted inthis passage;—First, An ensign is tobe lifted up to the nations by the Lord,Himself; secondly, this ensign was tobe lifted up, not in the country where

Isaiah dwelt, but in a far country ;thirdly, when this ensign should be setup, the Lord should hiss unto the na-tions, not from Palestine, but "fromthe ends of the earth," clearly indi-cating a message that should hiss forthfrom that distant country for the bene-fit of all nations ; and lastly, a peoplefrom among these nations, should"come with speed swiftly," not by theslow process of travelling to whichthe ancients were accustomed, but"they shall come with speed swiftly,"indicating, no doubt, the powerfulagency of steam by which that peopleshould be gathered from among thenations speedily swiftly unto the stand-ard or ensign lifted up. This standardor ensign was not to be raised amongJudah or Israel, but among the Gen-tiles, for the benefit of both Israel andJudah ; for then, as Isaiah says, in theforegoing quotation, both Israel andJudah will be gathered. That thisstandard was to be raised among theGentiles, instead of Israel, is clearlypredicted in another passage, as fol-lows :—" Thus saith the Lord God,behold, I will lift up mine hand to theGentiles, and set up my standard to thepeople : and they shall bring thy sonsin their arms, and thy daughters shallbe carried upon their shoulders."(Isaiah 49 : 22.) That this standardor ensign was not only to be set up bythe Lord God, among the Gentiles, butthat it was also to be lifted up on themountains is also predicted by Isaiahas follows :—'All ye inhabitants ofthe world, and dwellers on the earth,SEE YE, WHEN HE LIFTETH UPAN ENSIGN ON THE MOUN-TAINS; and when He bloweth atrumpet, hear ye." For afore the har-vest, when the bud is perfect, and thesour grape is ripening in the flower,He shall both cut off the sprigswith pruning hooks, and take awayand cut down the branches. Theyshall be left together unto the fowlsof the mountains, and to the beasts ofthe earth ; and the fowls shall summerupon them, and all the beasts of theearth shall winter upon them. In thattime shall the present be brought untothe Lord of Hosts of a people scat-

6 FIRST EPISTLE OP ORSON PRATT.

tered and pealed, and from a peopleterrible from their beginning hitherto;a nation meted out and trodden underfoot, whose land the rivers have spoiled,to the place of the name of the Lordof Hosts, the Mount Zion." (Isaiah18 : 3, 5, 6, 7.) The place, then, forthe lifting up of the ensign is to be"on the mountains," and that too justbefore "the harvest " or the end of thewicked world, when the Lord is todestroy a certain nation under the nameof the sour grape, and they are to beleft unburied for the fowls and beasisto summer and winter upon them. Itwill be perceived also, that "all the in-habitants of the world, and the dwellerson the earth," are called upon to bothsee and hear, when the Lord lifts upthat ensign on the mountains.

Under a deep sense of the impor-tant events which await this genera-tion, I beg of Zion to bear with me,while I repeat again the prophetic ex-hortation of Isaiah—" 0 Zion, thatbringest good tidings, Get thee up intothe high mountain." Tarry not, lestyou fall among the wicked, and are de-prived of the blessings which the Lordhas decreed to pour out upon Zion.

That Zion was to occupy an eleva-ted position on the earth, is still fur-ther evident from the word of theLord which came through Joseph,the Seer, in September, 1831, saying," Behold I, the Lord, hare made my-church in these last days like unto ajudge sitting on a HILL, 6r in a HIGHPLACE, to judge the nations ; forit shall come to pass that the inhabi-tants of Zion shall judge all thingspertaining to Zion ; and liars and hy-pocrites shall be proved by them, andthey who are not apostles and prophetsshall be known. And even the bishop,who is a judge, and his counsellors,if they are not faithful in their steward-ships, shall be condemned, and othersshall be planted in their stead ; for,behold, I say unto you that Zion shallflourish, and the glory of the Lordshall be upon her, and she shall bean Ensign unto the people, and thereshall come unto her out of every na-tion under Heaven. And the day shallcome when the nations of the earth

shall tremble because of her, and shallfear because of her terrible ones% TheLord hath spoken it. Amen." (Bookof Covenants, page 156.)

In this extract the Lord predictedthat Zion should " be an Ensign untothe people," " sitting on a hill or in aHigh Place " and that she shouldflourish. In another revelation, giventhrough Joseph, the Seer, to JamesCovill in January 1831, the Lord says." Thou art called to labor in my vine-yard and to build up my church, andto bring forth Zion, that it may rejoiceupon the HILLS and flourish." (Doe.and Cov., page 212. And in March,1831, the word of the Lord, again,came unto Joseph, the Seer, saying," Before the great day of the Lordshall come, Jacób shall flourish in thewilderness, and the Lamanites" (mean-ing the American India* " shallblossom as the rose. Zion shall flour-ish upon the hills, and rejoice uponthe mountains, and shall be assembledtogether unto the place which I haveappointed " (page 218.) Thus we seethat twenty-two years ago, it wasforetold in great plainness that Zionshould flourish and rejoice upon thehills and mountains ; when these pro-phecies were given, we did not know,for many years, how nor when -theLord intended to fulfil them, but fif-teen years tiller the prediction, theLord suffered our enemies to riseagainst us. and we were driven by theforce of arms from these Stites, andwere obliged to flee to the mountainsfor refuge ; thus, in an unexpectedmanner, Zion is placed in her appro-priate position, and is truly beginningto flourish and rejoice upon the hillsand mountains according to the pre-dictions of Joseph, the prophet, andaccording to many predictions of theancient prophets. 0 how wonderfulare the dealings of God with His peo-ple ! And how marvelously does Hefulfil the words of inspiration!Though the Heavens and Earth passaway, yet the wo d of the Lord,spoken through Joseph, the Seer,shall not pass away, but every jot andtittle that has not already come to pass,shall be fulfilled in its time and season.

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE. 7

The Saints in the States and BritishProvinces are respectfully invited tobecome subscribers to this periodical,that through its pages they may learnmore perfectly their duties, and havea knowledge of the times, and seasons,and purposes of the Most High in re-gard to the generation in which theylive. Those who intend emigratingto the mountains, during the comingseason, can, by notifying us of theirintentions, have their paper sent bythe mail to Utah. Where there arebranches of the Church, we suggestthat they appoint among themselvesan agent, and have the whole number,taken in the branch, sent in one pack-age to their agent ; this arrangementwill save us much trouble whichwould otherwise arise by being obli-ged to forward to each individual.

The Saints are likewise informedthat we shall have constantly on handfor sale, at wholesale and retail, allthe various works, mentioned in thecatalogue, published on the last pageof the Seer.

All these publications should be inthe houses of all the saints, and shouldbe diligently read, that they may bewell instructed in all the great princi-ples of eternal salvation, that throughtheir faithfulness to the same they mayenter into the fulness of celestial glory.With the most anxious desire for yourwelfare, I subscribe myself yourhumble servant and brother in thebonds of the gospel Covenant.

ORSON PRATT.WASHINGTON, Dec. 20, 1852.

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE:

A REVELATION ON THE PATRIARCIIAL ORDER OF MATRIMONY,

OR PLURALITY OF WIVES.

Given to Joseph Smith, the Seer, in sN'auvoo, July 12th, 1843.

1. Verily thus saith the Lord, untoyou my servant Joseph, that inasmuchas you have enquired of my hand, toknow arid understand wherein I theLord justified my servants, Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob ; as also M oses, David,and Solomon, my servants, as touchingthe principle and doctrineof their havingmany wives, and concubines : Behold !and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and willanswer thee as touching this matter:Therefore. prepare thy heart to receiveand obey the instructions which I amabout to give unto you ; for all those,who have this law revealed unto them,must obey the same; for behold ! I re-veal unto you a new and an everlastingcovenant, and if ye abide not that cove-nant, then are ye damned ; for no onecan reject this covenant, and be per-mitted to enter into my glory ; for allwho will have a blessing at my hands,shall abide the law which was appoint-ed for that blessing, and the conditionsthereof, as was instituted from beforethe foundations of the world : and as

pertaining to the tiew and everlastingcovenant, it was instituted for the ful-ness of my glory ; and he that re-ceiveth a fulness thereof, must, andshall abide the law, or lie shall bedamned, saith the Lord God.

2. And verily I say unto you, thatthe conditions of this law are these:All covenants, contracts, bonds, obli-gations, oaths, vows, performances,connections, associations, or expecta-tions, that are not made, and enteredinto, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit ofpromise, of him who is annointed, bothas well for time and for all eternity,and that too most holy, by revelationand commandment, through the medi-um of mine annointed, whom I haveappointed on the earth to hold thispower, (and I have appointed unto myservant Joseph to hold this power inthe last days, and there is never butone on the earth at a time, on whomthis power and the keys of this priest-hood are conferred,) are of no effica-cy, virtue, or force, in and after the

8 CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.

resurrection from the dead ; for allcontracts that are not made unto thisend, have an end when men are dead.

3. Behold ! mine house is a houseof order, saith the Lord God, and nota house of confusion. Will I acceptof an offering, saith the Lord, that isnot made in my name ! Or, will 1receive at your hands, that which Ihave not appointed ! And will I ap-point unto you, saith the Lord, exceptit be by law, even as I and my Fatherordained unto you, before the worldwas! I am the Lord thy God, and Igive unto you this commandment, thatno man shall come unto the Father,but by me, or by my word which ismy law, saith the Lord ; and every-thing that is in the world, whether itbe ordained of men, by thrones, orprincipalities, or powers, or things ofname, whatsoever they may be, thatare not by me, or by my word, saiththe Lord, shall be thrown down, andshall not remain after men are dead,neither in nor after the resurrection,saith the Lord your God : for whatso-ever things remaineth, are by me; andwhatsoever things are not by me, shallbe shaken and destroyed.

4. Therefore, if a man marry hima wife in the world, and he marry hernot by me, nor by my word ; and hecovenant with her, so 1 ,ng as he is inthe world, and site with him, theircovenant and marriage is not of forcewhen they are dead, and when theyare out of the world ; therefore, theyare not bound by any law when theyare out of the world ; therefore, whenthey are out of the world, they neithermarry, nor are given in marriage, butare appointed angels in heaven, whichangels are ministering servants, to min-ister for those, who are worthy of afar more, an► an exceeding, and aneternal weight of glory ; for theseangels did not abide my law, thereforethey cannot be enlarged, but remainseparately and, singly, without exalta-tion, in their saved cond ition, to all eter-nity, and from henceforth are not Gods,but are angels of God forever and ever.

5. And again, verily I say unto you,if a man marry a wife, and make acovenant with hem for time, and for all

eternity, if that covenant is not by me,or by my word, which is my law, andis not sealed by the Holy Spirit ofpromise, through him whom I haveanncinted and appointed unto thispower, then it is not valid, neither offorce, when they are out of the world,because they are not joined by me,saith the Lord, neither by my word ;when they are out of the world, itcannot be received there, because theangels and the Gods are appointedthere, by whom they cannot pass ;they cannot, therefore, inherit myglory, for my house is a house of or-der, saith the Lord God.

6. And again, verily I say unto you,if a man marry a wife by my word,which is my law, and by the new andeverlasting covenant, and it is sealedunto them by the Holy Spirit of pro-mise, by him who is annointed, untowhom I have appointed this power,and the keys of this priesthood, andit shall be said unto them, ye shallcome forth in the first resurrection ;and if it be after the first resur-rection, in the next resurrection ; andshall inherit thrones, kingdoms, prin.cipalities, and powers, dominions, allheights, and depths, then shall it bewritten in the Lamb's Book of Life,that he shall commit no murder, where-by to shed innocent blood ; and if yeabide in my covenant, and commit nomurder whereby to shed innocentblood, it shall be done unto them inall things whatsoever my servant bathput upon them, in time, and throughall eternity ; and shall be of full forcewhen they are out of the world, andthey shall pass by the angels, and theGods, which are set there, to their ex-altation and glory in all things, as bathbeen sealed upon their heads, whichglory shall be a fulness and a continu-ation of the seeds forever and ever.

7. Then shall they be Gods, be-cause they have no end ; thereforeshall they be from everlasting to ever-lasting, because they continue; thenshall they be above all, because allthings are subject unto them. Thenshall they be Gods, because they haveall power, and the angels are subjectunto them.


8. Verily, verily I say unto you, ex-cept ye abide my law, ye cannot at-tain to this glory ; for strait is thegate, and narrow the way, that leadethunto the exaltation and continuationof the lives, and few there be thatfind it, because ye receive me not inthe world, neither do ye know me.But if ye receive me in the world,then shall ye know me, and shall re-ceive your exaltation, that where Iam, ye shall be also. This is eter-nal lives to know the only wiseand true God, and Jesus Christwhom he bath sent. I am He.Receive ye, therefore, my law. Broadis the gate, and wide the way thatleadeth to the deaths ; and many thereare that go in thereat; because theyreceive me not, neither do they abidein my law.

9. Verily, verily I say unto you, ifa man marry a wife according to myword, and they are sealed by the HolySpirit of promise, according to mineappointmero, and he or she shall com-mit any sin or transgression of thenew and everlasting covenant what-ever, and /all manner of blasphemie,-,and if they commit no murder, where-in they shed innocent blood,—yetthey shall come forth in the first resur-rection, and enter into their exaltation,but they shall be destroyed in theflesh, and shall be delivered unto thebuffetings of Satan, unto the day ofredemption, saith the Lord God.

10. The blasphemy against theHoly Ghost, which shall not be for-given in the world, nor out of theworld, is in that ye commit murder,wherein ye shed innocent blood, andassent unto my death, after ye havereceived my new and everlastingcovenant. saith the Lord God; and hethat ahideth not this law, can in nowise enter into my glory, but shall bedamned, saith the Lord.

11. I am the Lord thy God, andwill give unto thee the law of myHoly Priesthood, as was ordained byme, and my Father, before the worldwas. Abraham received all things,whatsoever he received, by revela-tion and commandment, by my word,saith the Lord and bath entered into

his exaltation, and sitteth upon histhrone.

12. Abraham received promisesconcerning his seed, and of the fruitof his loins,—from whose loins yeare, viz, my servant Joseph,—whichwere to continue, so long as they werein the world ; and as touching Abra-ham and his seed, out of the world,they should continue ; both in theworld and out of the world should theycontinue as innumerable as the stars;or, if ye were to count the sand uponthe seashore, ye could not numberthem. This promise is yours, also,because ye are of Abraham, and thepromise was made unto Abraham,and by this law are the continuationof the works of my Father, whereinhe glorifieth himself. Go ye, there-fore, and do the works of Abraham ;enter ye into my law, and ye shall besaved. But if ye enter not into mylaw, ye cannot receive the promisesof my Father, which he made untoAbraham.

13.God commanded Abraham, andSarah gave Hagar to Abraham, towife. And why did she do it? Be-cause this was the law, and from Ha-gar sprang many people. This,therefore, was fulfilling, among otherthings, the promises. Was Abra-ham, therefore, under condemnation ?Verily, I say unto you, Nay; for I theLord commanded it. Abraham wascommanded to offer his son Isaac;nevertheless, it was written thoushalt not kill. Abraham however,did not refuse, and it was accountedunto him for righteousness.

14. Abraham received concubines,and they bare him children, and itwas accounted unto him for righteous.ness, because they were given untohim, and he abode in my law: asIsaac also, and Jacob did none otherthings than that which t' ey werecommanded ; and because they didnone other things than that whichthey were commanded, they have en.tered into their exaltation, accordingto the promises, and sit upon thrones;and are not angels, but are Gods.David also received many wives andconcubines, as also Solomon, and


Moses my servant ; as also manyothers of my servants, from the be-ginning of creation until this time; andin nothing did they sin, save in thosethings which they received not of n e

15. David's wives and concubineswere given unto him, of me, by thehand of Nathan, my servant, andothers of the prophets who had thekeys of this power ; and in none ofthese things did he sin against me,save in the case of (Ida h and hiswife ; and, therefore, he hath fallenfrom his exaltation, and received hisportion ; and he shall not inheritthem out of the world ; for I gavethem unto another, saith the Lord.

16. 1 am the Lord thy God, and Igave unto thee, my servant Joseph,an appointment, and restore all things;ask what ye will, and it shall be givenunto you, according to my word ; andas ye have asked concerning adultery,verily, verily I say unto you, if a manreceiveth a wife in the new and ever-lasting covenant, and if she be withanother man, and I have not appoint-ed unto her by the holy annointing,she hath committed adultery, andshall be destroyed. If she be not inthe new and everlasting covenant,and she be with another man, she hascommitted adultery ; and if her hus-band be with another woman, and hewas under a vow, he hath broken hisvow, and bath committed adultery ;and if she bath not committed adul-tery, but is innocent, and hath notbroken her vow, and she knoweth it,and I reveal it unto you, my servantJoseph, then shall you have power,by the power of my Holy Priesthood,to take her, and give her unto himthat bath not committed adultery, butbath been faithful, for he shall bemade ruler over many ; for I haveconferred upon you the keys andpower of the priesthood, wherein Irestore all things, and make knownunto you, all things, in due time.

17. And verily, verily I say untoyou, that whatsoever you seal onearth, shall be sealed in heaven ; andwhatsoever you bind on earth, in myname, and by my word, saith theLord, it shall be eternally bound in

the heavens ; and whomsoever sinsyou remit on earth, shall be remittedeternally in the heavens ; and whose-soever sins you retain on earth, shallbe retained in heaven.

18. And again, verily I say, whom-soever you bless, I will bless ; andwhomsoever you curse, I will curse,saith the Lord ; for I, the Lord, amthy God.

19 And again, verily I say untoyou, my servant Joseph, that whatso-ever you give on earth, and to whom-soever you give any one on earth, bymy word, and according to my law,it shall be visited with blessings, andnot cursings, and with my power,saith the Lord, and shall he withoutcondemnation on earth, and in hea-ven ; for I am the Lord thy God, andwill be with thee even unto the endof the world, and through all eterni-ty : for verily, I seal upon you, yourexaltation, and prepare a throne foryou in the kingdom of my Father,with Abraham, your father. Behold,I have seen your sacrifices, and willforgive all your sins ; I have seenyour sacrifices, in obedience to thatwhich I have told you : go, therefore,and I make a way for your escape, asI accepted the offering of Abraham,of his son Isaac.

20. Verily I say unto you, a com-mandment I give unto mine hand-maid, Emma Smith, your wife, whomI have given unto you, that she stayherself, and partake not of that which

commanded you to offer unto her ; forI did it, saith the Lord, to prove youall, as I did Abraham ; and that Imight require an offering at yourhand, by covenant and sacrifice : andlet mine handmaid, Emma Smith, re-ceive all those that have been givenunto my servant Joseph, and who arevirtuous and pure before me ; andthose who are not pure, and have saidthey were pure, shall be destroyed,saith the Lord God ; for I am theLord thy God, and ye shall obey myvoice ; and 1 give unto my servantJoseph, that he shall be made rulerover many things, for he bath beenfaithful over a few things, and fromhenceforth I will strengthen him.


21. And T command mine handmaid, Emma Smith, to abide andcleave unto my servant Joseph, andto none else. But if she will notabide this commandment, she shallbe destroyed, saith the Lord ; for Iam the Lord thy God, and will des-troy her if she abide not in my law ;but if shd will not abide th's com-mandment, then shall my servantJoseph do all things for her, even ashe bath said ; and I will bless him,and multiply him, and give unto himan hundred fold in this world, of fa-thers and mothers, brothers and sistern, houses and lands, wives andchildren, and crowns of eternal livesin the eternal worlds. And again,verily I say, let mine handmaid for-give my servant Joseph his trespasses,and then shall she be forgiven hertrespasses, wherein she bath tres-passed against me ; and I the Lordthy God will bless her, and multiplyher, and make her heart to rejoice.

22, And again, I say, let not myservant Joseph put his property outof his hands, lest an enemy come anddestroy him, for Satan seeketh to des-troy ; for I am the Lord thy God, andhe is my servant ; and behold ! andlo, I am with him, as I was with Abra-ham, thy father, even unto his exalta-tion and glory.

23. Now as touching the law of thepriesthood, there are many things per-taining thereunto. Verily, if a man becalled of my Father, as was Aaron, bymine own voice, and by the voice ofhim that sent me, and I have endowedhim with the keys of the power of thispriesthood, if he do anything in myname, and according to my law, and bymy word, he will not commit sin, and Iwill justify him. Let no one, there-fore, set on my servant Joseph ; for Iwill justify him ; for he shall do thesacrifice which I require at his hands,for his transgressions, saith the Lordyour God.

24. And again, as pertaining to thelaw of the priesthood;—if any manespouse a virgin, and desire to es-pouse another, and the first give herconsent ; and if he espouse the sec-ond, and they are virgins, and have

vowed to no other man, then is hejustified: he cannot commit adultery,for they are given unto him ; for hecannot commit adultery with that,that belonged) unto him, and to noneelse : and if he have ten virginsgiven unto him by this law, he can-not commit adultery ; for they belongto him ; and they are given untohim ;—therefore is he justified. Butif one, or either of the ten virgins,after she is espoused, shall he withanother man, she has committed adul-tery, and shall be destroyed ; for theyare given unto him to multiply andreplenish the earth, according to mycommandment, and to fulfil the pro-mise which was given by my Fatherbefore the foundation of the world ;and for their exaltation in the eternalworlds, that they may bear the soulsof men ; for herein is the work ofmy Father continued, that he may beglorified.

25. And again, verily, verily I sayunto you, if any man ha•e a wife whoholds the keys of this power, and heteaches unto her the law of my priest.hood, as pertaining to these things ;then shall she believe, and administerunto him, or she shall be destroyed,saith the Lord your God ; for I willdestroy her ; for I will magnify myname upon all those who receive andabide in my law. Therefore, it shallbe lawful in me, if she receive notthis law, for him to receive all things,whatsoever I the Lord his God willgive unto him, because she did notbelieve and administer unto him, ac-cording to my word ; and she thenbecomes the transgressor, and he isexempt from the law of Sarah, whoadministered unto Abraham accord-ing to the law, when I commandedAbraham to take Hagar to wife.—And now, as pertaining to this law,—verily, verily I say unto you, I willreveal more unto you, hereafter ;therefore, let this suffice for the pre-sent.—Behold, I am Alpha andOmega :—AMEN. "

PLURALITY OF WIVES is a doc-trine very popular among most ofmankind at the present day. It is


practiced by the most powerful nationsof Asia and Africa, and by numerousnations, inhabiting the Islands of thesea, and by the Aboriginal nations ofthe great Western Hemisphere. Theone wife system is confined principallyto a few small nations, inhabitingEurope and to those who are of Eu-ropean origin, inhabiting America.It is estimated by the most able his-torians of our day that about four-fifthsof the population of the globe, be-lieve and practice, according to theirrespective laws, the doctrine of a Plu-rality of Wives. If the popularity ofa doctrine is in proportion to the num-bers who believe in it, then it followsthat the Plurality system is four timesmore popular among the inhabitantsof the earth, than the one wife system.

Those nations who practice thePlurality doctrine consider it as vir-tuous and as right for one man tohave many wives, as to have one only.Therefore, they have enacted laws, 1not only giving this right to their citi-zens, but also protecting them in it.and punishing all those who infringeupon the chastity of the marriage cove-nant by committing adultery with anyone of the wives of his neighbor.Those nations do not consider it pos-sible for a man to commit adulterywith any one of those women towhom he has been legally married ac-cording to their laws. The posterityraised up unto the husband througheach of his wives, are all consideredto be legitimate, and provisions aremade in their laws for those children,the same as if they were the childrenof one wife. Adulteries, fornications,and all unvirtuous conduct betweenthe sexes, are severely punished bythem. Indeed, Plurality among themis considered, not only virtuous andright, but a great check or preventa-tive against adulteries and unlawfulconnections which are among thegreatest evils with which nations arecursed, producing a vast amount ofsuffering and misery, devastation anddeath ; undermining the very founda-tions of happiness, and destroyingthe frame-work of society, and thepeace of the domestic circle.

Some of the nations of Europe whobelieve in the one wife system haveactually forbidden a plurality of wivesby their laws ; and the consequencesare that the whole country amongthem is overrun with the most abomi-ble practices ? adulteries and unlaw-ful connections prevail through alltheir villages, towns, cities, and coun-try places to a most fearful extent.And among some of these nationsthese sinks of wickedness, wretched-ness, and misery, are licensed by law ;while their piety would be wonder-fully shocked to authorize by law thePlurality system, as adopted by manyneighboring nations.

The Constitution and laws of theUnited States, being founded upon theprinciples of freedom, do not inter-fere with marriage relations, but leavethe nation free to believe in and prac-tice the doctrine of a Plurality ofwives, or to confine themselves to theone wife system just as they choose.This is as it should be ; it leaves theconscience of man untrammeled, andso long as he injures no person, anddoes not infringe upon the rightsof others, he is free by the Constitu-tion to marry one wife, or many, ornone at all, and becomes accountableto God, for the righteousness or un-righteousness of his domestic relations.

The Constitution leaves the severalStates and Territories to enact suchlaws as they see proper in regard toMarriages, provided that they do notinfringe upon the rights of conscienceand the liberties guaranteed in that sa-cred document. Therefore, if anyState or Territory feels disposed toenact laws, guaranteeing to each of itscitizens the right to marry many wives,such laws would be perfectly consti-tutional ; hence, the several States andTerritories practice the one wife sys-tem out of choice, and not becausethey are under any obligations so todo by the National Constitution. In-deed, we doubt very much, whetherany State or Territory has the con-stitutional right to make laws, pro-hibiting the Plurality doctrine in caseswhere it is practiced by religious so-cieties ) as a matter of conscience or


as a doctrine of their religious faith.The first Article of the Amendmentsto the Constitution says, expressly,that " Congress shall make no law re-specting an establishment of religion,or prohibiting the free exercise there-of" Now if even Congress, itself,has no power to pass a law " prohibit-ing the free exercise of Religion,"much less has any State or Territorypower to pass such an act.

The doctrine of a Plurality ofWives was believed and practised byAbraham, the father of the faithful ;and we find that while in this prac-tice the angels of God frequently min-istered to him, and at one time dinedwith him ; and God manifested Him-self to him, and entered into familiarconversation with him. Neither Godnor His angels reproved Abraham forbeing a Polygamist, but on the contrary,the Almighty greatly blessed him andmade promises unto him, concerning'both Isaac and Ishmael, clearly show-ing that Abraham practiced, what is

Poygamy, under the sanctionof the Almighty. Now if the fatherof the faithful was thus blessed, cer-tainly it should not be consi lered ir-religious for Vie faithful who are calledhis children to walk in the steps oftheir father Abraham. Indeed, if theLord, Himself, through his holy pro-phets, should give more wives untohis servants, as He gave them untothe prophet David, it would be a greatsin for them to refuse that which Hegives. In such a case, it would becomea matter of conscience with them, anda part of their religion, and theywould be bound to exercise their faithin this doctrine, and practice it, orbe condemned ; therefore, Congresswould have no power to prohibit thefree exercise of this part of their re-ligion ; neither would the States orTerritories have power, Constitution-ally, to pass a law " prohibiting thefree exercise thereof." Now a cer-tain religious society, called Shakers,believe it to be wrong for them tomarry even one wife; it certainlywould be unconstitutional for eitherthe Congress or the States to pass aa law, compelling all people to marry

at a certain age, because it would in-fringe upon the rights of conscienceamong the Shakers, and they wouldbe prohibited the free exercise of theirreligion.

From the foregoing Revelation,given through Joseph, the Seer, itwill be seen that God has actuallycommanded some of His servants totake more wives, and has pointed outcertain duties in regard to the mar-riage ceremony, showing that theymust he married for time and for alleternity, and showing the advantagesto be derived in a future state bythis eternal union, and showing, stillfurther, that, if they refused to obeythis command, after having the lawrevealed to them, they should bedamned. This revelation, then,makes it a matter of conscienceamong all the Latter-Day Saints ;and they embrace it as a part andportion of their religion, and verilybelieve that they cannot be saved andreject it. Has Congress pwer,then, to pass laws, " prohibiting" theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter.Day Saints, the free exercise" ofthis article of their religion ? Haveany of the States or Territories aconstitutional right to pass laws " pro.hibiting the free exercise of the reli.gion " which the church of the Saintsconscienciously and sincerely believeto be essential to their salvationNo : they have no such right.

The Latter•Day Saints have themost implicit confidence in all therevelation., given through Joseph, theprophet ; and they would much soonerlay down their lives and suffer mar-tyrdom, than to deny the least reve•lation that waA ever given to him. Inone of the revelations through him.we read that God raised up wisemen and inspired them to write theConstitution of our country, that thefreedom of the people might bemaintained, according to the freeagency which He had given to them;that every man might be accountableto God and not to man, so far as re-ligious doctrines and conscience areconcerned. And the more we exam-


ine that sacred instrument, framed bythe wisdom of our illustrious fathers,the more we are compelled to believethat an invisible power controlled,dictated, end guided them in layingthe foundation of liberty and freedomupon this great Western Hemisphere.To this land the Mahomedan—theHindoo—the Chinese can emigrateand each bring with him his scoreof wives and his hundred children,and the glorious Constitution of ourcountry will not interfere with hisdomestic relations. Under the broadbanner of the Constitution he is pro-tected in all his family associations :none have a right to tare any of hiswives or his children from him. Solikewise, under the broad folds of theConstitution, the Legislative Assem-bly of the Territory of Utah havethe right to pass laws, regulating theirmatrimonial relations. and protectingeach of their citizens in the right ofmarrying, one or many wives, as thecase may be. If Congress shouldrepeal those laws, they could not doso on the ground of their being un-constitutional. And even, if Con-gress should repeal them, there stillwould be no law in Utah, prohibitingthe free exercise of that religiousright : neither do the citizens of Utahfeel disposed to pass such an uncon-stitutional act which would infringeupon the most sacred rights of con-science.

Tradition and custom have greatinfluence over nations. Long estab-lished customs, whether right orwrong, become sacred in the estima-tion of Mankind. Those nationswho have been accustomed fromtime immemorial to the practice ofwhat is called Polygamy, would con-sider a law abolishing it, as the veryheight of injustice and oppression ;the very idea of being limited to theone wife system, would be considerednot only oppressive and unjust, butabsolutely absurd and ridiculous ; itwould be considered an innovationupon the long established usages,customs, and laws of numerous andpowerful nations—an innovation of

the most dangerous character, cal.culated to destroy the most sacredrights and privileges of family asso-ciations—to upset the very founda-tions of individual rights, rendereddear and sacred by being handeddown to them from the most remoteages of antiquity.

On the other hand, the Europeannations who have been for centuriesrestricted by law to the one wifetheory, would consider it a shockinginnovation upon the customs of theirfathers to abolish their restrictivelaws, and to give freedom and liberty,according to the plurality system.It is custom, then, in a great de-gree, that forms the conscience ofnations and individuals in regard tothe marriage relationships. Cus-tom causes four-fifths of the popula.tion of the globe to decide that Poly-gamy, as it is called, is a good, andnot an evil practice ; custom causesthe balance, or the remaining fifth,to decide in opposition to the greatmajority.

Those individuals who havestrength of mind sufficient to divestthemselves entirely from the influenceof custom, and examine the doctrineof a elurality of Wives under thelight of reason and Revelation, willbe forced to the conclusion that it isa doctrine of Divine origin ; that itwas embraced and practised underthe Divine sanction, by the mostrighteous men who ever lived on theearth ; holy Prophets and Patriarchswho were inspired by the HolyGhost—who were enwrapt in thevisions of the Almighty—who con.versed with holy angels—who sawGod face to face, aod talked with Himas a man talks with his friend—were"Polygamists," that is, they hadmany wives—raised up many chil.dren by them—and were never re.proved, by the Holy Ghost, nor byAngels, nor by the Almighty for be.lieviug in and practicing such a doc-trine ; on the contrary, each one ofthese " Polygamists " received, byrevelation, promises and blessingsfor himself, for his wives, and for his

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE. 1 5

numerous children, born unto himby his numerous wives. Moreover,the Lord, Himself, gave revelation todifferent wives, belonging to the sameman, revealing to them the greatblessings which should rest upontheir posterity ; angels also weresent to comfort and bless them ; andin no instance do we find them re-proved for having joined themselvesin marriage to a " Polygamist," In-deed, the Lord, Himself, gave laws,not to prohibit " Polygamy," butshowing His will in relation to thechildren raised up by the differentwives of the same man ; and further-more, the Lord, Himself, actually offi-ciated in giving David all the wives ofSaul ; this occurred, too, when Davidalready had several wives which hehad previously taken : therefore, asthe Lord did actually give into Da-vid's own bosom all the wives ofSaul, He must not only have sanc-tioned " Polygamy," but establishedand instituted it upon a sure founda-tion by giving the wives, Himself,the same as he gave Eve to Adam.Therefore, those who are completelydivested from the influence of Na-tional customs, and who judge con-cerning this matter by the word ofGod, are compelled to believe, that thePlurality of wives was once sanction-ed, for many ages, by the Almighty;and by a still further research of theDivine oracles, they find no intima-tions that this Divine institution wasever repealed. It was an institution,not originated under the law of Mo-ses, but it was of a far more ancientdate ; and instead of being abolishedby that law, it was sanctioned andperpetuated : and when Christ cameto fulfil that law, and to do it awayby the introduction of a better Cove-nant, He did not abolish the pluralitysystem : not being originated underthat law, it was not made null andvoid when that law was done away.Indeed, there were many things inconnection with the law that werenot abolished when the law was ful-filled ; as for instance, the ten com-mandments which the people under

the gospel covenant were still obligedto obey ; and until we can find somelaw of God abolishing and prohibit-ing a plurality of wives, we are com-pelled to believe it a Divine institu-tion ; and we are, furthermore, corn.gelled to believe, that if this institu-tion he entered into now, under thesame principles which govérned theholy Prophets and Patriarchs, thatGod will approbate it now as muchas He did then ; and that the per.sons who do thus practice it conscien.tiously and sincerely, are just as hon-orable in the sight of God, as thosewho have but one wife. And thatwhich is honorable before God shouldbe honorable before men ; and noone should be despised when he actsin all good conscience upon any prin-ciple of doctrine ; neither shouldthere be laws in any of these Statesor Territories to compel any indi-vidual to act in violation to the dic-tates of his own conscience : butevery one should be left in all mat-ters of religion to his own choice,and thus become accountable to God,and not to his fellow man.

If the people of this country havegenerally formed different conclusionsfrom us upon this subject; and ifthey have embraced religions whichare mere congenial to their mindsthan the religion of the Saints, wesay to them that they are welcome totheir own religious views ; the lawsshould not interfere with the exerciseof their religious rights. If we can.not convince you by reason nor bythe word of God, that your religionis wrong, we will not persecute you,hut will sustain you in the privileges,guaranteed in the great Charter ofAmerican Liberty : we ask from youthe same generosity—protect us inthe exercise of our religious rights—convince us of our errors of doctrine,if we have any, by reason, by logicalarguments, or by the word of God,and we will be ever grateful for theinformation, and you will ever havethe pleasing reflection that you havebeen instruments in the hands ofGod of redeeming your fellow beings

16 CATALOGUE OF WORKS, CONTENTS, &C.

from the darkness which you maysee enveloping their minds. Come,then, let us reason together, and tryto discover the true light upon allsubjects, connected with our tempo-ral or eternal happiness ; and if wedisagree, in our judgments, let us im-

pute it to the weakness and imper•fections of our fallen natures, and letus pity each other, and endeavor withpatience and meekness to reclaimfrom error, and save the immortalsoul from an endless death.

(To be continued.)

A CATALOGUE OF WORKS,FOR SALE BY

ORSON PRATT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,

AND

By the principal Booksellers in the United States and Great Britain.

The Book of Mormon—morocco extra, $2; grain& roan, $1.The Book of Mormon in Welsh (Llyfr Mormon)—grained roan, $1 25.The Book of Mormon in Danish (Mormons Bog)—grained roan, $1 25.The Book of Mormon in French (Le Livre de Mormon) —$1 25.The Book of Mormon in German (Dos Buck Mormon—$1 25.The Book of Mormon in Italian (// Libro di Mormon)—grained roan, $1 50.The Book of Doctrine and Covenants—morocco extra, $2; calf, gilt edges, $1 50;

grained roan, 95 cts.The Book of Doctrine and Covenants in Welsh (Athrawiaeth a Chyfammodau)—

grained roan, $1 25.The Pearl of Great Price, 30 cts.Hymn Book—morocco extra, $1 25; calf, gilt edges, 80 cts; calf, 60 cts; roan ern.

bossed, 50 cts.Voice of Warning—morocco extra, $1 25; calf, 80 cents; cloth, 60 cents.The Government of God-50 cents.Spencer's Letters—morocco extra, $1 25; calf, 80 cents; cloth, 50 cents.The Miflennial Star, (vol. XV,) weekly, 5 cents.L'Etoile du Deseret, (monthly at Paris,) 10 cents.

PAMPHLETS BY ORSON PRATT.

0. Pratt's Works, &c., bound, $1 50.Divine Authority; or was Joseph Smith sent of God!-10 cents.Remarkable Visions-10 cents.Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon-6 parts, 10 cents each.Kingdom of God—parts 1, 2, and 3, 5 cents each.

Do do part 4, 10 cents.New Jerusalem; or, the Fulfilment of Modern Prophecy-15 cts.Reply to " Remarks on Mormonism "-10 cts.Absurdities of Immaterialism-20 cts.Great First Cause ; or, The Self-moving Forces of the Universe-10 cts.The Seer,(monthly,) 10 cts, or, $1 per year, in advance.

CONTENTS.Procpectus of the Seer 1First Epistle of Orson Pratt ... 2Celestial Marriage. 7Catalogue of Works. 16

WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY ORSON PRATT,

at $1 per annum, invariably in advance.

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah xvrii, 3.

VoL. I. FEBRUARY, 1853. No. 2.

THE PRE—EXISTENCE OF MAN.1. Man in this life consists of a

body of flesh and hones quickened andanimated by a living intelligent spirit.It has been supposed that spirit be-gins to exist within the mortal ta,berna-cle while it is yet in embryo, and thatprior to the organization of the body,the spirit had no existence. Theseare the views of modern christendom.We shall endeavor to prove that thisview of the subject is incorrect.

2. There is not anything unreason-able in the pre-existence of spirits.If spirits can exist after death in astate of happiness or misery, is thereany reason, why they can not existprior to the organization of the body?If they can think, and will, and moveafter they leave the body, why canthey not exercise these functions be-fore they take possession of the body ?If the destruction of the body is notthe death of the spirit, then it mustbe admitted that the spirit is in noway dependant on the body for its ex-istence, and, therefore, it can existprior to the body, as well as after it.The disorganization of the body doesnot deprive the spirit of life, neitherdoes the organization of the bodygive to the spirit life it possesseslife in itself. Life and intelligence arenot the result of organization, but theyare th-, cause ; and, therefore, theymust exist before the effects can fol-low. Our bodies are formed fromthe dust of the earth, but are our spirits

made from the same materials ? Ifthey were, then they would, at death,return to dust; but as they are notreduced to dust, like the body, theymust be formed of materials far su-perior to those of the earth. Wheredid those materials come from ? Theycame from God. Solomon, whenspeaking upon the subject of death,says, "Then shall the dust return tothe earth as it was: and the spiritshall RETURN unto God who gaveit." (Eccles. 12: 7.) Accordingto this passage, the spirit has, not anearthly origin, but a heavenly one:it came from God—it returns to God.“ God who gave it," also receives itback into His presence.

3. Could the spirit return to God,if it never were in His presenceCould we return to a place wherewe never were before ? If, then, thespirits of men existed with God, andcame from Him to animate mortalbodies, they must either be createdin Heaven at the time the infanttabernacles are being formed, or elsethey existed before. If the spirit isformed in Heaven at the time theearthly house is being prepared forits reception, then God must havebeen engaged in the work of crea-ting spirits at the rate of about tenmillions per year, or about twenty spir-its per minute, which is the averagenumber born into our world in thesame time. Now we read that God

18 THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

made all things, pertaining to ourearth in six days, and rested on theseventh. Can we suppose, for onemoment, that God neglected the for-mation of spirits in the grand workof creation ? Can we suppose thathe has been engaged in creating hu.man spirits for this earth, at the rateof one every three seconds, ever sinceHe pronounced the Heavens and theearth and all things therein finishedand very good ? Such an idea is in.consistant and unscriptural.

4. Again, would a good and wiseBeing create spirits, and before theyhad time to prove themselves byobeying or disobeying His laws,thrust them out of His presence,—banish them from His glorious king-dom,—shut them up in earthly taber-nacles, hide His face from them, andsubject them to temptation, wretch-edness, and misery ? Now, if wesuppose that the spirit is formed inHeaven, while the embryo tabernacleis being formed upon the earth, thenit has no time to gain experience inthe presence of its Creator ; it hasno time to act upon its agency ; ithas no time to obey or disobey ; hutas soon as it is formed, it is, accord-ing to this supposition, banished intodreary exile from the presence of itsFather, and from the glory of Heaven,to linger out a life of sorrow in anearthly tabernacle. Such a supposi-tion is absurd, and at war with theatributes of goodness, justice. andrinircy which appertain to the Deity.

5. Inasmuch as Scripture informsus that the spirit of man existed withGod, and came from Him, and returnsto Him, it is reasonable to believethat its formation took place at aperiod anterior to the organization ofthe body. This period of pre-exis-tence must have been sufficientlylong to have educated and instructedthe spirit in the laws and order ofgovernment, pertaining to the spirit.ual world ; to have rendered itself ap-proved or disapproved by those laws ;to have been tried in all points, ac-cording to its capacities and know.ledge, and the free agency which al-ways accompanies and forms a part

of the nature of intelligent beings ;in fine, the period of pre-existencemust have been sufficiently long tohave constituted a probationary state,or the First Estate" wherein thespirits are on trial, and may fall, andbe reserved in chains of darkness un-to the judgment of the great day.

6. The pre existence of man is adoctrine which was believed by theancients. The disciples of Jesus,when observing a man who had beenblind from his birth, put the follow.ing question to their Master : " Whodid sin, this man, or his parents, thathe was born blind ?" (John 9 : 2.)It is evident, from the nature of thisquestion, that the disciples consideredit possible for a man to sin before hewas born ; and that in consequenceof such sin, he might he " born blind."This passage shows most clearly,that the disciples, not only believedin the pre-existence of man, but be.lieved that he was a intelligentagent, governed by laws which hewas capable of obeying or disobey.ing, and that his sins in his formerstate might be the cause of his beinghorn blind, and that his condition inhis present state was affected by hisacts in the former state. The Say.four, in replying to this question, says,"Neither path this man sinned, norhis parents : but that the works ofGod should be made manifest in him."(verse 3.) Now, if the pre-existenceof man were not a true doctrine,why did not our Saviour take thisopportunity to correct the ideas ofhis disciples, by telling them that theblind man could not sin before hewas born ? Why did he merely tellthem that his blindness was not theeffects of the sins of himself or pa.rents ? Why did he still leave theimpression upon their minds that theblind man had a pre-existence ?

7. Jesus, himself, believed in pre-existence : for he said, "I proceededforth and came from God ; neithercame I of myself, but he sent me."And, again, he said, "Befoie Abra.ham was, I am." (John 8 : 42, 58.)Jesus prays thus : " And now, 0Father, glorify thou me with thine

THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN. 19

own self with the glory which I hadwith thee before the world was."(John 17 : 5.) From these sayings,we perceive that the spiritual body ofJesus existed " before the world was."

8. Having proved that the pre-ex-tence of man is reasonable and scriptural, we shall next prove that thispre-existen,ce can be traced back toa period before the foundation ofthe world. The Lord asked aquestion of Job in relation tothis matter : He inquires, " Wherevast thou when I laid the foundationsof the earth ? declare, if thou bastunderstanding. Who laid the cor-ner stone thereof; when the morningstars sang together, and all the Sonsof God shouted for joy ?" (Job 38 :4, 6, 7.) If Job had no prior exis-tence, he could have easily answeredthe Lord's first question. He couldhave replied, that, when "the found-ations of the earth" were laid, I, Job,did not exist. The very question im-plies that Joh was in existence atthe time of the organization of theglobe, but that he had not sufficientunderstanding, as to the place wherehe existed, to correctly answer thequestion put to him. Neither couldhe remember, " Who laid the cor-ner stone thereof;" neither could herecollect, the song of the morningstars ; neither could he call to mind,the shout of joy which was utteredby the vast assembly of " ALL THESONS OF GOD."

9. Jesus calls . himself; " Thebright and morning star." (Rev.22 : 15.) And in another place, Herepresents Himself, " The Beginningof the Creation of God." (Rev. 3 :14.) Paul says, that Jesus " is theimage of the invisible God—theFIRST BORN of every creature."(Col. 1: 15.) As Jesus is the FirstBorn Son of God, it is evident, thatall the other Sons of God would beHis younger brethren, begotten bythe same Father. Therefore, Paulrepresents him as " the First Bornamong many brethren." (Romans8 : 29.) And in another place, hesays, " Both He that sanctifieth andthey who are sanctified, are all of

One : for which cause He is notashamed to call them brethren."(Heb. 2: 11.) That the brethren,here spoken of, are the sons of God,begotten by the same Father thatJesus was, is evident from anothersaying of the Apostle, " We have hadfathers of our flesh which correctedus, and we gave them reverence :shall we not much rather he in sub.jection unto the FATHER OFSPIRITS, and live ?" (Heb. 12 : 9.)Our earthly fathers are called, thei6 fathers of our flesh," while God iscalled, " The Father of Spirits."Earthly fathers have no power to be.get spirits ; they beget only the bodiesof flesh, or the tabernacles ; while ourHeavenly Father begets the spirits,or the living beings which come fromHim to inhabit the tabernacles.

10. " The First Born" of all thisgreat family of Spirits, holds, by viretue of His birthright, a pre-eminencein all things ; hence it is written," When he bringeth in the FirstBegotten into the world, He saith,And let all the angels of God worshipHim." (Heb. 1 6.) The oldestspirits or the First Begotten hold thekeys of Salvation towards all the restof the family of spirits. " The FirstBorn" Spirit is called " The MorningStar," because He was born in themorning of Creation, or in otherwords, because He was " The Be.ginning of the Creation of God." Hisyounger brethren were called "morn-ing stars," because they were alsoborn in the morning of creation, be.ing the next in succession in theorder of the spiritual creation.

11. " The Father of Spirits," hay.ing filled one of the celestial kingdomswith his own Sons and Daughters—the fruit of his own loins, gave com-mandment unto His " First Born " toorganize, out of the eternal elements,another world. In obedience to thisgreat commandment, " The First Be.gotten," accompanied by all Hisyounger brethren who had kept their" First Estate," proceeded to lay" the foundations of the earth," and" the corner stones thereof." Andupon this grand occasion, " The


Morning Stars sang together." TheLord does not reveal to Job the sen-timents contained in this song. Itwas probably a song, composed byone of the wisest poets in the vastkingdom of spirits, there assembled.It, no doubt, contained sentimentssuitable to the majesty, greatness, andmagnificence of the work whichthey had commenced. The founda-tions of a mighty world were beinglaid—the corner stones were placedin their appropriate position. Uponthese, or around these, as a centralnucleus, was to be erected a mag-nificent globe, arrayed in all the gor.geous splendor of celestial workman-ship. Above, below, and aroundthese eternal elements, hovered thou.sands of millions of the sons of Godwhich were the spirits of men. Bythe spirit of prophecy, they lookedupon the vast field of unorganizedmaterials which lay stretched out al-most to infinity in the boundless oceanof space which surrounded them.They saw that these materials wereto he formed and fashioned into aponderous globe, prepared and adorn-ed for their future residence ; wherethey should exist, and live, and movein earthly tabernacles ; where theyshould sway the sceptre of dominionover all the lower orders of creation;where they should become fathers offleshly bodies, in like wanner, as Godwas the Father of thei spirits. Theysaw the fall, redempti n, and eternalexaltation of the sons of God, andthe glorification of the earth whichthey were forming, which should be-come their abiding place forever. Inthe contemplation of the magnificentsceneries which rolled in awful gran-deur before them, their bosomsswelled with indescribable joy ; theygave utterance to their feelings inrapturous strains of melodious musicwhich reverberated from world toworld, filling all the heavens with thepraises of God, while eternity itselftrembled with joy.

12. They not only had singing tocelebrate the beginning of the organi-zation of this earth, but " all the sonsof God shouted for joy." Who can

contemplate this grand event withoutbeing almost overpowered with theideas of greatness and magnificencewhich force themselves upon themind ? All the generations of menthat have ever lived, or that everwill live upon the earth, were as-sembled upon that occasion. Theywere the sons of God : they werethe ones who shouted for joy. Theirunited voices must have been, as thevoice of many waters, driven by fiercetempests whose mountain waves,rolling, plunging, dashing, break withawful majesty upon the rocky boundcoast. A shout of joy, breaking forthsimultaneously from a vast world ofspirits, must have been as the rollingof ten thousand thunders, reverbera-ting from mountain to mountain, tillthe whole earth trembles under thepower thereof.

13. There is something grand andsublime in the contemplation of ourpre-existence. How wonderful andinteresting it is for us to know, thatthe beings whom we call ourselves,that now dwell in these earthly tab-ernacles—existed thousands of yearsago—that we were present, whenthe foundations of the earth werelaid—that we then sang and shoutedfor joy—that we were engaged withour oldest brother, the First Born, inorganizing this world—that we dweltfor ages in our Father's presence ina celestial or glorified world—thatwe there beheld His face, and re-joiced in His glory—that we therewere instructed in the wisdom andknowledge of God, till the intelligencewhich radiated from our persons,shone like the morning light.

14. Objections have been raisedagainst the pre-existence of manupon the ground that we do not re-member such existence, or any eventconnected therewith. It is true, wedo not remember any thing prior toour present state, but this does notprove that we had no prior existence.We do not remember our existenceor anything else, during the first sixmonths of our infancy, does this provethat we did not exist during that time ?No. If, then, we could exist six

THE PRE-EXISTENCE OP MAN. 21

months, during our present state with-out remembering it, we might, forthe same reason, have existed during,six thousand years prior to our pres-ent state, and not remember it. Existence is in no way dependant onmemory ; therefore, memory hasnothing to do with the question ofour past state.

15. When Jesus was born into ourworld, his previous knowledge wastaken from him : this was occa-sioned by His spiritual body beingcompressed into a smaller volumethan it originally occupied. In Hisprevious existence, His spirit, as theScriptures testify, was of the size andform of man ; when this spirit wascompressed, so as to be wholly en-closed in an infant tabernacle, it hada tendency to suspend the memory ;and the wisdom and knowledge, for-merly enjoyed, were forgotten. " InHis humiliation, His judgment wastaken away." (Acts 8, 33.) To comedown from Heaven, from His Father'spresence, where He had formerlypossessed judgment and understandingsufficient to frame worlds, and to en.ter into a mortal tabernacle, wastruly humiliating. It was, indeed,humiliating in the highest degree, tobe deprived of so great a knowledge.Yet he humbled Himself, and con.decended to/descend below all things.and to commence anew at the veryelements of knowledge : hence, oneof the evangelists says, " Jesus in-creased in wisdom and stature."(Luke 2, 52.) Now if Jesus had re-tained His wisdom when He wasborn into this world, it would nothave been said of Him that He " in-creased in wisdom." If the knowl-edge which Jesus possessed in Hisprevious state, were taken from Him,when He entered an infant tabernacle,He could never regain that know-ledge only by revelation. So it iswith man. When he enters a bodyof flesh, his spirit is so compressedand contracted in infancy that he. for-gets his former existence, and has tocommence, as Jesus did, at the low.est principles of knowledge, and as-cend by degrees from one principle

of intelligence to another. Thus heregains his former knowledge ; andby showing himself approved throughevery degree of intelligence, he iscounted worthy to receive more andmore, until he is perfected and glori-fied in truth, and made like his elderbrother, possessing all things.

16. If the spiritual body of Jesus,and the spiritual bodies of all men,existed before the foundation of theworld, as we have clearly shown, isthere any thing unreasonable in theidea of the pre-existence of thespiritual bodies of all the animalcreation ? There is not. One classof spirits may exist before they entertheir natural bodies, as well asanother. Did not the same Godwho made the spirits of men, makethe spirits of beasts also ? Job says," Ask now the beasts, and they shallteach thee ; and the fowls of the air,and they shall tell thee ; or speak tothe earth, and it shall teach thee :and the fishes of the sea shall declareunto thee. Who knoweth not in allthese, that the hand of the Lord bathwrought this? IN WHOSE HANDIS THE SOUL OF EVERY LIV-ING THING." (Job 12, 7-10.) Inthis quotation, we perceive that " thesoul of every living thing " is in thehand of the Lord : He is the Makerand Preserver of the souls of beasts,birds, and fishes, as well as of thesouls of men : hence, Moses, whenpraying to the Lord, says : " Let theLord, THE GOD OF THESPIRITS OF ALL FLESH, set aman over the congregation." (Num.27 ; 16.) Thus we see that theLord is, not only the God of thespirits of men, hut He is "the God ofthe spirits of all flesh."

17. That the spirits of all thevegetables and animals were madebefore their bodies is evident fromthe history of creation as related inthe first and second chapters of Gen-esis. In the first chapter, we havethe history of the creation of vegeta-bles, fish, fowls, beasts, and man. Inthe second chapter, we are told thaton the seventh day " there was nota man to till the ground ;" and then


a description is given of the fbrma-lion of his natural body "out of theground." In the first chapter, andduring the third day, the vegetablesand trees are formed ; in the secondchapter, and on the seventh day, weare told that the Lord "made everyplant of the field before it was in theearth, and every herb of the fieldbefore it grew ;" and then we areinformed that on the seventh day theLord planted a garden, that is, setout the trees and herbs which he hadmade on the third day, and causedthem to "grow out of the ground."In the first chapter, it is said, that thefish, fowls, and beasts, were createdon the fifth and si,oh days ; in thesecond chapter, these various animalsare formed " out of the ground" onthe seventh day, and "brought untoAdam to see what he would callthem." From this we learn, that thenatural bodies of animals were madeafter the natural body of man. Inthe work of the temporal creation.man seems to have been the firstflesh upon the earth, his natural bodybeing made even before the herbsand trees were planted and grew outof the ground. He was placed inthe garden of Eden, before the Lordmade the beasts and fowls, that is,their natural bodies, and broughtthem to him in order that he mightname them. The first chapter givesa history of the creation of all thingsspiritual ; the second chapter givesthe history of the creation of allthings temporal. In the order oftime, and in the succession of events,the spiritual creation of the Heavens,and earth, and all things containedtherein,—differs from the temporalcreation of the same. To supposethat these two chapters only give thehistory of the natural creation', wouldinvolve us in numerous difficulties,when we endeavor to reconcile thedescription given in the second chap-ter with that given in the first. Butto receive them as the descriptionsof two successive creations, the firstbeing spiritual, (as it truly was,) andthe second being temporal, all diffi-culties and discrepancies in the two

different descriptions vanish away,and a flood of light bursts upon themind.

18. JOSEPH Smrrn, the great pro-phet of the last dispensation, beingcommanded of God to translate theBible by the inspiration of the HolyGhost,—commenced the great workin the month of June, 1830. In thisinspired translation, the distinctionbetween the spiritual and temporalcreation, is clearly manifest. Afterdescribing the six days of labor, Godinforms us, that he ended His workon the seventh day, and rested there-in, and sanctified it. He then teachesus, " that these are the generations ofthe Heaven and of the Earth, whenthey were created, in the day that I,the Lord God made the Heaven andthe Earth, and every plant of the fieldbefore it was in the earth, and everyherb of the field before it grew. ForI, the Lord God, created all things,of which I have spoken, spirituallybefore they were naturally upon theface of the earth. And I, the LordGod, had created all the children ofmen ; and not yet a man to till theground, for in Heaven created I them ;and there was not yet flesh upon theearth ; neither in the water, neitherin the air ; but I, the Lord God, spake,and there went up a mist from theearth, and watered the whole face ofthe ground. And I, the Lord God,formed man from the dust of thethe ground, and breathed into hiEnostrils the breath of life ; and manbecame a living soul, the first fleshupon the earth, the first man also ;nevertheless, all things were beforecreated ; but spiritually, were theycreated and made according to myword. And I, the Lord God, planteda garden eastward in Eden, and thereI put the man whom I had formed.And out of the ground I, the LordGod, made to grow naturally, everytree that is pleasant to the sight ofman ; and man could behold it. Andthey became also a living soul. Itwas spiritual in the day that I creat-ed it ; for it remaineth in the spherewhich I, God, created it in, yea, evenall things which I prepared for the


use of man ; and man saw that itwas good for food. And I, the LordGod, placed the tree of life also inthe midst of the garden, and alsothe tree of knowledge of good andevil." * * * * * 0 And out ofthe ground I, the Lord God, formedevery beast of the field, and everyfowl of the air; and commanded thatthey should he brought unto Adam,to see what he would call them : andthey were also living souls, and itwas breathed into them the breath oflife." (Gen, 2nd chap. InspiredTranslation, by JOSEPH SMITH, theprophet.) Here we learn, that everyvegetable and animal, as well asman, was first created spiritually, inHeaven, and afterwards made natu-rally upon the earth. 'l'he successionof events in the spiritual creationwas different from that in the naturalcreation ; hence, arises the two dif-ferent descriptions.

19. Heaven is the world where allthe spirits, destined for this creation,had their origin : It is a world, con-sisting of a great variety of materialsof a similar nature to those whichenter into the constitution of ourworld. The difference between ourworld and a Heavenly one, consists,not in the diversify of the elements,for they are the same, but in the dif-ference of the organization of theseelements. In our world, the ele-ments, at the present time, are so or-ganized, that continual changes aretaking place of such a nature as toproduce death and the dissolution of allorganized substances. In a Heaven-ly world, the same elements are socombined that eternal duration isstamped upon every organization.The spiritual substances, connectedwith our world, are not permanentlycombined with the other elements ;while in a Heavenly world, so far asthese two classes of elements arecombined, their union is immortal oreternal. A Heavenly world hasonce been in the same condition asour world, but its temporal organiza-tion has been dissolved, and the sameelements have been reorganized afterthe pattern of the Heavenly order : it

is thus changed from a temporal toan eternal state. In its temporalcondition, it is terrestrial ; in itseternal condition, it is celestial. Un-cer the former, death usurps domin-ion, and spreads devastation and ruinthroughout the whole organization :under the latter, eternal life reignstriumphant forevermore. In the onecondition, it is a fallen world ; in theother, it is a redeemed world. Inthe first state, it is a non-luminousbody, borrowing its light from thoseof a higher order ; in the second, itis a luminous body, radiating lightupon the surrounding worlds. Whena fallen world, it is inhabited by fallenbeings ; when a redeemed world, itis inhabited by celestial beings, re-deemed from the grave, and glorified,and made like unto the God whocreated and redeemed them, whosesons they are, and henceforth theyare Gods, ordained to do the worksappertaining to Gods ; and as theirFather God has done before them,so will they do. Heaven, then, is aredeemed glorified world, inhabitedby the Gods, and by their sons anddaughters, who are the fruits of theirowta loins.

20. 'l'he Gods who dwell in theHeaven from which our spirits came,are beings who have been redeemedfrom the grave in a world which ex-isted bef'ore the foundations of thisearth were laid. They and theHeavenly body which they now in-habit were once in a fallen state.Their terrestrial world was redeemed,and glorified, and made a Heaven :their terrestrial bodies, after sufferingdeath, were redeemed, and glorified,and made Gods. And thus, as theirworld was exalted from a temporalto an eternal state, they were exaltedalso, from fallen men to CelestialGods to inhabit their Heaven foreverand ever.

21. These Gods, being redeemedfrom the grave with their wives,are immortal and eternal, and willdie no more. But they and theirwives will be supremely happy. Allthe endearing ties of conjugal lovewhich existed in their bosoms, when


is God, can dwell in a countless num-ber of such temples in the same mo-ment. When we worship the Father,we do not merely worship His per-son, but we worship the truth whichdwells in His person. When weworship the Son, we do not merelyworship His body, but we worshiptruth which resides in Him. So,likewise, when we worship the HolyGhost, it is not the substance whichwe alone worship, but truth whichdwells in that substance. Take awaytruth from either of these beings, andtheir persons or substance would notbe the object of worship. It is truth,light, and love that we worship andadore ; these are the same in allworlds ; and as these constitute God,He is the same in all worlds ; andhence, the inhabitants of all worldsare required to worship and adore thesame God. Because God dwells inmany temples, He frequently speaks tous, as though there were many Gods :this is true when reference is madeto the number of His dwelling places ;

but it is not true, and cannot be true,in any other sense. Therefore, inall our future statements and reason-ings, when we speak of a plurality ofGods, let it be distinctly understood,that we have reference alone to aplurality of temples wherein the sametruth or God dwells. And also whenwe speak of only one God, and statethat He is eternal, without beginningor end, and that He is in all worldsat the same instant, let it be distinctlyremembered, that we have no refer.ence to any particular person or sub-stance, but to truth dwelling in a vastvariety of substances. Whereveryou find a fulness of wisdom, knowl-edge, truth, goodness, love, and suchlike qualities, there you find God hiall His glory, power, and majesty,therefore, if you worship these adora.ble perfections you worship God.

(To be continued.)

terrestrial and fallen beings, are nowgreatly increased and perfected whichserve to swell their souls with feel-ings of rapturous delight, and un-bounded love towards each other,and with joys that are everlasting.How beautiful—how interesting—how inexpressibly lovely will theyappear in each others eyes! Full ofvirtue and goodness, knowledge andintelligence, affection and love,—they shine forth in all the brilliancyand glory of these Godlike attributes,inspiring each other, and all Heaven,with a fulness of Eternal joys.

22. All these Gods are equal inpower, in glory, in dominion, and inthe possession of all things; eachpossesses a fulness of truth, of knowl-edge, of wisdom, of light, of intelli•Bence ; each governs himself in allthings by his own attributes, and isfilled with love, goodness, mercy, andjustice towards all. The fulness ofall these attributes is what constitutesGod. "God is Light." "God isLove." "God is Truth." The Godsare one in the qualities and attributes.Truth is not a plurality of truths, be-cause it dwells in a plurality of per-sons, but it is one truth, indivisible,though it dwells in millions of per-sons. Each person is called God,not because of his substance, neitherbecause of the shape and size of thesubstance, but because of the quali-ties which dwell in the substance.Persons are only tabernacles or tem-ples, and TRUTH is the God, thatdwells in them. If the fulness oftruth, dwells in numberless millionsof persons, then the same one indi-visible God dwells in them all. Astruth can dwell in all worlds at thesame instant ; therefore, God who istruth can he in all worlds at the sameinstant. A temple of immortal flesh,and bones, and spirit, can only be inone place at a time, but truth, which


CELESTIAL MARRIAGE(Continued.)

The first great commandmentwhich God gave unto mankind, asrecorded in the scriptures, was, to" Be fruitful, and multiply, and re.plenish the earth." (Gen. 1: 28.)The principal object was to peoplethis creation with myriads of intelli-gent moral beings, after His own im-age and likeness, endowed with God-like capacities, and capable of pro-gressing in the grand scale of,kno'w-ledge and happiness, until they shouldreceive a fulness, and become likeGod, and be glorified in Him. and Hein them, that they might be one inglory, and in power, and in dominion.Herein is God glorified, becausethere are millions of beings whoeventually become like Himself, withwhom He can associate, and whoare capable of understanding and ap-preciating all the fulness of Hisglorious attributes, and of acting withHim in the most perfect harmony inall.the magnificent works of Creation.Herein are the dominions of the Al-mighty enlarged, by the accession ofnew worlds, peopled with beings inHis own form and of His own order.And herein joy, and gladness, andhappiness, reign in the bosom of thegreat Creator, in all their fulness andperfection, because He exercises Hisinfinite goodness in the formation ofnumberless worlds, peopled with be-ings upon whom, if obedient, He be-stows all the fulness of His own greatperfections.

If, then, the multiplication of humanbeings adds to the dominions of theAlmighty, glorifies His name, andgives Him an opportunity of display-ing His infinite goodness, it is rea-sonable to suppose that He wouldgive laws unto mankind, regulatingthem upon so important a subject—asubject fraught with consequencesthat are eternal. Think, for onemoment, of the great responsibilities,resting upon the father and motherof an infant child : they have beeninstruments, in giving existence to a

being, capable of eternal happinessor of eternal misery ; they have beenentrusted with the protection and in.struction of a being in the image andand likeness of God who, by propertraining, may soar aloft in wisdom,and knowledge, and power, and God-like majesty to the realms of immor-tality and everlasting light ; they havebeen entrusted with a treasure in.finitely more valuable than all theriches and honors of this ivorld—atreasure which, by their mismanage-ment may be lost—eternally lost—atreasure for which they are account-able in the great judgment of quickand dead. 0, how great will he theglory and happiness of that man andwoman who have obeyed that greatfirst commandment to " Multiply,"and have trained up themselves andtheir children unto life and immor-tality ! On the other hand, whatwretchedness and misery, will be in-flicted upon those who have been in-struments of unlawful connections,whose illegitimate children will re-main as a standing curse, both intime and in eternity, to testify loudlyof the unvirtuous associations of theirguilty parents ! 0, how fearful theresponsibilities, resting upon mankindin regard to this momentous subject !

It is because of the infinitely im-portant consequences, involved in themultiplication of the human species,that God has regulated the same bythe strictest kind of laws. He hasnot permitted an indiscriminate inter-course between the sexes, as amongthe dumb brutes ; but He has ordain.ed Marriage as the only justifiablemeans through which the sexes canlegally " multiply and replenish theearth." All connections out of themarriage covenant, are unlawful inthe sight of God ; and all who areguilty of such crimes will be severelypunished for the same. In ancienttimes persons committing adulteries,fornications, and unvirtuous connec-tions, were punished with death, ac-


cording to the law of God, whichreads as follows :

" If a man be found lying with awoman married to an husband, thenthey shall both die, both the man thatlay with the woman, and the woman :so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.If a damsel that is a virgin be be-trothed unto an husband, and a manfind her in the city, and lie with her;then ye shall bring them both out 1111•

to the gate of that city, and ye shallstone them with stones that they die ;the damsel, because she cried not,being in the city ; and the man, be.cause he bath humbled his neigh-bour's wife : so shalt thou put awayevil from among you. But if a manfind a betrothed damsel in the field,and the man force her, and lie withher : then the man only that lay withher shall die." (Deuteronomy, 22:22, 25.

The great abhorence which theLord manifested towards all unvir-tuous connections, may be clearlyseen from the following :

" If any man take a wife, and goin unto her, and hate her, and giveoccasions of speech against her, andbring up an evil name upon her, andsay, I took this woman, and when Icame to her, I found her not a maid."And, " if this thing be true, and thetokens of virginity be not foundfor the damsel : then they shall bringout the damsel to the door of herfather's house, and the men of hercity shall stone her with stones thatshe die ; because she hath wroughtfolly in Israel, to play the whore inher father's house : so shalt thou putevil away from among you." (Deut.22 : 13, 14, 20, 21.

It was pleasing to the Lord to havesuch wicked characters put to death.Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, wasgreatly blessed of the Lord, for put-ting to death a man and woman whowere guilty of unlawful connections :we give the history of this event inthe words of scripture.

"And, behold, one of the childrenof Israel came and brought unto hisbrethren a Midianitish woman in thesight of Moses, and in the sight of

all the congregation of the childrenof Israel, who were weeping beforethe door of the tabernacle of the con-gregation. And when Phinehas, theson of Eleazer, the son of Aaron, thepriest, saw it, he rose up from amongthe congregation and took a javelin inhis hand ; and he went after the manof Israel into the tent, and thrust bothof them through. * * * So the plaguewas stayed from the children of Israel.And those that died in the plaguewere twenty and four thousand. Andthe Lord spake unto Moses, saying,Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, the sonof Aaron, the priest, hath turned mywrath away from the children of Israelwhile he was zealous for my sakeamong them. that I consumed not thechildren of Israel in my jealousy.Wherefore, say, behold, I give untohim my covenant of peace : and heshall have it, and his seed after him,even the covenant of an everlastingpriesthood; because he was zealousfor his God, and made an atonementfor the children of Israel." (Num.hers, 25: 6-13 )

Why was the Lord so displeasedwith the sexes that he would punishthem with death for unvirtuous con-duct ? It was, because He had or.dained marriage as the only lawfulway of multiplying the human race.The direful effects which follow un-virtuous associations, can easily beperceived, even though. there were nolaw of God against such evils. First,illegitimate children are thrown uponthe world without any lawful protectorto look after their temporal welfare.Secondly, these children have not themoral advantages, which should bederived from the teachings and ex-amples of lawful parents, and, conse-quently, are in greater danger of losingtheir eternal salvation. And lastly,an indiscriminate intercourse betweenthe sexes would break up all familyassociations, and destroy the harmonyand peace, enjoyed in the domesticcircle ; fathers would not know theirown children, and children could not,with confidence, say who were theirfathers: such an order of things wouldbe deplorable, and would strike a


deadly blow at the foundation of alldomestic happiness. Many otherdreadful consequences might also henamed, as the result of licentiousness,such as jealousies, want of confidence,loathsome diseases transferred to pos-terity, all of which evils are abhorentto the feelings of every good man.It is for this reason, that God has en.acted strict laws in regard to all thesecrimes. It is for this reason, that Hepunishes with such heavy penaltiesthose who violate these sacred laws.

Adulterers, and unvirtuous personswere not only to be punished tempo-rally, but also spiritually, after thislife. Hence, the Lord says, " Thefearful, and unbelieving, and theabominable,and murderers and whore.mongers, and sorcerers, and idolators,and all liars, shall have their part inthe lake which burneth with fire andbrimstone : which is the seconddeath." (Rev. 21: 8.) Punishmentby a temporal death is not sufficientto satisfy the demands of justice: theymust suffer the penalties of the se-ond death also.

The same strictness against allunvirtuous conduct is taught in thebook of Mormon, as may be seenfrom the following quotaticns:

" 0 the wise, and the learned, andthe rich, that are puffed up in thepride of their hearts, and all thosewho preach false doctrines, and allthose who commit whoredoms, and per-vert the right way of the Lord ; wo,wo, wo be unto them, saith the LordGod Almighty, for they shall be thrustdown to hell." (2 Nephi 12: 2.)

The prophet Alma, in speaking tohis son on this same subject, says," Know ye not my son, that thesethings are an abomination in thesight of the Lord ; yea, most abomi-nable above all sins, save it be theshedding of innocent blood, or deny-ing the Holy Ghost." (Alma 19: 1.)

In another place, the Lord says tothe ancient inhabitants of America,as follows:

" I, the Lord God, delight in thechastity of women. And whoredomsare an abomination before me ; thussaith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore,

this people shall keep my command-ments, saith the Lord of Hosts, orcursed be the land for their sakes.For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts,raise up seed unto me, I will com-mand my people ; otherwise, theyshall hearken unto these things.For behold, I, the Lord, have seenthe sorrow, and heard the mourningof the daughters of my people in theland of Jerusalem ; yea, and in allthe lands of my people because ofthe wickedness and abominations oftheir husbands. And I will not suffer,saith the Lord of Hosts, that the criesof the fair daughters of this people,which I have led out of the land ofJerusalem, shall come up unto me,against the men of my people, saiththe Lord of Hosts ; for they shall notlead away captive the daughters ofmy people, because of their tender.ness, save I shall visit them with asore curse, even unto destruction :for they shall not commit whoredoms,like unto them of old, saith the Lordof Hosts." (Book of Jacob, 2: 6 )

When Jesus appeared unto the an.cient Nephites, in the northern partof what we call South America, Hetaught them, concerning adultery inthese words :

" Behold, it is written by them ofold time, that thou shalt not commitadultery ; but I say unto you, thatwhosoever looketh on a woman, tolust after her, hath committed adulteryalready in his heart. Behold, I giveunto you a commandment, that yesuffer none of these things to enterinto your heart ; for it is better thatye should deny yourselves of thesethings, wherein ye will take up yourcross, than that ye should be cast intohell." (Book of Nephi, page 460,chap. 5 : 10.)

The same doctrine is taught in therevelations and commandments, giventhrough Joseph, the Seer, unto thischurch. In February, 1831, theLord spake thus :

" Thou shalt love thy wife with allthy heart, and shalt cleave unto herand none else ; and he that lookethupon a woman to lust after her, shalldeny the faith, and shall not have the


Spirit, and if he repents not, he shallbe cast out. Thou shalt not commitadultery ; and he that committeth adul-tery and repenteth not, shall be castout ; but he that has committed adul-tery and repents with all his heart,and forsaketh it, and doeth it no more,thou shalt forgive ; but if he doeth itagain, he shall not be forgiven, butshall he cast out." (Book of Cove-nants, sec. 13, par. 7.)

" And if any man or woman shallcommit adultery, he or she shall betried before two elders of the churchor more, and every word shall be es-tablished against him or her by twowitnesses of the church, and not ofthe enemy ; but if there are morethan two witnesses it is better. Buthe or she shall be condemned by themouth of two witnesses, and the eld-ers shall lay the case before thechurch, and the church shall lift uptheir hands against him or her, thatthey may be dealt with according tothe law of God. And if it can he, itis necessary that the bishop is pre-sent also. And thus ye shall do inall cases which shall come beforeyou." (Sec. 13, par. 22.)

The saints are prohibited, by reve-lation, to receive certain persons intothe church. The Lord says :

"Behold, verily I say unto you,that whatever persons among you,having put away their companionsfor the cause of fornication, or inother words, if they shall testify be-fore you in all lowliness of heart thatthis is the case, ye shall not castthem out from among you ; but if yeshall find that any persons have lefttheir companions for the sake of adul-tery, and they themselves are theoffenders, and their companions areliving, they shall be cast out fromamong you. And again I say untoyou, that ye shall be watchful andcareful, with all inquiry, that ye re-ceive none such among you, if theyare married ; and if they are notmarried, they shall repent of alltheir sins, or ye shall not receivethem." (Sec. 13, par. 20.)

And again, the word of the Lordcame unto Joseph, the Seer, in Au.gust, 1831, saying :

" There were among you adulter-ers and adulteresses ; some of whomhave turned away from you, and othersremain with you, that hereafter shallhe revealed. Let such beware andrepent speedily, lest judgments shallcome upon them as a snare, and theirfolly shall be made manifest, and theirworks shall follow them in the eyesof the people. And, verily, I sayunto you, as I have said before, hethat looketh on a woman to lust afterher, or if any shall commit adulteryin their hearts, they shall not havethe Spirit, hut shall deny the faith,and shall fear : wherefore, I, theLord, have said that the fearful, andthe unbelieving, and all liars, andwhosoever loveth and maketh a lie,and the whoremonger, and the sor-cerer, shall have their part in thatlake which burneth with fire andbrimstone, which is the second death.Verily I say, that they shall not havepart in the first resurrection. And,now, behold, I, the Lord, say untoyou, that ye are not justified, becausethese things are among you ; never-theless, he that endureth in faith, anddoeth my will, the same shall over.come, and shall receive an inheri-tance upon the earth, when the dayof transfiguration shall come." (Sec.20, par. 4, 5, 6.)

In all these quotations from ancientand modern revelations, every onecan see the dreadful consequences,arising from the least indulgence ofthese sinful lusts. Those personswho suffer unvirtuous thoughts tocome into their hearts, and cherishthem there for one moment will findthemselves under condemnation ; theyhave broken the law of Cod ; theyhave become defiled by their wickedthoughts, and unless they repent, theSpirit will depart from them ; for theHoly Ghost dwelleth not in unholytemples, and they will be left in dark-ness, and their faith will die away,and they will be filled with fear, andfinally be cast down to hell.

The Latter-Day Saints are undergreater obligations than any otherpeople on the whole earth, to keepthemselves pure and virtuous beforethe Lord—to refrain from adulteries,


fornications, licentiousness, all unlaw. •ful connections, all uncleanness, allfleshly lusts, all tinvirtuous and unholydesires, and from all lustful thoughtsand carnal affections ; for we havebeen faithfully warned, again andagain, by the voice of that great pro-phet and revelator, Joseph Smith ;we have been warned by the voiceof inspiration—by the voice of an-gels—by the voice of the ancientprophets of America, speaking as itwere from the dead through the me.dium of their ancient records—we Ihave been warned by the voiceGod, threatening us with destruction,and with the miseries of the seconddeath, if we do not keep ourselvesentirely free and pure from all thesesinful soul-destroying lusts. If wereject so great warnings, and sinagainst so great light, how can weobtain forgiveness, or escape thedamnation of hell ? The Lord our'God is a holy and just God—faithfuland true in all His words, and willin nowise vary from that which Hebath said ; for judgment goeth beforeHis face, and justice and righteous-ness is the habitation of His throne !0 ye Saints of the last days, do yourealize the fearful—the infinitely im-portant—the eternal responsibilitieswhich rest upon you, to watch overyourselves, your children, and allwho are placed under your charge ?Do you realize that your condemna-tion and punishment will be in pro-portion to the light and knowledgeagainst which you sin ? If you fullyunderstand and appreciate the warn-ings which you have received, happyare you, if you give heed and obeythe voice of the Lord your God, forgreat shall be your reward, and eter-nal shall he your glory. But if anyamong you harden their hearts, andyield themselves unto the wickedlusts of their flesh, and suffer them-selves to he defiled by cherishing intheir minds unvirtuous thoughts andunholy desires, they shall speedilybe visited by sore judgments, andtheir names shall be blotted out fromunder heaven, and they shall bethrust down to hell, where there is

weeping, and wailing, and gnashingof teeth.

From the foregoing quotations andremarks, it will be seen, that theLatter Day Saints have stricter no.tions of virtue, and consider them-selves under greater obligations torefrain, not only from unvirtuous acts,but from unviituous thoughts, thanany other people under Heaven.But do the Saints actually demonstrateby their practices, that they believewhat the Lord has taught them uponthese subjects ? Do they practicevirtue, as well as deliver the preceptsthereof? We answer, let the prattires of the thirty thousand Saints inUtah, speak ; let strangers who havetravelled through our flourishing ter-ritory, declare ; let the records of thecourts of justice bear witness ; letthe injured females, if there be any,whose character and reputation havebeen destroyed by the vile seducer,publish their wrongs ; let illegitimatechildren, if Utah affi►rds them, comeforth as a public rn mument of ourdisgrace ; if a house of ill•fame canbe found throughout the length andbreadth of our territory, then let theSaints hide their faces in shame, andthe on and daughters of Utah blushbefore the Heavens ; if an adultereror seducer of female virtue, can befound in all that land, then let the eld.ers be clad in sackcloth, and the Saintsput on the garments of mourning, andweep before the Lord, day and night,until the evil be taken from their midst.

But have not some of the Saintsin Utah more wives than one ? Yes :and they take good care of them too;and teach them and their children thegreat principles of virtue and holinessby example as well as by precept.But is it not sinful, for a man to havemore than one with living at the sametime ? If it is, the Bible has not toldus of it. But is it not contrary to thechristian religion ? If it is, the chris-tian religion has not revealed it as anevil. But do you not really think thatit is contrary to the will of God for aman, in these days, to take a pluralityof wives ? Yes, unless God shallgive them to him by a revelation


through a holy prophet. Is it notcontrary to the Constitution and lawsof the United States for the the cit-izens of Utah to practicethe plural-ity of wives ? No ; neither the Con.stitution nor the laws of the UnitedStates, have said anything on the sub-ject of marriage or domestic relationsBut is it not contrary to the laws ofthe Territory ? No ; the Legislatureof that Territory do not feel disposedto debar her citizens of any blessingsor privileges, enjoyed under the san-ction of the Almighty, by holy pro.phets and patriarchs of old.

Do you believe that the Book ofMormon is a divine revelation ? Wedo. Does that book teach the doc-trine of plurality of wives ? It doesnot. Does the Lord in that book for-bid the plurality doctrine ? He forbidthe ancient Nephites to have anymore than one wife. What does theBook of Mormon say on this subject ?It says, as follows, " Thus saith theLord, I have led this people forth outof the land of Jerusalem by the powerof mine arm, that I might raise upunto me a righteous branch from thefruit of the loins ofJoseph. Wherefore,I, the Lord God, will not suffer thatthis people shall do like unto them ofold. Wherefore, my brethren, heartoe, and hearken to the word of theLord ; for there shall not any manamong you have save it be one wife ;and concubines he shall have none."(Book of Jacob, 2 : 6.) Why werethe ancient Nephites restricted to theone wife system ? Because, first, thenumber of males and females amongthem, at the time the command "asgiven, was about equal. Secondly,there was no probability that judg.ments, wars, or any other calamitieswhich were to befall their nation,would produce a disproportionatenumber of males and females. Third•ly, this small remnant of the tribe ofJoseph were, at that time, aboutequally righteous ; and one was aboutas capable of raising up a family inrighteousness as another. And last.ly, the Lurd, Himself; informs them,in the same connection with the quo-tation which I have just made, that if

He would have them practice differ.ently from what He had previouslytaught them, it must be by his com-mand. It reads as follows : " For ift will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raiseup seed unto me, I will command mypeople ; otherwise, they shall hearkenunto these things." Thus we see,that a man among the Nephites, byal-3 law of God, had no right to takemore than one wife, unless the Lordshould command for the purpose ofraising up seed unto Himself. With-out such a command, they were strict-ly limited to the one wife doctrine :"otherwise," says the Lord, "they shallhearken unto these things ; " that is,without an express command, theyshould hearken to the law,limitingthemto one wife. So it is in this churchof Latter Day Saints, every man isstrictly limited to one wife, unless theLord, through the President and Pro.phet of the Church, gives a revela-tion permitting him to take more.Without such a revelation it wouldhe sinful, according to the Book ofMormon, which this church are re-quired to obey. IIence, the Book ofMormon is somewhat more strict thanthe Bible ; for there is nothing in theBible that limits mankind to onewife, hut the Book of Mormon doesabsolutely forbid a man to have morethan one wife, unless God shall com-mand otherwise.

Now in the early rise of this church,the Lord gave no command unto anyof His servants authorizing them totake more than one wife, hut on thecontrary, said unto them that theyshould give heed to that which waswritten in the hook of Mormon ;therefore, they were under the strict-est obligations to confine themselvesto one wife, until a commandmentcame to the contrary, which theLord did not see proper to give untoany of them, until about thirteenyears after the first organization ofthe church. The church, therefore,are stilt restricted, by the severestpenalties, to one wife, according tothe Book of Mormon, unless in indi-vidual cases where the Lord shall,by revelation, direct otherwise.


No man in Utah, who already hasa wife, and who may desire to obtainanother, has any right to make anypropositions of marriage to a lady,until he has consulted the Presidentover the whole church, and throughhim, obtains a revelation from God,as to whether it would be pleasingin His sight. If he is forbidden byrevelation, that ends the matter : if,by revelation, the privelege is grant.ed, he still has no right to consultthe feelings of the young lady, untillie has obtained the approbation of herher parents, provided they are livingin Utah ; if their consent cannot beobtained, this also ends the matter.But if the parents or guardians freelygive their consent, then he may makepropositions of marriage to the younglady ; if she refuse these propositions,this also ends the matter ; but if sheaccept, a day is generally set apartby the parties for the marriage cere-mony to he celebrated. It is neces-sary to state, that before any mantakes the least step towards gettinganother wife, it is his duty to consultthe feelings of the wife which he al•ready has, and obtain her consent, asrecorded in the 24th paragraph ofthe revelation, published in the firstNo. of "The Seer."

When the day set apart for thesolemnization of the marriage cere-mony has arrived, the bridegroom,and his wife, and also the bride, to-gether with their relatives, and suchother guests as may he invited, as-semble at the place which they haveappointed. The scribe then proceedsto take the names, ages, native towns,counties, States, and countries of theparties to he married, which he care-fully enters on record. The Presi-dent, who is the Prophet, Seer, andRevelator over the whole churchthroughout the world, and who aloneholds the keys of authority in thissolemn ordinance, (as recorded in the2d and 5th paragraphs of the Reve-lation on !Vlarriage,)—calls upon thebridegroom, and his wife, and thebride to arise, which they do, frontingthe President. The wife stands onthe left hand of her husband, while

the bride stands on her left. ThePresident, then, puts this questionto the wife : " Are you willing togive this woman to your husband tobe his lawful and wedded wife fortime and for all eternity ? If you are,you will manifest it by placing herright hand within the right hand ofyour husband." The right hands ofthe bridegroom and bride, being thusjoined, the wife takes her husband bythe left arm, as if in the attitude ofwalking : the President, then, pro-ceeds to ask the following questionof the man : Do you brother, (callinghim by name,) take sister, (calling thebride by her name,) by the right handto receive her unto yourself to beyour lawful and wedded wife, andyou to be her lawful and wedded hus•band for time and for all eternity,with a covenant and promise, on yourpart, that you will fulfil all the laws,rites, and ordinances, pertaining tothis holy matrimony, in the new andeverlasting covenant, doing this inthe presence of God, angels, andthese witnesses of your own free willand choice ?" The bridegroom an-swers, yes. The President, then,puts the question to the bride : " Doyou, sister, (calling her by name,)take brother, (calling him by name,)by the right hand, and give yourselfto him, to be his lawful and weddedwife for time and for all eternity witha covenant and promise, on your part,that you will fulfil all the laws, rites,and ordinances, pertaining to thisholy matrimony, in the new andeverlasting covenant, doing this inthe presence of God, angels, andthese witnesses of your own free willand choice ?" The bride answers,yes. The President then says, Inthe name of the Lord Jesus Christ,and by the authority of the Holy

riesthood, I pronounce you legallyand lawfully husband and wife fortime and for all eternity ; and I sealupon you the blessings of the holyresurrection, with power to comeforth in the morning of the first re.stirrection, clothed with glory, immor-tality, and eternal lives ; and I sealupon you the blessings of thrones,

32 CATALOGUE OP WORKS, CONTENTS, &C.

and dominions, and principalities, andpowers, and exaltations, together withthe blessings of Abraham, Isaac, andJacob, and say unto you be fruitful,and multiply, and replenish the earth,that you may have joy and rejoicingin your posterity in the day of theLord Jesus. All these blessings, to-gether with all other blessings per-taining to the new and everlasting

covenant, I seal upon your heads,through your faithfulness unto theend, by the authority of the HolyPriesthood, in the name of the Fa-ther, and of the Son, and of the HolyGhost, Amen." The scribe, then,enters on the general record, the dateand place of the marriage, togetherwith the names of two or three wit.nesses who were present.

(To be continued.)


ORSON PRATT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,AND


The Book of Mormon—morocco extra, $2; grained roan, $1.The Book of Mormon in Welsh (Llyfr Mormon)—grained roan, $1 25.The Book of Mormon in Danish (Mormons Bog) —grained roan, $1 25.The Book of Mormon in French (Le Livre de Mormon) —Ifl 25.The Book of Marmon in German (Dos Buck Mormon- 40 25.The Book of Mormon in Italian (ii Libro di Mormon) —grained roan, $1 50.The Book of Doctrine and Covenants—morocco extra, $2; calf, gilt edges, $1 50,

grained roan, 95 cts.The Book of Doctrine and Covenants in Welsh (Athrawiaeth a Chyfammodau) —

grained roan, $1 25.The Pearl of Great Price, 30 cts.Hymn Book—morocco extra, $1 25; calf, gilt edges, 80 cts; calf, 60 cts; roan em-

bossed, 50 cts.Voice of Warning—morocco extra, $1 25; calf, 80 cents; cloth, 50 cents.The Government of God-50 cents.Spencer's Letters—morocco extra, $1 25; calf, 80 cents; cloth, 50 cents.The Millennial Star, (vol. XV,) weekly, 5 cents.L'Etoile du Deseret, (monthly at Paris,) 10 cents.

PAMPHLETS BY ORSON PRATT.

0. Pratt's Works, &c., bound, $1 50.Divine Authority; or was Joseph Smith sent of God'?-10 cents.Remarkable Visions-10 cents.Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon-6 parts, 10 cents each.Kingdom of God—parts 1, 2, and 3, 5 cents each.

Do do part 4, 10 cents.New Jerusalem; or, the Fulfilment of Modern Prophecy-15 cts.Reply to " Remalks on Mormonism "-10 cts.Absurdities of Immaterialism-20 cts.Great First Cause ; or, The Self-moving Forces of the Universe-10 cts.The Seer,(monthly,) 10 cts, or, $1 per year, in advance.

CONTENTS.

The Pre-existence of Man.. 17Celestial Marriage. 25Catalogue of Works... .. 32

WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.

EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY ORSON PRATT,


All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Helifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah xvIrr, 3.

VOL. I. MARCH, 1853. No. 3.

FIGURE AND MAGNITUDE OF SPIRITS.Both animals and vegetables con-

sist of two substances, very differ-ent in their nature, viz : body andspirit. The body is composed of dif-ferent kinds of matter, such as oxygen,hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon, lime, &c.These, united or chemically com-bined, form, in animals, flesh, bones,arteries, veins, nerves, muscles, sin-ews, skin, and all the various partsof the animal tabernacle ; and theseparts, being properly organized, formthe physical peculiarities which dis-tinguish the species. By a combina-tion and organization of the aboveelements, the roots, trunks, branches,leaves, &c., of trees and other vege-tables, are formed. Connected withthese corporeal bodies, composed ofthe coarser materials of nature, thereis another material substance calledspirit, of a more refined nature, pos-se 'rig some properties in commonwith other matter, and other qualitiesfar superior to other matter. Vege-table and animal life is nothing morenor less than vegetable and animalspirit. The spirit of a vegetable isin the same image and likeness of itstabernacle, and of the same magni-tude, for it fills every part thereof. Itis capable of existing in an organizedform before it enters its vegetablehouse, and also after it departs fromit. If the spirit of an apple tree wererendered visible when separated fromits natural tabernacle, it would appear

in the form, likeness, and magnitudeof the natural apple tree; and so it iswith the spirit of every other tree, orherb, or blade of grass, its shape, itsmagnitude, and its appearance, re-semble the natural tabernacle intend-ed for its residence. It is the organ-ized spirit that manifests life ; it isthe spirit that animates the vegeta-ble, that causes it to grow, thatshapes its different parts, that pre.serves it from decaying, that enablesit to bud and blossom and bring forthseed. When the spiritual vegetablewithdraws, the natural one decaysand returns to its original elements ;but its spirit, being a living sub-stance, remains in its organized form,capable of happiness in its ownsphere, and will again inhabit a ce-lestial tabernacle when all things aremade new. The spirits of fish, birds,beasts, insects, and of man, are inthe image and likeness of their natu-ral bodies of flesh and bones, and ofthe same magnitude, filling every partof the same. It is this spiritual sub-stance, and not the body, that sees,hears, tastes, smells, feels, thinks,enjoys, suffers, and manifests everyother affection or passion character..istic of the animal creation. It is thisself-moving, powerful substance, thatquickens, animates, and moves thenatural body—that forms and fashionsevery part—that preserves the organ.ization from decay and death. None

34 FIGURE AND MAGNITUDE OF SPIRITS.

of the spirits of the whole animalcreation are disorganized by the deathof the body, hut are capable of feel-ing, thinking, moving, enjoying, suf-fering, out of the body as well as init, They are eternal, and will existforever, capable of joy and happiness.

The spirits of both vegetablesand animals are invisible to the nat-ural eye ; we, therefore, do not knowor comprehend their nature as per-fectly as we do many other substanceswhich are more directly tangible toour senses for this reason Solomoninquires, " Who knoweth the spirit ofman that goeth upward, and the spiritof the beast that goeth downward."(Eccles. 3: 31.) By this passageSolomon shows plainly that the beasthas a spirit as well as man.

That vegetables as well as ani-animals have spirits, is clearly shownfrom the fact that they have capaci-ties for joy and rejoicing. ThePsalmist says, " Let the field be joy-ful and all that is therein : then shallall the trees of the wood rejoice be.fore the Lord : for He cometh, for Hecometh to judge the earth." (Psalm96 : 12, 13.) As t' all that is in thefield," and " all the trees of the woodrejoice," we are compelled to believethat every vegetable, whether greator small, has a living intelligent spiritcapable of feeling, knowing, and re-joicing in its sphere. One of the in-spired writers informs as that the an-imal creation are endowed with greatwisdom. He says, "There be fourthings which are little upon the earth,but they are exceeding wise : the antsare a people not strong, yet they pre-pare their meat in the summer ; theconies are hut a feeble folk, yet makethey their houses in the rocks ; thelocusts have no king, yet go they forthall of them by bands ; the spidertaketh hold with her hands, and is inkings' palaces." (Prov. 30 : 24-28.)John heard the whole animal creationpraising God, and making use of in.telligent language. He declares that" every creature which is in Heavenand on the earth, and under the earth,and such as are in the sea, and allthat are in them, heard I saying,

Blessing, and honor, and glory, andpower, be unto him that sitteth uponthe throne, and unto the Lamb foreverand ever." (Rev. 5: N.) Fromthese passages we learn that everyfowl and fish, beast and creepingthing, will be in the possession ofgreat wisdom and knowledge ; theywill know about God and His throne,and about the Lamb, and they willtalk, in an intelligent manner, aboutHis " honor, and glory, and power."Now they could not possess wisdom,knowledge, language, and under-standing, concerning the attributes ofGod and of His Son, unless they havean intelligent mind or spirit as well asman.

Having proved that each indi-vidual of the vegetable and animalkingdom contains a living spirit. pos.sessed of intelligent capacities, let usnext inquire concerning the shape orform of these spirits, as representedin various parts of the Scriptures.The immaterialist considers all spir-itual substance to have neither form,nor magnitude, nor any relation tospace or duration.* We shall not at-tempt in this article to refute theseabsurd notions, but shall assume thatall spiritual substance is material,having form, and magnitude, and allthe essential properties of other mat-ter ; and that in addition to these, itpossesses the capacities of intelli-gence and self motion.

That the form of the spirit is inthe likeness of the tabernacle, isevident from the description of thespirit of Samuel, which appeared toSaul and conversed with him. Thespirit of Samuel was first seen by thewoman with whom Saul was conver-sing. " And when the woman sawSamuel, she cried with a loud voice :and the woman spake to Saul, saying,Why hast thou deceived me ? for thouart Saul. And the king said unto her,Be not afraid : for what rawest thou ?And the woman said unto Saul. I sawgods ascending out of the earth. Andhe said unto her, What FORM is he

* See my treatise on the Absurdities ofImmaterialism.

DIGURE AND MAGNITUDE OF SPIRITS. 35

ort And she said, An old mancometh up, and he is covered with amantle. And Saul perceived that itwas Samuel, and he stooped with hisface to the ground and bowed him-self." (1 Sam. 28 : 12-14.) It willbe perceived that the form of Sam-uel's spirit was that of " an old man,"" covered with a mantle." Now thiscould not have been Samuel's body,for that was mouldering in the grave ;therefore it must have been his spirit.From the form which this spirit had,Saul was enabled to "perceive thatit was Samuel." Saul, after bowingdown to the ground with reverencebefore Samuel, entered into conver-sation with him ; and Samuel pro.phesied unto him, and told him whatshould befal Israel, and that he andhis sons should be slain the next dayand come into the spiritual world withhim.

When the three Hebrews werecast into the fiery furnace, Nebuchad-nezzar was astonished, " and said,lo ! I see four men loose, walking inthe midst of the fire, and they haveno hurt ; and the FORM of the fourthis like unto the Son of God." (Dan.3 : 25.) This fourth personage walk-ing in the fire must have been thespiritual body of the Son of God, orsome other spiritual body resemblinghim in form. The form of this spir-itual body resembles also the form ofman, hence he exclaimed, " I see fourmen loose."

The revelator, John, saw thespirits of the martyrs, which he de•scribes as follows : " And when hehad opened the fifth seal, I saw underthe altar the souls of them that wereslain for the word of God and for thetestimony which they held ; and theycried with a loud voice saying, Howlong, 0 Lord, holy and true, Bost thounot judge and avenge our blood onthem that dwell on the earth ? Andwhite robes were given unto everyone of them ; and it was said untothem that they should rest yet for alittle season until their fellow ser-vants and their brethren, that shouldbe killed as they were, should he ful-filled." (Rev. 6 : 9-11.) These

spirits must have had form, or Johncould not have seen them : they werecapable of speaking with a loud voiceand of wearing white robes. If aspirit have no form, it could neitherspeak nor wear clothing. We havealready seen that the spirit of Samuelwas clothed with a mantle, whilethose that John saw, had white robesgiven to them. These passagesprove that the spirits of men are inthe shape or image of the fleshly taber-nacle, and that the spirit of the Sonof God, before he took upon himselfflesh, did resemble man, and was inthe likeness or shape of his fleshlybody, into which he afterwards en-tered.

The shape or form of the spiritsof beasts is in the image of theirnatural bodies. When Elijah wasescorted to heaven, he had the honorof riding in a chariot drawn by horses.(2 Kings 2: 11, 12.) When theking of Syria sent horses and char-iots, and a great host, to take Elisha,the prophet, and carry him a prisonerinto the Syrian army, the servant ofthe prophet, seeing his master sur-rounded by such a formidable host,was very much alarmed for his safety,and cried out, "Alas, my master ! howshall we do ? And he answered,Fear not : for they that he with usare more than they that be with them.And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, Ipray thee open his eyes that he maysee. And the Lord opened the eyesof the young man, and he saw ; and,behold, the mountain was full ofHORSES and chariots of fire roundabout Elisha." (2 Kings 6 : 15-17.)These horses shone with the bril-liancy of fire. They were spiritualhorses, under the management andcontrol of an army of spirits riding inchariots. These spirits of horsesmust have been in the same shape asthe natural bodies of horses, or elsethey would not have been recognisedas belonging to that species of ani-mals. They were exceedingly nu-merous, so that "the mountain wasfull" of them.

John says, "I saw Heaven open-ed, and behold a WHITE HORSE ;

36 FIGURE AND MAGNITUDE OF SPIRITS.

and He that sat upon him waswas called Faithful and True, and inrighteousness He doeth judge andmake war." And the armies whichwere in Heaven followed Him uponWHITE HORSES, clothed in finelinen white and clean."—Rev. 19:11, 11 Thus, we perceive, that theSon of God, himself, and all the armiesof Heaven, occasionally ride on horse-back ; and, therefore, there must bethousands of millions of horses inHeaven ; and as no horses, pertain-ing to this earth, had ti-.3n received aresurrection, these, doubtless, werethe spiritual bodies of horses whosenatural bodies had returned to thedust.

As we have proved, that the spir-its of men, and of horses, and of allmaaner of beasts, and of creep-ing things, and of birds, are in theshape of their mortal tabernacles, itis reasonable to infer, analogically,that the spirits of grass, of herbs,and of trees, are in the form of thenatural bodi,s of the respective vege-tables which they once inhabited ;and that those vegetables which arenow living, are inhabited by livingspirits in the form of themselves.

All spirits have magnitude, aswell as form, which can be clearlyshown from the Scriptures. Thosepassages, that have been alreadyquoted, proving that spirits have form,also prove that they have magnitude.The Spirit of Samuel, as seen bySaul, and the spirit of the Son ofGod, walking in the fiery furnace,were, both, of the size of men. Thespirits of horses, beasts, birds, andcreeping things, were, not only ofthe shape of their respective naturalbodies, but were evidently of thesame size as those bodies when fullgrown ; otherwise they would havebeen represented, as infants insteadof men, as colts instead of horses, &c.

The tabernacles of both animalsand vegetables continue to growor increase in size, until they attain

to the original magnitude of theirrespective spirits, after which thegrowth ceases. When the spiritfirst takes possession of the vegeta-ble or animal seed or embryo, it con.tracts itself into a bulk of the samedimension as the seed or tabernacleinto which it enters : this is provedfrom the fact, that the spiritual bodyof the Son of God, seen by Nebuchad-nezzar, was of the size of man, andyet this same spiritual body wasafterwards sufficiently contracted toenter into, and to be wholly containedwithin an infant tabernacle. In likemanner, every other spirit, whethervegetable or animal, is of the full sizeof the prospective tabernacle, whenit shall have attained its full growth ;and, therefore, when it first entersthe same, it must, like the spiritualbody of the Son of God, be greatlydiminished from its original dimen-sions. Spirits, therefore, must becomposed of substances, highly elas-tic in their nature, that is, they havethe power to resume their formerdimensions, as additional matter issecreted for the enlargement of theirtabernacles. It is this expandingforce, exerted by the spirit, whichgradually developes the tabernacleas the necessary materials are sup.plied.

When the limb of a tree or ofan animal is severed from the mainbody, the spirit, occupying thatlimb, is not severed from the otherparts of the spirit, but immediatelycontracts itself into the living por.tions of the body, leaving the limbto decay. The contraction of spirit.ual bodies is still further proved, fromthe fact, that a legion of wickedspirits actually huddled themselvestogether in the tabernacle of oneman. These wicked spirits, beingfallen angels, were actually in theshape and size of the spirits of-mon ;therefore, they must have been ex.ceedingly contracted to have all en-tered one human body.


THE PRE—EXISTENCE OF MAN.(Continued.)

23. The celestial beings who dwellin the Heaven from which we came,having been raised from the grave, ina former world, and having been filledwith all the fulness of these eternal at-tributes, are called Gods, because thefulness of God dwells in each. Boththe males and the females enjoy thisfulness. The celestial vegetables andfruits which grow out of the soil ofthis redeemed Heaven, constitute thefood of the Gods. This food differsfrom the food derived from the vege.tables of a fallen world : the latter areconverted into blood, which, circulat-ing in the veins and arteries, pro-duces flesh and bones of a mortalnature, having a constant tendencyto decay : while the former, or celes-tial vegetables, are, when digested inthe stomach, converted into a fluid,which, in its nature, is spiritual, andwhich, circulating in the veins andarteries of the celestial male and fe-male, preserves their tabernacles fromdecay and death. Earthly vege-tables form blood, and blood formsflesh and bones ; celestial vegetables,when digested, form a spiritual fluidwhich gives immortality and eternallife to the organization in which it flows.

24. Fallen beings beget child-ren whose bodies are constituted offlesh and bones, being formed out ofthe blood circulating in the veins ofthe parents. Celestial beings begetchildren, composed of the fluid whichcirculates in their veins, which isspiritual, therefore, their childrenmust be spirits, and not flesh andhones. This is the origin of ourspiritual organization in Heaven.The spirits of all mankind, destinedfor this earth, were begotten by afather, and born of a mother in Ilea-ven. long anterior to the formation ofthis world. The personages of thefather and another of our spirits, hada beginning to their organization,but the fulness of truth (which isGod) that-dwells in them, had no heginning; being "from everlasting toeverlasting." (Psalm 90 : 2.)

25. In the 'leaven where ourspirits were born, there are manyGods, each one of whom has his ownwife or wives which were given tohim previous to his redemption, whileyet ir, his mortal state. Each God,through his wife or wives, raises upa numerous family of sons and daugh-ters ; indeed, there will be no end tothe increase of his own children : foreach father and mother will be in acondition to multiply forever and ever.As soon as each God has begottenmany millions of male and femalespirits, and his Heavenly inheritancebecomes too small, to comfortably ac-commodate his great family, lie, inconnection with his sons, organizes anew world, after a similar order to theone which we now inhabit, where hesends both the male and femalespirits to inhabit tabernacles of fleshand bones. Thus each God forms aworld for the accommodation of his ownsons and daughters who are sentforth in their times and seasons, andgenerations to he born into the same.The inhabitants of each world arerequired to reverence, adore, andworship their own personal fatherwho dwells in the Heaven which theyformerly inhabited.

26. When a world is redeemedfrom its fallen state, and made into aHeaven, all the animal creation areraised from the dead, and become ce-lestial and immortal. The food ofthese animals is derived from thevegetables, growing on a celestialsoil ; consequently, it is not convertedinto Mood, hut into spirit which cir-culates in the veins of these animals ;therefore, their offspring will bespiritual bodies, instead of flesh andhones. Thus the spirits of beasts, offowls, awl of all living creatures, arethe offspring of the beasts, fowls andcreatures which have been redeemedor raised from ihe dead, and whichwill multiply spirits, according to theirrespective species, forever and ever.

27. As these spiritual bodies, inall their varieties and species, become

28 THE PEE-EXISTENCE or MAN'.

numerous in Heaven, each God willsend those under his jurisdiction to takebodies of flesh and bones on the sameworld to which he sends his own sonsand daughters. As each God is "'TheGod of the spirits of all flesh," per-taining to the world which he forms ;and as he holds supreme dominion overthem in Heaven, when he sends theminto a temporal or terrestrial world,he commits this dominion into thehands of his sons and daughters,which inhabit the same.

28. When the world is redeemed,the vegetable creation is redeemedand made new, as well as the ani-mal ; and when planted in a celestialsoil, each vegetable derives its nour-ishment therefrom ; and the fluid,thus derived, circulates in the poresand cells of the vegetable tabernacle,and preserves it from decay anddeath ; this same fluid, thus circu-lating, forms a spiritual seed, whichplanted, grows into a spiritual vege-table ; this differs from the parentvegetable, in that it has no taber-nacle. This is the origin of spiritualvegetables in Heaven. These spiri-tual vegetables are sent from Hea-ven to the terrestrial worlds, where,like animals, they take natural taper.nacles, which become food for thesustenance of the natural tabernaclesof tlie animal creation. Thus thespirits of both vegetables and ani-mals are the offspring , f male andfemale parents which have beenraised from the dead, or redeemedfrom a fallen condition, with theworld upon which they dwelt.

29. The number of the sons anddaughters of God, born in Heavenbefore this earth was formed, is notknown by us. They must have beenexceedingly numerous, as may beperceived, by taking into considera-tion the vast numbers which havealready come from Heaven, andpeopled our planet. during the pastsix thousand years. The amount ofpopulation now on the globe, is es-timated in round numbers at onethousand million. If we take thisestimation for the average numberper century, during the seven thou.

sand years of its temporal existence,it will amount to seventy thousandmillions. During the early age ofthe world, there were many centuriesin which the amount of populationwould fall short of this average; hutduring the Millennium, or the lastage of the world, the populationwill, probably, far exceed this aver-age. Seventy thousand million,therefore, is a rough approximationto the number of inhabitants whichthe Lord destined to dwell in theflesh on this earth. It will be seen,from this estimation, that aboutseventy thousand million sons anddaughters were born in Heaven, andkept their first estate, and werecounted worthy to have a new worldmade for them, wherein they werepermitted to receive bodies of fleshand hones, and thus enter upon theirsecond estate.

30. It must be remembered, thatseventy thousand million, howevergreat the number may appear to us,are hut two-thirds of the vast familyof spirits who were begotten befbrethe foundation of the world : theother third part of the family did notkeep the first estate. Add to seventythousand million, the third part whichfell, namely, thirty-five thousand mil-lion, and the sum amounts to one hun-dred and five thousand million whichwas the approximate number of thesons and daughters of God in Heavenbefi)re the rebellion which broke ou tamong them.

31. If we admit that one person-age was the Father of all this greatfamily, and that they were all born ofthe same Mother, the period of timeintervening between the birth of theoldest and the youngest spirit musthave been immense. If we suppose,as an average, that only one year in•tervened between each birth, then itwould have required, over one hundredthousand million of years for the sameMother to have given birth to thisvast family. The law, regulatingthe formation of the embryo spirit,may, as it regards time, differ con-siderably from the period required forthe formation of the infant tabernacle


of flesh. Should the period betweeneach birth, be one hundred timesshorter than what is required in thisworld, (which is very improbable,)it would still require over one thou-sand million of years to raise up sucha numerous progeny. But as hea-venly things are, in many respects,typical of earthly, it is altogetherprobable that the period required forthe formation of the infant spirit, isof the same length as that requiredin this world for the organization ofthe infant tabernacle.

32. If the Father of these spirits,prior to his redemption, had securedto himself, through the everlastingcovenant of marriage, many wives,as the prophet David did in our world,the period required to people a worldwould be shorter, within certain lim-its, in proportion to the number ofwives. For instance, if it requiredone hundred thousand million of yearsto people a world like this, as abovestated, it is evident that, with a hun-dred wives, this period would be re.duced to only one thousand million ofyears. Therefore, a Father, withthese facilities, could increase hiskingdoms with his own children, in ahundred fold ratio above that ofanother who had only secured to him-self one wife. As yet, we have onlyspoken of the hundred fold ratio asapplied to his own children; but nowlet us endeavor to form some faintidea of the multiplied increase ofworlds peopled by his grandchildren,over which he, of course, would holdauthority and dominion as the GrandPatriarch of the endless generationsof his posterity. If, out of the wholepopulation of the first redeemed world,only one million of sons were re-deemed to the fulness of all the privi-leges and glory of their Father, they,in their turn, would now be preparedto multiply and people worlds thesame as their Father, being madelike him and one with him. Whiletheir Father, therefore, was peoplingthe second world, these million of re-deemed sons would people one mil-lion of worlds. Each of these worldswould be redeemed and glorified, and

become celestial worlds or heavens.Thus there would be the "'Heavenof Heavens" inhabited by the GrandPatriarch and those of the same orderwith him ; secondly, there would bethe two redeemed worlds or heavensinhabited by his children ; and, third-ly, there would he the one million ofheavens inhabited by his gra,ndchil-drera. We have only estimated, asyet, the second generation of worlds.If the estimate be carried still furtherin the same ratio, it will be foundthat the number in the third genera-tion amounts to one billion three mil-lion and three worlds. The fourthgeneration would people over a tril-lion, and the fifth over a quadrillionof worlds ; while the one-hundredthgeneration would people more worldsthan could be expressed by raisingone million to the ninety ninth power.Any mathematician who is able toenumerate a series of 595 figures,will be able to give a very close ap-proximation to the number of worldspeopled by the descendants of oneFather in one hundred thousand mil-lion of years, according to the aver-age ratio given above. Now this isthe period in which only one worldcould be peopled withone wife.While the Patriarch with his hundredwives, would multiply worlds onworlds, systems on systems, morenumerous than the dust of all thevisible bodies of the universe, andpeople them with his descendants tothe hundredth generation of worlds ;the other, who had only secured tohimself one wife, would in the sameperiod, just barely have peopled oneworld.

33. Each father gives laws to hisfamily, adapted to the degree ofknowledge which they possess. Thelaws given to impart the ideas ofright and wrong to infant spirits, areof a more simple nature than thoseordained thr the government of spiritsafter they have acquired this knowl-edge. Each law has its appropriatepenalty affixed, according to the na-ture of the law and the amount ofknowledge possessed by the beingswhom it is intended to govern. The

40 THE PRE-EMSTENCE OF MAN.

penalties or chastisements upon in-fant or youthful spirits, while learningto distinguish between virtue andvice, are not as severe as those in-flicted upon disobedient spirits whohave already acquired these ideas.Afler having learned the nature ofright and wrong in some things, lawswill be given teaching them theirduties towards their parents and to.wards each other as brother and sis-ter spirits, and towards the angelswho are servants to their parents, andtowards other Gods and their childrenand servants who reside in the sameheaven. Also, some spirits will bemany thousand years older than oth.ers ; and, therefore, if they have beendiligent in observing the laws givento them, they will be far mere intel-ligent than their younger brethren.For instance, Jesus, being " the FirstBorn of every creature," would havemany millions of years experience inadvance of his younger brethren, pro.viding that they were all begotten bythe same Father. Now those thatwere born soon after Him would havenearly the same amount of expe.rience. And it is reasonable to sup.pose that these spirits would be divi-ded into classes, according to their ageand the knowledge they had gainedthrough obedience to the laws of theirfather, and that lessons of instructionwould be imparted to each class, andstill higher laws be unfolded, to gov.ern them, and that as their knowledgeincreased so would their responsibil-ities also increase.

34. The period of time required toeducate spirits seems to have beenof far greater duration than the periodallotted to us in our second estate.Some of the older spirits must haveexisted millions of years in their firstestate, before they were privileged toenter this world. Now during thisvast period they must have had ampleopportunity of becoming deeplylearned in all the laws of spiritual existence. Dwelling in the presenceof their Father, and having access toall His servants, the angels, and theprivileges of associating with all theGods who resided in the same Hea-

ven and who were of the same orderas their Father, they must have hadfacilities for acquiring information farbeyond anything enjoyed in this pro-bation. In that high and heavenlyschool they had the opportunities ofinquiring of their Father all about theelements of which the worlds wereconstructed, and how these elementsacted upon one another, and concern-ing all the infinity of laws which hadbeen given to govern them in theiraction, their combinations, theirunions, and their organizations ; andin fine, they must have been in-structed in all the art and science ofworld making.

35. There were some things, how.ever, which these spirits could notlearn while they remained in theirfirst estate : they could not learn thefeelings and sensations of spirits em-bodied in tabernacles of flesh andbones. An idea of these feelings andsensations could not be imparted tothem by teaching, nor by any othermeans whatsoever. No power oflanguage or signs could give themthe most distant idea of them. Anidea of those feelings and sensationscan only be obtained by actual expe-rience. They might be described tothem for millions of ages, and yetwithout being placed in , a conditionto experience them for themselves,they never could form any ideas con-cerning them. This may be illustra-ted by supposing an infant to be bornin a dungeon where not the least rayof light was ever permitted to enter.This infant might grow up to man-hood with the organs of vision per.feet, but he would have no idea what.ever of the sensation of seeing—hecould form no conception of light orof the beauty of the various colors oflight, though this sensation might bedescribed to him for one hundredyears, yet no power ot language couldconvey to him the faintest idea of redor green, or blue, or yellow, or ofanything else connected with the sen-sation s produced by light. Thesefeelings could only be learned by ac.tual experience ; then, and not tillthen, would he know anything about


it. So, likewise, there are manyfeelings and sensations arising fromthe intimate connexion of spirits with

flesh and bones that can only belearned by experience.

(To be continued.)

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE,.(Continued.)

In the Revelation on Marriage,we aye informed that there is neverhut one man on the earth at the sametime who holds the keys to ministerthe ceremony of marriage for timeand for all eternity, and to seal thesame on earth with authority, so thatit may be acknowledged and sealedin Heaven. The keys of authorityare conferred by revelation, and bythe holy annointing, upon the Prophet,Seer, and Revelator of the church,who is the President over all thesaints throughout the world. Incases where it is inconvenient forhim to attend, he has the authority toappoint others to officiate in his stead.But in CI cases of this nature, hemust be consulted by the parties, andhis sanction be obtained.

When a man who has a wife,teaches her the law of God, as re-vealed to the ancient patriarchs, andas manifested by new revelation, andshe refuses to give her consent forhim to marry another according tothat law, then, it becomes necessary,for her to state before the Presidentthe reasons why she withholds herconsent ; if her reasons are sufficientand justifiable and the husband isfound in the fault, or in transgression.then, he is not permitted to takeany step in regard to obtaininganother. But if the wife can showno good reason why she refuses tocomply with the law which was givenunto Sarah of old, then it is lawfulfor her husband, if permitted by reve-lation through the prophet, to bemarried to others without her consent, and he will he justified, andshe will be condemned, because shedid not give them unto him, as Sarahgave Hagar to Abraham, and asRachel and Leah gave Bilhah andZilpah to their husband, Jacob.

It is the duty of a man who takesanother wife to look after her wel.fare and happiness, and to providefor her the comforts of life the sameas for the first ; for the Scripture, inspeaking of such a man, says, "Ifhe take him another wife ; her food,her raimant, and her duty of mar-riage, shall he not diminish." (Exo-dus 21 : 10,)

There is no particular rule, as re-gards the residence of the differentbranches of a family. It is veryfrequently the case that they all re-side in the same dwelling, and takehold unitedly and with the greatestcheerfulness, of the different branchesof household or domestic business,eating at the same table, and kindlylooking after each others welfare,while the greatest peace and har-mony prevail year after year. Theirchildren play and associate togetherwith the greatest affection as brothersand sisters while each mother ap-parently manifests as much kindnessand tender regard for the children ofthe others, as for her own. Aridmorning and evening, when the hus-band calls together his family to wor-ship the Lord and call upon his name,they all bow the knee, and, with thegreatest union of feeling, offer theirdevotions to the Most High.

It is sometimes the case that thehusband provides for his wives sepa-rate habitations, as Jacob did for hisfour wives, each of whom had asepara , e tent. (See Genesis, 31 :33.) Where all the vives areequally faithful, the husband gene-rally endeavors to treat them allwithout partiality.

Jealousy is an evil with whichthe saints in Utah are but seldomtroubled : it is an evil that is notcountenanced by either male or


female ; and should any indulge sucha passion, they would bring a dis-grace and reproach upon themselveswhich they could not easily wipeaway. And indeed, it is very rare,that there are any causes for jealousy;for the citizens of that Territorythink more of their virtue than theydo of their lives. They know, thatif they have any connections out ofthe marriage covenant, they not onlyforfeit their lives by the law of God,but they forfeit their salvation also.With such views resting upon theminds of both old and young. the peo.ple have the greatest of confidence ineach others integrity: they can entrusttheir wives and daughters, withoutany distrust, to the protection andcare of their neighbors. Under thestrict and rigid laws of virtue whichprevail and are carried into generalpractice, wives are not in constantfear of the inconstancy of their hus-bands ; parents are not fearful oftheir children being seduced andtheir characters being destroyed ;neither ale they fearful that theirchildren will form contracts of mar-riage without their consent ; for sucha thing is not allowed in the wholeterritory. Such a state of thingsactually existing, not in theory alone,but in general practice, removesevery cause for jealousy, distrust, andwant of confidence, and lays a broadand permanent foundation for peaceand union. If a man ill-treats anyone of his wives, he is looked uponas having violated the law of God,and it is difficult for him to recoverfrom the disgrace.

There are more quarrellings, andjealousies, and disunions, and evilspeakings, in one week, among twothousand families, taken at randomany where in the United States orEngland, than would be seen through.out all Utah Territory in five years.And there is more unvirtuous conductpracticed in one day in New Yorkcity, or Albany or Buffalo, or Cincin-nati, or St. Louis, than would he prac-ticed in Utah in a thousand generations, unless they greatly degeneratedfrom their present standard of morals.

If the Gentile nations considerPatriarchal Matrimony "a mote"which has got into the Saints' eyes,let them, before they undertake topluck it out, extricate the greatbeams from their own eyes, and thenthey will learn that what they sup-posed to be " a mote" is in reality adivine institution, which was prac-ticed by the most holy men that everlived in ancient times under the sanc-tion and approbation of the Almighty.

Tradition causes individuals andnations to "strain at a gnat and swal-low a camel." They cry out, as thoughthey were frightened out of theirsenses, because a territory practiceslegal and lawful matrimony after thepattern set before them in the Scrip-tures ; but they can swallow downcomparatively easy, without scarcelyuttering a groan, the polluted wretch-ed, most filthy sinks of iniquity, thatprevail to an alarming extent in allthe large towns, cities, and sea-portsamong the Gentile nations. Onesuch den of polution, in ancient times,would have brought down the heaviestjudgments of the Almighty upon thewhole nation of Israel, until theyirradicated the evil, root and branch,from their midst. Yes, even for onecase of adultery, almost the wholetribe of Benjamin were destroyed,and that, too, by the command of God.(See 19, 20, and 21, chapters ofJudges.) But now tens of thousandsof public prostitutes may be found inone city such as New York, andninety thousand in another like Lon-don, and yet the United States andEngland call themselves christiannations, and pretend to worship Godwith all these abominations undertheir notice. Are the nations justi-fied who suffer such great wicked-ness in their midst ? Verily no.

Can any one suppose that God haschanged so that he does not look uponadulterous and unvirtuous pract.cesnow with the same degree of abhor-ence as he did anciently'? If for onesin of this description, twenty-fivethousand Benjaminites, together withtheir wives and little children weredestroyed by the command of God,


what must be the fierce wrath andterrible judgments laid up againstmodern Christendom who have suf-fered these abominations to prevailamong them, not in a few isolatedcases existing for a moment, but inhundreds of thousands of cases, wherepublic prostitutes swarming forth fromtheir deathly hellish dens, like somany venomous serpents, have corerupted nations and generations forcenturies and for ages !

Let this nation put these evils fromtheir midst ; let them enact strictlaws to protect the virtue of thecountry ; let the heaviest penalties beinflicted upon all public prostitutes,and upon all those who encouragethe same, either by precept or exam-ple ; let the priests and the people,the rulers and the ruled, clothe them-selves in sackcloth and weep beforethe Lord for the sins of the nation,which have reached unto the heavensand cry aloud for vengeance ; let themcleanse the land and wipe out of ex-istence these soul-destroying abomi-nations : then let them teach Utahvirtue, and their precepts will beheard and their admonitions received;then will the valiant-hearted sons anddaughters of the Mountain Territorybelieve that there is virtue still left inthe land ; and then shall the nationfind favor in the sight of heaven, andrise up in strength, in power, in glo-rious majesty, and extend their do.minions east, west, north, and south,and shall rule in triumph and ever-lasting honor unto the ends of theearth. But until then let them hidetheir faces in shame and blush indeep silence at the floodgates of in-iquity which pour forth their torrentsof corruption and death in all parts ofthe land.

Why do the Saints marry for alleternity as well as for time ? Be-cause both male and female expectto have a resurrection from the dead,and wish to enjoy each others soci-ety in the capacity of husbands andwives in the eternal worlds. Do thesaints believe that all those who havebeen husbands and wives in this lifewill enjoy that relationship after the

resurrection ? No ; they do not be.lieve that any will enjoy that privi-lege excepting those who have beenmarried by the word of the Lord, andby his authority for eternity. Whena man and woman enter into matri-monial contracts and covenant to beeach others companion until death,they have claim upon each other forthis life only ; when death comes,their marriage contracts and cove-nants expire ; and in the resurrection,however much they may desire toenjoy themselves in all the endearingrelationships of husband and wife,they will find that their contracts andcovenants which were made for timeonly, give them no title to each otherin eternity. Therefore, they will notbe permitted under any conditionswhatever to live together as husbandand wife. But can they not renewtheir contracts and be married againin that life ? No ; for Jesus says," In the resurrection they neithermarry nor are given in marriage, butare as the angels of Got in heaven."(Matthew 22 : 30.) Those who havenot secured their marriage for eter-nity in this life, can never have it at.tended to hereafter ; therefore, if theyshould through faithfulness even besaved, yet they would be no higherthan the angels, and would be com-pelled to live separately and singly,and consequently without posterity,and would become servants to alleternity, for those who are countedworthy to become kings and priests,and who will receive thrones andkingdoms, and an endless increase ofposterity, and inherit a far more ex-ceeding and eternal weight of glory.Such will need myriads of servantsas their kingdoms and dominions in-crease ; and the numbers requisitewill be found among those who keptnot the higher law, but still renderedthemselves worthy of an inferior re-ward.

The first marriage we have onrecord, is that of our first parents.After the Lord had formed Eve, He" brought her unto the man. AndAdam said, This is now bone of mybones, and flesh of my flesh : she


shall be called woman, because shewas taken out of man. Thereforeshall a man leave his father and hismother and shall cleave unto his wife,and they shall be one flesh." (Gen.2 : 22-24.) Here was a marriage inwhich the Lord in person officiated—a marriage between two immortalbeings. Both Adam and Eve wereso organized that death had no do.minion over their bodies ; they werecapable of living forever and ever.Death was not in the organization ;it came into the world by transgres-sion ; it was an enemy—a usurper—an evil which man brought upon him-self, or as Paul says, By one mansin entered into the world, and deathby sin." (Rom. 5 : 12.) If sin hadnot entered our world, death neverwould have been known in this crea-tion ; consequently our first parentswould have been living this day asfresh, and as fair, and as full of allthe vigor and strength of immortality,as in the morn of creation ; millionsof ages would have produced no effectupon their immortal systems ; theywould have been as durable as thethrone of Jehovah, and as lasting aseternity itself. Remember, then, thatwhen the Lord gave Eve to Adam,He gave an immortal woman to animmortal man : He made them oneflesh, not fir time, not for any definiteperiod of duration, not till death—forthat monster was not in the creation.which was then newly formed andpronounced " very good"—but Hejoined them in one, as one flesh, tobe indissolubly united while eternalages should roll on, or God himself'endure.

But man, through disobedience,opened the gates to the enemy ; deathenters armed with horrible ven-geance, and with a ghastly smile seatshimself upon the throne of the newworld, and clad with frightful majestyproclaims himself' The King of Ter.roes." All things feel his witheringtouch ; all nations and generationsare prostrated in the dust ; ruin anddesolation follow in his train ; thewhole creation groan beneath thegrasp of his tyrant hand Under his

direful reign our first parents werebanished from the presence of theirCreator—were disinherited from thegarden of Eden—were subjected tolabor and toil to procure food fromthe ground, cursed for man's sake.The seeds of death were combinedwith the very soil ; they organizedthemselves in every vegetable ; theywere mixed in all species of food de.rived from the ground ; all the ani-mal creation, with man himself, par-took thereof; and death thus took afirm hold upon every living beingthe immortal bodies of Adam and Evereceived the fatal curse—they yield-ed—they sank—they died—their bo-dies returned to dust.

But what was lost by the fall, wasrestored through Jesus Christ. Didthe original sin bring a curse uponthe earth ? The atonement redeemsfrom that curse and restores this cre.ation to its primeval beauty, goodness,and glory. Did that sin tear asunderbody and spirit, destroy the immortalworkmanship of the Creator, prostrateit low in the dust ? The redemptionwhich is in Christ will restore " boneto bone," limb to limb, and joint tojoint ; while flesh, sinews, and skin,will be restored to their original po.sition ; the spirit he restored to itsbody, and the body he restored to im-mortality. Did death tear asunderhusband and wife, divorce that whichGod had joined together as "oneflesh," immortal and eternal in itsnature ? The atonement of Christwill repair the breach, will restorethe immortal Eve to the immortalAdam, will join them again as oneflesh, never more to he separated,and will again let the lawful husbandenjoy the society of his lawful wife.

This restoration of Eve to Adamin the resurrection will require nonew ceremony of marriage ; for theywere never legally divorced; the fallwas not a divorce, for they lived forcenturies in their mortal state as hus-band and wife ; the death of the bodywas not a divorce, but only a separa.tion for a season ; consequently, theywere husband and wife in the spirit-ual state between death and the re-


eurrection ; there is nothing con-nected with the resurrection which iscalculated to divorce; on the contrary,the resurrection, instead of being a di-vorcing or separating power, is a re-storing or uniting power : therefore,Adam and Eve will not need to bemarried after the resurrection, forthere never will be one moment, fromthe time of their marriage in theGarden of Eden to the endless agesof eternity, that they will cease to belegally husband and wife.

If the Lord had waited until afterthe fall before he solemnized themarriage of our first parents, and thenhad joined them as husband and wifeonly until death ; when the time runout and death came, the marriagecontract would have been no longerbinding, and they would have ceasedfrom that moment to be lawfully hus-band and wife ; and as there is nomarrying after the resurrection, theywould have remained to all eternityin a single state,

If the Lord should fail to restore toAdam his wife after the resurrec-tion, then the redemption throughChrist would not be as broad as thefall. That which was joined as "oneflesh" by the Lord Himself was putasunder, but not divorced by the en-emy death ; if Christ does not restorethat which the enemy has taken away,then the redemption is incomplete ;then death would have greater powerthan He who holds the " keys ofdeath," which would be unscripturaland absurd. Christ has power overthe devil, and the devil has powerover death. (See Heb. 2 : 14.) AndChrist will destroy the works of thedevil from the earth, and death andhell will be banished to the lake offire and brimstone, and our first pa-rents, being delivered from these en-emies, will be as immortal as theywere on their bridal day.

The union of these two immortalbeings in the marriage covenant, wasfor the purpose of lawfully multiply-ing their species ; for the first greatcommand given to man was to " befruitful, and multiply and replenishthe earth." And it pleased God that

man should obey this important com-mand only through the marriage or.dinance. All other associations ofthe sexes, as we have already proved,were under the severest penaltiesforbidden. It must be recollectedthat when this great command wasgiven, and when they were joinedas one flesh for the purpose of obey.ing it, they were immortal both bodyand spirit. They did not obey thiscommand while in their immortalstate ; they fell from immortality tomortality, after which they began tomultiply their fallen species upon theearth. If they had complied withthe command before the fall, it wouldhave been impossible for them tohave raised up children of mortal fleshand bones, subject to death. Mortalchildren could not spring from im-mortal parents.

Is it possible for immortal beingsto multiply ? If it is not, then whydid God give such a command to theimmortal male and female ? It maybe said that they fulfilled the designembraced in the command after theythrough transgression became mortal;but did God command them to sin,and tall, and become mortal, in orderto raise up mortal posterity that thefirst command might he obeyed andmade honorable ? Would He com-mend them to disobey one law in or-der to keep another ? If they couldnot have multiplied while immortal,it was absolutely necessary that theyshould break one law to obey another.But, on the other hand, if they couldhave multiplied while immortal, thentheir posterity would of necessityhave been immortal also ; otherwise,death would have entered the worldwithout sin, which no one for a mo-ment could believe. Who then can.not easily see that the very existenceof mortal man on this earth dependedon the fall ? Who so dull of appre-hension that he cannot perceive thatif our first parents had not fallen, we,as mortal beings, could have had noexistence ? Mortal children of fleshand blood could not have been born.

After our first Parents had becomefallen, and consequently mortal, it

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.

was impossible for them to obey thecommand to multiply as immortalbeings and raise up immortal chil-dren. It is true, they could offer asubstitute of a mortal posterity, sub-ject to death, instead of an immortalone ; but would the Lord accept sucha substitution, as sufficient to an-swer the ends of the great command,given to them as immortal beings ?Would He consider the commandhonored and fulfilled, by being pre-sented with a fallen, deathly, corrupt,mortal race, instead of an immortal,heavenly race, blooming in all thefreshness of eternal life ? If Godwill not be satisfied with such a sub-stitution, would it be any thing morethan reasonable that He should de-vise a plan by which our first Parentscould be restored to immortality, andto the earth, and again be placed ina condition to multiply their speciesas immortal beings ? Can they everobey that law, so as to answer theend and design for which it wasgiven, unless they shall, as immortalbeings, " Multiply and Replenish theearth " with an immortal posterity ?God will not suffer the fall of man tothwart the great and eternal purposehe had in view in that comrna,nd.The redemption through Christ wasintended to restore both male andfemale to immortality, that what theylost by the fall might be regained.If the fall deprived them of thepower of raising up an immortalposterity, the redemption will restorethat privilege, or else it will be incomplete. Adam must, therefore,have restored to him his belovedwife—his immortal Eve ; and theymust be placed upon the New Earth,redeemed from the effects of theirtransgression, where they will " Mul-tiply and replenish " the same withimmortal children, as they were com-manded to do in the first place, butfailed, because of transgression.Thus will God show to all his crea-tions, that the enemy has not defeat-ed His designs and purposes, butthat they will all be fulfilled and ac-complished, and that the Devil whosought to overthrow them, has, him.

self, been defeated and banished fromthis creation into his own place.

If our first Parents were marriedfor eternal ages, for the purpose ofmultiplying an immortal offspring,we cannot fbr one moment supposethat there will ever a period arrivethroughout all future duration, whenthey will cease to obey this command.Hence their own sons and their owndaughters, aside from their grand-children, will be as numerous as thedust of the earth, or in other words,there will be no end to their increase.At the average rate of one per year,in a thousand million of years, theywould people an earth as large asthis with their own sons and daugh-ters : and if we let our minds stretchstill further into the future ages ofeternity, we can say, with confidence,that the period will arrive, whentheir own children, without reckon-ing their (childrens') descendants,will be sufficiently numerous to peo-pie as many worlds as have beendiscovered by the aid of the mostpowerful telescopes ; and we cansay of them, that " Of the increaseof their government," or of theirkingdoms, " there will be no end."

But was the command to multiplylimited to our first Parents ? No ; itextended to their posterity also. Ifthe command required immortal Pa-rents to multiply, it surely would re.quire the same things of the children ;but it may be said, that through thetransgression of the Paronts the chil-dren are born mortal, and therefore,that they have not the privilege of rais-ing up an immortal posterity. But itmust be recollected, that the samesin which prevents the children, alsoprevented the first parents from fill-filling that command ; and the sameredemption which redeems the pa.rents, also redeems the children, andrestores them all to immortality.Therefore, if the children have beenmarried for eternity, as well as fortime, by the authority of God, thesame as their first Parents were, theywill, with them, raise up, after theresurrection, an endless posterity ofimmortal beings. In this manner,


the children, as well as the parents,are placed in a redeemed condition,wherein they can eternally obey thecommand to multiply.

But those who do not, in this life,enter into the eternal covenant ofmarriage, after the pattern set by thefirst immortal pair, can never obeythe first great command. If anyshall say that they obey that in thislife, to them we reply, that a fallen,corrupt, mortal posterity, will neverbe accepted, as sufficient to answerthe ends of that great law whichwas given to man in his immortalstate. Immortal beings only can obeythat law acceptably, according to thereal design and purpose which theLord had in view. They, therefore.who enter not into the everlastingcovenant of marriage, can never Obeythat law ; and because they have notplaced themselves in a condition toobey it, they will find in the resurrec-tion, that they have no lawful compan-ions, and cannot enjoy the same ful-ness of glory as their first Parents, andas others who have been joined bythe Lord eternally as one flesh.They, therefore, must be numberedwith the angels who do not keep thelaw ; while those who do keep it,will sit upon thrones of judgmentand will judge those angels and makethem their servants, and they shallserve them throughout endless gene-rations forever and ever, for angelshave no power to enlarge themselvesby an increase of posterity. But tothose who keep the law through theeternal covenant of marriage, shall ho-nor, and glory, and dominion, and eter-nal lives, he added to endless ages inworlds without end. By such shallworlds he peopled with their ownsons and daughters ; and their eter-nal kingdoms shall be multiplied asthe stars of Heaven which no mancan number. By such shall God heglorified, in the continuation of Hisworks, in the extension of the Uni-verse, in the redemption and glorifi-cation of worlds, and in the increaseof intelligent, immortal, Godlikebeings who inherit all the fulness ofHis own great perfections.

No uninspired man has authorityfrom God to join together the maleand female in the marriage covenant.Marriage is an ordinance of God, andwe read that " What God bath joinedtogether let not man put asunder."(Matthew 19: 6.) Where manusurps authority to officiate in theordinance of God, and joins togetherthe sexes in marriage, such unionsare illegal in the sight of God, thoughthey may be legal according to thelaws and governments of men. Thepower to officiate in the ordinancesof God has not been upon the earthsince the great apostasy, until thepresent century. Something likeseventeen centuries have passedaway since the authority was lost onthe eastern hemisphere to administerin any of the ordinances of God.During that long period marriageshave been celebrated according to thecustoms of human governments, byuninspired men, holding no authorityfrom God ; consequently, all theirmarriages, like their baptisms, areillegal before the Lord. Point out tous a husband and wife that God hasjoined together from the second cen-tury of the Christian era until thenineteenth, if any can. Such a phe-nomenon cannot be found amongChristians or Jews, Mahometans orPagans. All are without prophetsor inspired men—all are without di-vine authority : none have had powerto seal on earth the marriage cov-enant that it might he sealed in hea-ven ; none during that long periodhave heard the voice of the Lordcommanding them to officiate in thosesacred ordinances.

Marriages, then, among all nations,though legal according to the laws ofmen, have been illegal according tothe laws, authority, and institutionsof Heaven. All the children bornduring that long period, though legit-imate according to the customs andlaws of nations, are illegitimate ac-cording to the order and authority ofHeaven. Those things which areperformed by the authority of men,God will overthrow and destroy, andthey will be void and of no effect in

48 CATALOGUE OF WORKS, CONTENTS, &C.

the day of the resurrection. AUthings ordained of God and performedand sealed by His authority, will re.main after the resurrection. Thatwhich is of man, will be of no forceor authority after death ; that whichis of God, will endure forever. Re-publics and kingdoms, thrones and

empires, principalities and powers,and all things else of human origin,shall be cast down and destroyed andvanish away like " the dream of anight vision ;" but all things sealedon earth and in Heaven, shall abideforever and have no end.

(To be continued.)


ORSON PRATT, WASHINGTON, D. C.,

AND


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CONTENTS.

Figure and Magnitude of Spirits asThe Pre-existence of Man 37Celestial Marriage. 41Catalogue of Works. 48



All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign en the Mountains.—Isaiah xvitr, 3.

VOL. I. APRIL, 1853. No. 4.

THE PRE--EXISTENCE OF MAN.(Continued.)

36. There are two different kindsof knowledge : one kind is obtainedfrom reason and reflection, of whichself-evident truths are the foundation ;the other kind is gained by sensationor experience. The ideas relatingto the first kind are obtained by com-paring truth with truth ; hence theyare acquired by spirits in this man.ner, and can be communicated tothem independant of experience.The ideas of the latter kind cannotbe obtained by reasoning or reflec-tion ; they can only he learned by ex-perience. Spirits, therefore, can ad-vance to the highest degree of knowl.edge in some things, while in othersthey must remain in ignorance untilthey are placed in circumstances tolearn them by experience. Nowthere are many experimental truthswhich are just as necessary to belearned as truths of a different nature,and without the knowledge of whichan intelligent being could never beperfected in happiness and glory ;hence it becomes necessary that thesespirits should enter bodies of flesh andbones, that they by experience maylearn things which could not belearned in the spiritual state. Noneof these spirits are permitted to havetabernacles of flesh if they have vio-lated the laws of their first estate and

altogether turned therefrom ; for ifthey will not abide in the laws of thespiritual state and hold sacred theknowledge therein gained, their Fatherwill not entrust them with the knowl.edge to be gained in the second es-tate. If they keep not the first es-tate, they will not be permitted toenter upon the second ; and this istheir torment because they are heldback and are prohibited from advan-cing in knowledge and glory with therest of the family who have beenfaithful.

37. That there has been a rebel.lion among these spirits, is evidentfrom the Scriptures. The ApostleJohn says, "And there appearedanother wonder in Heaven ; and be.hold a great red dragon, having sevenheads and ten horns, and sevencrowns upon his heads. And histail drew the third part of the starsof Heaven, and did cast them to theearth." " And there was war inHeaven : Michael and his angelsfought against the dragon ; and thedragon fought and his angels, andprevailed not; neither was theirplace found any more in Heaven.And the great dragon was cast out,that old Serpent, called the Devil,and Satan, which deceiveth the wholeworld : he was cast out into the earth,

5o THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

and his angels were cast out withhim." (Rev. 12 ; 3, 4, 7, 8, 9.)The name of the being who headedthis rebellion, was called, " Dragon,"" Serpent," '.Devil," or Satan ;"the place where the war commenced,was Heaven : the persons, engagedwith the Devil were " his angels,"called "the stars of Heaven": the num.ber of Satan's army was "the thirdpart of the stars of Heaven" or of" the angels," the other two thirdswere headed by Michael : the Devil'sarmy were banished from Heaven tothe earth. Some, perhaps, mayimagine that these angels werebeings who had been redeemed fromsome former world, and afterwardsrebelled ; but if this were the case,they would not be evil spirits, butwould be evil beings, having fleshand bones, and consequently wouldbe unable to enter into the taberna.des of human beings ; but as manyof them frequently have entered intoone person, it shows most clearlythat they are spirits. Others, per.haps, may imagine that these fallenangels are the spirits of evil menwho have died on some former world,and whose bodies have never beenraised ; but this conjecture would notharmonize with the plan, pursued inregard to the wicked of this creationwho are all to be raised from thedead and their spirits and bodies tobe reunited ; neither would it har-monize with the testimony of theApostle Jude who says, " The angelswhich kept not their first estate, hutleft their own habitation, he bath re.served in everlasting chains underdarkness unto the judgment of thegreat day." (Jude, verse 6.) Thispassage proves that fallen angels arethose who were on trial in their firstestate. Angels do not receive fleshlybodies until they enter their secondestate, consequently those in the firstestate must be spirits. That theseangels were spirits, pertaining to thiscreation, and not to a former one, isshown from the fact, that they arereserved " in chains under darknessunto the judgment of the great day."If they had lived in a first estate,

preceeding the one where our spiritswere on trial, then they would havebeen judged on a previous world .but their judgment day has not yetcome, but will come at the end of theearth, or at the time when the wickedof this world are judged. If, then,they are to receive a judgment inconnection with the inhabitants ofthis earth, they must have formed aportion of the same family in thefirst estate, and did not have an originanterior to the family, designed forthis earth.

38. Having learned that there hasbeen war in Heaven, let us next in.quire, at what period this war ended ?It is very plain that the war musthave been raging in Heaven afterthe earth was formed ; for when theDevil and his angels were cast outof Heaven, they were banished toour earth, consequently the earthwas formed and in exi3tence at theclose of the war in Heaven. TheDevil was on the earth at the timeAdam and Eve were in the garden :it was he that lied to Eve and de-ceived her ; hence, he is called "a liarfrom the beginning " or " the fatherof lies." Now whether he and hisangels had, at that early period, beencast out of Heaven upon the earth,is not, in the English version of theBible, clearly revealed. If they hadnot at the period of the fall of Adam,already received their banishmentfrom heaven, the Devil must, at least,have come, by permission, to thisearth, and entered into the garden ;and if his expulsion had not, at thattime, taken place, he would, afterhaving accomplished his evil designsin bringing about the fall of man,have returned again to his armies inHeaven to encourage them in theirunholy and malicious warfare. Butfrom the testimony, in the revelationswhich God gave through JosephSmith, the prophet, we are informedthat Adam was Michael. It is rea-sonable, therefore, to suppose, thatMichael who headed the armies inHeaven against the Devil's forceswould continue the command until theclose of the war or until the Devil's army

THE PEE-EXISTENCE OF MAN. 51

were banished to the earth. To haveleft his post, and resigned his com-mand before the enemy was over-come, would have been only a partialvictory, and the trial in the first estatewould have been incomplete. Noth-ing short of a full discomfiture of theenemy's forces and their banishmentfrom Heaven, would have renderedthe victory complete ; nothing shortof this, would have entitled them tothe praise of having kept their firstestate. It is plain, therefore, thatthe war in Heaven had ended, beforeMichael left Heaven, and entered abody of flesh and bones under thename of Adam.

39. When did this war in Heavencommence ? All the light we haveupon this question is contained inmodern revelations, and in those an-cient revelations which have been re.vealed anew through Joseph the Seer.We quote the following from the bookof Abraham: " Now the Lord hadshown unto me, Abraham, the intel-ligences that were organized beforethe world was; and among all these,there were many of the noble andgreat ones; and God saw these soulsthat they were good, and he stood inthe midst of them, and he said, theseI will make my rulers ; for he stoodamong those that were spirits, and hesaw that they were good; and he saidunto me, Abraham, thou art one ofthem, thou wast chosen before thouwast born. And there stood oneamong them that was like unto God,and he said unto those who were withhim, we will go down, for there isspace there, and we will take of thesematerials, and we will make an earthwhereon these may dwell; and wewill prove them herewith, to see itthey will do all things whatsoever theLord their God shall command them;and they who keep their first estate,shall be added upon ; and they whokeep not their first estate, shall nothave glory in the same kingdom withthose who keep their first estate ; andthey who keep their second estate,shall have glory added upon theirheads forever and ever. And theLord said, who shall I send ? And

one answered like unto the Son ofMan, here am I, send me. Andanother answered and said, here amI, send me. And the Lord said, Iwill send the first. And the secondwas angry, and kept not his first es-tate, and, at that day, many followedafter him. And then the Lord said,let us go down ; and they went downat the beginning, and they organizedand formed (that is, the Gods) theHeavens and the earth. And theearth, after it was formed, was emptyand desolate, because they had notformed anything but the earth ; anddaikness reigned upon the face df thedeep, and the spirit of the Gods wasbrooding upon the faces of the water."In this divine history, we are informedthat the rebellion commenced at thetime that the heavenly host werecounseling together, concerning theformation of this earth and the peg).pling of the same. The rebellion,therefore, must have been raging fromthe time of the holding of this grandcouncil, until the foundations of theearth were laid, and probably toofor some time after ; but it must havebeen some time during the periodbetween the beginning of this crea-tion and the completion of the same,preparatory to the reception of Mi-chael or Adam, that Satan and hisarmy were overcome and banished tothe earth. How long the period was,intervening between the time of hold-ing the council and the beginning ofthis creation, is not revealed ; it mayhave been only a very short period,or it may have been millions of years.And again, how long it was from thecommencement of the creation, untilSatan was cast out, is not revealed ;because we do not know the lengthof time included in each day's work,pertaining to the creation ; neither dowe know on which of these days orperiods he was cast out.

40. The cause of Satan's' rebel-lion is more fully described in the in-spired translation of the book ofGenesis, as revealed by JOSEPH theSEER. We give the following quota-tion: "And I, the Lord God, spakeunto Moses, saying, that Satan, whom

52 THE PEE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

thou halt commanded in the name ofmine Only Begotten,* is the samewhich was from the beginning ; andhe came before me saying, behold me,send me, I will be thy son, and I willredeem all mankind, that one soulshall not be lost, and surely I will doit : wherefore give me thine honor.But behold, my beloved Son, whichwas my beloved and chosen from thebeginning, said unto me, Father, thywill be done, and the glory be thineforever. Wherefore, because thatSatan rebelled against me, and soughtto destroy the agency of man, whichI, the Lord God, had given him, andalso, that I should give unto him mineown power, by the power of mineOnly Begotten I caused that he shouldbe cast clown ; and he became Satan,yea, even the devil, the fitther of alllies, to deceive and to blind men, andto lead them captive at his will, evenas many as would not hearken untomy voice. And now the serpent wasmore subtle than any beast of thefield which I, the Lord God, hadmade. And Satan put it iiito theheart of the serpent, (for he haddrawn away many after him,) and hesought also to beguile Eve, for heknew not the mind of God : where.fore, be sought to destroy the world,yea, and he said unto the woman,yea, hath God said ye not eat ofevery tree of the gar len, (and hespake by the mouth o the serpent,)but of the fruit of the tree which thouheholdest in the midst of the garden,God hath said, ye shall not eat of it,neither shall ye taste it, lest ye die.For God loth know that in the dayye eat thereof; then your eyes shallbe opened, and ye shall be as Gods,knowing good and evil." From thequotation which we have given fromthe Book of Abraham, it is shownthat the council, where this rebellionfirst started, was held before the earthwas made. And in this last quota.lion from Genesis, we learn some of

• For the contest which Moses had withthe devil, see a revelation which was givento Moses, previous to his writing the book ofGenesis, published in " The Pearl of GreatPrice."

the causes which excited the revolt.It seems that Satan had proposed aplan to "redeem all mankind, that onesoul should not be lost ;" and believ.ing that his plan was superior to anyother suggested in the council, he wasdetermined to carry it into effect atall hazards ; hence, he said to theLord, "surely I will do it; where foregive me thine honor."

41. If Satan had been permittedto carry out his plan, it would eitherhave destroyed the agency of man, sothat he could not commit sin ; or itwould have redeemed him in his sinsand wickedness without any repent•ance or reformation of life. If theagency of man were destroyed, hewould only act as he is acted upon,and consequently he would merely hea machine ; and his actions wouldhave neither merit or demerit, so faras he was concerned, and couldneither he punished nor rewarded,and would produce neither miserynor joy. Destroy the agency of man,and you destroy the main-spring ofhis happiness. Again, take away theagency of man, and you deprive himof his intelligence ; for intelligence isthe original force or cause of actionsit is a self-moving force ; and all ac-tions, resulting from such a force,must necessarily be free. If, there..fore, the agency of man or his free.dom of action be destroyed, you des.troy his self-moving force ; and if youdeprive him of such force, you deprivehim of' intelligence ; therefore, agencyis essential to the very existence ofintelligence. This truth is clearlyrevealed in a revelation given toJOSEPH the SEER, which reads as fol-lows : "All truth is independent inthat sphere in which God has placedit, to act for itself, as all intelligencealso, otherwise there is no existence.Behold, here is the agency of man."(Doc. and Coy., sec. 83, par. 5.)The plan proposed by the devil, whilehe was yet in his first estate or inHeaven, was to destroy the agency ofman, thereby depriving him of theintelligence which God had given tohim, and by this process man wouldbe unable to do, of his own accord,


either good or evil ; and Satan thoughtthat he could thus "redeem all man-kind, that not one soul should be lost."He did not perceive that man, re.deemed after his plan, v luld be aperfect idiot, without the least glim-mering of intelligence.

Some, perhaps, may think we havemisrepresented the intentions ofthe devil; for they can scarcely be-lieve him to be so profoundly ignorantas to propose a plan which would, inits very nature, destroy the intelli-gence or knowledge of the humanrace. Such, perhaps, may argue thatit is more reasonable to suppose thatthe devil intended to leave them totheir agency, so far as doing good orevil is concerned ; and that thus theirintelligence would be retained ; hutthat he designed to redecm themfrom the effects of their sins withoutany exercise of their agency in theact of repentance or reformation.Such a plan, we admit, would thwartthe ends of justice, and would admitunholy and sinful beings into thekingdom of God ; such beings wouldbe redeemed in all their sins andwould still be determined to pursue asinful course. And such characterswould turn a Heaven into a hell, andmake themselves miserable, and alsoall others with whom they were as-sociated. But such a plan, though itdestroys justice, does not destroy theagency of man. It is true, that itredeems him without the exercise ofhis agency, dut does not deprive himof it. But the revelation says, thatSatan desired to bring about the re.demption of all mankind by the de.struction of his agency; it reads thus :"Satan rebelled against me, andsought to destroy the agency of manwhich I, the Lord God, had givenhim, and also, that I should give untohim mine own power." Howeverwise Satan may have been, in somerespects, this plan certainly was avery foolish one. Satan's sin doesnot appear to have consisted whollyin the foolishness of the plan whichbe proposed before the grand councilof Heaven, hut in his stubbornnessor unwillingness to yield to the su-

perior light of the council ; havingdevised the plan, he was determinedto carry it into effect : therefore hesought to overthrow the kingdom andto usurp the power thereof in his ownhands ; hence, he demanded of theLord, saying, "Give me thine honor,"or as the Lord expresses himself inthe above quotation, "Satan rebelledagainst me, and sought that I shouldgive unto him mine own power."

42. However foolish Satan's planmay appear to us, it must have ap-peared plausible to many of his breth-ren : they looked upon a theory whichthey supposed would redeem them allto be superior to all others. Theyeither had not sufficient intelligenceto judge of the consequences of ascheme, destroying the agency ofman ; or else they preferred to runthe risk of the results, rather thancome under a plan, founded upon theprinciples of justice and mercy, whichwould punish and reward them ac-cording to their works. It may be,that they were capable of discerningand judging righteously, every schemethat was proposed, but were carelessand indifferent upon these subjects,deciding with Satan, before they hadmade sufficient investigation, andhaving taken sides, they were de-termined to maintain their position.

43. It is not likely that the finaldecision of the contending armiestook place immediately. Many, nodoubt, were unsettled in their views,unstable in their minds, and undecid-ed as to which force to join : theremay have been, for aught we know,many deserters from both armies :and there may have been a long pe-riod before the division line was sostrictly drawn as to become unalter-able. Laws, without doubt, wereenacted, and penalties affixed, ac-cording to the nature of the offencesor crimes : those who altogetherturned from the Lord, and were de-termined to maintain the cause ofSatan, and who proceeded to theutmost extremities of wickedness,placed themselves without the reachof redemption : therefore, such wereprohibited from entering into a second


probationary state, and had no privi.lege of receiving bodies of flesh andbones. A second estate, to themwould have been of no advantage,because they had sinned to that ex-tent that the Spirit of the Lord hadentirely left them, and light and truthno longer dwelt in them, therefore,they could not feel a disposition torepent ; and if they had been permit.ted to enter another state of trial,they would have continued their un-holy warfare. And, also, if theyhad been permitted to receive fleshlybodies, they would have propogatedtheir species, and instilled into theminds of their children the samedevilish principles which reigned intheir own bosoms. Therefore, theLord thrust them out of Heaven and"reserved them in chains of everlast-ing darkness until the judgment ofthe great day" which will come atthe end of the earth. The numbercast out were about one-third part, asrevealed, not only to John on the isleof Patmos, hut to JOSEPH the SEER,as follows :—"And it came to pass,that Adam being tempted of the De.vil ;. for, behold, the Devil was beforeAdam, for he rebelled against me,saying, Give me thine honor whichis my power ; and also a third partof the hosts of Heaven turned heaway from me, because of theiragency ; and they were thrust down,and thus came the Devil and his an-gels. And, behold, there is a placeprepared for them from the begin.ning, which place is hell." (Doc.and Cov., sec. 10, par. 10 )

44. Among the two-thirds who re-mained, it is highly probable, that,there were many who were not val.ient in the war, but whose sins wereof such a nature that they could heforgiven through faith in the futuresufferings of the Only Begotten ofthe Father, and through their sincererepentance and reformation. We seeno impropriety in Jesus offering Him-self as an acceptable offering and sa-crifice before the Father to atone forthe sins of His brethren, committed,not only in the second, but also inthe first estate. Certain it was, that

the work which Jesus was to accom-plish, was known in the Grand Coun-cil where the rebellion broke out ; itwas known that man would sin inhis second estate ; for it was uponthe subject of his redemption that theassembly became divided, and whichresulted in war. John, the revels.tor, speaking of a certain power,says, "And all that dwell upon theearth shall worship him, whosenames are not written in the bookof life of the Lamb slain from thefoundation of the world." (Rev. 13:8.) Now we may ask, Why wasthe Lamb, considered as "slain fromthe foundation of the world?" Ifthere were no persons who hadsinned in their first estate, that couldbe benefitted by the sufferings oftheir elder brother, then we can seeno reason for considering Him atthat early period, as already slain:the very fact, that the atonementwhich was to be made in a futureworld, was considered as alreadyhaving been made, seems to showthat there were those who had sin-ned, and who stood in need of thethe atonement. The nature of thesufferings of Christ was such that itcould redeem the spirits of men aswell as their bodies. The word ofthe Lord, through JOSEPH, the pro-phet, to Martin Harris, reads thus:—" I command you to repent—repent,lest I smite you by the rod of mymouth, and by my wrath, and by myanger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not! how exqui-site you know not! yea, how hardto hear you know not ! For behold,T, God, have suffered these things forall, that they might not suffer if theywould repent; but if they would notrepent, they must suffer even as I,which suffering caused myself; evenGod, the greatest of all to tremblebecause of pain, and to bleed at everypore, and to suffer both body andspirit ; and would that I might notdrink the bitter cup and shrink—'nevertheless, glory be to the Father,and I partook and finished my prepa.rations unto the children of men."(Doc. and Coy. sec. 44 : 2.) Jesus


suffered, not only in body, but alsoin spirit. By the sufferings of Hisbody lie atoned for the sins of mencommitted in and by the body : bythe sufferings of His spirit, He atonedfor the sins committed by the spirit ;hence, the atonement redeems bothbody and spirit. It is reasonable,therefore, to suppose that if spirits inthe first estate sinned, they might beforgiven through their faith and re-pentance, by virtue of the future sufferings of Christ.

45. That the spirits of men did re-ceive promises and gifts before theworld began, is clearly manifest inmany parts of Scripture. The Apos-tle Paul writes as follows :—In hopeof eternal life, which God, that can-not lie, promised before the world be-gan." (Titus 1 : 2.) God " pro-mised" "eternal life." When wasthis promise made ? It was made" before the world began" To whomwas it made ? It was made to thespirits of men who existed before theworld began. We were comfortedwith the promises of God when wedwelt in His presence. We couldthen look upon the face of the FirstBorn and consider Him as alreadyslain, or as Peter says, that He" verily was foreordained before thefoundation of the world." (I Pet. 1:'20.) When we were in our spiritualstate. all the grace or mercy we re-ceived, was because of Christ. Paul.in speaking of God, says, " Who hathsaved us, and called us with an holycalling, not according to our works,but according to His own purposeand grace, which was given us inChrist Jesus before the world be-gan." (2 Tim. 1: 9.) Accordingto this passage, and the precedingones, Paul, Timothy, Titus, and othersexisted before the world began, andin that anterior existence, God madepromises unto them of eternal life,and also gave them grace "in ChristJesus." The apostle Paul also says :" Blessed be the God and Father ofof our Lord Jesus Christ, who hathblessed us with all spiritual blessingsin heavenly places in Christ : ac-cording as He hath chosen us in

Him before the foundation of theworld." (Eph. 1: 3, 4.) Now ifthe Apostles and others were called" with an holy calling," and " chosenin Christ before the foundation of theworld," and actually received gracein Christ, and had the promise of"Eternal Life" made to them " be-fore the world began," then whyshould it be thought incredible, thatin and through Christ they also re-ceived forgiveness of the sins whichthey may have committed in that pre.-existant state ?

46. If all the two-thirds who kepttheir first estate were equally valientin the war, and equally faithful, whyshould some of them he called andchosen in their spiritual state to holdresponsible stations and offices inthis world, while others were not?If there were none of those spiritswho sinned, why were the Apostles,when tbey existed in their previousstate, chosen to be blessed with allspiritual blessings in heavenly placesin Christ?" All these passages seemto convey an idea, that there werecallings, choosings, ordinances, pro-mises, predestinations, elections, andappointments, made before the worldbegan. The same idea is also con-veyed in the quotation which we havealready made from the Book of Abra-ham. " Now the Lord had shewnunto me, Abraham, the intelligencesthat were organized before the worldwas ; and among all these there weremany of the noble and great ones ;and God saw these souls that theywere good, and he stood in the midstof them, and he said, these I willmake my rulers ; for he stood amongthose that were spirits, and he sawthat they were good ; and he saidunto me, Abraham, thou art cne ofthem, thou wast chosen before thouwast born." Now is there not rea.son to believe, that the nobility orgreatness which many of these spiritspossessed, was obtained by faithful.ness to the cause of God ? Was itnot because of their righteousnessthat they were appointed to be theLord's Rulers ? How did Abrahambecome one of the noble and great


spirits How came the Lord tochoose Abraham before he was born ?If we had an answer to these ques-tions, we should very probably findthat Abraham stood up valiently forthe Son of God at the time the re.bellion broke out : and that becauseof his integrity and righteousness,the Lord chose him before he wasborn to hold authority and power inhis second estate, to become thefather of the faithful, and to be ablessing to all nations.

47. All the spirits when they comehere are innocent, that is, if theyhave ever committed sins, they haverepented and obtained forgivenessthrough faith in the future sacrificeof the Lamb. So far as innocencyis concerned, they enter this worldalike ; but so far as circumstancesare concerned they are not alike.One class of spirits are permitted tocome into the world in an age whenthe priesthood and kingdom of Godare on the earth, and they hear andreceive the gospel ; others enter theworld in an age of daikness, and areeducated in foolish and erroneous doc-trines. Some are born among thepeople of God and are brought up inthe right way ; others are born amongthe heathen, and taught to worshipidols. Some spirits take bodies in thelineage of the chosen seed, throughwhom the priesthood is transferred.others receive bodies among theAfrican negroes or in the lineage ofCanaan whose descendants werecursed, pertaining to the priesthood.Now if' all the spirits were equallyfaithful in their first estate in keepingthe laws thereof, why are they placedin such dissimilar circumstances intheir second estate? Why are someplaced in circumstances where theyare taught of God, become rulers,kings, and priests, and finally are ex-alted to all the fulness of Celestialglory ; while others are taught in allkinds of wickedness, and never hearthe gospel, till they hear it in prisonafter death, and in the resurrectionreceive not a Celestial glory, but aTerrestrial ? If rewards and punish-ments are the results of good and

evil actions, then it would seem thatthe good and evil circumstances un-der which the spirits enter this world,must depend upon the good and evilactions which they had done in theprevious world. Our condition whenwe enter the next world will dependupon our conduct here, By analogy,then, does, not our condition when weenter this world, depend upon ourconduct before we were born ? Doesnot the question which the Apostlesput to the Saviour, respecting theman who was born blind, show thatthey considered it possible for a manto sin before he was born ? Theyconsidered it reasonable that a personshould be born blind as a penalty forthe sins which he had•committed be-fore he was born. Though the spiritsare all innocent when they come heremay it not be possible that they areforgiven and made innocent on con-dition that they shall enter this worldunder circumstances either favorableor unfavorable, according to the na-ture of their sins ? Do not the in.habitants of our world, who are raisedfrom the dead, differ in glory as onestar differs from another ? Is it notnecessary that they should be for-given of all their sins and made in-nocent before they can receive theHoly Ghost or any degree of glory ?And do not the differences of theircondition in the resurrection dependupon the nature of their actions inthis life ? If then they must be for-given and become innocent beforethey can even enter a kingdom ofglory, and if, when they do enterthere, it is under a great variety ofcircumstancies, depending on theiractions here, then we may fromanalogy reason that the spirits must beforgiven and become innocent beforethey can even come here, and thatwhen they do come, it will be under aa great variety of conditions, dependingon their actions in a previous state.

48,. Though there may be manycallings, and appointments in a pre-vious state, relating to a future state,yet we do not imagine that the Lordhas made any decrees consigningany individual, who is favored with


coming into this state, unto eternaldamnation or salvation without con-ditions. Such a view would be en-tirely in opposition to the generaltenor of the scriptures. Salvation isfree for all who will comply with theconditions thereof: but there are cer-tain callings, ordinances, appoint-ments, and authority, pertaining tothis life, which were conferred uponspirits before they came here, andwhich, doubtless, were promised tothem because of their good works inthe spirit world.

49. The division line being per-manently drawn between Michael'sand the Devil's forces, the latter wereoverpowered and cast down, and thewhole heavens wept over their fall.A description of this is given in avision shown to Joseph the Seer andSidney Rigdon : we give the follow.ing extract : " And this we saw alsoand bear record, that an angel of Godwho was in authority in the presenceof God, who rebelled against the onlybegotten Son, whom the Father loved,and who was in the bosom of theFather, was thrust down from thepresence of God and the Son, andwas called Perdition, for the heavenswept over him—he was Lucifer, ason of the morning. And we beheld.and lo, he is fallen ! is fallen ! evena son of the morning." (Doc. & Coy.,sec. 92 : par. 3.) Peace being re-stored in Heaven, and all who re.mained, having kept their first estateand overcome Satan, the next greatwork to be accomplished was toplace these spirits upon the newearth in tabernacles of flesh andbones, where they all could passthrough another series of trial3, andmeet their common enemy upon newgrounds ; and if they should succeedin this second warfare and overcomeand vanquish the hosts of hell, theywere to be counted worthy to inheritall things, and to become equal withtheir Father in glory, and in power,and in might, and in dominion.

50. The first tabernacle of fleshand bones was formed out of the dustof the ground. The Lord gives thefollowing description of its formation :" And I, the Lord God, formed man

from the dust of the ground, andbreathed into his nostrils tha breathof life ; and Man became a livingsoul, the first flesh upon the earth,the first Man also : nevertheless, allthings were before created; hut, spirit.ually, were they created and madeaccording to my word."— (JosephSmith's inspired translation.) Thisis more fully described in the bookof Abraham. " And the Gods formedMan from the dust of the ground, andtook his spirit, (that is, the man'sspirit,) and put it into him, andbreathed into his nostrils the breathof life, and Man became a living soul.And the Gods planted a garden east-ward in Eden, and there they put theMan, whose spirit they had put intothe body which they had formed."The first spirit who dwelt in a tither.nacle here on the earth, was Michaelthe archangel, who headed the ar-mies of heaven against the rebellioushosts : for this information, we aredependant on a revelation given toJoseph the Seer, as follows : " Threeyears previous to the death of Adam,he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Maha.laleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah,who were all high priests, with theresidue of his posterity who wererighteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-ahman, and there bestowed uponthem his last blessing. And the Lordappeared unto them, and they rose upand blessed Adam, and called himMichael, the Prince, the Archangel.And the Lord administered comfortunto Adam, and said unto him, I haveset thee to he at the head—a multi-tude of nations shall come of thee,and thou art a Prince over them for-ever." (Doc. & Coy., sec. 3 : par.28.) It is reasonable, that the chiefPrince or Archangel, after havingput to flight his enemies, and ban-ished them from Heaven to the earth,should be the first to enter this earth,being shielded and protected by abody, to engage in a second warfarewith his old enemy under new cir-cumstances, that in due time, he andhis brethren who were to come afterhim, might expel Satan and his hostsfrom the earth also.

(To be continued.)


CELESTIAL MARRIAGE,(Continued.)

Having proved the eternity of themarriage Covenant, and illustratedthe design of this divine ordinance, itmay not be improper to carefully ex-amine some of the results which ne-cessarily flow from this sacred insti-tution. All who admit the eternalunion of husband and wife, are obligedto admit as a necessary consequencea plurality of wives ; for there arecircumstances wherein this could notbe easily avoided : for instance, Mr.A marries Miss B for time and forall eternity : in process of time, hiswife B dies, leaving several children.The widower Mr. A again marriesMiss C. Question. How will hiswife C obtain a husband for all eter-nity? It is evident that she must re-main single without a husband in afuture state, or else be married toMr. A for eternity as well as time.If she choose the latter, then Mr. Awould have two wives in the morn-ing of the resurrection. Again, Mr.A may be unfortunate by having hiswife C taken from him by death ; ifhe marry the third time, he wouldthen have three in eternity ; and soon. Also again, Mr A may die be-fore his wife B ; his widow marriesa young man C for this life only, asshe is already bound to her deceas-ed husband for eternity. Question,When Mr. A claims his wife in theresurrection, What will Mr. C do fora wife ? Answer, he must either dowithout one, or else be married to asecond one in this life ; in the lattercase, he would have two living inthis life at the same time. There-fore, if marriage for eternity be a di-vine institution, as we have abund-antly proved it to be, then the plu-rality of wives is a divine institutionalso ; for the latter necessarily growsout of the circumstances arising inrelation to the former.

Another instance may be mention-ed ; it is often the case that there aremany females who never had the offerof marriage from young men in whom

they could place confidence to entrustthemselves for all eternity. Ques-tion, Must these females remainwithout husbands in the eternalworlds ? Would it not be far betterfor each of them to he connected inmarriage with a faithful man, likeAbraham, though he may already bea married man, than to remain in asingle state to all eternity ? Wouldit not be far greater happiness forher to be the second, or third, orfourth wife, and thus be placed in acondition to raise up an endless pos-terity, and enjoy with her husbandall the glory and honor of his increas-ing kingdoms, than to remain as anangel or servant, without posterity,for ever and ever?

And again, there are many widowswhose husbands die without embrac-ing the gospel ; these widows maynever have the offer of marriage bysingle men. Shall they be left un-provided for in the eternal covenantof marriage ? Would it not be ablessing for them to be placed at thehead of a numerous offspring, bywhom they would eternally be re-spected and reverenced in connec-tion with their husbands ? Whatfaithful virtuous woman would notprefer to stand as the sixth or seventhwife of a good and faithful man,rather than to have no husband atall throughout the endless ages ofeternity ?

When nation rises against nation,and kingdom against kingdom, andthe sword devours from one end ofthe earth to the other, as the pro-phets have predicted should be thecase in the last days, many millionsof fathers and brothers will fall uponthe battle field, while mothers, anddaughters, and widows will be left tomourn the loss. What will becomeof these females ? Answer, the gos-pel will be preached to many ofthem, and they will flee out fromamong the nations, and be gatheredwith the Saints to Zion. Under


these circumstances, the number offemales will far exceed the numberof males. How are the overplus fe-males to obtain husbands for eterni-ty? We will answer this questionin the words of Isaiah, In that dayseven women shall take hold of oneman, saying, We will eat our ownbread, and wear our own apparel :only let us be called by thy name totake away our reproach." (Isaiah4: 1.) Thus we see that the re.proach of having no husband will befar greater than the reproach ofseven women having one husband ;indeed the latter will be no reproachat all; it will be the only means oftaking away their reproach ; being adivine institution, it will be soughtMier with eagerness, even at the ex-pense of eating their own bread andwearing their own apparel.

The Apostle Paul says, "Neitheris the man wilhout the woman, nei-ther the woman without the man inthe Lord." (1 Cor. 11 : 11. If, in-deed, it be a true doctrine that in theLord the man is not without the wo-man nor the woman without theman, then it is of the utmost import-ance that each should secure a com-panion in the Lord, that is, be joinedtogether by the authority of God asone flesh, not only for this life, butfor that which is to come. No mancan be " in the Lord," in the fullsense of this passage, that is, he can-not enter into all the fulness of hisglory " without the woman." Andno woman can be "in the Lord" orin the enjoyment of a fulness " with-out the man." This divine institu-tion being properly taught and under.stood, it will be considered a reproachfor any man or woman to remain ina single state, and not comply withthe ordinance of God by which they-can legally in their immortal state" multiply and replenish" the NewEarth with an immortal offspring.In order that this reproach may betaken away " seven woman shalltake hold of one man." They willunderstand that without a husband,they never can fulfil that great com-mand which was given to immortal

beings ; they will learn that if theydo not place themselves in a condi.tion to obey it, they must suffer thepenalties thereof, and arise no higherthan the angels whom Paul informsus the Saints will judge. The ca-lamities of war will be so great inthat day that the females will befar more numerous than the males ;hence, the Lord says, "I will makea man more precious than fine gold ;even a man than the golden wedgeof Ophir." (Isaiah 13: 12.) Inthat day the long established customof the male's first making the propo-sition of marriage to the female, will,in some measure, be reversed. In-stead of a man's seeking to cbtainthe consent of seven women to bp.come his wives, they will importunehim to grant them that privilege ;and for fear that he will object onaccount of the expense of so large afamily, they will promise to "eattheir own bread and wear their ownapparel," if they can " only be calledby his name to take away their re-proach." And to show that the Lordsanctions that order of things andbestows great blessings upon thepeople where it shall be practised,Isaiah, in the following verses, says,"In that day shall the branch of theLord he beautiful and glorious, andthe fruit of the earth shall be excel-lent and comely for them that are es-caped of Israel. And it shall cometo pass, that he that is left in Zion,and he that remaineth in Jerusalem,shall be called holy." (Isa. 4: 2,:3.) And in the fifth verse, he in-forms us that "The Lord will createupon every dwelling place of MountZion, and upon her assemblies, acloud and smoke by day, and theshining of a flamin g by night."" The branch of the Lord," which isto be so " beautiful and glorious,"having upon all its dwelling placesand assemblies a cloud by day and afire by night," are the very peoplewhere seven women are to be unitedto one man, and to be called by hisname to take away their reproach.

It will not only be a reproach fora woman to be without a husband


among the people of God, hut it willalso be an affliction for a marriedwoman to he barren ; for the Lordhas commanded the male and femaleto multiply ; it will he a cause of sor-row not to fulfil this command : thiswas the case in ancient times. WhenLeah, one of Jacob's wives, had borneto him four sons, "she left bearing.""And when Leah saw that she hadleft bearing, she took Zilpah, hermaid, and gave her Jacob to wife."And after this, she called upon theLord, "and God hearkened unto Leah,and she conceived and bare Jacobthe fifth son. And Leah said, Godhat h given me my hire, because 1 havegiven my maiden to my husband."(Genesis 30: 9, 17, 18.) Here itwill be seen, that God hearkened toLeah and gave her a fifth son, andthe reason assigned for this blessingwas, " Because she had given hermaiden to her husband." This wasan act which pleased the Lord, and,therefbre, he hearkened to her prayer.

But why was the Lord pleased withthis order of things ? Because he isno respecter of persons ; and Zilpah,no doubt, was just as worthy of ahusband and posterity, as Leah. And,although Rachel had given Bilhah toJacob for a wife, yet it seems forsome reason, that. Leah delayed fol-lowing the example of her youngersister, and, therefore, she was barren,but when she became willing to giveZilpah to Jacob, the Lord blessed herfor the act, and heard her prayersand gave her another son. Both Bil-hah and Zilpah would propably havefailed in getting husbands for eternity,if Mchel and Leah had not giventhem to Jacob. There may be manysimilar circumstances in the last dayswherein females would fail of enter-ing into the eternal covenant of mar-riage were they not given to a manalready having a family.

Can a woman have more than onehusband at the same time ? No :Such a principle was never sanction-ted by scripture. The object of mar-riage is to multiply the species, ac-cording to the command of God. Awoman with one husband can fulfil

this command, with greater facilities,than if she had a plurality ; indeed,this would, in all probability, frustratethe great design of marriage, andprevent her from raising up a family.As a plurality of husbands, would notfacilitate the increase of posterity,such a principle never was toleratedin scripture. But a plurality of wiveswould be the means of greatly increas-ing a family, and of thus fulfilling thecommand, not only to a far greaterextent on the part of the husband, butalso On the part of the females whootherwise might have been under thenecessity of remaining single forever.As instances of the great increase,arising from a plurality of wives, wewill mention several of the Judges offsrael ; one of whom had thirty sons ;another had thirty sons and thirtydaughters ; another had forty sons ;(the number of daughters is not men-tioned ;) another mighty man of God,namely Gideon, had seventy-two sons;(the number of daughters is notknown.) (See Judges 8 : 30, 31; also9 : 5 ; and 10 : 3, 4 ; and 12 : 8, 9, 14.)Among all the people of Israel, theLord chose Gideon, a man havingmany wives and children, to redeemHis people from bondage. To thisPolygamist he sent his angel, andshowed him great signs and wonders,and gave him many revelations howto deliver Israel.

The Psalmist says, " Lo, childrenare an heritage of the Lord : and thefruit of the woml, is his reward. Hap.py is the man that bath his quiverfull of them ; they shall not he asham-ed, but they shall speak with the ene-mies in the gate." (Ps. 127: 3, 5.)The reward which God bestows uponhis people is children. The Lord'sheritage is children : hence the greatanxiety of holy men and holy womenin ancient times to increase theirchildren. And hence the Psalmistpredicted, concerning the redeemedof the Lord that should be gather-ed " out of the lands, from the east,and from the west, from the north,and from the south," that after theyshould wander in the wilderness, in asolitary way" where they should be


permitted to "prepare a city for hab-itation," the Lord would greatly blessthe poor man and make himfamilieslike a flock." (See Psalm 107 : 2-7,35-43.) Instead of the righteous,in that day, being sorrowful to beholda pomr man having " families like aflock," the Psalmist exclaims, " Therighteous shall see it, and rejoice :and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.Whoso is wise and will observe thesethings, even they shall understand theloving kindness of the Lord." Thosewho are not righteous, and are notwise, and will not observe what thePsalini it says, will no doubt thinkthat a strange thing is happened inthe land, when they hear of a poorman's having " families like a flock."The wicked will, no doubt, open theirmouths and cry Polygamy! Polygamy!!with a view to frustrate the fulfilmentof the prophecies ; hut they will findbefo re they get through, that they arefighting against God, and against Hispurposes, and against His divine in.stitutions, and against the fulfilmentof the prophets. They will soon findthat iniquity will stop her mouth,"and that the Lord is, indeed, in themidst of His people, and that " hewill rebuke strong nations afar off,"and send forth His laws from Zion togovern all people. Then shall theyknow that when the Lord gives aman families like a flock," He in-tends it as a blessing and not as acurse ; Lo, children are an herit.age of the Lord," and happy are theywho, through the everlasting coven-ant of marriage, obtain this great re.ward.

At a certain time Peter said to Je-sus, " Lo, we have left all, and havefollowed thee. And Jesus answeredand said, Verily I say unto you, Thereis no man that bath left house, orbrethren, or sisters, or father, ormother, or wife, or children, orlands, for my sake, and the gospel's.but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, andbrethren, and sisters, and mothers,and children, and lands, with perse-cutions ; and in the world to comeeternal life." (Mark 10 : 28, 29,

30.) To receive " now in this time"an hundred fold of houses and lands—an hundred fold of wives—an hundredfold of children, &c., is certainly agreat temporal reward. A man thatleaves one wife for the gospel's sake,receives a hundred wives in returnfor his sacrifice : a man that leavesthree or four children for the kingdomof God's sake, receives three or fourhundred children as a reward " nowin this time." But how does he gethis hundred fathers and mothers ?These would naturally come along ashe obtained his hundred fold of wives;for the parents of each of the hundredwives, he would lawfully claim asfather and mother. And the brothersand sister of each of his wives he wouldnaturally claim as his brothers andsisters. " An hundred fold of housesand lands" would be as necessary asany other part of these promises ofour Saviour ; for they certainly wouldbe needed to Comfortably support anhundred fold of wives and children.Well did the Psalmist s .y that "Child-ren are an heritage of the Lord: andthe fruit of the worn') is his reward."Well did he say that the Lord shouldmake fir the poor man, " familieslike a flock ;" au hundred fold of fam.ilies, dwelling in a hundred houses,certainly would have very much theappearance of "a flock."

A plurality of wives was not onlysanctioned of the Lord among Israel,but in certain cases it seems to havebeen absolutely necessary. Thescripture says : " If brethren dwelltogether, and one of them die, andhave no child, the wife of the deadshall not marry without unto a stran-ger : her husband's brother shall goin unto her and take her to him towife, and perform the duty of ahusband's brother unto her. Andit shall he, that the first born whichshe beareth shall succeed in thename of his brother which is dead,that his name be not put out of Is-rael." (Deut. 25: 5, 6.) If thebrother of the deceased was alreadymarried, it did not relieve him fromthe responsibility of the law ; he wasrequired to marry the widow of his


brother in order to raise up seed tohim " that his name be not put out ofIsrael." Here, then, is a case wherea man would he obliged to come outin open rebellion against the law, orelse have a plurality of wives livingat the same time. Now take the caseof seven brethren; let them all marry.If six of the brothers died withoutchildren, the seventh would he obligedby this law to marry the six widows ;hence, he would have seven wivesliving here in this life, or otherwisebe a transgressor of the law. If thesurviving brother have no previouswife at the time he marries his bro-ther's widow, (as the first-horn mustnot be considered as his seed, hutmust take the name of his deceasedbrother,) and if the brother's widowfail to have children, or, at least, havebut one, what will the living brotherdo for children to hear up his ownname in Israel ? Shall he, who mar-ried his brother's widow for the sakeof building up the name and house ofthe dead, be left childless, and havehis own name blotted out from underHeaven ? No, verily no ; he wouldbe under the necessity of marryinganother wife, besides his brother'swidow, in order that his own houseand his own name might be perpetu-ated among the tribes of Israel.

The continuation of the name andposterity of a righteous man wasconsidered a great blessing ; henceDavid exclaims befIne the Lord, say-ing : " The children of thy servantsshall continue, and their seed shall heestablished before thee." (Psalml02: 28) To have the chain ofposterity broken by death was con-sidered a great calamity, thereforethe Lord made strict provisions forsuch cases. If the deceased had nobrother living, it then fell upon thenearest kinsman to marry his widow.We have an example of this givenin the book of Ruth : her husbandbeing dead, and having no child, norany brother to marry his widow,Boaz, his uncle, one of the brothersof his father, took Ruth for his wife,"to raise up the name of the deadupon his inheritance, that the name

of the dead be not cut off from amonghis brethren, and from the gate of hisplace." (Ruth 4: 10.) Thus Boazand Ruth became the great grandparents of David.

This order of things did not origi.nate with the law of Moses ; it wasin existence in the days of the pa-triarchs long before Moses was born.Judah had three sons, namely, Er,Onan, and Shelah. Er, having mar-ried Tamar, died because of hiswickedness without a child. "AndJudah said unto Onan, go in unto thybrother's wife and marry her, andraise up seed to thy brother. AndOnan knew that the seed should notbe his," and though he married her,he refused to "give seed to his brother.And the thing that he did displeasedthe Lord ; wherefore he slew himalso." (Gen. 38 : 6-10.) Shelahbeing too young to marry, Judah re-quired Tamar to "remain a widow ather father's house until Shelah wasgrown." Thus we see that beforethe law of Moses was given the pa-triarchs understood and practiced thelaw which required the brother of thedeceased to marry his widow, for thepurpose of continuing the name of thedead. This law as we have seennecessarily includes a plurality ofwives.

In a nation as numerous as Israelthere would naturally be many thous-ands of instances throughout all theirgenerations where husbands woulddie without children ; and there alsowould he many thousands of instanceswhere the living brother or next kins-man, though already married, wouldbe required by the law to marry thewidow. It must be remembered thatthis order of things was in full tince,and all Israel were required to oh.serve it, at the time our Saviour andhis apostles went forth preachingamong that nation. Question. Wasthere anything connected with thegospel and teachings of Christ or hisapostles, intended to abolish the lawin relation to the widow of the dead ?When our Saviour and his servantswent forth through all the cities ofIsrael, preaching, baptizing, and in-


traducing into the church all whowould receive their testimony, isit at all likely that they condemnedthose who had married a plurality ofwives in obedience to the law ? Whatwould they naturally have said to aman who had married half a dozenwidows of his brothers who had diedchildless? Would they have con-demned him for keeping the law ?Would they have refused him en.trance into the Christian Church, be-cause he had been faithful to the law ?Would they have required him to putaway the widows of the dead whomthe law had compelled him to marry?If he had not kept the law. would henot have been condemned by thelaw ? Hear what the penalty of dis-obedience is, " Cursed be he that con-firmeth not all the words of this lawto do them. And all the people shallsay, amen. (Dent. 27: 26.) A man,then, was bound under a heavy curseto marry all the widows of his de-ceased brothers who died childless.Must he, therefore, be a cast-awayfor doing his duty? Must he be keptwithout the pale of the ChristianChurch, unless he put away all hiswives but one ? Such an idea is pre-posterous. On the other hand, ifJesus and his servants had fiund aman in all Israel who had refused toobey this law—who would not marrythe widows of his dead brothers, theywould have reproved him as a trans.gressor ; they would have told himthat he was under a curse for ne-glecting to obey the law ; they wouldhave warned him to repent; and itis very doubtful whether they wouldhave received him into the ChristianChurch, unless he first manifestedhis repentance by observing the law,and marrying the widows, as required.

And again, we ask, was it not justas necessary for Israel, under theChristian dispensation, to observethis law, and perpetuate th3 name ofthe dead, as under the Patriarchaland Mosaic dispensations ? Whywas it necessary that the name ofthe dead should be held so sacred,until Christ came, and then be en.tirely neglected and forgotton ? Some

may say that when Christ came, "oldthings were done away and all thingsbecame new." But who does notknow that this had reference only tothe law of carnal commandments andordinances which Christ came to ful-fil? Who does not know that therewere many commandments and lawswhich were connected with the lawof ordinances which were continuedunder the gospel ? The ten com-mandments were not done away inChrist. Prayer which was practisedunder the law, was also necessaryunder the gospel. The law againstadultery was not abolished by thegospel. The gospel did not abolishthe law against stealing, against kill-ing, against taking the name of theLord in vain, against false witnesses,against drunkenness, or against anyother abominations. Christ did notdo away the law of doing good toones neighbor, the law of upright-ness and honesty which should char-acterize their dealings, one withanother. Christ, by introducing thegospel, never intended to abolish thelaw practised among Israel in help-ing the poor, the needy, the father-less, and the widow. Hence therewere hundreds of commands andlaws under the Patriarchal and Mo-saic dispensations which Christ didnot come to do away. What wasmoral, and good, and righteous be%fore Christ came was equally so af-ter he came, unless we can find someevidence to the contrary. If it wasa good, moral, and righteous act, be-fore Christ to remember the deadwho left no posterity, it was equallyso after Christ, unless we can findsomething in Christ's doctrine, abol-ishing the law of marriage in behalfof the dead. What is there in thegospel that conflicts with the idea ofthe widows of several brothers thatare dead, marrying the only surviv-ing brother, and the first born ofeach being called afer the name ofthe dead, that his name and lineagemight he perpetuated to future gene-rations ? Why should it be thoughtso very important to continue thenames and lineages of the millions

64 CONTENTS.

of Israel for thousands of years, andthen all at once abolish the law es-tablished for this purpose ?

There were thousands of Israelites,who, if they lived up to their law, musthave had a plurality of wives whenthe gospel was first introduced amongthem. And as the Apostles werecommanded to preach the gospel toevery creature, they must havepreached it to these thousands ofPolygamists. How could they be-come members of the church of Christ?If plurality of wives was not toleratedin the Christain Church, it is evidentthat these Jewish Polygamists wouldhave to break up their families andeach give a bill of divorcement untoall his wives, but one : hut the gos-pel forbids the giving of a bill of di-vorce, only in case of adultery. Thegospel says " what God has joinedtogether let no man put assunder."A man, then, who had married severalwidows of his deceased brothers ac-cording to the law, (being under aheavy curse if he refused,) wouldhave no right to put them assunderor give them a bill of divorce. Whatmust he do ? According to the viewsof modern Christendom he could notenter the Christian Church with aplurality of wives, and according tothe gospel he would have no right to

divorce them. Therefore, he wouldbe without hope; no possible way forfor him to be saved. Who sodestitute of common sense as tobelieve, for one moment, such ab-surdities Thousands of the Israel-ites, then, were compelled, throughfear of the curse of disobedience, tomarry a plurality of wives. and thesethousands of Polygamists were corn-pelled by the gospel not to divorcetheir wives only for the sin of adul-tery. Therefore either the ChristianChurch must have tolerated Poly-gamy, or else they must have beenunder the necessity of unlawfully di-vorcing that which God had joinedtogether, or else they must have con-sidered that all such, because of theirfaithfulness to the law in behalf ofthe dead, had placed themselves be-yond the reach of gospel mercy. Hereare three alternatives which willthe Christian choose ? To chooseeither of the latter two would be, notonly unscriptural, but sinful in thehighest degree. The first alternativealone remains, namely, to toleratethe plurality system as a divine in-stitution; to admit Jewi,h Polygamistsinto the Christian Church, with alltheir wives, through their faith andobedience to the gospel.

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS.

The Pre-existence of Man. 49Celestial Marriage 58Contents 64



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All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah xvm, 3.

VoL. I. MAY, 1853. No. 5.


.51. Whether the spirit of Adam orMichael stood next in age to the firstborn, and by virtue of his age wasentitled to the chief command, revela•tion does not determine. It may bethat he attained that exalted stationthrough his good works independentof his age. Whatever may havebeen the cause that placed him at thehead, it is evident that he honored hiscalling and gained a complete victoryand was counted worthy to be thefirst spirit who was permitted to havea body upon the new world. He thusbecame the first father of the fleshlybodies which were to be inhabited bythe numerous hosts of spirits whowere once Mal tialed under his cornrnand. In the spiritual world all thespirits were brethren and sisters,springing from the same Father ; butin the temporal world Michael be-came a father to his own brethren,according to the flesh.

5•. When Michael was put intohis earthly tabernacle, the inspiredtranslation informs us that he was"the first flesh upon the earth ;" thetabernacles of the fish, fowls, andbeasts were not yet formed, neitherwere there any herbs, or grass, ortrees, or vegetables, of any descrip-tion upon the earth when Adam'sbody was formed. The earth, air,and ocean were truly empty and des-olate of both vegetable and animal

life. It is true, as we have alreadystated, that all these things had beencreated spiritually in Heaven, but asyet had not been placed upon theearth. Man, therefore, stood alonein the midst of this vast solitude.The description of the creation, asgiven in the Book of Abraham, con.firms this idea and shows most clearlythat the vegetables and animals werenot placed upon the earth on the third,fifth, and E ixth days or periods, as hasbeen generally supposed. The his.tory of the third day's work reads asfollows : " And the Gods ordered,siying, Let the waters under theHeaven be gathered together untoone place, and let the earth come updry ; and it was so as they ordered ;and the Gods pronounced the earthdry, and the gathering together of thewaters pronounced they great waters ;and the Gods saw that they wereobeyed. And the Gods said, Let usprepare the earth to bring forth grass ;the herb yielding seed ; the fruit treeyielding fruit, after his kind, whoseseed in itself yieldeth its own like.ness upon the earth ; and it was soeven as they ordered. And the Godsorganized the earth to bring forthgrass from its own seed, and the herbto bring forth herb from its own seed,yielding seed after his kind ; and theearth to bring forth the tree from itsown seed, yielding fruit, whose seed


could only bring forth the same in it-self, after his kind ; and the Gods sawthat they were obeyed. And it cameto pass that they numbered the days;from the evening until the morningthey called night ; and it came topass, from the morning until theevening they called day ; and it wasthe third time."

By attentively reading the abovequotation, it will be perceived thatthe Gods, instead of actually sowingthe seed or setting out the plants,only prepared or organized the earthto bring forth vegetables at some fu-ture time, when they should seeproper to plant them. It may beasked, What preparation the groundneeded ? The answer is not given ;but we may naturally suppose that thedifferent ingredients necessary to asoil adapted to vegetation were notunited in their proper proportions. Itis altogether likely, then, that thepreparation of the earth to bring forthvegetables consisted in bringing to-gether, combining, and uniting theelements and their compounds in suchproportions as should form a soiladapted to the growth of vegetablesof every kind ; this preparation of theground took place during the third dayor time ; but on that day there wereno herbs, grasses, trees, or vegeta.bles of any description planted. Thesowing of seed and planting was post-poned until some future period.

53. It has generally been supposedthat the fish and fowls were made onthe filth day, but the Book of Abra-ham gives entirely a different idea;a description of the fifth day's workis as follows

" And the Gods said, Let us pre-pare the waters to bring forth abund•antly the moving creatures that havelife ; and the fowl that they may flyabove the earth in the open expanseof Heaven. And the Gods preparedthe waters that they might bring forthgreat whales, and every living crea.ture that moveth, which the waterswere to bring forth abundantly aftertheir kind ; and every winged fowlafter their kind. And the Gods sawthat they would be obeyed and thattheir plan was good. And the Gods

said, We will bless them and causethem to be fruitful and multiply, andfill the waters in the seas or greatwaters and cause the fowl to multi.ply in the earth. And it came topass that it was from evening untilmorning that they called night ; andit came to pass that it was from morn-ing until evening that they called daysand it was the fifth time."

It will be seen from this descrip-tion that the fifth day's labor consistednot in the formation of the tabernaclesof fish and fowl, but in preparing thewaters and the elements to bring forththese creatures, or in other words, tosustain them after the Lord shouldmake them and place them therein.What this preparation was we arenot informed, but we may reasonablyconclude that there needed to be aunion or combination of other sub-stances with those of water and airin order to prepare them for the crea-tures who should in due time dwelltherein. Perhaps there was not aproper proportion of heat, light, elec.tricity, and other substances in unionwith the air and water to sustain theanimal life, destined to occupy thoseelements. The fifth day's labor,therefore, instead of forming theseanimals, merely prepared a place forthem so that they might be sustainedwhen they should be formed.

54. From the uninspired transla.Lion of the book of Genesis it has alsobeen supposes that the cattle andcreeping things, and beasts of theearth were formed on the sixth day ,but the Book of Abraham gives amore full description of the sixth day' swork. It reads as follows

" And the Gods prepared the earthto bring forth the living creature afterhis kind, cattle and creeping things,and beasts of the earth after theirkind ; and it was so, a s they h adsaid. And the Gods organized theearth to bring forth the beasts aftertheir kind, and cattle after their kind,and everything that creepeth uponthe earth after their hind ; and theGods saw they would obey. And theGods took counsel among themselvesand said, Let us go down and formman in our image, after our likeness ;


and we will give them dominion overthe fish of the sea, and over the fowlof the air, and over the cattle, andover all the earth, and over everycreeping thing that creepeth upon theearth. So the Gods went down to or.ganize man in their own image, in theimage of the Gods to form they him,male and female, to form they them ;and the Gods said, We will blessthem. And the Gods said, We willcause them to be fruitful and multiplyand replenish the earth, and subdueit, and to have dominion over the fishof the sea, and over the fowl of theair, and over every living thing thatrnoveth upon the earth. And theGods said, Behold we will give themevery herb bearing seed that shallcome upon the face of all the earth,and every tree which shall have fruitupon it, yea, the fruit of the treeyielding seed to them we will give it,it shall be for their meat ; and toevery beast of the earth, and to everyfowl of the air, and to everything thatcreepeth upon the earth, behold, wewill give them life, and also we willgive to them every green herb formeat, and all these things shallbe thus organized. And the Godssaid, We will do every thing that wehave said, and organize them ; andbehold, they shall be very obedient.And it came to pass that it was fromevening until morning they callednight ; and it came to pass that itwas from morning until evening thatthey called day; and they numberedthe sixth time.

And thus we will finish the Hea-vens and the earth, and all the hostsof them. And the Gods said amongthemselves, on the seventh time wewill end our work which we havecounselled ; and we will rest on theseventh time from all our work whichwe have counselled. And the Godsconcluded upon the seventh time, be.cause that on the seventh time theywould rest from all their works whichthey (the Gods) counselled amongthemselves to form, and sanctified it.And thus were their decisions at thetime that they counselled amongthemselves to form the Heavens and

the earth. And the Gods came downand formed these the generations ofthe Heavens and of the earth, whenthey were formed, in the day that theGods formed the earth and the Hea-vens, according to all that which theyhad said concerning every plant ofthe field before it was in the earth,and every herb of the field before itgrew ; for the Gods had not causedit to rain upon the earth when theycounselled to do them, and had notformed a man to till the ground ; hutthere went up a mist from the earth,and watered the whole face of theground. And the Gods formed manfrom the dust of the ground, and tookhis spirit, (that is, the man's spirit,)and put it into him, and breathed intohis nostrils the breath of life, and manbecame a living soul.

And the Gods planted a garden,eastward in Eden, and there they putthe Man, whose spirit they had putinto the body which they had formed.And out of the ground made the Godsto grow every tree that is pleasant tothe sight and good for food ; the treeof life, also, in the midst of the gar-den, and the tree of knowledge, ofgood and evil. There was a riverrunning out of Eden, to water thegarden, and from thence it was partedand became into four heads. Andthe Gods took the Man and put himin the garden of Eden, to dress it andto keep it : and the Gods commandedthe Man, saying, of every tree of thegarden thou mayest freely eat, but ofthe tree of knowledge of good andevil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for inthe time that thou eatest thereof, thoushalt surely die. Now I, Abraham,saw that it was after the Lord's time,which was after the time of Kolob ;for as yet the Gods had not appointedunto Adam his reckoning.

And the Gods said, let us make anhelp meet for the Man, for it is notgood that the man should be alone,therefore, we will form an help meetfor him. And the Gods caused adeep sleep to fall upon Adam ; and heslept, and they took one of his ribs,and closed up the flesh in the steadthereof, and the rib which the Gods


had taken from Man formed they aWoman, and brought her unto theMan. And Adam said, this was boneof my bones, and flesh of my flesh,now she shall be called Woman, be.cause she was taken out of Man ;therefore shall a man leave his fatherand his mother, and shall cleave untohis wife, and they shall be one flesh.And they were both naked, the Manand his wife, and were not ashamed.And out of the ground the Godsformed every beast of the field, andevery fowl of the air, and broughtthem unto Adam to see what he wouldcall them ; and whatsoever Adam cal-led every living creature, that shouldbe the name thereof. And Adamgave names to all cattle, to the fowlof the air, to every beast of the field :and for Adam there was found an helpmeet for him."* From the descrip.tion here given of the sixth day'slabor, it will be perceived that theGods on that day merely "preparedthe earth to bring .forth" cattle, livingthings, beasts, creeping things, andMan. The Gods also counselledamong themselves, on that day, whatshould be given to Man and everyspecies of animals for food : they alsodetermined on the dominima whichthey would give to Man after his for-mation ; and many more things weredetermined on the sixth day, in thegrand council of the Gods, in relationto the future creation of vegetable andanimal existence on the earth. Butthe sixth day's labor seems to havebeen accomplished before either veg-etables or animals had any existenceon the earth. During these six days,or periods, the Heavens and the earthseemed to have been undergoing aseries of changes, preparations, andorganizations, preparatory to the in-troduction of animals and vegetables,which were to constitute the finishingor ending of this temporal creation.But when were the animals and veg.etables formed temporally, and placedon the earth ? From the description

given, they were formed out of theground during the seventh day orperiod.

A still further evidence, that thetemporal body of Man was formed onthe seventh day, is given in the "Keyto the Revelations of St. John,"which was revealed to JOSEPH theSEER. In this Key, the followingquestion is asked : " What are we tounderstand by the sounding of thetrumpets, mentioned in the 8th chap.ter of the Revelations ? " The Lordanswered the question as follows:—" We are to understand that as Godmade the world in six days, and onthe seventh day he finished his work,and sanctified it, and also formed Manout of the dust of the earth; even so, inthe beginning of the seventh thousandyears will the Lord God sanctify theearth, and complete the salvation ofman, and judge all things, and shall re.deem all things, except that which hehath not put into his power, when heshall have sealed all things, unto theend of all things : and the soundingof the trumpets of the seven angels,are the preparing and finishing of hiswork, in the beginning of the sevenththousand years ; the preparing of theway before the time of his coming."

Here we are plainly told, that "Godmade the world in six days, and onthe seventh day he finished his workand sanctified it, and also formed Manout of the dust of the earth." Man,therefore, was formed out of the dust,not on the sixth day, but on theseventh.

55. As the tabernacle of Adamwas formed out of the dust on theseventh day, so were the tabernaclesof every species of animals, birds,and fish, together with every varietyof vegetables, all formed on the sev-enth day. This idea is clearly re-vealed in Joseph Smith's inspiredtranslation of the second chapter ofGenesis, from which we have al-ready made an extract in the 18thparagraph ; by reference to which itwill be seen that Man was " the first

* Book of Abraham, translated fromEgyptian Papyrus through the gift and flesh uponthe earth, the first Man

also, and as he was made on thepower of the Holy Ghost by Joseph the!Seer. seventh day or period, all the rest


must have been made on the seventh.The garden was planted on the sev-enth, and Man was placed in thegarden on the seventh. Every beastand fowl was made out of the groundand brought to Adam to be named onthe seventh day. Eve also was madeout of one of his ribs on the seventhday. All the grass, and herbs, andtrees, according to their kinds, weremade to grow out of the ground onthe seventh day or time. And beforethe seventh day there was no vege-table or animal existence on ourearth. Even the English version,or the uninspired translation of the2nd chapter of Genesis, conveys thesame idea, namely, that the man wasmade first, and afterwards the ani•mals and vegetables, and that allthese organized living beings weremade naturally, out of the ground, onthe seventh day. The first chapterof Genesis, so far as these livingbeings are concerned, is only a his-tory- of their spiritual creation as wehave explained in a former part ofthis treatise.

56. What was the length of eachof those periods, called days in thehistory of the creation ? Revelationhas not definitely answered this ques-tion. But from what is revealed, wemay infer that time was not reckonedin relation to the events of creation,in the same manner as it is now.We are not sure that the earth wasmade to revolve on it axis in theperiod that it does now. If the earthhad, at the first formation, a swifterrotation than at present, then a partof the waters which are now aroundthe two polar regions, would, by thecentrifugal force, have overspread theequatorial regions, and the wholesolid nucleus of the earth would havebeen immersed in the great deep.This was the condition of our globe,during the first two days of the crea-tion. But on the third day, thewaters were gathered together, andthe dry land or the solid portions ofthe earth appeared. This could allhave been accomplished by merelychecking the velocity of the earth'srotation, which would cause the

equatorial ocean to flow into the po-lar regions, leaving an equatorialcontinent of dry land. But the ve-locity of the earth's rotation wouldhave to be greatly diminished belowits present standard in order to pro-duce an equatorial zone of dry land,encircling the whole globe. If theearth should rotate upon its axis oncein a thousand of our present years,such a zone would necessarily beproduced, unless prevented by oppos-ing causes : the length of each daymay have been regulated by the dif.ferent periods of rotation ; and theseperiods may have been much shorteror longer than at present. Andagain, the alternations of light anddarkness for the first three days, donot appear to have been regulated bythe sun, therefore they may havebeen of much longer or shorter dura-tion than what we behold at present.There is a clause in the Book ofAbraham, from which we may infer,that the length of each of these dayswas one thousand years as the in-habitants of the earth afterwardsreckoned time. In speaking of thecurse which should fall upcn Adamin case he should partake of the for.bidden fruit, the Gods said, " For inthe time that thou eatest thereof,thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abra-ham, saw that it was after the Lord'stime, which was after the time ofKolob ; for as yet the Gods had notappointed unto Adam his reckoning."The time on Kolob, as given in theBook of Abraham, may be under-stood from the following extract :—" Kolob, signifying the first creation,nearest to the celestial, or the resi-dence of God. First in government,the last pertaining to the measure-ment of time. The measurement,according to celestial time ; whichcelestial time signifies one day to acubit. One day in Kolob is equal toa thousand years, according to themeasurement of this earth, which iscalled by the Egyptians, Jah-oh-eh."One day of celestial time, or of theLord's time, is equal to one thousandyears, according to our measurementof time. Adam, therefore, if he par.


took of the forbidden fruit, was to diewithin a thousand years. It is pos.Bible that the seven days of creationwere reckoned, according to celestialtime ; if so, the whole period musthave been seven thousand years. IfAdam were made at the beginning ofthe seventh period, he must havelived till near its close. There is,however, no certainty how long theseperiods were.

57. The Heaven, earth, animals, ve-getables, and all things, pertaining tothis creation, being finished, the Lordpronounced the whole "very good."Sorrow, misery, sickness, pain, anddeath, were unknown. Immortalitywas enstamped upon man and thewhole animal kingdom. If any livingcreature, had been subject to death,or any manner of pain, it would nothave been perfect in its organization;it could not have been pronouncedgood ; neither would it have beenconsistent, as the work of an all-wiseand supremely good Being. Perfec-tion characterizes all the works ofGod, therefore, all the tabernacleswhich he •made from the dust, musthave been capable of eternal endu-rance. There must have been some-thing connected with these fleshlytabernacles which was capable ofpreserving them in immortality.What was this something ? It wasdoubtless a fluid whic't circulatedthrough the system in every partthereof; preserving it from decay, andfrom being impaired by age, renew-ing, if necessary, any part thereof,that disease, sickness, pain, and death,could have no dominion. The circu-lating apparatus for the conveyanceof this fluid, was, no doubt, the veinsand arteries, as they extend forth ininnumerable branches, and in minuteramifications to every extremity of theorganization. The fluid, now circu-lating through this apparatus, is theblood : but the blood does not renewour systems and give immortality toour present bodies ; blood is our nat-ural life as the Lord said to Noah :-" Flesh with the life thereof, which isthe blood thereof, shall ye not eat."(Gen. 9: 4.) Blood, instead of im-

parting eternal life to the system, onlyimparts a natural or temporal life, andcontains within itself all the ingre-dients of decay and death or dissolu-tion. It is reasonable to suppose,then, that a fluid of a more refinedand life-giving nature, flowed throughthe bodily organizations of our firstParents, and all the other animalcreation—that this fluid was the life.preserving agent, that imparted im-mortality to all flesh, so long as theyretained it in their systems. As thisfluid could not have been blood whichcontains the seeds of death, Whatkind of substance was it ? We reply,that it must have been a spiritualsubstance or fluid, which is the onlykind of substance capable of preserv.irig any organization in immortality.Were there any trees, or fruits, orvegetables of any kind which theLord had planted, that were calcula-ted, if eaten, to counteract, or subvertthe operations of this spiritual fluid,and introduce into the system a fluidof a different nature ! There wasonly one tree which would producethese deleterious effects—only onetree whose fruit, if taken into the sys-tem, would change it from immortal-ity to mortality—all other fruits andvegetables were so constructed as toproduce no harm ; hence they werethe only food which God gave to theimmortal animals which he placedupon this earth. We may supposethat the vegetable creation, with theexception of this one tree, contained,at that time, no poisons—no ingre-clients of decay and death—no inju.rious combinations unadapted to im-mortal flesh and bones. The bodiesof Adam and Eve, and of all the fish,fowls, and beasts which God madedirectly out of the dust, would havebeen still living as fresh and as fairas when they first came from the handof their Maker, if Adam had not par.taken of the forbidden fruit. Allother fruits were good for them, andthey might have feasted upon them toall eternity without destroying theimmortality of their bodies.

58. Let us next inquire, WhetherMichael, after taking a tabernacle un-

THE PRE-EXISTENCE Of MAN. 71

,Aer the name of Adam, lost or forgotany of his previous knowledge ? It isquite evident that Michael, when hehad charge of the armies in Heaven,must have known good and evil, tosome extent, at least ; for if he wereignorant of good and evil, he couldnot have received any merit for keep-ing his first estate. If he did not un-derstand the nature of evil, he wouldnot have fought against one-third partof the hosts of Heaven for doing evil.If Michael stood forth as a bold cham.pion for the rights of his brethren,and for thht which was good, he musthave understood the nature of good.If spirits, in their first estate, did notknow good from evil, Why were theythrust down and bound with " ever-lasting chains of darkness " far doingthat which they did not know to heevil ? Would any parent, here inthis world, banish his children ever-lastingly from his presence, withoutany hopes of recovery, for doingthose things which they did not knowto be evil ? Our hearts would revoltat the very idea of such injustice inan earthly parent. Shall we thenrepresent God as more unjust thanman ? Shall we say that he willpunish with everlasting punishmentthe rebellious angels without a suffi-cient cause ? Shall he doom them toendless misery for acts which theydid not know to be evil ? It is evi-dent, then, that the angels in theirfirst estate knew good and evil; andtherefore, were subjects of rewardand punishment for their acts. Butwhen Adam was placed in the Gar-den, he did not know good and evil;therefore, the knowledge which heonce was in possession of, in regardto good and evil, was lost and forgot-ten. To what extent he had lost theknowledge of other subjects, we arenot informed. It is very probablethat lie remembered nothing in rela-tion to the events which transpired inhis previous state. Possessing anintelligent spirit capable of being in-structed, he, doubtless, received in-formation by the immediate inspira-tion of the Spirit of God, and fromGod, Himself, who was personally

with him. He had sufficient intelli-gence imparted to him, to give namesto all beasts, and cattle, and the fowlsof the air, when the Lord broughtthem unto him ; he had intelligenceenough to know that Eve was madefrom one of his ribs ; hence, he said" This is now hone of my bones, andflesh of my flesh : she shall he calledWoman, because she vas taken outof man." God imparted to him alanguage by which to express hisideas. It is not at all likely that Adamacquired the knowledge of the lan-guage which he used, in his spiritualstate. Though spirits make use oflanguage, it is very probable thattheir ideas are not conveyed by soundsthrough the medium of an atmospheresimilar to ours. Their communica-tions to one another are through signsand media adapted to a spiritual stateand a spiritual world: while our ver-bal communications are by sounds,conveyed through the air. The lan-guage, therefore, which Adam spakemust have been given to him by theimmediate inspiration of the Almighty,the same as he gave a variety oftongues to the people who were build.ing the tower. The same power thatgave him the language, gave to himthe ideas expressed by the language.Therefore, we may reasonably believethat when the spirit of Michael en-tered his tabernacle he was deprivedof all his previous knowledge, notonly in relation to good and evil, butin relation to all other subjects, andthat all the knowledge he acquiredprevious to his fall, was obtained byobservation, reflection, and immediateinspiration: that he had to lay asidehis former information and begin atthe first principles of knowledge andascend by degrees from truth to truthuntil he should regain all the light andintelligence he possessed in the spiritworld, and even more, inasmuch ashe was placed in a condition to learnthings by experience that could nothave been learned in the spiritual ex-istence.

59. Why was man deprived of allhis former knowledge when he leftthe spirit world and came here ? It


was in order that he might have asecond trial or probation under newcircumstances and conditions to whichhe had not previously been subject.If he had entered this world, retain-ing his previous knowledge, manythings which would be a trial to one,possessing a small degree of informa-tion, would have been no trial to him,and many temptations which wouldnot overcome one who had beenfaithfully tried through every succes-sive grade of knowledge from its firstprinciples upwards, would prevailagainst, and completely triumph overa man who had great knowledge butyet, had never been tried and learn-ed by experience the necessity of re-sisting temptation through all the dif-ferent grades or degrees of intelli-gence from the first principles there.of. Man therefore, had taken fromhim his past knowledge, in order thathe might begin again, under a newset of circumstances and show him.self approved or disapproved for hisuse of every degree of light and truththat should he imparted to him. Thecondemnation of man is in proportionto the degree of light and truth underwhich he transgresses. If he camehere with all the knowledge he hadin the spirit world, and yet, being in-experienced in regard to many temp-tations which would beset his path-way in this life, he would be as like.Iy to be overcome as one having lessknowledge, and, therefore, would bein greater danger of coming under aheavier penalty. It was wisdom,therefore, that man should lose, inhis second estate, his former informa-tion, that he might be strengthenedby degrees, and learn, little by little,how to overcome his imperfectionsand resist all evil.

60. If man had descended fromthe spirit world and had taken fleshand bones with all his previousknowledge, and had not been triedunder these new circumstances, hisFather could not, with confidence,have entrusted him with the bless.ings, authority, and power which hedesigned to bestow upon him in a fu-ture state ; for a being that has not

been tried in all things may not en-dure the trials, if they should at anytime come upon him. It is betterthat he should fall in a state of par-tial ignorance, than to fall after be-ing entrusted with power ; for, in thelatter case, he would, not only injurehimself, but injure all those overwhom he had control. It is for thisreason, that man is tempted and triedin all things, through all the succes-sive degrees of knowledge from thefirst principles thereof until he re-ceives a fulness of truth and knowsall things, and then he is entrustedwith all power, and all beings willhave full confidence in him ; but ifany temptation prevail against him,and overcome him, he is not entrust.ed will all knowledge and power, andtherefore cannot inherit the fulnessof the Father's glory.

61. Man being without the knowl-edge ofgood and evil would be in a stateof innocence ; and being immortal,not subject to pain or death, he wouldbe entirely ignorant concerning thenature of pain or misery ; it could notbe described to him, so as to con-vey to his mind the least idea of itsnature. Nothing short of sufferingpain could impart to him a knowledgerespecting it. As a blind man whohas never seen light or color canform no conception of its nature, oras as a deaf person who has neverheard sound, is entirely ignorant ofthe nature of sound, so likewise Adamand Eve could never form the mostdistant idea of pain or misery, with-out experiencing in their own personsthis curious sensation. A knowledgeof pain never could have been derivedfrom the reasoning faculties, neithercould they have derived it from ob-servation, for there was no creatureupon the earth which suffered pain ;and even if they could have been per.mitted afeobserve other beings endu-ring pain, it could not have impartedthe idea to them ; hence if they hadlived eternally they never would havegained this knowledge only by suffer-ing it themselves.

(To be continued.)


CELESTIAL MARRIAGE,(Continued.)

That this divine institution waspracticed under the Christian dispen-sation, is still further evident, not onlyfrom the foregoing reasons, but fromthe instructions which Paul gave toTimothy and Titus, concerning Bis-hops and Deacons. He says " Abishop, then must he blameless, thehusband of one wife, vigilant, sober,of good behaviour, given to hospitality,apt to teach." (1 Tim. 3: 2.) " Letthe deacons be the husbands of onewife, ruling their children and theirown houses well." (Verse 12.) "Ifany he blameless, the husband of onewife, having faithful children not ac-cused of riot or unruly. For a bishopmust be blameless, as the stewardof God." (Titus I : 6, 7.) Thereare two different meanings frequentlyattached to these passages : First, Itis supposed that Paul intended to pro-hibit all single or unmarried menfrom being entrusted with the officesof bishop and deacon ; that he re-quired that they should he married,at least, to one wife, as a prerequisiteto ordination. By those who takethis view of the subject, it is believed,that a man must, as Paul says, "firstbe proved" by marrying at least onewife, ruling " well his own house,having his children in subjection ;(for if a man know not how to rulehis own house" says Paul, " how shallhe take care of the church of God ?")If this view of the subject be correct,then Paul did not intend to limit thebishop or deacon to one wife, butmerely intended to show that he must,as a qualification, be married, or mustbe the husband of one wife, before hecould be ordained to either of thoseoffices. Second, It is supposed bymany that these offices were not tobe conferred upon those who had morethan one wife. If this view of thesubject be correct, (and it evidentlyappears to he the true meaning of thepassages,) then, it is very certainthat there were many in the churchwho had more than one ; for if the

private members and all the churchwere limited to one, Paul's instruc-tion for the bishops and deacons to bethe husbands of one wife would havebeen altogether unnecessary. If therewere no such practice prevailing inthe Christian Church, instead of con-fining these officers to one wife, hewould have required them to receiveno person into the church who hadmore than one. The very expres-sion, " The bishop must be the hus-band of one wife" is a strong indica-tion that there were many in thechurch who were the husbands ofmore than one ; and on this accountit was necessary that Timothy andTitus should receive instructions inregard to their selections fig ordina-tion. Any person can see that ifthere were no such practice allowedin the church, Paul never would havementioned this particular qualificationto be observed in the selections to bemade from the members of the church.If there were no members who had aplurality there would have been nodanger of Timothy's selecting a Poly-gamist for a bishop ; hence the in-struction would have been entirelyuseless. Suppose a minister in Eng-land were to write to his brotherminister in London concerning ordi-nations, and should instruct him toselect such persons from his congre-gation for the office of Deacon aswere not slave-holders, or that thedeacons must he the owners of oneslave only. Would not such instruc-tion in England be entirely uncalledfor? And would not the individualwho wrote such instruction be con-sidered deranged ? Where slaves donot exist such instruction never wouldbe given. So likewise, if the plural-ity of wives did not exist in the Christ-ian Church, Paul never would havebeen so foolish as to have cautionedTimothy in regard to the selectionswhich he made from the members ofthat church. This, therefore, is an-other corroberative testimony that the


plurality doctrine was allowed underthe Christian dispensation.

But if the private members in theChristian Church were permitted tohave more than one wife, why notalso the bishops and deacons ? Paulhas not given us the reason. It isquite probnble, that the principal rea-son was that the important duties de-volving upon these offices requiredthem to be as free from other caresas possible. Or as Paul says, in an.other place, " I would have you with-out carefulness. He that is unmar-ried careth for the things that belongto the Lord, how he may please theLord : but he that is married carethfor the things that are of the worldhow he may please his wife." (1Cor. 7 : 32, 33.) Paul knew this tobe the general disposition of mankind,and he knew that there were but avery few men to be found who wouldsacrifice houses and lands, wives andchildren, and everything else of anearthly nature for the sake of thegospel, therefore, he no doubt wrotehis instructions to Timothy to selectthose among the church memberswho had but one wife, as they wouldbe much more free from care thanthose who had several wives andchildren depending on them for theirsupport. Neither Paul nor any of theother apostles has ever representedthe plurality of wives to be sinful orevil in the sight of God. We do notfind the principle condemned eitherin the Old or in the New Testament.When Paul recommended Timothy toselect from among the Saints thosethat had but one wife, he does notgive the most distant intimation thatthose officers were thus limited, be-cause to have more than one wouldbe sinful. It was only a matter ofexpediency that they might be freefrom the cares of a large family.There were many practices that cir-cumstances required the servants ofGod to dispense with, not becausethey were sinful in themselves, butmerely to comply with surroundingcustoms. For instance, it was notsinful to eat meat offered to idols, andyet for fear that some weak brother

should be emboldened to follow theexample and eat with conscience tothe idol, and thus offend God, it be-came a matter of wisdom to dispensewith the practice hence, Paul says,"If meat make my brother to offend,I will eat no flesh while the worldstandeth, lest I make my brother tooffend." (1 Cor., 8 : 13.) Paulgave instructions in many things,suited to circumstances : hence, wefind him in one epistle, saying, " tothe unmarried and widows. it is goodfor them, if they abide even as I."And again, "Art thou loosed from aa wife ? seek not a wife." (1 Cor.,7: 8, 27.) And in another epistlehe writes thus : "I will thereforethat the younger women marry, bearchildren, guide the house, give noneoccasion to the adversary to speakreproachfully." (1 Tim., 5 : 14.)The cause of these apparently oppo.site instructions, arose from surround.ing circumstances. The Corinthianshad fallen into many evils. Divi-sions, contentions, fornications, bro.ther going to law with brother, andvarious other evils existed amongthem. Under these influences, Paulwas fearful to have those in thatchurch who were faithful, marry, lestthey should get wicked companionsthat would lead them away to de.struction. Therefore, he gave theinstructions above quoted. But inother churches where such evils didnot exist, it was his will that theyshould marry. Teachings were va-ried to different churches as existingconditions required. Circumstancesrequired Timothy to select fromamong the Saints those that had butone wife to perform the importantduties of Bishop and Deacon. litheSaints had been less coveteous andwilling to sacrifice all things as theapostles did at first, there would havebeen no necessity for this instruction.Bishops and Deacons might havebeen taken of those Saints who hadmany wives, and they would havefreely left all for the gospel's sakebut for the want of such whole.hearted men, Paul had to suit his in.structions accordingly. Among the


various qualifications which Timothywas required to observe in selectingmen for Bishops, Paul says, " More.over he must have a good report ofthem which are without ; lest he fallinto reproach " (1 Tim., 3 : 7.)Did Paul give these instructions be-cause he considered it a sin to be re-proached by those who were without ?Did he consider it a sin to have anevil report from them who were notin the church ? These were certainlynot the views of Paul ; for he, him.self had been spoken evil of and re-proached wherever he went. Jesussays. " Blessed are ye when menshall hate you, and when they shallseparate you from their company, andshall reproach you, and cast out yourname as evil, for the Son of Man'ssake. Rejoice ye in that day andleap for joy: for, behold, your rewardis great in Heaven ; for in like man-ner did their fathers unto the pro.phets." " Woe unto you, when allmen shall speak well of you! for sodid their fathers to the false prophets."(Luke 6 : 22, 23, '26.) " If they havecalled the master of the house Beel-zebub, how much more shall they callthem of his household ? " (Matthew,10 : 25.) Peter says, " If ye be re•proached for the name of Christ, hap-py are ye." (1 Peter 4 : 14.) Butwhy was Timothy instructed to selectfor the office of Bishop such as had" a good report of them which arewithout, lest he fall into reproach ?"Was it because all others in thechurch were sinners ? Was it be-cause none who were reproached andspoken evil of for Christ's sake werequalified for the office of Bishop ?Was it because God condemned allthose whom the world condemned ?No : it was for none of these causesthat Paul gave this instruction ; itwas merely as a matter of expediency:there were others, no doubt, who weremore righteous in the sight of God,and better qualified for the office ofBishop whom the world hated and re-proached and spake all manner of evilagainst. Yet Paul, for some reason,considered it best to select such as theworld spake well of. His object

might have been to allay the spirit ofpersecution which was then ragingamong those who were without. Hisinstructions were suited to surround-ing circumstances in regard to this, asin relation to their being the hus-bands of one wife. It was no moresinful to be the husband of a pluralityof wives, than it was to be reproachedand have an evil report from themwho were without. In the first hisobject was to have the Bishops freefrom the multiplied cares of a largefamily, and in the second to allay thehostilities of the enemy, by selectingthose who were of good report amongthem.

We should be pleased to have someof the wise theologians of our daybring forward even one passage fromeither the Old or New Testament toprove that the plurality of wives isan evil. Let them produce somepassage, if they can, to show thatsuch a practice was sinful either un-der the Patriarchal, Mo. aic, or Chris.tian dispensations. Le, them showthat the practice was not continuedunder the Christian dispensation.Where and when did our Saviourever condemn it ? Where and whendid any of his Apostles ever condemnit ? Here, then, ye ministers ofChristendom, are some grave ques-tions for you to settle. Would youconvert the "Mormons" of Utah Ter..ritory from this practice, show themthat it is sinful or unscriptural. Nosooner was it sounded abroad throughthe columns of the Seer that theSaints in Utah believed in and prac-ticed the plurality of wives, than thewhole army of editors and ministersthroughout Christendom formed them-selves in battle array ; the thunder oftheir artillery is heard reverberatingfrom nation to nation, as though theywould annihilate the poor citizens ofUtah with one tremendous onslaught.Curses, denunciations, and ridicule,are poured out like a flood upon theirheads. The whole English •ocabu-lary is exhausted to find epithets andreproaches sufficiently expressive oftheir holy horror. But in this holywar where is the editor or minister


that can brandish the sword of truthagainst that which he condemns ?Where is the theological Goliah ofmodern Christendom that can standbefore the sling stones of truth asthey are hurled by the power of Is-rael's God into the midst of the ene-my's camp ? Denunciations are notarguments—curses and vile re-proaches will not convince the judg-ment nor enlighten mankind—Editorsand ministers will find some wisemen yet left on the earth who arenot afraid of the Bible nor of Bibletruths : by that sacred volume theywill form their judgment, and notupon popular traditions nor the de.nunciations of the bigoted. Wisemen of Babylon wonder—editors areastonished—ministers are amazed--priestcraft trembles to its very cen-tre—and the Devil and his angelsare mad to think that after all theirunited exertions to put a stop to thespread of this "awful delusion" as itis denounced, it still prospers with un-paralleled success among every na.tion to which it has been published. 1How is it, inquires the wise states-men, that such a bare-faced imposi.tion converts its tens of thousandsa ,, nually among the most civilizednations of the earth ? What is thesecret of its prosperity ? We willtell you, Mr. Statesman, there aremany tens of thousands of honest up.right men who, in despite of priest-craft, will investigate for themselves,and in so doing, they find that " Mor-monism," which is called by editorsand ministers a " bare-faced imposi-tion," has never as yet- been provedto be such —they find that the cry ofdelusion is one thing, and the proofof delusion is another, they reasonwithin themselves, that if " Mormon-ism" is such a " base imposition,"why has not some giant theologianbeen able, after a score of years, toprove it to be such ? They find theworld flooded with books, pamphlets,periodicals, editors, ministers, mobs,and murderers, all crying " bewareof Mormonism !" " Beware of thatsoul-destroying imposition !" " Be-ware of the wicked, beastly, licenti-

ous Mormons ! !" " Beware of Mor-mon Polygamy ! ! !" " The Mor-mons of Utah are Polygamists ! ! !"" 0 awful !" " 0 horrible ! " " 0abominable !" " Who could have be-lieved it !" " Cannot Gen. Piercedo something to put a stop to thisdreadful evil !" " To avert the ca-lamities of civil war the Mormonsshould be made to obey the laws !"Such are the arguments, Mr. States-men, that wise and candid men hearagainst the so-called delusion. Theyagain reflect if Mormonism is reallysuch a dreadful delusion, and if aplurality of wives is, indeed, so sinfuland unscriptural, why are not somecandid arguments—some scripturalevidences forthcoming to convincethe judgment and enlighten the mind,and to show the nature of the delu-sion, and why, and wherein it is adelusion ? Why, say they, are allthese denunciations heaped upon theLatter-Day Saints without one logi-cal argument, or scriptural evidenceto sustain them ?

If editors and ministers wish to puta stop to the rolling of the greatwheels of " Mormonism," we advisethem to try another plan. You havefound that evil epithets and the cry ofImposture, have been tried in vain.Such empty trash is becoming stale ;it is not received as evidence by athinking public. They do not gree.dily swallow it down ; they wantsomething more substantial. Lettheologians back up their cry of de.lusion by good sound reasoning—byevidences from the Word of God.Let editors and authors, for once,show themselves men of sense ; letthem, for once, appeal to the law andtestimony, and expose " Mormonism "scripturally ; let them, for once, proveto the world that the doctrines of theLatter Day Saints are false ; let themshow f'rom the Word of God that a plu.rality of wives is sinful or unscriptu-ral. If they will, for once, adopt thisplan, they will find that it will havemore weight in the minds of an intel-ligent thinking public, than all theridicule, vile reproaches, and populardenunciations, that the devil can in-


vent. Try it and see. If you willprove "Mormonism" to be a delusion;if you will show by the Word of Godthat a plurality of wives is not sanc-tioned under the gospel as it was un-der former dispensations, you willgreatly enlighten the minds of thepeople of Utah. Think not that thedescendants of the pilgrim fathers—the intelligent sons and daughters ofthe New England States—the citi-zens of this great Republic, educatedunder the salutary influence of Ame-rican institutions, who now dwell inexile in the Mountain Territory, areso lost in the depths of barbarism—SOenguiphed in the fatal vortex of delu-sion—so impenetrable to sound argu-ments and logical reasoning—so blindto the great truths contained in theWord of God, that they are beyond allhopes of recovery. At least make theexertion once; convince them of theirerrors of doctrine or errors of prac-tice. Let missionaries be sent amongthem ; they shall be treated with thehighest respect; meeting houses shallbe opened to them free of all expense;the people will turn out by tens ofthousands to hear their strong reason-ings, and if they are able to prove" Mormonism" a delusion, they willconvert the great majority of the Ter-ritory. Here, then, is a splendid fieldfor missionary enterptize. But let usnotify you to send men who are notafraid of the Word of God. Let menhe sent who will make no denuncia-tions only such as they are able toprove ; for the inhabitants of Utahhave too much sense to be thus gulledand duped ; they have too much expe-rience to believe all that missionariesand editors say without proof; theyhave too much honesty and desire forthe truth to believe a thing to be trueor untrue, because long establishedcustoms and popularity sanction it.The people of Utah hear and thenjudge ; they think for themselves anddo not hire ministers and editors tothink for them. Come, then, youmissionary societies whose bosomsyearn over the dark and benightedheathen in foreign climes, awake tothe awful condition of the poor and

outcast Latter Day Saints in your ownland ; send forth your master spirits—your Calvins—your Luthers—yourWesleys ; let the thunder of their elo-quence be heard upon the mountaintops ; let the vales of Utah be refresh-ed by their sublime effusions ; let thehills and mountain gorges re-echo theglad tidings, till every ear shall hear,and every heart be penetrated. Avoice is heard from Utah saying,Come over and help us ; teach us ofour errors ; convince us of our delu-sions, if we have any ; set us in thegood old paths of ancient Christianityif we are not already walking there.in ; take us by the hand and lead usinto the light, if you consider us indarkness ; prove to us that the Bookof Mormon is an imposition that wemay be justified in rejecting it con-vince us that a plurality of wives iscontrary to the gospel ; let your lightshine upon the mountains and uponthe highest places of the earth, thatUtah may, peradventure, become en-lightened, at least, that she may beable to see some of the beauties ofcivilized society. The inhabitants ofthat dark and benighted land are sofar sunk in the depths of barbarism,that they will not suffer a public pros.titute to live in the Territory : anadulterer or seducer is not consideredfit to live in that barbarous land.These ornaments of civilized andChristian nations, do not yet adornthe cities and towns of Utah. Curs-ing, swearing, gambling, drunken-ness, stealing, brother going to lawwith brother, fighting, quarrelling,and such like specimens of civilizedsociety, have not yet been introducedto polish and refine the manners ofthat deluded, benighted people. Mis-sionaries, therefore, will have a greatwork to perform to reclaim the "Mor-mons'' from all their barbarous anddegrading customs, and polish andadorn them with all the beauties ofcivilization. But let them not be dis-couraged if they can prove that theyhave greater light than the Saints,they may be assured of success, andthat the people en masse wfI be con.verted.


But "the people of Utah should bemade to obey the laws in order toavert the calamities of civil war."We hope that priests and editors willnot martial the whole nation againstthem. At least, show them some little mercy, by first informing themwhat laws of God or man they havebroken. Before you blot their namesout from under Heaven, give themone chance of repentance and refor-mation by sending wise men, andjudges, and lawyers, to point out tothem what law of the United Statesthey have violated, or what law of UtahTerritory they have trangressed. Ifit be contrary to the laws of the United States for the citizens of Utah tohave a plurality of wives, they arecertainly ignorant of the existence ofsuch laws. None of the lawyers orjudges who have been sent amongthem have ever pretended that theUnited States have passed any lawsupon that subject. And as for thelaws of the individual States and otherTerritories, Utah is not aware thatshe is ameniable to them. EachState and Territory passes its ownlaws to regulate its own domestic re-lations and internal A:Airs, and is notunder the jurisdiction of any other.If Utah has become a transgressor ofany laws to which she is ameniable,let the judges of the Supreme Court,appointed for that Territory, takecognisance of the same, and punishher citizens by law. This will "avertthe calamities of civil war" whicheditors and religious bigots are sofearful of. We ask the citizens of theNorthern States, if their State lawsauthorize them to regulate the policyof the Southern States in regard toslavery ? Have they the right to saythat the Southern States must andshall abolish slavery? The Statelaws of the North have nothing to dowith the domestic relations of theSouth. So it is in regard to Utah ;she asks not the interference of anyState of this Union to dictate to herwhat kind of policy she must adoptin her legislative enactments ; if shechoose to adopt slavery in her midst,the organic law of the Territory gives

her the privilege if she choose topractice a plurality of wives, she hasthe most unbounded right to do so, un-til prohibited by law ; if she choose topass laws authorizing her citizens tomarry a hundred or seven hundredwives, it would be a violation of nolaw or Constitution of the GeneralGovernment. If enthusiasts and reli.gious bigots are not pleased with theliberties guaranteed in the great Con-stitution of this country, let them pe.tition Congress for a different kind ofgovernment—one that shall combinethe ecclesiastical with the civil pow-er—one that shall incorporate theholy inquisition for the punishment ofall heretics who dare think or act forthemselves—one that shall issue abloody edict for the extermination ofthe Latter Day Saints wherever theycan be found : such a governmentwould be much better adapted to theirwants : such a government would en-able them to rule over the consci-ences of men by the sword, the fag-got, and the fire : such a governmentwould enable them to effectually de-molish all delusions and hereticalopinions by physical arguments, in-stead of mental. 0, how beautiful !how logical ! how powerful in its ap-plications would such an order ofthings be ! Before such irresistablelogic the poor "Mormons" wouldstand no chance at all : they would beoverpowered, butchered, roasted alive,as an unequivocal testimony of theirgross delusions !

But to return again to our subject.If the plurality of wives once existedin the Christian Church, why has notthe practice been kept up unto thepresent day ? Is it not an evidencethat it never existed under the gospel,from the fact that it has not beentransferred down to our time ? Wereply, that the non-existence of thepractice among Christian nations now,is no evidence, at all, against its ex-istence in the early age of Christian.ity. There is scarcely one feature ofancient Christianity, that has strug-gled through the long night of dark.ness, and reached our day. Wherenow are the inspired Apostles such as


characterizod ancient Christianity ?Where now are the abundance ofChristian Prophets such as onceflourished in the Christian Church ?Where now are the visions, revela-tions, prophecies, ministry of angels,the healings, the miracles, and thepower of God that distinguished theChristian Church while it was on theearth ? Where has been even theChristian Church itself, for centuriesand ages past? It has been nowhereupon the earth. If the great, andglorious, and grand characteristics ofChristianity, have ceased—if theChristian Church itself, has not beentransferred to our day, how could itbe expected that the plurality of wivesas practiced in that Church, shouldsurvive the general wreck ? If themost important offices, gifts, and bless-ings of the gospel, perished in thegeneral apostacy, it would be nothingstrange if some of the customs of theearly Christians should perish also.

After the Church of Christ becameextinct from the earth, the apostateswho were left still continued a formunder the name ofa Christian Church;these changed and altered customs tosuit their own imaginations; forbid-ding their priests to marry, and in-troducing celibacy, and nunneries,and thousands of other foolish whimsand habits that the Christian Church,while it was on the earth, neverthought of. From these unauthorizedapostates, sprang all the churches ofmodern Christendom; all being asdestitute of divine authority as theidolatrous II indoor. And throughtheir traditions, customs, and foolishimaginations, they have almost en-tirely irradicated every feature andcustom of ancient Christianity fromthe earth.

This great apostacy began to man-ifest itself in the Christian Churchwhile the apostles were yet living.Paul, in speaking of the coming ofChrist, says, " Let no man deceiveyou by any means : for that day shallnot come, except there come a fallingaway first." (2 Thess. 5:3 ) Andagain, he says, "fir the mystery of .

iniquity duth already work." (Verse

7.) The apostate churches of lattertimes were to be " without naturalaffection," " having a form of godli.ness, but denying the power thereof',"" giving heed to seducing spirits, anddoctrines of devils; speaking lies inhypoeracy; having their conscienceseared with a hot iron; forbidding tomarry;" " waxing worse and worse,deceiving and being deceived;""through coveteousness, with feignedwords, making merchandise of thepeople" " turning their ears awayfrom the truth, and turning them un-to fables." " Forbidding to marry"was one of the grand evils of theapostacy; it was classified with the" doctrines of devils," it was oneof the most effectual doctrines thatthe devil could invent to uproot thefoundations of society; to deprive thepeople of God of their promised herit-age of children; to thwart the pur-poses of the Almighty in peopling theearth with its full measure of inhabi-tants; to cut off the glory promised tothe faithful through the continuanceof their posterity; to reduce mankindto the same woful condition, as thefallen angels themselves, who haveno power to increase their dominionsby a multiplication of their species.

The devil and his angels, havingforfeited, in their first estate, all rightto enter a second with bodies of fleshand bones, and having lost the privil-ege of marrying and propagating theirspecies, feel maliciously wicked andenvious against the sons of men whokept their first estate and are now inthe enjoyment of the second, marry-ing and increasing their families orkingdoms. These arch seducersknow full well the blessings whichthey have lost, and which they seemankind in possession of; namely, theblessings of wives and children.Could they seduce mankind and for-bid them to marry, it would greatlygratify their hellish revenge; for theyknow that all such would lose theirpromised glory, being left %v Blessand childless like themselves, withoutany possible means of reigning overan endless increase of posterity.

The devils, knowing the eternal

SO CONTENTS.

ruin which would necessarily comeupon mankind could they be persuad-ed to abolish marriage, used everyart of seduction to accomplish theirevil designs. When they could notsucceed in one way they would tryanother ; if they could not persuadeall the church to forsake the practiceof marriage, they would then try theirskill upon the apostate priesthood, en-deavoring to enforce them into a lifeof perpetual celibacy. The devilssoon succeeded in getting laws enact-ed, fbrbidding the Priests to marry.Nunneries were also built in whichfemales were immured for life, andthus prevented from fulfilling thegreat and first command to multiplytheir species. The next great objectwith the Devil was, to unite thisapostate church and priesthood withthe civil power ; this he soon accom-plished : he now found himself armedwith double facilities. What hecould not before fully accomplishwith the ecclesiastical tribunals, hecould now perliani through the enact-ments of the civil powers. He hadalready succeedee in abolishing mar-riage among Priests and Nuns, andthe next step was to forbid the plu-rality of wives—that divine institu-tion which had, in all previous agesof the world, been so successfulamong holy Patriarchs, Prophets, andrighteous men in greatly multiplyingthe people of God, and spreadingthem abroad like the sands of theseashore. Could he persuade theecclesiastical and civil powers tounitedly attack this holy institution,and utter!) abolish it in church andState, it would greatly satiate his re-vengetill feelings ; for he recollected

well how much harm Abraham,Jacob, Moses, Gideon, Elkanah,David, and numerous other old Po.lygamists had done to his kingdom.God had declared himself to be theGod of Abraham, the God of Isaac,and the God of Jacob, and had pro-mised to bless the children of theirnumerous wives and multiply themlike the dust of the earth. AndChrist too, the greatest enemy whichthe Devil had, was so well pleasedwith this divine institution that hechose to come into the world throughthe lineage of a long list of Jewishand Patriarchal Polygamists. TheDevil, therefore, thought to vent hisspite at this holy order, and if possi-ble entirely irradicate it from theearth. Through the influence ofApostate Christendom several na-tions have actually been persuaded,to assist the Devil in his maliciouswarfare against this divine system :they have actually passed laws pro-hibiting it in their midst. Thus thatorder of plurality by which the twelvetribes of Israel were founued, andfrom which the Messiah, accordingto the flesh, came ; that order whichmultiplied the chosen seed as thestars of Heaven, and in which all na-tions should he blessed ; that orderby which the childless dead couldhave his name perpetuated to endlessgenerations ; that holy divine orderhas been overturned and abolishedby human enactments and by humanauthority. Let Apostate Christen-dom blush at her sacriligious deeds !let her be ashamed of her narrow-contracted bigoted laws !

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS.

The Pre-exibtence of Man 65Celestial Marriage. 73




All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Helifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains,—Isaiah xvm, 3.

VoL. I. JUNE, 1853. No. 6.


62. If man before the fall had noknowledge of misery, it is evidentthat he also must have been ignorantof the nature of happiness for al-though placed in circumstances wherethere is no misery, yet he does notrealize that this condition is a condi-tion of happiness : no one could ex-plain to him the nature of happiness :the idea of happiness never couldenter his mind until he could form anidea of a state or condition of an op-posite nature. If we should conceiveof a being placed in circumstanceswhere a continuous stream of lightshone upon him, whose intensitynever varied—if we should conceivehim as never closing his eyes uponthis light, it would be impossible forhim to know the nature of darkness ;and it would be equally impossiblefor him to form any idea that he wasenjoying light : light could not be ex-plained to him, as something oppositeto darkness ; and though he shoulddwell in that light eternally, henever could appreciate it ; he couldnot contrast his condition in the lightwith the condition of another indarkness ; for he would have no ideawhat darkness was : in order to un-derstand the difference between lightand darkness, and appreciate theblessings of the one, contrasted withthe disagreeableness of the other, hemust experience the two opposite

states. So likewise, in reference tothe idea of happiness ; in order to de-termine in his own mind what happi-ness is, he must be able to contrastit with misery, but if he has no ideaof misery, he could not make the con.trast, and consequently he could formno idea in his own mind that his statewas a state of happiness. The wordhappiness would be a vague term ofwhich he could form no idea of themeaning. Hence, the state of ourfirst parents before the fall must havebeen a kind of neutral state, havingno knowledge of happiness or misery,neither enjoying the one nor sufferingthe other, not appreciating their con.dition, for they could not contrast itwith any opposite condition. It wasnecessary, therefore, for them to ex-perience pain or misery, that theymight discern and appreciate happi•ness.

63. The Lord being perfect ingoodness, could not, consistently withthis great attribute of His nature, in.flict pain or misery upon innocentbeings, like our first parents. If hehad made them subject to pain, hiswork could not have been pronouncedvery good : and if he had inflictedpain upon them while in their inno-cent state, all the Heavens wouldhave considered Him unjust and im.peached his goodness. Pain or mis.ery must be the result of transgres.

82 THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAW.

sion, All pain in the universe origi-nated in transgression, But our firstparents, while innocent, knew neithergood nor evil : they knew that Godhad given a law in regard to the fruitof a certain tree which they were toldwas " the tree of knowledge of goodand evil." The mere name of thistree gave them no idea of the natureof either good or evil. They knewthat God had given them a commandnot to eat of the fruit ; but they didnot know that obedience to this lawwas good, and that disobedience to itwas evil. If they had been told thatto obey the law was good, and that todisobey it was evil, they could nothave understood the terms ; good andevil were words without meaning tothem. It was true, they were told ofthe penalty which should be inflictedupon them if they transgressed thelaw. But they could form no idea ofthe nature of death, so far as the sell-sation was concerned ; and thereforethey stood in no fear of death. IfGod had seen proper to have told thembefore the fall, that death would bea dissolution of body and spirit, thattheir bodies would return to dust, andthat their spirits would he miserable,yet they could not have understoodthat such a state of things would bemisery ; they could have formed noidea of the evils of death, or that itwould be of any disadvantage to themto have their bodies and spirits sepa-rated. To stand in fear of a penaltywould indicate that the being whothus feared, must have some idea ofmisery; but as our first parents knewno misery, because they knew noevil, it was impossible for them tohave any fears in regard to the con-sequences resulting from disobedi-ence. Hence they were agents orsubjects, capably of being entkced todisobey the law without any fear.They had never been frowned uponby their Father, therefore they couldnot conceive the nature of a frown.All their acts, prior to knowing goodand evil, must have been, to a certainextent, without any merit. or demerit.If they had done any acts whichwould have been considered good, if

performed by beings who knew good,yet, because of their ignorance of thenature of good, such acts would notbe considered either good or bad.Therefore, they, while in this stateof ignorance, could do no good, for theyknew not the nature of good ; neithercould they learn the nature of goodwithout transgressing the law, andthus learning the nature of evil ; then,and not till then, they would learn byexperience, that one species of actswere good, and that another specieswere evil.

64. Without a knowledge of goodand evil, of happiness and misery,they could have no conception ofjus-tice and mercy. A sense of justiceimplies not only a knowledge of whatis right and wrong, hut a knowledgeof the penalty which should be in-flicted upon the evil doer. An under.standing of the nature of mercy irn-plies an understanding of justice; andwithout a knowledge of the latter, noconceptions could be formed of thenature of the former. Our first pa-rents, in this state, had never seenany one suffering the demands of jus-tice under the penalty of a brokenlaw ; they never had seen mercy of-fered to a being in such a condition.Justice and mercy would be words tothem without a meaning : the ideas oftheir nature could not, in their inno-cent state, enter into their hearts.Language would be altogether inade-quate to give them the least notionof these qualities; they could only belearned by tasting good and evil ; bypartaking of happiness and misery.

65. Love and hatred must havebeen sensations unknown prior to theknowledge of good and evil. Hatredis excited by something possessingdisagreeable qualities ; but, as allthings were very good, there wasnothing calculated to excite this pas-sion : no evil qualities were, as yet,discerned by them : such sensationscould not be produced in them, with-out inflicting more or less pain ; hutthe sensation of pain could not beawakened without doing evil; there-fore, it was impossible for them tohave the sensation of hatred before


knowing evil. But a being who hasno knowledge of hatred can have noknowledge of Love ; for love beingthe opposite of hatred, can only beunderstood by contrast. In order tolove, a being must perceive some-thing good the object loved, but asAdam had no idea of good, he couldnot love anything because it possessedthe quality of goodness, and there.fore, he could not form any idea ofthe nature of love. Love and hatred,then, are sensations derived from theknowledge of good and evil.

66. If the knowledge of good andevil, of happiness and misery, of jus-tice and mercy, of love and hatred,had no place in the minds of our firstparents, prior to the fall, it is evidentthat they were totally deficient of thequalities necessary to the enjoymentof the society of beings of a superiororder : they were totally unqualifiedto converse, and reason, and associ-ate with any degree of satisfactionwith beings who were in the posses-sion of all this knowledge ; they weretotally inadequate to hold any poweror authority among those who knewgood and evil; they were entirelyunqualified to sit in judgment upontransgressors—to discern the natureof crime--to punish the guilty—toshow mercy to the afflicted—to lovegood and hate evil : for the want ofexperimental knowledge they couldnot, for a moment, have been entrust-ed with the exercise of any of theseimportant functions. And thus weperceive, as we have already statedin a former paragraph, that there arecertain truths which could only belearned by experience ; while thereare other truths which can be ac-quired by reason, reflection, observa-tion, and revelation. But experimen-tal truths are just as necessary asthose acquired by a different process.

67. Thus we see that the knowl-edge of our first parents was ex-tremely limited. Though the Lordbad formed Eve and brought her toAdam, yet it is extremely doubtfulwhether, in their innocent state, theycould love or bate each other. It isdifficult for us to conceive how conju-

gal love could exist between the twosexes, when they had no knowledgeof good or evil, of joy or misery.'That feeling of joy which now existsbetween husband and wife, they musthave been strangers to. It is alsoextremely doubtful, whether they, intheir state of ignorance, could propa-gate a mortal species. Shame ormodesty was something that they hadno idea of; hence, we read that," 'They were both naked, the man andhis wife, and were not ashamed."(Gen. 2: 25.) They, being im-mortal, and having no blood flowingwithin their systems, and being desti-tute of the idea of love and hatred, ofsexual affection, and of every princi-ple resulting from a knowledge of goodand evil, were unqualified, as yet, tofulfil that great comrnad, to " Be fruit..ful, and multiply and replenish theearth ;" (Gen. I 28;) providing thatthe command had reference to amortal posterity of flesh and bones.Flesh and bones are made out of blood,and without blood flesh and bonescould not be begotten and born ; now,as blood is the natural life, and con-tains within itself mortality and death,it is evident that Adam and Eve hadnot that mortal fluid flowing withintheir immortal systems ; and yet with-out blood, theynever could have begot-ten children of flesh and bones. If itwere the design of the Almighty, thatman, in his second estate, should be-get bodies or tabernacles only, andnot spirits, then it was impossible forthem to fulfil that design until afterthe fall. The spirits were alreadybegotten in heaven ; these spirits re-quired tabernacles; it may have beenthe the duty of man in this world tobeget these tabernacles, that innocentspirits from the spirit world mighttake up their abode in them. Thiswork man, in this world, could not do,unless blood circulated within his ar-teries and veins. Now, the Lordcould not, consistently with his good-ness, organize blood within the sys-tem of man, and thus subject him todeath. He therefore made him im-mortal, by organizing, in connectionwith his flesh and bones, an immortal


fluid of a more refined nature thanthat of blood—a fluid of spirit.

68. In order that man might havethe exceedingly great privilege grant-ed to him of knowing good and evil,happiness and misery, justice andmercy, love and hatred, of multiplyingand replenishing the earth, withbodies or tabernacles for the spirits—the Lord formed the tree of know.ledge, and so constructed its fruit, thatif taken in the system, it would de-stroy the immortality thereof, andcause blood to usurp the place of thespiritual fluid, and thus, by our firstparents, partaking of the tree, theywould place themselves in a condi-tion to propagate their species, or inother words, bodies of flesh. Butdid the Lord command them to eat ofthis fruit ? No : such a commandwould have been inconsistant withHis goodness. It was perfectly con-sistant with His attributes to makethe tree : it was perfectly right thathe should plant it in the midst of thegarden, where Adam and his wifecould not fail to behold it, as theypassed to and fro eating of the vari-ous fruits with which the gardenabounded. But knowing that thefruit contained mortality and deathwithin it, he did not feel justified tolet Adam and Eve partake of it with-out giving them a warning of theconsequences which would follow.The Heavens would hr ve consideredthe Lord unjust, inasm ich as He hadmade the tree and placed it withinthe reach of man, if He had neglect.ed to caution him not eat of it.Therefore, the Lord gave a strictcommand that our first parents shouldnot eat of the fruit, telling them thatthey should surely die, if they didpartake of it. The Lord, having afore-knowledge of all things, knewthat Adam and Eve would, becauseof their great ignorance, be easilyenticed to disobey this command.ment, he, therefore, suffered Satan toenter into the body of a certain beast,called a serpent, and to speak throughthe serpent and entice our first pa-rents to eat the forbidden fruit.—(See Joseph Smith's inspired trans-

lation of the third chap. of Gen.)They yielded to the temptation : theLord now could inflict upon thempain, and misery, and death, and stillbe just ; for they had disobeyed hiscommand. They were now mademortal by their own acts. Bloodnow flowed within their systems, andthey had placed themselves in a con-dition to " multiply and replenish theearth" with a mortal posterity. Al-though the command was given be.fore tne fall for man to multiply, yetthe Lord very well knew that mancould not fulfil this command, so faras mortality was concerned, until heshould through his own act, acquirea knowledge of good and evil, and in-troduce a change into his own sys.tem adapted to that end. Therefore,the first great command was givenaccording to the fore-knowledge ofGod in relation to the fall, knowingthat man would suffer the penaltiesof eating the forbidden fruit, andknowing that while under that pen-alty he would be prepared to beget afleshly offspring. From all the cir-cumstances, it appears plain to us,that the Lord never intended our firstparents to multiply mortal taber-nacles until after they should, bytheir own acts, gain a knowledge ofgood and evil, and be prepared togovern children, according to theprinciples of justice and mercy, andthe nature of right and wrong. Itwould seem too, that the command tomultiply was given to all the childrenof men both male and female on thesixth day ; and as Adam and Evewere not formed temporally until theseventh day, the command must havebeen given while they were in thespirit world, and it is not at all likelythat they remembered the commandafter entering their tabernacles. Inthe book of Abraham, the Lord hasnot told us that he gave a positivecommand for man to multiply ; butwhile counselling upon the subjecton the sixth day, " The Gods said,we will cause them to be fruitful,and multiply, and replenish theearth." This was not a command,but merely a declaration what the


Gods would do. " We will causethem to be fruitful," &c. Now wehave already seen what plan wasadopted to cause them to multiply ;it was by placing before them "the ltree of knowledge," that they, throughthe exercise of their own agency,might be endowed with the requisite'qualifications not only to bring forthmortal children, but to govern themaccording to the laws of good andevil.

69. That our first parents wouldhave had no mortal children if theyhad not partaken of the forbiddenfruit, is not only reasonable, hut it isclearly revealed in the Book of Mor-mon. The prophet Lehi says, " IfAdam had not transgressed, he wouldnot have fallen ; but he would haveremained in the garden of Eden. Andall things which were created, musthave remained in the same statewhich they were, after they werecreated; and they must have remain-ed forever, and had no end. Andthey would have had no children ;wherefore, they would have remain-ed in a state of innocence, having nojoy, for they knew no misery ; doingno good, for they knew no sin. Butbehold, all things have been done inthe wisdom of Him who knoweth allthings. Adam fell that men mightbe ; and men are that they might havejoy." (2 Book of Nephi, 1st chap.page 58.) The same doctrine is alsorevealed in the inspired translation ofthe Book of Genesis. "And Adamcalled upon the name of the Lord, andEve also, his wife, and they heardthe voice of the Lord from the waytowards the garden of Eden, speakingunto them, and they saw Him not,for they were shut out from his pre-sence. And He gave unto them com•mandment, that they should worshipthe Lord their God, and should offerthe firstlings of their flocks, for anoffering unto the Lord. And Adamwas obedient unto the commandmentsof the Lord.

And after many days an angel ofthe Lord appeared unto Adam, sayingWhy dolt thou offer sacrifices untothe Lord ? And Adam said unto him,

I know not, save the Lord command-ed me. And then the Angel spake,saying, This thing is a similitude ofthe sacrifice of the Only Begotten ofthe Father, which is full of grace andtruth. Wherefore, thou shalt do allthat thou doest in the name of theSon, and thou shalt repent, and callupon God in the name of the Son forevermore.

And in that day the Holy Ghost fellupon Adam, which bore record of theFather and the Son, saying, I am Je-sus Christ from the beginning, hence.forth and forever, that as thou Nastcalle,i, thou mayest be redeemed ;and all mankind, even as many aswill.

And in that day Adam blessed God,and was filled, and began to prophesy,concerning all the families of theearth : blessed be the name of Godfor my transgression, for in this life Ishall have joy, and again in my fleshI shall see God.

And Eve, his wife, heard all thesethings, and was glad, saying, were itnot for our transgression, WESHOULD NEVER HAVE HADSEED, and should never have knowngood and evil, and the joy of our re-demption, and the eternal life whichGod giveth unto all the obedient. AndAdam and Eve blessed the name ofGod ; and they made all things knownunto their sons and their daughters."

70. The prophet Enoch also re.veals the same doctrine in his cele-brated discourse on the subject of thegospel, as revealed to Adam after hewas driven out from the garden ofEden. " And Enoch continued hisspeech, saying, The Lord whichspake with me, the same is the Godof Heaven, and He is my God andyour God, and ye are my brethren;and why counsel ye yourselves, anddeny the God of Heaven !

The heavens hath He made : theearth is His footstool, and the founda.tion thereof is his : behold He bathlaid it ; an host of men bath Hebrought in upon the face thereof.And death hath come upon our fathers:nevertheless we know them, and can-not deny; and even the first of all


we know, even Adam. For a bookof remembrance we have writtenamong us, according to the patterngiven by the finger of God : and it isgiven in our own language.

And as Enoch spake forth the wordsof God, the people trembled, andcould not stand before his presence :and he said unto them, BECAUSETHAT ADAM FELL WE ARE :and by his fall came death ; and weare made partakers of misery andwoe. Behold Satan hath comeamong the children of men, andtempteth them to worship him: andmen have become carnal, sensual,and devlish, and are shut out from thepresence of God. But God hathmade known unto my fathers, that allmen must repent.

And He called upon our fatherAdam by his own voice, saying, I amGod : I made the world, and men be-fore they were. And He also saidunto him, If thou wilt turn unto me,and hearken unto my voice, and be-iieve, and repent of all thy trans-gressions, and be baptized even bywater, in the name of mine OnlyBegotten Son, which is full of graceand truth, which is Jesus Christ, theonly name which shall be given un-der Heaven, whereby salvation shallcome unto the children of men ; yeshall ask all things in His name, andwhatever ye shall ask, it shall begiven.

And our father Adam spice untothe Lord, and said, Why is it thatmen must repent and be baptized bywater ? And the Lord said untoAdam, Behold I have forgiven theethy transgressions in the garden ofEden. Thence came the sayingabroad among the people, That Christhath atoned for original guilt, whereinthe sins of the parents cannot be an-swered upon the heads of the chil-dren, for they are whole from thefoundation of the world.

And the Lord spake unto Adam,saying, Inasmuch as thy children areconceived in sin, even so when theybegin to grow up, sin conceiveth intheir hearts, and they taste the bit.ter, that they may know to prize the

good. And it is given unto them toknow good from evil : wherefore, theyare agents unto themselves, and Ihave given unto you another law andcommandment : wherefore teach itunto your children, that all men,everywhere, must repent, or they canin no wise inherit the kingdom ofGod ; for no unclean thing can dwellthere, or dwell in His presence ; forin the language of Adam, Man ofHoliness is His name ; and the nameof His Only Begotten, is the Son ofMan, even Jesus Christ, a righteousJudge which shall come.

I give unto you a commandment toteach these things freely unto yourchildren, saying, That, inasmuch asthey were born into the world by thefall which bringeth death, by Water,and Blood, and the Spirit which Ihave made, and so become of dust aliving soul, even so, ye must be bornagain of Water, and the Spirit, andcleansed by blood, even the blood ofmine Only Begotten, into the myste-ries of the kingdom of Heaven ; thatye may he sanctified from all sin, andenjoy the words of eternal life inthis world, and eternal life in theworld to come, even immortal glory :for by the water ye keep the com-mandment ; by the Spirit ye are jus-tified ; and by the blood ye are sanc-tified, that in you is given the Recordof Heaven —the Comforter — thePeaeable Things of immortalglory—the Truth of all things—thatwhich quickeneth all things, whichmaketh alive all things—that whichknoweth all things, and bath allpower, according to wisdom, mercy,.truth, justice, and judgment.

And now, behold, I say unto you,this is the plan of salvation unto allmen : the Blood of mine Only Begot-ten which shall come in the meridianof time. And behold, all things havetheir likeness, and all things are cre-ated and made to hear record of me,both things which are temporal, andthings which are spiritual; thingswhich are in the heavens above,and things which are on the earth ;and things which are in the earth,and things which are under the


earth, both above and beneath : allthings bear record of me.

And it came to pass, when theLord had spoken with Adam, ourfather, that Adam cried unto the Lord,and he was caught away by theSpirit of the Lord, and was carrieddown into the water, and was laidunder the water, and was brought forthout of the water: and thus he was bap-tized, and the Spirit of God descend-ed upon him ; and thus he was bornof the Spirit, and he became quicken-ed in the inner man : and he hearda voice out of Heaven, saying, Thouart baptized xvith fire, and with theHoly Ghost. This is the Record ofthe Father, and the Son, from hence.forth and bar ever. And thou artafter the order of Him who was with-out beginning of days or end of years,from all eternity. Behold, thou artone in me—a son of God ; and thusmay all become my sons, Amen."*

71. From all these quotations welearn, that if it had not been for thefall of our first parents, they nevercould have had mortal children. Evesaid, "Were it not for our transgres-sion, we should never have had seed."Enoch said, "Because that Adam fellace are." Lehi said, "Adam fell thatmen might be." The Lord said toAdam :—" Inasmuch as thy childrenare conceived in sin, even so, whenthey begin to grow up, sin conceivethin their hearts." And again, theLord said in relation to these chil-dren, " They were born into theworld by the fall which bringethdeath, by Water, and Blood, and theSpirit which I have made, and so be-come of dust a living soul." The" Water and Blood," properly united,form the flesh and hones of an in-fant ; the spirit from Heaven, unitingwith the " Water and Blood," ani•mates the body, and thus it becomes"of dust a living soul."

72. Adam said, "Blessed be thename of God for my transgression,for in this life I shall have joy, and

* Revealed to Joseph, the Seer, Dec.1830, as a part of the Inspired Translationof the Book of Genesis.

again in my flesh I shall see God.And Eve, his wife, heard all thesethings and was glad, saying, were itnot for our transgression, we shouldnever have had seed, and shouldnever have known good and evil, andthe joy of our redemption, and theeternal life which God giveth untoall the obedient." How great rea-son had our first parents to bless andpraise God that he had made andplaced the tree of knowledge in aposition where they could eat of it ;for though they brought upon them-selves the penalty of their disobedi-ence and were placed, with theirposterity, in a state of suffering, yetit was far better for them to endurethe suffering, and even to die, thanto have remained in the state thatthey were in before the fall. Indeed,it would have been better for themto have suffered a hundred-fold morethan what they did, than to have al-ways remained in a state of profoundignorance of good and evil—than tohave forever been in a state incapa-ble of knowing or appreciating joy orhappiness—a state, wherein the ideaof justice and mercy could never haveentered into their hearts. It was notthe design of the Lord that manshould remain in such depths of ig-norance. Well might Adam andEve bless God for their transgres-sion ; for all the sufferings that theyendured in consequence of it werenot worthy to be compared with theinfinitely important knowledge gain-ed, and the joys which flowed throughthat knowledge. Christ was consid-ered, as a " Lamb slain from thefoundation of the world," to atone forthe original sin of Adam. There-fore, by his transgression, he obtain-ed knowledge indispensably neces-sary to his exaltation and happiness;and by the atonement his sin wasforgiven, and he restored to the favorof God, possessing the requisitequalifications to enjoy his redemp-tion, and the society of beings whoknew good and evil. " The LordGod said, Behold the man is be-come as one of us, to know good andevil." (Gen. 3 : 22) God and the

88 THE PRE-EXISTENCE OP MAN.

heavenly host had attained to theknowledge of good and evil, andtherefore they were capable of en-joying happiness and judging right-eously according to the principlesof right and wrong, justice andmercy. Adam, by his transgres-sion, had become like one of theGods to know good and evil. Nowcan it be supposed, for a moment,that the Lord did not wish Adamto become like himself? Was Henot desirous that he should learnhow to distinguish between that whichwas good, and that which was evil ?Or did He design that man shouldforever be deprived of that informa-tion which alone could give him joy ?Was not the only Begotten Son will-ing, even before the world was made,to be sent forth in the meridian oftime to suffer and die, in order toatone for a transgression which wouldplace Adam in the same condition asthe Gods in respect to good and evil?The Son did not consider death to betoo great a sacrifice, in order that manmight be raised from the very depthsof ignorance and be placed on anequal footing with the Gods, as far asit regards good and evil and all theiraccompanying consequences.

73. It is true, if the Saviour hadnot proposed to die to atone for Adam'ssin, then there would have been noway of forgiveness; and justice wouldhave consigned Adam to endlessmisery and banishment from the pre-sence of his Father, without any hopesof the resurrection of his body, or aredemption of his spirit from thepower of the Devil: hence, if Godhad not contrived a plan of redemptionit would have been better for Adamnot to have fallen; it would have beenbetter for him to have remained inprofound ignorance of good and evil,happiness and misery, than to havebeen miserable forever, like the fal-len angels. But God having deviseda plan of Redemption, it was far bet-ter for Adam to transgress and sufferthe penalties of that transgression fora season, than to remain in a state,wherein he could never know goodand evil, like the Gods—wherein he

could never appreciate the happinessof heaven, or know the joys of eter-nal life—wherein he could not under.stand the nature of justice and mercy,of right and wrong—wherein he couldnever be entrusted with any author-ity, or power, or rule over beingswho were in possession of this super-ior knowledge—and wherein he couldnever have had children, and there.fore, the great family of spirits in[leaven would have been disappoint-ed in their anxious longing expecta-tions to receive bodies. Therefore,I lift up my heart in praise and thanks.giving before the Lord ; yea, I blessGod with all my soul, that our firstparents did transgress, and bring suf-fering, and misery, and death uponthe world ; for, because of this trans-gression my spirit has been permittedto come from heaven and enter a ta-bernacle of flesh and bones—becauseof this transgression, I am permittedto know, in this life, good and evil,joy and misery, justice and mercy, loveand hatred—because of this trans.gression, I learn by experience thingswhich I never could have learned inany other way—because of this trans.gression, I shall know and appreciatethe joys of my redemption ; I shallenjoy the words of eternal life in thisworld, and the fulness of eternal lifein the world to come.

74. There was another tree in thegarden of Eden whose fruit possessedqualities of an opposite nature to thatof the tree of knowledge. It wascalled "the Tree of Life." This treewas calculated to produce endlesslife ; it would change mortality intoimmortality, as may be seen from thefollowing passages :—"And the Lordsaid, Behold the man is become as oneof us, to know good and evil ; andnow, lest he put forth his hand andtake also of the tree of life, and eat,and live forever : therefore the LordGod sent him forth from the garden ofEden, to till the ground from whencehe was taken. So He drove outthe man ; and He placed at the eastof the garden of Eden Cherubims,and a flaming sword which turned,every way, to keep the way of tho


tree of life." (Gen. 3: 22-24.) Ifour first parents, after having trans-gressed, and become subject to death,had been permitted to eat of that, theconsequences would have been of themost fearful nature, and they wouldhave been ruined forever. The actwould not only have affected man, hutit would have affected God; His wordwould have been void, for the sen-tence of death had already passed,and they were told that they should"surely die." The fruit of the Treeof Life would have caused them tolive forever, and God's word wouldhave failed: not only so, but theywould have lived forever in misery ;for the plan of salvation which wasto be brought about by the sheddingof blood or by the death of the Sa-viour, would have been frustrated. IfAdam had placed himself in a condi-tion that he could not die, his childrenwould have been placed in the samecondition also ; (that is, providingthat it was possible for him to havebegotten children of flesh and bones

under such circumstances ;) hence,the Messiah, according to the flesh,could not have died: forasmuch as allthe children would have been immor-tal, His fleshly body would have beenimmortal al3o and without blood; thus,there could have been no atonementby the shedding of blood. Therefore,man would have remained in his fal-len state forever, being subject to theDevil who had overcome him, beingdead spiritually without any possibilityor hopes of recovery, being miserableforever like the fallen angels. It isvery doubtful, whether our first par-ents, if they had partaken of the treeof life after the fall, could have broughtforth children of flesh and bones ;blood which is essential to the organ-ization of fleshly bodies, would havebeen irradicated from their systems.Therefore, the Lord, knowing theevil consequences which would follow,if they partook of the Tree of Life,carefully guarded the same by Cher-ubims and a flaming sword.

(To be continued.)

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE.(Continued.)

If the pl.irality of wives be a Di-vine institution, why did not the Lordmake more than one female forAdam ? Because one was sufficientto commence the work of peoplingthis creation. The Lord generallyaccomplishes His work through pre-scribed and fixed laws. The lawof generation is the fixed and estab-lished method by which males andfemales have been organized out ofthe dust, during the last six thousandyears. Before this law could takeeffect, it was necessary that the im-mortal bodies of the first pair shouldbe formed in a different manner fromthat of the mortal bodies of their off-spring. The first pair being formedby the immediate agency of the Al-mighty, all others could be formedthrough the general and fixed laws ofgeneration.

God had power to have formed all the

inhabitants of the earth in the sameway that He did the first pair, hutHis wisdom dictated their formationby another law. He had power tohave formed a great number of fe-males for Adam, but His wisdomdictated the formation of only one asbeing sufficient to commence thegreat work of the multiplication of thehuman species.

But does not Jesus, when referingto the union of Adam and Eve, as oneflesh, convey the idea that no manwas to have more than one wife ?No: Jesus was speaking of the Jew.ish nation, who had been accustomedto give bills of divorcement and putaway their wives ; He was showingthem that Moses suffered such billsto he given, because of the hardnessof their hearts ; "but from the begin.fling it was not so." He told themthat it was unlawful for them to put


away their wives except for the cause 'of fornication. He "said unto them,Have ye not read, that He whichmade them at the beginning, madethem male and female, and said, Forthis cause shall a man leave fatherand mother, and shall cleave to hiswile ; and they twain shall be oneflesh ? Wherefore they are no moretwain but one flesh. What, there-fore, God bath joined together, letnot man put assunder." (Matthew19: 4, 6.) Jesus here vindicates thes tcredness and perpetuity of the mar-riage covenant, He shows that thehusband and wife are no more twainbut one flesh. What are we to un•derstand by two becoming one flesh ?Does it mean that the male arid fe-male lose their identity as persons?By no means. Such a circumstancenever happened in any age of theworld. Does it mean that they be-come one merely in their thoughts,affections, and minds ? No ; it saysthey twain shall be one flesh : markthe expression, " one flesh," not onemind. But how can this be possible ?Answer ; 13y the sacred covenant ofmarriage, the woman freely and vol-untarily gives herself to the husband ;she no longer is her own, neither doesshe belong to her parents. or to anyone else ; she has surrendered herselfwholly to her husband ; she is hishelpmate; his wife ; his property ;his flesh, just as much as the flesh ofhis own body is his: hence, Paul says," So ought men to love their wives astheir own bodies. He that loveth hiswife loveth himself. For no man everyet hated his own flesh ; but nourish-eth and cherisheth it." (Eph. 5: 28,29.) Although she still maintains heridentity as a distinct personage, yetshe belongs to another, and not toherself; she is his flesh and hisbones. lie, therefore. that will di•vorce his own flesh and his ownbones, " saving for the cause of for-nication, causeth her to commit adul-tery : and whosoever shall marry herthat is divorced, cormnitteth adulte-ry." (Matthew 5: 32.) Now, a manthat will cause his own wife whichis, by marriage, his own flesh, to corn.

mit adultery, will be considered as anadulterer himself, and will be judgedand condemned %via). adulterers ; forin him is the greater sin, because hecompelled his own flesh to commitadultery, by putting her away. Andif he should marry, after having puther away, it would be adding sin tosin; fur, after having forced his wife tocommit adultery, he would now actu.ally commit adultery himself. Hence,Jesus says, " Whosoever shall putaway his wife, except it he for forni.cation, and shall marry another, corn.mitteth adultery." (Matthew 19: 9.)Thus it will be seen, that a manwho unlawfully divorces his wife, although he may remain unmarried,commits a sin equal to that of adul-tery, for he " causeth her to commitadultery;" and if he marry while inthis great transgression, he, of course,would marry contrary to the will ofGod, therefore, God would have no-thing to do in joining him to another,consequently his marriage not beingof Divine appointment, would he con.sidered illegal, and therefore adulter-ous, like all other marriages whereinthe authority of God is not recognized.

Some may pretend to say that if itbe considered adultery to marryanother, alter having unlawfully di-vorced a wife, then it would be con-sidered adultery to marry anotherwithout a divorce, having two or moreat the same time. But these twocases are entirely distinct and differ-ent in their nature. In the first case,a man before he marries another isunder great transgression, having un-lawfully put away his wife and causedher to commit adultery. While un-der this great transgression, God willnot suffer him to be made one fleshwith another ; and if he marry, hemarries independent of the authorityof Heaven, and therefore commitsadultery. But in the second case, ifhe marry another when he is not un-der transgression, through the con-sent of his first wife, and under theDivine sanction, and by Divine ap-pointment and authority, as the holyPatriarchs and Prophets did, he doesnot commit adultery. Neither Jesus


nor his apostles, have ever represent-ed a person to he an adulterous manfor marrying two wives and livingwith them, as had been practiced byholy men in all previous ages. Sucha practice was never condemned.Jesus did not say that Moses suffereda plurality of wives because of thehardness of their hearts, and that itwas not so from the beginning. No.He said directly the reverse. it wasfor putting away wives, and not fortaking wives, that Jesus condemnedthem. This putting away of wiveswas not only condemned under theGospel, but it was considered a greatevil hundreds of years before Christ.Hear the testimony of the ProphetMalachi : " Therefore take heed toyour spirit, and let none deal treach-erously against the wife of his youth.For the Lord, the God of Israel, saiththat He hateth putting away." (Mal.2: 15, 16.)

As it was considered a very greatevil for a husband to put away hiswife, so, likewise, it was very sinfulfor a wile to put away her husband.Jesus says, " If a woman shall putaway her husband, and be marriedto another, she committeth adultery."(Mark 10 : 12.)

In addition to the sense alreadyillustrated, a husband and wife be.come one flesh in another respect.They not only become one flesh bythe wife's giving herself wholly tothe husband, but originally the wo-man was actually made out of thebone and flesh of Adam. The Lordin forming a wife for Adam did notsee proper to construct her entirelyout of the ground, but He took one ofAdam's ribs, and, connecting with itthe necessary materials, formed awoman, and brought her to the Man ;this curious circumstance causedAdam to exclaim," This is now boneof my hone, and flesh of my flesh :she shall be called Woman, becauseshe was taken out of Man. There•fore shall a man leave his father andhis mother, and shall cleave unto hiswife : and they shall be one flesh."(Gen. 2: 23, 24.) The Woman,therefore, by creation was originally

part of Man ; the marriage ordinance,being instituted to restore to manthat part which was taken from him,without which he could not be per-fect. When the hone or rib, takenfrom him, was re tored in the formof a female and wife, he could, withall propriety, say that they were oneflesh.

That this saying was not only ap-plicable in the case of the first pair,hut to all others who should alter.wards he married by divine appoint-ment, is evident from the declarationthat a man, for this very cause,should leave father and mother andcleave unto his wife, and they shouldhe one flesh.

But there is still an additionalsense wherein the husband and wifebecome one. They become oneflesh in their children. The flesh ofboth father and mother becomesamalgamated in one in each of theiroffspring. Here is a union of theflesh of the father with that of themother that can never be separated—a union of the flesh of two in onebody—a union as perfect as that ofAdam's rib before it was extractedfrom his body --a union that no powerbut death can dissolve—a union thatwill he eternal after the resurrection.Hence the husband and wife becomeone flesh in their children eternally.The union of husband and wife,therefore, should be as inseparableas their own flesh and bones incor-porated in their children ; it shouldbe as eternal as the immortal bodiesof their children after the resurrec-tion. No wonder, then, that theLord " hates putting away :" it is aviolation of the eternal covenant ofmarriage ; it is the overthrowing ofthe great foundation of eternal king.doms : it is the destruction of an end-less increase of posterity, and the re-jection of the grand Patriarchal andfamily order of the Heavens ; it isthe severing assunder of that which.God has joined together for eter-nity—the rending in twain of hisown flesh and his own bones whichGod had united to be one forever ;and in fine, it is the rejection of the


Woman—" the glory of the Man"—the only means that God has ordain-ed for the peopling of Worlds—theonly stepping stone to an endless in-crease of dominions—the only medi-um of an endless continuation of im-mortal lives. What, therefore, Godhas joined together as one flesh, letno human authority dare put as-sunder.

Bat does not the saying, that " theytwain shall he one flesh," indicatethat God did not design more thantwo to become one flesh ? No : itconveys no such idea. Jesus says," I and my Father are one." (John10: 30.) Now this saying did notprevent others from becoming onewith the Father and Son ; it wasjust as possible for three, or four, ora hundred, or any other number ofhis disciples, however great, to be-come one with Jesus and His Father,as it was for they twain to he one.Indeed, Jesus prays to the Father tomake all his disciples one, even asthey were one. Therefore becausea man becomes one flesh with onewife, it does not prevent him frombecoming one flesh with a second.When Jacob became one flesh withLeah, it did not prevent him frommarrying Rachel, and Bilhah, andZilpah, and from becoming one fleshwith each of them. Each of the lat-ter three were as much his as thefirst. The flesh of Jacob and Rachelwas incorporated as one in the bodiesof Joseph and Benjamin, as much asthe flesh of Jacob and Leah was inJudah and Simeon. If it could besaid of Jacob and Leah, that " Theytwain shall be one flesh," the samesaying could be applied, with equalpropriety, to Jacob and Rachel—toJacob and Bilhah—to Jacob andZilpah ; or, if he had been pairedwith seven hundred wives, as Solo-mon was, it would have been equallyapplicable to each pair.

In the writings of the New Testa-ment, we have no particular instan-ces mentioned of the plurality ofwives, and from this circumstance,some have supposed that such apractice did not exist ; but we reply,

that there are several books of theOld Testament, also, wherein no in-stances of such a practice, are re-corded, and yet it is well known thatsuch an order was in existence.Therefore, because the writers ofthe New Testament have failed tomention instances, is no evidencewhatever against the continuation ofthat divine institution. Why shouldsome sixteen or eighteen of the in-spired writers of the Old Testamentbe entirely silent in regard to a prac-tice which existed under their imme-diate notice ? The silence of theeight writers of the New Testamentis no more proof against the exist-ence of the plurality custom underthe Christian dispensation, than thesilence of double that number ofwriters, is against its existence un-der former dispensations.

It is supposed by some, becausethe term wile, instead of wives, isused in the New Testament that noChristians had more than one. Butno such inference can be justly drawnon that account. For who does notknow that the greatest majority ofthe Old Testament writers, have usedthe term wife in the singular numberas well as those under the gospel ?There were many people underevery dispensation, who had but onewife; and for this cause, instructionswere most usually given in termsand language, suited to the generalcondition of the people, taken as awhole. When Moses gave laws con-cerning domestic relations, he mostgenerally used the term wife, insteadof wives, knowing that, in the most ofcases, the laws regulating one wife,would be equally applicable to a plu-rality. Hence, he uses the singularnumber in his instructions in rela-tion to a divorce: the same languageis used against coveting a neighbor'swife; and yet these laws were de.signed to take effect among polygam-ists, as well as among families prac.ticing the one wife system. Manyother laws were applicable to bothsystems, and yet Moses uses thesingular term instead of the plural.This same custom continued among


the writers after Moses; and it wasvery seldom that the term wives, inrelation to individual families, wasused, unless in regard to some cir-cumstance or event which espec-ially required the language to bein the plural. The New Testa-ment writers, in giving rules and re-gulations for the government of fam-ilies, have followed the same customas those who preceeded them, usingthe singular number, consideringthat what was applicable to one wifewas, in most of cases, applicable to aplurality. This method of expressingthemselves, therefore, is not the leastevidence against the existence of thisorder of things among Christians.Indeed, we know, that if the Jewishnation kept their law in relation tothe childless dead, there must havebeen thousands of polygamists amongthem when Christianity was introduc-ed into their midst.

The object of marriage, as has beenabundantly proved, is to multiply thehuman species and instruct them inevery principle of righteousness thatthey may become like God, and be onewith Him, and inherit all the fulnessof His glory. This being the realobject of marriage, a question natur.ally arises have the wicked the sameright to the blessings of a numerousposterity, under this divine institution,as the righteous ? We answer, thatthey have not. And we shall nowproceed to show from the scripturesthat the Lord has made a great dis-tinction in regard to this thing, be.tween the wicked and the righteous.

First, We have no example of thewicked ever being married by divineauthority. Where have we an in-stance of this kind ? We have abun.dance of instances where the wickedhave been married; but were thesemarriages by divine appointment ?Were they joined together of God?Were the ministers who officiated di.rected by revelation to join them to-gether as one flesh ? We have noinstance of the kind in the divine or-acles. It is true, the scriptures toler-ate such a practice, the same as Godhas tolerated the illegal marriages,

during the last seventeen centuries,and the same as He tolerated thelaw of divorce among the Israelites,because of the hardness of their hearts.He has suffered the wicked to marry,according to human laws, and humanauthority in order that mankind mightnot become extinct, the same as hesuffered the children of Jacob to selltheir younger brother to the Ishmael-ites in order that they might not be.come extinct by the famine. Thereare many things that God permits be.cause of the hardness of the hearts ofmankind, that they will be condemn.ed for in the day of judgment. Jo.seph' brethren were condemned fortheir acts, but God caused good toresult therefrom ; this, however, didnot clear them from their guilt. Soit is in regard to those who have ven-tured to marry without divine author.ity, God will cause good to resultfrom the same in the preservation ofthe human species upon the earth,hut the nations of the wicked whohave thus violated tha' divine institu.tion, will be cast into hell, and willlose the blessings and privileges ofthe righteous who have married bydivine authority. Therefore, the factthat God does not join the wicked inmarriage, is an evidence that t hey havenot the same privileges as the right.eous in this holy matrimonial ordin.ance.

Secondly, why does not God appro.bate the marriages of the wickedequally with the righteous ? Becauseby their wickedness, they not onlybring damnation upon themselves, hutupon their children also. The chili.ren seeing the wicked practices oftheir parents, would he very likely tofollow their evil footsteps. We seethis most abundantly exemplified, notonly in wicked families, but amongwicked nations. The nations whofurmeily inhabited the land of Canaanwere unworthy of the ordinance ofmarriage or of posterity, because theirchildren beheld the wicked examplesof their parents and became worseand worse until their iniquity wasfull, when the Lord in order to put astop to their unlawful marriages, and


the multiplication of evil doers, wascompelled to destroy husbands, andwives, and children to the numberof many millions. Hear whatthe Lord said to the children of Israel,concerning them, " But of the citiesof these people, which the Lord thyGod cloth give thee for an inheritancethou shalt save alive nothing thatbreatheth : but thou shalt utterly de-stroy them ; namely, the Hittites, andthe Amorites, the Canaanites, andthe Perizzites, the Hivites, and theJebusites ; as the Lord thy God bathcommanded thee ; that they teach younot to do after all their abominations,which they have done unto their gods;so should ye sin against the Lordyour God." (Deut. 20 : 16, 17, 18.)When Abram first came into that landthe Lord told him that their iniquitywas " not yet full." (Gen. 15.) Butsome lour or five centuries after this,through the evil practices of theirfathers, the children had become fullyripened in sin, and had filled up themeasure of their cup. And to pre-vent the earth from being overrunwith this evil race, and corruptingdIsrael with their abominable practices,it was necessary to utterly destroyevery soul that breathed. Instead ofthe Lord's considering these nationsfit to marry He did not consider themworthy to live or their children either,Therefore He destroyed them, andgave their land to His people, andpromised them, on conditions of right-eousness, that He would greatly blesstheir land, and increase their flocksand herds, and their riches and sub-stance Moses said unto them "TheLord shall make thee plenteous ingoods, in the fruit of thy, body, andin the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruitof thy ground, in the land which theLord sware unto thy fathers to givethee." (Deut. 28 : 11)

Israel, then, because of righteous-ness was considered worthy to beblessed with an increase of children,to be multiplied exceedingly, and be-come as the sands upon the sea shoreinnumerable ; but they were consid-ered worthy of this blessing on!y onconditions of righteousness : fot if

they turned away from the Lord, theywould be no better qualified to savetheir children, than other nations.Should they forsake righteousnessMoses said that they also should hevisited with every kind of plague andcurse ; and among other calamitieshe says, " Ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars ofheaven for multitude." " And it shallcome to pass that as the Lord rejoicedover you to do you good, and to mul.tiply you; so the Lord will rejoiceover you to destroy you, and to bringyou to nought." (Deut. 28: 62, 63.)Here then we see, that it is a causeof rejoicing with the Lord to multiplythe righteous, and to diminish thewicked. Multiplication, therefore,was originally only designed fbr therighteous ; but the wicked have pre-suined to take this blessing to them-selves, and have thus been the in.struments in bringing hundreds ofmillions into the world which God isobliged from time to time to cut offand send to hell in order that theworld may not he brought wholly un-der their dominion, and the curse de.your the whole earth as in the daysof Noah.

The angels who kept not theirfirst estate are not permitted to mul-tiply. Why ? Because of theirwickedness. If granted this privi-lege, they would teach their offspringthe same wicked malicious principlesby which they, themselves, are goy.erned ; they would teach them tofight against God, and against everything else that was good, and great,and glorious. This would not onlymake all their offspring miserable,hut it would greatly enlarge the do-minions of darkness ; and to preventall these great calamities and evils,God has wisely ordained to withholdmarriage and increase of posterityentirely from them.

God is angry and displeased withwicked men and nations, as well aswith the &Hen angels, and though hesuffers them to marry and to multiply,yet He will bring them to judgmentfor these things ; and will punish themfor bringing posterity into the world


in all their corruption and wicked-ness : He will punish them with adouble punishment, not only for theirown evil deeds, but because theyhave taught their children the same.Their children must suffer as well asthey, because their parents venturedto marry in unrighteousness. Theyand their children in all their gene-rations are preparing themselves forthe society of the fallen angels ; andwith them they will dwell, and likethem, they will be placed in a con-dition where they can no more bepermitted to multiply. Having oncemarried in unrighteousness andbrought eternal ruin and miseryupon their seed, the Lord will nolonger suffer them to enlarge theirdominions of wickedness, and entailunhappiness and wretchedness uponimmortal souls. They have forfeitedall right to wives or the law ofincrease, 1.y their abuses of thesethings here in this life.

When Noah and his sons werebuilding the ark all the nations of theearth were marrying and giving inmarriage, hut their marriages wereall illegal and they only multipliedtheir posterity to be cut off and to per-ish out of the earth. God did notsanction their marriages, neither washe pleased with them or their chil-dren. Noah and his sons were theonly persons worthy of wives orchildren ; they alone had a divineright to marry ; and they alone hadany legal claim on the Lord in behalfof their children. The most of thepeople in the days of the patriarchshad turned away from the true Godto the worship of idols, consequentlythe marriages of all such were unau-thorized, and their illegitimate chil-dren were multiplied upon the earthto curse the earth with the idolatry oftheir fathers. David says that " thewicked shall be turned into hell, andall the nations that forget God." Canwe then, for one moment, suppose thatGod is pleased with the multiplicationof the wicked ? Does it please Godto have the wicked marry, when, inso doing, they only increase the num-ber who must be cast into hell ? Far

he it from us to impute such wicked.ness to God. That which God re-quires of the wicked, in the firstplace, is, to repent and become right.eous, and then to marry and multiplya righteous posterity upon the earth :and if they will not do this, it would befar more tolerable for them in the dayof judgment. if they would remainunmarried, for then they alone wouldsuffer; but to be the instruments ofbringing their own children to eter-nal ruin will greatly add to their tor.merits. Who can, then, fin one mo.ment, believe that the wicked haveequal privileges with the righteousin the divine institution of marriage ?Who can, with the word of God be-fore them, believe that the wickedought to multiply upon the earth andraise up candidates fi,r the devil'skingdom ? No person can believethis, who believes the Bible.

Hear what the prophet Isaiah says,concerning the children of the wicked:ho declares, "The seed of evildoersshall never be renowned. Prepareslaughter for his children, for theiniquity of their fathers ; that they donot rise, nor possess the land, nor fillthe face of the world with cities."(Isa. 14: 20, 21.) Now would it nothe far better for them not to marrythan to be the means of bringingboth temporal and eternal judgmentsupon their children God is certainlynot pleased with their increase, orelse He would not prepare slaughterfor their children to prevent themfront filling the world with cities ; ifHe were pleased with their increase,the more cities they filled the better.

The Psalmist, in speaking of boththe righteous and the wicked says,that " Such as be blessed of Himshall inherit the earth ; and •hey thatbe cursed of Him shall be cut ofl:"And again he says, " He (the right.eous) is ever merciful and lendeth ;and his seed is blessed. Depart fromevil and do good ; and dwell forever.more. For the Lord loveth judgmentand forsaketh not his saints : theyare preserved forever but the seedof the wicked shall be cut off. Therighteous shall inherit the land and

96 CONTENTS.

dwell therein forever." (Ps. 37.)Thus we can see what the design ofthe Lord is in regard to the seed ofthe wicked : they are to utterly perishout of the earth. Not so with therighteous ; God has promised thatthey shall not only inherit the earthin this life, but they shall "dwelltherein forever."

In a former part of this treatise, itwas shown that adulterers forfeitedtheir lives in ancient times, the rea-son was because they were not con.sidered worthy of wives or childrento perpetuate their names among therighteous ; and being unworthy ofthese blessings, they were unworthyof life ; hence, they were commandedto be destroyed that they might nottransfer their wicked examples to arising generation. And God was sodispleased with adulterers that Heprohibited their posterity from the en-joyment of the blessings of His peo.ple. Hence, it is said, "A bastardshall not enter into the congregationof the Lord ; even to his tenth gen-eration shall he not enter into the con-gregation of the Lord." (Deut.23 : 2.)

The Jews, as a nation, were adul-terers at the time Christianity wasintroduced among them. Jesus callsthem an " adulterous generation."Consequently they had forfeited allright and title to raise up seed untoAbraham. They pretended to beAbraham's seed, but they had forfeitedthat title by their wickedness andadulteries : therefore, "Jesus saithunto them, if ye were Abraham'schildren, ye would do the works ofAbraham." "Ye are of your father,the devil, and the lusts of your fatherye will do." (John, 8: 33, 39, 44.)Being the chqdren of the devil, theyhad forfeited all right to the di.vine institution of marriage. Insteadof its being pleasing to God for them

to pretend to be Abraham's childrenand to multiply and spread forth theirposterity, Jesus said unto them,"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep notfor me, but weep for yourselves, andfor your children. For, behold, thedays are coming, in the which theyshall say, Blessed are the barren. andthe wombs that never bare, and thepaps that never gave suck. Thenshall they begin to say to the moue.tains, fall on us; and to the hills,cover us." (Luke 23: 28, 29, 30.)They had forfeited the blessings ofwives and children, and even of lifeitself, because they were an "adulter-ous generation," and full of all mannerof wickedness. God would soonerof the very "stones raise up childrenunto Abraham," than to have suchwicked characters undertake to marryand multiply. Who then cannot per.ceive that God makes a very greatdistinction between the wicked andthe righteous in regard to marriageand the multiplication of the humanspecies ? Those blessings wereoriginally intended for the righteous,and for the righteous only, but thewicked have stepped forward to theirown condemnation, and claimed theprivileges of the righteous ; bringingtemporal and eternal judgments upontheir generations. Hence, that whichis a blessing to the righteous, willprove a cursing to the wicked. Theark of God while it remained amongthe righteous brought blessings andglory, and honor, and great joy ; butwhen it was taken by the Philistine;who had no business with it, it broughtcursing, and plague, and desolation,and death upon their numerous hosts.So will God punish the wicked fordaring to claim a divine institution,which was only intended for therighteous.

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS.The Pre-existence of Man 81Celestial Marriage. 89



•

ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Helifteth up an Ensign on the lountains.—Isaiah xvin, 3.

VoL. I. JULY, 1853. No. 7.


75. As the children of Adam wereconceived in sin, and born into theworld by the fall, they became sub-ject to the same penalty, inflicted uponAdam, that is, they became subjectto death, as saith the Apostle Paul," By one man sin entered into theworld, and death by sin." (Rom. 5 :12.) Also, in another passage, hesays, " Fur since by man came death,by man came also the resurrectionof the dead. For as in Adam alldie, even so in Christ shall all bemade alive." (1 Cor. 21, 22.) Thesepassages clearly prove that the sinof Adam brought death upon all hisposterity. Was it just that all ofAdam's children should suffer deathbecause of his sin ? Or did deathcome upon the children, not becausejustice required it, but as a naturalresult, following Adam's sin whichcould not be avoided Misery andwoe are frequently entailed uponposterity by the wickedness of pa-rents. Diseases, contracted by thelicentious conduct of parents, becomehereditary, and are transferred to thechildren for many generations. Nowthe parents who, by their sins,brought upon themselves misery andwretchedness, suffer the penalty oftheir own doings as a matter of jus-tice ; they have been unvirtuous andsinned, justice punishes them withloathsome painful diseases : these

diseases are inherited by the chit-dren ; they suffer in body equally withthe parents. No one will pretend tosay, that justice requires the chil-dren to suffer; that these aggravatingcomplaints are justly inherited : noone would, for one moment, supposethat justice could not be magnifiednor exercise its claims, unless the chit-dren were afflicted for their parentssin. All would, at once, say that thesufferings of the children were un-justly inflicted, as a consequence ofthe sin of the parents ; a consequencetoo, which could not well be avoided.So likewise, death came into ourworld by the transgression of ourparents ; they justly suffered that ca-lamity ; but death became hereditary .Adam transferred death to his pos.terity, not for any sin that they hadcommitted, but as a consequence ofhis own sin. Adam was the means oftheir suffering death unjustly, as thelegitimate consequence of his ownsin. Justice, therefore, does not de-mand that any of the posterity ofAdam should die, because of his sin.Justice demanded that Adam onlyshould die. But the posterity ofAdam do suffer death, not becausejustice requires it, but because deathis hereditary, and follows as a natu-ral result of the fall, in the samemanner, as certain diseases are un-justly inherited by children, as a


natural result of the licentiousness oftheir parents.

76. Adam not only was to receivea temporal death or a dissolution ofbody and spirit, but he became deadspiritually ; he was banished fromthe garden of Eden and from the pre-sence of the Lord ; he became sub-ject to the will of the Devil by whomhe had been overcome ; he was deadas to every thing pertaining to right-eousness or happiness ; no act of hiscould ever atone for his sin ; no planthat he could devise would ever en-able him to recover himself from hislost and fallen state ; no scheme thathe could form would reorganize hisbody from the dust and bring it upfrom the grave. To dust his bodymust return, there, for aught he knew,to sleep the eternal sleep of death.No sound of redemption was at firstsounded in his ears; no tidings tokindle a ray of hope within his breast :the darkness of despair sat coldly onhis brow, while a never ending futureopened its horrible gates to his hope.less vision. Death sat enthroned inhis mortal tabernacle—and the spiritmust be torn from its earthly cover-ing, and bound in everlasting chainsof darkness under the dominion ofthe fallen angels. The death passedupon Adam, then, was an endlessdeath of both body and spirit—the bodyto moulder in dust to rise no more—the spirit to dwell in endless dark-ness and misery. This was the pen-alty, when considered separate andapart from the atonement.

But this is not all. Both a tempo-ral and spiritual death was inheritedby all his descehdants. And if Godhad not provided a plan of redemption,all mankind would have been miser-able forever, because of the conse.quences entailed upon them by thesin of their first parents ; their miseryand wretchedness would have beenas great as though they themselveshad committed the sin. Their spirits,though pure and innocent, before theyentered the body, would becomecontaminated by entering a fallentabernacle not contaminated bytheir own sins, but by their con-

nection with a body brought intothe world by the fall, earthly, fallen,imperfect, and corrupt in its nature.A spirit, having entered such atabernacle, though it may commitno personal sins, is unfit to returnagain into the presence of a holyBeing, unless there is an atone-ment made ; hence, without an atone-ment all infants would have been end-lessly lost, because of the natural con-sequences of Adam's sin. It is true,justice would not demand, that anyspirit should suffer because of thesins of its parents, but the firstparents brought this endless death ofbody and spirit upon their offspringunjustly, as a natural evil resultingfrom the fall that could not he other-wise. They suffer it, not as a pen-alty for Adam's sin, but as an infantsuffers disease inherited through theunvirtuous conduct of its progenitors.If it should be supposed, however,that the spirits, being innocent, wereforbidden to leave their habitation,and come down and enter into fallentabernacles, under the penalty ofspiritual death ; and if it should alsobe supposed, that these spirits, beingagents, came in violation of the law,then the nature of the foregoingreasonings would be, in some mea-sure, changed, and each one wouldsuffer, if it were not for the atonement,an endless spiritual death as a resultof his own disobedience to the corn.mandment not to enter a fallen taber-nacle. But as there is no account ofany such law being enacted, intendedas a warning to spirits not to defilethemselves by entering a fallen body,it therefore, must be concluded, thatthe death of both spirit and body arehereditary evils, entailed unjustly uponus by our first parents. These hered.itary sufferings give us a knowledgeof evil, the same as partaking of theforbidden fruit gave Adam a know.ledge of the same principle. Thesehereditary sufferings also give us aknowledge of justice, in the samemanner as Adam learned the natureof justice by suffering fbr his owntransgressions. Adam caused hisoffspring to partake of the bitter un.


justly, and without their consent oragency, and they thus learn the na-ture of misery ; while he, himself,learned the nature of bitter or miseryjustly as a penalty for his own sin.

77. In the preceding paragraph,we have examined the doleful effects,1resulting from Adam's sin, when con.sidered without any reference to theatonement ; from which it will be per.ceived, first, that Adam's sin placedhim and his descendants under thecaptivity and power of the Devil,wherein all mankind became spiritu-ally dead forever; having perishedfrom that which is good, they becamesubject to the will of the Devil, andthus became lost eternally. Secondly,that Adam's sin shut all mankind outfrom the presence of God no more toreturn. Thirdly, that Adam's sinbrought death into the world, eventhe death of the body, or in otherwords, an eternal separation of bodyand spirit, the body returning to dustto rise no more, and the spirit ee-maining in chains of darkness to behappy no more. These fearful con-sequences resulted from the fall.From these consequences man couldnot redeem himself; the chains ofeverlasting darkness encircled himabout, e.nd he could not rend themassunder ; he had lost all power andwas in hopeless despair. But sud-denly, a voice from on high pene-trated the depths of eternal nightwith which he was surrounded ; itwas not the harsh voice of maliciousfiends, grinning horribly at theircaptive victim: but it was the voiceof mercy which broke harmoniouslyupon the ear; it was the voice ofcompassion which gently whispered,peace, to the despairing soul ; it wasthe voice of hope--the voice of love—the voice of one bringing glad tidingsof great joy—the voice of a com-passionate Father, proclaiming Re.demption through His Only BegottenSun. Despair fled away—Hopesprang up in the heart—Joy lighted upthe countenance—and man by faithbeheld himself redeemed through thedeath and sacrifice of the First Born ;redeemed from that endless spiritual

death which was entailed by the fallhis body redeemed from an endlesssleep in the grave ; his spirit re-deemed from an endless subjectionto the power of the Devil. He be-held, by faith, the body restored fromthe dust—the spirit restored to thebody—mortality restored to immor-tality—and man restored to the pres-of his Father. Thus we see, that" in Adam all die " temporally,spiritually, and eternally ; and that" in Christ all are made alive," tem-porally, spiritually, and eternally, sofar, at least, as the original sin isconcerned.

78 Christ is the life and the lightof the world. Without His atone-ment, no life nor light could have ap.proached us ; naught but eternal dark-ness, and death, and misery couldhave reigned. As all this miserycame by the unrighteous acts of oneman, even so, all the redemption, andlight, and life, restored to the world,came by one Being who was as "aLamb slain from the foundation ofthe world." As the children ofAdam had no agency in committingthe original sin, even so, they areredeemed unconditionally, and uni-versally from the effects of that sin,otherwise those effects would havenever had an end. Redemption fromthe original sin was through Christ,that is, through free grace alonewithout works ; no works were re-quired of inan in order that freegrace might become effectual in hisrecovery from the effects of the sinof his first parents. None of theposterity of Adam, as a condition ofredemption from that sin, are requiredto repent, or believe, or be baptized,or do any thing else ; all conditionson the part of man, are entirely ex-cluded. The atonement alone, with-out works, has made all mankind intheir infant state, alive in Christ;hence the great wickedness of bap-tizing little children, for they are al-ready free from Adam's sin becauseof Christ. Baptism was institutedas one of the conditions throughwhich remission of our own personalsins, is granted because of the atone.


merit ; but the atonement requiresno baptism nor any other conditionin order to remit the original sin orredeem us therefrom. The originalsin was forgiven nearly six thousandyears ago, or soon after it was com-mitted ; Adam was the one who com-mitted the sin, and Adam was theone who obtained forgiveness of thesame : the descendants of Adam areaffected by that sin, but are notguilty of committing it ; thereforethey need no forgiveness, no faith, norepentance, no baptism for the re-mission of that sin : hence it is asolemn mockery before God to bap.tize little children ; and God will nothold parents guiltless who suffer thisabominable thing to be practiced intheir families, and the Lord God willpunish those men who practice thisgreat wickedness in his name ; forwill the Lord receive at our handsthat which he has not commanded ?And will he suffer us to go unpunish-ed, if we use his name in vain, andpractice abominations in his name ?Therefore, we say unto all such, letthese evil practices cease from be.fore the Lord, lest he smite you bythe rod of his mouth, and by hiswrath, and you perish out of theearth, and also from his presence.

79. Man, having learned good andevil by the fall, and having an atone-ment provided by which he becamein his infant state innocent beforeGod, was placed in a condition inwhich he could act for himself, eitherto do good or evil, and a probationwas given him. Now, the Lord didnot see proper to redeem man fromthe effects of the fall immediately ;therefore, the time preceding death,became a probationary state, or astate of trial : laws were given togovern him, adapted to the nature anddegree of his knowledge : he wascommanded to do good and not evil ;penalties were affixed to the lawsgiven him. All mankind, as theygrow up from infancy to years of ac-countability, transgress these lawsand subject themselves to the penaltythereof, which is a second death.This second death will not be inflict.

ed until all mankind are redeemedfrom the first death, and restored intheir immortal state into the presenceof their Judge, to he judged by the re.vealed law, according to their works,whether they be good or evil. Wereit not that Christ suffered for the sinscommitted by the posterity of Adam,as well as for the original sin, no fleshthat sins could be saved ; for sin con.ceives in the hearts of all as they growup to know good and evil. Therefore,if the atonement reached no furtherthan the original sin, every soul whosinned against the second law woulddie a second spiritual death : he wouldagain be placed in a condition with-out hope ; he would again perishfrom that which is good and becomemiserable, both body and spirit, for-ever : it is true, his body would notreturn the second time to dust, but hewould be banished the second timefrom the presence of his Judge, whereboth body and spirit would be mise-rable forever ; where no ray of hopecould ever break upon his mind.Such must have been the conse-quences, if the original sin was theonly sin atoned for : under these cir-cumstances, none but infants and thosewho died without knowledge enoughto sin, could be saved. All the restwould be irrecoverably lost.

80. But Christ died, not only to re.deem mankind from the original sin,but to redeem them from the penaltyof their own individual sins, notunconditionally, but conditionally.Though Christ has suffered both bodyand spirit, the pains of all the humanfamily to atone for all their sins, yetthis atonement cannot take effectupon them, unless they believe inHim, repent of their sins, and areimmersed in water in the name ofthe Lord Jesus for the remission ofsins, and are confirmed by the layingon of the hands for the reception ofthe Holy Ghost, and continue infaithfulness unto the end ; on suchthe second death will have no power.But those who will not repent andwho reject the plan of salvation, mustsuffer the penalty of the law even ac-cording to the decree which God


bath made. Such will be punishedwith everlasting destruction from thepresence of the Lord and from theglory of his power. But as God willreward and punish all men accordingto their works, whether good or evil,there will be different degrees ofhappiness and glory to answer theends of the atonement, and differentdegrees of punishment and misery toanswer the ends of justice. Andthus the love, and mercy, and justiceof God will be magnified before allthe heavenly host and before all men.

81. Redemption from the originalsin is universal and unconditional ;redemption from our personal sins isconditional. The first is broughtabout by free grace alone withoutworks. The second is brought aboutby free grace through works. Theformer is a universal salvation ; thelatter is a salvation of those only whoreceive the gospel. Redemptionfrom Adam's sin restores us backinto the presence of God ; redemp-tion from our own sins retains us inthe presence of God in a state ofnever ending happiness. Those whoreject a redemption from the seconddeath, will he compelled to receive aredemption from the first death. AsChrist was lifted up by wicked menupon the crcss, so shall wicked menhe lifted up from the grave to standbefore Him to be judged for all theirwicked deeds. As Christ was judgedand rejected by sinners, so shall sin.ners he judged and rejected by Him.Thus all things are planned in wis-dom, in righteousness, and in holi-ness, for the redemption and happi-ness of man, and also for his damna-tion and misery ; that mercy andjustice may each have their claims,and God be perfect in all his attri-butes.

Hew great and wonderful are theworks of the Almighty, as displayedin the creation and government ofman ! What infinite wisdom ismanifested in his redemption ! Howgreat the inducements held out tofallen man to reclaim and restore himto happiness ! How merciful, andyet how just is the great Judge of all

the earth, in meting out rewards andpunishments, according to the worksof men!

82. Having shown that man hada pre-existence in the heavens beforethe foundation of this world, that hewas an intelligent moral agent, gov-erned by laws, that he kept his firstestate, that this earth was organizedfor his residence, wherein he had theprivilege of being associated with atabernacle or body, that this is thesecond estate, in which he encoun-ters new trials under new conditions,which, if he overcomes, and keepsthe higher laws, adapted to this stateof being, will prepare him for a fur-ther advancement in the attributesand perfections of his Heavenly Fa-ther from whom he originated andby whom he was begotten, long an-terior to his present existence ; hav-ing shown that the fall was neces-sary that he might become like theGods, knowing good and evil, andthat redemption was necessary thathe might know how to appreciatehappiness, by its contrast with misery,we will next inquire into the nature,origen, and extent of his capacitiesas a moral and intelligent being.

83. First. What is the nature ofthe capacities of man ? Man has thecapacities of self-motion, of thinking,feeling, hating, loving, enjoying, suf-fering, remembering, reasoning, andmany other qualities, too numerousto mention. Of all the qualities pos-sessed by man, that of self-motionappears to us the most marvelous.All motions, excepting those of livingbeings, are said to be of a mechani-cal nature—that is, produced bymatter's acting upon matter ; all me-chanical operations, in their origin,are the results of a living self movingforce. The great laws of nature,themselves, are the results of thisforce. There is no other force inthe universe. Those qualities whichare called mechanical forces, gravi-tating forces, chemical forces, &c.,are not forces, but only effects. Theforce which produces these effects ishidden from the view of mortals. Aliving, intelligent, self-moving force,


is the origen of all the motions andlaws of nature. Man has this capa-city of self-motion, and exercises it toa small extent, in the moving of hislimbs and body. But to enter intothe investigation, in this treatise, ofthe nature of self moving forces ingeneral, would be foreign to the sub-ject under consideration. For fur-ther information upon this interestingthough recondite principle, our read-ers are referred to our treatise, en-titled Great First Cause, or the Self-Moving Forces of the Universe. Thenature of thinking, remembering, andall the other capacities of man whichwe have named, are already familiarto the understanding of every one.No one will dispute, but what manpossesses all these qualities.

84. Secondly. Whence originatedthese capacities ? When we speakof capacities we mean the originalelementary capacities of the mind.We are well aware that metaphysi-cians consider many of the qualitiesnamed to be of a secondary or com-pound nature, growing out of thecombinations of qualities still moreoriginal. All this we are willing toadmit ; but these secondary qualities,if analyzed, will be found in all in-stances to be the result of the combi-nation of simple, elementary, originalcapacities. The question is, whenceoriginated these element iry qualitiesof the mind We ens ler, they areeternal. The capacities of all spiritual substance are eternal as the sub-stance to which they belong. Thereis no substance in the universe whichfeels and thinks now, but what haseternally possessed that capacity.These capacities may be suspendedfor a season, but never can be anni-hilated. A substance which has notthese capacities now, must eternallyremain without them. The amountof matter in space can never be in.creased nor diminished, neither canthere be a new elementary capacityadded to this matter. For the argu-ments sustaining the eternity of mat-ter and its capacities, see our treatise,referred to in the preceding para-graph. Admitting the eternity of the

capacities, then the materials ofwhich our spirits are composed, musthave been capable of thinking, mov.ing, willing, &c., before they wereorganized in the womb of the celes-tial female. Preceding that periodthere was an endless duration, andeach particle of our spirits had aneternal existence, and was in posses-sion of eternal capacities. Now canit be supposed, for one moment, thatthese particles were inactive anddormant from all eternity until theyreceived their organization in theform of the infant spirit ? Can wesuppose that particles, possessed ofthe power to move themselves, wouldnot have exerted that power, duringthe endless duration preceding theirorganization ? If they were once or•ganized in the vegetable kingdom,and then disorganized by becomingthe food of celestial animals, and thenagain re-organized in the form of thespirits of animals which is a highersphere of being, then, is it unreason-able to suppose that the same parti•des have, from all eternity, beenpassing through an endless chain ofunions and d:sunions, organizationsand disorganizations, until at lengththey are permitted to enter intothe highest and most exalted sphereof organization in the image andlikeness of God ? A transmigra-tion of the same particles of spiritsfrom a lower to a higher organi-zation, is demonstrated from the factthat the same particles exist in adiffused scattered state, mingled withother matter ; next, they exist in aunited form, growing out of the earthin the shape of grass, herbs, andtrees ; and after this, these vegetablesbecome food for celestial animals, andthese same particles are organizedinto their offspring, and thus form thespirits of animals. Here, then, isapparently a transmigration of thesame particles of spirit from an in-ferior to a superior organization,wherein their condition is improved,and their sphere of action enlarged.Who shall set any bounds to this up-ward tendency of spirit ? Who shallprescribe limits to its progression ?


IF it abide the laws and conditions ofits several states of existence, whoshall say that it will not progress un-til it shall gain the very summit ofperfection, and exist in all the gloriousbeauty of the image of God ?

85. When, therefore, the infantspirit is first born in the heavenlyworld, that is not a commencement ofits capacities. Each particle eterwally existed prior to this organiza-tion : each was enabled to perceive itsown existence ; each had the powerof self-motion ; each would be an in-telligent living being of itself; havingno knowledge of the particularthoughts, feelings, and emotions ofother particles with which it never hadbeen in union. Each particle wouldbe as independent of every otherparticle as one individual person is ofanother. In this independent sepa-rate condition, it would be capable ofbeing governed by laws, adapted tothe amount of knowledge and ex-perience it had gained during its pasteternal existence. Each particle thatcomplies with the laws prescribed forits rule of action, is permitted to risein the scale of existence ; for, byobeying the law, it gains more knowl-edge, and is thus prepared to act in ahigher sphere, and under a superiorlaw. How many different laws theseparticles have acted under during theendless school of experience throughwhich they have passed is not knownto us. What degree of knowledgethey have obtained by experience,previous to their organization in thewomb of the celestial female, is notrevealed. One thing is certain, theparticles that enter into the organiza-tion of the infant spirit, are placed ina new sphere of action : the laws togovern them in this new and superiorcondition must be different from anylaws under which they had pre-viously acted.

86. The particles organized in aninfant spirit, can no longer act, orfeel, or think as independent individ.uals, but the law to control them intheir new sphere, requires them toact, and feel, and think in union, andto be agreed in all things. When

the same feelings, the same thoughts,the same emotions, and the sameaffections, prevade every particle, ex-isting in the union, the united indi-viduals will consider themselves asone individual : the interest and wel-fare of each will he the interest andwelfare of the whole : if one suffers,they all suffer: if one rejoices. theyall rejoice: if one gains any informa-tion, it is communicated to all therest: if one thinks, all the rest thinkin the same manner: if one feels,they all feel: in fine, the union ofthese particles is so perfect, that therecan be no state or affection of one,but all the rest are immediately noti-fied of it, and are thus by sympathyin the same state or affection. And,therefore, they live, and move, andthink, and act as one being, thoughin reality, it is a being of beings. Sofar as the substance is concernedthe spiritual body is a plurality of be-ings; so far as the attributes or qual-ities are considered, it is but one be-ing. We should naturally suppose,that individual particles which havebeen accustomed to act in an indi-vidual capacity, would, at first, find itvery difficult to act in perfect concordand agreement. Each individualparticle must consent, in the firstplace, to be organized with othersimilar particles, and after the unionhas taken place, they must learn, byexperience, the necessity of beingagreed in all their thoughts, affections,desires, feelings, and acts, that theunion may be preserved from all con-trary or contending forces, and thatharmony may pervade every depart-ment of the organized system. Now,to learn all this, there must be a lawgiven of a superior nature to those bywhich they were formerly governedin their individual capacities as sepa-rate particles. A law regulatingthem when existing out of the organi-zation, would be entirely unsuitable totheir new sphere of existence. Newlaws are wanted, requiring each parti-cle no longer to act in relation to itsown individual self, but to act in relaticuto the welfare and happiness of everyother particle in the grand union. All


disobedience to this law by any parti-cle or particles in the organization,would necessarily bring its appropri-ate punishment: and thus by sufferingthe penalties of the law they would inprocess of time become martialed anddisciplined to perform their appro-priate functions in the spiritual sys-tem. The appropriate place for thisgrand school of experience, is in theHeavenly world, where, from thetime of their birth as infant spirits,until the time that they are sent intothis world to take fleshly tabernacles,the organized particles are instructedand educated in all the laws pertain-ing to theirunion, until they are madeperfectly ONE in all their attributesand qualities; but not one in sub-stance, for this would be impossible;each particle, though organized, main-tains its own identity in the system.The oneness, therefore, can only con-sist in the sameness of the qualitieswhich are attained by ages of experi-ence through strict adherence to thewise and judicious laws, given togovern them in their united capacity.

87. The particles organized in aninfant spirit, before they had learnedthe necessity of being perfectlyagreed might bring themselves intomany disagreeable circumstanceswhich, by a perfect agreement, mighthave been avoided. For instance,one law of the union is, that whenany part of the system has ignorantly,or in any other way placed itself indisagreeable circumstances, the otherpart shall take warning and endeavorto avoid those circumstances. Toillustrate this law, suppose the par-ticles, composing the right hand of aspirit, were placed in contact withcertain substances which producedgreat pain, the perception of this painis immediately communicated to theparticles, composing the left hand,they, being inexperienced, give noheed to the friendly warning, andventure into the same difficulty asthose in the right hand ; they now

feel pained, and learn by experi-ence, or by the things which theysuffer, that they have violated one ofthe laws of their union. This placesthe particles on their guard, and theylearn to respect the communicationswhich any portion of the system con-veys to the other ; they learn that thesame thing which will inflict pain onone part of the system, will also in-flict pain upon the particles in anyother part ; and thus when the com-munication is made from one part ofthe system to the other, the particleshave confidence in the intelligenceconveyed, and act accordingly. Thisconfidence is gained by experience.The particles learn by experiencethat to violate any law given to gov-ern them in their united capacitybrings punishment and misery. Itis by experience that they learn toact, and feel, and think, alike ; it isby experience that they learn to loveand hate alike. However unlikethey may be in the degrees of knowl-edge and experience which they hadaccumulated previous to their union,they, by being placed in the sameorganization, are schooled alike, andtrained, disciplined, and educatedalike, till every particle has theknowledge and experience of everyother particle, and thus by experiencethey learn to be united in all things,and to act with one will in all theiroperations. To see the perfect unionwhich now exists among the particles,composing our spirits, as manifestedin thoughts, feelings, desires, andoperations, one would almost thinkthat these were the manifestations ofone single being or particle, insteadof a plurality of beings or particles.But a little reflection, will correctthis false impression, and show usthat these are the manifestations ofthe same attributes or qualities,dwelling in millions of particles butyielding obedience to the same greatlaws, ordained for the government ofthe organized union.

(To be continued.)



The multiplication of human be-ings is not the only object of mar-riage, but connected with this is therighteous government of those beings.If increase alone were the design,then it could be accomplished throughthe wicked as well as the righteous ;but we have already proved that Godis not pleased with the increase of thewicked : the cause of this displeasurearises from the unrighteous govern-ment exercised in their families. Awicked man is totally unqualified togovern a family according to the lawof righteousness ; for though he de.liver righteous precepts, his wickedexamples preach louder in the ears ofhis family than his precepts. If pre-cepts have no influence in regulatingthe conduct of the parents, how canit be ex t. acted that they shall regulatethe acts of the children ? If parentswill not repent of their sins, and callupon the Lord, and he baptized intothe Church of Christ, and receive theHoly Ghost, and be diligent in obey.ing every requirement of Heaven, thechildren will be very likely to hardentheir hearts also. Children are suc-ceptible of influences ; those whomthey esteem most they will be themost likely to imitate. And as child-ren generally suppose their parentsto be superior to all others, they arevery apt to he controlled by their in-fluence, either for good or for bad.Hence, the wise man says, " Trainup a child in the way that he shouldgo, and when he is old he will notdepart from it." Parents cannot trainchildren in the proper path, unlessthey walk therein themselves. There-fore no individuals or nations are di.vinely authorized to marry and mul-tiply their species, unless they arequalified to govern them according tothe law of God, and to teach themboth by example and precept the waythat leads to eternal life and happiness.

The salvation or damnation of afamily depends, in a very great de-gree, upon the nature of the govern-

ment exercised in that family. If thehead of a family be a righteous man,his influence is continually exercisedin every department of his house ;his wife or wives are continually in-structed in every good, and useful,and upright principle ; his childrenare taught in the law of God accord-ing to their age, experience, and ca-pacities ; his examples are imitated ;his whole household love, revere, andobey him : he leads them unto Godand teaches them how to be happyhere and hereafter; he obtains pro-mines from the Almighty for them andtheir generations after them ; heblesses them by the spirit of prophecyaccording to the power and inspira-tion of the Holy Ghost that is in him ;and in fine, he is a prophet, patriarch,prince, and saviour to all that Godhas given him. Such a man is worthyof a family ; he has a divine right tomarry, and multiply his offspring ; forhe thus, in training up a family, glori-fies God ; he prepares them to asso-ciate with a higher order of beingsin the Heavens ; through his instru-mentality they are made partakers ofeternal life. Contrast such an orderof family government with the un.righteousness and disorder in thefamilies of the wicked ; and, then,tell me, if such a man is not moreworthy of a hundred wives and athousand children, than the wickedare to be entrusted with one Tellme if such a man would not glorifyGod more, in the salvation of a largeand numerous family than the wickedman who is the instrument of bring-ing damnation upon his family ? Hearwhat is said concerning Abraham." And the Lord said, Shall I hide fromAbraham that thing which I do ; see-ing that Abraham shall surely be-come a great and mighty nation, andall the nations of the earth shall beblessed in him ? For I know himthat he will command his childrenand his household after him, and theyshall keep the way of the Lord, to do


justice and judgment ; that the Lordmay bring upon Abraham that whichHe bath spoken of him. (Gen. 18:17-19.) The Lord and two angelshad just taken dinner with Ahraham,and as they started on their journeytowards Sodom " Abraham went withthem to bring them on the way."The Lord concluded to reveal to Abra-ham a secret concerning the destruc-tion of Sodom. The reason assign-ed for revealing this secret to him,was because he would "commandhis children and his household ;"and because of this He would bringupon him all that he had promised.Thus we see that in consequence ofthe good order and righteous govern-ment which this Polygamist exercisedin his family, he was counted worthyto have the Lord and his angels todine with him ; to receive a revela-tion concerning the fate of the neigh.boring cities ; and to learn that theLord would actually make him a greatnation, and that all nations should beblessed in him. All these great bles-sings were bestowed as a reward forcommanding his children and house-hold according to the law of God.On the other hand, great and terriblewere the judgments which came uponSodom and the surrounding cities,because they would not command theirchildren in righteousness, nor giveheed themselves to the law of God.

And even among the people ofGod t►lere is a distinction, arisingfrom the faithfulness of some and theunfaithfulness of others. Those whoare the most upright are better quali-fied to govern families than those whoare unfaithful. Though the Lord hadmade promises to Jacob concerningthe posterity of his twelve sons, yetbecause of their wickedness while inthe wilderness He came very neardestroying them. The Lord said toMoses, " I have seen this people, and,behold, it is a stiffnecked people :Let me alone, that I may destroythem, and blot out their name fromunder Heaven : and 1 will make ofthee a nation mightier and greatierthan they.." (Deut. 9: 13, 14.)Why did the Lord wish to destroy

them and make the posterity of Mosesinto a nation greater than they ?Because Moses was more righteousthan they, and consequently wasmuch better qualified to instruct andteach his children than all Israel ;and the Lord had a great desire tobless those who were the most faith-fill with a numerous posterity ; whilethose among his people who trans-gressed were considered unworthyof standing at the head rof a numer-ous offspring. Had not Moses pleadbefore the Lord in behalf of Israel,and referred to the promises made toAbraham, Isaac, and Israel, the Lordmight have destroyed them, andraised up a mighty nation by Mosesin their stead. But the Lord heark-ened unto Moses and " repented ofthe evil which He thought to do untohis people." (Ex. 33.)

Abram had a numerous household,before Sarah gave Hagar to him fora wife. We read of three hundredand eighteen trained servants bornin his own house." (Gen, 14 14.)Now it is altogether likely thatAbram was more righteous and faith•ful than all the church in his house ;hence, he was the only one amongthem that we have any account ofhaving more than one wife. Hisfaithfulness and his qualifications toinstruct and govern in righteousness,entitled him to greater privileges.

The Lord blessed Gideon becausehe was a mighty man of God withupwards of seventy sons, and chosehim to deliver Israel.

David, being a man after God'sown heart, took seven wives beforehe ascended the throne to reign overall Israel. He being a prophet waswell qualified to govern and instructa family in righteousness. He hadmore wives and children committedto him than many of his brethrenbecause he was better qualified tolead them to salvation. Atier Davidhad taken seven wives, the Lordthinking that he had not yet a suffi-cient number, gave into his bosomall of Saul's wives. (2 Sam. 12 : 8.)What is the secret of the Lord'sbeing so anxious for David to have


so many wives ? Because, he, beinga man after God's own heart, wouldbe more likely to save his wives andchildren, than many others of Israelwho were less faithful.

But when David turned from hisrighteousness and took Uriah's wife,the Lord now considered him nolonger worthy of his wives and Hegave them to his neighbor. lie wasinformed by the Lord through Nathan,the Prophet, that if Saul's wives andthat which He had already given tohim " had been too little," " I wouldmoreover " he says, have givenunto thee such and such things;"(2 Sam. 12: 8.) clearly intimatingthat, He, the Lord, would have givenhim more, lawfully, if he had beenfaithful. But now he had forfeitedall that he had got. Saul, though hehad been a prophet, afterwards trans-gressed and rendered himself un-worthy of his kingdom—unworthy ofhis wives—and unworthy of evenlife itself. Wives and children areamong the greatest blessings be.stowed upon the righteous. He,therefore, that receives these bless.ings and continues faithful, will becounted worthy to receive more ; buthe that is unfaithful will have takenfrom him even that which he has.This was the case with Saul andDavid ; their wives were taken fromthem. David by taking that whichdid not belong to him, lost all hisown.

God raised up Solomon to sit uponthe throne of Israel ; and He ap-peared unto him twice and gave himgreat wisdom above all others andthe Lord was with him, and magni-fied him exceedingly before all Israel,and hearkened unto his prayer andfilled the temple which he built witha cloud of glory, and caused fire todescend from Heaven to consume thesacrifice. This great man was muchbetter calculated to train tip childrenin the way that they should go than anyother man living, for God had givenhim greater wisdom ; hence he hadseven hundred wives and three hun.dred concubines. (1 Kings, 11.) Buteven this wise man, turned away

from the Lord, by taking wives fromamong surrounding nations who wereidolaters which thing the Lord hadexpressly forbidden. (See verses 1,2.) Solomon was not condemnedfor marrying many wives of his ownnation ; but having transgressed thestrict commandment of God in marry.ing out of his nation, he was leftunto himself and turned away afterthe idolatrous gods of his wives ; andGod rent the kingdom in twain in thedays of his son, and gave ten tribesto another not of his seed.

Thus it will be seen that evenamong the people of God there aresome who are more worthy thanothers, consequently God gave suchmore wives and children than Hedid to others. These blessings weredispensed, like all other blessings,according to the righteousness, wis-dom, faith, holiness and qualificationsof those who professed to be thepeople of God. Some receivingmore ; some less ; som=e none at all ;and some having taker: from themeven those they had received.

Therefore though the males andfemales had been of equal number inIsrael, yet God would confer uponsome more than upon others, accord-ing to their worthiness. As it wasamong Israel, so it is among the peo-ple of Utah. Some are entitled to agreater number of wives than others,because of their righteousness.Though the census should show anequal number of the sexes in thatTerritory, that does not prove that allthe men are equally qualified to in-struct, counsel, govern, and lead wivesand children in the paths of righteous-ness. A father would not confi..r uponhis children equal blessings, authori-ty, and power, unless they wereequally faithful. A wise king havingmany sons would confer authority andpower upon such only as would usethe same for the benefit of the peo-ple. Those who would not be sub-ject to good laws themselves, hewould not entrust to govern others.Our Heavenly Father acts upon thesame principle. He is willing thatall should enjoy equal rights and


privileges, upon the ground of equalobedience. We have this illustratedin the parable of the talents : onehaving one ; another two, and anotherfive. Those who made a proper useof what was entrusted to them, gainedmore : those who made an improperuse of their blessings, lost all theyhad : their blessings were takenfrom them and given to others, whohad more abundantly. This explainsthe mystery why the Lord in ancienttimes gave more wives to one thanwhat he did to another, when to allappearance the number of males andfemales were about equal.

And when the most of His peoplewere righteous and worthy to be en.trusted with numerous families, andthere were not a sufficient numberof females to supply them with aplurality of wives, the Lord providedfor them, by commanding them tospare the female captives of certainnations taken in war. Hence whenthe Israelites made war against Mi.dian they slew all the men, and tookthe women and children captives.Moses afterwards commanded themas follows : " Kill every male amongthe little ones, and kill every womanthat bath known man by lying withhim. But all the women childrenthat have not known a man by lyingwith him, keep alive for yourselves."(Numbers, 31: 17, 18.)

This was made a law among Israelin all their wars against foreigncities and nations. Moses said con.cerning the city that would not makepeace with Israel, " Thou shalt he.siege it : and when the Lord thyGod bath delivered it into thinehands, thou shalt smite every malethereof with the edge of the sword ;but the women, and the little ones,and the cattle, and all that is in thecity, even all the spoil thereof, shaltthou take unto thyself; and thou shalteat .the spoil of thine enemies, whichthe Lord thy God bath given thee.Thus shalt thou do unto all the citieswhich are very far off from thee,which are not of the cities of thesenations." (Dent. 20: 12, 15.) IfIsrael kept the law which was given'

them, they must have accumulatedhundreds of thousands of female cap-tives for themselves. But why werethey commanded to preserve the fe-males and not the males ? Becausethe Lord was very anxious that Hispeople should have a plurality ofwives, for they were the only peoplequalified on the face of the wholeearth to raise up children in righteous-ness ; therefore the Lord took partic-ular care to make such provisions aswould constitute Israel a nation ofpolyga mists.

The male is appointed by the au.thority of God to be at the head ofhis family—to be a Patriarch andSaviour unto them. lithe male chil-dren of these nations had been sparedalive, they would have rememberedtheir fathers, and as they grew upthey would have turned away to theidolatry and abominations of theirfathers ; and if they had marriedwives among Israel, they would havebeen instruments not only in ruiningthemselves, but their families also.But not so with the females whowere spared alive. They would beconnected in marriage with goodmen, to whom they would he subject,and their children also ; and the man,being at the head of the family, would,by his good examples and precepts,save all his wives and children.Hence we see the wisdom of God indestroying the males and saving thewomen for his people ; that they, byhaving a great number of wives,might multiply the chosen seed asthe stars of Heaven.

The number of the children of Is-rael compared with the number offamilies, shows that polygamy musthave been practiced to a very greatextent while they were in the wilder-ness. Moses vac commanded to takethe number of all the males fromtwenty years old and upwards thatwere able to go forth to war. (Num-bers, 1: 2, 3.) The number wasfound to be six hundred and threethousand five hundred and fifty,(verse 46.) It is very likely that thenumber of males under twenty yearswould, when added to the others. in-


crease the same to about one million.The number of females, it is mostlikely, was far greater, as the Egyp-tians upwards of forty years beforehad commenced destroying the malechildren. The whole nation of Is-rael, therefore, must have been some-thing near two and one-half millions.Now, how many first born maleswere there in this numerous host ?Answer : only twenty-two thousandtwo hundred and seventy-three. (SeeNumbers, 3: 43.) Hence there wasamong the whole number of malesonly an average of one out of thirty.nine that was the first born. Howcan that be possible ? It could notbe possible only upon the principle ofa plurality of wives existing in almostevery family ; for each women couldnot have had thirty-nine sons ; and itmust be recollected that only one outof this number could be the first born.Now, a man that had four wivesmight possibly have thirty-nine sons ;in this case there would be only oneout of the number who could be thefirst born. The first born has rela.tion only to the man who is the headof the family, and not to the woman.Though Jacob had four wives andtwelve sons, yet Reuben only wascalled the first born. It may be saidthat there were many families whosefirst born were daughters : of thisthere is no doubt. Admit that thetwo classes of families were equal,still there would be only forty-fourthousand five hundred and forty-sixfamilies having children in all Israel;taking into consideration those fami-lies that had no children, the wholenumber of families in Israel could nothave exceeded fifty thousand. Now,two and one-half millions of peoplemust have all been included in fiftythousand families, which would be anaverage of just fifty to a family. Asone wife could not he the mother offorty-eight children, it shows mostconclusively that nearly every familyin Israel must have practiced polyga-my. As each man's family consisted,at least, of fifty persons, and if fivechildren be allowed as an average toeach wife, then each man's family

must have consisted of about eightwives and forty children. There isno getting away f'rom these scripturalproofs in favor of polygamy. Noperson can explain upon any otherprinciple, how there could be onlytwenty-two thousand two hundred andseventy-three first born males in anation whose population, at a verylow estimate, must have numberedtwo and one-half millions.

At the highest estimate, therecould not have been over fifty thou-sand married men in Israel at thattime, and yet there must have beensomething like three or four hundredthousand married women. The num-ber of married men is approximatelyestimated from the number of firstborn males. And the number of mar-ried women is approximately estimat•ed from the whole number of Israel.

At the above estimate the numberof males remaining unmarried wouldamount to about nine hundred andfifty thousand ; of this number therewould be upwards of five hundredand fifty thousand over twenty yearsof age, riot married; while the num-ber of unmarried females would beabout eleven or twelve hundred thou-sand.

Of those males who were oldenough to marry, as an average, onlyone out of twelve had a family. Theremust be some cause for this. Canany one give a reasonable cause ?Can any one tell why only aboutone-twelfth part of the men at thattime had families ? Have we notreason to believe that only this smallproportion of the men were worthyof wives or children ? Why werefifty thousand men blessed with somethree or four hundred thousand wives,while upwards of five hundred andfifty thousand had none at all ? Wecannot answer this question, onlyupon the principle that God giveswives and children in great abund-ance to his faithful servants, andwithholds them from the unfaithful,for fear that they will increase anunrighteous posterity upon the earth.Should God deal with the saints inUtah upon the same principle now,


that He did in ancient times, it wouldbe nothing strange if He should giveto many of His faithful servants ahundred fold of wives and children ;while others, less faithful, would helimited to one, and others still havenone at all, like the great majority ofIsrael in the wilderness.

If any one should say that themanner in which God dispensed Hisblessings under the Mosaic dispensa-tions, is not applicable under the gos-pel. In reply, we ask, Is it anymore pleasing in the sight of God fora wicked man to bring up a familyin wickedness under the gospel dis-pensation than it was under formerdispensations ? Are not the evil con-sequences the same under every dis-pensation ? Is there not just as muchdanger of a wicked man's bringingruin and eternal misery upon hisfamily under the gospel as well asunder the law ? If, then, God isnow, just as much displeased with afamily reared in wickedness ; and ifthere is the same danger of destroy-ing the immortal souls of the off-spring now, as under the Mosaic dis.pensation, then why should it hethought strange that God should usethe same preventatives now that Hedid anciently, to check the increaseof the wicked, and the same facilitiesto greatly increase the famiNes of therighteous ? Why should it he con-sidered unreasonable that God shouldgive many wives and children tothose who would in righteousnesscommand their households, as Abra-ham did, and withhold these bless-ings from others who are unworthy ?

These testimonies and argumentseffectually demolish the great objec-tion to a plurality of wives, foundedupon the equality of the numbers ofmales and females in Utah. It willbe seen, that if the males in that ter-ritory were five times more numer-ous than the females, still the forego-ing arguments would show the neces.sity of "a plurality of wives ; unless itcan be proved that all the males inthat territory are equally faithful, andconsequently equally worthy to beentrusted with these great blessings.

But the question may be asked, Whois to decide upon the worthiness orunworthiness of the people ? Weanswer, the same Being who alwaysdecided all matters of importanceamong His people. But is there notgreat danger of being deceived ?Yes ; there is very great danger, in-deed, of being deceived, unless youbelieve in a God who gives revela-tion now as He did in ancient times.All the nations of the earth have al.ways been deceived when they gotso far from God that He would notspeak to them ; they are then left tofollow their own imaginations, whichare sure to deceive them. But whenGod speaks there is no chance of de-ception. His sheep know His voiceand will follow Him ; hence it is notpossible for the elect to he deceived ;because they converse with God, andHe never deceives any one. If thepeople of Utah are the people of God,then there is no possible chance oftheir being deceived upon any sub-ject of as great importance as that ofthe plurality of wives ; for no manhas a right to these blessings unlessGod shall give them to him throughHis servant the prophet. But, onthe other hand, if the people of Utahhave no prophet, then they are notthe people of God, hut are deceivedlike all the rest of Christendom whoare without prophets. In the lattercase, we would not be worthy ofeven one wife, much less a plurality.A people that have no prophets orinspired men among them, neverwere worthy of wives or children inany age of the world. Hence if thepeople of Utah cannot inquire of Godand receive revelations from Him,they are no more entitled to wivesand children than Apostate Christen.dom are. The righteousness or un.righteousness of having a plurality ofwives, or even one wife, all hangsupon the simple question, Whetherthe people who presume to marry,are, or are not, the people of God ?If they are not, they have no divineright to even one wife ; if they areHis people He has the undoubtedright to show, through His prophet,


how many wives, if any, each mayhave.

But would it be right for the Lat.ter.Day Saints to marry a pluralityof wives in any of the States, or Ter-ritories, or nations. where such prac.tices are prohibited by the laws ofman? We answer no : it would notbe right ; for we are commanded tobe subject to the powers that be.So long as we live under their juris-diction, we are commanded to keeptheir laws, unless their laws are un-righteous, like those given by Nebu-chadnezzer, commanding all peopleto fall down and worship a goldenimage which he had caused to be setup; we then should, no doubt, rebelas the three Hebrews did. But alllaws which we could keep withoutviolating our consciences, it is ourduty to obey so long as we live underthem. The laws enacted by the dif-ferent States and Territories againstthe plurality of wives, we believe tobe unconstitutional, growing out ofthe narrow-contracted bigoted cus-toms of Apostate Christianity, never-theless it is the duty of the saints solong as they remain under such il.liberal laws to strictly comply withthem. But if they wish to enjoy theprivileges granted by the word ofGod, and by the glorious Constitutionof our National Republic, let themdepart from under the jurisdiction ofthese illiberal State laws, and go toUtah where religious liberty is tole-rated, and where every people andsect have the right to worship asthey please, and marry as manywives as they please, and be ac-countable to God and not to man.

Laws are intended to preventcrime, and the revealed law of God,and the light of conscience are abun-dantly sufficient to determine what iscrime. A well instructed consciencewill not determine any thing to becrime which 15 not inconsistent withthe revealed law. As plurality ofwives is perfectly consistent with therevealed law, it is not a crime ; andtherefore no human laws should de-nounce it as such : but every manshould be left perfectly free in regard

to this thing, so far as human lawsare concerned.

Every enlightened conscience, aswell as the word of God, will tell usthat lying, stealing, robbing, falseswearing, committing adultery, tres-passing, murdering, and many othersimilar acts, are crimes ; and there-fore the legislative departments shouldenact wise and judicious laws fOr theirpunishment. But where in the wordof God is the plurality of wives de-nounced as a crime ? Nowhere : buton the contrary, it was approbated ofGod. Shall human wisdom, then,presume to enact laws against thatwhich is nowhere in the divine oraclescondemned as a crime ? Must we,under the broad folds of the AmericanConstitution, be compelled to bowdown to the narrow contracted no.tions of Apostate Christianity' Mustwe shut up our consciences in a nutshell, and he compelled to submit tothe bigoted notions, and whims, andcustoms of the dark ages of popery,transferred to us through the super.stitions of our fathers ? Must we heslaves to custom and render homageto the soul-destroying, sickening in-fluences of modern Christianity ?No : American freedom was neverinstituted for such servile purposes ;the Constitution of our country wasnever framed to crush the conscienceof man, and put upon him the ironyoke of Romish superstition : ourillustrious fathers never fought andbled to bequeath to their children theheritage of freedom mingled withdespotism ; the proud American eaglewas never made to stretch forth itswings and soar aloft to mock the sonsof freedom's soil. Liberty—unbound-ed liberty of conscience should char-acterize the laws of each of theStates of this great and extendedUnion. Here the Ilindoo or theChinese should be permitted to bowdown and worship the idolatrous godsof their fathers, unmolested and un-harmed, so long as they are guilty ofn.o crimes, and do nothing calculatedto injure society. Under a theocrati-cal form of government an idolaterwould be punished with death ; for

112 CONTENTS.

idolatry is a great crime in the sightof God. A theocracy would considerall religions, except one, criminal, andwould limit and circumscribe all butone. But the government of this na-tion is not a theocracy; it is intendedto give religious freedom to all ; tocarry out these views, the various re-ligions among pagan nations shouldbe tolerated here, and their followersreceive the same protection by lawas the Methodists, Baptists, Presby-terians, or any other society. If anyreligion which does not conflict withthe Constitution of the country is tobe prohibited, the same rule will pro.hibit all others. So long, therefore,as the present form of this Republi-can Government is our standard, letthe religions of all nations be equallyprotected. And if any among thenations of Asia or Africa, or of theislands of the sea, consider it right tohave a plurality of wives, and wishto emigrate with their numerousfamilies, and become citizens of thisgreat Republic, they ought to havethat privilege, without being com-pelled by the unconstitutional Statelaws, to break up their families anddivorce all their wives but one. Thepresent illiberal State laws virtuallyforbid emigration from about four-fifths of the nations of the earth, andyet it is pretended that our country isan asylum for all nations. But letthem try it once, and they will soonfind our prisons filled with sincere butunfortunate polygamists : they willsoon find that, with the exception ofone, all their wives, however dear totheir hearts, will be torn from theirembrace. Is this freedom and liber-ty ! is this the kind asylum held outto the oppressed of all nations !Must they relinquish the dearest andmost sacred rights ever enjoyed byman, and break asunder the family

ties of conjugal affection and love, inorder to be made partakers of ourhospitality ? Boast not, 0 proudAmerica, of the liberality of thy in-stitutions, when such illiberal lawsas these curse thy soil! After havingbeen subjected to the loss of his fami-ly, well might the honest patriarchalorientalist exclaim, " Give me mywives and my children, and let Ameri-ca keep her proffered liberty for others,whose mines are already trammelledunder the whims and superstitions ofPapist and Protestant religions !Give me my wives and my children,and I will return to my native coun-try, where the sacred rights of thedomestic circle are not invaded andtorn assunder by legislative enact-ments ! Give me my wives and mychildren, for without them the soundof liberty has lost its sweetness inmy ear ! Give me my wives and mychildren, and I am willing to endurethe hardships of the Old World, inorder to escape from the restrictive,superstitious, oppressive laws of theNew ! " These would be the feel-ings of millions of the inhabitants ofthe Old World, should they emigrateto our country and have their familiesbroken up, and they imprisoned forpolygamy by our unconstitutionalState laws. Why will not Americancitizens, then, rise up with one ac-cord and repeal those illiberal op-pressive laws, and let the libertiesbequeathed to us by the choice bloodof our illustrious ancestors be enjoyedto their fullest extent ? Why will notAmerica welcome the oppressed,downtrodden sons of the Old Worldto enjoy the luxuries of our soil, andthe great privileges of our sacredConstitution, without tearing fromtheir embrace that which is dearerthan life, the moment that they setfoot upon our shores ?

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS.The Pre-existence of Man.. 97Celestial Marriage 105

WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY ORSON PBATT,


Ali ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Helifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah XVIII, 3.

VOL. I. AUGUST, 1853. No. 8.

THE PRE—EXISTENCE OF MAN.(continued.)

88. Besides the laws, given to gov-ern each individual particle in its or-ganized capacity, there are other laws,given to govern the whole body. Theseagain are of a still higher order ; forthose laws which regulate the differentparts of the organization for the generalgood of the union, are altogether insuf-ficient to govern the body es a whole.For instance, by the laws regulatingeach particle, the whole system becomesangry at the same time, if a cause exist,exciting that passion ; but this law isinsufficient to control the passion whenit is excited. Another law is requiredto regulate the action of the wholesystem while under the passion. Un-der the first law no oneparticle has aright to get angry while the others arepleased ; they are bound by law to allget angry at once, or to all be pleasedat once, that them may be a perfectagreement in their feelings. Underthe second or higher law, the wholebody of particles are required to gov-ern the passions excited, in a certainmanner, in accordance with the prin-ciples of justice and mercy that existin the bosom of the one who gave thelaw. The spiritual body in its infancyis entirely ignorant, as a whole, of thenature of justice and mercy, good andevil, and such like qualities ; but lawsof justice and mercy, of good and evil,being given, the whole body learns to

control itself according to those laws.A violation of any of these laws, im-mediately brings unhappiness—that isthe being is chastized, according to thenature of the offence, and the penaltiesannexed to the law ; in this mannerthe system learns, by the things whichit suffers, to obey this higher law whichis very different from any of the pre-ceding laws under which the particleshave been educated. The nature ofjustice and mercy, good and evil, arethus actually learned by experience.Obedience to the laws of justice, andsuffering the penalties of disobedience,impart, in the course of time, a senseof justice to the particles in their or-ganized capacity : so likewise obedi-ence to the laws of mercy, and thechastisements, resulting from the in-fringements of those laws, soon informthe organized particles, concerning thenature of mercy. In like manner, asense of good and evil, and of all otherlike qualities, is obtained from the en-joyments resulting from obedience, andthe miseries inflicted for disobedience,to the laws given to govern all thosequalities and passions. All these qual-ities, therefore, are gained by experience.The laws, being given and adhered to,discipline and instruct the infant oryouthful spirit in the knowledge ofthings, which previously it was entirelyignorant of.


89. As all the infant spirits are in-structed under the same laws, they allacquire the same sense of justice, mer-cy, good, and evil. It is for this cause,that two or more spirits do not formdifferent ideas of the nature of goodand evil ; so far as they have been pro-perly educated and taught in the samelaw, one will not call good, evil ; orevil, good ; and another have a differ-ent idea of the same principles. Ofcourse, there will be spirits, possessingdifferent degrees of intelligence, depend-ing on the obedience which they haverendered to the various systems of lawsunder which they have acted, duringthe past ages of eternity, and also de-pending upon the length of time inwhich they have been educated andtaught in their spiritual organization.But so far as they have acquired know-ledge, it has been through the mediumof the same laws ; consequently thesame degree of knowledge in one, can-not differ in its nature from the samedegree of knowledge in another.

90. If one class of spirits were edu-cated under a system of laws which re-warded them for doing that which we callevil, and punished them for that whichwe call good : while another class wereeducated by laws of an opposite nature.These two classes of spirits, whenbrought together, would have entirelyopposite ideas concerning good andevil. The fact that the spirits have, sofar as their knowledge extends, the sameideas concerningthe nature of justice andmercy, good and evil, virtue and vice—shows most clearly a cause for thissameness; now that which is precededby a cause cannot be eternal ; hence,there must have been a time, when thissameness of knowledge was acquiredby the particles constituting eachspiritual body. The capacities for per-ceiving this knowledge are eternal ; butthe exercise of these eternal capacitiesin acquiring a knowledge of the lawsof good and evil had a beginning. Wecannot conceive of millions of beings,having the same idea of the nature ofgood and evil, without introducing acause to account for this sameness andlikeness ; and a cause always impliesa beginning to the effects which follow.

But if millions of beings eternally pos-sessed the same idea of the nature ofgood and evil, all causes for this same-ness of idea would be excluded : theywould possess this sameness by chance :if it were eternal, there would be noreason why even two beings shouldhave the same views concerning any-thing: but when numberless millionsof beings are perceived to have thesame ideas in regard to the nature ofdifferent acts, calling one species of actsgood, and another evil, it demonstrates,in the most incontrovertible manner,that these beings did not possess theseideas eternally, but that they acquiredthem from one common cause, whichinstructed and enlarged the eternalcapacities in the same school of laws,that the same ideas, the same views,and the same knowledge. might per-vade the whole, so far as they are in-structed. This sameness of ideas willenable them to act in unison, not onlyfor their own individual benefit, but forthe benefit of the whole community orfamily of spirits with whom each isassociated.

91. While we are obliged to admitthe eternity of the substance and itscapacities, on the other hand, we arecompelled to admit a beginning to theorganizations of the particles of thissubstance ; there must also have beena time when the eternal capacities be-gan to know good and evil, justice andmercy, love and hatred ; for the same-ness of these qualities, existing in theminds of all mankind shows that theymust be derived qualities and thereforethat they could not have possessedthem eternally. All must at once see,that the moment a quality or thing isadmitted to be eternal, all causes forthe nature, or peculiarity, or samenessof the quality, and all causes for theparticular magnitude or form of thething or being, are totally excluded.In regard to that which is eternal, wewould have no right to ask the ques-tions, Why it is so ? Why it possessessuch a quality ? Why it has a certainmagnitude ? Why it exists iu a certainform ? All such questions imply acause, and, therefore, a beginning. Ifwe were to admit that water was eter-


nal, then it would be entirely incon-sistent to ask the question, Why onedrop of pure water possessed preciselythe same qualities of another ? If bothdrops were eternal there would, inreality, be no cause for one being of thesame nature as the other. As therewould be no cause for any two drops,out of an infinite number, to be alike,we would have no reason to infer, priorto experience, that they would tastealike, or extinguish fire alike, or thatdrops of the same size would weighalike, or that they would quench thirstalike, or that they would manifest anyother qualities alike. If, on the ex-amination of the drops, we found themto possess qualities alike, we wouldnaturally inquire, How came they tobe alike ? The natural answer wouldbe, They were designed to be alike forpurposes beneficial to the universe.But if they were designed to be alike,there must have been a period beforethat design and before they were alike,and consequently their present qualitiesare not eternal, but acquired or derivedfrom some anterior qualities. So it isin relation to the qualities of the hu-man mind. The very fact that allhuman minds look upon certain actsto be good, and certain others to beevil, shows that the qualities of themind are in many respects preciselyalike. If they were eternal there wouldbe no cause for any two, out of allmankind, to have any qualities alike :and no one would be able to infer,prior to experience, that any of therest of mankind possessed qualities atall resembling his own. If the quali-ties were eternal, he could not withpropriety ask the question, Why aman possessed superior qualities to abrute ? Or, Why the constitution ofhuman minds resembled each other ?But man finds by experience that thereis a resemblance or similarity in theconstitution of all human minds, andhe naturally asks the question, Whatis the cause of this likeness ? The an-swer naturally occurs to his own mindthat, It was thus designed for thegeneral good of man ; and consequentlythere must have been a time before thedesign took effect, when the constitu-

tion of our minds were unlike, and,therefore, that the present qualities ofour minds are not eternal, but are theresults of the combinations of anteriorqualities, which in their turn are againthe results of the exercise of the eter-nal capacities.

92. Thirdly. Having investigatedthe nature and origin of man's capa-cities, let us next inquire into the ex-tent of those capacities. It is almost uni-versally supposed that the capacities ofman are finite—that is, limited in theirnature, and that it is utterly impos-sible for man to acquire a fulness of allknowledge. But this is a false suppo-sition, without the least shadow offoundation. We shall proceed to provethat the capacities of man are notfinite, but infinite. It may be well forus to define the terms, finite andinfinite before we proceed farther.These terms have quite a differentsense when used in relation to differ-ent things. When used in referenceto space or duration, finite signifiesspace or time included within limits ;while infinite signifies boundless spaceor endless duration. When used inreference to numbers, the first means alimited number, and the last a num-ber unlimited or an endless series ofnumbers. When applied to knowledge,one means to know only in part, whilethe other is to know in full. Whenused in reference to capacities, finitesignifies a capacity that is stationary-or can only be expanded in a limiteddegree, while infinite signifies a capa-city sufficiently great to grasp a ful-ness of all knowledge, after which ex-pansion ceases for the want of nothingmore to be learned. A being mayhave an infinite capacity, and still haveonly a finite knowledge. We know ofno beings having only finite capacities.Angles, men, beasts, birds, ftsh, andinsects, have finite knowledge, but wehave no reason to suppose any of themto be limited in their capacities. Foraught we know, each and all of themmay have capacities capable of receiv-ing infinite knowledge. If we were tosuppose that some of these beings arefinite in their capacities, then theremust be a certain limit of knowledge,

1 16 THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

beyond which they can never pass :for if they were capable of passing anyassigned limits of knowledge, theywould be capable of receiving a fulnessof all knowledge which would be in-finite.

93. The constitution of our mindsis such, that we cannot easily con-ceive of a being who is capacitated toperceive one truth, but unable to per-ceive another. It is true, there may beobstacles in the way by which this be-ing is prevented from acquiring a se-cond truth; but remove all obstaclesand place the being in a favorable con-dition, the question is, Could it notperceive a second, a third, a fourth, oreven any number of truths, as well asthe first? We can see no possiblehindrance to its advancement in know-ledge only by interposing obstacles inthe way. If the capacity have an ex-istence, which it must have in order toperceive one truth, we cannot conceivehow that it could possibly be limited,so as never, under any circumstances,to be able to perceive another. Wedo not see why a faculty that is capa-ble of discerning that two are morethan one, cannot also discern that threeare more than two. Some truths aremore difficult to be perceived thanothers, but this is owing, not to thewant of capacity, but to the obstacleswhich intervene between the capacityand the truth to be perceived. Let theintervening obstacles be -emoved, andthe capacity that is abl to perceiveone truth could percei' e all truth.Therefore, wherever a being exists thathas any knowledge, however small theamount, that being has infinite capaci-ties, capable of perceiving all thingspast, present, and to come, just as soonas the intervening barriers are removed.We are aware that this idea is in op-position to the views of almost allmankind: they have been taught thatthe capacities, as well as the knowledgeof all beings, but God, were finite;and from these false premises they havedrawn the conclusion that no beingscould ever attain to all' the fulness ofthe knowledge of God. If the premi-ses were granted, the conclusions wouldbe jubt : but the premises are without

foundation, and are evidently false.The capacities of man are not onlyeternal, but infinite, and he is capableof receiving infinite knowledge. Andwithout infinite knowledge his capaci-ties never will be satisfied.

94. It is frequently said by philoso-phers, that knowledge which is finitecan never be increased so as to becomeinfinite ; but this is in direct oppositionto fact. Our Saviour, when He cameinto the world, possessed only finiteknowledge; hence He is represented asincreasing in wisdom and stature. Toincrease in wisdom evidently provesthat He was not at that time in thepossession of all wisdom. His wisdomand knowledge were finite. But Heafterwards attained a fulness, and asPaul says, "In whom (Christ) are hidall the treasures of wisdom and know-ledge." And again, "In him dwellethall the fulness of the Godhead bodily."(Col. 2 : 3, 9.) " It pleased the Fatherthat in him should all fulness dwell."(Col. 1: 19.) John the Baptist borerecord that he beheld his glory, andthat he was "full of grace and truth."(John 1: 14.) At the time his Fathergave him the Holy Spirit, he, no doubt,received a fulness: for John soon afterspeaks thus of him: "God giveth notthe Spirit by measure unto him. TheFather loveth the Son, and bath givenall things into his hands." (John.3: 34, 35.) All the treasures of wis-dom, knowledge, and truth, were hidin him; he was full of them: the ful-ness of the Spirit, the fulness of theGodhead, and the fulness of power,dwelt in him: all things were giveninto his hand. There was no wisdom,nor knowledge, nor power, nor domin-ions, that the Father possessed, butwhat Jesus possessed also. In fine, hewas one in all the fulness of the attri-butes and perfections of the Father. Itwas for this reason that Jesus said, "Iand my Father are one." (John 10 :

30.) Here, then, we have an exampleof finite knowledge, wisdom, and pow-er, increasing until the same becameinfinite.

95. As we have one example offinite knowledge being increased to in-finity, we have reason to believe that

THE PEE-EXISTENCE OF MAN. 117

it may be the case in other instances.If the First Born or oldest brother hasreceived a fulness, we see no impro-priety in believing that the youngerbrethren may also receive the samefulness. Paul prayed that the Saints" might be filled with all the fulness ofGod."—(Eph. 3: 19.) And Jesusprayed that they all might be madeperfect in one, as he and the Fatherare one.—(John 17.) 'When theseprayers are answered, they will knowas much as the Father and Son know.They will be in the Father and Son,and the Father and Son will be inthem, and the Father and Son and allthe Saints will be made perfect in one.Hence John says, "Beloved, now arewe the sons of God, and it cloth notyet appear what we shall be ; but weknow that, when he shall appear, weshall be like him."—(1 John 3: 2.)Not only like him in body, but also inmind. For then he " shall change ourvile body, that it may be fashionedlike unto his glorious body." (Phillip-pians 3: 21.) Then we shall be per-fect as our Father in heaven is per-feet—(Math. 5: 48:) then shall webe pure as He is pure, and holy as Heis holy : then shall we know as we areknown, and see as we are seen : thenshall we be heirs of God, and jointheirs with Christ in the inheritance ofall things : then shall knowledge inpart be done away, and we shall knowin full: then there will be no knowl-edge, or truth, or wisdom in the heightsabove or in the depths beneath, or inthe Heavens, or in the Heaven ofHeavens, or in the immensity of space,or in the eternal ages of duration, butwhat we shall comprehend and know ;then there will be no Being or Beingsin existence that will know one parti- 1ele more than what we know : thenour knowledge, and wisdom, andpower, will be infinite ; and cannot,from thenceforth, be increased or ex-panded in the least degree: then weshall be Gods, because all the fulnessof God will dwell within us.

96. It has been most generally be-lieved that the Saints will progress inknowledge to all eternity : But whenthey become one with the Father and

Son, and receive a fulness of their glory,that will be the end of all progressionin knowledge, because there will benothing more to be learned. TheFather and the Son do not progress inknowledge and wisdom, because theyalready know all things past, present,and to come. All that become likethe Father and Son will know as muchas they do, and consequently will learnno more. The Father and Son, andall who are like them and one withthem, already know as much as anyBeings in existence know, or ever canknow.

97. In the twenty-second paragraph ofthis article we showed that there couldnot possibly be but one God, so far asthe attributes are concerned, but so faras it regards persons, that there werean immense number of Gods. Nowwe wish to be distinctly understoodthat each of these personal Gods hasequal knowledge with all the rest ;there are none among them that arein advance of the others in knowledge ;though some may have been Gods asmany millions of years, as there areparticles of dust in all the universe,yet there is not one truth that suchare in possession of but what everyother God knows. They are all equalin knowledge, and in wisdom, and inthe possession of all truth. None ofthese Gods are progressing in knowl-edge : neither can they progress in theacquirement of any truth.

98. Some have gone so far as to saythat all the Gods were progressing intruth, and would continue to progressto all eternity, and that some were farin advance of others : but let us exam-ine, for a moment, the absurdity ofsuch a conjecture. If all the Godswill be eternally progressing, then itfollows, that there must be a boundlessinfinity of knowledge that no God everhas attained to, or ever can attain to,throughout infinite ages to come : thisboundless infinity of knowledge wouldbe entirely out of the reach and controlof all the Gods ; therefore it wouldeither not be governed at all, or elsebe governed by something that was in-finitely Superior to all the Gods—asomething that had all knowledge, an d

1 I 8 THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

consequently that could not acquiremore. Have we any right to say thatthere is a boundless ocean of materials,acting under such Superior laws thatnone of the Gods to all ages of eter-nity can be able to understand them ?We should like to know what LawGiver gave such superior laws ? If itbe said that the laws were never given,but that the materials themselves eter-nally acted according to them. Thiswould not in the least obviate the dif-ficulty ; for then there would be aboundless ocean of materials, possess-ing a knowledge of la vs so infinitelysuperior to the knowledge of all theGods, that none of them, by progress-ing for eternal ages, could ever reachit. This is the great absurdity, result-ing from the vague conjecture thatthere will be an endless progression inknowledge among all the Gods. Sucha conjecture is not only extremely ab-surd, but it is in direct opposition towhat is revealed.

09. We shall now show from therevelations given through JOSEPH, theSEER, that God and his son

'

JesusChrist, are in possession of all knowl-edge, and that there is no more truthfor them to learn, and show also thatthe Saints will attain to the same ful-ness and know as much as they know.First, we will give Enoch's testimonyconcerning God, the Father: "And itcame to pass that the God of Heavenlooked upon the residue of the people,and He wept; and Enoch bore recordof it, saying, how is it the Heavens weep,and shed forth their tears as rain uponthe mountains ? And Enoch said untothe Lord, how is it that thou canstweep, seeing thou art holy, and fromall eternity to all eternity? and were itpossible that man could number theparticles of the earth, and millions ofearths like this, it would not be a be-ginning to the number of thy creations;and thy curtains are stretched out still;and yet thou art there and thy bosomis there ; and also thou art just; thouart merciful and kind forever ; thoubast taken Zion to thine own bosom,from all thy creations, from all eternityto all eternity, and nought but peace,justice, and truth, is the habitation of

thy throne; and mercy shall go beforethy face and have no end : how is itthat thou canst weep?" Connectedwith the reply, the Almighty said toEnoch, "Behold I am C-od; Man ofHoliness is my name; Man of Counselis my name; and Endless and Eternalis my name also. Wherefore, I canstretch forth mine hands and hold allthe creations which I have made; andmine eye can pierce them also." (SeeJoseph Smith's inspired translationof the Book of Genesis, published in"The Pearl of Great Price.") TheBeing whom Enoch here addressed, andwho conversed with him, is representedin the same connection as the Fatherof Christ. This Being is declared tobe "from all eternity," and the creationsthat He had made were so immenselynumerous, that the particles of dust ina million of earths like this, "would.not be a BEGINNING to the number."This shows that His creations are end-less, or in other words infinite in num-ber. Now a finite number cannot, inone sense, be a beginning to an infinitenumber. The vast number of particlescontained in millions of worlds, is stillonly a finite number, and is there-fore limited; but an endless series ofworlds is not limited, and therefore canhave no beginning; and no finite num-ber, however great, can be the begin-ning of something that has no begin-ning. This endless number of worldsare all held and controlled by thepower of God, the Father of Christ.And to show that He has a fullknowledge of them all, He exclaims,"Mine eye can pierce them also." Theperceptive powers of His vision mustbe infinite or he could not look uponan infinite number of creations. Itshows still further that his " eye canpierce them " all at the same instant ;for if He were obliged to withdrawHis vision from one in order to lookupon another, He never could havetime to behold them all. If He wereto observe each only for the short pe-riod of one second, He could not be-hold even a beginning of the endlessnumber in as many millions of ages, asthere are particles of dust in the visi-ble universe ; but as His "eye can


pierce them" all, He must necessarilyhave the power of beholding them all atthe same instant. Moreover, He ispresent with them all, for Enoch, inspeaking to the Lord in regard to theimmensity of the numbers of His crea-tions, exclaims " Thou art there, andthy bosom, is there." Being present inall, beholding them all, and governingthem all, He must necessarily have aknowledge of them all. And as thenumber of worlds are infinite, hisknowledge must be infinite, and, there-fore, He knows all things, and canknow no more. This agrees with whatthis same Being said to Moses.

"And God spake unto Moses, saying,Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty,and Endless is ray name, for I amwithout beginning of days or end ofyears; and is not this Endless? And,behold, thou art my son, wherefore,look, and I will show thee the work-manship of mine hands, but not all,for.my works are without end, and also mywords, for they never cease; whereforeno man can behold all my works, ex-cept he behold all my glory; and noman can behold all my glory, and af-terwards remain in the flesh. And Ihave a work for thee, Moses, my son ;and thou art in the similitude of mineOnly Begotten •, and mine Only Begot-ten is and shall be the Saviour, for heis full of grace and truth; but there isno God besides me, and all things arepresent with me, for I know them all."(See "Pearl of Great Price.") Herethe Father of Christ declares that His"works are without end," that "allthings are present" with Him, andthat He knows them all.

The same idea is conveyed in anotherrevelation, as follows: "Judgment go-eth before the face of ITim who sittethupon the throne, and governeth andexecuteth all things; He eomprehendethall things, and all things are beforeHim, and all things are round aboutHim.' and Ile is above all things, andin all things, and is through all things,and is round about all things; and allthings are by Him, and of Him, evenGod, forever and ever." (Doctrine andCovenants, see. 7, par. 10.) As "Hecomprehendeth all things," His knowl-,

edge must be infinite; therefore, thevague conjecture that God, the Father,can progress eternally in knowledge, is,as we have shown, not only absurd, butdirectly opposed to the revelationswhich He has given.

100. We shall next prove by thenew revelations that the Only Begot-ten Son is in possession of equal know-ledge with the Father. "And I, John,saw that He (Christ) received not ofthe fulness at the first, but receivedgrace for grace ; and He received notof the fulness at first, but continuedfrom grace to grace, until He receiveda fulness, and thus He was called theSon of God, because He received notof the fulness at first." (Doc. and Coy.,Sec. 83 : Par. 2.) What was this ful-ness here mentioned ? Jesus answersthis question, " I am the Spirit of truth,and John bore record of me, saying,He received a fulness of truth, yea evenof ALL truth." But what is truth ?" Truth is the knowledge of thingsas they are, and as they were, andas they are to come." (Par. 4.) Johnwas not satisfied with telling us thatJesus received a fulness of truth, butrepeats the idea, "yea, even of alltruth," or in other words, He receiveda fulness of the knowledge of all "thingsas they are, and as they were, and asthey are to come." No power of lan-guage could be able to express the ideain clearer or more forcible terms.And now we ask, is there any othertruth or knowledge in existence thatJesus could learn ? We fearlessly an-swer, No. A fulness of all truth em-braces, first, a knowledge of all " thingsas they are " in their present condition,or in other words, a knowledge of allthe worlds that now exist throughoutthe boundless immensity of space, andof all the materials of nature, NN hetherorganized or unorganized, and of alltheir relations, and dependencies, andlaws, and operations, whether animateor inanimate, intelligent or unintelli-gent ; it embraces a knowledge ofevery thought and desire, of every feel-ing and emotion. that exists among allthe countless swarms of living beingsin all worlds ; it grasps within its infi-nite capacity the present state of every


individual particle, its properties andqualities in all planets and suns, andsystems, and universes in the boundlessheights and depths of infinity itself.But this is not all; it takes in the pastas well as the present ; a fulness of alltruth, embraces an endless durationthat is past—a boundless ocean ofspace—an infinity of materials—theeternal and unceasing operations ofeach particle—a knowledge of theexact condition of the universe as awhole, and in all its parts in every suc-cessive instant from the present backthrough endless ages without begin-ning. But we must not stop here ;the fulness of all truth embraces aknowledge of all things to come ; of allworlds that shall be organized, redeem-ed, and glorified ; of all the eternallaws, operations, and changes of everyparticle of substance in existence inevery successive moment throughouteternal ages that will have no end.This, in connection with the presentand the past, is what constitutes "atltruth"—this is, the infinite knowledgedwelling in Christ ; and this is whatHe received when a fulness was givenunto Him. John informs us of theperiod when this fulness was granted."And I, John, bare record, and lo ! theHeavens were opened, and the HolyGhost descended upon Him in the formof a dove, and sat upon Him, and therecame a voice out of Heaven, saying,this is my beloved Son. And I, John,bare record that He received a fulnessof the glory of the Father ; and He re-ceived all power, both in Heaven andon earth, and the glory of the Fatherwas with IIim, for He dwelt in Him."(Par. 2.) It is this fulness of truththat is God, and that is personified andcalled by the different names whichthe Lord has appropriated to Himself ..it is this fulness of truth that consti-tutes the one only true and living God,and besides Him there is no God. Hedwells in countless myriads of temples,and is in all worlds at the same instant.He is in all, and over all, and throughall things, and the power by whichthey are governed. He is in the per-sonage of the Father in all of his ful-ness, even the Spirit of truth. God is

Truth, and Truth is God, and the ma-terial universe is His tabernacle ; menare designed to be his tabernaclesor temples, if they will receive Him.Jesus says, "I am in the Father, andthe Father in me, and the Father andI are one : the Father, because He gaveme of Ibis fulness!' (Par. 1.) Jesuswas called the Son " because he re-ceived not of the fulness at the first ;"and he was called the Father becausehe afterwards did receive it. Thus thename of Father is given to the Sonnot because of the tabernacle, but be-cause of the fulness of truth, which isthe Father dwelling therein.

101. We shall now proceed to showfrom new revelations that the Saintsare to have equal knowledge with theFather and Son. We now only knowin part ; so far as truth dwells in us,so far the Father and Son dwell with--in us. Hear what Jesus says : " Be-hold, ye are little children and ye can-not bear all things now ; ye must growin grace and in the knowledge of thetruth. Fear not, little children, foryou are mine, and I have overcomethe world, and you are of them thatmy Father bath given me ; and noneof them that my Father bath givenme shall be lost : and the Father andI are one : I am in the Father and theFather in me ; and inasmuch as yehave received me, ye are in me and Iin you. Wherefore I am in yourmidst, and I am the good Shepherd,and the Stone of Israel. He thatbuildeth upon this rock shall neverfall, and the day cometh that you shallhear my voice, and see me, and knowthat I am." (Doc. and Coy., Sec. 17 :Par. 8.) 'We are in this revelationrepresented as only little children, notable, as yet, to bear all things, but arecommanded to grow in grace and intruth ; and are told that inasmuch aswe had received Him we were in Him,and He in us. As the Father and Sonare called Truth, inasmuch as wereceive truth, they dwell within us.Where only a small degree of lightand truth dwells within us, there onlya small portion of the Father and Sonabide in us ; as we increase from graceto grace, and from truth to truth, so


do we in like manner inherit greater,and still greater, portions of God, andwhen we receive a fulness of all truth,then all the fulness of God dwells inus, even the Father and Son. The ful-ness of all Truth in us will make usGods, equal in all things with the Per-sonages of the Father and the Son ;and we could not be otherwise thanequal, for He is the same God whodwells in us that dwells in them ; in-stead of dwelling in two tabernacles,under the names of the Father andSon, He will then dwell in the addi-tional tabernacles of the Saints. Andwherever He dwells in fulness, therewould necessarily be equality, in wis-dom, power, glory, and dominion.

102. We will quote another extractin order to show how we are to attainthis fulness. "And it shall come topass, that if you are faithful, you shallreceive the fulness of the record ofJohn. I give unto you these sayingsthat you may understand and knowhow to worship, and know what youworship, that you may come unto theFather in my name, and in due timereceive of His fulness, for if you keepmy commandments you shall receiveof His fulness, and be glorified in meas I am in the Father; therefore, I sayunto you, you shall receive grace forgrace." (Doc. and Cov., sec. 83 : par.3.) The fulness is to be obtained oncondition of keeping His command-ments. That we are to receive a ful-ness in the same sense that He receivedit, is evident from the fact that whenwe obtain that blessing, Jesus says,that we should be glorified in Him asHe was in the Father. In the nextparagraph we have a still stronger evi-dence, Jesus says, "John bore recordof me saying, He received a fulness oftruth, yea, even , all truth, and noman receiveth a ulness unless he keep-eth His commandments. He thatkeepeth His commandments receivethtruth and light, until he is glorified intruth and knoweth all things." Thisis as plain as language can make it.When this promise is realized, the

Saints will know all things past, pre-sent, and to come, and there will be noBeing in existence that will be in ad-vance of them in knowledge and wis-dom. Again, Jesus says, "If your eyebe single to my glory, your whole bodiesshall be filled with light, and thereshall be no darkness in you, and thatbody which is filled with light com-prehendeth all things." And stillagain, " The day shall come when youshall comprehend even God; beingquickened in Him and by Him." (Doe.and Coy. 7 : 12, 18.) It is not neces-sary to multiply passages, for the reve-lations, both ancient and modern, arevery full upon this point. Enough hasbeen quoted to demonstrate that thelight of the Saints will grow brighterand brighter until the perfect day atwhich time their light will be full andcannot from thenceforth be increasedin brilliancy. How much more satis-

1 factory it is to the mind to contem-1 plate millions on millions of glorifiedworlds, each peopled with myriads ofBeings filled with all the fulness of Godor Truth, than it is to suppose them allprogressing in knowledge without apossibility of ever attaining to a fulnessworlds without end. This perfectionand equality in knowledge among theGods of all ages and worlds, serve toproduce a perfect oneness among themall. Having equal knowledge, theywould of course have equal wisdomand equal power, and would act withthe most perfect union, and harmony,and consert in all things. But whatinextricable difficulties and confusionthere would be, if they differed inknowledge and all of them were pro-gressing. The oneness, so necessaryfor the peace and good order of theHeavenly worlds, could not exist ; onefor the want of the requisite knowledgewould undo what another of superiorknowledge had done : upon the pro-gressing principle, they never could bemade perfect in one, worlds withoutend. Thus we have abundantly provedthat the capacities of man arc not onlyeternal, but infinite.

(To be continued.)



The object of laws is to prohibitevery practice which is calculated toinjure individuals or society. But inwhat respect are individuals or societyinjured by the practice of a pluralityof wives ? We answer, in no respectwhatever. The objector may say thatsuch a practice is calculated in someinstances to produce poverty andbring distress upon the family, and,therefore, should be considered crimi-nal, and prohibited by law. We reply,that there are many practices whichbring poverty and distress, and yetthose practices are perfectly lawful.For instance, the slave holder may re-duce himself to poverty, by accumu-lating slaves, and by a mismanagementof them. Would the Southern Statesconsider this a crime ? Would theyprohibit by law the purchase of slaves,because, in some instances it reducedthe purchaser to poverty and broughtdistress upon himself and family ? Andagain ; a man may bring poverty anddistress upon hitnself and family byunwisely employing mechanics, clerks,day laborers, &c. Would any of theStates or Territories consider this crimi-nal ? Would they enact laws to pro-hibit the hiring of mechanics and la-borers, because, in some instances, itreduces to poverty ? Another instance;many persons by marrying one wifereduce themselves from a state ofwealth to abject poverty, yet no Statewould, for such a reason, denounce themarriage of one wife as criminal andprohibit it by law. We might mul-tiply any amount of instances, wherepoverty and distress are brought uponfamilies by the practice of things whichare perfectly justifiable by the law.Because a plurality of wives may, insome instances, reduce a family to pov-erty, is no reason, therefore, why itshould be prohibited by law, any morethan thousand, of other practices whichmay produce the same results. Butin the most of cases, the plurality sys-tem would have a contrary tendency :instead of diminishing the wealth of a

family it would increase it. A largenumber, bound together by the strongties of family affection, and takinghold of business in a united capacity,will be able, most frequently, to ac-complish more than the same numberof individuals acting separately, andgoverned only by individual interest.A union of interest and action is ad-mitted by all to be more powerful inits results, than disunion. A numerousfamily of children are calculated to ac-cumulate wealth, or to accomplish anyother object by their united energy,more than a small family. Hence, thePsalmist says, " Children are an heri-tage of the Lord." Happy is the manthat bath his quiver full of them :they shall not be ashamed, but theyshall speak with the enemies in thegate" (Ps. 127.) Instead of a largefamily being a disadvantage in pointof wealth or strength, they are of greatadvantage. Therefore, so far as thiscause has any bearing, it woLid bemore just for the States to prohibit theone-wife system, than to prohibit thesystem of plurality.

Sometimes objections are urgedagainst the plurality system, by saying,that it takes away the rights of women,and, therefore, it should be prohibitedby law. But what rights of womendoes it take away ? If several womenvoluntarily and from their own choice,and with the consent of their relatives,wish to unite their destinies with oneman, what rights have been takenaway ? what injuries have been sus-tained either by themselves or by so-ciety in general'? We answer, none atall. On the other hand, the rights ofwomen are destroyed and taken fromthem in prohibiting them by law tohave the man of their choice: theyare compelled, by legislative enact-ments, to relinquish all hopes of mar-rying a man upon whom their affec-tions are placed, and obliged, if theymarry at all, to go contrary to everyfeeling of their nature—to be unitedwith one for whom they have no love.


How many thousands of women thereare who would rather remain single alltheir days, than to accept the offers ofmany profligate young men for whomthey entertain no other feelings butthose of disgust. Could these samewomen have their rights which natu-rally belong to them, but which ourilliberal State governments have de-prived them of, they would unite theirdestinies with good men, and be infi-nitely more happy under the pluralitysystem, than they would be to remainin a state of celibacy, or to be unitedwith some wicked profligate. Givewomen their rights ; let them marrythe man of their choice. Where pureeffection exists, there let them consu-mate that effection by freely uniting-,themselves in the sacred bonds of mat-rimony with the man whom they love,and who loves them sufficiently tomake them the partners of his bosomfor life. Any thing short of this isilliberal and destroys the rights ofwomen.

It is said that plurality destroys therights of the first wife, and, therefore,should not be tolerated by law. Thisdepends upon circumstances. If a manhas been foolish enough to make a con-tract with a woman previous to theirmarriage, that he will never marryanother while she lives, then it wouldbe taking away her rights to violatethat contract without her consent.Such a man, under such a contract,should not be permitted by the lawsof the States to break his agreement,for in so doing, he would take awaythe rights which lie has guaranteed toher. But if a man marry a womanwithout binding himself by such a con-tract, or if he marry her with an un-derstanding that he can marry otherswhen he thinks proper so to do, thenthere are no rights of the first wifetaken away, nor no contracts broken.The first wife, under tle.e circumstan-ces, enjoys all the rights that she hadany reason to expect. When she gaveherself to her husband, it was not bycompulsion ; she freely and volunta-rily consented to be his, with the fullunderstanding that he might marry I support. Would it not have been farothers, whenever he chose. A woman, I better for these females to have been

under these circumstances is divestedof no rights only what she has volun-tarily surrendered. She prefers ratherto be united with such a man, thoughshe may share but a measure of hisattention, than to live a life of celibacyor be obliged to marry one whom sheloves less. Therefore the objectionagainst plurality upon this ground iswholly without foundation.

Another objection is urged againstplurality by pretending that it corruptsthe morals of society, and, therefore,it is argued that it should be consider-ed a crime, and be prohibited by law.But we ask what morals of societydoes it corrupt ? Morality is onlyanother name for virtue, goodness,righteousness. Immorality is its op-posite—that is, vicious, evil, unrighte-ous. To be moral is to be innocent ofcrime : to be immoral is to be guiltyof crime. It can neither be shownfrom reason nor the word of God thatplurality is criminal, and hence it can-not be immoral, and therefore the mo-rals of society are not in the least en-dangered by its practice. On the con-trary, plurality is a great and powerfulantidote against immorality. Howmany hundreds of thousands of womenthere are, who, in consequence of hav-ing no opportunities of marriage, yieldthemselves up to a life of profligacy,and become notoriously immoral andunvirtuous. If these same females badnot been deprived of the rights whichall should enjoy under our gloriousConstitution, they might have unitedthemselves to some virtuous good men,and been happy as their second orthird wives, and thus been saved fromthe temptations and evils into whichthey have fallen. Look at the mis-ery and wretchedness of thousandsof females in almost every city inAmerica and Europe—inquire into thecauses of their shameful and criminalcourse of life, and it will be found thatin nine cases out of ten, they weredriven to that state of degradation farthe want of a protector—a husband inwhom they could centre their affections,and on whom they could rely for a


honorably connected in marriage, ac-cording to the plurality system, thanto have plunged themselves into thevortext of irretreivable ruin ? Whatan immense amount of immorality, andconsequent suffering would have beenprevented, had the State governmentsnot been influenced by the corrupttraditions of Apostate Christianity inprohibiting plurality and denouncingit criminal ! But this order of thingswould not only prevent females frombecoming public prostitutes, but wouldpromote virtue among the males. Be-cause of the vast numbers of unvirtu-ous females with which the nations arecursed, many young men neglect mar-riage, and seek to gratify their sexualpropensities by unlawful and sinfulconnections. If no public female pros-titutes existed, or if they rarely couldbe found, the natural consequenceswould be, that young men, instead ofabandoning themselves to prostitution,would seek to unite themselves in honor-able marriage with the partners of theirchoice. Plurality, therefore, not onlywould be a preventative against femaleprostitution, but would diminish thecauses or means of prostitution on thepart of the males. Young men aban-don themselves to vice and immoralityin proportion to the amount of temp-tation and evil influences with whichthey are surrounded. Diminish thecauses and the effects are diminishedalso: and if the cause be destroyed theeffect ceases. Let our State laws per-mit plurality, and it will seldom be thecase that a female will yield to pros-titution, prefering lawful marriage to alife of degradation and suffering. Thearmy of degraded females, receivinglittle or no accession to their numbers,would soon be diminished and eventu-ally destroyed by their own folly andwickedness , and thus, the causes oftemptation having, in a great degree,ceased, young men would walk in amore healthy atmosphere, and not beconstantly allured, as they are now,from the paths of virtue. Pluralitywould also diminish greatly the temp-tations which beset the paths of mar-ried men, as well as those who areyoung they would no longer be under

the temptation to keep a mistress se-cretly, and to break the marriage cove-nant, and thus sin against their wivesand against God. How many thou-sands there are who practice this greatabomination. And why do they do it ?Because they are compelled by ourbigoted State laws to confine them-selves to one wife. Had they the lib-erty which four-fifths of the other na-tions have, and which the Bible andour National Constitution guarantee,they could marry a plurality of wives,and be compelled to support them andtheir children, instead of having theirsecret mistresses, and turning themaway when they get tired of them.Which, think you, a woman wouldprefer ? Would she rather live inadultery with a man, subject, at anymoment, to be turned away, pennylessand unprotected, or to be lawfullyunited with him in honorable wedlock ?Would she not infinitely prefer thelatter to the former ? If plurality ex-isted, it would be very seldom thatwomen would consent to be mistresses.Plurality, therefore, instead of injuringthe morals of society, wouldhave aneffect directly the reverse it wouldgreatly purify society from the immo-ralities which now exist. How longshall the State governments be cursedwith such illiberal laws ! When willthe people awake to a consciousness oftheir duties, and repeal those actswhich have resulted in so much evil !When will they learn to be freemen ac-cording to the spirit of the Constitution,and no longer fetter themselves withthe chains of superstition, handed downfrom the dark ages of Popery ! Arise,Americans, arise ! break every yokethat tends to bondage ! Assume thedignified position of American citizens !Maintain inviolate the choice libertiesof your country—the liberties so dearlypurchased by your illustrious ancestors!let not the galling chains of priest-craft bind the nation's conscience ! letnot the bigoted traditions and customsof Apostate religions influence yourlegislative departments ! let not thejudgment and wisdom of your greatstatesmen be swayed from the impor-tant principles of liberty, so dear to


every American heart ! let no laws beenacted, denouncing as crime, thatwhich reason, morality, and the wordof God, approve, as a virtue ! let nolaws prohibit you from the enjoyments,arising from domestic relations whichare reasonable, moral, virtuous, pure,and good ! If your fathers have beenin bondage to Romish superstitions,remember that you are free Yes, freefrom religious intolerance ! free fromall nations under Heaven ! free to enjoyall blessings, unmolested, which Godhas ordained for man, unless you, your-selves, prefer laws tending to bondage,rather than liberty !

Another objection to plurality ismade by pretending that it is calcula-ted to excite jealousies in families, and,therefore, it is argued to be criminal,and should be prohibited by law. Ifseveral women mutually agree to bethe wives of the same man, and hetreats them with impartiality, we seeDO cause existing for jealousy. Eachreceives all the attention which she ex-pected to receive, when she enteredinto the matrimonial contract. Ifjealousies should arise, they would beentirely of a different nature from thoseoccasioned by unlawful steps taken bya husband. If a husband violate thelaws of virtue by unlawful connections,the wife loses confidence in him ; andwhen confidence is gone, peace andquietness are gone, and the foundationof happiness is destroyed in the family.Not, so, when jealousies arise betweenmembers of the same family. Eachwife knows that the other wives are asmuch entitled to the attention of thehusband as she, herself; she knowsthat such attentions are not criminal,therefore, she does not lose confidencein him ; though she may consider himpartial, in some respects, yet she hasthe consolation to know that his at-tentions towards them are strictly vir-tuous. Confidence being retained, theelements of happiness are retained.Jealousies, arising from unvirtuous con-duct, are mingled with a consciousnessof the guilt of the individual ; whilethose arising from the other cause haveno such distressing reflections ; the firstis cruel as the grave, knawing, like the

worm that never dies, at the very heart-strings of enjoyment and peace, whilethe latter is only a partial transitoryevil which is speedily dissipated by thekindness and attention of the husband.Plurality, as we have already stated,is a great preventative to unvirtuousconnections, and therefore is a remedyagainst the jealousies arising from suchcauses. And as for the other kind ofjealousy, if it should be stigmatized bythat name, it is of trivial importance ;like the jealousies which frequentlyarise between children, it is soon gone.This kind of jealousy is not the resultof plurality, but a result of partialityor supposed partiality. If pluralityshould beprohibited on account ofjealousies which may arise, monogamyor the one-wife system should beprohibited on account of the stillgreater jealousies which may arisefor fear the husband may keep hissecret mistresses, as many thousandsdo. These kind of jealousies work fargreater evils in society, than what theother kind can possib'v do. If thegreat object be to put a stop by lawto the evils arising from jealousies, letlaws be enacted, requiring man to havea plurality of wives, or else none at all;prohibit the one wife practice, and youwill accomplish much more than youdo by prohibiting plurality. But wesay let no prohibitory laws be passedin regard to how many wives a manmay, or may not have ; leave everyman free in this respect, and in a veryfew years, you would see a great re-formation in the morals of the country;you would see not one-tenth part ofthe prostitution that is seen now youwould see females fulfilling the noblepurpose of their creation, instead ofbeing abandoned prostitut0s, houseless,homeless, and childless, going down totheir graves in wretchedness and mis-ery, uncared for and unlamented.

Another objection presented againstplurality is, that it is contrary to thecustoms of American and European na-tions, and for this cause should be con-sidered criminal, and prohibited bylegislative enactments. In reply to thisobjection, we say that there are many

, things which are entirely contrary to


the general customs of the people,which are not criminal, and whichwould be a violation of the Consti-tution to prohibit. The Shakers be-lieve in dancing in their religious as-semblies on the Sabbath day ; thispractice is wholly derogatory to thecustoms of the nation. Would it belawful and right to enact laws, pro

-hibiting this practice of the Shakers,on the ground of its being contrary tocustom ? Another class of individualsbelieve in the abominable practice 9fsprinkling infants, actually practicingthis abomination in the name of theLord. This is entirely contrary to thecustoms of the great majority of thisnation. Must this class be prohibitedfrom this practice, because it is con-trary to the custom of the nation ?The Shakers, and some other commu-nities, have adopted the ancient prac-tice of having all their property ascommon stock : this is also entirelydifferent from the general custom ofthe nation ; must it, for this reason, beprohibited by law ? The Roman Catho-lics practice many ceremonies and or-dinances which the great majority ofthe nation do not practice. Must theircustoms be denounced as criminal andbe prohibited by law, because they aredifferent from those of the nation ?Each society in the United States havesome practices which agree with thenational customs, and some which arepeculiar to themselves. Would it ac-cord with the spirit of the Constitu-tion to compel each society to ceaseall of their peculiar practices, becausethey were not national customs ? TheChurch of the Latter-Day Saints prac-tice in many respects according tonational customs, and in other respectsthey have their peculiar customs, likeall other societies. It matters not howmuch the peculiar customs of a so-ciety may differ from the national ones,providing that they are not immoral,or criminal, or calculated to injure so-ciety. The peculiar customs of plu-rality, practiced by some in Utah, inno way interferes with the rights ofany one : it is in no way immoral ; itin no way injuries the parties them-selves, or any one else ; it is in no way

unscriptural ; it is in no way conflictingwith the Constitution ; it is in no wayviolating any of the laws of Utah, orany other laws to which the citizens ofthat Territory are ameniable. There-fore, there is no reason whatever forcalling it a crime, or for passing legis-lative enactments against it.

It is difficult for us to imagine, whyState Governments ever considered itnecessary to pass laws confining theircitizens to one wife. We can see nocauses or necessity whatever for suchlaws. They are laws founded whollyon custom. Because the European na-tions, from whom they originated, havebeen bound down under these illiberalinstitutions, and have had a yokeplaced upon their necks by priestcraft,and by a union of the ecclesiasticalwith the civil powers, our fathers couldnot all at once free themselves fromthese traditionary superstitions. Theymust follow the customs of their fa-thers in some respect, however incon-sistant they may be. How true is thesentiment that a people who have beenlong in bondage, or under the influenceof erroneous traditions, can only freethemselves by degrees. We see thisverified in the American nation : theyhave broken the yoke of tyranny andoppression, and have planted the germsof liberty upon their soil ; they callthemselves free, but they are only freein part. Their Legislative departmentsare still tinctured with priestcraft, orwith the illiberal sentiments imbibedby our fathers under the oppressive in-stitutions of the European powers.This is exemplified by their still fol-lowing those governments in the pro-hibition of plurality. The States canrender no reason why they follow thiserroneous tradition, only to say " itwas the custom of our fathers." Is itnot time that legislators and statesmenshould begin to inquire into the rea-son of their laws ? It is not sufficientto satisfy the advancing spirit of theage, to tell us that certain laws areenacted, because they are sanctionedby the customs of the dark and tyranni-cal ages. It is not enough to merelysay, we denounce an act, as criminal,becauEe the European nations denounce


it. if the sons of American freedomare to be prohibited from certain prac-tices which they may consider perfectlyinnocent., they wish to be informedwherein those practices are criminal :

they do not wish to be brought intobondage blind-folded. Neither do theywish to elect legislators to palm uponthem the impositions of Popery, be-cause they are customary among othernations. We wish some of our wisestatesmen, or some other competentpersons, would take up the subject ofplurality and show wherein it is im-moral, or unscriptural, or criminal.Upon this subject, the people wantarguments, not denunciations ; reason,not sophistry ; evidence, not populartraditions or customs ; they want aclear, lucid demonstration that thepractice is evil. If there are no per-sons competent to the task, they willsignify it, by continuing to follow theold custom of denunciation, or at least,by their silence.

The S ,rtes should not only permitplurality, but enact wise and judiciouslaws regulating the same. The hus-band should be compelled by law toprovide for his different wives and chil-dren, the same as if he had but one.The law should make provisions foreach of his wives and children uponhis decease, to inherit a share of theproperty. The law should considerhim bound for life to each of his wivesthe same as if he had married but one ;lie should not be considered divorcedfrom either, only through due courseof law ; and adultery should be theonly crime, as our Savour has said, forwhich a man should be justified inputting away either of his wives. If,instead of abolishing plurality, theStates would regulate the same undergood and wholesome laws, they wouldmake it far better for the female por-tion of the community ; and thus intime would redeem the nation from theterrible evils of prostitution with whichthey are now cursed. We have inthese arguments set forth what shouldbe tolerated in regard to plurality, sofar as the genius of our Government,and our legislative enactments are con-cerned. But when we consider mar-

riage in relation to the divine govern-ment of Heaven, we say, as we havealready expressed ourselves, that noman in this nation, nor any other, hasa divine right to marry even one wife,much less a plurality, until he becomesrighteous enough to bring up his chil-dren according to the law of Heaven;and to save himself and his childrenin the eternal worlds. There is a broaddistinction to be made in relation tothis thing, between the divine govern-ment and human governments ; andthey should in no wise be confoundedin one. Church and State are withthe American nation entirely distinct.By the laws of the church the wickedshould have no right nor title to thedivine institution of marriage ; by thelaws of the State they should have theright of marrying as many wives asthey please ; it is a privilege whichthey have a right to claim, accordingto the spirit and genius of the Con-stitution ; it is a violation of the prin-ciples of liberty, contained in thatsacred document, to limit them to one,when two or more are just as honora-ble as one. It is true, God has noth-ing to do with their marriages whilein a state of wickedness. Whethethey have one wife or a dozen, it is allillegal so far as God is concerned.But to be consistent with the form cfgovernment which the nation hasadopted, there should be no restric-tions in regal d to the number.

There is an entire distinction in theTerritory of Utah, as in all other Ter-ritories, between the civil government,and the various forms of church gov-ernments. The civil government cfUtah, has not seen proper to abridgethe liberties of its citizens in regard tothe number of wives that they mayhave. 'Therefore, the Presbyterians,the Baptists, the Methodists, the Lat-ter-Day Saints, and all otl er denomi-nations, or individuals, whether be-lievers in any creed or unbelievers, w1.0may feel disposed to settle in Utah,have, each and all of them, the libertyof marrying as many wives as theythink proper, and the civil governmentwill not interfere with them. But if

I the Latter-Day Saints, or any other

128 CONTENTS.

denomination in that Territory, feel ittheir duty to limit the members oftheir respective churches to one wife,or to none at all, (like the Shakers,)under the penalty of the disfellowshipof their church, they have the mostperfect liberty there, as in all otherterritories, so to do. If any memberof the Latter-Day Saints should notbe permitted by his church to marrytwo wives, he could still, by rebellingagainst the rules of his church, go andmarry two under the civil law •, andthe Latter-Day Saint Church could donothing with him, only to expel himfrom their fellowship. Any denomi-nation in any State or Territory havethe most undoubted rights to prohibitmarriage altogether so far as theirchurch is concerned ; but they haveno right to interfere with the civil laws,regulating marriages.

The denomination called the Latter-Day Saints in Utah have no more lib-erties or privileges granted to them bythe civil power than any other denomi-nation who may choose to settle there.If they constitute the majority of thepopulation they can elect such indi-viduals as they see proper to the legis-lative departments; this is not oppres-sion, but is precisely according to thepractice of all the other Territorialand State governments. The majorityrules—the majority elects: this is thevery essence of our national institu-tions. Utah is not an exception: sheis governed, in all respects, by the civilpower, and not by the ecclesiastical:the latter is confined wholly to thechurches of the different religious so-cieties who have or may settle in theTerritory, while the former regulatesall by the civil laws. The Latter-DaySaints in the capacity of a churchhave no more voice in the governmentof Utah, than the Methodists or anyother religious denomination. They,

as well as all other societies, are obligedto submit to the civil powers.

It is to be hoped that the legislativedepartment in Utah will never be sotrammelled by the customs of theother territories as to infringe upon therights of the domestic relations, limit-ing and abridging them according tothe erroneous superstitions handeddown to our day by the nations ofApostate Christendom. It is further tobe hoped, that they will carefully ex-amine the nature of all customs andpractices which have been denouncedcriminal, and wisely and impartiallydistinguish between what is in re-ality criminal, and what is, because ofcustom, erroneously called so. Suchare the kind of legislators that oughtto be sought for in every State andTerritory.

We have, in the foregoing, answeredall the objections against plurality,based on the supposition of its beingcriminal ; and have clearly shown thatthey are without foundation. Weshall next proceed to show that plu-rality of wives is among the greatestblessings bestowed upon the righteous.It is evidently a great blessing to beentrusted with power and authority torule and govern, according to the lawof righteousness. God is the supremeRuler of the universe. He rules allbeings and things by laws, throughwhich His wisdom and.power are mademanifest. He exercises supreme powerand authority, because He has supremewisdom and knowledge. It is Hi.9glory and happiness to govern all things.If He were deprived of the privilege ofgoverning, He would be deprived ofhis glor y. So it is with all His off-spring : they are happy and gloriousin proportion to the amount of divineauthority and power with which theyare intrusted, providing that they ex-ercise the same in righteousness.

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS.The Pre-existence of Man. . • • • • 113Celestial Marriage. 122



0

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Helifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah xvin, 3.

VoL. I. SEPTEMBER, 1853. No. 9.

THE PRE—EXISTENCE OF MAN.(Concluded.)

103. An infinite quantity of self-moving intelligent matter, possessed ofinfinite capacities, and existing eter-nally, must have been engaged in anendless series of operations. It mattersnot how far we may, in the imagina-tion of our minds, go back into the in-finite depths of past duration, we arestill obliged to admit, that every par-ticle of matter which now exists, existedthen that it was then capable of self-motion ; that it was then capable ofexercising the eternal capacities of itsnature, and of progressing onward andupward, until it should be perfected inall the fulness of wisdom, knowledge,and truth. An endless series of ope-rations excludes a first operation. Ifit be assumed that there was a periodwhen matter first began to act, thenthe succession of acts would be finiteand not endless, and there would havebeen an endless duration, precedingthat first act, during which, all thingswould have been in a quiescent state,or state of absolute rest. To supposethat all the spiritual matter of the uni-verse, which is now so powerful andactive, has once been eternally at rest,would seem to be absurd in the high-est degree. Every thing now is inmotion ; every thing is highly active :every thing is acting under some law,or guided by some motive or will.Such a thing as an inactive particle of

matter is not known in the universe.If all substance once existed eternallywithout action, what prompted it tomake the first effort ? How came thefirst particle to move itself? Why,after an endless past duration, shouldit all at onqe, conclude to move ? Whyshould intelligent thinking materials,capable of self-motion, have existedfrom all eternity without exercising theircapacities ? No one, therefore, uponcandid reflection, can suppose, for onemoment, that there was a beginningto the operations or actions of sub-stance. There could not have been afirst act or first operation. The suc-cession of acts and operations musthave been endless.

104. Having shown in the preced-ing paragraph, that there must havebeen an endless series of operationsamong the self-moving intelligent ma-terials of nature, let us next inquireinto the nature of these operations.These operations may have been ex-tremely simple, or they may have beenabstruse and intricate in their nature :they may have been the effect of eachindividual particle, acting at randomunder no particular system of laws, orthey may have been the results of acombination of large masses of sub-stances acting under wise and judi-cious laws : they may have acted in adisorganized capacity, or they may


have acted in the capacity of organ-ized worlds, and personages, and beings,something similar to what now exists.Simple operations at random withoutlaw, would exhibit but a small degreeof intelligence ; while operations suchas now exist, would show somethingthat had infinite wisdom, knowledge,and power ; in other words, it wouldprove the existence of a God. If thisendless series of operations has alwaysbeen conducted with the same wisdomand power which now characterize theworkings of the universe, then theremust have always been a fulness ofknowledge and truth exisiting some-where, either in organized or disorgan-ized substances. We cannot provefrom the present appearances of naturethat there has always been a God.The present exhibitions of nature onlyprove that there is now a God, andthat there has been a God for manyages past, which is clearly proved byHis works, many of which can beproved to be many thousand years old.But when we go back to ages stillmore remote in antiquity, nature doesnot inform us whether there was inthose ages a God, having a fulness ofknowledge, or not. We have been in-formed in preceding paragraphs, thatmen, through obedience, attain to thefulness of all knowledge and becomeGods. Now there is a time beforeeach man obtains this fulness whichconstitutes him a God. Personal Gods,then, have a beginning : they existfirst as spirits, then as men clothed withmortal flesh, then as Gods clothed withimmortal tabernacles. If one God canhave a beginning, the question arises,May not all other Gods have had abeginning ? The operations and ap-pearances of the universe only teachus that there has been a God for a fewages past ; and if we had no otherlight, the question would very naturallyoccur, was there not a first God ? Andif so, at what period of time did heattain to a fulness of truth and be-come God ? What was the conditionof the universe before any of the sub-stances of nature attained this fulness?In the absence of revelation in regardto the past eternity of God, such ques-

tions as the foregoing would unavoida-bly arise in the mind.

105. If there ever were a periodwhen none of the substances of nature,posessed a fulness of truth, then previ-ously to that period the universe wouldhave been governed by laws inferior tothose which now obtain. But it seemsaltogether unlikely that among an in-finite quantity of materials, possessinginfinite capacities, there should be nonewhich had perfected themselves inknowledge and truth, though they hadhad an endless duration in which tohave accomplished it. It seems farmore consistant to believe that infiniteknowledge has from all eternity exist-ed somewhere, either in organized per-sonages or in disorganized materials.

106. We shall now prove by reve-lation given through JOSEPH, the SEER,that there has been a God from alleternity ; or in other words, that thereis a God who never had a beginning.One revelation commences thus :" Hearken and listen to the voice ofHim who is from all Eternity to alleternity, the Great I AM, even JesusChrist, the light and the life of theworld." (Doe. and Coy. Sec. 59 : Par. 1.)Here then is positive proof that JesusChrist is from all Eternity. We areaware that there are some who con-sider that the words " all Eternity"have reference to a definite limitedperiod of time. Such suppose thatthere have been many eternities suc-ceeding each other : if this supposi-tion be correct, then the period express-ed by the words "from all Eternity"could not have been without begin-ning. But it is evident to our mindthat the words were intended to con-vey the idea of an endless past dura-tion ; or in other words, a durationthat had no beginning, when speakingin reference to the light and truth thatdwelt in Him. That this is the trueidea intended to be conveyed, is evidentfrom other declarations of Christ; oneof which reads as follows : " Listen tothe voice of Jesus Christ, your Re-deemer, the Great I AM, whose armof mercy hath atoned for your sins."Among the things revealed in thisrevelation, Jesus says, " Unto myself


my works have no end, NEITHERBEGINNING." (Doc. and Cov., Sec.10: Par. 1 and 8.) No language couldmore plainly prove that Jesus Christhad no beginning. His " works haveno end, neither beginning." Therenever was a period when Christ beganHis works: there never was a first workthat He performed. A series that hasno beginning can have no first term.A past succession of works that is end-less necessarily excludes a first work.As there could not be a first act, itshows most clearly that Jesus Christmust have existed during an endlesssuccession of ages, and that therecould not be a first age of His exist-ence. This past endless existence ofChrist has reference to the fulness ofTruth, and Light, and Knowledgewhich now dwell in His person.These attributes are personified andcalled God : these had no begin-ning, while His person did have abeginning in its organized capacity,being the " First Born of every crea-ture." The attributes of Jesus Christ,or in other words, the fulness of Truth,existed for endless ages before Hisperson was formed. Before the spirit-ual body or personage of Christ wasborn in the heavenly world, therewere innumerable worlds in existence,each peopled with myriads of person-ages, and each were filled with all thefulness of Jesus Christ, or the fulnessof Truth, which is called by variousnames, such as, God, the Great I AM,the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, &c.All these names, as well as the per-sonal pronouns He, His, and Him, areapplied to the FULNESS OF TRUTH,wherever it or He may dwell, whetherin one tabernacle or in unnumberedmillions. This Great God—the FUL-NESS OF TRUTH, can dwell in allworlds at the same instant—can beeverywhere present—can be in allthings, and round about all things, andthrough all things. He is in the per-sonage of the Father ; He is in thepersonage of the Son ; He will be int7.the personages of all His Saints whenthey receive of His fulness ; and infine, He is the only living and trueGod, and besides Him there is no God :

He is the only God worshipped by therighteous of all worlds ; for He existsin all worlds, and dwells in all his ful-ness in countless millions of tabernacles.He has no beginning, neither have Hisworks a beginning, but each of Hisorganized tabernacles had a beginning:each personal spirit was organized outof the elements of spiritual matter.

107. Having proved that JesusChrist, or the Fulness of Truth, had nobeginning, let us next inquire, Whetherthere always - have been personages inwhich this fulness dwelt ? or whetherit or He dwelt in the unorganized par-ticles of substance prior to there beingany personages formed ? These arerather difficult questions to answer. Itis quite probable, that it has been fromall eternity about the same as at pre-sent ; that there has been an endlesssuccession of substances, both organ-ized and unorganized, which have beenexalted and glorified, and have receiveda fulness. It is altogether likely,that there has been an endless succes-sion of worlds, and an endless succes-sion of inhabitants who have peopledthose worlds. If so, then there couldnot be a first world, nor a first person.Though each world, and each personwould have a beginning, yet there wouldbe no beginning to the grand chain ofsuccession or genealogy. This may beexemplified, by conceiving the existenceof endless straight lines in boundlessspace : conceive each of these. lines tobe divided or graduated into an end-less number of yards. All can at oncesee, that there would be a beginningto each of these yards, but there wouldbe no beginning to the endless succes-sion. So, likewise, of endless dura-tion ; we can conceive of its beingdivided into an endless successionof minutes ; each of these minuteswould have a beginning, but therewould be no beginning to the succes-sion. We have already learned fromrevelation that the works of Jesus Christhad no beginning. Now let us supposethat each successive work was the or-ganization of a world and the peoplingof the same. All will at once admitthat each world and the inhabitantsthereof would have a beginning ; but

l32 THE PEE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

His works, being without a beginning,there could not be a first world in thisendless succession, nor a first Father inthe endless genealogy.

108. Looking at things through ourimperfect minds, we have been accus-tomed to suppose that all things whichare connected by a chain of causes andeffects, must eventually terminate in aFirst Cause and in a First Effect : forinstance, in tracing genealogies, we goback from the son to the father, thento the grandfather, then to the greatgrandfather, and thus we trace thelineage back from generation to gener-ation until we naturally look for a firstfather pertaining to the human race onthis creation, so, likewise, when we tracethe genealogy of our spirits. We werebegotten by our Father in Heaven ;the person of our Father in Heaven wasbegotten on a previous heavenly worldby His Father ; and again, He was be-gotten by a still more ancient Father:and so on, from generation to genera-tion, from one heavenly world to an-other still more ancient, until our mindsare wearied and lost in the multiplicityof generations and successive worlds,and as a last resort, we wonder in ourminds, how far back the genealogy ex-tends, and how the first world wasformed, and the first father was begot-ten. But why does man seek for afirst, when revelation informs him thatGod's works are without beginning ?Do you still seek for a first link wherethe chain is endless ? Can you con-ceive of a first year in endless duration ?Can you grasp within your comprehen-sion the first mile in an endless rightline ? All these things you will readilyacknowledge have no first : why, then,do you seek for a first personal Fatherin an endless genealogy ? or for a firsteffect in an endless succession of effects ?

109. The Fulness of Truth, dwellingin an endless succession of past genera-tions, would produce an endless succes-sion of personal Gods, each possessingopal wisdom, power, and glory withall the rest. In worshipping any oneof these Gods we worship the whole,and in worshipping the whole, we stillworship but one God ; for it is thesame God who dwells in them all ; the

personages are only His different dwell-ing places. After the resurrection,when the Fulness of Truth or Goddwells in us, it can then be said of us,as is now said of Christ, that we are" from all eternity to all eternity ;" itcan then be said of us, that our " workshave no end, neither beginning ;" itcan then be said of us, that we are "inall things, and through all things, andround about all things ;" it can thenbe said of us, that the number of worldswhich we have created are more numer-ous than the particles of dust in a mil-lion of earths like this; yea, that thiswould not be a beginning to the num-ber of our creations ; it can be said ofus, that we are there in all these in-finity of worlds, and that our bosom isthere. How, inquires the astonishedSaints) can all these things be ? Howcan we be from all eternity ? Howcan we be omnipresent ? How can ourworks be without beginning ? We re-ply, that this will be true in regard tothe fulness of God that dwells withinus, but not true in regard to our per-sons neither is it true in regard toany other persons. God is the lightand the life of all things. Our life andour light are now only a part of God,but then, in that glorious day, theywill be the whole of God, animating,and quickening, and glorifying a newtabernacle. Then we can say one toanother, I am in you and you are inme, and we all are one, even one God,"from everlasting to everlasting." TheLight and Intelligence and Truth whicheach Saint will then possess in fulness,was not created, neither, indeed, can be,but they were from all eternity; and theyassisted in the formation of all worlds,and are present in all worlds, govern-ing and controlling the same. Do werealize that our very life and being isconstituted and composed of eternalprinciples? that the beings which wecall ourselves are only parts of oneeternal whole ? that the attributes ofour nature are God's attributes in em-bryo, placed in new tabernacles wherethey are required to improve and per-fect themselves by cleaving unto thegreat fountain of which they are apart ? Every additional portion of

THE PRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN. /33

light which they receive is an addi-tional portion of God ; when they arefilled with light, they are filled withGod—that is, God is in them in all ofHis fulness, and wherever God is, thereis Almighty power, and Infinite wisdomand knowledge, and all things are sub-ject unto IIim, and He possesses allthings, and all dominions and worldsare His, for He made them all. It isfor this reason that each of the Saintswill inherit all things, and be equalnot only in power and glory, but alsoin dominion. All things present, andall things to come, will be theirs. Allthings present, include all the infinityof worlds which have been created, re-deemed, and glorified from all eternity :all things to come include all the worldswhich will be created, redeemed, andglorified to all eternity. Each one ofthe Saints who receive a fulness of Godwill be joint heirs with all the rest inthis great common stock inheritance :each one possessing the whole. Con-sequently, they will be equal in domin-ion as well as equal in knowledge,power, and glory. This is so fully re-vealed in revelations, both ancient andmodern, that we deem it unnecessaryto multiply quotations. Indeed, Whyshould not the same God in one taber-nacle inherit just as much as He doesin every other tabernacle ? If men aretabernacles, and God is the Being whodwells within them, then this One Godin each tabernacle must of necessitypossess all things ; for He made themall.

110. how very different in theirnature is light and truth from substance.A substance can only be in one placeat a time : while intelligence or truthcan be in all worlds at the same instant.A. substance cannot be divided, and apart be taken to some other place, with-out diminishing the original quantityfrom which it was taken : while differ-ent portions of light and truth may beimparted to other beings in other placeswithout diminishing in the least thefountain from which they are derived.Substances, organized into differentpersons on separate worlds, become aplurality of substances or persons :while a truth may be imparted to each

one of these personages, and still it isbut one truth—a unity and not a plu-rality of truths. However great thenumber of truths which may be im-parted equally to an infinite number ofpersonages, still the truths are not in-creased in number by their increasednumber of dwelling places. In all thesecharacteristics truth and substancewidely differ from each other. As Godis Light and Truth, and Light andTruth is God, all the characteristicswhich belong to one, belong to theother also. An infinite number oftabernacles filled with Truth, containsno more than one filled with the same :so likewise an infinite number of tab-ernacles filled with God knows nomore than one knows. Truth is oneTruth though dwelling in millions, solikewise God is one God though dwell-ing in countless numbers of tabernacles.This is the reason why we are so re-peatedly told in both ancient andmodern revelation, that there is butone God. And whenever a pluralityof Gods is mentioned we may alwaysknow that the expression has referenceonly to the number of tabernacleswhere this one only true and livingGod dwells.

M. We have dwelt upon this sub-ject rather longer than what we, atfirst, intended, because we consider it aprinciple which should be well under-stood by the Saints, not only for ourown benefit, but that we may be ableto teach others correctly ; that whenwe are asked for a reason, why we be-lieve in a plurality of Gods, we may beable to set forth our views clearly and.plainly in accordance with the revela-tions which God has given of Himself.It is for this purpose that we havedwelt so long upon the pre-existence ofman in order that we may the moreclearly understand, not only our heaven-ly and God-like origen, but the grandsystem of laws by which God origi-nates and prepares tabernacles for Hisown residence in which the fulness ofHis wisdom, power, and glory, aremanifested. 0 how great, and howmarvelous are the ways of God, andHis plans which He has adopted forthe salvation and glorification of His

134 THE FRE-EXISTENCE OF MAN.

intelligent offspring ! Who. can un-derstand these things without rejoic-ing by day and by night ! And whocan understand the works of our Godand the mysteries of His kingdom, un-less he is enlightened by the light ofthe Holy Spirit ! Well did the apos-tle Paul say, " the natural man know-eth not the things of God, becausethey are spiritually discerned ;" butGod hath revealed them unto us byHis spirit ; for the Spirit searcheth allthings, yea, even the deep things ofGod." Well did our Saviour say, thatthe Spirit of Truth should guide hisdisciples into all Truth—should take ofthe things of the Father and shouldshow them unto his people—shouldshow them things to conic, and thusmake them revelators and prophets.0 that mankind would consider uponthese things ! 0 that they wouldcome unto God like men in daysof old, and learn of Him now, as theydid then ! 0 that they would reflectupon their heavenly origen, and whatmay be their future destiny, if theywould only claim, through obedienceand faith, the high privileges set beforethem ! 0 that they knew what be-longs to their peace and welfare bothhere and hereafter ! but they knownot—they are like the beast thatperisheth, for whom slaughter is pre-pared, and he knoweth it not : even so,it is with this generation ; they knownothing only what thee know natu-rally ; they have denied the necessityof present revelation, therefore, allspiritual light and heavenly knowledgeare withheld from them, and they willbring swift destruction upon them-selves and perish in their sins, and thiscauses my heart to be sorrowful ; andI mourn over the hardness of theirhearts and the blindness of their mindsby day and by night ; and I labor andtoil, and also my brethren, to recoverthem, but their hearts are fully setwithin them to do evil, and they mustsoon be ripened for the destructionsdecreed upon the nations in the latterdays.

112. We have in this article on pre-existence traced man back to his ori-gen in the heavenly world as an infant

spirit; we have shown that this spiritwas begotten and born by celestial pa-rents long anterior to the formation ofthis creation. We have shown that thegreat family of spirits had a probationand trial before they came here—thata third part of them fell and were castout of Heaven and were deprived of-fleshly bodies; while the remainderhave come forth in their successivegenerations to people this globe : wehave shown that, by keeping this theirsecond estate, they will be perfected,glorified, and made Gods like unto theirFather God by whom their spirits werebegotten. The dealing of God to-wards his children from the time thatthey are first born in Heaven, throughall their successive stages of existence,until they are redeemed, perfected, andmade Gods, is a pattern after which allother worlds are dealt with. All Godsact upon the same great general prin-ciples; and thus, the course of each Godis one eternal round. There will, ofcourse, be a variety in all His works, butthere will be no great deviations fromthe general laws which He has ordained.The creation, fall, and redemption ofall future worlds with their inhabitantswill be conducted upon the same gen-eral plan ; so that when one is learned,the great fundamental principles of thescience of world-making, world-govern-ing, and world-redemption, will be un-derstood.

113. The Father of our spirits hasonly been doing that which Ilis Pro-genitors did before Him. Each suc-ceeding generation of Gods follow theexample of the preceding ones: eachgeneration have their wives, who raiseup from the fruit of their loins immortalspirits : when their families become nu-merous, they organize new worlds forthem, after the former patteilis set be-fore them ; they place their familiesupon the same who fall as the inhabi-tants of previous worlds have fallenthey are redeemed after the pattern bywhich more ancient worlds have beenredeemed. The inhabitants of eachworld have their own personal Fatherwhose attributes they worship, and inso doing all worlds worship the sameone God, dwelling in all of His fulness


in the personages who are the Fathersof each. Thus will worlds and systemsof worlds, and gorgeous universes, bemultiplied in endless succession throughthe infinite depths of boundless space ;some telestial, some terrestrial, andsome Celestial, differing in their glory,as the apparent splendor of the shiningluminaries of Heaven differ. All these

will swarm with an infinite number ofliving, moving, animated beings fromthe minutest animalcules that sport bymillions in a single drop of water, upthrough every grade of existence tothose Almighty, All wise, and Most Glo-rious Personages who exist in countlessnumbers, governing and controlling allthings. EDITOR.


God generally entrusts his servantsfirst with wives, and then with chil-dren, to see what kind of governmentthey will exercise ; if they are foundfaithful over those which are given tothem, He generally grants them more,in order that their posterity may be-come numerous, and that the dominionsof their government may be extended.

A man is better qualified to governhis own offspring than the offspring ofothers ; for he will be influenced togovern for their good through the par-ental ties of affection which fathersnaturally entertain for their children.The family or patriarchal government,therefore, was wisely instituted of God.He is the Author of parental affection:He incorporated the principle in thebosom of man for the good of the off-spring. The principle of parental gov-ernment, notwithstanding the naturala&ctions, needs to be under the direc-tion and control of the law of God, andthe influence of the Holy Spirit. AsGod is glorified by the accession ofnumbers into His family, so are Hisservants glorified by additions to theirfamilies. God, therefore, has wiselyordained the plurality of wives, thatthe families of His faithful servantsmay be increased even as His owngovernment and kingdoms are increas-ed. That which will enlarge the do-minions of the Almighty will glorifyHim ; and the same things that willglorify God will glorify man. InIsaiah, it is said of Christ, that " of theincrease of His government there shall

be no end ;" and that, as the "Princeof Peace," He should sit " upon thethrone of David, and upon his king-dom, to order it, and to establish itwith judgment and with justice fromhenceforth even forever." (Isa. 9 : 7.)As there will be no end to the increaseof the numbers who will come underthe government and dominion of Christ,so there will be no end to the increaseof the governments, and dominions,and kingdoms of His servants ; for theywill be made like Christ, and be onewith Him, even as He and the Fatherare one. The prophet Isaiah, when hesaw that Christ should be " cut of outof the land of the living," asks thequestion, " Who shall declare His gen-eration r He then immediately in-forms us that Christ, himself, shouldbe comforted, in His dying moments,by having a knowledge of his genera-tion unfolded to his vision. " Whenthou shalt make His soul an offeringfor sin, He shall see His seed." (Isa.53.) Many have supposed that theseed of Christ or His generation, hasreference to those who are born intoThis kingdom, exclusively. But wemust recollect that the inhabitants des-tined for this earth are limited in num-bers ; and that, however numerous theymay be, who become, on this earth, Hisadopted sons, yet there will evidentlybe an end, or a time when no more ofmankind will receive the law of adop-tion ; but the increase of Christ's gov-ernment is to be without end, therefore,there must be a continual increase of


His "seed" or "generation" throughouteternal ages : this is what comfortedHim in the hour of His greatest suffer-ings. Now unless the seed and gener-ation of This servants are also eternallyincreased, they will not be like Him;their dominions and their governmentswould come to a dead stand; whileHis was increasing theirs would be-stationary ; while He was peoplingworlds upon worlds with his genera-tions, mid adding kingdoms upon king-doms, His younger brethren would, ac-cording to Gentile notions, sit downupon thrones with only a family ofabout half a dozen or a dozen, withoutany possibility of increasing their seedor geherations, like their elder Brother.

That generations will continue afterthis earth passes away, is very evi-dent from many portions of scripture.Moses says, " Know therefore that theLord thy God, He is God, the faithfulGod, which keepetli covenant andmercy with them that love Him andkeep His commandments to a THOU-SAND GENERATIONS." (Dent. 7:O.) At the very least estimate, wecannot call a generation less than 20years; and even at this low estimate athousand generations would be twentythousand years. Now the temporalexistence of the earth and mortal manwill not continue over seven or eightthousand years, after which the NewEarth will be made, inhabited by im-mortal beings, on which there will beno more death. It will be, therefore,some twelve or thirteen thousand yearsafter the earth passes away before therecould be " a thousand generations ;"and yet the prophet Moses informs usthat God will keep His covenants withthose who keep his commandmentseven " to. a thousand generations."The generations from Christ back toAdam were, according the first chap-ter of Alatthew, connected with theOld Testament, only sixty-one in num-ber ; while the third of Luke estimatesthe number to be seventy-five. Ifthere should be seventy-five genera-tions after Christ, before the end ofthe earth, it would make only onehundred and fifty generations in all :this subtracted from a thousand would

leave eight hundred and fifty genera-tions for the New Earth among immor-tal beings. If the generations amongimmortal beings are of the same aver-age length as those pertaining to mor-tality, recorded by Luke, then it willrequire upwards of forty thousandyears before the New Earth could bepeopled with eight hundred and fiftygenerations. The very fact that theLord has promised to keep His cove-nant for a thousand generations -showsmost clearly that multiplication existsamong those who are immortal as wellas those who are mortal. This provesclearly the necessity of being marriedfor eternity as well as time, securingthat blessing in this life, that it maybe enjoyed in the next.

We have shown in the foregoing thatGod remembers His Covenants andpromises " to a thousand Generations"which proves beyond all controversythat generations will continue in eter-nity among immortal beings. Gene-rations on the New Earth will differfrom those on our present earth inseveral respects. First, the offspringw ill be spirits, and not flesh and bones;secondly, these spirits, though maleand female, will not marry nor be givenin marriage while on the New Earth,and consequently will not multiply ;and lastly, neither parents nor childrenwill be subject to death. Upon thisearth, parents are considered the firstgeneration ; children, the second ;grand-children, the third ; great grand-children, the fourth ; and so on : butupon the New Earth, generations can-not be estimated after this manner, forthe simple reason that there will be nogrand-children nor great grand-childrenonly so far as the tabernacles are con-cerned, but all will be children. Asthe immortal parents represent thefirst generation, their immortal childrenwill represent the second ; but therenever can be a third, nor fourth, norany future number of generations onthe New Earth.

Before the second generation of thechildren can have the privilege ofraising up an offspring of spirits, calledthe third generation, they must have aworld created for them ; receive bodies


of flesh and bones upon the same ; passthrough a second estate similar to theone through which the inhabitants ofthis earth are now passing; die and beredeemed from the grave, and theirworld be redeemed, and glorified, andmade new, the same as ours will be ;and then, they will commence multi-plying an offspring of spirits : thesewill be the third generation, or grand-children of those who are redeemedand inhabit this earth in its glorifiedstate. There must be a new worldcreated for each successive generation,so that generations among • immortalbeings will be reckoned according tothe genealogy of worlds. Each suc-cessive world will be peopled by beingsof the same order of generation.

All the inhabitants, destined for thisearth, are, so far as their spirits areconcerned, of the same generation ; allbeing the sons and daughters of oneFather ; but so far as their tabernaclesare concerned, they are a succession ofgenerations. Generations among im-mortal beings are of a higher order,being the medium of the organizationof spiritual substance in which existscapacities that are infinite in their na-ture. This higher or more perfect or-der of generation requires a period ofvast duration for the instruction andgradual developement of the capaci-ties of the spiritual offspring; hencethe children are permitted to reside onthe same world with their parents formany millions of years, before anotherworld is provided for their inheritance ;and before they are entrusted with thegreat and most sacred privilege of mar-riage for the infinitely important pur-pose of multiplying their species. In-deed, it would require several thousandmillion of years, before a father couldraise up an offspring sufficiently numer-ous to people one world as large asthis. And during this vast period oftime he could have no grand-children ;all being his own sons and daughters ;all being reckoned in the salm genera-tion ; and all remaining with their pa-rents at the old homestead, until, forthe want of room, a new world is cre-ated and the dominions enlarged, andthe children sent abroad to act for

themselves, and to prepare to walk inthe footsteps of their father, by marry-ing and multiplying as he has done be-fore them. A thousand generations,therefore, among immortal beings,would embrace a period of many mil-lions of millions of years.

The fact being established that, gen-erations will be continued in eternity,we have no reason to conjecture thatthey will ever cease. If immortal be-ings can multiply at all, it is perfectlyreasonable that this same power shouldcontinue with them worlds without end.Some, perhaps, may object against anendless succession of worlds and gene-rations on the supposition that therewill not be a sufficient quantity ofmatter in existence for such a pur-pose. This objection would be valid ifit could be proved that there was onlya finite quantity of materials ; for insuch a case, the period would eventu-ally come when the whole quantitywould be exhausted, and the increaseof worlds and of intelligent beingswould necessarily cease : for we cannot,for one moment, admit that the mate-rials themselves could be created. Ina boundless space, there is plenty ofroom for an infinite quantity of mate-rials. It matters not how thinly theelements may be scattered, thoughthere should be millions of miles inter-vening between each particle, yet ifthere were no bounds to this widelydiffused substance, the quantity wouldbe endless ; and if endless, there couldbe an endless succession of worlds or-ganized out of it, without any possi-bility of exhausting it. Neither rea-son nor observation can determine thequantity ; for as God did not createthe elements, they are necessarily eter-nal, and therefore exist without a cause.There is no cause for the quantity thatexists. Indeed, there is no reason why-space contains any substance, what-ever : much less is there af- reasonwhy space contains a large instead ofa small, an infinite instead of a finitequantity.

✓That there is an infinite quantity ofmatter in space is certain from the re-vealed fact that there is to be no endto the increase of the government or


kingdoms of Christ : in order that theincrease may be without end, thequantity of materials out of whichthese kingdoms are formed must beinexhaustable. No objection, therefore,can be raised against the endless in-crease of worlds and of living beingsfor the want of sufficient substance.

The affection which exists in thebosom of parents towards their off-spring will be far greater among im-mortal and celestial beings than whatit is here in this world ; consequentlythey will watch over them with themost tender feelings ; and ordain lawsand rules for their government, adaptedto their capacities and wants : andwhen they create a new world andsend their dear children to receive up-on the same bodies of flesh and bones,their affection for them will not, inthe leas, be diminished ; they willstill be just as anxious for their welfareand happiness as when they dwelt im-mediately in their presence.

Those among their offspring whoare sent to people new worlds, andwho obey the law of righteousness,will be more highly favored than therebellious. The righteous among themwill be entrusted with the watch-careand protection of the children of theircelestial or heavenly parents. This isone great reason, why the Lord haschosen the righteous in this world toraise up seed unto Him through thedivine institution of marriage. Itmust be evident to every one, thatwhen God sends forth His own chil-dren from Heaven to be born into thisworld, that it must be more pleasingto Him for them to receive tabernaclesamong the righteous than among thewicked. This is one reason that Hehas instituted a plurality of wivesamong the righteous, that those noblepure spirits who dwell in the presenceof. God may come forth into the worldthrough the righteous and be taughtin the law of righteousness. WhenGod sends forth these spirits and en-trusts them to the care of the righte-ous, there is a prospect of their re-turning again to enjoy the fulness ofHis glory. But when the spirits fromHeaven are born among the wicked,

the prospect is, that they will be cor-rupted by the precepts and wicked ex-amples of their fathers, and thus beunprepared to return to the bosom oftheir Father in Heaven. The Fatherof these spirits, through the love whichHe has for them, is greatly pleasedwhen He can find a righteous manunto whom he can safely entrust agreat number of wives, and make himthe father of many children, and bythis means save them and bring themto their former home again.

If it were necessary for parents whodwell in the United States to send forththeir beloved offspring to some distantnation, there to abide for many yearsbefore they were permitted to return,how great would be their anxiety toplace them under the protection oftheir friends instead of their enemies.Would not parents feel the most in-tense desire that their children mightbe placed under the watch-care of theirown dear friends who would teachthem to love and reverence the adviceand counsel of their parents ? Wouldthey not much rather entrust one hun-dred of their children to the protectionof a kind-hearted wise friend than oneto an enemy ? All will answer, withone accord, Yes. If then earthly pa-rents would feel so great a solicitudefor the welfare of their absent children,how much greater must be the desireof the Father of spirits for the welfareof His own beloved offspring when Hesends them from home to a distantworld to be entrusted to the care ofearthly parents. What must be Hisfeelings when those earthly parents areHis enemies ! When they will bytheir own evil influences destroy thosepure and innocent spirits entrusted totheir charge ! No wonder then thatthe Father of spirits should commandHis friends to marry a plurality of wivesthat those precious jewels from Heavenmay be educated in the law of righte-ousness and in due time safely returnto the bosom of their heavenly parents.Instead of condemning His friends be-cause they have a great number ofwives and children, He will bless them,and rejoice over them because of theirrighteousness.


Among all the duties devolving uponmortal man thei e is none of more im-portance than that of marrying inrighteousness. The Lord has consid-ered this institution of so much con-sequence that He has ordained author-ity that has the power to determineas to the number of wives a righteousman may have. There is no station inlife, however high and responsible, thatwill exempt, the righteous from appeal-ing to this authority. Joash, the kingof Israel, though a good man, yet hadno right to take a plurality of wiveswithout the consent of the authoritywhich God had ordained : hence weread that Jehoiada, the priest " tookfor him two wives and he begat sonsand daughters " (2 Chron. 24; 3.)That Joash did right in receiving thesetwo wives is evident from the preced-ing verse : "And Joash did that whichwas right in the sight of the Lord, allthe days of Jehoiada the priest,"(verse 2.) The whole history of Je-hoiada shows that he also was a manof God and was permitted to live onehundred and thirty years ; and whenhe died, " they buried him in the cityof David among the kings, because l iehad done good in Israel both towardGod, and toward his house." (2 Chron.24: 15, 16.) These passages provethat the Plurality of wives was givento this good man by the authority ofHeaven. The very first time thatHosea obtained the word of the Lord,it was about getting married. Thepassage reads thus : " The beginningof the word of the Lord by Hosea.And the Lord said unto Hosea, Go,take unto thee a wife of whoredoms."(Hosea 1: 2.) In obedience to theword of God, Hosea " went and tookGooier, the daughter of Diblaim."(verse 3.) And when this woman hadborne unto Hosea two sons and adaughter the Lord commanded him togo and take another woman—an adul-teress. (Hosea 3.) Here, then, is themost positive proof that God com-manded a holy prophet to take a plu-rality of wives. If the beginning ofthe word of the Lord to Joseph Smithhad required him to do the same thingsthat Hosea did, Who would have be-

lieved in the divinity of his mission ?God has the most undoubted right

to command His servants in relationto their domestic concerns ; and what-ever He dictates is right. There aremany things which would be sinful inthe sight of God, were they done or/ practiced without a commandment.The Lord in the days of Noah had for-bidden man to shed the blood of his fel-low man ; yet the Lord commandedAbraham to offer up his son Isaac, andAbraham was justified in attemptingto shed his blood. Hosea would havebeen condemned for marrying twowicked women, had not the Lord com-manded him to doit. When a pro-phet or servant of God does as he iscommanded, he is justified, howevercontrary it may be to firmer com-mandments. If God has the right tocommand Ibis servants to do directlycontrary to what he has formerly com-manded, Ile certainly has the right todictate them to take a plurality ofwives which is in no way violating anyformer command.

It was sometimes the case in ancienttimes that the husband loved some ofhis wives more than others, but theLord gave a law to regulate the givingof the inheritance to the children inorder to prevent all partiality arisingfrom such a cause. It reads thus : "Ifa man have two wives, one beloved,and another hated, and they haveborne him chil3ren, both the belovedand the hated : and if the first-bornson be hers that was hated : then itshall be, when he maketh his sons toinherit that which he bath, that hemay not make the son of the belovedthe first-horn before the son of thehated, which is indeed the first-born ;but he shall acknowledge the son ofthe hated for the first-born, by givinghim a double portion of all that hehath : for he is the beginning of hisstrength ; the right of the first-bornis his." (Dent. 21: 15, 16, 17.)In making this provision for thesecurity of the inheritance of thefirst-born, there is no disapprobation,whatever, expressed against the prac-tice of plurality, but on the contrary,the children of each wife are consid-

140 CELESTIAL MARRIAG1

ered perfectly legitimate, and entitledto the proportionate shares of his pro-perty, in the same manner as if theywere the children of one wife.

We cannot feel justified in closingthis article on the subject of marriagewithout saying a few words to unmar-ried females in this church. You willclearly perceive from the revelationwhich God has given that you cannever obtain a fulness of glory withoutbeing married to a righteous man fortime and for all eternity. If you mar-ry a man who receives not the gospel,you lay a foundation for sorrow in thisworld, besides losing the privilege ofenjoying the society of a husband ineternity. You forfeit your right to anendless increase of immortal lives.And even the children which you maybe favored with in this life will not beentrusted to your charge in eternity ;but you will be left in that world with-out a husband, without a family, with-out a kingdom—without any means ofenlarging yourselves, being subject to•the principalities and powers who arecounted worthy of families, and king-doms, and thrones, and the increase ofdominions forever. To them you willbe servants and angels—that is, pro-viding that your conduct should besuch as to secure this measure of glory.Can it be possible that any females, af-ter knowing these things, will sufferthemselves to keep company with apersons out of this church ? It mattersnot how great the morality of suchpersons may be, nor how kind theymay be to you, they are not numberedwith the people of God ; they are notin the way of salvation ; they cannotsave themselves nor their families ; andafter what God has revealed upon thissubject you cannot be justified, for onemoment, in keeping their company.It would be infinitely better for you tosuffer poverty and tribulation with thepeople of God, than to place yourselvesunder the power of those who will notembrace the great truths of Heaven.By marrying an unbeliever you placeyourselves in open disobedience to thecommand of God requiring His peopleto gather together. Do you expecttobe saved in direct violation of the com-

mands of Heaven ? If not, keep your-selves wholly and entirely from thecompany of unbelievers Do you wishthe fellowship of the Saints ? If youdo, have no fellowship for unbelievers.For after the great light which ourFather in Heaven has given, none ofthe Saints will have any confidence inyour honesty or sincerity, if you willrecklessly throw yourselves away andcut off all hopes of your future exalta-tion. No female that has a respect forthe work of God, or a respect for herfuture character among His people,will associate or keep company withany but Saints.

Many will inquire, What will be thecondition of those who have died be-fore this light was revealed? We an-swer that God has made provisionsin the laws, ordinances, and plans, in-stituted before the foundation of theworld, to suit the circumstances ofevery individual. Those who die with-out hearing a message sent by author-ity from Heaven, do not reject it; andGod has ordained that in the dispensa-tion of the fulness of times the liv-ing shall officiate for the dead. Forthis cause God has commanded a tem-ple to be built, that those ordinancesnecessary for the salvation and redemp-tion of the dead may be revealed andadministered in the same. The wordof the Lord which came unto JOSEPH,the SEER, shows the importance ofthese things ; it reads as follows :

" Verily I say unto you, that yourannointings, and your washings, andyour baptisms for the dead, and yoursolemn assemblies, and your memorialsfor your sacrifices, by the sons of Levi,and for your oracles in your most holyplaces, wherein you receive conversa-tions, and your statutes and judgments,for the beginning of the revelationsand foundation of Zion, and for theglory, and honor, and endowment ofall her municiples, are ordained by theordinance of my holy house, which mypeople are always commanded to buildunto my holy name."—(Doctrine andCovenants, sec. 103: 12.)

We understand by this revelationthat God's people are always command-

, ed to build unto his His holy name a


house, wherein baptisms, and all othernecessary ordinances may be legallyadministered, not only for the living,but also for, and in the name of, andin behalf of the dead. If the spirits ofthe dead who are in prison will hearkenunto the messages of those holding thepriesthood who are sent to their prisonhouses to open the prison doors and setthem free ; if they will believe in JesusChrist and repent of all their sins, andreceive the glad tidings of redemption ;if they will receive by faith what theirfriends in the flesh have done for themthrough the ordinances of God's holyhouse, namely : the baptisms, confirm-ations, ordinations, washings, annoint-ings, signs, tokens, keys, and sealingpowers which are administered by theliving, and unto the living, for and inthe name of the dead ; if they will,with sincerity of faith and humble re-pentance, believe in and receive all thatis done in their behalf as the living re-ceive what Christ has done—they shallbe redeemed from their prisons, andtheir names shall be recorded amongthe sanctified in the Celestial king-dom, and the records in Heaven willbe according to the records of God'sholy house upon the earth ; and thatwhich is done and sealed on the earthfor and in their behalf will be acknow-ledged, recorded, and sealed in theHeavens, and will be valid and legal inthe great day of the resurrection of therighteous ; but the remainder of thespirits who will not receive the gladtidings and accept of deliverance shallbe kept in chains of darkness unto thejudgment of the great day, and theirtorment shall be as if suffering in flamesof fire, where their worm dieth not.

Do you inquire how we are to ob-tain the genealogies of our fathers, soas to do this work for them whichthey, when living, had not the oppor-tunity of doing, and which they, asspirits in prison, cannot do ? We an-swer, that it is the duty of all Saintsamong all nations to search out, as faras possible, their family records, andtheir genealogies, and their kindred,both the living and the dead ; andwhen you have been diligent and pro-cured all the information within your

reach, and have gone into the holyTemple of the Most High, and donewhat is required of the living for thedead. Then God will show you byhis Prophets and Seers, and by holymessengers and angels, the genealogiesof your fathers, back from generationto generation unto the beginning, orunto the time when the powers, andkeys, and ordinances of the priesthoodwere upon the earth. When you ob-tain these genealogies, it will be yourduty to receive in the holy temple,all the ordinances and sealing powerswhich were instituted in the councilsof the Sons of God before the worldwas for the salvation, redemption, ex-altation, glory, and honor of the deadwho died without a knowledge ofthese things ; for you, without yourfathers, cannot be made perfect, neithercan the ancient fathers who held thepriesthood be made perfect withoutthe children.

The time is near at band when thefathers who hold the priesthood inHeaven will be united with the chil-dren who hold the priesthood upon theearth ; but there are many generationsintervening who held not the priest-hood but died in their ignorance : thegrand chain of patriarchal government,according to the order of generations,will be broken, and the union will notbe complete, unless the hearts of thefathers are turned to seek after the re-demption of the generations of theirchildren who have laid down in theirgraves in the days of darkness ; andalso unless the hearts of the childrenare turned towards their fathers : thusthrough the united exertions of thepriesthood in Heaven with the priest-hood upon the earth, the intermediatelinks of the great chain of generationwill be restored, and the union of thefathers with the children will be madeperfect, and each successive generationwill stand in their own order, exercis-ing their patriarchal authority, andswaying the sceptre of righteousness,according to the holy- older of thepriesthood forever and ever.

When these holy and sacred insti-tutions are made known to the spiritsin prison by holy messengers holding


the priesthood, they will be left to theirown agency either to receive or rejectthese glad tidings, and will be judged ac-cording to men in the flesh who havethe privilege of hearing the samethings. By the same law they shallbe justified, and by the same law theyshall be condemned, according to theirworks : thus God has ordained thesame plan for the salvation of both theliving and the dead ; for those that diein ignorance as for those who hear itwhile in the flesh.

Among these sacred and holy things,pertaining to the fulness of the ever-lasting priesthood, and the eternal ex-altation of the male and female, is thatof marriage for eternity, which ordi-nance was instituted for the benefit ofthe dead as well as the living. Theproper places for the celebration of thisholy institution are in Zion and in herstakes and in Jerusalem, to be adminis-tered under the direction and by the au-thority of him whom God ordains tohold the keys of the sealing powersamong His people upon the earth. Thisordinance, like baptisms for the dead,and numerous other ordinances, belongsmore properly to the house of theLord, and should be attended to there-in as soon as the same can be built.

If a husband has lost his wife bydeath before he had the opportunity ofattending to this holy ordinance andsecuring her as his lawful wife foreternity, then it is the duty of the se-cond wife, first, to be sealed or mar-ried to the husband for and in the nameof the deceased wife for all eternity,and secondly, to be married for timeand eternity, herself, to the same man.Thus by this holy ordinance both thedead and the living wife will be hisin the eternal worlds.

But if, previously to marriage foreternity, a woman lose her husband bydeath and marry a second, and if herfirst husband was a good man, then itis the duty of her second husband to bemarried to her for all eternity, not forhimself, but in the name of her deceas-ed husband, while he, himself, can onlybe married to her for time ; and he isobliged to enter into a covenant to de-liver her up with all her children to

her deceased husband in the morningof the first resurrection. In this case,the second husband would have nowife only for time, neither could heretain his children in the eternal worlds,for they, according to the law of Heaven,would be given up to the wife and herfirst husband. Therefore, it would bethe duty of the second husband tomarry a second wife for time andeternity ; for by marrying her for time,he could raise up an offspring whichwould bear up his name not only onthe earth, but, with their mother, theywould be legally his in the resurrection.The husband, in this case, must neces-sarily have two wives living at thesame time, or else be deprived of awife and family in the eternal state.

If a widower marry a widow, andeach desires to have his or her formerpartner in the next world ; then it isnecessary that there should be threeceremonies of marriage : first, thatwhich secures the widower to his de-ceased wife, second, that which securesthe widow to her deceased husband,and third, that which constitutes thewidower and widow husband and wifefor time only. In this case, as in allothers, the children in the resurrectiongo into the same family with the mother,the reason of this is, because the womancan only have a limited number ofchildren here in this life, while the man,not being limited by the law of God toone wife, can have many children ;therefore it is not according to the or-der of Heaven, that the few childrenwhich a woman can have, should betaken from her, providing that she hasa husband for eternity.

If the husband and wife both die inthis church, before they have securedeach other for eternity, then it is theduty of their kindred or friends in thechurch to attend to the holy ordinanceof marriage in their behalf, that whatis.done for them by the living, accord-ing to the ordinance and authority ofHeaven, may be recorded in the sacredarchives in their behalf in the day whenthe records or books shall be opened ;for then it shall be done for them, ac-cording to their works, and the worksof their friends who have acted for them,


and the works of the priesthood whoseacts are recorded on earth and in Heaven.God will in that day acknowledge theauthority which he has ordained, andthe works that they have performedin His name, and according to Hisword.

If husbands or wives die before theyhave the opportunity of being baptizedinto this church, then it is necessary,before the ordinance of marriage canbe administered in their behalf; thatthe living should attend to baptisms,and confirmations, and ordinations, andwashings, and annointirigs, and all otherinstitutions ordained of God, for and inthe name of the deceased, and last ofall the sealing powers of marriage andthe blessings connected therewith, thatthe dead may in all things be justified,and sanctified, and exalted, and glori-fied, and made kings, and priests, andGods, through the same laws and or-dinances as the living ; they beingagents in the world of spirits to receiveor to reject that which is done for them,the same as the living.

In like manner, our progenitors, backfrom generation to generation, willhave the privilege of redemption, andof exaltation, and of wives and childrenthrough the keys of the everlastingpriesthood sent down from Heaven, andconferred upon the living for the sal-vation of the nations on earth, and ofthe generations of the dead, that all intime and in eternity both in the fleshand out of the flesh that will hear andreceive the same, may be gathered inone and be glorified together and madeperfect in one : and thus shall all gen-erations both those in Heaven and thoseupon the earth, as well as those redeem-ed fromprison, be united and weldedtogether by their appropriate links,under Adam the grand Patriarch ofall generations, the Prince of all, andthe father of all, under the counsel anddirection of the Holy One who is fromall eternity, the Father of lights, whois in all, and over all, and through allthings, the life and glory of all things,and the power by which all things willbe governed, whether they be patriarchsor families,principalities or kingdoms,thrones or dominions all will bow in

humble reverence before Him and giveHim glory for ever and ever.

The husband is the head of the fam-ily, and it is his duty to govern hiswife or wives and children accordingto the law of righteousness ; and it isthe duty of his wives to be subject untohim in all things even as the church issubject unto Christ. This is clearlyrevealed in the declaration of the Lordto Eve immediately after the fall. Itwas said unto her, " Thy desire shallbe to thy husband and he shall ruleover thee.") Gen. 3: 16.) This di-vine institution in the order of familygovernment was intended as an ever-lasting order to be continued in allgenerations. Each wife should seekcounsel from her husband, and obeythe same with all meekness and pa-tience in all things. This order ofthings is only applicable in the fami-lies of the righteous ; for God hasnothing to do with the families of thewicked, only to bring them to judg-ment for all their wicked deeds. Butthe families of the righteous are underthe most sacred obligations to give themost earnest heed to all the counselsof the head of the family : and he isbound by the heaviest responsibilitiesto counsel with sobriety, meekness,wisdom, and prudence, exercising for-bearance, patience, and long-suffering,showing mercy and compassion whenit is required, but to be strict and un-yielding in the enforcement of allthings calculated for the good of thefamily ; he should never suffer himselfto be moved to the right hand nor tothe left from the principles of righte-ousness either by the smiles or tearsof wives or children. He should befixed and immovable as the throne ofHeaven in every right and holy princi-ple. But when he can in righteous-ness yield to the desires of his family,let him do so, and by kindness andlove nourish and cherish them, as theLord does the church ; and in so doing,they will love and honor him as a hus-band and a father.

The wife should never follow herown judgment in preference to that ofher husband ; for if her husband de-sires to do right, but errs in judgment,

144 BAPTISMS—EMIGRATION—NOTICE.

the Lord will bless her in endeavoringto carry out his counsels ; for God hasplaced him at the head, and thoughhe may err in judgment, yet God willnot justify the wife in disregarding hisinstructions and counsels ; for greateris the sin of rebellion, than the errorswhich arise for the want of judgment ;therefore, she would be condemned forsuffering her will to arise against his.Be obedient, and God will cause allthings to work for good ; and He willcorrect the errors of the husband indue time by the authorities of thepriesthood ; and if he govern his familyin unrighteousness, and the wife isobedient, the sin will be upon his head,and if he repent not, when he is re-proved, lie will be disfellowshipped, af-ter which, the woman is not under thesame obligations to abide by all hiscouncils, as in the days of his righte-ousness. As we have already observ-ed, the law of strict obedience on thepart of the wife and children is onlyapplicable in families who are in thechurch of God, and in full fellowship.Rebellion in families is as sinful as re-bellion against the authorities ordainedin the church ; and a wife will lose thespirit of God in refusing to obey the

counsel of her husband, just the sameas members of the church would in re-belling against the counsels impartedto them by the priesthood.

Family government is the first orderof government established on the earth.The different members of a familyshould seek to be one in all things ; forif they are not one, how can it be ex-pected that different families can be-come one ? If the members of thesame family will not be subject to theorder, ordained of God for their gov-ernment, they certainly could not beunited with other families under thegovernment of the priesthood with anyexpectation of preserving peace. Goddesigns to make all the families ofHeaven one with the families of therighteous upon the earth. In orderto accomplish this, the most perfectorder of family government must beadopted. Husbands must govern theirwives and children in righteousness,and wives and children must learn tohonor and respect the counsels of thehead of the family. And when everyfamily become one in all things, theywill be prepared to unite themselvestogether under a more general form ofgovernment.

(To be continued.)

BAPTISMS-EMIGRATION.

MAY 14.---Elder Jesse Turpin has lately baptized nearly thirty persons inNew Jersey. Elder Preston Thomas has recently baptized about the samenumber in Texas : twenty-three were immersed in one evening. Many of thesewill emigrate to Utah this season : they will drive from a thousand to fifteenhundred head of loose cattle, and will probably take a northwestern course bythe way of the head waters of the Arkansas, and strike the main emigrant roadnear Fort Larimie. The number of Saints crossing the plains this season, willprobably number near four thousand.

NOTICE.—We are about to take our departure from Washington to Eng-land, and shall probably be absent some two or three months, (from this date,May 14th.) Our correspondents need not expect any answer to their commu-nications until our return. EDITOR.

CONTENTS.The Pre-existence of Man 129Celestial Marriage. 135Baptisms — Emigration —Notice 144

WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY ORSO‘ PRATT,


All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains. —Isaiah xviii, 3.

Von. I. OCTOBER, 1853. No. 10.

POWER AND ETERNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD.The Priesthood of God is the great,

supreme, legal authority that governsthe inhabitants of all redeemed andglorified worlds. In it is included allpower to create worlds, to ordain fixedand permanent laws for the regulationof the materials in all their varied ope-rations, whether acting as particles, asmasses, as worlds, or as clusters ofworlds. It is that power that formedthe minerals, the vegetables, and theanimals in all their infinite varietieswhich exist upon our globe. It is thatauthority that reveals laws for the gov-ernment of intelligent beings—that re-wards the obedient and punishes thedisobedient—that ordains principali-ties, powers, and kingdoms to carry outits righteous administrations through-out all dominions. The Kingly au-thority is not separate and distinct fromthe Priesthood, but merely a branchor portion of the same. The Priestlyauthority is universal, having powerover all things; the Kingly authorityuntil perfected is limited to the king-doms placed under its jurisdiction :the former appoints and ordains thelatter ; but the latter never appointsand ordains the former : the first con-trols the laws of nature, and exercisesjurisdiction over the elements, as wellas over men ; the last controls menonly, and administers just and righteouslaws for their government. Where thetwo are combined and the individual

perfected, he has almighty power bothas a King and as a Priest ; both officesare then merged in one. The distinc-tions then, will be merely in the nameand not in the authority either as aKing or a Priest he will then havepower and dominion over all things,and reign over all. Both titles, com-bined, will then not give him any morepower than either one singly. It isevident that the distinctions of title areonly expressive of the condition ofthings prior to the glorification andperfection of the persons who hold thePriesthood ; for when they are perfect-ed, they will have power to act in everybranch of authority by virtue of thegreat, and almighty, and eternal Priest-hood which they hold : they can thensway their sceptres as Kings; rule asPrinces, minister as Apostles ; officiateas Teachers ; or, act in the humblestor most exalted capacity. There is nobranch of the Priesthood so low thatthey cannot condescend to officiatetherein ; none so high, that they can-not reach forth the arm of power andcontrol the same.

That the power of the Priesthood isalmighty is evident from the fact thatGod the Father and His Only Begot-ten Son both hold the priesthood. IfGod the Father were not in the posses-sion of the Priesthood, He never couldhave called, appointed, made, and con-secrated Jesus a High Priest. Paul,

146 POWER AND ETERNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD.

in speaking of Christ. says, "He be-came the author of eternal salvationunto all them that obey him ; called ofGod an high priest after the order ofMelchisedec." (Heb. 7 : 9, 10.) Againhe says, "Christ glorified not himselfto be made an high priest ; but Hethat said unto him, Thou art my Son,to day have I begotten thee. As Hesaith also in another place, Thou art apriest for ever after the order of Mel-chisedec." (Heb. 5: 5, 6.) These twopassages prove that the Father calledhis Son to the Priesthood.

'We will next prove that God notonly called His Son to be a High Priest,but appointed and made him such byan oath. Paul exhorts the Hebrewchurch as follows, "Therefore, holybrethren, partakers of the heavenlycalling, consider the Apostle and HighPriest of our profession, Christ Jesus ;who was faithful to Him that appoint-ed him, as also Moses was faithful inall his house." (Heb. 3 : 1, 2.)

"And inasmuch as not without anoath he was made Priest : (for thosepriests," [the Aaronic pri4sts] " weremade without an oath ; but this withan oath by Him that said unto him,The Lord sware and will not repent,Thou art a priest for ever after the or-der of Melchisedec :) by so much wasJesus made a surety of a better testa-ment." (Heb. 7: 20-22.)

Jesus was not only called, APPOINTED,

and made a High Priest with an oath,but was also consecrated. "For thelaw maketh men high priests whichhave infirmity; but the word of theoath, which was since the law, makeththe Son, who is consecrated forever-more." (Heb. 7: 28.) To constituteJesus a High Priest, then, required aCalling, an Appointment, an Oath, anda Consecration. The fact that Godthe Father conferred this authority uponHis Son, shows most conclusively thatHe, Himself, was in possession of thesame great Priesthood ; for we cannotconceive it possible for a being to con-fer that which he does not, himself,possess.

Many suppose that there were neverbut two persons who held this greaterPriesthood, namely, Jesus and Melchi-

sedec. If so, who conferred this Priest-hood upon Melchisedec ? Could it havebeen Christ ? for, according to Paul, itwas many centuries after the days ofMelchisedec, and even after the lawwas given by Moses, before God madeand consecrated with an oath, His Sona High Priest. Would the Messiahcall, ordain, and consecrate Melchise-dec to an office before he, himself, re-ceived the sacred ordinance of conse-cration ? If not, who had a right toconsecrate him to that office ? Weanswer that no one would be likely todo this, unless he himself held theoffice.

Paul says furthermore, that thePriesthood which Melchisedec had re-ceived, was " without father, withoutmother, without descent, having neitherbeginning of days, nor end of life."(Heb. 7: 3.) Melchisedec, having re-ceived such a Priesthood, and being"made like unto the Son of God ; abi-deth a priest continually." As thePriesthood had no "beginning of days"it must have existed before the days ofour earth had a commencement. ButWho then possessed it? We answer,God, the Father of our Spirits, thenpossessed it, in all its glorious powerand fulness ; for if He nor no one elseheld the Priesthood before the com-mencement of the days of creation,then it could not have been, as Pauldeclares, "without beginning of days."

Having proved that God the Fatherpossessed the Priesthood before thedays of creation, and that Melchisedecin the days of Abraham held the samePriesthood, and that Jesus, by "theword of the oath which was since thelaw," was "Called," "Appointed,""Made," and "Consecrated" a HighPriest for evermore after the same or-der, it will easily be seen, that in thePriesthood was vested all power. Bythe exercise of this Priesthood, Godthe Father made the worlds throughHis Son. By it, the Son received allpower both in heaven and upon theearth. By it, he will sit upon "thethrone of his father David ; and willreign over the house of Jacob for ever;and of his kingdom there will be noend." (Luke 1: 32, 33.) By it, he

POWER AND ETERNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 14 7

has "ascended up far above all heavensthat he might fill all things." By it,he has obtained eternal crowns, toreign as King of kings and Lord oflords, over all kingdoms and domin-ions, principalities and powers in thisworld, or in the world of spirits, or inthe endless dominions of his Father.

Although Paul informs us that Jesuswas called and made a High Priestcenturies after the law was given, yetthere is no doubt that he was consideredin the mind of his Father the same asa High Priest before the foundation ofthe world ; and that by virtue of thePriesthood which he should, in a futureage, receive, he could organize worldsand show forth almighty power. God,by his fore-knowledge, saw that HisSon would keep all his commands, anddetermined, at a certain time, to call'and consecrate him a High Priest ;He determined also that by virtue ofthat future consecration to the Priest-hood, he should, thousands of yearsbeforehand, have power to create worldsand govern them, the same as if he hadalready received the consecration. Allhis marvellous acts and doings, there-fore, prior to his consecration, were justas much the results of the authorityof the Priesthood, as those performedby him since that time.

All the powers of the Priesthoodwhich the Father possessed were con-ferred upon the Son, so that he becameequal with the Father in all things ;being equal with Him in knowledge,in glory, in power, in dominion, and inthe perfection of every attribute.

As all the power that the Father andSon possess, is included in tie Priest-hood, it is evident that if they investany power on others, it must be by thePriesthood or a branch thereof; forwithout the Priesthood, and the au-thoritiesgrowing out of it, there canbe no government on any world thatis legal or acceptable in the sight ofGod ; though they may be legal so faras human authority is concerned. Allkingdoms, empires, republics, and othergovernments, established by men, areinvested with human authority; andgeneral consent renders them legal ina certain sense, and as such they should

be respected, and their laws obeyed.But, if a government is not establishedby the Priesthood, it is not the orderof God, and its doings will not in theday of judgment be recognized as le-gal, or of divine appointment. All or-ders of government not theocratical,however good and moral they may bein other respects, are, nevertheless, de-partures from the heavenly and divineorder, and must eventually come to anend. The United States governmentis the best human government uponthe earth. God suffered it to be es-tablished in order that liberty andfreedom of conscience might be en-joyed ; and God says, "For this pur-pose have I established the Constitutionof this land, by the hands of wise men.whom I raised up unto this very pur-pose." So far as freedom, and liberty,and the Constitution, and the righteouslaws founded upon the same, are con-cerned, the United States governmentmay be considered of God. It wasthe best government which the people,.under the circumstances, were capableof receiving. A theocratical govern-ment, under an inspired Priesthood,would have been better still ; but thepeople were not prepared for such aform of government ; and would nothave received it, if it had been pro-posed ; consequently God gave themthe next best, or such a one as He sawthey would receive. And why did Hedo it? it was in order to prepare theway for His kingdom, that when Heshould offer the people a theocracy theymight have liberty of conscience andbe free to receive or reject it, and beaccountable, in this thing, to God onlyand not to man. This Republic, there-fore, was established of God, not as aperfect form of government, but as astepping stone to one that was perfect,and of His own order, founded on therevelation of the Priesthood, and itslaws and ordinances. Such a govern-ment was set up on the earth, and inthe midst of this Republic, in the year1830, being wholly and entirely theo-cratical in its nature; its offices, laws,and ordinances, all being revealed fromheaven. But is it lawful for such agovernment to be organized in the


midst of this Republic ? It most cer-tainly is; for the glorious Constitutionpermits all forms of ecclesiastical gov-ernment to exist within the Republic,providing that thoseforms do not in-fringe upon the principles contained inthat sacred document, nor come in con-tact with the laws of the country.The Constitution and the Republicanform of government are good as far asthey go, but they stop infinitely shortof the glorious privileges and powersenjoyed in the more perfect form ofGod's government; so far, therefore, asthe preparatory government is good, itis in no wise to be disannulled anddone away, but to be received, cherish-ed, and sustained in connection withthe far greater good revealed in thegovernment of the Kingdom of God.

If mankind had not rebelled againstGod and His authority, there neverwould have been but one form of gov-ernment upon the earth, and that wouldhave been a Theocracy—a governmentwholly under an inspired Priesthood,having no laws of human origin, butbeing constantly guided and controlledby divine laws, statutes, and ordinances,and new revelations, suited to the con-dition and circumstances of each indi-vidual among all the happy nations.All the varied forms of governmentthat have been upon the earth from theearliest ages until the present, thathave not been according to this heaven-ly order, have arisen through transgres-sion ; even the law of carnal command-ments given through Moses " was addedbecause of transgression," and becauseof the hardness of the hearts of thechildren of Israel. The kingdoms ofthis world were founded in transgres-sion, and the world has been in a stateof rebellion against the legal govern-ment of the great Priesthood of Godfor about six thousand years. But theLord has determined to overthrow allgovernments established by human au-thority, and cast down their thrones,and break them to pieces as a potter'svessel, and consume them as stubble,and blow them away as the chaff ofthe summer-threshing floors, that noplace shall be found for them ; whileHis Kingdom, set up by His power,

shall become a great mountain andthe whole earth ; and the Kingdomand dominion, and the greatness of theKingdom under the whole heavens,will be given to the saints ; and theKingdom will be an everlasting King-dom that will never be destroyed, butwill continue in its glory for ever andever ; because it is the order of heaven,founded by the eternal Priesthood,upon eternal principles and laws, re-vealed from the eternal King. Thiswill be a Theocracy ; this will be a Di-vine government ; this will be a resto-ration of the legal power ; and theearth which has groaned under theusurpation of treasonable and rebelliouspowers for six thousand years, willagain have peace estored, and the in-habitants thereof will be happy. It isto accomplish these great results thatGod has set up His Kingdom as fore-told by his ancient prophets : He hasfounded it in the midst of the greatand glorious Republic of the UnitedStates which was also founded by Hisdivine wisdom, as a preparatory gov-ernment for His Kingdom. It is here,in this land of freedom and equal rights,that the eternal Priesthood with itskeys of power and glory, has been sentdown from heaven by the hands ofPeter, James, and John ; it is here,where the proud eagle spreads forthher wings for the protection of therights of conscience, that the legalpower of heaven has once more revi-sited this rebellious creation to assertits heavenly rights among the hosts ofmen ; it is here, under the broad foldsof the American Constitution, itself ofdivine origin, that a more glorious gov-ernment has been established, whichmust increase, and spread wider andwider, until the whole earth shall beenrobed with its glory ; it is here, uponthe heart of this broad continent, wherethe everlasting mountains tower theirwhitened summits, far above the clouds,that a people live and reign, who aredestined to fill the earth with heavenlylight and truth, till darkness shall beno more ; it is here, where liberty hassought a resting , place from the tyran-nical powers of the old world, thatZion's towers shall rise and greet the

POWER AND ETERNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 149

heavens, and the shining hosts above,arrayed in glorious splendor, descendto reign with man on earth. 0 Ame-rica, how art thou favored above alllands! 0 happy Republic, how exaltedabove all nations ! Within thee is theKingdom of God ! Thou wart chosento prepare its way ! It must increase,but thou shalt decrease ! Thou didstlift up thy voice and cry to the nations,Behold, here are liberty and freedomfor all, but that which came after thee,shall thoroughly purge the floor, andrestore everlasting peace and liberty tothe whole earth ! Among all the gov-ernments established by human wis-dom, none were greater than this Re-public, but that power which is leastin the Kingdom of God is greater thanit. The one must remain forever,while the other, having accomplishedthe purpose for which it was raised up,must cease to be, being superseded bythat which is more glorious.

There never would have been anynecessity for a restoration of this divineorder of Government, if mankind hadnot revolted against the legal powerand substituted human laws for thosethat were divine. In the early agesthe Priesthood bore rule among thosewho were righteous. According to therevelations which God gave to Josephthe Seer, the Priesthood was given toAdam, and through the lineage ofSeth was transferred from generation togeneration to the days of Noah ; andfrom Noah it continued from father toSon until the days of Melchisedec whoconferred it upon Abraham. Also inthe days of Abraham God by His ownhand conferred the Priesthood uponEsaias ; and Esaias ordained Gad; andGad ordained Jeremy ; and Jeremy or-dained Elihu ; and Elihu ordained Ca-leb, and Caleb ordained Jethro, Mosesfather-in-law ; and Jethro ordainedMoses. Thus this greater Priesthoodhad place on the earth from Adam tillMoses ; and each successive Priest pro-claimed the same salvation, adminis-tered the same gospel, with all its or-dinances and blessings, that werepreached and received after Christ. Inand through the ordinances of thePriesthood, the power of Godliness was

manifest, and by it, holy men wereenabled to converse with God face toface ; and also through the Priesthoodmany obtained sufficient faith and pow-er to be translated ; by the power ofthe Priesthood Enoch and his citywere taken up into heaven, and re-served until a day of righteousnessshall come, when they will come againon earth and have place until the end.

The Priesthood, therefore, is thegreat medium of power, both in theheavens and upon the earth. It existedbefore the days of creation, being"without beginning of days."

We shall next prove that the Priest-hood is Eternal. We have alreadyshown that Christ was consecrated aPriest "for evermore"—that he wasmade "a Priest forever after the orderof Melchisedec." We have also provedthat Melchisedec, being " made likeunto the Son of God, abideth a Priestcontinually." Both Melchisedec andthe Son of God, according to Paul,were to remain Priests continually, thatis, for evermore : their Priesthood wasan everlasting Priesthood which shouldnever have an end.

The saints receive the Priestly andKingly office here in this life ; hence,John the Revelator expresses himselfas follows: "Unto him that loved us,and washed us from our sins in hisown blood, and hath made us Kingsand Priests unto God and his Father ;to him be glory and dominion foreverand ever." (Rev. 1: 5, 6.) The saintsbeing ordained here in this life bothKings and Priests, hold the authorityafter they die and go to the world ofspirits. Hence, John heard them sing-ing in the spirit world the followingsong: "Thou art worthy to take thebook, and to open the seals thereof:for thou vast slain, and bast redeemedus to God by thy blood out of everykindred, and tongue, and people, andnation ; and bast made us unto ourGod Kings and Priests : and we shallreign on the earth." (Rev. 5 : 9, 10.)The saints not only retain the office ofKings and Priests while as disembodiedspirits, but they also hold the officeafter the resurrection. Therefore, Johnwrites, saying, "Blessed and holy is he


that bath part in the first resurrection :on such the second death bath nopower, but they shall be Priests ofGod and of Christ, and shall reignwith him a thousand years." (Rev. 20:6.) They are not only to reign on theearth a thousand years after the resur-rection, but in another passage he says," They shall reign for ever and e = ver."(Rev. 22: 5.) Therefore, all the saintswho are ordained Kings and Priests inthis life will retain this office and thiseternal power for evermore, being madeas Melchisedec was, like unto the Sonof God, they will al-We Priests con-tinually. Therefore, the Priesthood, sofar as future duration is concerned, iseternal and will have no end.

Next, let us inquire whether thePriesthood had a beginning? It isquite evident that it was " without be-gnning of days ;" but this expressiondoes not prove that it was absolutelywithout any beginning at all. 14 romthe fact that God the Father must havepossessed the Priesthood before thedays of our creation, it is reasonableto conclude that it was of very remoteantiquity. How long the Father hadbeen in possession of it, we are notable to say. But we know, from whathas already been said, in the articles onCelestial Marriage and The Pre-Ex-istence of Man, that He never couldhave been exalted to the high honorof becoming the Father of Spirits with-out the Priesthood ; therefore He musthave been a Priest before He begatJesus Christ, His First Born who wasthe oldest of all the family of spirits.And we also know that as the familyof spirits are exceedingly numerous,that it must have been many thousandmillions of years ago before the birthof His First Born ; for it would requirean immense number of ages for oneFather to have begotten so numerousa family, as have already come forthfrom heaven and peopled our world.But previous to the birth of His First,Born, He must have had the Priest-hood conferred upon Him preparatoryto His exaltation and redemption fromthe grave on some ancient world ofwhich He was an inhabitant. But theBeing who conferred that Priesthood

upon Him must have possessed it Him-self. And thus, when we undertake totrace back the genealogy of the Priest-hood, we find it of necessity runningback from one redeemed world to ano-ther still more ancient ; and that eachpreceding step in the genealogy em-braces a period of immense duration.Now, how many of these vast periodsand succession of worlds have inter-vened between us and the FIRSTBeing who ever held the Priesthood ?We answer, that if it can be provedthat the Priesthood is Eternal and hadno beginning, it will necessarily followthat there must have been an endlesssuccession of Beings who held it, orelse that some Being must have ex-isted from eternity who eternally pos-sessed it.

From a revelation on the Priesthoodin the Book of Mormon, it will be seenthat it had no beginning. The pro-phet Alma in speaking of this holycalling, says it was "prepared from thefoundation of the world for such aswould not harden their hearts, being inand through the atonement of theonly begotten Son, who was prepared ;and thus being called by this holycalling, and ordained unto the HighPriesthood of the holy order of God,to teach His commandments unto thechildren of men, that they also might,enter into His rest ; this High Priest-hood being after the order of His Son,which order was from the foundationof the world ; or in other words, beingwithout beginning of days or end ofyears, being prepared from eternity toall eternity, according to His fore-knowledge of all things. Now theywere ordained after this manner : Beingcalled with a holy calling, and ordain-ed with a holy ordinance, and takingupon them the High Priesthood of theholy order, which Calling, and Ordi-nance, and High Priesthood is withoutbeginning or end ; thus they becameHigh Priests forever, after the order ofthe Son—the Only Begotten of theFathe•, who is without beginning ofdays or end of years, who is full ofgrace, equity and truth." (Book ofMormon, Chap. 9: 6.) There we areexpressly told that the Calling, and

POWER AND ETERNITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD. 151

Ordinance, and High Priesthood areWITHOUT BEGINNING.

This forever sets the matter at restamong all who believe the Book ofMormon, that the Priesthood not onlywill have an Eternal future duration,but that it has had also an Eternal pastduration: consequently, the Priesthoodwith the Calling and Ordinance con-nected with it, never had an origin :and therefore, there never was a periodin the endless duration that is past butwhat some personage existed, holdingthe Priesthood. Now there must eitherhave been some One personage whonever had a beginning; or else theremust have been an endless successionof personages ; for if there ever werea period when a personage did not ex-ist, then the Priesthood could not havebeen inbeing, unless we suppose thatthe Calling, Ordinance, and Priesthoodexisted in connection with unorganizedmaterials which would seem to be ab-surd. There is something connectedwith a personage that indicates designin its construction. The nice adjust-ment, and skilful adaptation, and ar-rangement of the several parts of apersonage, indicate that some wise de-signing power purposely constructedhim with those useful adaptations, andtherefore, that the personage must havehad a beginning. If we suppose a per-sonage to exist from all eternity, allthe beneficial arrangements of the dif-ferent parts of his system must existwithout any cause or design. Therewould not be the least reason whateverfor his limbs being placed in the bestpossible position in the body : it couldnot be said that the feet were designed-ly placed below the ancles, instead ofexisting on the top of the head, or onsome other part of the body : it couldnot be said that the eyes were purpose-ly placed in the head, instead of underthe arms, or at the ends of the toesfor a personage that is eternal neverwas formed, and therefore, there nevercould have been any purpose or designin the arrangement of its parts. It'the eves and ears, head and feet, noseand mouth, hands and arms, are lo-cated in the best possible position forthe benefit and happiness of the being,

be assured, that, if the personage iseternal, these parts were not thus hap-pily located by design. If they weredesignedly placed in these most usefulpositions, then there was a period be-

' fore this design took etkct in perform-ing this skilful arrangement of theseveral limbs and parts of the systemthis therefore, would at once destroythe eternity of the system and provethat it had a beginning. That whichis eternal cannot be preceded by acause or design for the useful and bene-ficial adjustment of its parts. There-fore, if some personage existed from alleternity we are compelled to renouncethe doctrine of design, and say that nosuch thing exists ; for if design is notmanifested in the intricate and won-derful adaptations of the several limbs,joints, and parts of a personage, thenit is not manifested in any thing, andall arguments founded upon it must beentirely without foundation. But thereis no person, possessing a sane mind,who will not, at once, admit that pur-pose and design are abundantly mani-fested in all vegetables, animals, andpersonages upon our globe ; and if thisreally be the fact, then design mustalso be manifested in the personages ofangels and all higher and SuperiorBeings. The nature of the argumentis such, that if it holds good in regardto the useful relations existing amongthe different members of one person-age, it must necessarily hold good inregard to all other personages howeversuperior in their nature. Therefore ifthe argument founded on design beadmissible, then all personages musthave had a beginning, not exceptingeven the glorious personage of Cod theFather. If the argument founded ondesign proves that God the Father andall other personages had a beginning,then the only alternative left by whichto support, the revealed fact of an end-less Priesthood without beginnim2:, isthe theory of an endless succession ofpersoneges, each in succession holdingthe Priesthood. According to thistheory there could not be a first Per-sonage, nor a fist MO- Priest, neithercould there be an eternal Personagewho had no beginning. But each


person in the endless succession wouldhave a beginning, and therefore wouldexhibit the marks of design and pur-pose in his construction. It will beadmitted by every one that a succes-sion which has no beginning cannotpossibly have a first term. The HighPriesthood therefore, is eternal, withoutbeginning, having come down throughan endless succession of worlds, peo-pled by an endless succession of inhab-itants : the Calling and Ordinance,connected with it, are eternal also,having no beginning.

As the High Priesthood had no be-ginning, we have reason to believe thatthe great plan of redemption also hadno beginning; and that the law of theGospel is everlasting, having been ad-ministered by an everlasting Priest-hood in an endless succession of worldsthat have fallen. Where there is nochange of the Priesthood we shouldreasonably suppose that there wouldbe no change of the law ; and thatwhere one exists, the other exists also.

In receiving the gospel, we receivethat eternal plan that had no origin—a plan by which an endless successionof worlds has been redeemed and glo-rified, and the inhabitants thereof madeKings and Priests to reign forever andever. And thus the works of Godwho dwells in an infinite number oftabernacles and worlds, are one eternalround, without beginning, without end;and thus also, all who receive the gos-pel and this eternal Priesthood, andare faithful to the end, and receive ofthe fulness of the Father, will be Godsfor the fulness of Him who is fromeverlasting will dwell in them, andthey in Him ; and henceforth they can.proclaim themselves, as not only de-signed to be to everlasting, because theycontinue, but also "from everlasting,"because the knowledge, power, andglory that are in them, together withthe Calling, Ordinance, and Priesthoodwhich are upon them, were from ever-lasting.

EDITOR.

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE:(Continued.)

Love should be the predominantruling principle in all family govern-ments. There is no danger of thedifferent members of a family lovingone another too much. They shouldlove one another with all their hearts,and be willing, if required, to lay downtheir lives for each other. God is love,and He is the great fountain fromwhich the beings of all worlds derivethis heavenly attribute ; it flows out ininfinite streams, imparting joy and hap-piness to the whole universe, so far asit is received, nourished, and cherishedby intelligent beings. Love, like allother gifts of God, can be cultivatedand increased, or it can be neglectedand diminished : it is subject to thecontrol of the other faculties of themind : it is not a principle such as isoften described in novelti, which actsirresistably, forcing all the other pow-ers of the mind into subjection. The

love which the sexes have for eachother is implanted within them byHim who is the God of love. Godcontrols this attribute of His natureaccording to wisdom, justice, mercy,and every other attribute which IIepossesses. He has prescribed laws forthe government of His own attributes ;and he never suffers himself to lovethat which is evil or sinful, but alwaysloves that which is good, and virtuous,and upright : so likewise ought man tocontrol his love by the attributes of hisnature, according to the laws which.God has given, and never suffer him-self to love anything which is evil, orwhich God has forbidden.

Man should love all the wives whichGod may give him with a perfect love :it is impossible for him to love themtoo well, providing that his love isregulated and controlled in all thingsaccording to the law of righteousness.


But can a man love more than onewife with all his heart ? Yes ; he canlove each one that God gives him withall his heart ; and if he have a hun-dred, he can love them all with thesame intensity that he would love one.It is true, he could not give the sameattention to a hundred that he couldto one ; this would not arise from thewant of love, but it would be from thenature of the circumstances. If a manhave a dozen children, he can love eachone of them as much as he loves one ;but he cannot pay the same attentionto a plurality of children as he couldto one ; it is not because his love isdivided or weakened by the numbers,but it is because of the circumstances.If God had given a man but one wife,it would be his duty to love her withall his heart ; and it would not be hisprivilege to love any other woman asa wife. But if God confers a pluralityof wives upon a man, it would be sin-ful for him not to love each one witha perfect love, provided that they wereall equally worthy of his love. Godloves the children of men according totheir works, or according to the goodqualities which He perceives in them :those who do the best he loves the best :if they do equally well, He loves themequally. Man should be exercised withthe same principle ; he should judge inrighteousness of the good qualities anddesires of his family, and should lovethose the best who do the best. Andif any of his family err, he should stilllove them the same as God loves hisfamily, though they may sometimeserr and go estray. God loves his fam-ily, not for their errors and sins, butbecause He sees that there are goodqualities existing in them, and trys tosave them from their sins ; so manshould love his wives, not because oftheir errors and imperfections, but be-cause God has given them to him, andbecause they, in the main, desire to doright ; therefore, he should love themand try to save them from their errors ;and he should never love one more thananother, unless they merit it.

As the man stands at the head ofthe family, it is his duty to seek dili-gently for wisdom, to know how to

govern his family according to the willof God. Circumstances may some-times be such that he may bestow hisattentions for a time more abundantlyupon certain portions of his family thanupon others ; this may arise, not fromany partiality or superior love whichhe has for one above that of another,but his judgment or the surroundingcircumstances may dictate this to bethe wisest course. At another time,he may, perhaps, reverse his attentions,and be apparently partial towards thosewhom he had seemed for a while toneglect. In all these things, a husbandshould be guided by his own judgment,enlightened by the Spirit of Truth.And in these things he should haveno rigid fixed laws, unalterable, likethose of the Medes and Persians. Sofar as the great principles of righteous-ness are concerned, he should be fixedand immovable ; but, in regard to hisconduct, in his temporal affairs, and inhis domestic concerns, he should pre-scribe no rules that will compel him toact invariably in a certain way : thisshould be left for circumstances andthe wisdom he has, to dictate and con-trol ; and both wives and childrenshould be perfectly satisfied to havethe head of the family be in realitythe head, and do as seenieth to himgood ; and, as we have already stated,if the head of the family errs in somerespects, it is better to yield to his willthan to arise in rebellion against theorder of family government which Godhas established. If too much partialitybe used, and any flagrant violations ofthe principles of right occur, there areother authorities who can regulate thehusband ; for this is not the provinceof the wives and children ; it is not forthem to dictate to the head, but topray for and administer to the head,that, peradventure, through their kind-ness and meekness, and willing obe-dience, the head may be influenced todo right. Mutual love should existbetween a husband and his wives ; for,without this, God's order of familygovernment cannot be maintained.

But can several wives love one andthe same man as their ? Yes,if he treat them in a way to merit their


confidence and love. There is no more 'difficulty in several women loving onehusband than there is in several per-sons loving our Lord and Saviour. Godis the Author of sexual or conjugallove, the same as lie is of all otherkinds of pure love ; and if He unitesseveral women to one man in the sa-cred bonds of matrimony, it is theirduty to cultivate and increase theheavenly principle of pure love to theirhusband, until they love him with alltheir hearts, even as they love God ;and he should love them in return,even as he loves God. There is noevil in love ; but there is much evilresulting from the want of love. Nowoman should be united in marriagewith a man unless she have some lovefor him ; and if she love him in a smalldegree, this is capable of being in-creased to perfection. Any womanwho loves righteousness can and doeslove a man who works righteousness ;and she can, by cultivating this love,be happy in his society, as a friend andas a brother ; and if she were unitedto him in marriage, she could love himas a husband ; and if he were worthy,her love towards him may be increaseduntil the perfect day. So it is withman. There is not a goodood-woman in the Church of God but whata righteous man loves as a friend anda sister ; and if lie were lawfully unitedto her in marriage, he could love heras a wife ; and this love, by cultiva-tion and mutual kindness, would growstronger and stronger, until they wereperfected in love.

But cannot a woman love many mene ll as for a man to love many wives?

We answer, that love is under the Coll-trot of hoth the sexes ; they are agentsin the cultivation and exercise of thisaffection, as in the cultivation and ex-ercise of all the other attributes of theirnature. A nnn has no right to loveany woman as a wife unless God shahrive her to him in marriage ; he haspower, as an agent, to limit his lovewhore 44)(1 limits it ; and if he gobeyond those limits he transgresses.So likewise a woman is limited by thelaw of God to one husband; and shehas no right to suffer her love to go

beyond those limits. Her love is 'tin-der the control of her agency, and itmust be confined where the law of Godconfines it, otherwise there is transgres-sion. A man loves many wives be-cause God gives him many ; and he isrequired to love them, or become atransgressor. If God required a womanto have many husbands, or permittedher to have a plurality, it would thenbe her duty to cultivate the principleof love towards them all ; but thiswould not be an easy task, unless thewoman were made the head of thefamily ; for one cannot serve two mas-ters. And, as the husband stands asthe master of the house, if a womanhad two husbands or masters, shewould be sure, according to the wordsof Christ, " to hate the one and lovethe other," for no one can love andserve two masters ; but two can loveone master ; yes, a hundred wives canlove one master or husband, for he istheir head, even as Christ is the greatMaster and Head of the Church. AsChrist is one, and is the Great Bride-groom, being married unto many, solikewise the man, being one husband,one bridegroom, may be married untomany. As the bride of Christ con-sists of a plurality of persons, so thebride of each of his faithful servantsmay consist of a plurality of individu-als. The bride of Christ, though aplurality of persons, should be one inspirit, in love, and in good works ; solikewise the bride of each of his ser-vants, however many persons, shouldbe perfectly one in their love and unionof spirit.

What can be more heavenly andGod-like than to see a well regulatedfamily, governed in wisdom and right-eousness It is the commencement ofheaven on earth'.—itis an organizationdestined to be eternal ! 'The first bornis represented in Scripture as the be-ginning of one's strength ; how muchgreater will be his strength when 114has a great number of wives and chil-dren ! A foundation is then laid for apatriarchal kingdom, which shall in-crease in numbers without end, overwhich he will reign forever. How

` great reason has such a man to rejoice !

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE. 1 55

How thankful ought he to be for thewives which God has given him,through whom he can multiply hisseed as the stars of heaven ! Whatjoy 4nd happiness it must give him .tolove so numerous a family, and to knowthat lie is loved by them in return !

Love is a principle, like knowledge,which can be imparted without dimin-ishing- the fountain from which it ema-nates. Love, in other words, begetslove. We love that which is congenialto our minds ; if we love purity andvirtue in ourselves, we will love themin others ; and when it is known byothers that we love them, because oftheir virtue and goodness, they willlove us for like reasons ; thus love,when founded upon true principle, isreciprocal. Virtue loveth virtue, truthembraceth truth, knowledge cleavethunto knowledge •, every good andheavenly attribute of our own naturewe love when we see the same mani-fes ted by other beings. We love thesevirtues in either men or women. Sex-ual love, without the accompanyingvirtues, is not to be indulged, as it leadsto evil. God has ordained that pureand virtuous love should be incorpor-ated with sexual love ; that, by thecombination of the two, permanentunions in the marriage covenant maybe formed, and the species be multi-plied in righteousness. Pure and vir-tuous love should always exist betweena husband and each of his wives, aswell as sexual love : this will have atendency to impress more permanentlymind these heavenly principles upon theand constitution of the offspring ; forthe offspring will partake, in a greateror less degree, of the propensities andaffections of the parents. How care-ful, then, ought the parents to be, lestthey impress a disposition and tend-ency in the offspring that are calcu-lated, if not strongly guarded, to ruinand destroy them as they grow up toact for themselves. God will holdparents accountable for these things,because they are principles over whichthey, as agents, have control. Everygood principle which you would haveyour children inherit, should be pre-dominant and reign in your own bos-

oms ; for, though the spirits are pureand heavenly when they enter the in-fant tabernacle, yet they are extremelysusceptible of influences either for goodor for bad. The state of the parents'minds at the time of conception, andthe state of the mother's mind duringher pregnancy, will be constitutionallyimpressed upon the offsprin g, bringingwith it consequences which, in a de-gree, have a bearing upon the futuredestiny of the child.

Love, 'with all the other virtues,should predominate in the bosoms ofparents, in order that the same virtuesmay be inherited by the children. Theyshould be infused into the very consti-tution of the child when in embryo ;they should be instilled into the mindfrom infancy to manhood, that theymay become incorporated as fixed andimmovable principles in the mind ofman, governing and controlling all thefuture actions of his life. In suchchildren parents will have joy : theywill be the strength of their patriarchalgovernment ; the honor and crown oftheir old age ; their hope and glory inthe resurrection ; their foundation ofan endless increase of kingdoms overwhom they will reign forever, and withwhom they will be associated as God'sthroughout the endless ages of eternity.

Instead of a plurality of wives beinga cause of sorrow to females, it is oneof the greatest blessings of the lastdispensation : it gives them the greatprivilege of being united to a right-eous man, and of rearing a family ac-cording to the order of heaven. In-stead of being compelled to remainsingle, or marry a wicked man whowill ruin her and litr offspring, shecan enter a family where r ene ,, [indsalvation reign ; where righteoil-m_ss:bounds w here the bead the fam-ily stands forth as a patriarch, a prince,and a saviour to his 11(.lele liold ;where blessings unspeakable eter-nal are sealed upon them and t heirgenerations after them ; her 1,>:.veternal and her joy is full. Rkthen, ye daughters of Zion, that youlive in this glorious era Rejoice foryourselves and for your generations,because of the high honors and privi-


leges conferred upon you! Rejoicethat you have entered into blessingswhich have been withheld for manyages past because of wickedness ! Re-joice and sing for gladness of heart inthe glorious prospects which open be-fore you ! Rejoice in the mountainsand dales of Utah ! for it is the landof your freedom, where the iron yokeof Romish and Protestant superstitionswill be broken from your necks ; whereyou will have the privilege of unitingyour eternal destiny with the man ofyour choice ; where virtue will reigntriumphant, and the vile seducer beunknown ; where confidence shall waxstronger and stronger, being cementedby the love of God ! Happy are thedaughters of Zion ! They would notexchange their condition with thequeens of the earth ! Worldly honorsand worldly riches are not worthy tobe compared with the blessings thatthey enjoy!! They love their husbands,and their husbands love them ; andthis love is far greater than the lovewhich dwells in the hearts of thewicked. The children of Zion lovein proportion to the heavenly knowl-edge which they have received ; forlove keeps pace with knowledge, andas the one increases so does the other ;and when knowledge is perfected, lovewill be perfected also. The wickedare not capable of loving in as greata degree as the righteous, because theyare destitute of the knowledge of God,and do not appreciate wives or chil-dren as they ought. They do notfully realize the end and purpose ofof the Almighty in joining the sexesin holy matrimony ; and without aknowledge of these things they can-not love as the righteous ; for love isof God, and they who live nearest tothe Lord will love most ; and theywho love most will be the most happy.

If we should inquire what consti-tutes the misery of the fallen angels,the answer would be, they are desti-tute of love ; they have ceased to loveGod ; they have ceased to have purelove one towards another ; they haveceased to love that which is good.Hatred, malice, revenge, and everyevil passion have usurped the place of

love ; and unhappiness, wretchedness,and misery, are the results. Wherethere is no love, there will be no desireto promote the welfare of others. In-stead of desiring that others may behappy, each desires to make all othersmiserable like himself ; each seeks togratify that hellish disposition againstthe Almighty which arises from hisextreme hatred of that which is good.For the want of love the torment ofeach is complete. All the wicked whoare entirely overcome by these ma-licious spirits will have the heavenlyprinciple of love wholly irradicatedfrom their minds, and they will becomeangels to these infernal fiends, beingcaptivated by them, and compelled toact as they act. They cannot extri-cate themselves from their power, norward off the fiery darts of their ma-licious tormentors. Such will be thecondition of all beings who entirelywithdraw themselves from the love ofGod. As love decreases, wickedness,hatred, and misery increases ; and themore wicked individuals or nations be-come, the less capable are they of lov-ing others and making them happyand vice versa, the more righteous apeople become the more they are quali-fied for loving others and renderingthem happy. A wicked man can havebut little love for his wife ; while arighteous man, being filled with thelove of God, is sure to manifest thisheavenly attribute in every thoughtand feeling of his heart, and in everyword and deed. Love, joy, and inno-cence will radiate from his very counte-nance, and be expressed in every look.This will beget confidence in the wifeof his bosom, and she will love himin return ; for love begets love ; hap-piness imparts happiness ; and theseheaven born emotions will continue toincrease more and more, until they areperfected and glorified in all the ful-ness of eternal love itself.

Could wicked and malicious beings,who have irradicated every feeling oflove from their bosoms, be permittedto propagate their species, the offspringwould partake of all the evil, wicked,and malicious nature of their parents.However pure the spirits might be,


when permitted to enter such degradedtabernacles, yet, being extremely sus-ceptible to influences, they wouldspeedily partake of all the evil naturewhich characterized the spirits of thefather and mother : thus they wouldsoon become devils incarnated in fleshand bones. Such would be the dread-ful consequences of offspring, broughtinto existence by parents destitute ofthe principles of love, like the fallenangels. The same consequences, to acertain degree, would result from themultiplication of wicked parents. Inproportion as the pure love of God isirradiated from their hearts, the un-holy passions take the place thereof,and the offspring partake of these un-lovely principles which are engenderedin the nature and constitution of theinfant tabernacle, and begin to actupon the pure spirit that takes up itsabode therein, forming, modifying, andand bending, in a great measure, itsinclinations, until, by the time that itgrows up to know good from evil, itbecomes prepared to plunge headlonginto all the vices of its ungodly pa-rents : thus the parents, for the wantof that holy and pure affection whichexists in the bosom of the righteous,not only destroy their own happiness,but impress their own degraded andunlovely passions upon the constitu-tion of their offspring. It is for thisreason that God will not permit thefallen angels to multiply it is for thisreason that God has ordained marri-ages for the righteous only : it is forthis reason that God will put a finalstop to the multiplication of the wick-ed after this life : it is for this reasonthat none but those who have keptthe celestial law will be permitted tomultiply after the resurrection : it isfor this reason that God has ordainedthat the righteous shall have a plural-ity of wives ; for they alone are pre-pared to beget and bring forth offspringwhose bodies and spirits, partaking ofthe nature of the parents, are pure andlovely, and will manifest, as they in-crease In years, those heaven-born ex-cellencies so necessary to lead them tohappiness and eternal life.

The Celestial male and female, afterthe resurrection, will be perfected inknowledge, and in holiness, and inpure affection and love : they willknow as God knows be pure as Heis pure, and love as He loves : theirknowledge, their purity, and their af-fections, before their celestial glorifica-tion, will increase alike, and keep pacewith each other, until they are per-fected, when they will enjoy in fulnessevery attribute and affection whichGod himself enjoys, and will be likeHim in all these things. Then, andnot till then, will they be permitted topropagate that higher order of beingscalled spirits. As the character ofparents in this life is impressed, in agreat measure, upon their children, solikewise the character of the celestialparents will be incorporated in thevery being of their spirit offspring.The unorganized spirit-matter will notonly take the form or image of thecelestial parents, but every particlethereof will begin to develope thegerms of all those eternal attributeswhich dwell in all their fulness inboth father and mother.

If beings who are not perfectedshould have the privilege of propa-gating a spirit offspring, they couldnot impress the organized spirit em-bryo with the elements of those higherattributes which appertain to the celes-tial ; and, consequently, if the germof the infant spirit were conceived andfashioned in imperfection, the super-structure or infant spirit itself couldnever advance to perfection. The eter-nal attributes must be properly devel-oped, in order that they may be prop-erly perfected ; this is the reason whynone but those who attain to the ful-ness of celestial glory, and becomeGod's, will be entrusted with wives,and with power to propagate sons anddaughters ; that this, the most import-ant of all things—the organizatian ofimmortal spirits, may be brought aboutthrough the highest, and most exalted,and most glorious personages in theuniverse, that they may infuse into thevery constitution of their beloved chil-dren the germs of all the great, and


pure, and sublime attributes which areperfected in all their fulness in them-selves.

If none but Gods will be permittedto multiply immortal children, it fol-lows that each God must have one ormore wives. God, the Father of ourspirits, became the Father of our LordJesus Christ according to the flesh.Hence, the Father saith concerninghim, " Thou art my Son, this day haveI begotten thee." We are informed inthe first chapter of Luke, that Marywas chosen by the Father as a choicevirgin, through whom He begat Jesus.The angel said unto the Virgin Mary," The Holy Ghost shall come uponthee, and the power of the Highestshall overshadow thee : therefore, also,that holy thing which shall be born ofthee shall be called the Son of God."After the power of the Highest hadovershadowed Mary, and she had bythat means conceived, she related thecircumstance to her cousin Elizabethin the following words : "He that isMighty bath done to me great things ;and holy is His name•" It seems fromthis relation that the Holy Ghost ac-companied the Highest" when Heovershadowed the Virgin Mary andbegat Jesus and from this circum-stance some have supposed that thebody of Jesus was begotten of theHoly Ghost without the instrumental-ity of the immediate presence of theFather. There is no doubt that theHoly Ghost came upon Mary to sanc-tify her, and make her holy, and pre-pare her to endure the glorious presenceof "the Highest," that when "He"should " overshadow" her she mightconceive, being filled with the HolyGhost hence the angel said, as re-corded in Matthew, " That which isconceived in her is of the Holy Ghost;"that is, the Holy Ghost gave herstrength to abide the presence of theFather without being consumed ; butit was the personage of the Fatherwho begat the body of Jesus ; andfor this reason Jesus is called " theOnly Begotten of the Father ;" thatis, the only one in this world whosefleshly body was begotten by theFather. There were millions of sons

and daughters whom He begat beforethe foundation of this world, but theywere spirits, and not bodies of fleshand bones ; whereas, both the spiritand body of Jesus were begotten bythe Father—the spirit having beenbegotten in heaven many ages beforethe tabernacle was begotten upon theearth.

The fleshly body of Jesus requireda Mother as well as a Father. There-fore, the Father and Mother of Jesus,according to the flesh, must have beenassociated together in the capacity ofHusband and Wife ; hence the VirginMary must have been, for the timebeing, the laufal wife of God theFather : we use the term lawful Wife,because it would be blasphemous inthe highest degree to say that Heovershadowed her or begat the Saviourunlawfully. It would have been un-lawful for any man to have interferedwith Mary, who was already espousedto Joseph ; for such a heinous crimewould have subjected both the guiltyparties to death, according to the lawof Moses. But God having createdall men and women, had the most per-fect right to do with His own creation,according to His holy will and pleasure :He had a lawful right to overshadowthe Virgin Mary in the capacity of ahusband, and beget a Son, althoughshe was espoused to another ; for thelaw which He gave to govern menand women was not intended to gov-ern Himself, or to prescribe rules forhis own conduct. It was also lawfulin Him, after having thus dealt withMary, to give her to Joseph her es-poused husband. Whether God theFather gave Mary to Joseph for timeonly, or for time and eternity, we arenot informed. Inasmuch as God wasthe first husband to her, it may be thatHe only gave her to be the wife ofJoseph while in this mortal state, andthat He intended after the resurrectionto again take her as one of his ownwives to raise up immortal spirits ineternity.

As God the Father begat the fleshlybody of Jesus, so He, before the worldbegan, begat his spirit. As the bodyrequired an earthly Mother, so his

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE. l59

spirit required a heavenly Mother. AsGod associated in the capacity of ahusband with the earthly mother, solikewise He associated in the same ca-pacity with the heavenly one. Earthlythings being in the likeness of heavenlythings ; and that which is temporalbeing in the likeness of that which iseternal ; or, in other words, the lawsof generation upon the earth are afterthe order of the laws of generation inheaven. But if we have a heavenlyMother as well as a heavenly Father,is it not right that we should worshipthe Mother of our spirits as well as theFather ? No ; for the Father of ourspirits is at the head of His household,and His wives and children are re-quired to yield the most perfect obe-dience to their great Head. It is law-ful for the children to worship the Kingof Heaven, but not the " Queen ofheaven." The children of Israel wereseverely reproved for making offeringsto the " Queen of heaven." Althoughshe is Lig: ly exalted and honored asthe beloved bride of the great King,yet the children, so far as we are in-formed, have never been commandedto pray to her or worship her. Jesusprayed to His Father, and taught Hisdisciples to do likewise ; but we arenowhere taught that Jesus payed toHis heavenly Mother : neither did hepray to the Holy Ghost as his Father.If He were begotten by the HolyGhost, then He would have called himHis Father ; but, instead of doing so,the Holy Ghost himself was subjectunto Jesus ; and He had power to sendhim as his minister after he returnedto his Father.

Next let us enquire whether thereare any intimations in Scripture con-cerning the wives of Jesus. We havealready, in the 9th No. of this volume,spoken of the endless increase ofChrist's government. Now, we haveno reason to suppose that this increasewould continue, unless through thelaws of generation, whereby Jesus,like His Father, should become theFather of spirits ; and, in order to be-come the Father of spirits, or, as Isaiahsays, " The Everlasting Father," it isnecessary that He shoLld have one or

more wives by whom He could multi-ply IIis seed, not for any limited periodof time, but forever and ever : thus Hetruly would be a Father everlastingly,according to the name which was tobe given Him. The Evangelists donot particularly speak of the marriageof Jesus; but this is not to be wonderedat, for St. John says : " There are alsomany other things which Jesus did,tln which, if they should be writtenevery one, I suppose that even theworld itself could not contain the booksthat should be written." (John 2125.) One thing is certain, that therewere several holy women that greatlyloved Jesus—such as Mary, and Marthaher sister, and Mary Magdalene ; andJesus greatly loved them, and associatedwith them much ; and when He arosefrom the dead, instead of first showingHimself to His chosen witnesses, theApostles, He appeared first to thesewomen, or at least to one of them—namely, Mary Magdalene. Now, itwould be very natural for a husbandin the resurrection to appear first tohis own dear -wives, and afterwardsshow himself to his other friends. Ifall the acts of Jesus were written, weno doubt should learn that these be-loved women were his wives. Indeed,the Psalmist, David, prophesies inparticular concerning the Wives of theSon of God. We quote from the Eng-lish version of the Bible, translatedabout three hundred and fifty yearsago : " All thy garments smell ofmyrrh, and aloes, and cassia : whenthou comest out of the ivory palaces,where they have made thee glad. Kings'daughters were among thine honorableWIVES : upon thy right hand didstand the QUEEN in a vesture of goldof Ophir." (Psalm 45 : 8, 9.) Thatthis passage has express reference tothe Son of God and His Wives, willbe seen by reading the sixth and sev-enth verses which are as fellows :" Thy throne, 0 God, is forever andever : the sceptre of thy kingdom is aright sceptre. Thou levest nghteous-ness, and hatest wickedliess : thereforeGod, thy God, bath annoinied theewith the oil of gladness above thyfellows." This Being, whom the Psalm-

160 NOTICE.

ist here calls God, is represented in thenext verses as having "honorableWives." If any should still doubtwhether this prophecy has referenceto the Son of God, they may satisfythemselves by reading Paul's applica-tion of these passages in the eighthand ninth verses of the first chapterof his epistle to the Hebrews : " Butunto the Son He saith, Thy throne, 0God, is forever and ever ; a sceptre ofrighteousness is the sceptre of thykingdom. Thou bast loved righteous-ness and hated iniquity; therefore God,even thy God, bath annointed theewith the oil of gladness above thyfellows." Paul applies the words ofthe prophet David to the son of God,to the annointed Messiah, who iscalled God, and whose " throne isforever and ever." Let it be remem-bered, then, that the Son of God isexpressly represented as having " hon-

orable Wives." King James' transla-tors were not willing that this passageshould have a literal translation, ac-cording to the former English render-ing, lest it should give countenance toPolygamy ; therefore they altered thetranslation to honorable women insteadof wives; but any person acquaintedwith the original can see that the firsttranslators have given the true render-ing of that passage. Indeed, the verynext sentence most clearly demon-strates this ; for the Son of God isrepresented as having a " QUEEN"standing upon His right hand, clothed" in a vesture of gold." This Queenis exhorted in the following endearinglanguage ; " Hearken, 0 daughter, andconsider, and incline thine ear ; forgetalso thine own people, and thy father'shouse ; so shall the King greatly de-sire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord; andworship thou Him." (Verses 10, 11.)

(To be continued.)

NOTICE.The SEER will be continued for the year 1854, on the same terms as the

first volume. A 11 those who wish to become subscribers for the second vol-ume should send in their names, address, and subscription money without de-lay, as we desire to know immediately about how many copies of the firstnumber to publish, that we may not be under the necessity of issuing, at muchexpense, a second edition to supply their demands. Our subscribers for thefirst volume need not expect to receive the second without complying with theterms of advance payment. Should any of our subscribers wish to emigrateto Utah next season, they can, by notifying us of their intentions, receive thebalance of their numbers in that Territory without any additional expense.Our agent for Utah is Orson Pratt, jr., Salt Lake City. All subscribers inthat Territory, by forwarding to our agent there $1 in advance, will receivetheir papers from him through the mail or otherwise, as they may direct.

Every family of the Saints should take the SEER. And those who havemeans should take one copy for each of their children, for they will be greatlysought after in years to come, when they cannot be obtained without the ex-pense of reprinting.

All the back numbers of the first volume can still be obtained.—Editor.

CONTENTS.

Power and Eternity of the Priesthood. 145Celestial Marriage. 152Notice 160



All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains,---Isaiah xvm, 3.

VOL. I. NOVEMBER, 1853. No. 11.

SECOND EPISTLE OF ORSON PRATT,

To the Saints scattered throughout theGREETING :

DEAR BRETHREN : With a heart fullof gratitude to the great Giver of everygood and perfect gift, for His manifold.mercies and blessings so liberally be-stowed upon His people in the lastdays, I again attempt to communicateto you, through the medium of anEpistle, such items of intelligence andinstruction, as will, no doubt, be inter-esting to you to learn.

Utah, the great central gatheringplace for the Saints throughout theworld, is in a very prosperous and flour-ishing condition: her settlements arerapidly extending throughout thebreadth of the Territory, north andsouth. This Territory is included be-tween the parallels of 37° and 42 °North, and between the meridians of29 ° and 43° West of Washington; orin other words, it is about 3,50 milesbroad from North to South, and about650 miles long from East to West, in-cluding an area of about 225,000 squaremiles. The Legislature, during its firstsession, in 1852, divided the Territoryinto twelve counties, namely : Weber,Davis, Desert, Green River, Great SaltLake, Utah, Tooele, Juab, Millard, SanPete, Iron, and Washington. Thesecounties are mostly bounded by meri-dians and parallels of latitude, and in-clude the whole Territory. By far thegreater portion of this Territory consistsof mountains and deserts entirely unfitfor the habitation of man or animals.

United States and British Provinces—

In the midst of these dreary wastes,may be seen, here and there, beautifuland fertile valleys, watered by crystalstreams, formed by the melting snowswhich are deposited, during the winter,in vast abundance upon the surroundingmountains. During the summer, it isseldom that a sufficient quantity of rainfalls for farming purposes ; hence, thehusbandman is obliged to resort to theprocess of irrigation : this is accom-plished by forming artificial canals andchannels in which the water is conveyedfrom the higher elevations near the baseof the mountains to the lower portionstowards the centres of the valleys, andis used at such times and in such quan-tities, as are considered necessary by theagriculturist.

Grains and vegetables of every de-scription that are produced in the samelatitudes in the States, grow in the mostluxuriant abundance. Young fruit treesseem to be thrifty and doing well : somepeaches have been produced for two orthree years past. It is one of the bestgrazing countries in the world; the finebunch grass will fatten cattle andhorses equal to grain: it is seldom thatfarmers cut much hay, for the cattlecan generally find good grazing theyear round.

Timber for building purposes, is notfound in the valleys, but is procuredfrom the mountains, and consists prin-cipally of pine and fir. Wood for fuel

162 SECOND EPISTLE OF ORSON PRATT.

is also generally obtained in the moun-tains, although in some of the moresouthern parts a scrubby cedar growsin places in the valleys: it is quite ex-pensive and tedious to procure the ne-cessary timber and fuel. Coal and ironore abound in the southern counties,and probably in many other placeswhere they are not yet discovered.And most happily gold, silver, andother precious metals do not, to anygreat extent, trouble Utah's soil; or atleast, the people have not been so un-fortunate as to discover them, duringthe infancy of their settlements.

Many of the fresh water lakes andlarger streams are well stored with fish,of which the salmon trout is the prin-cipal. Game is rather scarce ; althoughin the mountains and uninhabited val-leys there are occasionally seen somefew antelope, deer, elk, mountain sheep,foxes, wolves, and grizly bears. Largequantities of wild fowl, principallygeese and ducks, abound in the vicini-ty of lakes and water courses.

The climate in midsummer is dryand hot; the thermometer, during themiddle of the day, frequently ranging,in the shade, from 90° to 105° Fahren-heit ; evenings and mornings generallycool, being refreshed by mountainbreezes. The atmosphere is pure andhealthy, and very bracing and invigor-ating to the system. That dreadfulscourge—the cholera—which has foundits way into almost every nook and cor-ner of our globe, has not yet been per-mitted to scale the summit of the" everlasting hills," and enter thosehealthful vales. The winters are mild.Snow, seldom falling in the valleys buta few inches in depth, soon disappearsunder the warming influences of thebright rays of the sun, as they pene-trate, without much obstruction, theserene, almost cloudless, and rarefiedatmosphere of that elevated region.Spring and autumn are also mild ;though given to more sudden transitionsfrom cold to heat, and from heat tocold, than climates of the same latitudeson the Atlantic coast. Vines, vege-tables, corn, &c., are frequently injuredby untimely frosts. Winds are exceed-ingly variable, shifting almost every day

to the four points of the compass : heavyshowers are rare, but when they docome, they are generally accompaniedwith thunder and hail, and sometimeswith strong winds.

The lowest of these vallies are ele-vated more than 4000 feet above thesea level ; while the elevation of someof the more southern ones, where settle-ments are formed, is near 6000 feet.The mountains, in many places in theimmediate vicinity of the settlements,tower up in rugged majestic grandeurfrom 4000 to 7000 feet in perpendicu-lar height above the vallies. The sum-mits of these mountains, whitened witheternal snows, glisten in the sunbeamsand exhibit sceneries of the most dazzlingsplendor and picturesque beauty, as ifcovered with the glories of heaven likeSinai of old.

There are several small tribes orrather bands of Indians, inhabiting dif-ferent parts of the territory, who aresunk in the lowest depths of darkness,degradation, and misery. These bandswander over the territory, often robbingand murdering one another, and steal-ing whenever they have a favorableopportunity. They live mostly onberries, roots, crickets, fish, and suchsmall game as they may be able to pro-cure with the bow and arrow. Theyare almost entirely naked. Sometimes,though very rarely, they have tents orwigwams formed of t be skins of animals ;but most generally they live in caves orin a thick cluster of bushes withoutmuch shelter except a few limbs ofsmall trees, bent down and looselycovered with branches. Since the sett-lement of the Saints in that territory,their condition is being greatly im-proved: many are beginning to laborand thus furnish themselves with food,and blankets, and in some instanceswith houses which the saints haveerected for them: although of late,through the treacherous, restless, and .

warlike spirit of Walker, one of theirprincipal chiefs, they have been stirredup to hostilities, and have committed.some depredations; but through thewise and energetic policy of Gov.Young in placing all the settlementsin a state of defense, and in giving

SECOND EPISTLE OF ORSON PRATT. 163

strict counsel to the saints to act onlyon the defensive, it is to be hoped thatthey will soon see their folly, and ceasetheir hostilities, and learn that thesaints are their friends, and not theirenemies.

The population of Utah numbersfrom thirty to thirty-five thousand andis annually increasing by the emigrationof the saints from the different nationsof the earth. A chain of settlementshave been formed extending north andsouth some 350 miles. Many smallcities have been founded and incorpo-rated with certain powers and privilegesby the Legislature. The following aresome of the principal villages and citiesof the territory, named in the order oftheir succession, commencing on thenorth : Brownsville, Ogden, Great SaltLake, Lehi, Provo, Springville, Nephi,Manti, Fillmore, Parovan, and Cedarcities. Fillmore city, being near thecentre of this chain of settlements, isappointed as the seat of government,at which place the state house is beingbuilt. Great Salt Lake city is by farthe largest and most populous in theterritory ; it covers an area of severalsquare miles and contains from eightto ten thousand inhabitants. The streetsare eight rods wide, crossing each otherat right angles, and running north andsouth, east and west ; each block con-tains ten acres and is divided into eightlots, each ten rods wide by twentylong, affording an acre and one quarterfor a building spot and garden to eachfamily. One of these squares was re-served for public buildings, on which atabernacle has been erected and com-pleted that will accommodate about3000 persons. A temple also is to bereared upon the same, the foundationof which was laid on the sixth of Aprillast. This whole block is fast beingenclosed by a high wall, encircling alarge public joiners' shop which is tobe used in the construction of the temple.With common prosperity and the bless-ings of heaven in a few years will beseen a large and magnificent templewith its towers pointing towards heaven,erected upon that lovely and conse-crated spot. There are several otherpublic buildings in the city, among

which may be mentioned the SocialHall and Council House ; in the latterof which the Legislature have as yetheld their sessions.

Great attention is being paid to theerection of school houses, and the edu-cation of youth. And it is to befondly hoped, that the rising generationin Utah will be generally and thoroughlyeducated in every useful branch of learn-ing and science. A foundation is beinglaid, broad and deep, to accomplishthis most desirable object. It is incontemplation to erect a magnificentUniversity in which the higher depart-ments of science will be extensivelytaught ; that Utah, being filled withthe knowledge of heaven and earth,may be as a great light upon the mount-ains which shall be seen by the nationsafar off, and cause many of them to ex-claim, "Come let us arise, and go upunto the mountains of Zion, unto thehouse of God of Jacob, that we alsomay be taught in His ways and in-structed in His paths ; for there are nopeople like the inhabitants of Zion, fullof wisdom, knowledge, and power ;their laws are founded in justice, equity,and truth ; and their officers executerighteousness in the land ; peace andsalvation are within their borders ; andthe Holy One of Israel is their strengthfor evermore."

The most of the buildings in Utahare constructed of " adobies" or sun-dried brick which, when properly made,are not only durable but impart beautyto the edifices, erected with them,giving them the appearance of stone.

Many good flouring mills are in ope-ration, and also many saw mills. It isthe intention of the Saints to establishmanufactories of various descriptions,and as much as possible produce withinthemselves from the raw material, allkinds of useful machinery, cloths, do-mestics, prints, shawls, hats, leather,pots, kettles, stoves, all kind of farmingutensils, hardware, earthen-ware, tin-ware, chairs, tables, bedsteads, sugar,paper, glass, nails, mechanic tools, andevery thing else which will tend to thepeace, comfort, welfare, prosperity, andhappiness of the territory. Many ofthese branches of buisness are already


in successful operation ; and by properindustry and perseverance, the Saintswill not, after a few years, be dependanton foreign nations, or even the States,for the necessaries and luxuries of life.

At present goods are purchased inthe States, and transported by wagonsacross the plains at an expense of about$250 per ton, which, added to the greatprofits that merchants generally realizeby the sale of the same throughout theterritory, cause the various articles ofmerchandize to be exceedingly expen-sive.

Up to the present time, farmers havefound a ready market for all their sur-plus grain and other productions throughthe increased numbers of the saintswhich annually pour into the territory,and also through the overland Californiaemigration which, for the most part,pass through Utah and recruit them-selves with a fresh supply of provisions.Horses, mules, cattle, and sheep, findready sale in California. The greatfacilities, presented for raising stockwithout much expense, will cause thatbranch of buisness to be one of themost profitable and lucrative of any inthe country.

It is required of all the Saints togive one-tenth of all their property astithing, which is given into the handsof the principal Bishop or his agents tobe under the control of the First Presi-dency of the Church for the erection ofchurch buildings and other publicworks ; and also to be applied to what-ever object may be considered for thebenefit of the Saints. The Saints alsoare required to give one-tenth of theirannual income as tithing for the samepurposes as above specified.

Independent of the tithing, anotherfund has been raised by the voluntarydonations of the Saints throughout theworld, called, " The Perpetual Emi-grating Fund." This fund is intendedto assist the poor among the Saints ingathering out from all nations. Thosewhom the agents assist through themedium of this fund, are required togive a written bond or obligation, thatthey will refund by their labour orotherwise, after they arrive in Utah,the amount which has been expended

for their benefit. By this policy, hun-dreds of the poor are gathered annually,and still the fund m the end is notdiminished. It now amounts to up-wards of thirty thousand dollars, andwill, no doubt, through the liberality ofthe Saints, shortly be swelled to tentimes that sum.

The Saints throughout the UnitedStates and British Provinces are re-quired to forward, by letter or other-wise, their tithings to me, according tothe instructions of the First Presidencyin their letter of appointment to me,published in the first No. of the firstvolume of the SEER. Let all the Saintsremember, both rich and poor, that theLord requires them to give the value ofone-tenth part of all they possess. Ifany Saint possess ten dollars. one dollarof the same is the Lord's ; if he possessten millions of dollars, one million is theLord's. And let every Saint rememberthat after he has ',veil one-tenth of allhe possesses, he must still continue togive each year one-tenth of his income ;whether such income arises from labour,buisness, increase of stock, or in anyother way ; one-tenth thereof is theLord's, and should be given to himevery year. How many of the Saintsin our field of labour are delinquents ?How many have failed to comply withthe word of the Lord in regard to thepayment of their tithing ? Let them re-member also that those whose namesare not found on the tithing Books, ashaving paid up the full amount of theirtithing, can in no wise be permitted toenter the holy temple and receive theirendowments ; those great and holy-temple ordinances, instituted from be-fore the foundation of the world, as theonly means by which the Saints can beexalted to the fulness of celestial glory,will be withheld from them, until thedebt is cancelled : it is a debt whichyou owe the Lord ; and it is for yourgood to pay it : as for the faithful ser-vants of God, it matters not to themwhether you pay your tithing or not ;the Church can get along without it :it is only for your own good that youare exhorted to obey the Lord in thisthing, knowing that if you fail, you can-not receive the blessing.


All who wish to donate to the " Per-petual Emigrating Fund " can forwardtheir subscriptions to me, and the samewill be entered in our books which will,in connection with the tithing books,be handed over in due time to theBishop in Zion to be copied into thegeneral Records.

At a special conference held by theSaints in Salt Lake City in August,1852, about one hundred missionarieswere sent out to the various nations ofthe earth ; twenty-five others were sentforth by the general conference in Aprillast ; and doubtless many more havereceived missions at the special con-ference held in August last ; the pro-ceedings of which have not yet reachedme.

The Book of Mormon has been trans-lated and published in the Danish,German, Italian, French, and Welshlanguages : a translation also is nearlycompleted in the native tongue of theSandwich Islands. And instructionshave been given to the missionaries totranslate it into every language underheaven as fast as time and circum-stances will permit. The revelationsand commandments have also beentranslated into several languages, aswell as numerous other publications ofthe Church. A periodical, devoted tothe doctrine of the Saints has beenpublished for several years in the Welshlanguage. Elder Stenhouse publishesa monthly periodical in Switzerland inthe French : and another is being pub-lished in Paris in the same language.The 4 DESERET NEWS," a semi-monthlyNewspaper, is published in Great SaltLake City at $5 per annum in advance.The " MILLENNIAL STAR " was Commenced in England in 1840: it nowhas a weekly circulation of abouteighteen thousand. Besides all these,hundreds of thousands of pamphletshave been widely circulated in theBritish Isles, in Europe, Asia, Australia,Pacific Islands, and America, illuci-dating the doctrines of the Saints.

The Statistical Report of the Churchof the Saints in the British Islands forthe half year ending June 30th, 1853,gives the following total : 53 Confer-ences, 737 branches, 40 Seventies, 10

High Priests, 2578 Elders, 1854 Priests,1416 Teachers, 834 Deacons, 1776Excommunicated, 274 dead, 1722 Emi-grated, 2601 Baptized, 30690 Total.

In the Society Islands in the Springof 1852, the Saints numbered between1500 and 2000: these were scatteredover some 20 Islands, and were greatlypersecuted by the Roman Catholics andthe French authorities: many wereseverely whipped; large numbers ofothers closely confined; and others still,threatened with death : their only crimeconsisted of meeting together for prayer.

At a conference, held on the 9th oflast March on one of the Sandwich Is-lands, there were represented 18 Mis-.slonaries from Utah and about 1200Saints who dwell on different Islandsof the group. From a letter, datedApril 26th, 1853, the work is rapidlyprogressing at Honolulu, as many as39 having been baptized in one day.A branch of about 80 newly baptizedpersons had just been organized.

In a letter from Elder Charles W.Wandell, dated Sydney, March 29th,1853, we learn that there were upwardsof one hundred Saints in Australia.A small company of 29 persons wereabout to sail for California, on their wayto the Salt Lake.

On the 23d of July last, the FrenchMission consisted of 4 Conferences, 9branches, and a total of 337 members,including officers.

The work in Italy, Switzerland, andGermany is slowly, but steadily pro-gressing. In Denmark, Sweden, andNorway, persecution rages : the Saintsare whipped, imprisoned, and mobbedfor preaching, praying, and baptizing ;and yet hundreds are constantly em-bracing the doctrine. In Asia the workprogresses but slowly : but as there havebeen a number of missionaries latelysent to China, Hindostan, East Indies,and Siam, it is likely that we shall, be-fore many months, obtain good newsfrom them. At Malta many have beenbaptized and the truth is spreading.Baptisms have commenced at Gibralier;and at the Cape of Good Hope, someare investigating the fulness of thegospel.

A large company of Danish saints


have already emigrated to Utah. Afew German Saints left Hainburgh the13th of August, on their way to SaltLake.

A few are being baptized into thechurch in several of the States, and inthe British Provinces.

A large colony of the Saints isfounded in Southern California underthe presidency of Amasa Lyman andCharles C. Rich, two of the twelve.

I shall not attempt, in this short epis-tle to give one hundreth part of theinteresting news which begins to pourin from all nations wherever the Latter-Day Saint Missionaries are sent. Sure-ly the Gospel will soon be preached asa witness to all the world preparatoryto the corning of our Lord. What arethe Saints in the United States doing?Are they asleep ? Have their lampsgone out ? I marvel at the apparentdrowsiness and lethargy that seems tohang heavily over some of them. Butthis is not to be wondered at ; for manythat have had means, have neglectedthe great command of God to gatherwith His people : such can no more en-joy the spirit of this work and the ap-probation of heaven, than the wickedungodly sects with whom they are sur-rounded. God will not give them hisSpirit until they manifest a sincere andhumble repentance of their disobedi-ence, by gathering : let such beware,lest in an hour they think not, the wrathof God shall fall heavily upon them,and they perish in their sins. God isnot to be mocked in this dispensationby those who profess his name. Theywill go forward in obedience to everycommand, or go backward in coldnessand apostasy. And Oh, how awful isthe condition of them who apostatizefrom this Church ! far better would ithave been for them, if they had neverbeen born, for they are to be cursedwith the heaviest of all cursings, be-cause they sin against so great light.

Let the pre siding Elders of confer-ences and branches in the states andprovinces seek diligently to purify theirown hearts, and cry mightily to Godfor his Spirit ; after which, let them,hunt up the Saints, and strengthen themthat are weak, and minister to them

who are ready to perish ; inquire intothe standing of every officer, and exhorthim to perform his duty : let the teach-ers and deacons visit the members often,as instructed in the book of Covenants;and let every branch meet often to pray,and to hear the preaching of the word.If any are in transgression, use everymeans that the gospel requires to re-claim them ; if they will not repent,suffer them not to remain in the church.

Where there are organized confer-ences, let the presiding officer of eachbranch report to the president of theconference in which such branch is in-cluded, the number of officers and mem-bers in his branch : and let the presi-dent of the conference report in writingto our office in Washington the totalnumber of Branches, Officers, and Mem-bers in his conference. And where thereis no organized conference, let the pre-sidents of branches, through the Statesand Provinces, report by letter to usthe number of officers and members intheir respective branches, and also thenumber of scattered members in thevicinity of each who are not organizedinto branches.

Let the Presiding Officers of the con-ferences exert themselves to procure sub-scribers for the Seer, and for all thechurch publications : let an agent be ap-pointed in each branch to whom theSeer, books, pamphlets, Sze., shall beaddressed. In this way, it will be un-necessary, in most of cases, to send tome the names of subscribers ; I canfurnish the agent with whatever he mayorder, and he can furnish the subscri-bers. But in all cases, if the agentwould have his orders attended to, hemust forward to me the subscriptionmoney in advance. By a little exer-tion, the saints might obtain many sub-scribers out of the church.

For the prosperity of the work Iwould suggest that each branch raise asubscription for the purpose of procur-ing quantities of the various tractswhich we have on hand, and which canbe circulated by lending them throughtheir respective neighborhoods, and thusmany may be brought to the knowledgeof the truth. This plan has been adopt-ed with great success in England, and


in other parts of the world. In Eng-land tract distributors go round once aweek, collecting such tracts as havebeen formerly left, and leaving othersin their stead : in this manner tens ofthousands learn the truth that wouldotherwise remain ignorant.

Every Elder and Priest should dili-gently seek to open new doors forpreaching, and labor with all patiencewith the inhabitants, endeavoring topersuade them to repentance; it maybe that some few will repent, beforeGod shall visit the nation, according tothat which is decreed against them inthe Book of Mormon and other revela-tions. At any rate, it is necessary thatyou should faithfully discharge everyduty in relation to them, that your gar-ments may be clean in the day of visi-tation, and that the sins of the peoplemay be upon their own heads.

Brethren of the Priesthood, keepyourselves pure and unspotted beforeGod ; and if you know of any man inthe Church who already has a wife,seeking to enter into covenant with anyother female, know assuredly that hehas transgressed, and unless he repent,let him be cut off from the Church.

If you find any persons advocatingthe wicked impositions of GladdenBishop, of Charles B. Thompson in re-gard to Baneemy, or of Strang, seek inthe spirit of meekness to reclaim them,and if they will not repent excommuni-cate them from the Church, and Godwill soon show you the wickedness oftheir hearts.

Have nothing to do with those per-sons who deal with familiar spirits, un-der the names of " Mesmerism," " Elec-tro Biology," " Spirit Mappings," "Ta-ble Movings," " Writing Mediums," &c.;for they will darken your minds, andbring you to destruction : they are thespirits of darkness let loose upon thisgeneration because of their wickedness ;and they will increase more and moreupon the earth until the coming ofChrist, as the scriptures predict.

Let all the Saints use every exertionto gather to Utah next season. Thetime in which the companies of Saintswill start on their overland journeyacross the plains, will be from the 10th

of May to the 1st of July. The generalplace of rendesvous last emigration, wasat Keokuk on the West bank of theMississippi river, about 200 miles aboveSt. Louis. The most of the saints at adistance go by water to that place, pur-chasing their wagons in St. Louis, andtheir teams in Illinois, Missouri, or Iowa.Elder Horace S. Eldredge, the Presidentof the St. Louis Conference, will giveCounsel to all the emigrating Saintswho may pass through St. Louis in re-gard to all things connected with theiroutfit for the journey. Bro. Eldredge'sPost office address is as follows : PostBox 333, St. Louis, Missouri. His resi-dence is at 139 Market Street, up stairs.

The Saints should take with themevery variety of choice garden seeds ;and the seeds of all kinds of good fruit ;and also the chesnut, hickerynut, blackwalnut, butternut, and various otherkinds of nuts. Among other things donot forget the different kinds of thebest grass and clover seed. The seedsof the various kinds of useful herbsshould be remembered. And finally,every thing in the vegetable depart-ment that would be useful for food ormedicine, or that would please the eye,the taste, or the smell, or adorn andbeautify your habitations, your gardens,or your fields, should be taken alongand planted in the soil of Utah.

Supply yourselves plentifully withevery variety of useful school books foryour children, together with historicaland scientific works of every descrip-tion ; but leave novels and fictitiousworks behind to satisfy the pervertedappetites of the children of darknesswhose souls delight in lies and fiction,far above the great truths of heaven.

Let the Elders and officers preachfaith, repentance, baptism, and the firstprinciples of the Gospel, and such doc-trines as areplain and easy to be under-stood : and if the people wish to learnthe deep mysteries of the kingdom, letthem embrace the Gospel and go upunto the mountain of the Lord's house.If they wish to learn the particulars ofCelestial Marriage, baptism for the dead,and such like doctrines, refer them toour printed works where they can readthese things at their leisure. Remem-


ber that you have not time to preachand explain all these things to the peo-ple ; for God has sent you to preach re-pentence and the first principles of sal-vation, and if mankind will not receivethese things, the greater things will beof no benefit to them. There may betimes when you will have to defendyourselves against the attacks of wickedmen upon these points : do, at suchtimes, as wisdom shall direct, and besure to connect your defense with suchplain principles of doctrine, as shall belikely to do the people good. Wiseservants will follow good and wise coun-sels, and will preach by the gift andpower of the Holy Ghost ; but thosewho give no heed, will preach theirown folly both in precept and example.

The attention of the saints is calledto the list of L. D. Saint publications,furnished in the Catalogue which hasbeen forwarded to them. The Saintsshould liberally supply themselves andtheir children with copies of each ofthese works ; for they will be worthmore to them than gold, or silver, orthe rich treasures of the earth. TheSaints frequently transgress through ig-norance : and this ignorance arises fronia neglect to procure and read the Churchpublications : such ignorance is inex-cusable ; and such transgressions will,if not repented of, be punished.

The signs of the times are porteutiousand clearly indicate the approachingdownfall of the nations, and the over-turning of kingdoms, empires, and re-publics, preparatory to the coming ofChrist and his personal reign on theearth. Every individual, therefore, ofthe Saints should be awake to performquickly and in righteousness every dutyrequired of them.

Among other things, there are manyof the saints who give no heed, in theleast, to what God has said in a revela-tion, entitled, " The Word of Wisdom;"they treat it with perfect indifference ;yea, worse, some even boast of their dis-obedience to this advice, and almostlaugh at those who attempt to obey it.Poor creatures ! the day will comewhen they will mourn and lament, andthat too, when it is too late to retrievean ill spent life ; when the destroying

angel will teach them that every wardof God means something, and that noneof his sayings can be neglected withimpunity. There must be a great refor-mation among all the Saints in regardto this thing, as well as in many others,before they can expect to enjoy manyof the great blessings of the last days.

There are others who call themselvesSaints who neither pray in their fami-lies nor in secret, but are as cold as thenorthern blast, in regard to their dutiestowards God, towards their families, andtowards the Church. Such had farbetter be out of the Church than in it ;for God will spue them out of his mouth,as corrupt fruit which has lost its flavor.

There are others whose names areenrolled among the Saints, who thinkmore of their property than they do ofsalvation. Such say in their hearts, " wewill wait a while before we gather up toUtah ; it may be that the Saints willbe driven again, and we shall lose ourproperty, if we go. We can tell betterhow things will be in a few years tocome, and if we think our property willbe safe, we will venture up." Woe untosuch, for unless they speedily repent,they shall perish and their propertywith them. Such coveteous hypocritesare not worthy of the kingdom of Godor any of its blessings, but they will godown to hell to keep company withthe rich man, instead of being gatheredinto Abraham's bosom with poor Laza-rus. The Saints must learn one lesson,namely, that all who desire to enter thekingdom of God must be willing to sa-crifice all things for the sake thereof;and he that is not willing to do this willsurely fail, and his hopes will witheraway and perish.

Finally, dear brethren, let me exhortyou with all the earnestness of an hum-ble servant of God who is deeply inter-ested for your salvation, to refrain fromevery evil—to be examples of righteous-ness before saints and sinners. Read.the Book of Mormon, and the revela-tions and prophecies, given through theprophet Joseph, and obey the same.Give the most earnest heed to thecounsels of the First Presidency—to thetwelve, and to all the faithful authori-ties of the Church. Use every exertion


to flee out from the corruptions of theGentiles, and to obtain for yourselves aneverlasting inheritance among the peo-ple of God ; for the day of the wickedis far spent—their sun will soon go downin the midst of clouds and thick dark-ness—a long and dreary night awaitsthem : but upon such as fear the Lordand keep his commandments, the sunof righteousness will arise, and their daywill be glorious; for their sun shall no

more go down ; and God will be untothem an everlasting light which shallshine for evermore. With the mostearnest desire for your salvation, bothtemporally and spiritually, I subscribemyself your most humble servant inthe kingdom of God,

ORSON PRATT.Washington D, a,

OCTOBER 1st., 1853.

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE:(Continued.)

Notwithstanding the Queen is num-bered among the " honorable Wives "of the Son of God, yet she is calledupon to Worship Him as her Lord.If her husband were a mere man, shewould not be exhorted to Worshiphim ; this therefore, is another evi-dence that He was truly, as Paul says,the Son f God.

Inasmuch as the Messiah was to havea "plurality of Wives" will they not allbe Queens ? Yes : but there will bean order among them. One seemsto be chosen to stand at his righthand : Perhaps she may have meritedthat high station by her righteousacts, or by the position she had previ-ously occupied. It seems that shewas one of the daughters of a king :for in the same Psalm it says, " Theking's daughter is all glorious within :her clothing is of wrought gold. Sheshall be brought unto the King in rai-mant of needle work : the virgins hercompanions that follow her shall bebrought unto Thee. With gladnessand rejoicing shall they be brought :they shall enter into the King's pal-ace." (verses 13-15.) It must be re-collected that " kings' daughters wereamong Thine honorable Wives." Thekings here spoken of were no doubtthose who through obedience to thegospel became kings and priests forever : for we cannot suppose thatChrist would marry the daughters ofthe kings of this world who only reignunder the pretended name of kings for

this short life : such are not worthy tobe called kings. Some of the daughtersof those kings who are to reign on theearth for ever and ever, and who arein reality kings, will be among His" honorable wives," one being chosento stand as Queen at His right handand worship Him, unto whom ismade the following promise : " Insteadof thy fathers shall be thy children,whom thou mayest make Princes inall the earth. I will make thy nameto be remembered in all generations :therefore shall the people praise the'for ever and ever." (verses 16, 17.)

We are not informed at what timeJesus was to be married to this king'sdaughter or to any of the rest of hiswives. But from what John the Bap-tist says, He may have been marriedto some of them previous to that proph-ets martyrdom: The passage is as fol-lows; " He that path the Bride is theBridegroom: but the friend of theBridegroom, which standeth and hear-eth Him, rejoiced' greatly because ofthe Bridegroom's voice : this my joytherefore is fulfilled. He must increase,but I must decrease." (John 3 : 29, 30.)And again, " Jesus said unto them,Can the children of the bridechambermourn, as long as the Bridegroom iswith them ? but the days will come, whenthe Bridegroom shall be taken fromthem, and then shall they fast." (Ma-thew 9 : 15.) John represents Jesusas already in the possession of theBride ; while the Saviour confirms


what John says, by calling Himself" the Bridegroom," and the disciples" the children of the Bridechamber,"but who the Bride was neither of theminforms us. Whether Jesus had mar-ried any of His wives at that time ornot, it is very evident that there willbe a marriage of the Son of God atthe time of His second coming : forJesus said, " The kingdom of heavenis like unto a certain king, which madea marriage for his son, and sent forthhis servants to call them that werebidden to the wedding : and theywould not come. Again, he sent forthother servants, saying, Tell them whichare bidden, Behold I have preparedmy dinner : my oxen and fatlings arekilled, and all things are ready : comeunto the marriage. But they madelight of it, and went their ways, one tohis farm, another to his merchandise :and the remnant took his servants, andentreated them spitefully and slewthem. But when the king heardthereof, he was wroth : and he sentforth his armies, and destroyed thosemurderers, and burned up their city.Then saith he to his servants, Thewedding is ready, but they whichwere bidden were not worthy. Go yetherefore into the highways, and asmany as ye shall find bid them to themarriage. So those servants went outinto the highways, and gathered to-gether all as many as they found, bothbad and good : and the wedding Wagfurnished with guests. And when theking came in to see the guests, lie sawthere a man which had not on a wed-ding garment : and he saith unto him,Friend how earnest thou in hither nothaving a wedding garment ? And liewas speechless. Then said the king tohis servants, Bind him hand and foot,and take him away and cast him intoouter darkness there shall be weepingand gnashing of teeth. For many arecalled, but few are chosen." (Matthew22 : 1-14.) All will admit that theking's son, here spoken of, is JesusChrist, and that the last servants whoare sent forth have a commission togather together from the highwaysand hedges both bad and good : andthat by this gathering, " the wedding

was furnished with guests." TheBridegroom, the servants, and theguests are all mentioned ; but theparable does not inform us who theBride is. John the Revelator des-cribes the greatness, the glory, andthe magnificence of this marriage cel-ebration. He says, " And I heard asit were the voice of a great multitude,and as the voice of many waters, andas the voice of mighty thunderings,saying, Alleluia : for the Lord GodOmnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad,and rejoice and give honor to him : forthe Marriage of the Lamb is come,and His Wife Lath made herself rea-dy. And to her was granted that sheshould be arrayed in fine linen, cleanand white : for the fine linen is therighteousness of saints, And he saithunto me, Write, Blessed are theywhich are called unto the marriage sup-per of the Lamb." (Rev. 19 : 6-9.)That the wife was to be a very goodand holy woman, is very clearly indi-cated by her being clothed with " therighteousness of the saints." comparedto fine linen, clean and white. Her rai-ment is more fully described in thePsalm already quoted, being composedof fine needle work of wrought gold,while many virgins were to be herattendants.

That the Bride will continue to bethe Wife of the Son of God in Eternityas well as time, is most clearly revealedin the twenty-first chapter of the Rev-elations, where St. John beheld theNew Earth, and the angel said untohim, " Come hither, I will slew theethe Bride, the Lamb's Wife ;" and hewas carried in the spirit to a great andhigh mountain, and saw a great citycalled the holy Jerusalem, descendingfrom the heavens upon the New Earth.This city contained the throne of Godand the Lamb, and was inhabited by agreat nation of kings who were to" reign for ever and ever," being Gods,as is evident from the name of Godbeing written on each of their fore-heads. The inscription upon theirforeheads was not intended as a meresham or mockery, but was in realitythe name given to each, that all theinhabitants of eternity, when they saw


GOD conspicuously inscribed upon alltheir foreheads, might know most as-suredly that each one was a God, as thewritten title or name expressly declar-ed. The grandeur and glory of thiscity are still further described ; the ci-ty and the streets thereof were of puregold, clear as glass, while the wallsand the gates were of the most pre-cious stones ; and the glory of God en-lightened the city, so that they had noneed of the light of the sun or moon.This light was so great that all the na-tions that were saved that dwelt uponall the face of the New Earth, walkedin the light of it. There was no nightthere, but the whole Earth was clothedin one eternal day. It was in themidst of this city that the Kingof kings and Lord of lords satupon His throne, while upon His"right hand did stand the Queen," ar-rayed in the most costly apparel. Inorder that John might see the glory ofGod, the glory of His kingdom, and theglory of His Bride, it was necesary toshow him, the Palace, the place ofthe Throne, and the city in which theBride resided. It is expressly said,concerning this Queen, that her nameshould be remembered in all genera-tions, and that the people should praiseher for ever and ever, (Psalm 45 : 17.)As John saw in vision the Bride, theLamb's Wife more than a thousandyears after her marriage—after she andall the rest of the inhabitants of theearth had been raised from the deadand become immortal—it is quite cer-tain that she was in reality a Wife af-ter the resurrection as well as before,and that she will be the Lamb's Wifeforever and ever ; and in that capacityshe will, as the Psalmist has said, berespected and praised by all the peo-ple for ever and ever.

That the marriage will be celebra-ted at the second coming of the Mes-siah, is also clearly expressed in theparable of the ten Virgins : for Jesussaid, " Then shall the kingdom ofheaven be likened unto ten Virgins,which took their lamps, and went forthto meet the Bridegroom. And five ofthem were wise, and five were foolish.They that were foolish took their

lamps, and took no oil with them : butthe wise took oil in their vessels withtheir lamps. While the Bridegroomtarried, they all slumbered and slept.And at midnight there was a cry made,Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, goye out to meet him. Then all thoseVirgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.And the foolish said unto the wise,Give us of your oil ; for our lamps aregone out. But the wise answered,saying, Not so ; lest there be notenough for us and you : but go yerather to them that sell, and buy foryourselves. And while they went tobuy, the Bridegroom came ; and theythat were ready went in with Him tothe marriage : and the door was shut.Afterward came also the other virgins,saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. ButHe answered and said, Verily I sayunto you, I know you not. Watchtherefore, for you know neither theday nor the hour wherein the Son ofMan cometh." (Mathew 25: 1-13.)This parable, like that of the marriageof the King's son which we have al-ready quoted, plainly shows that therewill be a gathering out from amongthe nations—a going forth to meetthe Bridegroom ; but among thosewho gather, there will be some with-out a wedding garment—without oilin their lamps. But the five wise vir-gins who are ready, will go in withthe Bridegroom to the marriage, andthe door will be shut. And here letus ask the following questions : Arethese five wise virgins, to be marriedunto the Bridegroom, or are they onlythe invited guests ? And if they areguests who constitutes the Bride ? Inthe parable of the marriage of theKing's son, it is said, " And the wed-ding was furnished with guests ;" theguests being those who received theinvitation of the servants and gath-ered together. If the five wise virginsconstitute the guests, then the Bridemust be some wise holy virgin, chosento be the royal consort or Queen. Onthe other hand, if the five wise virginsrepresent all the saints, both male andfemale, and if they all constitute theBride, then where will the guests comefrom, or who will they be ? Again, if


the five virgins are actually virgins orfemales who are to be married to theBridegroom, then all the rest of thesaints would constitute the guests.Are not these five wise virgins the" honorable Wives" which the Psalm-ist represents the Son of God as hav-ing taken from among king's daughters?

From the passage in the forty-fifthPsalm, it will be seen that the greatMessiah who was the founder of theChristian religion, was a Polygamist,as well as the Patriarch Jacob and theprophet David from whom He descen-ded according to the flesh. Paul saysconcerning Jesus, " Verily he took noton him the nature of angels ; but he tookon him the seed of Abraham." (Heb.2: 16.) Abraham the Polygamist,being a friend of God, the Messiahchose to take upon himself his seed ;and by marrying many honorablewives himself, show to all future gen-erations that he approbated the plu-rality of Wives under the Christiandispensation, as well as under the dis-pensations in which His Polygamistancestors lived.

We have now clearly shown thatGod the Father had a plurality ofwives, one or more being in eternity,by whom He begat our spirits as wellas the spirit of Jesus His First Born,and another being upon the earth bywhom He begat the tabernacle of Je-sus, as His Only Begotten in thisworld. We have also proved mostclearly that the Son followed the ex-ample of his Father, and became thegreat Bridegroom to whom kings'daughters and many honorable Wiveswere to be married. We have alsoproved that both God the Father andour Lord Jesus Christ inherit theirwives in eternity as well as in time ;and that God the Father has alreadybegotten many thousand millions ofsons and daughters and sent them intothis world to take tabernacles ; andthat God the Son has the promisethat " of the increase of his governmentthere shall be no end ;" it being express-ly declared that the children of one ofHis Queens should be made Princes inall the earth. (See Psalm 45: 16.)

Jesus says there shall be weeping

and gnashing of teeth, when ye shallsee Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,and all the prophets in the kingdom ofGod, and you yourselves thrust out."(Luke 13: 28.) There are many inthis generation so pious that theywould consider themselves greatly dis-graced to be obliged to associate witha man having a plurality of wives ;would it not be well for such to desirea place separate from the kingdom ofGod, that they may not be contamina-ted with the society of these old Po-lygamists ? And then it would be soshocking to the modesty of the verypious ladies of Christendom to seeAbraham and his wives, Jacob andhis wives, Jesus and his honorablewives, all eating occasionally at thesame table, and visiting one another,and conversing about their numerouschildren and their kingdoms. Oh, yedelicate ladies of Christendom, howcan you endure such a scene as this ?Oh, what will you do, when you beholdon the very gates of the holy Jerusa-lem the names of the Twelve sons of thefour wives of the Polygamist Jacob ?If you do not want your morals cor-rupted, and your delicate ears shocked,and your pious modesty put to theblush by the society of polygamistsand their wives, do not venture nearthe holy Jerusalem, nor come near theNew Earth; for Polygamists will behonored there, and will be among thechief rulers in that Kingdom.

Peter says, Likewise ye wives be insubjection to your own husbands,* * * * even as Sarah obeyedAbraham, calling him Lord : whosedaughters ye are, as long as yedo well." (1 Peter 3 : 1, 6.) Thefemales in the first age of Christianityconsidered it a great honor to becomethe daughters of Abraham, but nowthey have become so righteous thatthey think it a disgrace to be foundin the society of a Polygamist andno doubt they would think their char-acters ruined for ever, if any one shouldbe so immodest as to call them thedaughters of the Polygamist Abraham.But we will tell them how to avoid thisdeep disgrace ; they can cease to dowell ; for Peter says that it is only on


this condition that they become thedaughters of Abraham. It will be ne-cessary for you to reject Christianity andnot obey the gospel ; for in so doing youmight very much endanger your rep-utation by becoming the daughters ofthat noted Polygamist. To becomethe daughters of a Polygamist byvoluntarily embracing Christianitywould be at once sanctioning fatherAbraham's deeds. Only think howawfully shocking it would be, to haveyour neighbors point the finger of scornat you, and say, " There goes a daugh-ter of Abraham—she has been adopt-ed into the family of that old Polyga-mist—she must be a very immodestwoman to want to get into his family,"among his wives and concubines—whowould have ever thought, that shewould have embraced the faith ofAbraham, and thus consent to be adopt-ed as one of his daughters, when shevery well knew his character ! 0 whata disgrace ! I wonder if she will notwant to go and sit down with heradopted father and with all his wivesin the kingdom of . God. I dare sayshe will ; for there is no telling how farChristianity will lead them, when theyget so far gone as to be adopted intoAbraham's family. The doctrine thatshe has embraced tells her that manyshall come from the east, and from thewest, and from the north, and from thesouth, and shall sit down with Abra-ham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdomof God. 0 how shameful ! I wonderwhy the law dont put a stop to Chris-tianity when it produces such an im-moral influence as to cause so manynot only to be adopted into these dis-graceful families, but to pretend thatsuch characters are going to be inthe kingdom of God, and that all theiradopted children will go there too.She not only disgraces herself by com-ing into such a family, but accordingto her doctrine she will have to associ-ate with beggars, for her book says,that the angels laid hold of a poorbeggar named Lazarus and carried himoff to Abraham's bosom. Oh what afamily ! Polygamists and beggars alltogether ! and that poor silly woman isone of his daughters, and expects when

she dies to be carried to his bosom al-so. I wonder if there will not be somegreat gulf or some other barrier tokeep such disgraceful characters fromintruding upon the society and cor-rupting the morals of the good piouspeople who die in the nineteenth cen-tury ! I wonder if the angels will havethe impudence to drag us away as SOOn

as we die to the bosom of such a no-ted Polygamist as Abraham !" If youdo not want to suffer such deep dis-grace, you must keep out of Abraham'sfamily by neglecting the Gospel; andwhen you die, the angels will not trou-ble you with his society, but there willbe a great gulf intervening between youand his family over which there will beno passage.

Inasmuch as the saints in Utah con-sider it moral, virtuous, and scriptural,to practice the plurality system, theyshould seek by every means to irradi-cate, not only from their own minds,but from the minds of their children,every erroneous improper prejudicewhich they have formerly imbibed, bytheir associations with the nations ofmodern Christendom. Parents whohave daughters should seek to instilinto their minds, that it is just as hon-orable for them to be united in marri-age to a good man who is already ahusband, as to one that is single : theyshould be taught to reject the societyand proposals for marriage of all wick-ed men, whether single or not. A.father should be impartial to all his chil-dren, and cultivate the same love forthem all ; while each wife should instilinto the minds of her own children thenecessity of loving the children of eachof the others, as brothers and sisters.Each wife should, not only care for thewelfare of her husband and her ownchildren, but should also seek the hap-piness of each of his other wives andchildren. And likewise, the childrenof each wife should not only respect,honor, and love their own mother, butalso the mothers of all their brothersand sisters. By observing these pre-cepts, peace and tranquility will reignthroughout every department of thefamily, and the spirit of God will flowfreely from heart to heart.


Nothing is so much to be desired infamilies as peace, love, and union :they are essential to happiness hereand hereafter. And, in order to pro-mote these desirable objects, we wouldrecommend the observance of the fol-lowing rules.

Rule ist.—Let that man who in-tends to become a husband, seek firstthe kingdom of God and its righteous-ness, and learn to govern himself, ac-cording to the law of God : for hethat cannot govern himself cannotgovern others : let him dedicate hisproperty, his talents, his time, and evenhis life to the service of God, holdingall things at His disposal, to do withthe same, according as He shall directthrough the counsel that He has or-dained.

Rule 2nd.—Let him next seek forwisdom to direct him in the choice ofhis wives. Let him seek for thosewhose qualifications will render himand themselves happy. Let him looknot wholly at the beauty of the coun-tenance, or the splendor of the appa-rel, or the great fortune, or the artfulsmiles, or the affected modesty of fe-males; for all these, without the gen-uine virtues, are like the dew-dropswhich glitter for a moment in the sun,and dazzle the eye, but soon vanishaway. But let him look for kind andamiable dispositions ; for unaffectedmodesty ; for industrious habits ; forsterling virtue ; for honesty, integrity,and truthfulness; for cleanliness in per-sons, in apparel, in cooking, and in ev-ery kind of domestic labor ; for cheer-fulness, patience, and stability of char-acter ; and above all, for genuine reli-gion to control and govern their everythought and deed. When he hasfound those possessing these qualifica-tions let him seek to obtain them law-fully through the counsel of him whoholds the keys of the everlasting priest-hood, that they may be married tohim by the authority of Heaven, andthus be secured to him for time and forall eternity.

Rule 3rd—When a man has ob-tained his wives, let him not sup-pose that they are already perfect inall things for this cannot be expect-

ed in those who are young and inex-perienced in the cares and vicissitudesof a married life. They, as weakervessels, are given to him as the stron-ger, to nourish, cherish, and protect ;to be their head, their patriarch, andtheir saviour; to teach, instruct, cowl-pl., and perfect them in all things re-rating to family government, and thewelfare and happiness of themselvesand their children. Therefore, let himrealize the weighty responsibility nowplaced upon him, as the head of afamily ; and also let him study dili-gently the disposition of his wives, thathe may know how to instruct them inwisdom for their good.

Rule 4th.—Betray not the confi-dence of your wives. There are manyideas in an affectionate confiding wifewhich she would wish to communicateto her husband, and yet she would bevery unwilling to have them communi-cated to others. Keep each of yourwives' secrets from all the others, andfrom any one else, unless in cases wheregood will result by doing otherwise.

Rule 5th,.—Speak not of the faultsof your wives to others ; for in so doing,you speak against yourself. If youspeak to one of your wives of the im-perfections of the others who may beabsent, you not only injure them inher estimation, but she will expect thatyou will speak against her under likecircumstances : this is calculated toweaken their confidence in you, andsow division in the family. Tell eachone of her faults in private in a spiritof kindness and love, and she will mostprobably respect you for it, and en-deavor to do better for the future ; andthus the others will not, because ofyour reproof, take occasion to speak re-proachfully of her. There may be cir-cumstances, when reproof, given in thepresence of the others, will produce asalutary influence upon all. Wisdomis profitable to direct, and should besought for earnestly by those whohave the responsibility of families.

Rule 6th.—Avoid anger and a fret-ful peevish disposition in your family.A hasty spirit, accompanied with harshwords, will most generallybeget itsown likeness, or, at least, it will, eventu-


ally, sour the feelings of your wives andchildren, and greatly weaken their af-fections for you. You should remem-ber that harsh expressions against oneof your wives, used in the hearing ofthe others, will more deeply woundher feelings, than if she alone heardthem. Reproofs that are timely andotherwise good, may lose their goodeffect by being administered in a wrongspirit, indeed, they will most probablyincrease the evils which they were in-tended to remedy. Do not find faultwith every trifling error that you maysee ; for this will discourage your family,and they will begin to think that it isimpossible to please you; and, after awhile, become indifferent as to whetherthey please you or not. How unhappyand extremely wretched is that familywhere nothing pleases—where scoldinghas become almost as natural as breath-ing !

Rule 7 th.—Use impartiality in yourfamily as far as circumstances will al-low ; and let your kindness and loveabound towards them all. Use yourown judgment, as the head of the family,in regard to your duties in relation tothem, and be not swayed from thatwhich is right, by your own feelings,nor by the feelings of others.

Rule 8th.—Suffer not your judgmentto be biased against any one of yourwives, by the accusations of the others,unless you have good grounds to be-lieve that those accusations are just.Decide not hastily upon partial evi-dence, but weigh well all things, thatyour mind may not become unjustlyprejudiced. When one of your wivescomplains of the imperfections of theothers, and endeavors to set your mindagainst them, teach her that all haveimperfections, and of the necessity ofbearing one with another in patience,and of praying one for another.

Rule 9th.—Call your wives andchildren together frequently, and in-struct them in their duties towardsGod, towards yourself, and towards oneanother. Pray with them and for themoften; and teach them to pray much,that the Holy Spirit may dwell in theirmidst, without which it is impossibleto maintain that union, love, and one-

ness which are so necessary to happinessand salvation.

Rule 10th.—Remember, that not-withstanding written rules will be ofservice in teaching you your duties, asthe head of a family, yet without theHoly Ghost to teach and instruct you,it is impossible for you to govern afamily in righteousness ; therefore, seekafter the Holy Ghost and He shallteach you all things, and sanctify youand your family, and make you one,that you may be perfected in Him andHe in you, and eventually be exaltedon high to dwell with God, where yourjoy will be full forever.

Rule 11 th.—Let no woman uniteherself in marriage with any man, un-less she has fully resolved to submitherself wholly to his counsel, and to lethim govern as the head. It is far bet-ter for her not to be united with himin the sacred bonds of eternal union,than to rebel against the divine orderof family government, instituted for ahigher salvation ; for if she altogetherturn therefrom, she will receive a greatercondemnation.

Rule 12th.—Never seek to prejudicethe mind of your husband against anyof his other wives, for the purpose ofexalting yourself in his estimation, lestthe evil which you unjustly try to bringupon them, fall with double weightupon your own head. Strive to risein favor and influence with your hus-band by your own merits, and not bymagnifying the faults of others.

Rule 13th.—Seek to be a peace-maker in the family with whom youare associated. If you see the leastappearance of division arising, use yourutmost efforts to restore union andsoothe the feelings of all. Soft andgentle words, spoken in season, willallay contention and strife ; while ahasty spirit and harsh language addfuel to the fire already kindled whichwill rage with increasing violence.

Rule 14th.—Speak not evil of yourhusband unto any of the rest of thefamily for the purpose of prejudicingtheir minds against him ; for if he beinformed thereof, it will injure you inhis estimation. Neither speak evil ofany members of the family for this


will destroy their confidence in you.Avoid all hypocracy ; for if you pre-tend to love your husband and to honorand respect his wives, when present,but speak disrespectful of them whenabsent, you will be looked upon as ahypocrite, as a tattler, and as a mis-chief-making woman, and be shunnedas being more dangerous than an openenemy. And what is still more de-testable, is to tattle out of the family,and endeavor to create enemies againstthose with whom you are connected.Such persons should not only be con-sidered hypocrites, but traitors, andtheir conduct should be despised byevery lover of righteousness. Remem-ber also, that there are more ways thanone to tattle ; it is not always the casethat those persons who are the boldestin their accusations that are the mostdangerous slanderers; but such ashypocritically pretend that they do notwish to injure their friends, and at thesame time, very piously insinuate indark indirect sayings, something thatis calculated to leave a very unfavorableprejudice against them. Shun such aspirit as you would the very gates of hell.

Rule 15th,.—If you see any of yourhusband's wives sick or in trouble, useevery effort to relieve them, and to ad-minister kindness and consolations, re-membering that you, yourself, underthe same circumstances, would bethankful for their assistance. Endeavorto share each others burdens, accordingto the health, ability, and strengthwhich God has given you. Do not beafraid that you will do more than yourshare of the domestic labor, or thatyou will be more kind to them thanthey are to you.

Rule 16th.—Let each mother correcther own children, and see that they donot dispute and quarrel with each other,nor with any others; let her not cor-rect the children of the others withoutliberty so to do, lest it give offence.The husband should see that eachmother maintains a wise and properdiscipline over her children, especiallyin their younger years : and it is hisduty to see that all of his children areobedient to himself and to their re-spective mothers. And it is also hisduty to see that the children of onewife are not allowed to quarrel andabuse those of the others, neither to bedisrespectful or impudent to any branchof his family.

Rule 17th.--It is the duty of parentsto instruct their children, according totheir capacities in every principle ofthe gospel, as revealed in the Book ofMormon and in the revelations whichGod has given, that they may grow upin righteousness, and in the fear of theLord, and have faith in Him. Sufkrno wickedness to have place amongthem, but teach them the right way,and see that they walk therein. Andlet the husband, and his wives, and allof his children that have come to theyears of understanding. often bow be-fore the Lord around the family altar,and pray vocally and unitedly for what-ever blessings they stand in need of,remembering that where there are unionand peace, there will also be faith, andhope, and the love of God, and everygood work, and a multiplicity of bless-ings, imparting health and comfort tothe body, and joy and life to the soul.

(Concluded in our next number.)

CONTENTS.Second Epistle of Orson Pratt 161Celestial Marriage.... 169

WASHINGTON CITY, D. C.EDITED AND PUBLISHED Ili ORSON PRATT,


All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Helifteth up an Ensign on the Nountains.—Isaiah xviti, 3.

VOL. I. DECEMBER, 1853. No. 12.

CHRISTIAN POLYGAMY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.Among the distinguished Christian

Reformers and celebrated Divines ofthe sixteenth century, may be mention-ed the names of Luther, Melancthon,Bucer, and Melanther. These won-derful men distinguished themselves intheir persevering, bold, and fearlessopposition to the corrupt powers ofCatholicism. Although not called andordained of God with the authority ofApostles and Prophets to restore theChurch of God to the earth, yet theywere Reformers ; and with a noble en-ergy and perseverance, exposed, in adegree, the superstitions and wicked-ness of the Romish Church ; they protes-ted against their blasphemous doctrinesand pretentious ; they revolted fromthe jurisdiction and tyrannical power ofthe Romish Priesthood ; they weaken-ed its corrupting influence among thenations : they laid the foundation ofmore liberal principles ; opened theway for the nations to burst the bondsof religious despotism • and plantedthe seeds of civil and religious liberty,which have continued to grow andspread until millions now bask underthe extended branches. It was for thesegreat and noble purposes that Godmoved upon the hearts of these men toboldly protest against a power that hadbecome tyrannical and formidable to analarming decree : it was to restore, in

dependence of mind, so necessary to theimprovement and happiness of man ;it was to open a door for advancementin the sciences and arts without be-ing trammelled with the bigoted op-position of priestcraft. Though theywere raised up to accomplish thesegreat and desirable purposes, yet theycould not restore the Church of Godto the earth ; for this was not theircalling. They were called to lay thefoundation of a reformation whichshould eventually terminate in the es-tablishment of Governments favorableto liberty of conscience, that when theChurch should be restored, men mightbe free to embrace its principles. Theyand their successors who have followedin their steps, were called as fore-run-ners to prepare the way before theChurch when it should once more haveplace on the earth.

These celebrated Reformers advoca-ted Christianity so far as they under-stood its principles. Many Romish su-perstitions which had been palmed up-on the world for Christianity, were a-bolished : many Christian institutionswhich had been abolished by the Rom-ish Priesthood, were, in a measure, re-stored, at last in form; among whichmay be mentioned Polygamy. TheRomanists had not only forbidden mar-riage to her priests, but had abolished

some small degree, that freedom and in- the Divine institution of Polygamy

178 CHRISTIAN POLYGAMY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

which was practiced in early ages whenpure Christianity was on the earth.

While Polygamy flourished in theChristian Church, the Roman nationwere in favor of Monogamy or the onewife system, and established laws, pro-hibitinga plurality of wives amongtheir citizens. The Christian Churchin that nation were obliged to reliu-quish the Divine institution of Polyg-amy, and submit to the Roman lawsunder heavy penalties. At length,through priestcraft and tradition theChurch was made to believe that theMonogamy, established by the Romancivil law, was actually a part of Chris-tianity. This delusion, concocted atthe head quarters of the so-calledChristian Church, gradually extendeditself to the surrounding nations, andother branches of the Christian Churchadopted it, and relinquished the Poly-g-amic system. The one wife systemdid not originate in the ChristianChurch, but was adopted from thepractice of the Roman nation by theRomish Priesthood, and by them palm-ed upon the nations as originating inChristianity. " Julius Caesar attempt-ed to have a law passed in favor ofPolygamy, but could not effect it."The Romans were too much opposedto the practices of Jews and Christiansto permit this Divine institution tohave free tolerance. And the RomishChurch followed in the footsteps oftheir nation and were unwilling to havethis Christian and Jewish practice con-tinued within their ecclesiastical code.Many centuries passed away, duringwhich the common people were notpermitted to read the manuscript copiesof the Bible for themselves, and theywere traditioned by their priests to be-lieve that Monogamy was a Christianinstitution, and that Polygamy wasforbidden. This delusive traditionwas riveted more and more firmly uponthe minds of the people by the practi-ces and teaching of each succeedinggeneration of Christendom, until evenwhole nations in the western worldwere influenced to make laws prohibit-ing Polygamy, as something whichtradition had taught them was un-christian.

While the world was thus over-whelmed in darkness, following thefalse traditions and superstitions of thePapists, the great Reformers, MartinLuther, Philip Melancthon, Martin Bu-cer, Dennis Melanther, and numerousother German Divines, introduced awonderful reformation in many thingsamong which they re-established theright of their priests to marry ; andagain permitted the Divine institutionof Polygamy to exist in the Church.

Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, one ofthe principal Lords and Princes ofGermany, wrote to the great Reformer,Martin Luther, and to the principalheads of the reformation, anxiouslyimploring them to grant unto him theprivilege of marrying a second wife,while the first wife, his Princess, wasyet living. Many arguments wereurged by the Landgrave, showing thatthe practice was in accordance withthe Bible, and not prohibited underthe Christian dispensation. Upon thereception of this information, Luther,who had from the beginning of thereformation favored Polygamy, met incouncil with the principal ChristianDivines to consult upon the proprietyof granting the request of Lord Philip;after considering upon the subject, theyaddressed to him a lengthy letter, grant-ing him his request; at the same timeearnestly exhorting him to live a virtu-ous and upright life. The letter com-mences as follows :

"To the most serene Prince and LordPhilip Landgrave of Hesse, Countof Catzenlembogen, of Diets, of Zie-genhain, and Nidda, our graciousLord, we wish above all things theGrace cf God through Christ:" I. We have been informed by

Bucer, and in the instruction whichyour Highness gave him, have read,the trouble of mind and the uneasinessof conscience your Highness is underat this present ; and although it seemedto us very difficult so speedily to an-swer the doubts proposed ; neverthelesswe should not permit the said Bucer,who was urgent for his return to yourHighness to go away without an an-swer in writing."

CTIRISTIAN POLYGAMY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 179

Then follows a lengthy exhortationto the Prince to live a life of virtue asa remedy to promote his health forsay they,

" If your Highness, after marrying asecond wife, were not to forsake thoselicentious disorders, the remedy pro-posed would be to no purpose."

In the twenty-first paragraph, theycounsel the Landgrave to keep hissecond marriage a secret from the pub-lic at large, and that only a few trustypersons should be present at the cele-bration. This counsel is as follows :

" XXI. But after all, if your High-ness is fully resolved to marry a secondwife, we judge it ought to be donesecretly, as we have said with respectto the dispensation demanded on thesame account, that is, that none butthe person you shall wed, and a fewtrusty persons, know of the matter, andthey, too, obliged to secresy under theseal of confession. Hence no contra-diction nor scandal of moment need beapprehended ; for it is no extraordinarything for Princes to keep concubines ;and though the vulgar should be scan-dalized thereat, the more intelligentwould doubt of the truth, and prudentpersons would approve of this moderatekind of life, preferable to adultery, andother brutal actions. There is no needof being much concerned for what menwill say, provided all goes right withconscience. So far do we approve it,and in those circumstances only by usspecified ; for the Gospel hath neitherrecalled nor forbid what was permittedin the law of Moses with respect tomarriage. Jesus Christ has not chang-ed the external economy, but addedjustice only, and life-everlasting for re-ward. He teaches the true way ofobeying God, and endeavors to repairthe corruption of nature.

" Your Highness hath therefore, inthis writing, not only the approbationof us all, in case of necessity, con-cerning what you desire, but also thereflections we have made thereupon ;we beseech you to weigh them, as be-coming a virtuous, wise, and ChristianPrince. We also beg of God to directall for his glory and your Highness'ssalvation."

The letter closes with these words :" May God preserve your Highness.

We are most ready to serve your High-ness. Given at Wittemberg the Wed-nesday after the feast of Saint Nicholas,1539.

"Your Highness's most humble, andmost obedient subjects and servants,

MARTIN LUTHER,PHILIP MELANCTHON,MARTIN BUCER,ANTONY CORVIN,ADAM,JOHN LEVINGUE,JUSTUS WINTFERTE,DENNIS MELANTHER."

This letter is in Melancthon's ownhand-writing, as the following testimo-ny clearly shows :

" I George Nuspicher, Notary Impe-rial, bear testimony by this present act,written and signed with my own hand,that I have transcribed this presentcopy from the true original which is inMelancthon's own hand-writing, andbath been faithfully preserved to thispresent time. at the request of the mostserene Prince of Hesse ; and have ex-amined with the greatest exactnessevery line and every word, and collatedthem with the same original ; and havefound them conformable thereunto, notonly in the things themselves but alsoin the signs manuel, and have deliver-ed the present copy in five leaves ofgood paper, whereof I bear witness.

GEORGE NUSPICHER,Notary."

Having given extracts from the let-ter written by this Council of Protest-ant Christian Divines, permitting andapprobating Polygamy in their Church,we will next give the Marriage Contractinto which the Landgrave and his sec-ond spouse entered, and also the oathof Marriage administered to them bythe Reverend Dennis Melanther, preach-er to his Highness.

"The Marriage Contract of Philip,Landgrave of Hesse, with Margaretde Saal.

"In the name of God, Amen."Be it known to all those, as well in

general as in particular, who shall seA,


hear, or read this public instrument,that in the year 1540, on Wednesday,the fourth day of the month of March,at two o'clock or thereabouts in theafternoon, the thirteenth year of theIndiction, and the twenty-first of thereign of the most puissant and mostvictorious Emperor Charles VI., ourmost gracious Lord ; the most serenePrince and Lord, Philip, Landgrave ofHesse, Count of Catznelenbogen, ofDietz, of Ziegenhain, and Nidda, withsome of his Highness's Counsellors, onone side, and the good and virtuousLady Margaret de Saal with some ofher relatives, on the other side, haveappeared before me, Notary and wit-ness underwritten, in the city of Roten-burg, in the castle of the same city,with the design and will publicly tounite themselves by marriage ; and ac-cordingly my most gracious Lord andPrince Philip the Landgrave bath or-dered this to be proposed by the Rev-erend Denis Melander, preacher to hisHighness, much to the sense as follows :Whereas the eye of God searches all

things, and but little escapes the know-ledge of men, his Highness declaresthat his will is to wed the said Lady -

Margaret de Saal, although the Prin-cess his wife be still living, and thatthis action may not be imputed to in-constancy or curiosity : to avoid scan-dal and maintain the honor of the saidLady, and the reputation of her kin-dred, his Highness mak ,s oath herebefore God, and upon his soul andconscience, that he takes her to wifethrough no levity, nor curiosity, norfrom any contempt of law, or superiors;but that he is obliged to it by suchimportant, such inevitable necessities ofbody and conscience, that it is impossi-ble for him to save either body or soul,without adding another wife to his first.All which his Highness bath laid be-fore many learned, devout, prudent,and Christian preachers, and consultedthem upon it. And these great men,after examining the motives representedto them, have advised his Highness toput his soul and conscience at ease bythis double marriage. And the samecause and the same necessity haveobliged the most serene Princess Chris-

tina, Duchess of Saxony, his Highness'sfirst lawful wife, out of her great pru-dence and sincere devotion for whichshe is so much to be commended, freelyto consent and admit of a partner, tothe end, that the soul and body of hermost dear spouse may run no furtherrisk, and the glory of God may be in-creased, as the deed written with thePrincess's own hand sufficiently testi-fies. And lest occasion of scandal betaken from its not being the customto have two wives, although this beChristian and lawful in the presentcase, his Highness will not solemnizethesenuptials in the ordinary way,that is, publicly before many people,and with the wonted ceremonies, withthe said Margaret de Saal ; but boththe one and the other will join them-selves in wedlock, privately and withoutnoise, in presence only of the witnessesunderwritten.' After Melander hadfinished his discourse, the said Philipand the said Margaret accepted of eachother for husband and wife, and prom-ised mutual fidelity in the name of God.The said Prince bath required of me,Notary underwritten, to draw him oneor more collated copies of this contract,and bath also promised on the wordand faith of a Prince, to me a publicperson, to observe it inviolably, alwaysand without alteration, in presence ofthe Rev. and most learned masters,Philip Melancthon, Martin Bucer, DenisMelander; and likewise in the presenceof the illustrious and valiant Eberhardde Than, counsellor of his electoralHighness of Saxony, Herman de Mals-berg, Herman de Hundelshausen, theLord John Fegg of the Chancery, Ro-dulph Schenck; and also in the pres-ence of the most honorable and mostvirtuous Lady Anne, of the family ofMiltiz, widow of the late John de Saal,and mother of the Spouse, all in qualityof requisite witnesses for the validity ofthe present act.

" And I, Balthasar Rand, of Fuld,notary public imperial, who was pres-ent at the discourse, instruction, mar-riage, espousals, and union aforesaid,with the said witnesses, and have beardand seen all that passed, have writtenand subscribed the present contract,

CHRISTIAN POLYGAMY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 181

being requested so to do; and set to itthe usual seal for a testimonial of thetruth thereof.

BALTHASAR RAND."

These extracts have been taken fromthe 1st volume of a work entitled, "His-tory of the Variations of the Protest-ant Churches," by James Benign Bos-suet. They have also been extensivelypublished in other works.

These celebrated Protestant Divinesand great Christian Reformers of thesixteenth century, have thus most clear-ly decided that " the Gospel hath nei-ther recalled nor forbid what was per-mitted in the law of Moses with respectto Marriage." And in accordance withthese sentiments, they most freely de-clare to the Landgrave that, " YourHighness hath therefore, in this wri-ting," " the approbation of us all con-cerning what you desire." And " TheReverend Denis Melavder, preacher tohis Highness," administered the oathof marriage and solemnized the nup-tial ceremony in the name of God, de-claring that " to have two wives" was both" Christian and lawful ;" while, likeSarah, Leah, and Rachel—Abram andJacob's wives, " the most serene PrincessChristina, D u che s s of Saxony, ,his High-ness' s ,first lauful wife," freely consentedand admitted "of a partner," "as thedeed written with the Princess's ownhand sufficiently testifies."

These Reverend preachers did notcome to a hasty conclusion that Polyg-amy was approbated by the Gospel ; forLuther, "in a sermon which he deliver-ed at Wittenberg, for the reformation ofMarriage," in speaking of wives, says :

" If they are stubborn, it is fittingtheir husbands should tell them, if youwill not, another will; if the mistressrefuse to come, let the maid be called."

This " sermon was pronounced in1522," some eighteen years before theygave a written permission to the Land-grave to become a Christian Polyga-mist ; hence, it will be perceived thattheir conclusions in regard to the Di-vine approbation of Polygamy, wereformed after many years reflection uponthe subject.

Having proved that the heads of the

Protestant Reformation in Germanyapprobated Polygamy in their Church,we will next show that at the same pe-riod the supreme head and founder ofthe Church of England—Henry VIII,was a Polygamist. This King, havingbeen married for upwards of twentyyears to Catharine of. Arragon, becamedeeply in love with Anne Boleyn ; andin the year 1532, he was privately mar-ried to her, while Catharine still re-mained his lawful wife. This secondmarriage, like that of the GermanPrince, was celebrated in secret throughfear of public scandal ; for it should beremembered, that through the delusiveinfluence of the Romish church, themost of the people had been tradition-,ed. to believe that Polygamy was un-christian ; hence, it became, in theirestimation, scandalous ; and those whobelieved to the contrary, and wished topractice this Divine institution, wereunder the painful necessity of keepingtheir marriage contracts with their sec-ond wives partially secret, only permit-ting a few trusty friends to witness thesame.

The king, after having been privatelymarried to Anne Boleyn, his secondwife, through fear of being scandalizedas a Polygamist, sought for a divorcefrom his first wife, Catharine ; but thehead of the Rornish Church would notsanction his proceedings, whereupon,the King forthwith proclaimed himselfthe supreme head of the church, andinvented new Articles of Religion, andenforced the same upon the peopleunder the penalty of martyrdom. Some,refusing to acknowledge him as headof the church, were shamefully torturedand put to death. Thus was laid thefoundation of the great and popularchurch of England ; its first celebratedhead and founder, being a polygamist.

It is evident that the more intelligentand learned portion of England con-sidered Polygamy perfectly consistantwith Christianity, or they never wouldhave confirmed by Parliamentary acts,the title of " Supreme Head of theChurch" upon their Polygamist King.It is in vain for the church of Englandto say that Polygamy is not sanctionedby the gospel, so long as they acknow-


ledge that the very founder and headof their church was a Polygamist.

Though Polygamy is a Divine insti-tution, yet both the German and Eng-lish Reformers were not justified, in theabsence of an inspired Priesthood, inofficiating in the nuptial ceremonies.Not having the Priesthood, they hadno authority to officiate in a divineordinance. Though Polygamy waspracticed in unrighteousness, under thesanction and approbation of the greatChristian Divines of the sixteenth cen-tury, yet it proves most conclusively,that those Divines did sincerely believeit to be just as regal and lawful for aChristian to have two wives as to haveone only ; and they, no doubt acted inall good conscience in accordance withtheir firm conviction.

Thus Polygamy, after having beenabolished for many centuries from thechurches of Christendom, was again re-instituted therein by the most cele-brated Reformers of the sixteenth cen-tury. But they dare not, through fearof scandal, publicly proclaim this divineinstitution. It remained for the Re-nowned Prophet of the nineteenth cen-tury, Joseph Smith, to restore this di-vine institution in all its original purityto the earth, by the word and com-mandment of the Most High God. Itremained for the inspired Apostles andElders of the restored Church of God,to publicly announce to all nationsthe re-institution of this sacred andChristian ordinance. They do not fearthe scandal of the deluded fanatics ofan apostate church : they do not trembleto announce in the presence of an apos-tate priesthood, the beauty and holinessof the Divine institution of Marriage,whether including one or more wives :they are not ashamed to practice andproclaim publicly, that which the Pro-testant Divines, though convinced ofits righteousness and purity, dare onlyapprobate in secret. But in sayingthis, we would not boast, neither wouldwe speak disrespectfully of the timidityof those good Christian Reformers ;they were not sent to restore the Chris-tian Church to the earth with all itsheavenly ordinances and principles ;and not being sent and clothed with

the power of the everlasting Priesthood,they could not speak as men havingauthority, and consequently were timid,and afraid of scandal, and approbatedPolygamy privately ; this care or pru-dence was no doubt best, under thestrong power of tradition and othercircumstances with which they weresurrounded.

But " the times of the restitution ofall things which God Bath spoken bythe mouth of all his holy prophets sincethe world began " are at hand, prepara-tory to the coming of Jesus Christ,whom the heavens must receive untilthe restitution of all things is completed,when he will again be sent to take untohimself his great power and reign overallpeople. Among the "all things"which the prophets have predictedshould be restored before the Messiahcomes is Polygamy. The holy prophetIsaiah predicted, that in the day thatthe cloud and fire should be restoredto the earth, as should be manifestedupon all the assemblies and dwellingplaces of Zion, every one in that cityshould be called holy and should bebeautiful and glorious, and that sevenwomen would take hold of one man,anxiously imploring him to let thembe called by his name to take awaytheir reproach, at the same time,promising that they would be no ex-pense to him, but would agree to eattheir own bread and wear their ownapparel, if he would only become theirhusband and let them be called by hisname. Thus we see that the Messiahnever would come, unless Polygamywere restored to the Christian Church ;for the heavens must receive him untilall things are restored which all theholy prophets have predicted. If anyshould suppose that this prediction, sofar as Polygamy is concerned, was ful-filled by the early protestants, we reply,that it is true that the protestant Di-vines restored Polygamy, but in theirday we have an account of only twowomen taking hold of one man, bytheir approbation, whereas Isaiah saysexpressly, that it is to be SEVENWOMEN who are to do this : there-fore, though it cannot but be admittedthat the Reformers restored Polygamy,


yet they cannot claim the honor ofhaving restored it in the full sense ofIsaiah's prediction. This honor wasreserved for a people who should becalled Zion, where all should eventuallybe called beautiful, and glorious, andholy. The pure and virtuous daughtersof Zion will consider it a great reproachto remain single and have no posterity :hence, their exceedingly great anxietyfor husbands, that their reproach maybe taken away. They will learn thata woman cannot, through her owncarelessness or neglect, fail to fulfil theend of her creation, without bringingupon herself everlasting reproach, aswell as condemnation for disobeying

the Lord's great and first command-ment to multiply. Oh, how differentwill be their feelings from those nowmanifested by females traditionedunder papist and protestant super-stitions ! Surely there must be somamighty changes and revolutions whenall things that the ancient prophetshave predicted shall be restored ! Poly-gamy, as well as Monogamy, will thenbe honored by all the heavenly hostsabove, and by all the nations of therighteous upon the earth ; and therewill not be so much as a dog to movehis tongue against any of the insti-tutions of the Bible.

EDITOR.

.s-4441111■•■--• •

CELESTIAL MARRIAGE:

(Concluded.)

Rule 18 th, .—Let each mother com-mence with her children when young,not only to teach and instruct them,but to chasten and bring them into themost perfect subjection ; for then isthe time that they are the most easilyconquered, and their tender minds arethe most susceptible of influences andgovernment. Many mothers from care-lessness neglect their children, and onlyattempt to govern them at long inter-vals, when they most generally findtheir efforts of no lasting benefit ; forthe children having been accustomedto have their own way, do not easilyyield ; and if peradventure they doyield, it is only for the time being,until the mother relaxes again intocarelessness, when they return again totheir accustomed habits : and thus byhabit they become more and more con-firmed in disobedience, waxing worseand worse, until the mother becomesdiscouraged, and relinquishes all dis-cipline, and complains that she cannotmake her children mind. The fault isnot so much in the children, as in thecarelessness and neglect of the motherwhen the children were young ; it isshe that must answer, in a great de-gree, for the evil habits and disobe-dience of the children. She is more

directly responsible than the fatherfor it cannot be expected that the fathercan always find time, apart from thelaborious duties required of him, tocorrect and manage his little childrenwho are at home with their mothers.It is frequently the case that the fatheris called to attend to duties in publiclife, and may be absent from homemuch of his time, when the whole dutyof family government necessarily restsupon the respective mothers of hischildren ; if they, through carelessness,suffer their children to grow up in dis-obedience and ruin themselves, theymust bear the shame and disgracethereof. Some mothers, though notcareless, and though they feel thegreatest anxiety for the welfare of theirchildren, yet, through a mistaken notionof love for them, forbear to punish themwhen they need punishment, or if theyundertake to conquer them, their ten-derness and pity are so great, that theyprevail over the judgment, and thechildren are left unconquered, and be-come more determined to resist allfuture efforts of their mothers until, atlength, they conclude that their chil-dren have a more stubborn dispositionthan others, and that it is impossibleto subject them in obedience. In this


case, as in that of neglect, the fault isthe mothers. The stubbornness of thechildren, for the most part, is the effectof the mother's indulgence, arising fromher mistaken idea of love. By thatwhich she calls love, she ruins herchildren.

Children between one and two yearsof age are capable of being made tounderstand many things; then is thetime to begin with them. How oftenwe see children of that age manifestmuch .anger. Frequently by cryingthrough anger, they that are otherwisehealthy, injure themselves : it is farbetter, in such instances, for a motherto correct her child in a gentle manner,though with decision and firmness,until she conquers it, and causes it tocease crying, than to suffer that habitto increase. When the child by gentlepunishment has learned this one lessonfrom its mother, it is much more easilyconquered and brought into subjectionin other things, until finally, by a littleperseverance on the part of the mother,it learns to be obedient to her voice inall things ; and obedience becomes con-firmed into a permanent habit. Sucha child trained by a negligent or over-indulgent mother, might have becomeconfirmed in habits of stubbornness anddisobedience. It is not so much in theoriginal constitution of children as intheir training, that causes such widedifferences in their dispositions. Itcannot be denied, that there is a dif-ference in the constitution of childreneven from their birth ; but this dif-ference is mostly owing to the properor improper conduct of parents, as be-fore stated ; therefore, even for this dif-ference, parents are more or less re-sponsible. If parents, through theirown evil conduct entail hereditary dis-positions upon their children which arecalculated to ruin them, unless properlycurtailed and overcome, they shouldrealise, that for that evil they mustrender an account. If parents havebeen guilty in entailing upon their off-spring unhappy dispositions, let themrepent, by using all diligence to savethem from the evil consequences whichwill naturally result by giving way tothose dispositions. The greater the

derangement, the greater must be theremedy, and the more skilful andthorough should be its application, untilthat which is sown in evil is overcomeand completely subdued. In this wayparents may save themselves and theirchildren ; but otherwise there is con-demnation. Therefore, we repeat again,let mothers begin to discipline theirchildren when young.

Rule 19 th.--Do not correct childrenin anger ; an angry parent is not aswell prepared to judge of the amountof punishment which should be inflictedupon a child, as one that is more cooland exercised with reflection, reason,and judgment. Let your children seethat you punish them, not to gratify anangry disposition, but to reform themfor their good, and it will have a salu-tary influence ; they will not look uponyou as a tyrant, swayed to and fro byturbulent and furious passions ; butthey will regard you as one that seekstheir welfare, and that you only chastenthem because you love them, and wishthem to do well. Be deliberate andcalm in your counsels and reproofs, butat the same time use earnestness anddecision. Let your children know thatyour words must be respected andobeyed.

Rule 2011/.—Never deceive your chil-dren by threatnings or promises. Becareful not to threaten them with apunishment which you have no inten-tion of inflicting; for this will causethem to lose confidence in your word ;besides, it will cause them to contractthe habit of lying : when they perceivethat their parents do not fulfil theirthreatenings or promises, they will con-sider that there is no harm in forfeitingtheir word. Think not that your pre-cepts, concerning truthfulness, will havemuch weight upon the minds of yourchildren, when they are contradictedby your examples. Be careful to fulfilyour word in all things in righteous-ness, and your children will not onlylearn to be truthful from your example,but they will fear to disobey your word,knowing that you never fail to punishor reward according to your threatningsand promises. Let your laws, penalties,and rewards be founded upon the prin-


ciples of justice and mercy, and adaptedto the capacities of your children ; forthis is the way that our heavenly Fathergoverns His children, giving to somea Celestial ; to others a Terrestrial ;and to others still a Telestial law, withpenalties and promises annexed, accord-ing to the conditions, circumstances,and capacities of the individuals to begoverned. Seek for wisdom and pat-tern after the heavenly order of govern-ment.

Rule 2lst.—Do not be so stern andrigid in your family government as torender yourself an object of fear anddread. There are parents who onlyrender themselves conspicious in theattribute of Justice, while mercy andlove are scarcely known in their fami-lies. Justice should be tempered withmercy, and love should be the greatmoving principle, interweaving itself inall your family administrations. Whenjustice alone sits upon the throne, yourchildren approach you with dread, orperadventure hide themselves from yourpresence, and long for your absencethat they may be relieved from theirfear ; at the sound of your approachingfoot-steps they flee as from an enemy,and tremble at your voice, and shrinkfrom the gaze of your countenance, asthough they expected some terriblepunishment to be inflicted upon them.Be familiar with your children thatthey may delight themselves in yoursociety, and look upon you as a kindand tender parent whom they delightto obey. Obedience inspired by love,and obedience inspired by fear, are en-tirely different in their nature ; theformer will be permanent and enduring,while the latter only waits to have theobject of fear removed, and it vanisheslike a dream. Govern children asparents, and not as tyrants ; for theywill be parents in their turn, and willbe very likely to adopt that form ofgovernment in which they have beeneducated. If you have been tyrants,they may be influenced to pattern afteryour example. If you are fretful andcontinually scolding, they .1,;11 be veryapt to be scolds too. If you are loving,kind, and merciful, these benign in-fluences will be very certain to infuse

themselves into their order of familygovernment ; and thus good and evilinfluences frequently extend themselvesdown for many generations and ages.How great, then, are the responsibilitiesof parents to their children ! And howfearful the consequences of bad ex-amples ! Let love, therefore, predomi-nate and control you, and your childrenwill be sure to discover it, and willlove you in return.

Rule 22nd.—Let each mother teachher children to honor and love theirfather, and to respect his teachings andcounsels. How frequently it is thecase, when fathers undertake to correcttheir children, mothers will interfere inthe presence of the children : this hasa very evil tendency in many respects :first, it destroys the oneness of feelingwhich should exist between husbandand wife ; secondly, it weakens theconfidence of the children in the father,and emboldens them to disobedience ;thirdly, it creates strife and discord ;and lastly, it is rebelling against theorder of family government, establishedby divine wisdom. If the mother sup-poses the father too severe, let her notmention this in the presence of thechildren, but she can express her feel-ings to him while alone by themselves,and thus the children will not see anydivision between them. For husbandand wives to be disagreed, and to con-tend, and quarrel, is a great evil ; andto do these things in the presence oftheir children, is a still greater evil.Therefore, if a husband and his wiveswill quarrel and destroy their own hap-piness, let them have pity upon theirchildren, and not destroy them by theirpernicious examples.

Rule 23rd.—Suffer not children ofdifferent mothers to be haughty andabusive to each other ; for they areown brothers and sisters the same asthe children of the patriarch Jacob ;and one has no claim above another,only as his conduct merits it. Shouldyou discover contentions or differencesarising, do not justify your own childrenand condemn the others in their pre-sence ; for this will encourage them intheir quarrels : even if you considerthat your children are not so much in


the fault as the others, it is far better •to teach them of the evils of strife, thanto speak against the others. To speakagainst them, not only alienates theiraffections, but has a tendency to offendtheir mothers, and create unpleasantfeelings between you and them. Alwaysspeak well of each of your husband'swives in the presence of your children ;for children generally form their judg-ment concerning others, by the sayingsof their parents : they are very apt torespect those whom their parents re-spect ; and hate those whom they hate.If you consider that some of the mothersare too lenient with their children andtoo negligent in correcting them, donot be offended, but strive, by the wiseand prudent management of your own,to set a worthy example before them,that they, by seeing your judicious andwise course, may be led to go and dolikewise. Examples will sometimes re-form, when precepts fail.

Rule 24th.—Be industrious in yourhabits : this is important as fulfillingthe law of God : it is also importantfor tie who are in low circumstances,that they may acquire food, and raiment,and the necessary comforts of life : itis also important for the rich as well asthe poor, that they may be able moreabundantly to supply the wants of theneedy, and be in circumstances to helpthe unfortunate and administer to thesick and afflicted ; for in this way, it ispossible even for the rich to enter intothe kinwdom of heaven. A familywhose time is occupied in the usefuland lawful avocations of life, will findno time to go from house to house,tattling and injuring one another andtheir neighbors ; neither will they beso apt to quarrel among themselves.

Rule 25th.—When your childrenare from three to five years of age, sendthem to school, and keep them thereyear after year until they receive athorough education in all the rudimentsof useful science, and in their manners,and morals. In this manner, they willavoid many evils, arising from indo-lence, and form habits that will renderthem beneficial to society in after life.Let mothers educate their daughters inall kinds of domestic labor : teach them

to wash and iron, to bake and do allkinds of cooking, to knit and sew, tospin and weave, and to do all otherthings that will qualify them to begood and efficient housewives, Letfathers educate their sons in whateverbranch or branches of business, they in-tend them respectively to follow. De-spise that false delicacy which is ex-hibited by the sons and daughters ofthe rich, who consider it a dishonor tolabor at the common avocations of life.Such notions of high-life, should befrowned out of the territory, as too con-temptible to be harbored, for one mo-ment, by a civilized community. Someof these bogus gentlemen and ladieshave such grand ideas, concerninggentility, that they would let theirpoor old father and mother slavethemselves to death, to support themin their idleness, or at some uselessfanciful employment. The daughterwill sit down in the parlour at herpainting or music, arrayed in silks andfineries, and let her lia.oth.er wash andcook until, through fatigue, she is readyto fall into her grave : this they callgentility, and the distinctions betweenthe low and the high. But such daugh-ters are not worthy of husbands, andshould not be admitted into any re-spectable society: they are contemptibledrones, that would be a curse to anyhusband who should be so unfortunateas to be connected with such nuisances.Painting, music, and all the fine arts,should be cherished, and cultivated, asaccomplishments which serve to adornand embellish an enlightened civilizedpeople, and render life agreeable andhappy ; but when these are cultivated,to the exclusion of the more necessaryduties and qualifications, it is likeadorning swine with costly jewels andpearls to make them appear more re-spectable : these embellishments, onlyrender such characters a hundred foldmore odious and disgustful than theywould otherwise appear.

Rule 26 th,.—Use economy and avoidwastefulness. How discouraging itwould be to a husband who has a largefamily, depending mostly upon his laborfor a support, to see his wives andchildren carelessly, thoughtlessly, and


unnecessarily, waste his hard earnings.Let not one wife, for fear that she shallnot obtain her share of the income,destroy, give away, and otherwise fool-ishly dispose of what is given to her,thinking that her husband will furnishher with more. Those who economizeand wisely use that which is given tothem, should be counted worthy to re-ceive more abundantly than those whopursue a contrary course. Each wifeshould feel interested in saving and pre-serving that with which the Lord hasentrusted her, and should rejoice, notonly in her prosperity, but in the pros-perity of all the others: her eyes shouldnot be full of greediness to grasp everything herself, but she should feel equal-ly interested in the welfare of the wholefamily. By pursuing this course shewill be beloved : by taking a contrarycourse, she will be considered selfishand little minded.

Rule 27th.--Let husbands, wives,sons, and daughters, continually realizethat their relationships do not end withthis short life, but will continue in eter-nity without end. Every qualificationand disposition therefore, which willrender them happy here, should benourished, cherished, enlarged, and per-fected, that their union may be indis-soluble, and their happiness securedboth for this world and for that whichis to come.

Let these rules be observed, and allothers that are good and righteous,and peace will be the result : husbandswill be patriarchs and saviours ; wiveswill be like fruitful vines, bringing forthprecious fruits in their seasons : theirsons will be like plants of renown, andtheir daughters like the polished stonesof a palace. Then the saints shallflourish upon the hills and rejoice uponthe mountains, and become a greatpeople and strong, whose goings forthshall be with strength that is everlast-ing. Arise, 0 Zion! clothe thyself withlight ! shine forth with clearness andbrilliancy ! illuminate the nations andthe dark corners of the earth, for theirlight is gone out—their sun is set—gross darkness covers them ! let thylight be seen upon the high places ofthe earth; let it shine in glorious splen.-

dour ; for then shall the wicked see,and be confounded, and lay their handsupon their mouths in shame ; thenshall kings arise, and come forth tothe light, and rejoice in the greatnessof thy glory ! Fear not, 0 Zion, norlet thine hands be slack, for great is theHoly One in the amidst of thee ! acloud shall be over thee by day for adefense, and at night thy dwellings shallbe encircled with glory ! God is thineeverlasting light, and shall be a Towerof strength against thine enemies ; atthe sound of His voice they shall meltaway, and terrors shall seize uponthem. In that day thou shalt bebeautiful and glorious, and the re-proach of the Gentiles shall no morecome into thine ears; in that day, shallthe sons of them that afflicted theecome bending unto thee and bow them-selves down at the soles of thy feet ;and the daughters of them that re-proached thee, shall come, saying, Wewill eat our own bread and wear ourown apparel, only let us be joined inthe patriarchal order of marriage withthe husbands and patriarchs in Zion totake away our reproach : then shallthey highly esteem, far above riches,that which their wicked fathers ridi-culed under the name of Polygamy.

We will close this lengthy article onthe subject of Celestial Marriage bypropounding the following questions forthe consideration of such of our read-ers as may be opposed to the pluralitysystem.

1. If plurality is offensive in thesight of God, why was Abraham, whopracticed it, called the friend of God,and the father of the faithful ? Whydid the Lord promise that in him, aswell as in his seed, all the families ofthe earth should be blessed ? Whyrequire all the families of the earth,under the Christian dispensation, to beadopted into the family of a Polyga-mist in order to be saved ? Whychoose a Polygamist to be the fatherof all saved families ? Why requireall Christian families in order to besaved, to walk in the steps and do theworks of Abraham ? Why did Godproclaim Himself to be " The God ofAbraham, the God of Isaac, and the


God of Jacob," and say that this shall" MY NAME AND MY MEMORIALTO ALL GENERATIONS ?" (SeeExodus 3 : 15.) If Polygamy is notto be sanctioned among the genera-tions of Christendom, why did He re-present Himself to be the God of Polyg-amists, and say that all generationsshould adopt that memorial of Hith ?Why choose these Polygamists to beexamples for Christians, and say, thatmany should come from the east andthe west, from the north and the south,and sit down with them in the king-dom of God ? Will Abraham's wivesand concubines, and Jacob's four wivesbe in the kingdom of God with theirhusbands ? If so, will it not greatlycorrupt the morals of Christians to sitdown in the same kingdom with them ?Will not Christians be greatly ashamedto be found sitting in the company ofPolygamists ? Will not Christians en-tirely ruin their characters by beingadopted into the family of so noted aPolygamist as Abraham, and be obligedto acknowledge him as father, and becalled his children ? " The Scriptureforeseeing that God would justify theheathen through faith, preached beforethe Gospel unto Abraham, saying, Inthee shall all nations be blessed." (Gal.3: 8.) What kind of Gospel was preach-ed unto Abraham ? Was it not thesame Gospel that was preached afterChrist, by which the heathen were tobe justified, and by which all the fami-lies of the earth might be blessed bybecoming the children of Abrahamthrough adoption ? Did it not requirethe same Gospel to save the Polyga-mist father in the kingdom of God, asthat Tihich saves his adopted childrenthat sit down with him in the samekingdom ? Does the Gospel, sinceChrist exalt Christians to a more glo-rious kingdom than the one whereAbraham dwells ? If not, is it anybetter than the Gospel preached toAbraham ? Did not Abraham see theday of Christ and rejoice in it, and lookforward to his atoning sacrifice, thesame as Christians afterwards lookedback to the same atonement ? If theGospel which was preached to Abra-ham required the same faith—the same

repentance—the same justification—the same sanctification through theHoly Ghost—if it procured for him thesame blessings—the same gifts of proph-ecy and revelations—the same gifts ofseeing visions and of conversing withangels—the sam6 miraculous powersand heavenly promises—if it made himworthy of the title of the friend of God,and exalted him to be the father of thefaithful, even the father of all saved na-tions—if, moreover, it saved him in thekingdom of God—in the same king-dom where his Christian children areto sit down with him—then was it notthe Gospel of Christianity—the verysame Gospel that was preached afterChrist ? And if the same Gospel, thenwho dare deny, that Polygamy was notpractised by the very best of men,under a Christian and Gospel dispensa-tion ? Who dare say that Abraham'srighteousness was not as great as therighteousness of his children ?

2. Did not the Lord greatly blessand prosper Jacob both before arid afterhe became a Polygamist ? Did he notcontinue to give him many revelationsand visions, and send hosts of angels toconverse with him ? If Polygamywere a crime, would not God have in-formed him of the fact ? If it weresinful, would he have saved him in Hiskingdom without repentance ? As Ja-cob did not repent, but continued a po-lygamist until his death, and as lie wassaved, he must have been saved in hissins ; for God does not forgive sinswithout repentance ; or, otherwise, po-lygamy is no sin. Why did the Lordrestrain Sarai, Abram's wife, from bear-ing ? (Gen. 16: 2.) Was it not becauseshe for a long time neglected to giveAbram another wife that he mightbecome the father of many nations ?After she had given Hager to herhusband, the Lord- then condescendedto give her a son. If polygamy werecriminal and sinful, why did Rachelgive Bilhah to her husband ? wouldshe have sacrificed her feelings in thisway for the sake of committing sin ?would she have sacrificed, not onlythe dearest earthly object she had,but also subjected herself to sin andcondemnation, and run the risk of


sacrificing her eternal salvation, merelyfor the object of having Bilhah raiseup children for her ? What benefitwould Bilhah's children be to her, com-pared with the love which a wife hasfor her husband, and especially withthe love of justification before God ?Does not this example then of self-sacrifice, show most conclusively thatRachel acted from a higher motivethan the ruin of her soul for the sakeof her husband's raising up childrenby Bilhah ? Does it not prove that asense of duty alone operated upon hermind and urged her on to make sogreat a sacrifice? How did Leah pre-vail with the Lord to obtain morechildren ? She had several years be-fore raised unto her husband foursons, but for some reason the Lordhad for some length of time restrainedher from bearing. What particularduty did she perform in order to againbe blessed with children ? She gaveher handmaiden Zilpah to her hus-band for a wife. Did this sacrificeproduce the desired effect ? Yes it sohigh!y pleased the Lord that He heark-ened unto Leah, and she conceived,and bare Jacob a fifth son. And Leahsaid, " God bath given me my hire,because I have given my maiden tomy husband." (Genesis 30.) Canit be said, in this case, that the loveof having additional children, born byanother woman would have inducedher to yield to so great a sacrifice ?If children were the object, she alreadyhad them of her own; and certainly,Zilpah's children could not have beenas dear to her as her own dear hus-band. What higher object then couldhave induced her to make the sacri-fice ? If plurality were sinful, wouldshe have expected that her sins wouldprevail with the Lord, and that hercrimes would cause him to hearken toher prayer and give her additionalchildren ? If giving her maiden toher husband was offensive to God,why did He hearken to her prayer andbless her for so doing ? Do not allthese facts prove that God was highlypleased with the plurality system aspracticed by those holy men andwomen.

3. Where was there ever a moreholy man than Moses with whom Godspake face to face ? Did not Mosesknow about Christ, and Christianity,and the gospel ? Jesus says, thatMoses wrote of him : Paul says thatMoses esteemed the reproach of Christgreater riches than the treasures ofEgypt : and again he says, thatthe gospel was preached unto them (thechildren of Israel in the wilderness)as well as unto us, and testifies, thatthey were baptized in the cloud andin the sea. If Moses then believedthe gospel, and was baptized, and em-braced Christianity, and suffered thereproach of Christ, was he not aChristian just as much as those whoembraced the gospel after Christ ?Moses therefore, was a Christain po-lygamist and set the example beforeall Israel, and when his own brotherand sister, Aaron and Miriam theprophetess, spake against one of hiswives, the Lord was very angry withthem and smote Mariam with theleprosy. (Numbers 12.) Did not theLord by this act show most clearlythat He approbated polygamy, andthat he held sacred to Moses the wiveshe had taken ? Did not God himselfgive laws through Moses to regulatethe descent of property in the familiesof polygamists ? Was not Moses,though a polygamist saved in thekingdom of God ? Did not Mosesand Elias appear in glory to Peter,James, and John in the holy mount atthe time of Christ's transfiguration ?If Moses could be saved by the gospel,and by embracing Christ, then is itnot certain that polygamy was appro-bated just as much under the gospelas under the law ?

4. If polygamy was sinful andcriminal, Why did God command theliving brother to marry all the wid-ows of his deceased brothers who diedwithout children ? Would God com-mand his people under a heavy pen-alty to commit sin and then pun-ish them for doing it ? It must havebeen a hard case, if the children of Is-rael were to be cursed if they did notkeep the law, and then again to becursed if they did keep it ! yet this


must have been the case, if they wereto be cursed for being polygamistswhen the law of God compelled themin certain cases to be such.

5. In the days of Christ while thelaw of Moses was yet in full force,there must have been thousands of Is-rael who were compelled by their lawto be polygamists or else suffer thepenalty of the curse annexed to thatlaw : In what way could those polyg-amists embrace Christianity and bereceived into the Church of Christ ?Was it lawful for polygamists to bebaptized into the Christian Church ?If not, would the gospel permit themto divorce all their wives but one ?Would the gospel permit themto put assunder those whom God, byhis express command, had joined to-gether ? If the gospel would allowall but one to be divorced, then whichwives were to be cast out with theirchildren, and which one was to be re-tained ? But if the gospel would notpermit these Jewish Polygamists todivorce their wives, except in cases ofadultery, what could they do ? Couldthey be saved without coming into theChristian Church ? And if not, mustthey be damned without remedy ?Did they by keeping the law, accor-din,(►• to Gods command, place them-selves in a hopeless condition, whereChristianity could not reach them ?If so, they must have been sent to hellif they had failed to keep the law, andChristianity sends them to hell, with-out offering any remedy, because theyhave kept the law and thus becomepolygamists. lint this is too absurdfar even savages to believe. It wouldbe most shocking blasphemy to makeGod the Author of so wicked a doc-trine. No one can dispute, then, butthat these Jewish polygamists with alltheir wives had the same privilege ofentering the Christian Church as anyothers. And as this must have beenthe case, then who dare say that po-lygamy was not practiced and approba-ted by lhose in the Christian Churchin the days of our Saviour and hisapostles ? Was there any possiblechance of extricating the Jewish po-lygamist from his dilemma and saving

him in the kingdom of God, short ofChristianity ? So certain as any ofthem were saved, so certain did Chris-tianity tolerate polygamy ; for we arecertain that it did not tolerate divor-ces only for a certain transgression.

6. If polygamy is to be consideredsinful under the gospel dispensation,why did DaVid speak of time honorablewives of the son of God himself andso particularly describe one of IIisQueens. Would Christ sanction asinful institution by his own practice ?and then command his disciples to fol-low him ?

7. if polygamists cannot be admit-ed into the Christian Church, Whydid Isaiah prophesy concerning thefuture glory of Zion under the Chris-tian dispensation, and inform us that"In that clay seven women should takehold of one man saying, We will eatour own bread and wear our own ap-parel only let us be called by thy nameto take away our reproach ? " If suchthings are sinful, Why did Isaiahfurther predict, that " In that daythe branch of time Lord should bebeautiful and glorious and that everyone who should be left in Zion shouldbe called holy, and that all theirdwellings and assemblies should beovershadowed with a cloud and smokeby day, and, a pillar of fire by night ?Why are these polygamists who are tohave seven women hold of their skirtsto be called holy—to be so beautifuland glorious—to have such magnifi-cent displays of the glory of God intheir midst ? Why is all this yet totake place under the Christian dispensa-tion, if polygamy is not to be tolerated inthe church of Christ and is so offensivein the sight of God ? Do not all thesethings demonstrate that polygamy iscompatible with Christianity, and thatit has existed and will exist in the Chris-tian Church in the days of its greatestglory ? Can any Bible reader or Biblebeliever dispute this

8. Can any one tell why David be-fore he committed adultery and wasthe means of shedding innocent bloodwas called a man after God's ownheart ? Did he not marry sevenwives before God exalted him to the


throne of Israel ? After David had al-ready taken seven wives, why did Godgive him all of Saul's wives in addi-tion ? Did the Lord think that Davidhad not a suflicent number that Hehimself should give him more ? Whodare say that polygamy is not a divineinstitution when God commanded it bythe mouth of Moses, and then actuallygave Saul's wives into David's bosom ?

9. If polygamy is not a divine insti-tution Why did that good man Jehoi-ada the high priest give two wives tothe good king joash ? Was not thisdone by a righteous man and by thehighest authority of the priesthoodthat God had upon the earth

10. If polygamy is not a divine in-stitution why did God command theprophet Hosea to marry two wives ?

11. If among the people of God,polygamy is not more pleasing thanmonogamy or the one wife system,why did God command Israel to killall their male captives and to save allthe virgins alive for themselves? Whydid he command them to do this as ageneral rule in all their future warsagainst foreign cities and nationsWas it not instituted in order to sup-ply Israel with women enough tomake a nation of polygamists ?Was it not in this way, that He in-tended to greatly multiply Israel andmake them as the sands upon the seashore, according to the promises madeto their polygamist ancestors ?

12. If among the righteous polyga-mists are not more honorable in thesight of God than the monogamists,why is it that God generally chose theformer to be deliverers, judges, rulers,kings, priests, prophets, and patriarchs,in preference to the latter ? Whywas Gideon who had many wives andno less than seventy-two sons, chosento deliver -Israel ? Why did the Kingof kings and Lord of lords choose tobe born into this world in a familywhose ancestors were noted polygamists?Do not all these things prove, that amongthe righteous, God prefered the systemof polygamy to that of monogamy ?

13. If polygamy was not permittedin the Christian Church, why did Paulrequire Timothy to select from among

the church members men who werethe husbands of one wife for the offi-ces of bishops and deacons ? If therewere no polygamists in church, wouldit have been possible for Timothy tohave selected them ? And if not pos-sible, why did Paul give the advice ?Does not this prove most conclusivelythat polygamy did exist in thatchurch ? Does Paul any where repre-sent polygamy to be evil or immoraldid not he require such selections tobe made in order that these officersmight not be encumbered with thecares of a large family ? It might benecessary sometimes under particularcircumstances, to select young menthat were single for ordination, to besent on particular missions, whereeven one wife would be a great incum-brance and for the time being a hin-drance to their usefulness. Because,under such circumstances, instructionswere given to select single men ;should it therefore be inferred that itwas sinful for others to be husbands ?So likewise, considering the arduousduties, required of bishops and dea-cons, Paul thought best to select forthese offices husbands having one wife ;should it therefore be inferred that itwas sinful for other husbands to havemore than one ?

14. Did our Saviour or any of hisApostles ever forbid polygamy or con-demn it as sinful ? If not why shouldChristendom now condemn it ? Dothey think to be more righteous inthis respect, than Jesus Christ thegreat Author of Christianity ?

15. There are hundre(is of thou-sands of polygamists among the vari-ous nations of the earth who havemarried their wives according to thelaws of their respective go-ernments.When Christendom send forth theirmissionaries to convert them, in whatway can they be admitted intothe church ? Must they divorce alltheir wives but one ? If so, which oneshall they retain, and which ones shallthey cast away upon the cruel merciesof the world ? A certain wealthy,kind, and benevolent man, in Asia whoknows nothing of Christianity, purcha-ses for himself ten virgins and marries


them all at the same time, according tothe customs and laws of his country.Each of his wives raises up unto himfour children. After which a mission-ary from Christendom happens alongand preaches to him and his numerousfamily, Christianity : he, and his tenwives, and forty children, all believeand wish to be baptized into theChristian Church. He is told by themissionary that he must divorce allhis wives but one, without which hecannot be received. But neither themissionary nor the man himself knowof any rule to decide which one ofthe ten is to be retained ? They wereall married to him at the same time ;all have been true to him ; and eachhave borne to him an equal number ofchildren. But at length, without anyrule, the decision is made ; nine-tenthsof his dear family are put away ; nothowever, without a heart-rending sac-rifice of feelings on the part of himselfand his beloved family. He and hisone wife are now admitted into thechurch and considered good Christians.But two-thirds of his family who arethus torn from his embrace and castout, begin to doubt very seriouslywhether Christianity is as good as thereligion of their own nation. Theybegin to think that a religion that willthus break up families cannot be good ;they renounce it at once, and turn totheir idolatry. As for the other thirdof the sorrowful out cast wives, per-haps they may even yet have a feintlingering hope that Christianity is atrue system of religion ; but havingno husband and protector, they finallymeet with an opportunity of marryingidolatrous husbands : and after awhile, having no Christian husbandsto guide them, they entirely lose whatlittle faith they had, and embrace a-

gain the religion of their husbands andfathers, and the poor children followthe examples of their mothers. Thusthe nine wives and thirty-six childrenwho believed in Christianity and wouldhave entered the church with theirhusband and father, had they notbeen put away, are forced into circum-stances, calculated to destroy and en-tirely irradicate from their minds allfaith in the Christian religion. DoesChristianity require missionaries topursue such a course among polyga-mist nations ? Does it require themto tear asunder family ties ; to breakup and scatter in some instances nine-tenths of those who are nearer andmore precious to each other than life ?Does it require them to pursue a coursecalculated in its very nature, to makethem loathe and detest Christianity,as more cruel in their estimation thanthe grave ? By what law of Christi-anity do they teach such to divorceany one of their wives, except for thecause of adultery ? 0 Christendom,where is thy consistency ! it is gone !it is fled and absurdity and everyspecies of wickedness have taken theplace thereof ! Thou corruptest thenations with thy whoredoms, and yetthou wouldst fern persuade them thatthou art righteous; but the day is athand when thine iniquities shall beproclaimed upon the house tops, andthou shall be judged for all thy filthi-ness and abominations, and shall becast down by devouring fire. Thenshall come salvation, and glory, andhonor, and power, and the reign ofpeace, and the , day of the righteous,wherein Abraham and his wives to-gether with all his seed that are right-eous, shall inherit the earth, and reignfor ever and ever.

EDITOR.

CONTENTS.Christian Polygamy in the Sixteenth Century 177Celestial Marriage . 183



All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when lieliftieth up an Ensign on the Mountains,—Isaiah YVIII, 3.

Vora. IL. JANUARY, 1854. No. 1.

THE TREATMENT OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARDSTHE SAINTS.

Question.—First, In what mannerhave the people of the United Statestreated the divine message ccntainedin the Book of Mormon ?

.dnswer.—They have closed theireyes, their ears, their hearts and theirdoors against it. They have laughedat, ridiculed, derided, and treated itwith the utmost contempt. They havescorned, rejected, and hated the ser-vants of God who were sent to beartestimony of it. They have inventedthe most abominable, wicked and ma-licious lies, and published the sameagainst it. Their priests have hypo-critically and piously read these liesfrom the pulpit, and warned theircongregations from one end of theUnion to the other, to neither hear,read, nor investigate it, nor any thingin favor of it. They have denouncedit as "a most vile and wicked impo-sition ;" "a horrid blasphemy ;" "asoul-destroying• and most damnabledoctrine, emanating from the bowelsof hell." Their editors have for yearsreiterated, through the columns oftheir papers, these abusive unjust de-nunciations and vile falsehoods, with-out giving any chance in their col-umns for a reply or correction ofthese bare-faced and foul misrepre-sentations.

Question.—Second, In what man-ner have the United States treatedthe saints who have believed in thisdivine message 1.e

.lnswer.—The people, not satisfiedwith having scorned, ridiculed, liedagainst, denounced, and rejected themessage, have, likewise, poured outtheir abuse like a flood upon theheads of the innocent who receivedit. They have proceeded to the mostsavage and outrageous persecutions ;have fallen like demons upon theirdefenceless prey burned hundredsof their houses , destroyed their fur-niture, and their stacks of hay andgrain shot down their cattle andflocks for sport , dragged little chil-dren from their hiding places andplacing the muzzles of their guns totheir heads have blown out theirbrains, with the most horrid oathsand imprecations. They have takenthe fair daughters of American citi-zens, bound them upon benches usedfor public worship, and there, in greatnumbers, ravished them until deathcame to their relief. They havethrust ministers of the gospel intoloathsome dungeons, bound them inchains and hand-cuffs, and fed themon human flesh. At one time theydrove twelve hundred men, women,and children from their own comfort-able homes and firesides , seized upontheir property and their lands, whichby their hard earnings they had pur-chased from the General Government,and compelled the lawful owners towander in the wilderness, and uponthe bleak frosty prairies, without

194 THE TREATMENT OF THE

house, shelter, or home. At anothertime, after butchering scores of de-fenceless men, women, and children,fifteen thousand were driven fromtheir own habitations and lands, andcompelled to brave the storms of an-other dreary winter, while they wan-dered, faint and hungry, for severalhundred miles through the inhos-pitable regions of Missouri, beingscorned, hissed at, and spurned fromtheir doors, and threatened with con-tinual death. At another time, theGreat Prophet of the last days, bywhom the sacred history of one halfof our globe was revealed, and othersof the servants of God, were thrustinto prison, and there some seventyor eighty individuals, painted andblacked for the occasion, are per-mitted, in open day, to fall upontheir defenceless victims and murderthem in the most shocking manner.At another time, thirty thousandmen, women, and children, after see-ing much of their property destroyed,and many of their numbers murdered,were forced at the point of the bayo-net to again flee from their housesand lands, and launch forth in thecold month of February, among thesnow-drifts and piercing colds of thealmost uninhabited prairies of Iowa,leaving only a few hundreds of theold, sick, and infirm, until the seasonshould become more favorable. Andafter having arrived in an Indiancountry, and suffered hardships in-describable, what was their astonish-ment to find themselves called uponto furnish five hundred men to fightthe battles of the United Statesagainst Mexico ! They themselveshad just been deprived of all thesacred rights of American citizens ;had just been driven by the force ofarms from the Republic ; had suf-fered the loss of millions of dollars,and were then in the very act offleeing for their lives to the dens,and caves, and deserts of the Rockymountains. And to add to all theircalamities, the government had lookedcoldly on, and seen all these evilsheaped upon them year after year

they had seen, them deprived of everyright guaranteed in the Constitutionthey had seen them whipped, immuredin dungeons, driven from settlementto settlement, and from state to state,and at last expelled from the States,and told that they must not stop shortof the Rocky mountains. And yetthis same government, that had af-forded them no protection, provo-kingly asked them to drop their fam-ilies upon the prairies, to leave themupon the western plains, in the midstof savage tribes; to forsake helplesswomen and children, exposed to thepitiless storms of an approachingwinter, far from the abodes of whatis termed civilized man ; withouthouse, without home, without food,without any apparent prospect butstarvation and death. But here thescenery does not close, for scarcelyhad the five hundred men bid adieuto their weeping families, underthese heart-rending circumstances,and commenced their long and tedi-ous march against Mexico, when thesad and mournful news reached themthat their aged fathers and mothers,their sick brothers and sisters, whomthey were obliged to leave behind inNauvoo, were surrounded by an armyof several thousand strong, their de-fenceless houses cannonaded for sev-eral days, several killed, and thebalance driven by the point of thebayonet across the Mississippi river,and told to flee for their lives beyondthe Rocky mountains ! Oh; how en-couraging must this news have beento those brave and honest men whowere then marching, hungry andthirsty, across the burning sandydeserts against the Mexican foe !Oh, how cheering must have beenthe reflection, that they themselves,with their helpless wives and chil-dren, had only a short time previousbeen driven from the nation in whoseservice they were then enlisted ; andthat their aged fathers and their sickrelatives had just shared the samefate ! This is a short but true ac-count of the treatment of this nationtowards one of the greatest messages

UNITED STATES TOWARDS THE SAINTS. 195

that God ever sent to enlighten theworld, and towards. His servants whowere sent to proclaim it, and towardsthe honest humble souls who havereceived it.

Question.—Has the General Gov-ernment any power to protect hercitizens in the enjoyment of the rightsguaranteed in her constitution ?

signswer.—She has the power, butin the cases which we have mentionedshe lacked the disposition.

Question.—But were not thesewholesale murders and wholesalebanishments inflicted by the sove-reign states of Missouri and Illinois ?and have the United States anypower to interfere with the acts ofsovereign States ?

./Inswer.—When a sovereign staterises up in rebellion and open viola-tion against the most sacred rights,vested in the general Constitution,and by force or arms deprives thirtythousand men, women, and childrenof their houses and lands, and forcesthem at the cannons' mouth, andunder the most fearful threats of ex-termination and death, to leave notonly the State, but also the Republic ;then it is most palpably evident thatthese sovereign States are at openwar against the Constitution and thedearest rights of American citizens.Each citizen of every State, is alsoa citizen of the United States ; hehas State rights and United States'rights, and when a sovereign Stateforcibly and without law depriveshim of both of these rights, he hasno appeal only to the General Gov-ernment ; and it is her province torestore the injured party to his rightsand protect him therein, and to bringthe sovereign State to punishmentfor her treason and rebellion againstthe Constitution.

Question.—Has not each sovereignState a right to act according to thewishes of the majority ? and shouldnot the voice of the people in eachState rule ?

.finswer.—They have a right tocomply with the wishes of the major-ity, when those wishes are included

within the limits of the constitution;but the moment they transcend these,or undertake to rule by the voice ofthe people in violation of the rightsof American citizens, their sover-eignty should no longer protect themfrom the superior power of the Uni-ted States. For instance, if the voiceof the people in a sovereign Stateshould do away with a republicanform of government, and establish aking instead of a governor, the Gen-eral Government would then havepower to call that sovereign State toan account, and to protect the mi-nority of her citizens in the rightscalled for by the constitution. Thevoice of the people, therefore, has noright to rule only within the limits ofthe constitution. Should the demo-crats, because they are the majorityin the sovereign State of Illinois,force the whigs to yield up their con-stitutional rights, drive them at thecannons' mouth from the State, andthreaten them with a wholesale exter-mination if they dared to stop withina thousand miles of the Republic, wethink that there would be some powerin the General Government to put astop to the exercise of such sover-eignty. We think that the voice ofthe people thus unconstitutionally ex-ercised, would not screen her fromthe justice and punishment which shewould so richly deserve. Would notthe United States by military powerimmediately chastise such a sovereignState, and restore the whigs to theirhouses, their homes, and their rightsas American citizens ? Every manin the Union will answer yes. Ifthis would be done in the case of thewhigs, who are a large minority,should it not also be done in the caseof a smaller minority ? If the Gen-eral Government has the right toprotect one hundred thousand from awholesale banishment, she has theright to protect thirty thousand fromthe same unjust calamity. In the°Ile case she would have the powerand disposition ; in the other she hasthe power but not the disposition,and this makes the great difference.

196 THE TREATMENT OP THE

If a foreign foe should make waragainst the city of New York, anddrive her citizens a thousand milesfrom their homes, you would not hearthe General Government pretendingthat they had no power nor right, tochastise that foreign foe. If thesovereign State of New/ York shouldcommit the same depredations uponthe city, should they not be chastisedas an internal foe, far more danger-ous than a foreign enemy ? Is notrebellion against the dearest rightsof American citizens far more out-rageous and intolerable than the ag-gressions of foreign nations ? If theUnited States have power to protectlarge bodies of her citizens from for-eign invasion, is it not an absurdityto say that she cannot protect themfrom home invasions ? Where thenis the argument that will justify thegeneral Government in their cruel ne-glect towards thirty thousand Ameri-can citizens, whom they have seenrobbed and expelled from their homesby the marshalled hosts of the sov-reign State of Illinois ? Is therethe least shadow of an excuse forsuffering a State to go unpunishedwho thus suffers her own citizens totrample upon the rights of the mi-nority, and deprive them of houses,lands, homes, and all the dearestrights of American citizens, and ban-ish them, by wholesale, a thousandmiles from their country ? If sov-reign States can exercise this powerwithout being amenable to the Gen-eral Government, where then is safe-ty ? Where then can the minority,against whom the majority shall forma dislike, find protection from thesword and the bayonet ? Where canthey appeal for protection, in theenjoyment of their sacred homes andfiresides, if not to the General Gov-ernment ? What shall save the mi-nority, in any sovereign State, frombeing expelled from their countryat any time that the majority shallthink proper to attack them withpowder and ball ? Away, then, withthe unjust assertion, that the UnitedStates have no right nor power to

protect American citizens from beingbutchered, and forcibly driven fromtheir country by the marshalled ar-mies of sovereign States The asser-tion is too glaring to blind the eyesof ignorant savages and when madeto enlightened freemen, it is an in-sult of the most aggravating nature.

Question.-But were these thirtythousand citizens expelled from theirhomes and from the State, by thearmies of the State, acting underState orders, or by mob armies ?

./inswer.-It matters not by whichit was done—it is certain that it hasbeen done and, however it mayhave been done, it does not justify,in the least, the criminal neglect ofthe General Government. First, ifit were done by State armies, andby State authority, then the UnitedStates are deeply guilty for notbringing that rebellious State tojustice, and for not restoring thosethirty thousand injured citizens totheir country—to their lands, and totheir Constitutional rights and pro-tecting them therein as Americancitizens. Secondly, if they weredriven from the country by mobarmies, then the State, if she hadpower to protect her citizens, anddid not do it, is equally as guiltyas if she had expelled them by herown orders; and, in this case, theUnited States are equally as guiltyas in the other case in suffering asovereign State to permit Americancitizens to be thus treated. Lastly,if Illinois has not the power to pro-tect the minority against the aggres-sions of the majority, then it was theduty of the United States to havefurnished relief, and assisted theState in protecting the minority intheir constitutional rights. And herneglect to do this, renders her equallyas guilty as in the former two cases.Thereforb, it matters not whetherthose thirty thousand were cannon-aded out of the State by the ordersof the State, or by the orders of amob through the neglect of the State,or by the armies of a mob whom theState had not sufficient force to over-

UNITED STATES TOWARDS THE SAINTS. 197

come. In either case, the neglect ofthe General Government is equallycriminal; and the acts of those re-bellious armies will forever be con-sidered as virtually the acts of theGeneral Government. And there isno way in which they can wipe away-the odium, and stain, and blood-guil-tiness which are upon them, and whichcry loudly to the heavens for ven-geance. It is true, should they bringMissouri and Illinois to justice; shouldthey restore those exiled citizens totheir country, their lands, and theirhomes, and protect them therein ; andrestore the millions of dollars worthof property which those States havesuffered to be violently taken fromthem ; it would manifest, in somemeasure, a repentance on the part ofthe General Government, and serve,in some small degree, to remove thestigma that is upon them; but allthis would not restore the lives ofhundreds of American citizens whohave been murdered and butcheredby their cold and unfeeling neglect.

Question.—Have those injured ex-iled American citizens ever memori-alized the General Government uponthe subject of their wrongs, and soughtredress from their hands, and protec-tion in their constitutional rights ?

answers—Yes : After fifteen thou-sand American citizens had beendriven from the State of Missouri,under the exterminating orders ofGovernor Boggs, having previouslyapplied to the judicial and legislativeauthority of that State in vain, theysent their delegates with a memorialto the President and to Congress,who had the unblushing impudenceto refer them for redress to the veryState whose Governor had driventhem from her borders, and whoseLegislature had voted two hundredthousand dollars to pay her troopsfor their blood-thirsty and uncon-stitutional acts. Yes, they were toldto go and seek redress from theirmurderers, and from the murderersof their wives and children.

And again, when threatened withlike calamities by the State of Illi-

nois, memorials were again sent tothe President and to Congress, earn-estly imploring protection. I, my-self, as the Agent and Delegate ofthat injured people, waited about tenweeks at the Capital for a reportupon these memorials ; but they weretreated with silent neglect ! and in afew weeks afterwards the Prophetand others were murdered ; and buta short time elapsed before thirtythousand were forced from theirhomes and banished from the coun-try. What has the Governmentdone, in one single instance, to pro-tect them or restore them to theirrights, during the long period oftwenty years' suffering and banish-ment ? Just nothing at all. Theyhave been treated as though theywere not American citizens—theyhave been deprived of every sacredright in the Constitution—they havebeen whipped, mauled, and beaten,until their bowels have gushed outthey have been robbed, plundered,and driven, year after year, fromcounty to county, and from stateto state : they have been incarcera-ted in dungeons, bound down withstrong chains, like wild beasts, andthere fed with human flesh cut fromtheir murdered friends. They havebeen tortured, shot, and murderedin various ways ; and to cap the cli-max, they have, en masse, been can-nonaded, not only from a State, butfrom the United States ; and threat-ened that if they stopped short ofthe Sandy Deserts, west of the RockyMountains, they should be butcheredand exterminated without regard toage or sex. What more can thisnation do to fully and entirely rejectthe divine message which God hassent into the world to warn them oftheir sins, and to save them if theyrepent ? They can do nothing worsethan what they have already done.They can react those murderousscenes over again, and thus fill upthe cup of their iniquities ; but theycannot perpetrate deeds of a morehorrid nature than those of whichthey are already guilty. EDITOR.

198 FAITH.

FAITH.

What is faith This is a questionoften asked, and often answered indifferent ways. We shall not at-tempt to give the different views ofpeople upon this principle, but onlyto clearly define our own. Faith issimply the belief, the confidence, orthe assent of the mind in relation toany subject, or proposition, or thing,whether true or false, which it sup-poses to be true. Faith is the resultof evidence. True evidence, whenbelieved, produces true faith : falseevidence, when believed, producesfalse faith. Neither a true nor falsefaith could exist without evidence.A child, seeing others walk, believesthat he can walk, and accordinglymakes the exertion and succeeds intaking a few steps. Now he wouldnever have made the exertion with-out having some faith that it waspossible ; this faith in the child'smind is the result of evidence. Aman, seeing others swim in water,believes on this evidence, and othercircumstances, that it is possible forhimself to perform the same act. Hemakes the attempt because of hisfaith. Truthful parents relate manyfacts and incidents to their littlechildren, who, having a degree offaith in their words, foli.ow their di-rections, and demonstm to by actualexperience that those words are verilytrue. These frequent demonstrationsbeget almost unlimited confidence inwhat their parents tell them. Theirwords are considered sufficient evi-dence on almost any subject. Thesesame parents, being, in some things,deceived themselves, teach their er-rors to their children ; the children,having proved in every precedinginstance that their words were true,receive their evidence in relation towhat is false. the result is a falsefaith, founded upon false evidence,which they sincerely suppose to betrue. The faith of the heathen intheir idolatrous gods is the result of

false evidence ; and their faith is weakor strong just in proportion to theapparent weakness or strength of theevidence. The faith of the Roman,Catholics, that the Bible and tradi-tion without any new revelation, area sufficient rule of faith and practice,is just as much the result of a falsetraditionary evidence, as the faith ofthe Protestants in regard to the Biblealone being sufficient. The faith ofChristendom in their newly invented"god, without body or parts," is justas much the result of false evidence,as the faith of the Hindoos in theirgods of more ancient invention.

Before we can have faith in anything we must first have evidence,for in all cases evidence precedesfaith, and in searching after evidencewe are exceedingly liable to be de-ceived. All the inhabitants of ourglobe were for many ages deceivedin supposing that the earth had nodiurnal rotation upon its axis : theybelieved that the apparent diurnal ro-tation of the heavenly bodies aroundthe earth was real. This universaland long continued delusion was theresult of receiving false evidence,handed down and rendered sacredby tradition. Among all the ante-diluvian world only eight personshad the true faith : all the rest per-ished with a false faith.

A false faith in regard to somethings is far more dangerous than inothers. To believe that the sun per-forms an annual revolution aroundthe earth, though it is known to befalse, is not attended with any verydangerous consequences ; but to be-lieve a divine message, sent fromheaven, is false is attended with con-sequences of the most fearful kind,involving the present and future hap-piness of the soul. So, likewise, tobelieve a religion, invented by unin-spired men, to be of divine origin, isequally fatal in its consequences.

Faith most generally leads to works

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corresponding in nature with the be-lief. Faith in the heathen systemsof mythology caused whole nationsand generations to worship accordingto those systems. Faith in the cor-rupt systems of modern Christianitycauses the nations of Europe andAmerica to practice in accordancetherewith. Faith in new revelationsleads people to practice according tothe requirements contained in them.

It is sometimes the case, however,that people practice contrary to theirfaith, being governed by some motiveof a more powerful nature. A per-son may have a degree of faith inthe Book of Mormon, yet, throughfear of persecution, or some othercause, he may refuse obedience toits requirements. A farmer may be-lieve that if he sows his fields andcultivates them they will yield anabundant harvest, but, through lazi-ness, he neglects to act according tohis faith, and therefore does not reapthe reward. When faith, either trueor false, is sufficiently powerful tolead to action, it produces effectsaccordingly. The faith of Paul thatJesus of Nazareth was an impostorled him to do many things againsthim : his faith, after seeing the lightand hearing the voice from the heav-ens, led him to spend his life in advo-cating his doctrine. The faith ofsome led them to think that theywere doing God service in killing theApostles ; the faith of others madethem willing to die for their testi-mony concerning Jesus. The mur-derers of the apostles, and the apos-tles themselves, both had faith andworks ; the one had false faith andwicked works ; the other had truefaith and righteous works. Faithalone will not save men ; neither willfaith and works save them, unlessthey are of the right kind. Indeedthe faith and works of the greatestportion of mankind will be the verycause of their damnation. True faithand righteous works are essential tosalvation; and without both of theseno man ever was or ever can be saved.

Unless the true principles of sal-

vation be revealed and establishedby sufficient evidence, there could beno true faith and works by whichmankind could obtain salvation ; forin the system of salvation, works fol-low faith, and faith follows evidence,and evidence accompanies the re-vealed truth. For instance, Godreveals the great and sublime truthscontained in the Book of Mormon.Next, He sends evidence sufficientto convince mankind of the divineauthenticity of these truths. Third-ly, this evidence produces faith inthe minds of those who candidly andcarefully examine it. Fourthly, thisfaith will lead the honest to do theworks required of them in that book.And lastly, through the atonementof Christ these faith and works, com-bined together, will surely save themin the kingdom of God.

The evidence which God alwaysgives to establish the divinity of Hisrevelations, is sufficient to producefaith in the heart of every personliving, who examines it in a propermanner. Hence every creature inall the world, who has come to yearsof understanding, and who has evi-dence placed within his reach, iscondemned if he does not believe it.There are some who say that, if theevidence were sufficient, they wouldbe compelled to believe ; but this isnot true,—the evidence may be suf-ficient, and yet they may refuse toexamine it ; or they may examine itwith prejudiced minds, or they maybe careless in their examinations, orthey may refuse to examine it in themanner in which God has directedor they may examine it with a deter-mination not to embrace it, eventhough it be true ; or they may bepartial in weighing the evidence for,and apparently against it, with amost anxious desire and hope, thatthey shall find it false. All theseobstacles, and many others thatmight be named, prevent them frombelieving that which an honest, can-did, unprejudiced, and prayerfulmind would believe. Therefore it isnot for the lack of evidence that

200 FAITH.

they disbelieve, but it is their ownevil hearts, and the darkness whichthey bring with them in their inves-tigations. When God reveals atruth, as it is always accompaniedwith sufficient evidence, all people,because of their agency, can believeor disbelieve it, as they choose andif they believe it, they can also obeyor disobey it, as they choose : andherein is the condemnation of man,because they prefer unbelief to faith,and disobedience to obedience.

When the Apostles were com-manded to go into all the world andpreach the Gospel to every creature,they were informed that he who be-lieved the Gospel and was baptizedshould be saved and he who be-lieved not should be damned. Tobelieve the Gospel, as the Apostlespreached it, was not sufficient, butJesus added the condition of bap-tism, clearly showing that their faithmust be manifested by their works,otherwise it would be of no benefitto them. Jesus very well understoodthat the works necessary to salvationnever would be performed withoutfaith, which always precedes themand as this faith was in their power toobtain through the evidence offeredby the preaching of his Apostles, hedetermined to damn every creaturein all the world that would not be-lieve the message they taught.

There are some who believe thatfaith alone, unaccompanied by works,is sufficient for justification, sancti-fication, and salvation. But whatwould it benefit a hungry man, in afield, who believes that in the housethere is a table spread for him, withan abundance of food, if he make n9exertion to approach the house andobtain the blessing ? What profitwould it be to a rich man who hasfaith in the words of Jesus, concern-ing the feeding of the hungry andthe clothing of the naked, unless hehave works corresponding to thatfaith? What blessing would be ob-tained by believing every word whichChrist has spoken, unless we do them ?It is not the person who merely be-

lieves in the sayings of Christ, thatis justified, but it is he who showshis faith by obeying them. WhenJesus speaks of believers, he hasreference, most generally, to thosewhose faith had been sufficientlystrong to lead them to obedience.It is to these kind of believers thathe refers in the following passages :" Verily, verily, I say unto you, hethat heareth my words, and be-lieveth on him that sent me, hatheverlasting life, and shall not comeunto condemnation but is passedfrom death unto life." " For Codso loved the world, that he gave hisonly begotten Son, that whosoeverbelieveth in him should not perish,but have everlasting life." " Hethat believeth on him is not con-demned."

Jesus here refers to a class of be-lievers who should fully prove theirfaith by their obedience. Such, andsuch alone, should be freed from con-demnation—should pass from deathunto life—should become the chil-dren of God by having a faith thatwould lead them to obey. All otherbelievers are without justificationwithouthope—without everlastinglife, and will be damned, the sameas unbelievers, because they professto believe on the words of the Son ofGod, but will not obey them.

Jesus says, " If a man love me,he will keep my words; and myFather will love him, and we willcome unto him, and make our abodewith him. He that loveth me notke9peth not my sayings." As aman's love is manifested by his works,so is his faith.

John says that, 4 4 Whosoever be-lieveth that Jesus is the Christ, is bornof God." It is evident, from thewhole Epistle in which these wordsare contained, that none were to beconsidered as really believing thatJesus was the Christ, only those whomanifested it by keeping his com-mandments for he further says,"Hereby we do know that we knowhim, if we keep his commandments.He that saith, I know him and

FAITH. 201

keepeth not his commandments, isa liar, and the truth is not in him.But whoso keepeth his word, in himverily is the love of God perfected :hereby know we that we are in him."And again, he says, " Every onethat doeth righteousness is born ofhim." " Whosoever doeth not righ-teousness is not of God." " He thatkeepeth his commandments dwellethin him, and he in him." " Everyone that loveth is born of God, andknoweth God." " He that lovethnot, knoweth not God for God islove." " He that dwelleth in love,dwelleth in God, and God in him.Herein is our love made perfect, thatwe may have boldness in the day ofjudgment because, as he is, so arewe in this world. There is no fearin love, but perfect love casteth outfear ; because fear hath torment. Hethat feareth is not made perfect inlove. We love him because he firstloved us." " This is the love ofGod, that we keep his command-ments ; and his commandments arenot grievous."

From all these passages it is easyto perceive that salvation dependsupon our loving God; and that lov-ing God is the keeping of his com-mandments ; and the keeping of hiscommandments is the only sure evi-dence of our really believing thatJesus is the Christ. Let no persons,therefore, flatter or deceive them-selves with the idea that they believefrom their heart, that Jesus is theChrist, or that they are born of God ;or that they have passed from deathunto life, or that they love God, un-less they are certain that they havekept his commandments and sayings.Millions are deceiving themselves witha false faith and with a false hope—deluding themselves with the notionthat they are born of God, when theyhave not attended even to the firstcommandments in relation to theiradoption. All such will met,t with abitter disappointment.

The first effect of true faith is asincere, true, and thorough repen-tance of all sins; the second effect

is an immersion in water for the re-mission of sins ; the third is the re-ception of the ordinance of the layingon of the hands for the baptism of theHoly Ghost : these are the first com-mandments in the Gospel. No manhas a saving faith without attendingto these three requirements. Noperson can be a believer in Christ,in the scriptural sense of that term,without complying, in the strictestmanner, with these commandmentswithout receiving these, it will be invain for him to pray for a forgivenessof sins, or for the baptism of the spir-it, or for salvation : and if he flattershimself that he loves God, or thathe can obtain eternal life withoutobeying these first commandments,he is wofully deceived. Indeed, theseare the introductory principles, andthe only principles by which men andwomen can be born into the king-dom of Christ, and become his sonsand daughters. After attending tothese, there are other commandmentsfor them to obey ; but if they under-take to obey the others first, theywill find their endeavors unaccepta-ble in the sight of God. For instance,God requires his sons and daughtersto keep the Sabbath day holy ; butno man can keep the Sabbath holyuntil he has attended to the first threecommandments of the Gospel, afterwhich he can keep the Sabbath ac-cording to the mind of God, but notbefore. There are many command-ments which none but those who areborn of God can keep. And for aman to undertake to keep them beforeattending to the first three, would belike a child's undertaking to read be-fore it had learned the alphabet.

A faith, then, that brings remis-sion of sins or justification to thesinner, is that which is connectedwith repentance and baptism. Faithalone will not justify ; faith and re-pentance alone will not justify ; faithand baptism alone will not justify ;but faith, repentance and baptismwill justify and bring remission ofsins through the blood of Christ.What does Paul mean, when he says,

202 FAITH.

"Therefore being justified by faithwe have peace with God through ourLord Jesus Christ ?" lie means thatfaith is the starting point—the foun-dation and cause of our repentanceand baptism which bring remissionor justification ; and being the causewhich leads to those results, it is notimproper to impute justification tofaith. What does that scripture meanthat says, "If thou shalt confess withthy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shaltbelieve in thine heart that God hathraised him from the dead, thou shaltbe saved. For with the heart manbelieveth unto righteousness, and withthe mouth confession is made untosalvation'?" It means that real faithin the heart is that which leads toobedience; for a man who does notobey, only has a degree of faith, andnot a living faith in the heart whichin all cases will lead to repentance,confession, baptism, laying on ofhands, &c. All will admit that tobelieve with the heart leads to andincludes repentance. Why not alsoadmit that it includes every othercommandment of the gospel ? Be-cause believing with the heart in theresurrection of Christ is the movingcause of obedience which brings sal-vation, it may well be said that salva-tion is the result of faith.

There has been much disputeamong mankind in regard to justifi-cation. Some have supposed that weare justified by the blood of Christ,by simple faith alone, without per-forming any works either of the lawor gospel. Others suppose that weare justified by the blood of Christ bysimply adding repentance to our faithwithout any further works. Otherscontend that all mankind will be jus-tified and saved through the blood ofChrist, without either faith or works.All these admit that the atonementof Christ is necessary to justification.The only disrute seems to he in re-gard to the conditions required of thecreature by which he receives thejustification purchased by the atone-ment. Those who believe that sim-ple faith alone, without works, is the

only condition required, generallyurge the following passages in sup-port of that view : "For if Abrahamwere justified by works, he bathwhereof to glory but not beforeGod. For what saith the scripture ?Abraham believed God, and it wascounted unto him for righteousness.Now to him that worketh is the re-ward not reckoned of grace, but ofdebt. But to him that worketh not,but believeth on him that justifieththe ungodly, his faith is counted forrighteousness. Even as David also de-scribeth the man, unto whom God im-puteth righteousness without works."(Rom. 4 : 2-6.) Those who believeworks necessary to justification, quotethe following : " What cloth it profit,my brethren, though a man say hebath faith, and have not works ? Canfaith save him ?" "Faith, if it hathnot works, is dead, being alone. Yea,a man may say, Thou bast faith,and I have works : show me thy faithwithout thy works, and I will showthee my faith by my works. Thoubelievest that there is one God ; thoudoest well : the devils also believeand tremble. But wilt thou know,0 vain man, that faith without worksis dead ? Was not Abraham, ourfather, justified by works, when hehad offered Isaac, his son, upon thealtar ? Seest thou how faith wroughtwith his works, and by works wasfaith made perfect ? And the scrip-ture was fulfilled which saith, Abra-ham believed God, and it was imputedunto him for righteousness : and hewas called the Friend of God. Yesee then how that by works a man isjustified, and not by faith only. Like-wise also was not Rahab, the harlot,justified by works, when she had re-ceived the messengers, and had sentthem out another way ? For as thebody without the spirit is dead, sofaith, without works, is dead also."(James 2 : 14-26.) Paul and Jamesseem apparently to contradict eachother ; and this has been the cause ofdifferences of opinion in our day :but these apparent contradictions caneasily be reconciled, if we take intoconsideration the two different sub-

FAITH. 203

jests upon which they were writing.Paul was writing to a people whowere inclined to believe in circum-cision, and other works of the ancientlaw which had been done away inChrist. And he shows clearly thatcircumcision and many of those an-cient laws were given in the earlierages, not to take away past sins orto justify those to whom they weregiven, but for various other purposes ;and that by complying with thoseworks, they did nothing more thanwhat they were indebted to do, andthat the reward attached to these actswas "not reckoned of grace, but ofdebt;" or in other words, the rewardof grace is a forgiveness of past sins ;but the reward of debt is a freedomfrom the condemnation, not of pastsins, but of the sins which would ex-ist in case we refused to pay the debt:for instance, God commanded Abra-ham to circumcise himself and all themales of his house, not to justifyhimself or his house of past sins, butfor another purpose. When this com-mandment was given, it brought Abra-ham under obligations to obey it; itwas a debt he owed to the Lord iflie paid it, there would be no con-demnation arising from disobediencein relation to that particular com-mandment, and he would have thereward of a clear conscience, so faras the payment of that particular debtwas concerned; but in all this thereis no reward of grace manifested inthe forgiveness of any sins whichmay have previously been committed.Therefore as obedience to these par-ticular laws did not bring remission ofsins, Paul could with propriety saythat Abraham and others were not jus-tified by works, that is, by such worksof the law as circumcision, &c., whichwere given for a very different pur-pose than that of justification. It wasvery necessary that Abraham shoulddo those works, though they werenot works intended to bring remis-sion of sins or justification, yet theperformance of them would preventthe sin of negligence, and would alsobring such blessings as were attachedto them by way of promise. But af-

ter these laws and circumcision weredone away in Christ, then Paul couldsay, "But to him that worketh not,but believeth on him that justifieththe ungodly, his faith is counted forrighteousness." If those laws andordinances which were given to Abra-ham to perform, were not intended tojustify him of his past sins, much lesswould they justify those who livedafter Christ, when they were doneaway. After Christ, these worksgiven to Abraham to perform, werenot considered even as a debt bindingupon any : they were works, there-fore, that would be sinful to perform.The faith of that man that " workethnot," that is, that does not performworks that are done away, "is coun-ted for righteousness."

But as Abraham was justified byfaith, it may not be improper to in-quire whether there were any otherclass of works, connected with his faith,that were of a justifying nature. Paulsays, " The Scripture foreseeing thatGod would justify the hels then throughfaith, preached before tht gospel untoAbraham, saying : In thee shall allnations be blest."—(Gal. 3 : 8.) Fromthis we learn, that the same gospelthat was to justify the heathen throughfaith, and bless all nations, was ac-tually- preached to Abraham. Nowin the gospel there are certain worksto be connected with faith for justifi-cation : by these works of the gospel,he manifested his faith and obtainedjustification ; and not by the works ofthe law, such as circumcision, &c.Paul says, "Faith was reckoned toAbraham for righteousness. Howwas it then reckoned ? when he wasin circumcision or in uncircumcision ?Not in circumcision, but in uncircum-cision. And he received the sign ofcircumcision, a seal of the righteous-ness of the faith which he had, yetbeing uncircumcised : that he mightbe the father of all them that believe,though they be not circumcised : thatrighteousness might be imputed untothem also and the father of circum-cision to them who are not of thecircumcision only, hut who also walkin the steps of our father Abraham,

204 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON DOCTRINE.

which he had being vet uncircum-cised."—(Rom. 4 : 9-12.) From thesepassages we learn, that Abraham wasjustified before circumcision, conse-quently the gospel of justificationmust have been preached to him be-fore that law was given. That therewere works connected with the gos-pel preached to Abraham, is evidentfrom the fact that all the heathen na-tions who lived in the Apostles' days,could be justified and become hischildren by walking, as Paul says," in the steps of that faith of ourfather Abraham." There were cer-tain steps pertaining to the gospeland faith of Abraham, in which hewalked ; otherwise he could not havebeen justified. Whatever works thesesteps of justification included, the verysame were required of the heathen

after Christ. These steps of the gos-pel, since Christ, we have already ob-served, are Repentance and Baptism,which bring remission of sins andjustification, being the results of faith,or in other words, the steps of faiththat Abraham walked in. Therefore"to him that worketh not" the worksof circumcision and other laws thatare done away, but performeth theworks of the gospel, " his faith iscounted for righteousness," the sameas Abraham's was who walked in thesteps of the same gospel, and was jus•tified in the same way. This viewof the subject perfectly reconciles theteachings of both Paul and James, andshows most clearly that both werecorrect, when their statements are ap-plied to the two different subjects uponwhich they were writing. EDITOR.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON DOCTRINE.

BY THE EDITOR.

Question. How many ways has Godordained to obtain eternal life ?

Answer. Only one.Q. Flow many dispensations has

God sent into the world ?.11. Many hundreds.Q. Has not God's plan of saving

men been different under differentdispensations ?

Not in the least, so far as certainlaws and ordinances are concerned.

Q. What is the plan of salvation?A. It is to believe and do all things

that God requires of us, and then weshall be saved through the atonementof Christ.

Q. Has God required mankind un-der ditkrent dispensations to believeand do the same things ?

el In some respects He has, in oth-ers, He has not.

Q. What are those general lawsand ordinances necessary to be be-lieved and obeyed in all dispensations,in order to obtain a complete salva-tion ?

di. They are, first, Faith in theatonement of Christ ; second, Repent-ance of all sin ; third, Immersion inwater for the remission of sins; fourth,the Baptism of Fire and of the HolyGhost through the ordinance of Con-firmation, or the laying on of hands.

Q. Could not any man from Adamto Christ receive a full salvation with-out being Baptized in water and withthe Holy Ghost ?

No; unless some other personauthorized has been or shall be bap-tized for him after he is dead. Neithercan any man from Christ to the endof the world, enter into the CelestialKingdom without embracing thesesame principles.

Q. Who has authority to Baptizeand Confirm ?

None but those whom God hascalled and ordained.

Q. Have the Roman Catholics au-thority to baptize ?

No : for they have no inspiredApostles and Prophets among them :

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON DOCTRINE. 205

neither have they any new revelations,and without these things no one everwas or ever can be called to the min-istry ?

Q. Is the Roman Catholic Churchthe Church of Christ ?

.3. No : for she has no inspiredpriesthood or officers, without whichthe Church of Christ never did nornever can exist.

Q. How long since the RomanCatholic Church lost the authorityand ceased to be the Church of Christ?

d. She never had authority, andnever was the Church of Christ ; andconsequently she could not lose thatwhich she never was in possession of.

Q. if the Roman Catholics are notthe Church of Christ, where has theChurch of Christ existed since in-spired men ceased from the earth :

She has existed in heaven wherethe gates of hell never can prevailagainst her, because she is built uponthe rock ; and the inspired Apostlesare in heaven with her whom the Sa-viour promised to be with always,even unto the end of the world.

Q. What has become of the Apos-tles' successors ?

.3. The Apostles had no successorsafter those died off who were calledby inspiration and new revelation.

Q. After the Church of Christfled from earth to heaven, what wasleft ?

A set of wicked Apostates, mur-derers, and idolaters, who, after havingmade war with the saints, and over-come them, and destroyed them outof the earth, were left to follow thewicked imaginations of their own cor-rupt hearts, and to build up churchesby human authority, and to followafter the cunning craftiness of un-inspired men ; having no Apostle,Prophet, or Revelator to inquire ofGod for them : and thus, because ofwickedness, the Church, and Priest-hood, and gifts, and ordinances andblessings of the everlasting Gospel,were taken from the earth, and re-served in heaven until the fulness oftimes, when it was predicted that theyshould again be restored among mento continue until the end should come.

Q, Who founded the Roman Cath-olic Church ?

.d. The Devil, through the medi-um of Apostates, who subverted thewhole order of God by denying im-mediate revelation, and substitutingin the place thereof, tradition and an-cient revelations as a sufficient rule offaith and practice.

Q. Did the great Protestant Re-formers restore the Church of Christto the earth ?

.11. No : for they had no inspiredApostles, Prophets, or Revelatorsamong them, without which theChurch could not be restored.

Q. But did not any of the Protes-tant Reformers have authority to Bap-tize and Confirm ?

Not any of them : for they pre-tended that ancient revelation was asufficient rule of faith ; and, therefore,that no new revelation was needed :and without new revelation no mancould be called and authorized to ad-minister Gospel ordinances.

Q. But did not the first ProtestantReformers receive their ordination andauthority from the Catholics ?

.3. Yes : and in this manner theyreceived all the authority that theirmother church was in possession of ;and the mother having derived herauthority from the Devil, could onlyimpart that which his Satanic majestywas pleased to bestow upon her. Ifthorns could bear figs—if a bitterfountain could send forth sweet wa-ter—or a corrupt tree bring forthgood fruit, then the whore of Babyloncould confer divine authority uponher harlot daughters. But whateverauthority the mother might have pre-tended to confer upon the daughters,she afterwards was very careful totake from them by excommunication.Therefore, unless the Reformers re-ceived fresh authority from heaven,by new revelation, they had no au-thority at all.

Q. Are all the Baptisms adminis-tered by the Catholics and Protest-ants, and the different sects whichhave, from time to time, dissentedfrom them, illegal, because the minis-ters were not authorized ?


A. They are, every one of them,illegal, and null, and void, and with-out effect; and will not be consideredbaptism in the day of judgment anymore than the acts of unauthorizedmen in human governments are con-sidered legal.

Q. Was not the Protestant Refor-mation a great benefit to the world ?

A. Yes : it served to weaken thepower of the mother church, and pro-duced a great division in Satan's king-dom—the mother being opposed toher harlot daughters, and the daugh-ters against their most abominablemother : and in this family war, theharlot daughters became also sorelydispleased with each other. And inthe midst of the contending elements,wise men became convinced that thecivil government could not safely beentrusted with any of the contendingparties : hence arose governments sup-porting religious freedom : whereas,if it had not been for the divisions inSatan's kingdom, freedom of con-science would have been wholly un-known in the nineteenth century.The iron yoke of Romanisin wouldhave sorely galled the necks of allnations upon whom she had powerto place it. It was to weaken thiscorrupt, soul-destroying power ; andto stir up contention, division, andwar in all her borders, preparatory tothe establishment of religious liberty,that God moved upon the hearts ofthe great Protestant Reformers of thesixteenth century.

Q. Is not sincerity a sufficient qual-ification to entitle a man to salvation?

3. No : sincerity is necessary tosalvation, hut is not sufficient for sal-vation. Paul, in his sincerity, verilythought he ought to do many thingscontrary to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesussaid to his apostles, "The time comeththat whosoever killeth you will thinkthat he doeth God service." (John 16:2.) No one, who believes the Bible,will have the presumption to say, thatthose who killed the apostles couldbe saved, and yet Jesus says, that thosemurderers were to be so sincere, thatthey would really think that theywere doing God service. Idolaters are

frequently sincere, so much so, thatthey are willing to sacrifice their ownlives to their idols. But the scripturesays, that no idolater can inherit thekingdom of God. Millions of sincerepersons will be shut out of the king-dom of heaven ; and yet no personwill be permitted to enter than king-dom unless he is sincere. The sin-cerity of some of the Catholics andProtestants in their religion, will in nowise qualify them for salvation. Hethat would be saved must not only besincere, but embrace the true gospel,be baptized into the true Church, andcontinue a faithful member of the sameunto the end. This is the only wayto be saved with a full salvation. Asneither Catholics nor Protestants aremembers of the true Church, theycannot claim celestial glory. How-ever sincere, they are unprepared todwell with God and receive the fulnessof his glory.

Q. How long since the Church ofChrist has been absent from theearth?

A. We have no history or know-ledge of the Christian Church on theEastern hemisphere after the secondcentury. The Christian Church onthe Western hemisphere ceased nearthe beginning of the fifth century.The Christian Church, therefore, wasabsent from the earth for above four-teen centuries.

Q. What has become of all thenations and generations during thesefourteen centuries ?

A. They have lived without pro-phets, without inspired apostles, with-out revelators, without the voice ofGod, without the ministry of angels,without heavenly visions, without au-thorized ministers to baptize or min-ister any other ordinance of the gospel,without the miraculous gifts of theSpirit, without the true Church, andconsequently have died without sal-vation. And thus about fourteen thou-sand millions of the human race havegone down to their graves in ignoranceand darkness, since the Church wastaken from the earth.

Q. Will all these generations bedamned without remedy ?


A. All these have died withouthearing a message sent to them bydivine authority ; they have died with-out rejecting a message, and thereforewill not be under the same condem-nation as those who lived when mes-sages have been sent, and who rejectedthe same. All these will be punishedaccording to their works,, and will beshut up in prison like those who per-ished in the flood, and will eventuallyhave the gospel preached to them,even as Jesus preached the gospel tothe antediluvian spirits ; those whoreceive the gospel in prison will beredeemed therefrom ; and those whoreject it, will be sent down to hellwith those who reject the same whilehere in the flesh. This eventuallygives the same privilege to both thedead and the living that they may allbe judged by the same law. Hencethe apostle Peter, after having informedus that Christ “went and preached untothe spirits in prison which sometimewere disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days ofNoah," also informs us of the reason ;"For, for this cause was the gospelpreached also to them that are dead,that they might be judged accordingto men in the flesh." (1 Peter 3 : 19,20 ; also 4 : 6.) The purpose to beaccomplished in preaching to thosewho are dead and in prison, is to placetheir spirits in a condition to "bejudged according to men in the flesh,"who hear. the gospel in this life.Thus both the living and the deadwill be judged by the law of thegospel. Those who receive it willbe saved ; those who reject it will bedamned.

Q. Why did not God send someone inspired with authority to buildup his Church, during this long pe-riod of fourteen centuries ?

Because the nations had becomeso extremely corrupt through the tra-ditions handed down from their Apos-tate fathers, that they would not havesuffered the true Church to be builtup among them. Liberty of con-science was not tolerated sufficientlyto permit a message by divine author-ity to be published in their midst. If

God had sent forth servants to restorethe true Church to the earth, before Hehad prepared the way by the estab-lishment of governments favorable toreligious liberty, they would havebeen killed off as the former day mes-sengers were, and the church wouldagain have been driven from the earth ;and such wickedness would have leftthem in a far worse condition thanwhat they would have been in if nomessage had been sent. If a messagehad been sent, and they had rejectedit, it would have deprived them ofhearing the gospel in prison withthose who died in ignorance. Thecondition of things in the spiritualworld will be more favorable to theirhearing and receiving the gospel thanit would have been under the tyranni-cal and corrupt powers of an ApostateChurch. God, therefore, has dealt withthese Apostate generations in that waythat will, in the end, save far moreof them than could have been savedby giving them a message in this lifeto trample under their feet. Othergenerations are in more favorable cir-cumstances to have the gospel inthis life, and in such cases, greaternumbers can be saved than there couldbe by postponing the offer of salva-tion until they enter the spirit world.Hence God takes into account the fa-vorable or unfavorable circumstancesin which generations are placed, andsends them the gospel in this life orin the world of spirits, just accordingas He sees that it will have a tendencyto save the most : this, therefore, isthe reason why He has sent no divinemessage to the inhabitants of ourglobe, during the long and drearynight of fourteen centuries.

Q. But inasmuch as it is the objectof God to save men, why not sendthe gospel to each generation hereand in the next world also ?

A. Because if they reject the gos-pel here, they have not the privilegeof entering into the prison in thespirit world, and of again hearing thegospel among those who never heardit while in the flesh : God's justicerequires those who reject the gospelto be damned, instead of being favored


with a prison among those who areless guilty. Those in prison are inan intermediate state : they are notsaved, neither are they irrecoverablylost : but when the gospel is preachedto them it will decide their fate, re-deeming those who receive it, anddamning those who reject it ; theone rising to light, glory, and happi-ness—and the other falling to dark-ness, damnation, and misery. Andthus will the living and the dead bejudged by the same gospel ; and themercy and justice of God be mani-fested to all without partiality. Itwill be perceived that the message ofthe gospel either saves or damns, in-stead of sending their spirits to an in-termediate state.

Q. Is this intermediate state, whichis called in the scriptures a prison, aplace of punishment ?

A. Yes : but the severity of thepunishment is not as great as is ex-perienced among those who are sentto hell. Their punishment will be inproportion to their sins and the lightwhich they have rejected. Indeed,the long ages of darkness, ignorance,doubt, and uncertainty which willslowly roll away, will of itself makethem wretched and miserable. Howtedious and wearisome must have beenthe condition of the antediluvian spir-its to remain the long period of twothousand years and upwards withoutany ray of hope, until Jesus openedtheir prison doors, by preaching the

gospel to them while his body wassleeping in the tomb.

Q. Will God's kingdom or Churchbe again restored to the earth ?

It has already been restored.Q. When did this restoration take

place ?On the sixth day of April, in

the year eighteen hundred and thirty.Q. In what part of the earth was

this kingdom first organized ?A. In the town of Fayette, Seneca

county, and State of New York.Q. How many persons were inclu-

ded in the first organization ?A. Only six.Q. In what manner (lid the Lord

proceed to restore his Church to theearth ?

JI. He first sent an holy angel to ayoung man, named Joseph Smith, anddirected him where to obtain the sa-cred history of the ancient nationsof America, and also the Urim andThummim, and commanded him totranslate these records into the Eng-lish language.

Q. What was the use of this sacredhistory ?

A. It contained the fulness of thegospel, as Jesus Christ himselfpreached it to the Aborigines ofAmerica, soon after his resurrection.Every principle and ordinance of thegospel, in this sacred book, is so ex-ceedingly plain, that it leaves no un-certainty upon the mind, as it regardsthe way of salvation.

CONTENTS:The Treatment of the United States towards the Saints, .......... 193Faith, ...... 198Questions and Answers on Doctrine, . 204



At $1 per antwin, invariably in advance.

THEAll ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when lie

lifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains,—Isaiah xviii, 3.

Vox.. II. FEBRUARY, 1854. No. 2

FAITH IS THE GIFT OF GOD.BY THE

Faith is the gift of God. In whatmanner does God give faith ? Doeshe impart this gift to the mind by theimmediate operation of the Holy Spiritindependent of any other means ?Does he bestow it unsought for andirrespective of the preparation of themind ? Does he confer it indepen-dent of the agency of man ? To saythat man obtains this gift without pre-paring himself, or without the exer-cise of any agency, is to deprive himof all responsibility in regard towhether he has faith or not. Thiscondition would free him from allblame or condemnation for unbelief.If agency is in no way concerned inobtaining faith, it would be the highestact of injustice to punish the unbe-liever : there would be no more re-sponsibility about him than there isabout the dumb brute. What wouldbe thought of the justice of a manwho would punish his horse becausehe was not harnessed ? If the animalwere endowed with the power ofspeech, would he not say, that he wasan irresponsible being, that he had nopower or agency to harness himself,that the gift of harnessing belonged toa higher and superior being to him-self, and that he considered it verycruel, and unjust, and tyrannical forthat higher being to punish him fornot exercising a faculty with which hewas not endowed, which was far be-yond his capacities, and which was

EDITOR.

a condition that man alone was capa-ble of bestowing ? If faith is the giftof God, and man has no agency inobtaining this gift, then he stands inthe same relation to God in regard tohaving faith, as the horse does to theman in regard to being harnessed.: andif it would be unjust and cruel in manto punish his horse for not being har-nessed, it would be equally unjust andcruel for God to punish man for nothaving faith, if he be considered a be-ing incapable of the exercise of sucha faculty.

That faith is the gift of God thereis no dispute ; but that God bestowsthis gift unsought for, and without anypreparation or agency on the part ofman, is not only unscriptural and un-reasonable, but extremely absurd,when we consider that man is to bepunished for his unbelief. But somemay inquire, has not God the powerand right to do with man as Hepleases ? Has not He power to with-hold faith, and punish whomsoever Hewill, whether they deserve it or not?We reply, that whatever power Godhas, it is certain that He will not ex-ercise it contrary to the principles ofJustice and Mercy, or contrary to therevealed character, which He has givenof Himself. If it were possible for Himto change, or deviate from His word,then He would cease to be God. IfHe would punish the innocent and ac-quit the guilty, He would be a Being

210 FAITH IS THE GIFT OF GOD.

altogether unlovely and undesirable—.a Being to be feared, but not to beloved. Therefore, we may rest as-sured that he will never punish a manfor his unbelief, unless man has thepower to obtain faith through the ex-ercise of his own free will.

But if faith cannot be obtained, un-less sought for properly, how can thesavings of Paul to the Ephesians bereconciled with this idea ? "For bygrace are ye saved through faith ; andthat not of yourselves : it is the giftof God : not of works, lest any manshould boast. For we are his work-manship, created in Christ Jesus untogood works, which God path beforeordained that we should walk inthem." (Eph. 2: 8-10.) We areto understand from these passages,that the grace and faith by which manis saved, are the gifts of God, havingbeen purchased for him not by his ownworks, but by the blood of Christ.Had not these gifts been purchased forman, all exertions on his part wouldhave been entirely unavailing and fruit-less. Whatever course man mighthave pursued, he could not haveatoned for one sin ; it required the sac-rifice of a sinless and pure Being inorder to purchase the gifts of faith,repentance, and salvation for fallenman. Grace, Faith, Repentance, andSalvation, when considered in theirorigin, are not of man, neither by hisworks : man did not devise, originate,nor adopt them ; superior Beings in theCelestial abodes, provided these gifts,and revealed the conditions to man by1,vhi .ch he might become a partaker ofthem. Therefore all boasting on thepart of man is excluded. lie is savedby a plan which his works did notoriginate—a plan of heaven, and notof earth.

Well might the Apostle declare tothe Ephesians, that these gifts werenot. of themselves, neither of theirworks, when the God and Father ofour spirits, from whom cometh everygood and perfect gift, was the greatAuthor of them. But are these greatgifts bestowed on fallen man withouthis works ? No : man has these giftspurchased for and offered to him ; but

before he can receive and enjoy them,he must exercise his agency and ac-cept of them : and herein is the con-demnation of man, because when hewas in a helpless fallen condition, andcould not by his own works and de-vices atone for the least of his sins,the only Begotten of the Father gavehis own life to purchase the gifts offaith and salvation for him, and yet hewill not so much as accept of them.

Faith therefore is the gift of God,but man cannot have this choice heav-enly treasure only in God's own ap-pointed way. Among the means thatGod has ordained through which manmay receive this great and preciousgift, may be mentioned, the preachingof the word by men called and in-spired by the gift and power of thelloly Ghost : for saith the apostle," How shall they call on him in whomthey have not believed ? And howshall they believe in him of whomthey have not heard ? And how shallthey hear without a preacher ? Andhow shall they preach, except they besent ?" " So then, faith cometh byhearing, and hearing by the word ofGod." (Rom. 10: 14, 15, 17.)Though faith be the gift of God, yetit comes by hearing the word. Throughthis medium man makes himself ac-quainted with the evidence in favor ofthe divinity of the word; the evidencebeing of divine origin as well as theword. This evidence begets faith inthe mind ; and this faith, though it beobtained through the exercise of thefree will and agency of the crea-ture, is still the gift of God, grantedthrough the evidence accompanyingthe preached word. In the apostles'days, when the art of printing wasunknown, and the great majority ofmankind could not read the word, theprincipal means of obtaining faith wasby the process of preaching and hear-ing, but in these days, in many instan-ces, faith comes, by reading as well asby preaching : for a man called and in-spired of God can both preach andwrite by the power of the Holy Ghost ;and when the honest humble souleither hears or reads that which isgiven by the Spirit, the light that is in

FAITH IS THE GIFT OF GOD. 211

him witnesseth that it is of God ; forlight cleaves to light, and truth totruth ; the Spirit gives light to everyman that comes into the world, and ifhe loves the light that is in himself,he will love all other light that is pre-sented to his mind, and embrace it.Light cannot be presented to the mindof a candid, honest person, withoutbeing perceived to be light ; but if hereceive it not, he extinguishes in adegree the light that is in him, anddarkness still greater ensues, and heis left to commit evils of a greatermagnitude, until the light that was inhim has entirely fled, and darknessreigns triumphantly : this darknessbrings misery and wretchedness in thisworld and eternal torment in the worldto come. This is the state of manwho rejects light and truth, and willnot exercise faith in that which thelight that is in him teaches him istrue.

The word and the evidence ac-companying it are both the gifts ofGod; but besides these, the lightthat is in every man who comes intothe world is also the gift of Godthrough Christ. For if Christ hadnot purchased this gift for man by hisatoning blood, man would have beendestitute of all light. Darkness alonewould have reigned, and our worldwould have been a hell—the miser-able abode of fallen spirits and fallenman : no ray of light could have pen-etrated the darkened understanding :the extreme of misery would havebeen the result. But saith our Sa-viour, "I am the light and the life ofthe world ;" all light that is in theworld came by him through his atone-ment; it is the gift of God to fallenman. If the light that is in man bethe gift of God, surely all additionallight offered to him, must be thegift of God also. By faith man shouldlay hold of this light, wherever he maydiscover it.

The only way to receive additionalfaith and light is to practice accordingto the light which we have : and ifwe do this, we have the promise ofGod that the same shall grow bright-er and brighter until the perfect day.

Every word of God is light and truthHe that saith, that he is in the light,but obeyeth not the words of truth,is deceiving himself, and is in dark-ness ; for none are the children offaith except such as walk in the light,and obey its laws. How many mill-ions in Christendom profess to bechristians and say that they are in thelight and have been born of God, andyet they have never obeyed even thefirst principles of the light; they havenever repented properly, and beenimmersed in water for the remissionof sins by the ministration of onewhom God has authorized ; and yetthey pretend that God for Christ'ssake has forgiven their sins. Howblindly deceived ! and how vain theirfaith and hope of salvation ! Godhas not forgiven their sins; neitherwill he forgive them, until they obeythe message of the gospel, accordingto the precise order which he has re-vealed. Faith is the gift of God andis one of the means of salvation ; butnone can have this gift except in theway that God has ordained : and allwho pretend to have faith, and obeynot that form of doctrine which Godhas revealed, will find that their faithis of no effect, and that they will bedamned with unbelievers : for Godwill not confer saving gifts upon thedisobedient.

Every thing that is good comesfrom God and is the gift of God.God has given revelation upon reve-lation unto man for his benefit; andthe generations to whom he has giv-en his word will be judged by thatword at the last day. God raised upa prophet in our day, and gave himthe Urim and Thummim, and revealeda flood of light and truth throughhim to this generation. This gener-ation will be judged out of the booksand revelations which God gavethrough this prophet. If they exer-cise faith in these revelations, andobey the same, they will be justifiedand saved ; but if they disbelievethem, and harden their hearts againstthem, they will surely be damned;for the Almighty reveals not his wordin vain. What doth it benefit this


generation to offer them a heavenlygift, and reveal to them more lightand truth if they receive it not ? Thegift benefits those only who receiveit. The rest will receive a greatercondemnation. When the honestread that heavenly treasure—the Bookof Mormon, they are filled with joyunspeakable, because God has againspoken to man as in ancient times ;their souls feast upon the contents ofthat holy and divine book ; and sogreat is their joy, that they cannotfind language adequate to express theoverflowings of their hearts. Buthow different are the feelings of thosewho reject it : light and truth fleefrom them, and they feel angry tothink that God should again speak toman. But God will show them byhis Almighty power that iris wordcannot be rejected with impunity.—The judgments that have befallen an-cient generations and nations whohave rejected his word, ought to be asolemn warning to those now on theearth. But alas ! the pride, high-mindedness, and great wickedness of

man cause him to hate the light be-cause his deeds are evil. And thusthis generation will, for the most part,perish in unbelief and disobedienceto one of the greatest and most im-portant messages that God ever sentfor the salvation of the people. Oh,poor fallen man! how eager for hap-piness, and yet how unwilling to re-ceive it upon righteous principlesOh, that thou didst but know the dayof thy visitation, and wouldst inclinethine ear, and hearken to the voice ofGod and harden not thy heart, forthen it would be well with thee! Butthou knowest not, neither dolt thouconsider the fearful judgments thatawait thee, if thou turnest a deaf earto the last great message of mercy,now revealed from the heavens forthy good ! Oh, turn unto the Lord,and exercise faith in him, that yourlight and joy may be increased—yourfaith and love become perfected, thatall of the gifts of God may aboundin you, that you may finally obtaineternal life, which is the greatest ofall the gills of God to man.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON DOCTRINE.BY THE

Question. Does the I" ook of Mor-mon agree with the Bibl ?

.Insiver. Both books being of Di-vine origin, they will of course agree;for God never disagrees with himself;and His words spoken in ancientAmerica are just as true as His words,spoken in ancient Palestine.

Q. Does the Book of Mormoncontain any additional light not con-tained in the Bible ?

.d. The whole volume, withoutexception to any of its parts, containsadditional light and truth. Whetherconsidered in its historical, propheti-cal, or doctrinal character, it is oneof the most wonderful and importantbooks of which the world has anyknowledge. Were it not for thischoice and invaluable work, the his-

EDITOR.

tory of the ancient nations who oncepeopled this vast continent, wouldhave slumbered in perpetual dark-ness : all efforts to have penetratedthe mists of antiquity would havebeen in vain. The magnificent ruinsof ancient cities, palaces, and temples,buried in primeval forests, wouldalone have proclaimed in silent gran-deur, the strength and greatness ofthe former population. The Book.of Mormon, then, as an ancient his-tory, and the only history which wehave of ancient America, is of pricelessvalue—a gem most precious. A bookis valuable in proportion to the im-portance and greatness of the truthswhich it unfolds ; and this value isinfinitely increased, when it is knownthat it is the only source of informa-


tion upon the subject. That whichgreatly enhances the value of thisancient history is the fact of its beingsacred. There are many historiesof the ancient nations of the easterncontinent, but they are full of contra-dictions and absurdities, and cannotin many things be depended on. Thehistorian, in his researches into theremote ages of antiquity, is frequentlyguided by speculation and conjecture.These defects render some histories ofless value than others whose veracity isundoubted. The Book of Mormonbeing a sacred history, its declarations can be depended on : and whenwe read the doings of by-gone ages,we know that we have no specu!a-tion or conjecture of the historian toblind and bewilder the understanding.Every event is accurately described :every word is truth ; and we feast ourminds with certainty and knowledge.

Q. But what benefit is SacredHistory in relation to the salvation ofman ?

ed. By sacred history we learnthe dealings of God with nations,generat ons, and individuals : we per-ceive the prosperity that attends therighteous, and the judgments that be-fall the wicked. All these things areencouragements and warnings to us,and calculated to lead us in the stepsof righteousness, and cause us to shunthe paths of evil.

Q. Is there any benefit to be de-rived from the prophetical and doc-trinal portions of the Book of Mor-mon ?

A. Yes : in this respect, the bookis infinitely more valuable than allother books in the world written byhuman wisdom. The doctrines andprophecies, contained in it, are sovery definite, pointed, and plain, thatno ambiguity or uncertainty is leftupon the mind in regard to the wayof salvation, and the events that areto transpire so far as they are pre-dicted.

Q. But is not the Jewish Recordor the Bible equally as plain ?

.11 No: it no doubt was once justas plain and definite as the sacredScriptures given in Ancient America.

But the Bible has been robbed of itsplainness ; many sacred books havingbeen lost, others rejected by the Rom-ish Church, and what few we haveleft, were copied and re-copied somany times, that it is admitted thatalmost every verse has been corruptedand mutilated to that degree thatscarcely any two of them read alike.The original manuscripts of the booksof the Old and New Testaments areno where to be found ; all we haveleft are mutilated copies containing anincredible nuniber of contradictoryreadings. From these, uninspired menhave translated by their own humanwisdom our present version of theBible, which is so indefinite that itleaves room for different opinions,clashing one against the other ; hencethere has arisen a vast number of sectscontending about the true points ofChrist's doctrine. The first thing,therefore, necessary to the re-estab-lishment of the kingdom of Christ onthe earth, was to reveal in perfectplainness the exact and precise princi-ples of the gospel in all their fullness ;this was accomplished in the remark-able discovery and translation of thesacred records of Ancient America.

Q. Did the revelation and trans-lation of the book of Mormon au-thorize Joseph Smith to officiate ingospel ordinances ?

No : God sent an holy angel,whose name Nv.as John (the Baptist)to confer upon and upon anotheryoung man whose name was OliverCowdery, authority to baptize for theremission of sins.

Q. Did this authority extend tothe ordinance of Confirmation, or thelaying on of hands for the gift of theHoly Ghost ?

./1. No: John could not baptizewith the Holy Ghost ; he was onlyauthorized to baptize with water, andhe could not confer authority uponothers which he himself did not hold.

Q. how did Joseph Smith obtainthe office of an apostle?

.d. Peter, James, and John weresent to him, by whom he was ordainedto the apostleship, and thus authorizedto lay on hands upon baptized believ-

214 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON DOCTRINE

ers for the gift of the Holy Ghost, andto minister in all other gospel ordi-nances.

Q. Who were the first ones thatwere legally baptized after the resto-ration of the authority !

J. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cow-dery. After John the Baptist had laidhis hands upon these young men andordained them, he commanded themto baptize each other, which theyaccordingly did, agreeably to the pat-tern given in the book of Mormon.And after having received the office ofthe apostleship, they confirmed eachother by the laying on of hands forthe gift of the floly Ghost. Theywere also commanded to ordain eachother as a pattern for future ordinations.

Q. Was not the ordination whichthey received under the hands of Johnsufficient, without their being com-manded to re-ordain each other ?J. It was necessary for them to

set a perfect example for others to fol-low. Though the ordination whichthe angel had conferred upon them,gave authority, yet, as it was conferredprevious to their baptism ; it was ne-cessary for them to be re-ordained af-ter their baptism, as a pattern for theordination of all future officers in theChurch, lest some, in after times,should venture to ordain unbaptizedpersons, which the Lord did not intend,after the church was once restored, tosanction. This is the cause why theangel commanded a re-ordination af-ter their baptism. In the restorationof authority the angel had a right toconfer ordination before baptism,otherwise their baptism of each otherwould have been illegal and of nomore effect than the baptisms of theapostate churches of Christendom.But when the authority was once re-stored, and baptism was legally ad-ministered, there existed no more ne-cessity for ordination previous to bap-tism. Ordination henceforth, couldonly be bestowed upon baptized per-sons, and it was the will of the Lordthat Joseph Smith and Oliver Cow-dery should be the two highly favoredindividuals who should first set theexample in all these holy ordinances.

Q. Did God give any further in-structions preparatory to the re-organ-ization of His Church on the earth ?

J. Yes : He gave many revela-tions and commandments to JosephSmith, setting forth the true order,rules, and regulations to be observed.He also sent an holy angel from heavenin open day, in the presence of threeother individuals, namely, Oliver Cow-dery, David Whitmer, and Martin Har-ris, who were in company with JosephSmith, praying in the fields. Thesefour men saw the angel descend fromheaven, clothed in glory ; they sawthe plates of gold containing the writ-ings of the ancient prophets of Ame-rica in his hands; they saw him turnover the leaves, and beheld the en-gravings thereon ; they heard his voiceas he conversed with them face toface : they also heard the voice of theLord, at the same time speaking outof the heavens, declaring to them thatthe unsealed portions of the plateshad been translated correctly by Jo-seph Smith, and commanding them tobear testimony of what they then sawand heard to all nations, kindreds,tongues, and people, to whom thetranslation should be sent. In ac-cordance with these sacred injunctions,they have sent forth their printed tes-timony in connection with the trans-lation, called the Book of Mormon.These were some of the great prepar-atory events, preceding the organiza-tion of the Church of God again uponour earth. After the way was fullyprepared, the kingdom of God wasset up, consisting of only six mem-bers.

Q. Did Joseph the prophet receiveany further instructions concerningthe kingdom after its restoration ?

J. Yes : God continued to giveline upon line, precept upon precept,year after year, to govern, and set inorder, and regulate all things pertain-ing to the church, that it might grow,and flourish, and increase in heavenlygifts, and be prepared to accomplishHis righteous purposes.

Q. What purposes are to be ac-complished through the medium ofthis church ?


A. First : God will send His faith-ful servants in this church to everynation under heaven to preach thegospel as a witness and a sign of thesecond coming of His Son from theheavens, to destroy the wicked and toreign with His saints on ilia earth.Secondly : God will, through his ser-vants, gather out the righteous fromamong all nations, and assemble themin one ; and they will be armed withrighteousness and with the power ofGod in great glory. Thirdly : Godwill enlarge the borders of His peo-ple, and increase their dominion untilthe greatness of the kingdom underthe whole heavens shall be given intotheir hands. Lastly : God will de-stroy every nation under heaven thatwill not obey the fullness of His gospeland become subject to the laws of Hiskingdom.

Q. What does the Loid require ofthe people of the United States ?

a. He requires them to repent of alltheir sins and embrace the message ofsalvation, contained in the Book ofMormon, and be baptized into thischurch, and prepare themselves for thecoming of the Lord.

Q. What will be the consequenceif they do not embrace the Book ofMormon as a divine revelation ?

A. They will be destroyed fromthe land and sent down to hell, likeall other generations who have re-jected a divine message.

Q. In what way will the Lord de-stroy this nation if they reject theBook of Mormon ?

A. By a succession of the mostterrible judgments. Plague will fol-low plague in rapid succession, deso-lating populous cities and destroyinghundreds of thousands. The rains ofheaven will he staid, and the earth willnot yield forth her wonted harvests,and thousands will pine away withhunger and perish. The bonds of theUnion which now hold together theStates of this Republic, will be severed,and a fearful, desolating, civil war willrage between the South and the North.The people then will no longer dwellupon their farms, and in their villages,

and cities with security, but they willflee from city to city, and from Stateto State before the face of their ene-mies, and fear and terror will be uponthem by day and night. The laws ofthe land will then be powerless, andthe people will no longer be undertheir wholesome influence ; bands ofrobbers and murderers will wanderover the land unrestrained, and thuswill the whole nation mourn andwaste away and perish, unless theywill hearken unto the great messagewhich God has in mercy sent to them.There is no other alternative ; theymust either embrace the Book ofMormon as a divine revelation, or becut off by judgments from the land,for it is the sure and certain de-cree of heaven. God is not to bemocked, neither can a message be re-jected from Him with impunity. Nowis the day of mercy ; now peacedwells within your borders ; now theproclamation is repent and come forthwith humble hearts and contrite spir-its and be baptized for the remissionof sins, that you may receive the HolyGhost. If this proclamation is un-heeded, the sword of justice, which isalready unsheathed, will fall heavilyupon you. Do not flatter yourselvesthat you will escape, nor suffer your-selves, for a moment, to suppose thatall is well, for the decrees of the Eter-nal must be fulfilled, and this landmust be cleansed from wickedness.

Q. But will the Lord destroy therighteous with the wicked in the daywhen he executes fierce judgmentupon the nation ?

./L No : the righteous will takewarning and flee to the mountains andvales of Utah, that they may escapethese sore calamities ; but even theywill be visited with great tribulation,unless they give the most earnest anddiligent heed to the Book of Mormon,and to the other commandments andrevelations which God has given o_shall hereafter give to them. The wisewill foresee the evil and hide them-selves but the wicked will be caughtin their own snares, and fall into theirown pits.

216 SANDWICH ISLANDS-CHINA-SAN BERNARDINO.

EDITORIAL.

STATISTICS OF UTAH TERRITORY,

as reported by the Bishops, Oct. 16th,1853,—

Total number of inhabitants, 18,206Persons on Missions, 139Births during the year, ending

October 6th, 1853, 904

Deaths do do do 253We presume that the total number

of inhabitants reported, does not in-clude the emigration to that territory,during the year 1853. It is also pre-sumable that the territory was onlypartially reported.

SANDWICH ISLANDS.--The gospelon those islands is spreading rapidly:from April 6th to July 25th the churchwas increased by the addition of about1,000 souls. The translation of theBook of Mormon into the Hawaiianlanguage is completed and ready forthe press.

CH INA.-Our Missionaries to the ce-lestial empire have returned. No op-portunity for the introduction of thegospel among them at present. Warsand other judgments will, no doubt,eventually prepare the way, so thatthe kingdom of God may be estab-lished in their midst, and the honesthumble seekers after truth, enter there-in, and, in due time, be gathered toZion : for thus saith the Lord, by themouth of Joseph the prophet, "Andit shall come to pass, among thewicked, that every man that will nottake his sword against his neighbor,must needs flee unto Zion for safetyAnd there shall he gathered unto itout of every nation under heaven ;and it shall be the only people thatshall not be at war one with another."(Doc. 87. Cov. Sec. 15: 13.) In thisgeneral emigration of the saints fromall nations, China must contributeher portion : songs of praise and glad-ness in the Chinese language, willyet be heard among the congregations

of Zion. The word of the Lord shallbe fulfilled in its time and in its sea-son.

SAN BERNARDINO, CALIFORNIA.--TheThe country of San Bernardino is in-habited by the saints: it is in thesouthern part of California, and ex-tends from the south-western part ofUtah, to within 25 or 30 miles ofthe Pacific ocean. There are threesaw mills and one flouring mill in thesettlement. They are entitled to oneState Representative. The colony isin a flourishing condition under thepresidency of Amasa Lyman andCharles C. Rich, two of the twelve.

NEW WORK.- "JOSEPH SMITHTHE PROPHET." This is the title of avery interesting work, written by thedirection, and under the immediateinspection of the Prophet himself.It is now, for the first time, printed.It contains the genealogy and a briefsketch of his ancestors back for sixor seven generations. Several re-markable dreams and visions of hisfather are related. But what rendersthe work doubly interesting is theearly history of the Prophet, includingmany remarkable occurrences and im-portant facts, never before published.Copies of this work would be valu-able to every lover of truth, andwould adorn the libraries of the hon-est and patriotic descendents of ourpilgrim fathers, who will be pleasedto learn that one of the greatest andmost renowned Prophets that evergraced our earth, descended from thathardy illustrious race who first peo-pled the dense forests of New Eng-land, and formed the nucleus of agreat and independent nation or free-men. We have on hand a few copies,procured from England, printed onsuperior paper, and bound in the mostsuperior style of morocco, neatlygifted. Price $2; common paper, calf$150; Roan, $1.

MILLENNIAL STAR-APPOINTMENT. 217

"MILLENNIAL STAR."-This is thetitle of a weekly periodical of sixteenpages, published by the Latter-DaySaints at 15 Wilton street, Liverpool,England. This much esteemed andhighly interesting periodical has beenpublished for many years; fifteen vol-umes have been completed. In theBritish Isles, it has a circulation ofabout twenty thousand : it is alsoextensively circulated in Europe, Asia,Australia, Pacific Islands, and Amer-ica. Its columns embrace the generalhistory of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints from its rise, togetherwith the interesting news from ourmissionaries among all nations ; theyare also interspersed with many arti-cles on prophecy and doctrine, open-ing the grand events of futurity, andelucidating the principles of salvation,with a clearness which, at once, showsthat they are the productions, not ofhuman wisdom, but of the wisdom ofGod. The saints who wish to informthemselves of the rapid spread of thegospel, and upon every other usefulsubject, connected with the great Lat-ter-Day Dispensation in which theylive, should without fail procure thevolumes of the Star, and they willhave a continual feast. We havevolumes 11, 13, 14, and 15 on handfor sale. Prices as mentioned in theCatalogue, except vol. 14, which con-tains 44 Nos. and supplement, for $2,or $2 20 including postage pre-paid byus. Will the saints be indifferentabout procuring these most valuablepublications ? Will they grope indarkness when light of the most pureand heavenly nature is within theirreach ? Will they plead poverty, asan excuse for depriving themselvesand their children of blessings thatwould be of more value to them thanany earthly consideration ? Wouldit not be much better to dispense fora while with some of the luxuries oflife, and thus save a little means toprocure heavenly light and truth, thanto live in ignorance of what God isdoing through His people ? Wouldit not be more God-like to dispensewith that nauseous and disgustinghabit of chewing and smoking to-

bacco, and by that means not onlysave your health and constitution, butsave funds to purchase a far morehealthy and durable food upon whichyou can feast your minds both intime and in eternity ? Or will youlie down and grovel in ignorancelike the natural brute beast, andyet profess to be Saints ? Will you,not only curse yourselves with blind-ness and darkness, but entail the sameupon your children and upon yourgenerations after you? How can yoube the children of light, when lightshines all around you, and yet youperceive it not ? One Presiding El-der over a branch of forty professedSaints in North Carolina writes thathe had heard nothing of the saintssince they were driven from Nauvoo.Nov, if he had been in China, inAustralia, or in the Pacific Isles, hewould have obtained an abundance ofnews concerning them ; but it seemsthat some impenetrable barrier downsouth has shut out all light and infor-mation for these many years ; it mustbe a dismal place, indeed ! We canthink of nothing to compare with itonly the old antediluvian prison whereno heavenly light or information burstin upon them for the long dreary periodof two thousand years and upwards.How long it will be before the prisondoors down south will be opened, weknow not. There possibly may besome chance for them at the close ofthe Millennium.

APPOINTMENT. Elder James Brownis hereby appointed Emigration Agentfor the Saints at New Orleans. He isrequested to go immediately to thatcity, so as to be there in time to makepreparations for the ships, filled withthe emigrating Saints from Liverpool.The most of these ships will mostprobably arrive between the middleof February and the middle of May.Elder Brown has been laboring in theministry with some success in Indiana,and we trust his active business turnof mind will prove a blessing to theemigrating Saints, and save them muchexpense and trouble. Brother Brownwill open a correspondence with S.

2l8 REPENTANCE.

W. Richards, our agent at Liverpool,and will thus learn, previous to thearrival of each ship, the names andages of all the passengers on board,

which will be a help to him in mak.ing every necessary arrangement.

ORSON PRATT,President of the Saints in the

U. S. and British Provinces

REPENTANCE.BY THE

REPENTANCE iS one of the condi-tions granted to fallen man, throughwhich he is made a partaker of thepurchased gift and blessings of salva-tion. Repentance is a sorrow of heartfor all past sins committed, and a fullconfession unto the Lord of the same,connected with a covenant or prom-ise, and a fixed settled determinationin the mind, to sin no more. Re-pentance may be considered underthe following four heads :

First. The evils and sins to berepented of.

Second. The nature of the sor-row connected with true repentance.

Third. The confession necessaryfor the penitent.

Fourth. The promise and deter-mination to sin no more.

We shall examine, First, The evilsand sins to be repented of. Beforeany one can repent, he must be con-vinced of sin. Sin is a transgressionof the law. Without a knowledge ofthe law, a person cannot always dis-cern between good and sinful actions.The light that is in every man whichcomes into the world, will enablehim, without the aid of the revealedlaw, to distinguish in some small de-gree, between good and evil. Butthere are many evils that could notbe known short of the revealed law.The light of conscience will makemanifest some of the more glaringevils : but this light becomes greatlyobscured by neglect and by constantviolation of its teachings, so much so,that persons may become almost orwholly insensitive to the dictates ofconscience : many actions which wereonce considered evils will, by con-stant habit, be considered virtuous;

EDITOR.

while many practices once consid-ered good, will by tradition and habitbe transformed into evils. A heathenentirely unacquainted with the re-vealed law, would, if he were alwaysto follow the still small voice of con-science, receive more and more light,and be able to discover many import-ant truths, and to distinguish betweenvirtue and vice more clearly thanthose who are constantly violatingthe monitor within them. But withall the light that he could glean, in-dependent of revelation, he would befar from understanding the sinfulnessof many actions, and would be en-tirely ignorant of the nature of othersin regard to whether they were sinfulor not : and he would also be whollyuninformed in regard to a future judg-ment and the penalties to be inflictedupon sinners ; and without a knowl-edge of these things he could notrepent acceptably as the gospel re-quires.

It is therefore, by the revealed law,that we become acquainted with goodand evil more fully ; and by which,we learn that we are accountable be-ings, and must be judged by the lawfor our doings, and that the penaltyof the law must be executed upon us,if we have transgressed it, in order tosatisfy the demands of justice, unlesswe have complied with the condi-tions through which mercy may haveclaim upon us, and may deliver usfrom the justice of the law. Paulsays, " I had not known sin but bythe law : for I had not known lust,except the law had said, Thou shaltnot covet," (Rom. 7: 7.) Withoutthe law, conscience does not teach usthat to labor on the Sabbath day is

REPENTANCE. 219

sinful. There is no process of rea-soning that will teach a heathen thatlabor on the Sabbath is any more sin-ful, than labor performed on Monday,or Tuesday, or any other day of theweek. It is by the revealed law, andnot by conscience, that this sin is dis-covered. Conscience may teach theheathen that to murder is an evil, andhuman laws may teach them thatdeath shall be the punishment of themurderer. Through fears of the pen-alties of the law and the evils result-ing in this life, they refrain in a greatmeasure from committing this crime ;but they have no knowle !ge of thehigher law against murder, nor of thegreater penalty which will be inflictedupon the murderer beyond this life ;they have no knowledge of a higherBeing who will call them to accountfor that crime. If, therefore, theyshould repent of murder, it would notbe for the purpose of escaping thepenalty in the next life, nor for thepurpose of pleasing God, of whoselaws they know nothing, but for thepurpose of avoiding the evils result-ing in this present world. Such re-pentance, though good as far as itgoes, is not that which the gospel re-quires ; it is not repentance towardsGod, but it is a repentance towardsman, in order to please man, and toavoid the penalty of man's laws.

There are many among the heathenwho commit adultery and fornication ;conscience does not tell them thatGod is displeased with these evils ;indeed, some of them do not considerthese to be evils, and have no moreremorse of conscience in doing them,than they would have in eating whenthey were hungry. But when theylearn the law of God, they discoverthat these are great evils, and that thepunishments to be inflicted in the nextlife for these sins, are of the mostfearful nature. Without the law, theyconsider that all is well; but when thelaw is made known, they find them-selves transgressors. As the apostlePaul says, " Without the law sin wasdead. For I was alive without thelaw once : but when the command-ment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment which was or-dained to life, I found to be unto death.For sin, taking occasion by the com-mandment, deceived me, and by itslew me. Wherefore the law is holy,and the commandment holy, andjust, and good. Was then thatwhich is good made death unto me ?God forbid. But sin, that it mightappear sin, working death in me bythat which is good; that sin by thecommandment might become exceed-ing sinful." (Romans 7 : 8-13.)

Where there is no knowledge ofthe revealed law of God, sinful ac-tions will not be punished to the sameextent as where the laws and their pen-alties are known ; for the apostle says," Sin is not imputed when there is nolaw." (Rom. 5: 13.) That is, sinis not imputed to the same extent, andthey are not punished with the sameseverity, as those who are acquaintedwith the law. Hence, the Saviour de-clares that he who knoweth the mas-ter's will and doeth it not, shall bebeaten with many stripes; while hethat knoweth not, and yet doeth thingsworthy of punishment, shall be beatenwith few stripes. The apostle alsosays, ‘‘For as many as have sinnedwithout law, shall also perish withoutlaw ; and as many as have sinned inthe law. shall be judged by the law."(Rom. 2: 12.) The heathen, there-fore, will perish without law, and bebeaten with few stripes, because theyobeyed not the light that was in them ;but the penalty of the revealed lawwill not fully be executed upon them,and it will be more tolerable for themin the day of judgment, than for thosewho have sinned, having the law, andwho are to be judged by the law, andhave the sentence of the law executedupon them. Such, without repent-ance, will suffer eternal torment andeverlasting banishment from the pres-ence of God. And they will haveweeping, and wailing, and gnashing ofteeth.

Having learned that man is con-victed of sin by the law, let us nextendeavor to ascertain what sins thepresent generation are guilty of, in or-der to learn whether they have any

220 REPENTANCE.

need to repent. We will, for thepresent, pass over the sins of theheathens, and enumerate some of theevils existing among Christian nationswhere they have copies of the re-vealed law existing by millions, andwhere almost every family can readthe sacred pages of the same. TheDivine law says, 64 Thou shalt notkill." Now it is not the individualwho murders who is alone criminal,but all those who sanction the same.When the Saints were murdered inMissouri and Illinois by the mar-shaled hosts of the wicked, who wereurged on by the highest authorities ofthose States, it is a notable fact thatthousands of professed Christians, andmany Christian ministers of differentdenominations, were directly engagedin those most wicked and horrid mur-ders. When the great prophet of theLord was taken unlawfully from hispeaceful avocations, and torn from hisfamily, and carried, with a number ofothers, into the mob camp, and wassentenced to be shot the next morn-ing, who was it that sanctioned andurged on these diabolical deeds ? Wereply, that among the vast hosts ofthose who made no profession ofreligion, there were no less thanSEVENTEEN preachers of differentorders who were in this council, andmost strenuously urged the cold-blooded murder of the prophet andhis friends in the presence of theirown familes upon the public square.Have these preachers and the thou-sands of professors of religion whotook such an active part in the foulmurders of the Saints, been disfellow-shiped by their brethren throughoutthe States ? No, they are still, themost of them, retained in the respec-tive churches to which they belonged.But were those who immediately par-ticipated in these bloody persecutions,the only ones guilty ? Were therenot hundreds of thousands in theUnited States and other Christian na-tions, who in their hearts sanctionedthese things, and who still continueto sanction them ? Yea, more, hasnot even the general government it-self, indirectly sanctioned these whole-

sale murders and robberies, as hasbeen most clearly manifested by theircold and unfeeling neglect, and theirrefusal to protect the Saints in therights of American citizens, whiledwelling in those rebellious States ?Will the persons who committed thesemurders and shed the blood of theonly prophets which God has sent tothe earth for more than a thousandyears, he the only ones condemned asmurderers in the day of judgment ?No. Every person who has in the leastsanctioned these things will sufferwith the murderers, unless they re-pent. The Saviour said that the bloodof all the prophets which had beenshed upon the earth, from the days ofrighteous Abel, until the blood ofZacharius, which was shed betweenthe temple and the altar, should berequired of that generation. Why ?Because they sanctioned the murderof cotemporary prophets. The appro-bation, given to the murder of theprophet Zacharius and other prophets,sent directly to them, was just aswicked as though they had actuallykilled all the former ones. So like-wise, God will require of this na-tion, and of every individual onthe earth, who in the least sanctionsthe murder of Joseph the prophet,or any of the Saints, the blood ofthose holy men at their hands ;and not only their blood, but theblood of every righteous personthat has been shed upon the earth inany age, will be required at the handsof those among this generation whogive countenance in their hearts to thesewicked deeds. This, therefore, is oneamong the many sins which hundredsof thousands are guilty of, and of whichthey must most heartily repent, or elsethe blood of the prophets and thesaints will ascend up to heavenagainst them. and in the great day ofjudgment, they will receive their por-tion, not only among hypocrites andunbelievers, but among murderers,whose deeds they have sanctioned.

Also, the revealed la w says, " Thoushalt not commit adultery." And weare informed that those who do thisevil are to be punished with murder-

REPENTANCE. 221

ers. The Lord says by the mouth ofJohn the revelator, that " The fearful,and unbelieving, and the abominable,and murderers, and whoremongers,and sorcerers, and idolaters, andall liars, shall have their part inthe lake which burneth with fireand brimstone : which is the sec-ond death." Now when we examinethe present state of the nations ofChristendom, what do we find ? Wefind them continually practicing thesegreat evils so clearly and expresslyforbidden in the law of God. In thecity of New York alone, there areabout twenty thousand public pros-titutes, who procure their living by aconstant violation of these divine laws.In the cities of Boston, Albany, Phil-adelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, andscores of others that might be named,there are thousands of female pros-titutes. Now these wretched and vilecharacters are supported by hundredsof thousands of the male population,who daily and hourly commit crimessufficient to sink the nation to thelowest hell. In ancient times such in-iquities brought swift judgment uponthe whole people where they were al-lowed. For one such crime amongthe tribe of Benjamin, God com-manded the other tribes to go to warwith them ; and the whole tribe, men,women, and children, were cut off,with the exception of a very few.Does God feel any different towardsthis sin now, from what he did then ?Is he not unchangeable in regard tohis abhorrence of sin ? If so, whatmust be His feelings to look down andbehold several hundred thousand adul-terers, and adulteresses, and whore-mongers in the American nation—anation that boasts of her moral andChristian institutions, and refinements?How is it, that the heavens can with-hold speedy and awful vengeancefrom the nation ? Nothing but thefew honest, sincere, and humble soulsamong them, prevents an entire over-throw and destruction. When theseare gathered out, then will come theday of visitation, and of fierce wrathwhich has been held in reserve for along time ; then will he quickly wipe

away these enormous, wholesale evilswith which this choice land has been,for a long period, most fearfully anddreadfully polluted. But this nation isnot alone sunk down to the lowestdepths of degradation and wickedness :other nations,calling themselves Chris-tians, are equally guilty. In the city ofLondon alone, there are about ninetythousand public female prostitutes,supported by several hundred thou-sand male prostitutes equally criminal.In Birmingham, Manchester, Liver-pool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and finallyin all the large towns, tens of thou-sands get their daily and yearly livingby the commission of this great crime.And what renders these evils stillmore abominable in the sight of God,is that they are constantly takingplace in a land of Bibles, where mill-ions of copies of the divine law arecirculated in their midst, and whereall have an opportunity of inform-ing themselves of the denunciationsof heaven against these iniquities.Again, when we cross over from Chris-tian England to the European nationson the continent, the scenery is stillworse, and too abominable to benamed, or even thought of, in regardto the extent and magnitude of thesefilthy soul-destroying dens of pollu-tions. In many of these nations,their own statistics show, that abovehalf the number of infants born areillegitimate. Only think of the ex-tent of crime, when in one nation,comparatively small, from fifty to ahundred thousand illegitimate chil-dren are annually born, which is asit were only an index to the stillgreater amount of crime that does notrender itself quite so apparent.

It is almost an astonishment thatGod should have permitted these na-tions to practice these great abomina-tions for so many generations withoututterly destroying them from the earth.And it is also an astonishment that heshould condescend to send a prophetwith a message to a generation soawfully corrupt and wicked as thepresent. They are not worthy ofprophets, or apostles, or the Book ofMormon, hut yet God has sent one of

222 REPENTANCE.

the most glorious messages that everreached the ears of mortals, to thisvery generation who are worthy ofnothing but judgment: he has donethis, not because many of them willreceive it, but because he intends topour out the vials of his wrath uponthem; and he knows that the rejec-tion of so great a message will morespeedily ripen them for an entire over-throw and utter desolation ; that hisvineyard may no more be cumberedwith such abominable trash. Godvery well knew, that this generationwere too far gone in the wicked tra-ditions of their fathers, and sunk toolow in the depths of wickedness, toreceive a prophet, or hearken to thevoice of inspiration; but he knew thatthe rejection of prophets, and of theBook of Mormon, would leave themwithout the least excuse, when heshould rise up to destroy and make afull end of wickedness.

Perhaps some may say that thesegreat crimes are not approbated bythe majority, and therefore the major-ity should not suffer for the doingsof the minority. But we reply, if themajority do not approbate them, whydo they not put a final stop to crimesof this nature? . It is the majoritythat rule and make the law's of theland : why then, do not the majority,through their representatives, makelaws for the utter abolishment of thesecrimes ? They have the constitutionalright, as well as the power, to makesuch laws and affix such penalties,as shall effectually demolish thesecriminal connections. The criminalcode of our country pretends to befounded, in a great measure, upon thecriminal code contained in the divineoracles. If laws are made against thesecrimes, why not affix to them thesame penalties that the great DivineLaw-Giver has ordained? Death toboth the parties is the penalty of theDivine law. When this penalty wasin force in ancient times, it was sel-dom that this crime was committed.Let the majority of the people in theseveral States and Territories, electsuch legislators, as will affix the pen-alty of the divine law to the laws which

they enact against these crimes, andthey will soon see a great reformation;and adulteries and criminal connectionswill become as rare as murders : everyden of pollution throughout the landwould be broken up: no female would,at the risk of her life, think offollowing a practice so criminal andvile : the constant practice of mur-der, would be no more dangerousthan constant prostitution for a liv-ing. Such laws and such only, willprove an effectual remedy againstthis great crime which has so tear-fully and extensively corrupted thenation. If the majority do not makelaws to effectually remedy and abol-ish the crime, then these evils will,in the day of judgment, be answeredupon their own heads, and they willbe found guilty, for suffering crimesof such magnitude to prevail through-out the country, when it was withintheir own power to have legislatedagainst them with that severity thatwould have swept them out of theland. The very fact that the major-ity do not make such laws, showsmost clearly that they are guilty ofapprobating the evil, at least, in oth-ers, if not in themselves; therefore,in the sight of the Great Law-Giver,they are considered . guilty of partici-pating in the same crimes. If theminority would free themselves fromthe same condemnation, they mustrepent. But how must they repent ?It is not within the power of the mi-nority to elect legislators, therefore,how can they remedy this evil, evenif they feel ever so much disposed ?We reply, that they can repent ofever having cast a vote for the elec-tion of a legislator, that would notpromise, before hand, that he woulduse every exertion to have such lawspassed ; and they can reform, by notbeing guilty, for the future, of usingtheir influence and vote for the electionof legislators who will not do theirduty in this respect. This kind ofrepentance and reformation will savethe majority from the condemnationthat rests upon the minority; andwithout such repentance, the minor-ity, as well as the majority, will be

REPENTANCE. 223

considered, in the great judgment, asbeing guilty of participating in thesame crimes. It was for like reasons,that God visited in judgment, thewhole tribe of Benjamin and nearlyextinguished them from the face ofthe earth. It was not because thewhole tribe had been directly guiltyof the crime, but because they refusedto bring the few that were guilty tojustice ; therefore God held the ma-jority, yes, even the whole tribe, withthe exception of a very few, responsi-ble for the wicked acts of the few indi-viduals; and the same penalty of deaththat would have been inflicted onlyupon the few who were immediatelyguilty, was with equal justice in-flicted upon the whole who refusedto deliver up the criminals. So like-wise, shall it be with this nation, un-less they do away these abominationsthat are in their midst : God will de-nounce them as being equally guiltyas those who commit these crimes :and he will inflict upon them thesame penalty, that should have beeninflicted upon the criminals ; and hewill cast them down to hell to dwellwith such vile and abominable char-acters, because they did not destroythese crimes from the land.

The people of the United States arefar more guilty in this one respect,than the people in other governments ;for here, it is the people who makethe laws,through the legislators of theirown choosing, consequently the peo-ple are responsible, not only forthe laws that are made, but for theneglect to make any laws that oughtto be made. But in many other gov-ernments the people have no choice inthe appointment of their law-givers ;and if the law•making departmentmake unjust laws, or refuse to makelaws for the suppression of crime, thepeople cannot remedy the evil with-out revolutionizing their forms of gov-ernment. In such cases the respon-sibility rests upon the individualscommitting the crime, and upon thelaw-making department who do notby appropriate laws suppress it, andalso upon all others who approbatethe same, or do not protest against it.

The people of Utah are the onlyones in this nation who have takeneffectual measures (we will not say tosuppress, for the word is entirely in-applicable to them,) but to preventadulteries and criminal connectionsbetween the sexes. The punishmentin that territory, for these crimes isDEATH TO BOTH MALE ANDFEMALE. And this law is written onthe hearts and printed in the thoughtsof the whole people. Does not thisrighteous and just law have its de-sired effect upon them ? Yes ; it es-tablishes virtue upon a permanentfoundation, and deals out justice tothe vile seducer, adulterer and whore-monger, so far as it can be dealt outin this life ; it preserves the purity ofthe morals of the whole population,which is essentially necessary to thepeace, happiness, and prosperity of anypeople, government, or nation. There,no houses of ill-fame, or public, orprivate prostitutes, can be found tocorrupt society and pollute the land.There, no arch seducer is permitted toflatter the young and inexperiencedfemale, till he has ruined his victimand left her an outcast from society.There, no vile adulterer can creep.into families, and violate the sacredchastity of the marriage covenant.What prevents these evils ? It is therighteousness of the people, and therighteousness of their laws ; it is thelove of virtue and the fear of punish-ment combined. This is the kind ofrepentance and reformation acceptablein the sight of God ; it is to repent,not in word only, but in deed, and intruth, and in the enactment of justand equitable laws ; and in the execu-tion of these laws upon the transgres-sor. Repentance is not to ascend intoa finely cushioned pulpit, and therewhine over the wickedness of thepeople, without taking ary . effectualmeans to reform and suppress thatwickedness. Repentance does notconsist in merely pointing out theevil and professing to be very muchgrieved that it exists, but it consists inrefraining from the evil, and pointingout the remedy by which it can becorrected, and applying that remedy

224 REPENTANCE.

as far as possible, and teaching allothers to apply it. Utah is an exam-ple ; and the virtuous results of herwholesome and just laws should in-duce the States and other Territories tofollow in the same virtuous track.Let them try it, and we will insurethem a much more wholesome moralatmosphere ; and the overflowingfloods of prostitution will be assuaged,and the fountain will dry up, and tilehouses of ill-fame will be abolished ;and these abominable evils will van-ish away ; and the American nationwill become a virtuous people—anexample for all other nations to fol-low ; and God will repent of the evilwhich he intends to bring upon them ;and his hand of judgment will belightened, and his chastisements willnot be so heavy upon them. But ifthey repent not, but permit thesecrimes to continue, the Lord will sure-ly visit them, and will not spare, butwill execute all his fierce wrath uponthem, until they shall cease to be anation before him ; and they shallknow that it is the Lord against whemthey have sinned, and before whomtheir abominations have continuallybeen practiced, in defiance of hislaws, and of his holy and just indig-nation.

Among the various evils forbiddenby the revealed law, is that of false-hood. God so detests this evil, thathe has informed us, that whosoever

"loveth or maketh a lie shall havetheir part in that lake which burnethwith fire and brimstone." God isa God of truth, and cannot lie withoutviolating the great perfections and at-tributes of his nature, which if heshould do, his power and glory wouldcease, and other Beings who are filledwith all the fullness of his attributes,would succeed in his place. But Godknowing all things, and loving right-eousness and truth with a perfect love,it is impossible for him to violate thegreat unchangeable principles of hisnature. Now all those who are per-mitted to dwell in his presence, mustlove truth as he loves it, and be asstable and unchangeable in truth ashe is. All who are otherwise, can byno means be permitted to dwell there,to disturb the peace, happiness, con-fidence, and truthfulness that reignuniversally in those pure and heavenlymansions. The devil was a liar fromthe beginning, and is the father of lies,and all those who are addicted to thisevil, are his children, and will dwellwith their father, and be miserable ashe is miserable, and partake with himof all the bitterne.,s of hell, and asso-ciate with liars, and deceivers, andevery evil doer. Besides the lake offire into which ;hey are cast, they willmake an additional hell of their ownby their own demoniac and maliciouspassions.

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS:

Faith is the gift of God,. • • •••• 209Questions and Answers,. .... 212Editorial.—Statistics of Utah—Sandwich Islands—China—San Bernardino, Cal-

ifornia—New Work—Millennial Star—Appointment, . . 216Repentance, •••• ... . • • • • 281


EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY ORSON PR A.TT,

.41 $1 per annum, invariably in advance.

EELAll ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when lie

lifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains,—kaiah xvill, 3.

MARCH, 1854. No. 3.

POWERS OF NATURE.BY THE EDITOR.

Man, by his researches, has discov-ered many methods of combining thepowers of nature, so as to produceastonishing and beneficial results : hehas, by the happy application of me-chanical skill, so arranged the partsof machinery, that by developing theforces of nature in connection withthem, results follow which would bealtogether incredible to the ignorantand uninformed. These powers, theelements of which, in the hands ofskillful and experienced mechanicians,produce such astonishing eacts, are,when traced to their origin, nothingless than the powers ordained of God ;powers that pervade all nature, or inother words, the power of God, actingaccording fo prescribed laws, fixedand unchangeable in their mode of op-eration, only when the authority thatgave them directs a deviation.

Man, because he beholds the effectsof these stupendous powers, as theyact upon the material elements sur-rounding him, has become familiarizedwith them, and unthinkingly callsthem the powers of nature ;" andbecause they act in a fixed, unde-viating manner, he calls their modeof action the " laws of nature ;" asthough abstract nature was capable ofmanifesting power, and of acting ac-cording to law, independently of athinking, living, intelligent, movingsubstance in association with it. Na-ture has no power, and no method of

action, and indeed, no action what-ever, apart from a thinking, livingsubstance, which is constantly asso-ciated with it. What is this sub-stance ? It is God, or in other words,the Holy Spirit which is associated ina greater or less degree with everyparticle of matter in the universe. Itis this holy and All-wise substancethat is omnipresent, pervading uni-versal nature, governing and controll-ing worlds without number, producingand superintending the grand andaugust movements of the combinedwhole, as it stretches itself out on.every side to infinity : it is this All-wise, Omnipresent, and Almighty sub-stance, that unites system with sys-tem, tinder its own forces, so regu-lated, as to maintain an eternal bondof union, and yet so nicely adjustedas to prevent worlds from rushing onworlds, as they fly with inconceivablevelocity in their appointed orbits.

Were it not for the presence of thisall-pervading substance, matter wouldbe wholly devoid of force. The greatcentral force of gravitation could notexist : matter could not have been col-lected into worlds ; or if collected,there could have been no adherenceof its particles—no chemical com-binations—no formation of solids orliquids—no organizations of anykind—no varieties of matter—no hardand impenetrable atoms ; but all sub-stance, without force, would have

226 POWERS OF NATURE.

been infinitely divisible, without prop-erties of any kind, except the prop-erty of existence in space. Hence,all substance, without force, could nothave been otherwise than preciselyalike. It is force, then, that gives allthe infinite varieties of form, taste,color, smell, hardness, and everyother characteristic of the elements.This force is constantly acting in afixed and definite manner ; so that un-der the same circumstances, the sameresults are produced. This fixed ruleof action is, in many cases, perceivedby both the learned and unlearned ;and all mankind are constantly gov-erned in their actions by a firm andunshaken confidence in the stabilityof these laws. Some of these lawshave been traced up from their remoteconsequences to a high degree of gen-eralization ; among which may bementioned the grand law of universalgravitation, by which every particleof matter in the universe has a tend-ency, not to attract, (for such a modeof actit , is, in all cases, absolutelyimpossible,) but to approach everyother particle with a force varying in-versely as the square of its distance :that is, two particles or masses, sit-uated at twice the distance from eachother, will not have the same tend-ency to approach as at a nearer dis-tance : and this diminution of the ap-proaching tendency does not merely-vary in the simple ratio of the dis-tances, but in the duplicate propor-tion, so that at twice the distance,instead of having only twice lesstendency to draw near each other,they have four times less inclination ;and at three times greater distance,they have nine times less force ; andat four times the distance, their forcetowards each other is sixteen timesless : and whatever be the distance,that distance, multiplied into itself, willrepresent inversely the force or inclina-tion of the two bodies to approach eachother. Now the first moving cause,that ultimately results in this definitemode of action, is an all-wise, self-moving substance associated with thematerials thus acting. It matters nothow many intervening causes there

may be of a higher order of general-ization than that of gravitation, it iscertain that the first in the series isnot only all-wise and all-powerful,but as extensive in quantity as thematerials with which it is associated,and upon which it thus intelligentlyacts. If we are unable to trace theeffects up through all the interveninglinks to their true origin, we are nonethe less assured of the intelligenceand power of the first moving cause.

And again, we behold a grand dis-play of the wisdom and power of thisgoverning and presiding agent in theinstitution of a law to counteract thegravitating tendency of the wholeuniverse, namely : the law of centri-fugal force, by which the bodies of asystem and of the whole universehave a tendency to revolve aroundtheir common centre of gravity withmean velocities proportioned to theinverse square root of their mean dis-tances. This law is dependent on thedistances, and is as universal as thatof gravity. All our planets and sa-tellites follow this law as strictly andas undeviatingly as the law of centralforce. For instance, a planet, situatedfrom the sun four times the distanceof the earth, will have an orbit vel-ocity, one-half as great as the earth's ;at nine times the distance its orbitvelocity will be three times less ; atsixteen times the distance, four timesless ; at a hundred times the distance,ten times less; and so on, the velo -cities decreasing, not in the simpleratio of their distances, but in the muchslower proportion of the inversesquare root of those distances. Therevolutions of the satellites aroundtheir primaries follow the same law.And suns revolve around suns, andsystems around systems, under theinfluence of the same grand and ma-jestic law. And thus the wholeaugust retinue of the starry heavensis prevented from rushing to one com-mon centre, and producing a univer-sal wreck of nature. While one lawprevents the bodies from parting com-pany, and flying off into the immea-surable wilds of space, the other keepsthem at respectful distances, and does

EXPLANATION OF NAMES IN THE COVENANTS. 227

not suffer them to encroach upon thepremises of their near neighbors.• These are called powers of natureand laws of nature, but they are thepowers of that Supreme Being or Sub-stance, whose dwelling place is nature,and whose tabernacle is the elements.The great Architect of the universe didnot construct the magnificent machin-ery of nature, and endow the materialsthereof with certain fixed powers, andthen withdraw Himself, or step asideto see the mighty fabric operate. Un-intelligent materials are incapable ofbeing endowed with any kind of pow-ers, much less with the wise and in-telligent powers that characterize theworkings of the universe. God isevery moment in nature, and everymoment acts upon nature, and throughnature, the same as the spirit of manacts in, and through, and upon thetabernacle of his body. If God shouldwithdraw himself from nature, orshould cease to act upon it, that por-tion of it which is without life or in-telligence, (if there be any such por-tion,) would immediately cease allaction : and while thus apart fromnature no laws could be given to itwhich could be obeyed : no gravita-tive or cohesive tendencies could beexerted upon it ; no chemical com-binations or organic operations couldbe performed ; or in other words, un-intelligent nature would be entirelydead, and no voice or power couldawake it, or have the least effect uponit, without entering into it, and oper-ating upon it, and through it. It isonly living and intelligent substancesthat hear, and understand, and obey alaw. And if unintelligent nature ap-

pear to act and obey a law, it is notin reality the acts of nature, but theoperations of a living, intelligent sub-stance inhabiting nature. Unintelli-gent nature could no more act thanthe body without the spirit couldact. Therefore, all the grand andmagnificent movements of the uni-verse as a whole, and all the minuteand imperceptible operations of itsparticles, are the continued effects ofthe living, moving, all-powerful sub-stance diffused through the whole.This all-pervading, omnipresent sub-stance is the Holy Spirit existing ininexhaustible quantities, and extendingthrough the immensity of space : it isthe light, and the life, and the powerof all things. To search out the lawsof nature is nothing less than search-ing out the laws by which the Spiritin nature operates. Man is contin-ually beholding these wonderful oper-ations, but because he does not beholdthe acting agent, he ascribes the effectsto blind, unintelligent and unconsciousmatter : as well might he ascribe theattributes of the divinity to a woodenidol. The light shines all around us,and is manifested in an infinite varietyof wise and beneficial results, but sogreat is the darkness of man, that heperceives not the light ; or as on. greatRedeemer has said, " The light shin-eth in darkness, but the darkness corn-prehendeth it not." Man is contin-ually experimenting with the powersof nature, but he perceives not thatthose very powers with which he isso familiar, are nothing less than themanifestations of the power of Godthrough the elements which are Histabernacle.

EXPLANATION OF SUBSTITUTED NAMES IN THECOVENANTS.

BY THE EDITOR.

For the edification of the saints wewill give some explanation concerningcertain names in connection with sev-eral revelations in the Book of Doc-trine and Covenants. By reference to

section 76th, it will be perceived thatthe Lord gave a revelation to "Enoch"in relation to "a permanent and ever-lasting establishment and order" forthe benefit of the poor. Many of the

228 EXPLANATION OF NAMES IN THE COVENANTS.

saints, unacquainted with the cir-cumstances, have wondered whetherthe names, " Enoch," "Gazelam, "" Ahashdah," Pelagoram, " &c.,mentioned in that section, togetherwith those of a similar character,mentioned in sections 87, 94, 97, 99,101 and 102, were really ancient per-sonages and ancient places and things,or those of the present age. All thesenames have reference to modern per-sons, places and things of our day.Indeed, when these revelations werefirst received by the Prophet Joseph,the real names were given : and itwas not until months, and in regardto some of them, even years, hadpassed away, before the names werealtered, and others bearing an ancientappearance were substituted.

We often had access to the manu-scripts when board* with theProphet ; and it was our delight toread them over and over again, beforethey were printed. And so highlywere they esteemed by us, that wecommitted some to memory ; and afew we copied for the purpose of ref-erence in our absence on missions;and also to read them to the saintsfor their edification These copiesare still in our possession. When atlength the time arrived to print themanuscripts, it was thought best notto publish them all, on account ofour enemies, who were seeking everymeans to destroy the Prophet and theChurch. On account, however, ofthe great anxiety of the church to seethem in print, it was concluded,through the suggestions of the Spirit,that by altering the real names givenin the manuscripts, and substitutingfictitious ones in their stead, theymight thus safely appear in print with-out endangering the welfare of theindividuals whose real names were con-tained therein. It was by this meansthat several revelations were permit-ted to appear in print in the first edi-tion, that otherwise would have beenwithheld from the knowledge of thesaints, perhaps for many long years,or at least until more favorable cir-cumstances would have permittedthem to be made public.

It may be asked, had the Propheta right to alter names given by reve-lation and substitute fictitious ones intheir stead ? We reply, that it is onlythe printed edition that contains thesubstituted names, while the originalmanuscripts, that are safely preservedin the hands of the church, containthe names as they were originallygiven. Moreover, the substitution offictitious names for persons and placesdoes not alter or destroy the sense orideas contained in the revelations.But what the Prophet did in relationto this thing, was not of himself: hewas dictated by the Holy Ghost tomake these substitutions, for the timebeing, until it should be wisdom forthe true names to appear. That hewas thus inspired is certain from thefact, that at the very time that he madethese substitutions, he also receivedmuch additional light ; and by revela-tion line was added upon line to sev-eral of the sections and paragraphsabout to be published. But somemay inquire, are not the Almighty'srevelations perfect when they are firstgiven ? and if so, where was the pro-priety of the Lord's adding any thingto them, when they were 'already per-fect ? We reply that every word ofGod is perfect ; but He does not revealall things at once, but adds " line up-on line, precept upon precept, here alittle, and there a little," revealing asthe people are able to bear, or as cir-cumstances require. But these werenot the only revelations to which theLord has made additions : for whenthe king of Judah burned the book ofrevelations, which God gave by themouth of Jeremiah, God command-ed Jeremiah to re-write the same." Then took Jeremiah another roll,and gave it to Baruch the scribe, theson of Neriah, who wrote thereinfrom the mouth of Jeremiah all thewords of the book which Jehoiachim,king of Judah, had burned in the fire :and there were added besides untothem many like words." (Jer. 36 : 32.)

The Lord, therefore, adds to Hisown revelations whenever he thinksproper ; but He has expressly forbid-den man to it any additions.

EXPLANATION OF NAMES IN THE COVENANTS. 229

The high prerogative of adding to aninspired revelation belongs to theLord only : hence the Lord added bythe mouth of Joseph " line upon line,here a little and there a little, " tosome of the manuscript copies whichwere about to be published.

A similar thing transpired in ancientAmerica. God expressly forbade theProphet Mormon to write all the rev-elations contained in the numerousrecords of his forefathers. He wasonly permitted to make a small abridg-ment, called the Book of Mormon,and he states that not one-hundredthpart was permitted to be copied intothe abridgment. The Lord declaringto him that he would try the faith ofthe Gentiles and of the nations of thelatter times, to see whether they wouldreceive this abridgment ; if so, Hewould give them more ; but if not, Hewould withhold the greater things totheir condemnation.

To add to or diminish the light tobe offered to a generation or individ-ual, is in strict accordance with thewisdom, justice and mercy of God.When a generation or individual isfaithful to the light already given, Godhas promised to add more, and willcause that the light shall grow brighterand brighter until the perfect day.But when men despise the light, andtreat it with contempt, He will with-hold from them, and diminish thatwhich they already have, until theirminds become entirely enveloped indarkness, and they thus prepare them-selves to dwell with the prince ofdarkness, and to be cast into outerdarkness, where there is wailing andgnashing of teeth, and where no rayof heavenly light can penetrate theirdark and dismal abode. This will bethe fearful state of the wicked, becausethey love darkness rather than light,and will not come to the light thattheir deeds may be reproved.

As it may be satisfactory to thesaints to know the original names inthe manuscripts we here present themso far as our memory serves.

In Section 76, p. 2, for "Enoch orGazelam" read Joseph Smith, Jr.

Sec. 76, p. 2, for 44 dhashdah" readNewel K. Whitney.

Sec. 76, p. 2, for 64 Pelagoram "read Sidney Rigdon.

Sec. 94, pp. 1, 2, for 64 Shederlaom-wit " read Frederick G. Williams.

Sec. 97, p. 2, for " Zombre" readJohn Johnson.

Sec. 97, p. 2, for " Seth " readJoseph.

Sec. 99, p. 3, for 66 Tahhanes "read "The Tannery, (or " The TanYard.")

Sec. 99, p. 3, for 46 Shinehah" readKirtland.

Sec. 99, p. 5, for " Olihah " readOliver Co wdery.

Sec. 99, p. 5, for 44 Laneshine-house " read printing office.

Sec. 99, p. 7, for " Ozondah" readstore.

Sec. 99, p. 7, for 44 Shule" readashery.

Sec. 99, p. 10, for 44 Shinelah" readprint.

Sec. 99, p. 11, for 44 Shinelane "read printing.

Sec. 99, p. 12. for " Talents" readdollars.

Sec. 99, p. 13, for " Cainhannoch"read New York.

Sec. 101, p. 4, for " Baurak "read Joseph Smith, Jr.

Sec. 102, p. 8, for 46 Baneemy" readSidney Rigdon.

In Section 87, paragraph 4, thereoccur five names, viz : Alam, Ma-halaleel, Horah, Shalemanasseh andMehemson. But we have forgottenthe individuals whom they represent ;the original manuscripts being in Utah,we are unable at present to gratify thedesires of the saints in pointing outthe individuals for whom they stand.

As the circumstances have changedsince the substitution of those ficti-tious names, we do not apprehendthat any danger can arise from a re-storation of the original ones. Andwe should be most happy to see themas they stand in the manuscripts inthe future editions of the “ Doctrineand Covenants."

No. Branch. Represented by, a:Priests 4CITI a7 =*I•

'4- Died.Cut oft:

230 REPORT OF THE ST. LOUIS CONFERENCE.

REPORT OF THE ST. LOUIS CONFERENCE,

HELD IN CONCERT HALL, MARKET STREET, ST. LOUIS, MO.

JANUARY 1, 1854.

This meeting was called to order about 101, A. M., and opened with prayerby President H. S. Eldredge. It was moved that H. S. Eldredge preside over,and J. S. Cantwell act as clerk of the Conference; carried unanimously.

The President requested each presiding elder to give his own report. Aftera few remarks the representations were called for, and were as follows :

City of St. Louis.1 1st Ward. William Field, 63 8 6 1 2 1 6 4 22 2 " William Fleming, 96 9 3 5 1 17 13 3 " James S. Ballinger, 146 3 13 13 5 7 21 5 34 4 " William Gore, 13.5 2 4 16 9 7 2 6 14 1 55 5 " Joseph Barker, 156 3 11 11 3 1 3 51 1 56 6 " James S. Cantwell, 300 1 3 36 27 14 7 10 50 6 67 Gravois, James Wood, 134 21 6 6 I8 Alton, Ill, William M. Batts, 122 1 13 8 5 2 7 139 Bellefuntaine, Thomas Brindley, 12 2 1 1 1 1 2

10 Pecan, Ark., Letter, 1 2 111 Calhoun, Ill., Letter, 1 112 Dry Hill, William Gittings, 2 2 3 2 1 1 913 Stuttered, Various 74

(supposable,)14 Keokuk, H. S. Eldredge. 100

Total, 113881 3 16 1351 87 48E 17 45 159 33

The representations being through, the President made some remarks rel-ative to the Bellefontaine branch, (and in consequence of the reduction of itby removals,) it was proposed to disorganize and add it to the sixth wardin St. Louis ; carried.

The following resolutions were sustained by unanimous vote :First. That we uphold and sustain Brigham Young as President, Prophet,

Seer and Revelator, over the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints inall the earth.

Second. Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards as his counsellors.Third. The quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with Orson Hyde as their

President.Fourth. All the various organizations of the priesthood, in all the earth,

sustained by the authorities in Zion.Fifth. Orson Pratt as President over the Saints in the United States and

British Provinces of America.

Elder J. S. Ballinger moved that we sustain and uphold Horace S. Eldredgeas President over the St. Louis Conference ; carried.

The President moved to acknowledge Elder James S. Cantwell as clerk ofthe St. Louis Conference, and Treasurer of the branch ; carried.

The following Elders were sustained, by unanimous, vote over theirbranches :

William Field, President of the First Ward.William Fleming, 44 Second 66

James S. Ballinger, 64 Third "

24

EDITORIAL. 231

William Gore, President of the Fourth 44

Joseph Barker, ic Fifth 44

John A. James, lC Sixth 44

Thomas Bradshaw, 44 Gravois.John Donaldson, 44 Alton.William Gittings, 44 Dry Hill.

Elder Samuel J. Lees moved a vote of thanks to Joseph Seel, as leader ofthe choir, and to the singers under his tuition, for their attention and effi-cient services in St. Louis Branch ; carried.

The Conference adjourned in the usual way until 2 P. M.

Conference resumed at 21 ; after prayer, &c., the President called on thevarious officers present to stand up, who being counted by the clerk, werefound to be Seventies, 4; Elders, 33 ; Priests, 6 ; Teachers, 11; Deacons, 4.Total, 58.

The sacrament and blessing of children being attended to, the Presidentcalled on Elder Wm. M. Batts, of Alton, to address the meeting ; who madea few appropriate remarks on the subject of Unity and Theocracy.

The meeting adjourned until seven o'clock.In the evening the Saints were addressed by Elder Samuel J. Lees, on the

subject of Spiritual Rappings, and other manifestations of the powers of dark-ness, from the 6th chapter of the Ephesians, 12th verse. It was a plain,powerful, pointed discourse; at the conclusion of which, the President ex-horted the saints to take heed unto themselves, and to the advice given themin Elder Lees' discourse.

The conference closed about Si P. M.HORACE S. ELDREDGE, President.

JAMES S. CANTWELL, Clerk.

EDITORIAL.

PERPETUAL EMIGRATING FUND.-It is now about fifteen months sincethe saints in our field of labor wererequested to forward their contribu-tions to this fund. During this inter-val, only one small branch in theUnited States and British Provinceshave responded to the call. Thisbranch is located at Haverstraw, NewYork. They have contributed in allthirty-three dollars and fifty-six cents.If the saints continue to be as liberalas they have been during the past fif-teen months, we are in hopes in abouttwo years, from this time, to be ableto send one person to Utah. Thesaints in England, through their dona-tions to this :und, send off hundredsto Zion annually. What a contrast !Can any one assign a reason for thisdifference ? May it not be owing tothe poverty of the English saints ?

For where poverty reigns, liberalityabounds.

TITHING.-God has, through reve-lation by the mouth of his servant,Joseph, the Prophet, commanded hissaints to donate one-tenth part of alltheir property to the church, as tith-ing. The observance of this law en-ables us to distinguish between thosewho are in reality saints, and thosewho merely have the name : for sure-ly those who refuse to keep the plainand positive commandments of Godcannot be called saints. Now, inlooking over our tithing book we'findthat twelve persons in the UnitedStates and British Provinces have paidtithing during the last fifteen months.The sum total of what these twelvehave paid, amounts to one hundredand twelve dollars and forty-five

232 LDITORIAL.

cents. If these twelve persons havepaid one-tenth part of what they pos-sess, then they have kept the com-mandment, and there is good reason,so far as this law is concerned, to be-lieve them to be saints. There maybe, perhaps, a very few others whosenames have not reached us that havepaid their tithing to other authorizedagents. Be this as it may, we stillthink it a matter of rejoicing that thereare twelve saints in the United Statesand British Provinces under our juris-diction. These are four more thanwhat there were in the whole worldin the days of Noah. We wouldsay to these twelve, get out from thiswicked nation as soon as you can, forwe know not the clay nor the hourwhen God will visit them accordingto the threatening in the Book of Mot•mon. Should there be any others,besides these twelve, who are almostpersuaded to be saints, we say tothem, comply with the law of God,and pay your tithing, otherwise youcan receive no inheritance among thesaints, and your names will not befound recorded in the book of thenames of the righteous. For thussaith the prophet, Joseph Smith :

" It is contrary to the will andcommandment of God, that those whoreceive not their inheritance by con-secration agreeably to His law, whichHe has given, that He may tithe Hispeople, to prepare them against theday of vengeance and burning, shouldhave their names enrolled with thepeople of God ; neither is their gene-alogy to be kept, or to be had whereit may be found on any of the recordsor history of the church ; their namesshall not be found, neither the namesof the fathers, nor the names of thechildren written in the book of thelaw of God, saith the Lord of Hosts.Yea, thus saith the still small voice,which whispereth through andpiercethall things, and often times it makethmy bones to quake while it mak-eth manifest, saying : And it shallcome to pass that I, the Lord God,will send one mighty and strong,holding the sceptre of power in hishand, clothed with light for a cover-

ing, whose mouth shall utter words :eternal words ; while his bowels shallbe a fountain of truth, to set in orderthe house of God, and to arrange bylot the inheritances of the saintswhose names are found, and the namesof their fathers, and of their children,enrolled in the book of the law ofGod : while that man who was calledof God and appointed, that puttethforth his hand to steady the ark ofGod shall fall by the shaft of deathlike as a tree that is smitten by thevivid shaft of lightning ; and all theywho are not found written in the bookof remembrance, shall find none in-heritance in that day, but they shallbe cut asunder, and their portion shallbe appointed them among unbelievers,where is wailing and gnashing of teeth.These things I say not of myself,therefore, as the Lord speaketh, Hewill also fulfil. And they who areof the High Priesthood, whose namesare not found written in the book ofthe law, or that are f )und to haveapostatized, or to have been cut outof the church, as well as the lesserpriesthood, or the members, in thatday shall not find an inheritance amongthe saints of the Most High ; therefore,it shall be done unto them as untothe children of the Priest, as you willfind recorded in the second chapter,and sixty-first and second verses ofEzra." (Given Nov. 27th, 1832; pub-lished in the " Millennial Star, " page284 vol. 14.)

And again the Lord says, " Be-hold, now it is called to-day, (untilthe coming of the Son of Man,) andverily it is a day of sacrifice, and aday for the tithing of my people ; forhe that is tithed shall not be burned(at His coming ; ) for after to-daycometh the burning : this is speakingafter the manner of the Lord ; forverily I say, to-morrow all the proudand they that do wickedly shall be asstubble ; and I will burn them up, forI am the Lord of Hosts : and I willnot spare any that remain in Baby-lon. " (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec.21, p. 5.)

In these extracts we can learn whothey are that will be counted worthy

REPENTANCE. 233

to receive an inheritance among therighteous : it will be those whosenames are found in the records andhistory of the church, and in the lawof God, as having tithed themselves,and attended to all the other com-mandments and laws of God : whilethe names of the fathers and of thechildren of all others, will perish withthem, and their genealogy not be re-membered. Such therefore, cannotin reality be saints, though they mayhave the name of saints. We were inhopes, when we entered our field oflabor, to have found more than twelvesaints in the whole nation ; but, per-haps, we may yet have the pleasureof entering on record a few more.

EMIGRATION TO UTAH.-Are theremany saints going to Utah this sea-son ?

There will most probably be fromthree to four thousand from GreatBritain, and a few hundred from otherEuropean Governments, and somesmall companies from the states andprovinces of this country.

Where will the most of these com-panies concentrate themselves pre-paratory to their departure over theplains ?

At St. Louis, where, by applicationto Gen. H. S. Eldredge, they can pro-cure provisions and other necessariesfor the outfit, at the wholesale prices,and thus save much expense.

Which way will they proceed fromSt. Louis ?

It has been indicated by PresidentEldredge that they would go by steam-boat up the Missouri river to Kansas,or some of the other towns on thewestern frontier, and thence take theirdeparture for the plains.

Where do the saints generally pur-chase their wagons and teams ?

The wagons are mostly purchasedat St. Louis, although some procurethem at Cincinnati. They cost from$60 to $75, according to the quality.These are generally shipped on steam-boats to the point of rendezvous forthe plains. The freight will be from$8 to $12 per wagon, according tothe distance and stage of water. Cat-tle will be from $50 to $80 per yoke.Companies of saints generally appointgood, faithful, trusty agents, to whomthey entrust their funds and send themon, some few weeks in advance, topurchase cattle and dr:ve them to thepoint where they are wanted, at somedefinite specified time, agreed upon bythe company.

What quantity of provisions arerequired for the outfit ?

About 200 lbs. to each individual.What will be the cost of freight

from St. Louis up the Missouri river ?From $1 to $2 per hundred.At what time will the companies

leave the settlements ?They will begin to leave about the

middle of May, or as soon as thegrass is up sufficiently to sustain theiranimals ; and they will continue toleave every few days from that timeuntil about the 1st of July.

What time is required for ox teamsto perform the journey ?

From twelve to fifteen weeks.What amount of team is required

per ton ?Two yoke of oxen and one yoke

of cows : some go with less.Those who are not able to furnish

wagons sufficient to accommodatetheir families for lodging, shouldsupply themselves with tents at St.Louis.

What is the cost of freight from St.Louis to Salt Lake city ?

From $12 to $14 per hundred.

REPENTANCE.

BY THE EDITOR.

( Continued.)But how is it with this generation,

in regard to making and loving lies ?It is doubtful whether there ever werea generation so addicted to lying as

the present. The spirit prevails amongall classes, both the high and the low,the infidel and the professed Christian ;all, with very few exceptions, are

234 REPENTANCE.

given, either to make lies, or lovethem after they are made. Wlien Godsent a great prophet to this generationto reveal to them the Book of Mor-mon, as the great and last warningmessage, preparatory to the revelationof his Son from the heavens to exe-cute vengeance upon the wicked andungodly, how was the messagetreated ? We reply that the peoplebegan immediately to lie about it ; andthey have kept up this lying from thattime until the present. One woulddeclare that the Book of Mormon wasoriginated in one way ; another, inanother; one making this lie, andanother that ; and the printing presshas groaned under the weight of false-hood, published to prevent the peoplefrom repenting according to the re•quirements of this message. Pamph-lets have followed pamphlets, and vol-umes have succeeded volumes to blindthe minds of the people, and hardentheir hearts against the only messageby which they can possibly be saved,either in this world, or in the worldto come. Two of the most powerfulengines that the father of lies has usedto circulate these falsehoods, are thepriests and editors. These have greed-ily snatched up falsehoods of everydescription, and of the blackest char-acter, and multiplied millions on mil-lions of copies and sent them withthe rapidity of the steam car to thefour winds of heaven : while the long-faced and professedly pious priestshave reiterated these lies from the pulpit, and warned their congregationswith many pious groans and hypocrit-ical tears to beware of the Book ofMormon, and to reject it without anyinvestigation, and to cast out the ser-vants of God from their houses, andnot listen to them for a moment, butreject them as imposters, untried andunproved. These lies have had theirdesired effect, to shut up churchesand meeting-houses, and close thedoors and hearts of the people againstGod's servants, and the great. messageof repentance which God has sentthem to proclaim. In this thing the" father of lies" is made glad, and thehosts of darkness rejoice with a hell-

ish exultation, in the prospects ofreaping an abundant harvest of souls,whom they have deceived by theirlies, and whom their priests have de-luded by their hypocrisy.

The persons who invented theselies against the servants of God, andagainst the divine message of repent-ance, contained in the Book of Mor-mon, are not the only ones whoare guilty ; they are not the only oneswho will be punished in the lake offire as liars ; but all who have pub-lished these lies, and all who haveloved to read and hear them, will sharethe same fate. The lover of lies isequally as guilty as the maker ; hence,they both go to the same place, andboth suffer the second death, unlessthey repent.

It is a fearful thing to reject aprophet of God, or a servant of God,or a revelation of God ; and especiallyto reject a message, so infinitely im-portant as the one which God hasgiven in the Book of Mormon : andthe devil knows that he is sure of thepeople if he can only make them re-ject it ; and hence his untiring exer-tions in the invention of all mannerof falsehoods to accomplish his ma-licious and hellish object.

But, it may be inquired, how arethe humble, honest souls to discernbetween truth and falsehood ? Mustthey be condemned with liars, becausethey are deceived with lies ? Weanswer, that all will be condemnedwho suffer themselves to be deceived :for there is a way for every person tocome to the light of truth ; and it isnot in the power of the devil to in-vent lies so plausible as to prevent thereally honest person from discover-ing the truth that pertains to his sal-vation. The scriptures have expresslydeclared, that " cursed is he thatputteth his trust in man or niakethflesh his arm." Now any person whowill put his confidence and trust inpopular lies, invented by the devil toprevent the people from discoveringthe truth, must rest under that curse,and in the day of judgment be con-demned with liars. What excuse canany one have for rejecting the truth,

REPENTANCE. 235

because the devil has made lies, and 'nearly all mankind believe them ? Thescriptures inform us that we are to" prove all things and hold fast thatwhich is good." There must be someinfallible rule by which to prove thingsand discern the good from the evil, orelse we never should have been ex-horted to do so. This infallible testby which to discover the truth, is thelight which God has already given us,and which He will give us if we willbut properly seek after it. But whena person suffers himself to be blindedby the lies of uninspired men, so faras to close his doors and his heartagainst investigation, and rejects themessage of heaven in the Book ofMormon upon popular rumor, or be-cause his minister rejects it, he isjustly condemned for suffering him-self to be thus imposed upon, and ledabout by the precepts of those whohe knows do not even profess to beinspired of God. He is putting histrust in man and making flesh hisarm, the moment that he suffers othersto judge for him in matters so infi-nitely important, involving the salva-tion of his soul : therefore, he iscursed of God, and will die and go tohell, unless he repents, notwithstand-ing his apparent honesty. Therefore,no man, nor woman, nor child thathas come to the years of accounta-bility, can be justified, for one mo-ment, in rejecting God's revealed will,contained in the Book of Mormon,and especially if they never haveplaced themselves in a position to in-vestigate those divine truths.

But, replies one, many tens ofthousands in the United States knownothing of the contents of that Book,having never seen it, and all that theyhave heard is, that it professes to bea divine revelation ; are they, there-fore to be condemned in their ignor-ance ? We answer, that they havenot the least excuse for their ignor-ance. There is not a person in thenation but what might have had thevolume, if he had felt disposed to in-vestigate its divine origin. It is nownearly twenty-four years since thebook was first published among them ;

and during this interval, there havebeen printing presses enough in ope-ration to have supplied a copy to everyindividual in all the world. And ifthey had been called for, they wouldhave been supplied at a moderateprice. Therefore, those who havenot supplied themselves with a copy,and have not put themselves in a wayto prove the divinity of the message,have no excuse for their ignorance.The lies that are in circulation againstGod's holy word, revealed in theselast days, will not shield them fromthe justice of the Almighty in thegreat day of the Lord which is fasthastening. If they had loved thetruth, as much as they have loved thelies against it, they would have soughtafter it and used a little exertion toobtain it. But no, the truth is farfrom them, and they love the preceptsof uninspired men in preference to thatwhich comes from heaven. " Theyhave made lies their refuge and underfalsehood have hid themselves;" there-fore, they shall receive the portion ofliars in the great judgment, and withthem be cast into the same lake, un-less they repent.

But it will be a very difficult mat-ter for some of those who have pub-lished lies to repent. For instance,many editors of newspapers have beeninstruments in the hands of the devilof publishing a vast amount of theblackest kind of falsehoods againstthe truth, and against the few honest,humble souls who have received it.By the wholesale circulation of thesefalsehoods, they have stirred up thepeople to mobs and riots, and to shedthe blood of the innocent. Thoughit might be within their power to re-pent and make restitution in part, yetthey never could counteract fully thevast amount of injury which theyhave done. They might use their pa-pers as extensively in publishing thetruths of the Book of Mormon, asthey have in publishing lies against itand the Saints, and thus endeavor tocounteract the evils that they havedone ; but they can never recall theinnocent from their graves whom theyhave been indirectly the cruel instru-

236 REPENTANCE.

meats of having murdered, by thewicked and malicious lies which theyhave so extensively circulated. Such,therefore, will find it hard to repent ;yet, even these may have been, insome instances, swayed by popularprejudices, and led to do many thingsin their ignorance against the truth,against God, and against his people,of which, it may be possible, as inthe case of Paul, for them to obtainforgiveness and salvation by receivingthe truth, and hereafter devoting alltheir energies to print, and publish,and spread forth the same. But dowhat they may to recover themselves,and make restitution, they will alwayshave it to regret, that they have everwritten or printed any thing against sogreat and glorious a message as theone revealed in the opening of thislast dispensation. But if we couldsee any symptoms of repentance andreformation on their part, we wouldgladly take them by the hand, and try-to raise them up, and encourage themin the mighty struggle to recoverthemselves from the great and multi-plied evils that they have done throughthe medium of the press.

What evils lies have done in ourworld ! It was through the lies ofthe Devil that our first parents werepersuaded to partake of the forbiddenfruit ; it was through the lies inventedby the wicked that the holy prophetswere rejected by the respective gene-rations to whom they were sent.Hence our Saviour says to his disci-ples, " Blessed are ye when menshall speak all manner of evil againstyou falsely for my sake ; for so didthey of the prophets who were beforeyou." All prophets and inspired menwere lied about, and the people werepersuaded through these lies to rejectthe only means of their salvation. Itwas through liars and false witnessesthat the Saviour of the world wascondemned to be crucified ; it wasthrough the testimony of false wit-nesses that the Jews have, from gen-eration to generation, continued toreject Jesus of Nazareth as the trueMessiah ; it was through lying thatthey were persuaded to believe that

his disciples came and stole his bodyfrom the tomb. Through lies mil-lions at the present day believe thatthe great Prophet of God, JosephSmith, was an imposter. Throughthe belief of lies millions in ancienttimes were destroyed from the earthand sent down to hell ; and throughthe reliance which this generationplace in newspaper reports, and thelies invented against the Book ofMormon and the Saints, millionsmore will be swept off, and their por-tion assigned them in the " lake whichburneth with fire and brimestone, "in company with ancient liars andthose who loved the same.

Some lies are much more wickedthan others, and calculated to do in-finitely more harm. To lie for thepurpose of cheating your neighbor—to lie so as to injure the character ofany one—to lie for the purpose ofpunishing the innocent, or screeningthe guilty, are very great evils. Butwhen compared with lies against adivine message sent from heaven, theydwindle into insignificancy. In theformer cases, the lies are againstmen ; in the latter they are againstGod. In the former they injure theirneighbor temporally ; in the latterthey injure him spiritually by blindinghis mind against the truth, and thattoo, against the only truth by whichhe can be saved. Lies, therefore,against a revelation which God givesfor the salvation of a generation, willbe considered in the day of judgmentas an evil of very great magnitude,and the punishment will be in pro-portion.

We have now pointed out threevery great evils of which this nationin particular are very guilty beforeGod. These evils are, first, the mur-der of the prophets and saints of God,and the sanctioning of the same, byletting the murderers go unpunished,and permitting them to boast of theirbloody deeds in the most public man-ner. Second, the hundreds of thous-ands of public prostitutes, which theypermit to commit crimes of the mostabominable nature, in all the largecities and towns throughout the land,

REPENTANCE. 237

without taking efficient measures bylegislative action to suppress them.And, third, the great sin of lyingagainst what God has revealed in theBook of Mormon for the salvation ofthe nations, to prepare them for thecoming of his Son. These are threeof the most prominent evils of whichthis nation must most heartily repent,if theywould escape the threatenedevils with which they will otherwisemost assuredly be visited.

Another evil of no small magnitudeis the vast amount of false doctrineswhich are taught, and extensivelybelieved, and practiced throughoutChristendom. Doctrines which arecalculated to ruin the soul, are, insome respects, greater evils than thosewhich merely have a bearing uponour temporal interests. A man who,through dishonesty, defrauds hisneighbor of his property, and bringsdistress and temporal ruin upon hisfamily, is exceedingly guilty beforeGod, and will, if he repent not andmake no restitution, be severely pun-ished ; but how much greater will bethe condemnation and punishment ofthat man who, through his cunningcraftiness, palms upon his neighbor afalse doctrine which is calculated toruin him and his family, not tempor-ally, but eternally ! Thieves androbbers are less guilty before Godthan such false teachers.

We will now mention some ofthese soul-destroying doctrines thatare taught in Christendom, and whichmillions have had the wickedness tobelieve. First. These false teachershave had the presumption to deny thenecessity of continued revelation fromGod, and have actually, in directopposition to the Bible, persuadedwhole nations to believe in this ruin-ous and impious doctrine. The greatwickedness of this doctrine will ap-pear when we reflect that it strikes adeadly blow against Christianity andagainst the religion of the Bible.This fearful delusion was inventedsoon after the apostles fell asleep bya set of corrupt, vile apostates, whohad so far departed from God thatthey could not get any communica-

tion from Him and fearing that themore honest portions of mankindwon1(1 discover a great contrast be-tween their apostate condition andthe condition of the true Church,which was always, without one ex-ception, blessed with prophets and in-spired men, they concluded to use alltheir sophistry and cunning to per-suade the people that they alreadyhad enough revelation, and that theyneeded no further communicationfrom heaven. If they could only getthe people to believe this strong de-lusion, they knew that it would mosteffectually blind them in regard totheir apostacy. They at length suc-ceeded, though not without a greatstruggle of conscience among themore honest portions of the people.These could not so readily yield con-sent to so strange and unheard ofdoctrine. They looked back throughthe whole history of the dealings ofGod with his people, from the timethat man was created to their day ;and they could not discover one sol-itary instance of a true people of God,but what they had continued revela-tions from Him ; and those who didnot have these blessings were de-nounced as heathens, or in a stateof apostacy. They were expresslytold in their scriptures, that "wherethere is no vision the people perish."It, therefore, required no small exer-tion on the part of these wicked apos-tates to introduce, and get the peopleto believe in a doctrine so entirelynew and strange, and so directly op-posed to the whole tenor of divinerevelation. But finally, through thehelp of the Devil, and after a longstruggle, during which scores ofthousands were tortured and put todeath, they succeeded so far as tomake an ecclesiastical law, not onlypositively excluding all further reve-lation, but actually limiting the faithof their apostate clan to a certainnumber of books, called, by them,66 Canonical." This took place atthe Third Council of Carthage in theyear 397. All were forbidden to re-ceive any thing as the word of Godonly the few canonical manuscripts

238 REPENTANCE.

which this apostate council had se-lected. This fatal law had its desiredeffect, in entailing upon posterity thesoul-destroying delusion that Godwould no more speak with mortals.This great imposition has been trans-fered down to our time, and is exten-sively taught through all the nationsof Christendom.

If this delusion was confined tosome obscure corner of the earthamong unlettered barbarians, it wouldnot be so fearful in its consequences,but to be embraced by millions of themost civilized people of our globe,and that, too, in direct defiance of theBible, renders it vastly more offensivein the sight of God. It is calculatedto destroy millions on millions ofsouls ; for who, with the Bible intheir hands, can expect to be saved,if they suffer themselves to believe orharbor such a wicked doctrine in theirhearts ? Do you expect that Godwill save you when you have therashness to declare that you have noneed of prophets and revelators—thatyou have enough of the word of Godalready ? You cannot plead ignor-ance, like many hundreds of millionswho have died in past ages who werenever favored with the privilege ofreading the Bible. You can have noexcuse because your minister, andyour neighbors, and your fathers,have taught you this imposition.You have the Bible, and you can readand judge for yourselves ; and thewhole tenor of that sacred book willshow you most clearly to the contra-ry. The Bible will inform you thatso long as the Christian Church wason the earth they were favored withcontinued revelation ; it will tell youthat the Christian Church were guidedand led continually by the spirit ofprophecy and revelation—by livingrevelators and inspired men. It willtell you that any thing short of thatorder of things is not of God, but ofmen. If you will, therefore, by pop-ular tradition, and through the influ-ence of your popular false teachers,suffer yourselves to be imposed uponby such absurd, unscriptural and anti-Christian doctrines, you need not

flatter yourselves that you can besaved ; for God will not save thosewho reject the doctrine of continuedrevelation. This, therefore, is an-other great evil of which this genera-tion are deeply guilty before God ;and He has called upon them by thevoice of his servants, and by the voiceof revelation, contained in the Bookof Mormon, to repent of this evil andgive no more heed to false doctrinesof this nature, declaring that all thosewho do not repent of these things,shall be cut of and sent down tohell.

Another false doctrine taught andalmost universally believed by thiswicked generation is, that it is nolonger the privilege of believers to re-ceive the miraculous signs promisedto them in the Scriptures. For in-stance, Jesus informs us in the mostexpress terms, as recorded in the lastchapter of Mark, and in many otherScriptures, that certain miraculousgifts should be given to believersthroughout all the world, whereverand to whomsoever the Gospel shouldbe preached, and be believed andobeyed. And lest some wicked apos-tate or false teacher should undertaketo limit the signs to the believers inthe first age of Christianity, he mostemphatically declares that " EVERYCREATURE" in all the world whoshould believe the Gospel and be bap-tized, should not only be saved, butthat all such should have powerin his name to "cast out devils"-" speak with new tongues"" takeup serpents"—and deadly poisonsshould not hurt them—and theyshould " lay hands upon the sick,and they should recover." Now,who could have believed that genera-tions of professed Christians wouldarise, who, with the Bible in theirhand, would have the bold, unblush-ing impudence, to declare that thebeliever has no right to claim thispromise of our Lord ? Only think,dear reader, of the millions of pro-fessed believers in the Gospel, whocrowd the streets on the Sabbath dayto go to their respective places ofworship, and yet not one of them

REPENTANCE 239

throughout the congregated millions Ithat even profess to claim the promiseof Jesus in regard to the Gospel bless-ings : they call themselves believers,and yet they have not the signs ofbelievers—they profess that Jesus istheir Saviour, and yet every soul ofthem rejects his word in relation tothe promised signs : they are verywilling to claim one of the promisesin the same connection with thesesigns, viz : Salvation ; but the otherpromises spoken by the same Being,and on the same occasion, are utterlyrejected ; and if any honest, humblesoul among them should begin toseek after the promised signs and ex-hort his brethren to do the same, hewould immediately be denounced asan enthusiast, or as insane ; and if hepersisted in so doing, he would be ex-cluded from their ranks and expelledfrom their synagogues as a dangerousperson. Now what will become ofall these false teachers who thus doaway with the promises of Jesus ?and what will become of the peoplewho suffer themselves to be led bysuch hypocrites ? They will, everysoul of them, unless they repent ofthese false doctrines, be cast downto hell. Yes, every man and wo-man, priest and people, that do notrepent of having done away the mirac-ulous gifts and blessings of the Gos-pel, will just as surely go to hell asthey are living beings. Do not flat-ter yourselves that you will escape ;for there is no escape for you, only torepent and turn unto the Lord, andseek most earnestly after the mirac-ulous gifts of the Gospel which you,and your false teachers, in your wick-edness and hypocrisy, have doneaway. Think not that you can followthe popular multitude in their formsof godliness, and with them deny thepower thereof, and escape the right-eous indignation of that holy Beingwhose words you have rejected. ByHis words that you have had in thislife, you are to be judged in the lastday ; if you have received and obeyedthem, well ; if not, they will condemnyou, and you will shrink from thepresence of Him who gave the word,

and your guilty consciences will beracked with fear and pain ; and themiseris's of hell will lay hold uponyou ; and you will be made to feelthat God's holy word is not spokenin vain, and that it cannot be rejectedwith impunity.

Another very prevalent and greatevil is in the land. Many thousandsof these corrupt false teachers whohave denied the necessity of the mi-raculous powers and gifts of the Gos-pel, and who have clone away thegifts of prophecy and revelation fromthe church, have even dared to ven-ture forward and officiate in some ofthe Gospel ordinances, as though theyactually had authority from God ; andmany thousands have actually pre-sumed to receive the holy sacred or-dinances of the Gospel from thehands of such corrupt, soul-destroy.ing hypocrites. If there is any wick-edness that borders closely on blas-phemy, it is this! What can be moreimpious in the sight of heaven, thanfor men to do away, as unnecessary,nearly all of the most glorious giftsof the Gospel, and preach to theirhearers that they are unnecessary inthese days, end then have the auda-cious wickedness to minister the holysacrament of the Lord's Supper, orpretend to baptize by the authorityand in the name of the Father, Son,and Holy Ghost. Such heaven-daringwickedness is calculated to sink thesevile imposters to the lowest hell. Andunless the people repent of having re-ceived baptism and other ordinancesof the Gospel at the hands of suchdeceivers, they will be sent to hellwith them; for if the blind lead theblind, they will all go into the ditchtogether, and the deceived, as well asthe deceiver, will all have to reap thereward of their own corrupt doings.

I know that the people will beangry with me, and hate me, becauseI tell them of their wickedness thusplainly. But I have not been sent toflatter this generation with smooththings, nor to tell them that all is well ;but I have been sent to set forth yourins and your abominations, and all

your evil works which you continu-

240 REPENTANCE.

ally practice before the Almighty inclearness before your minds, and tocall upon you in the name of Himwho sent me, to repent of the sameand turn unto the Lord, and embracethe fulness of the Gospel which Godhas revealed anew in the Book ofMormon, or every one of you will,most assuredly, be damned. It mat-ters not to me whether I please or dis-please you—whether I receive yourgood will, or incur your bitter hatred,my only object is to do the will ofHim who has sent me, and to faith-fully discharge my duty towards you.

You were once a very differentpeople from what you are now. Whenyour pilgrim fathers fled from the per-secutions of the old world and bravedthe dangers and hardships, incident tothe settlement of this lovely country,they were a humble, honest people.who worshipped the Lord their Godaccording to the best of their knowl-edge ; and the Lord was with them,and destroyed the savages from beforetheir face and when the aria of themother country was stretched out tooppress and destroy, He raised up saviours and delivere them from thepower of all their enemies. More-over, Ile made them a great people,and strong, and independent of allnations. He established peace withinthe land, -and their children have mul-

tiplied, and you have become one ofthe most powerful nations upon theearth. Your granaries and your store-hou ses have overflowed with the richproducts and delicacies of the earth.The mountains, and hills, and dales,have been covered with the abundanceof your flocks and herds, while yourmerchants have waxed rich in the ex-tent of their trade, both by landand sea ; the rich treasures of theearth have disclosed themselves,and blessings without number, havebeen multiplied upon you. Butyou have forgotten the Lord Godwhom your pilgrim fathers wor-shipped ; you have become proud andhaughty in your bearing ; you despisethe meekness and humility of theChristian's life. You remember notthat it is God who has bestowed up-on you all that you enjoy. Youthink that you can do what youplease, and all will continue to bewell. But as God has exalted youon high above all nations, if you re-pent not speedily, He will bring youvery low ; and the great blessings younow enjoy shall be taken from you,and your cities shall be left unto youdesolate, and your beautiful habita-tions shall be deserted, and death andmourning shall be heard throughoutthe land.

(To be continued.)

CONTENTS:Powers of Nature, ........ 225Explanation of Substituted Names in the Covenants,........ ........ ........ . 227St. Louis Conference Minutes, . . 230Editorial —Perpetual Emigrating Fund—Tithing—Emigration to Utah, 231Repentance,.... ...... , ....... 233


EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY ORSON PRATT ;

At 01 per annum, invariably in advance.

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains.—Isaiah xvIII, 3.

VoL. II. APRIL, 1854. No. 4.

WAR.A REVELATION AND PROPHECY BY THE PROPHET, SEER, AND

REVELATOR, JOSEPH SMITH.

GIVEN DECEMBER 25th, 1832.

Verily thus saith the Lord, con-cerning the wars that will shortly cometo pass, beginning at the rebel-lion of South Carolina, which willeventually terminate in the death andmisery of many souls. The dayswill come that war will be poured outupon all nations, beginning at thatplace ; for behold, the SouthernStates shall be divided against theNorthern States; and the SouthernStates will call on other nations, eventhe nation of Great Britain, as it iscalled, and they shall also call uponother nations in order to defend them-selves against other nations ; and thus,war shall be poured out upon allnations. And it shall come to pass,after many days, slaves shall rise upagainst their Masters, who shall bemarshalled and disciplined for war.—And it shall come to pass also, thatthe remnants who are left of the landwill marbhal themselves, and shall be-come exceeding angry, and shall vexthe Gentiles with a sore vexation.—And thus, with the sword, and bybloodshed, the inhabitants of the earthshall mourn ; and with famine, andplague, and earthquakes, and thethunder of heaven, and the tierce andvivid lightning also, shall the inhab-itants of the earth be made to feelthe wrath, and indignation, and chas-

tening hand of an Almighty God, untilthe consumption, decreed, bath madea full end of all nations ; that the cryof the Saints, and of the blood ofSaints, shall cease to come up intothe ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, fromthe earth, to be avenged of their ene-mies. Wherefore, stand ye in nolyplaces, and be not moved, until theday of the Lord come ; for behold itcometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.(Pearl of Great Price, page 35.)

The above revelation was giventwenty-one years ago last Christmas.We learn by this, some particulars inregard to the nature of that universalwar which is soon to deluge all thenations and kingdoms of the earth.—The first indication of this fearful ca-lamity was to begin in the rebellionof South Carolina. The revelationdoes not inform us that the first symp-tom of this rebellion would exhibitany thing very alarming in its appear-ance, but says, that it "will eventual-ly terminate in the death and miseryof many souls." "Eventual'y " (notdirectly or immediately,) should therebellion of that State lead on to awar more general in its nature, in-volving the whole nation in a fearfulrevolution resulting, not in the loss ofa few, but in the "death and misery ofmany souls."

242 WAR.

The revelation does not inform usof the particulars of this general war,but shows, in very few words, theorder in which it would spread ;First, South Carolina should rebel ;second, "the Southern States" should"be divided against the NorthernStates;" third, the Southern Statesshould call on Great Britain for help :and fourth, Great Britain should callon "other nations in order to defendthemselves against other nations."It seems from this, that Great Britainwill already be at war with some na-tions at the time the South will ap-peal to her for assistance ; for shewill be obliged to seek assistance todefend herself from other - nations.—Whether Great Britain, under suchcritical circumstances, will render aidto the South, is not stated. She will,perhaps, in order to secure commer-cial advantages favour the South ; thiswill enable the latter to competewith the superior numbers of theNorth, and prolong the war, until, asthe revelation states, it results in thedestruction of many souls-

During this fearful revolutionarystruggle between the South and theNorth, it seems that the South willmarshal and discipline their slavesfor war.

From this, it is quite evident, that theSouth will consider themselves hard-ly competent to withstand the forceof the North without bringing intorequisition the strength of the slave.However much assistance this mayfor awhile render to the South, it iscertain, according to the revelation,that this strength will fail them : for,saith the Lord, "And it shall cometo pass after many days, slaves shallrise up against their masters." Fromthe expression, "after many days,"we are led to conclude that the ca-lamity, arising from the rebellion ofthe Saves, will not take place, untilthe nation has, by its previous strug-gles been reduced to great weakness.

To add to the sufferings and greatcalamities of the nation, they will begreatly distressed by the aborigines,who "will marshal themselves andbecome exceeding angry" and vex

them "with a sore vexation." Weare inclined to believe that this willnot take place until millions of thenation have already perished in theirown revolutionary battles. To whatextent the Indians will have powerover the nation is not stated in thisrevelation ; but from what Jesus in-formed their forefathers at the time ofhis personal ministry among them, asrecorded in the Book of Mormon, theywill have power in a great measureover the whole nation. In speakingupon this subject, Jesus prophesies asfollows :—

" Therefore, it shall come to pass,that whosoever will not believe in mywords, who am Jesus Christ, whichthe Father shall cause him" (JosephSmith) "to bring forth unto the Gen-tiles, and shall give unto him powerthat he shall bring them forth untothe Gentiles, it shall be done even asMoses said, they shall be cut off fromamong my people who are of the cove-nant; and my people who are a remnantof Jacob, shall be among the Gentiles,yea, in the midst of them as a lionamong the beasts of the forest, as ayoung lion among the flocks of sheep,who, if he go through, both treadethdown and teareth in pieces, and nonecan deliver. Their hand shall belifted up upon their adversaries, andall their enemies shall be cut off.—Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles, exceptthey repent, for it shall come to passin that day, saith the Father, that Iwill cut off thy horses out of themidst of thee, and I will destroy thychariots, and I will cut off the citiesof thy land, and throw down all thystrongholds ; and I will cut off witch-crafts out of thy land, and thou shalthave no more soothsayers; thy gra-ven images I will also cut off, and thystanding images out of the midst ofthee. and thou shalt no more worshipthe works of thy hands; arid I willpluck up thy groves out of the midstof thee ; so will I destroy thy cities.--And it shall come to pass that all ly--ings, and deceivings, and envyings,and strifes, and priestcrafts, andwhoredoms, shall be .done away.—For it shall come to pass, saith the

WAR. 243

Father, that at that day whosoeverwill not repent and come unto my be-loved Son, them will I cut off fromamong my people, 0 house of Israel ;and I will execute vengeance and furyupon them, even as upon the heath-en, such as they have not heard."(Book of Nephi 9 : 12.)

From this prophecy of our Sa-viour. it will be seen that the aborigi-nes or remnants of Jacob will pre-vail against the nation, even as a lionprevails against the beasts of the forest. Naturally speaking, this couldnot take place, unless the nation werefirst greatly weakened by formerjudgments, or unless God should soordain, and suffer them to be over-come by their enemies. That Godhimself will fight for the remnant ofJacob, is clearly manifest in the fore-going quotation. It is God who is tocut off the horses, destroy the char-iots, cut off the cities,and throw downall the strongholds of the nation :it is God who is to cut off the gravenand standing images, and pluck upthe pleasant groves, and destroy allwickedness from the land : it is Godwho is to "execute vengeance andfury upon them even as upon theheathen, such as they have notheard." God will, therefore, be withthe remnant of Jacob, even as Hewas with their forefathers in the daysof their righteousness : and as He de-stroyed the wicked nations from theland of Canaan, so will He utterly de-stroy this nation unless they repent andobey the word of the Lord revealedin the Book of Mormon.

The prophet Mormon, a little lessthan fifteen centuries ago, delivers aprophecy, concerning this remnant ofJacob and this nation of Gentiles inthe following words :

" But behold, it shall come to passthat they" (the Indians) "shall bedriven and scattered by the Gentiles ;and after they have been driven andscattered by the Gentiles, behold, thenwill the Lord remember the covenantwhich He made unto Abraham, andunto all the house of Israel. And alsothe Lord will remember the prayersof the righteous) which have been

put up unto Him for them. And then,0 ye Gentiles," (meaning the peopleof the United States,) "how can yestand before the power of God, exceptye shall repent and turn from yourevil ways ! Know ye not that ye arein the hands of God ? know ye notthat He hath all power, and at Hisgreat command the earth shall be rolledtogether as a scroll ? Therefore re-pent ye, and humble yourselves be-fore Him, lest he shall come out injustice against you ; lest a remnant ofthe seed of Jacob shall go forth amongyou as a lion, and tear you in pieces,and there is none to deliver." (Bookof Mormon, 2 : 6.)

Before the Lord would suffer theremnant of Jacob or the Indians tofall upon the Gentiles, He promisedtheir forefathers that He would bringforth their sacred records unto the Gen-tiles, that they might have the priv-ilege of repenting and of being number-ed with the house of Israel. Jesusspake unto their ancestors as follows :

" In the latter day shall the truthcome unto the Gentiles, that the ful-ness of these things shall be madeknown unto them. But wo saiththe Father, unto the unbelieving ofthe Gentiles, for notwithstandingthey have come forth upon the faceof this land, and have scattered mypeople who are of the house ofIsrael ; and my people who are of thehouse of Israel have been cast out fromamong them, and have been troddenunder feet by them ; and because of themercies of the Father unto the Gen-tiles, and also the judgments of theFather upon my people who are ofthe house of Israel ; verily, verily, Isay unto you that after all this, andI have caused my people who are ofthe house of Israel, to be smitten,and to be afflicted, and to be slain,and to be cast out from among them,and to become hated by them—and tobecome a hiss and a bye-word amongthem. And thus commandeth theFather that I should say unto you, atthat day, when the Gentiles shall sinagainst my gospel," (meaning theirrejection ()Idle book of Mormon,) "andshall be lifted up in the pride of their

244 WAR.

hearts above all nations, and above allthe people of the whole earth, and shallbe tilled with all manner of lyings, andof deceits, and of mischiefs, and allmanner of hypocrisy, and murders,and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, andof secret abominations; and if they shalldo all those things, and shall rejectthe fulness of my gospel, beholdsaith the Father, I will bring the ful-ness or my gospel from among them ,and then, I will remember my cove-nant which I have made unto my peo-ple, 0 house of Israel, and 1 willbring my gospel unto them ; and Iwill show unto the', 0 house of Is-rael, that the Gentiles shall not havepower over you ; but I will remem-ber my covenant unto you, 0 house ofIsrael, and ye shall come unto theknowledge of the fulness of my gos-pel. But if the Gentiles will repent,and return unto me, saith the Father,behold, they shall be numberedamong my people, 0 house of Israel :and I will not suffer my people, whoare of the house of Israel.to go throughamong them, and tread them down,saith the Father. But if they will notturn unto me, and hearken unto myvoice, I will suffer them, yea, I willsuffer my people, 0 house of Israel,that they shall go tbrongh amongthem, and shall tread them down, andthey shall be as salt that hath lost itssavor, •h ch is thenceforth good fornothing, but to be cast o and to betrodden under foot of my people, 0house of Israel." (Book of Nephi 7: 4.)

It is evident from the foregoing thatbefore the Indian are suffered to havecomplete power over this nation, Godwill thoroughly warn them throughthe medium of His word in thebook of Mormon, which, if they re-ject, will ripen them for the threaten-ed judgments ; hut first the Lordwill bring the fulness of His gospelfrom among the nation, deliveringthem over, because of their wicked-ness, to hardness of heart and blind-ness of mind, that He may executevengeance and fury upon them. Jesusmore fully describes this calamity onanother occasion, as follows :

"And the Father hath commanded

me, that I should give unto you thisland for your inheritance. And Isayunto you, that if the Gentiles donot repent, after the blessing whichthey shall receive," (meaning theblessing of the Book of Mormon,)" after they have scattered my people,then shall ye who are a remnant ofthe house of Jacob, go forth amongthem ; and ye shall be in the midst ofthem, who shall be many ; and yeshall be among them, as a lion amongthe beasts of the forest, and as a younglion among the flocks of sheep, who,if he goeth through, both treadethdown and teareth in pieces, andnone can deliver. Thy hand shallbe lifted up upon thine adversaries, andall thine enemies shall be cut off.---And I will gather my people to-gether, as a man gatherethhts sheavesinto the floor, for I will make mypeople with whom the Father bathcovenanted, yea, I will make thyhorn iron, and I will make thy hoofsbrass. And thou shalt heat in piecesmany people ; and I will consecratetheir gain unto the Lord, and theirsubstance unto the Lord of the wholeearth. And behold, I am Ile whodoeth it. And it shall come to pass,saith the Father, that the sword ofmy justice shall hang over them atthat day ; and except they repent, itshall fall upon them, saith the Fath-er, yea, even upon all the nations ofthe Gentiles." (Book of Nephi, 9 :8 and 9.)

This last quotation shows mostclearly that it is God who will,through the instrumentality of thisremnant of Jacob, bring this nationdown and because God is againstthem "none can deliver them" out ofHis hands, or out of the harrds of theaborigines who are of the house ofIsrael : they will beat in pieces manypeople. and there will be no power inthe Gentiles to stand before them. be-cause they have sinned against Godin rejecting His word which Ile hastaken so much pains to preserve andbring forth unto them : But theytreat it as a thing of naught, and de-spise the same; therefore shall theyhe treated as naught,and trodden down

WAR. 245

by the house of Israel even as nationsof old. Say not in your hearts that youare strong, and that these calamitieswill riot come upon you ; for thoughyou increase your strength an hun-dred fold, and fortify yourselves withwalls and gigantic towers ; and byyour wisdom invent engines of de-struction that will cause the nations totremble, yet you shall be as naughtbefore the power of the Almighty,and your strong-holds shall be throwndown, as were the walls of Jericho,and you shall fall a prey to the de-vouring sword, and your carcases shallmoulder away upon the face of theland, and your flesh shall becomemeat for the dogs and for the ravenousbirds of the air ; and there shall benone left to blaspheme against theHoly One of Israel, or to fight againstHis holy word upon all the face ofthis land. For this is a choice land,and it must be redeemed from thehand of wickedness, that the righteousmay dwell thereon for ever, and rejoicein the fulness of the blessings thereof.

The day is at hand when the Lordwill visit all the nations of the earthwith a proclamation of repentanceand mercy, and blessed are that peo-ple, nation, or tongue who know thejoyful sound ; but wo unto that peo-ple who hearken not unto the voiceof the Lord, neither unto the voiceof his servants; for the Lord has aconsumption decreed upon all theface of the earth, and all flesh shallcome in remembrance before Him torender unto them according to theirworks; to redeem the whole earthfrom wickedness, and to make a fullend of all nations who will not be-come subject to His laws. Where-fore nation shall war against nationand kingdom against kingdom, andthe slain of the Lord shall be many.In regard to the wars of the latterdays, the vision of Nephi, seen aboutsix hundred years before Christ, ishighly instructive. We quote thefollowing :

" And it came to pass that the an-gel snake unto me, Nephi, saying,thou hast beheld that if the Gentilesrepent, it shall be well with them ; and

thou also knowest concerning thecovenants of the Lord, unto thehouse of Israel ; and thou also hastheard, that whoso repenteth not, mustperish ; therefore, wo be unto theGentiles, if it so be that they hardentheir hearts against the Lamb of God,for the time cometh, saith the Lambof God, that I will Work a great and amarvellous work among the childrenof men ; a work which shall be ev-erlasting, either on the one hand oron the other : either to the con-vincing of them unto peace and lifeeternal, or unto the deliverance ofthem to the hardness of their heartsand the blindness of their minds un-to their being brought down into cap.tivity, and also unto destruction, bothtemporally and spiritually, accordingto the captivity of the devil, of whichI have spoken. And it came to passthat when the angel had spokenthese words he said unto me, remem-berest thou the covenants of theFather unto the house of Israel ? Isaid unto him, yea. And it cameto pass that he said unto me, look,and behold that great and abomi-nable church, which is the mother ofabominations whose foundation is thedevil. And he said unto me, beholdthere are save two churches only;the one is the church of the Lamb ofGod, and the other is the church ofthe devil ; wherefore, whose belong-eth not to the Church of the Lamb ofGod, belongeth to that great church,which is the mother of abominations;and she is the whore of all the earth.

" And it came to pass that I lookedand beheld the whore of all the earth,and she sat upon many waters ; andshe had dominion over all the earth,among all nations, kindreds, tongues,and people.

" And it came to pass that I beheldthe Church of the Lamb of God, andits numbers were few, because of thewickedness and abominations of thewhore who sat upon many waters ;nevertheless, I beheld that the Churchof he Lamb, who were the Saints ofGod, were also upon all the face ofthe earth; and their dominions uponthe face of the earth were small, be-

246 WAR.

cause of the wickedness of the greatwhore whom I saw.

" And it came to pass that 1 beheldthat the great mother of abominationdid gather together multitudes uponthe face of all the earth, among allthe nations of the Gentiles, to fightagainst the Lamb of God.

" And it came to pass that I, Nephi,beheld the power of the Lamb ofGod, that it descended upon theSaints of the Church of the Lamb,and upon the covenant people of theLord, who were scattered upon all theface of the earth ; and they werearmed with righteousness, and withthe power of God in great glory.

" And it came to pass that I beheldthat the wrath of God was poured outupon the great and abominable churchinsomuch that there were wars andrumours of wars among all the na-tions and kindreds of the earth ; andas there began to be wars and rumoursof wars among all the nations whichbelonged to the mother of abomina-tions, the angel spake unto me, say-ing, behold, the wrath of God is uponthe mother of harlots ; and behold,,thou seest all these things : and whenthe day cometh that the wrath of Godis poured out upon the mother ofharlots, which is the great and abom-inable church of all the earth. whosefoundation is the devil, then, at thatday, the work of the Father shallcommence, in preparing the way forthe fulfilling of his covenants, whichhe hath made to His people, who areof the house of Israel." (First Bookof Nephi, 3 : 45—.51.)

From this quotation, it will be seenthat there will be wars and rumoursof wars among all the nations of theGentiles. Whether the present warthat has commenced between Russiaand Turkey is the one predicted as thebeginning of that more general war inwhich all the nations will participate,is not for us at present, to say; it hasevery appearance of becoming gen-eral, at least, as far as Europe is con-cerned. The European nations withthe United States come more particu-larly under the dominion of the "greatand abominable church," which in-

eludes all the churches of apostatechristendom, both Catholic and Pro-testant. It is the nations of christen-dom that are to be visited with theheaviest of all judgments; for not on-ly will they war among themselves,but every plague, mentioned in John'srevelations as coining upon greatBabylon, will surely come upon theseapostate christian nations, and theywill gnaw their tongues for pain, andfinally, as one of the last judgmentsof a temporal nature, they will be to-tally destroyed—they and their cities,by devouring fire. But Oh, whatseches of wretchedness and miseryawait them, before the day of burningcomes ! No tongue can describethe fearful desolating judgments thatwill sweep through the land ; butyet, they will not repent, for theirday of grace will then be past, andthey will be sealed over unto thejudgments written ; therefore, in thedepths of their miseries, they will liftup their voices and curse God whohas power over these plagues.

In order that God may punishthese nations and utterly overthrowthem, he is calling upon his peopleto come out from them and flee faraway, and hide themselves in thechambers of the mountains, and pu-rify themselves before the Lord, lestthey also perish in Babylon ; for theLord hath decreed that he will sparenone that remain in Babylon. Letthe Saints remember, that the Lordhath said, that the people of Zion areto be the only people upon the faceof the whole earth but what shall beat war one with another. They alonewill escape if they observe diligentlyall the commandments (f the Lord inthe Book of Mormon and in the oth-er revelations which God has givenor shall hereafter give ; but it not,they will in no wise escape; for theLord will chasten the Saints untilthey will learn to live by every wordthat proceedeth forth from His mouth.Those who call themselves Latter-day Saints are no more precious in thesight of God than other people, un-less they do better than others. In-deed, the greater the light against

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE-APPOINTMENT. 247

which the Saints sin, the greater andmore severe must be their judgment,unless they repent, therefore, let usfear before the Lord, and tremble ex-ceedingly, if we have any of us sinned;let us go before Him and confessour faults, and seek mercies and for-giveness at His hands ; let us putaway every evil, and strive most earn-estly to give heed to the word of

truth : for how can we stand beforeHim unless we do this ! The greatand terrible day of the Lord is athand, and all nations shall fear andtremble exceedingly ; but if the Saintsare prepared, it shall be a day of re-joicing and of great glory to them ;it shall be the day of their redemption,and the commencement of a gloriousreign of which there shall he no end.

EDITOR.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

HONOLULU, Sandwich Islands,Nov. 18, 1853.

DEAR BROTHER 0. PRATT,I take the earliest opportunity to

acknowledge your kindness in for-warding me the Seer. The nine firstNos. of which have just come tohand. The perusal of which hascaused our hearts to rejoice. The for-eign Elders are all anxious to procureone or more copies of all your publi-cations in Washington. I send youthe enclosed list of subscription.—We think the Seer a very valuableproduction, and feel that it may domuch good here. The work uponthese Islands is onward. Over threethousand have been baptized in all ;and near two thousand of these, havebeen baptized since our conferencelast April. Although we meet wiJievery opposition that priestcraft caninvent; and in one instance two ofthe brethren were severely bruisedand ill-treated by mob violence.—Besides which we have had manyvexatious law-suits, &c., &c. TheBook of Mormon is translated intothe native tongue, and prepared forthe press. And we are now active-ly engaged in procuring means toestablish a press to speedily printthat and many other works for thisnative people. And we hope beforeour April conference to have it in suc-cessful operation

We are seeking out a locationsuitable to gather this people, th.itthey may become better prepare) for

a general emigration ; and also to de-tach them from the corrupt influencewith which they are continually sur-rounded. The principles of truthand virtue are fast increasing amongthe native saints; and many who havereceived the priesthood are becomingpowerful auxiliaries in rolling for-ward the work. Our religion is claim-ing the attention of many of the high-est Chiefs or Nobles in the Kingdom;some of whom have avowed theirbelief, and are opening their heartsto assist in procuring a press andin granting lands to facilitate thegathering of the saints here.

The smallpox has done a greatwork here, some thousands have beenswept ofT, including over two hun-dred of the saints. There is muchtalk of annexation to the United Statesof this kingdom, but we think it willnot soon take place.

Believe me ever your Brother inChrist, B. F. JOHNSON.

APPOINTMENT.-Elder Aaron F.Farr is appointed to succeed ElderHorace S. Eldredge in the presidencyof the St. Louis conference. Presi-dent Eldredge has, so far as we areacquainted, presided over that con-ference with wisdom, and judgment,and in righteousness ; but he is calledto return to the valley this season toattend to other duties that may be as-signed to him. He will probablyleave in June, and no doubt with thegood feelings, and prayers, and bless-

248 FORMATION OF THE EARTH.

ings of all the saints in that confer-ence. Elder Eldredge will retain thePresidency of the conference untilhis departure, after which Elder Faresappointment will be in force.

We would suggest to Elder Farrthe propriety of proceeding to St.Louis, as scion as convenient, in or-

der that he may become acquainted,by confering with Elder Eldredge,with the nature of the duties assignedhim.

ORSON PRATT,President of the Saints in the

U S. and British Provinces.Washington City, D. C., Feb. 20, 1854.

•1141411••

FORMATION OF THE EARTH:ITS DIVISION INTO ISLANDS AND CONTINENTS ITS RESTORATION TO

ITS ANTEDILUVIAN CONDITION.

BY THE

There has been much speculationin relation to the ancient conditionof our globe. And from many facts,connected with the geological forma-tions of the earth's crust, it has beenconcluded that the land and waterhave more than once changed places.Upon mountains and high elevationsare frequently found shells and otherremains of marine inhabitants in cir-cumstances where it would seem topreclude all possibility of their havingbeen deposited through human agen-cy. It seems to be almost certain,then, that the dry land and even thehighest elevations of our globe, have,at some former period, been sub-merged beneath the sea, and haveformed the bed of the ocean.

Many geological speculations havebeen put forth to account for thegreat changes that have happened inthe surface strata of the earth. Butit is not our intention to examine theprobability or improbability of thoseconjectures; but merely to give somefew facts from divine revelation toshow that the present geological con-ditions of our globe, are not, in theirgeneral characteristics, the result ofslow and gradual changes ; but the ef-fects of sudden convulsions and catas-trophes under the control and super-intendence of that Al -powerful Beingwho formed all things.

As the elements of all worlds werenot created, but are eternal, and asthey have always been the tabernacle

EDITOR.

or dwelling place of God, they musthave eternally been acted upon byHis spirit; consequently must havepassed through an endless series ofoperations without beginning. Insteadof seeking to trace out evidences of abeginning to the elements, we shallat once pronounce them eternal fromthe fact that we have no account oftheir creation from nothing, for Godhimself must be an eternal substance :and it is just as reasonable to believethat all the other elements which areHis tabernacle, are eternal, as to admit,as we are compelled to do, the eterni-ty of His substance.

How many thousands of millions oftimes the elements of our globe havebeen organized and disorganized ; orhow many millions of shapes or formsthe elements have been thrown into intheir successive organizations and &-organizations; or how widely the par-ticles have been diffused throughboundless space; or how many different worlds these particles have, atone time and another, formed compo-nent parts ; or how long they havebeen parts of the solar system ; or howlong that system itself has formed abranch of our stellar heavens—is un-known to us mortals. We can onlygo back to the organization of ourpresent globe—to the time when "themorning stars sang together and allthe sons of God shouted for joy."This is only one link in the endlesschain—only one grand event in a se-

FORMATION OF THE EARTH. 249

ries without beginning. But this eventwas sudden, not the effects of slowand imperceptible changes, operatingfor an indefinite number of ages.—Jehovah spake—the elements camerushing together, not by their ownpower, but under the action of theself-moving forces of His Spirit, asso-ciated with the particles to be moved.That this all-powerful spirit perform-ed its operations in a definite and fixedmanner, according to certain prescrib-ed laws, there is no doubt. And ifany of our modern Philosophers hadbeen present on that grand occasion,they undoubtedly would have beheldevery particle moving toward the greatcommon centre with a resultant force,varying inversely as the square of itsdistance from every other particle.—They would have called it the law ofgravitation : while those better ac-quainted with the origin of the forcewould have called it the law by whichthe Spirit of God moves together theparticles of matter.

We are not to suppose that theseelements, before they were collected,were formed into solid masses ofrocks and other hard substances : andthat these came rushing together—rocks being.; piled on rocks, breaking,crashing, and rending into millions offragments. But no doubt through theoperation of antecedent forces, therehad been a complete disorganizationor dissolution of the bodies, composedof these elements in that prior state ofexistence anterior to the foundation ofthe present globe : this being thecase, the elements being separate, andapart, and widely diffused, were in acondition to come together in a stateof particles, instead of aggregate mass-es. These particles, under the law offorce ordained, would collect in theform of a sphere, arranging themselvesaccording to their specific gravities instrata at different distances from thecentre.

If these particles, while collectingfrom the surrounding spaces, were un-der the influence of no foreign forces,they would form a perfect sphere,having no tendency to rotate; but ifthey were disturbed by their gravita-

don towards foreign bodies, theywould, at the time of their contactwith the central nucleus, strike thesurface of the same obliquely, whichwould give rise to a rotatory move-ment : and this rotation would changethe form of the nucleus from that of asphere to a spheroid ; and the oblate-ness or eccentricity of the spheroidwould depend upon the final resultantvelocity of the rotation at the timethat the particles were all collected.

In the morning of our creation thegathering together of the particleswas accomplished under such regu-lar, harmonious and systematic laws,that there were no elevations of theland above the water. All the suc-cessive strata seemed to have ar-ranged themselves in a perfect spher-oidal form, comforming to the laws ofgravity and rotation, as if they hadbeen a fluid substance. So perfect wasthis arrangement, that the land wascompletely enveloped in a flood ofwater: no portion thereof was seen.

But soon the commandment camefor the waters to be gathered togetherinto one place, and for the dry or solidland to appear. This great event wasunquestionably brought about under asystem of fixed laws, no less definitethan that of gravitation; but perhapsnot so well comprehended by man.The Spirit of God in association withthe elements, not only produces allthe phenomena of gravitation, butalso causes the elements to act uponeach other, cohesively and chemical-ly, when the particles are brought in-sensibly near to each other It couldhardly be expected, therefore, thatsuch a great mass of elements couldbe brought together from the surround-ing spaces, without producing chem-ical operations of such force andpower as to disturb the whole globe.Such forces would cause the upheavalof the dry land in some places, and acorresponding depression in others, towhich thwa ters would rush ; or thedry landmight be made to appear,and the waters be gathered together,by a very different process, namely,by a variation of tie period of theearth's rotation.

250 ITS DIVISON INTO ISLANDS AND CONTINENTS.

The original position of the landand water in regard to the surface ofthe earth, as it existed immediatelyafter their separation, we have nomeans of determining only by revelsLion. It is certain, however, that itwas entirely different from the presentarrangement; and that it remained sosufficiently long for extensive marinedeposits to be formed, which, by thegreat eruptions and changes that havesince taken place, exhibit themselvesin the interior of continents, and inlocations highly elevated above thesea level.

From the revelations which Godhas given, there is no doubt but therehas been a most wonderful change.By them we learn that the Easternand Western Continents were one;whilst the waters occupied the polarregions of our globe. America, Eu-rope, Asia, Africa, and many Islandsof the sea, were all one land. Thedividing of the earth into continentsand islands, was mostly accomplishedin the days of Peleg, who was born101 years after the flood, and died339 years after that memorable de-struction. Many changes were madeupon the earth in the days of Enoch :and no doubt the flood occasionedstill greater; but we must look to thedays of Peleg for the division of theearth into continents and islands, andthe letting in of the waters upon theequatorial regions. Since the granddivision of the earth, many greatchanges have happened to the variousdivisions of land by volcanic actionand earthquakes; the greatest of whichtranspired at the crucifixion of Christ,when all the face of this land wasbroken up and changed ; many moun-tains becoming valleys, and many val-leys becoming mountains.

Without further revelation it is im-possible for us to give any thing likea correct idea of the geographicalcondition of the earth before the daysof Peleg. Some of its general featuresmay be very correctly determinedfrom the following revelation, con-cerning the second coming of Christ,which reads thus:

"Prepare ye for the coming of the

Bridegroom ; go ye, go ye out to meetHim, for behold, He shall stand uponthe Mount of Olivet, and upon themighty ocean, even the great deep,and upon the islands of the sea, andupon the land of Zion ; and He shallutter His voice out of Zion, and Heshall speak from Jerusalem, and Hisvoice shall be heard among all people,and it shall be a voice as the voice ofmany waters, and as the voice of agreat thunder which shall break downthe mountains, and the valleys shallnot be found ; He shall command thegreat deep, and it shall be driven backinto the north countries, and the is-lands shall become one land, and theland of Jerusalem and the land of Zionshall be turned back into their ownplace, and the earth shall be like as itwas in the days before it was divided.And the Lord, even the Saviour, shallstand in the midst of His people, andshall reign over all flesh." (Doc.and Coy., 108 : 5.)

The great deep is to be driven intothe north countries—the islands areto become one land—the land of Jeru-salem and the land of Zion (meaningthe Eastern and Western Continents)are to be turned back into their ownplace, and the earth to be restoredto its ancient geographical position.John the revelator prophesies of thesame convulsions, and says that "ev-ery mountain and island were movedout of their places." He saw thatwhen the seventh angel poured outhis vial of the wrath of God that" There were voices, and thunders,and lightnings ; and there was a greatearthquake, such as was not sincemen were upon the earth, so mightyan earthquake and so great. And thegreat city was divided into three parts,and the cities of the nations fell: andgreat Babylon came in remembrancebefore God to give unto her the cupof the wine of the fierceness of Hiswrath. And every island fled awayand the mountains were not found."Rev. 16 : 17-20.

The same tremendous convulsionis predicted by Isaiah (24 : 17-20) inthe following language:—

" Fear, and the pit, and the snare

ITS RESTORATION TO ITS ANTEDILUVIAN CONDITION. 251

are upon thee, 0 inhabitant of theearth. And it shall come to pass, thathe who fleeth from the noise of thefear shall fall into the pit; and hethat cometh up out of the midst ofthe pit shall be taken in the snare :for the windows from on high areopen, and the foundations of the earthdo shake. The earth is utterly bro-ken down, the earth is clean dissolved,the earth is moved exceedingly ; theearth s:;a11 reel to and fro, like adrunkard, and shall be removed like acottage; and the transgression thereofshall be heavy upon it ; and it shallfall, and not rise again."

The convulsion of the earth at thetime of its restoration to its antediluvian condition, will exceed all formerconvulsions, not excepting the greatone which took place at the time ofits division into continents and island?;hence, John describes it as the great-est earthquake that had ever happenedsince men were upon the earth, notonly affecting the surface by castingdown mountains, and exalting valleys,but causing tie very continents andislands themselves to flee away ; theyare not annihilated, but as John says,"moved out of their places." It willnot be merely the exterior strata ofthe earth that will be broken up, butthe very ' , foundations," as Isaiah says,shall shake. This latter-day earth-quake will be attended with intenseheat, melting and separating the veryelements, or as Isaiah says, " Theearth is clean dissolved ; " and as thePsalmist predicts : " A fire goeth before Him. and burneth up His enemiesround about. His lightnings enlight-ened the world : the earth saw andtrembled. The hills melted like waxat the presence of the Lord, at thepresence of the Lord of the wholeearth The heavens declare His right-eousness, and all the people see His

glory." (Ps. 97: 3-6.) From this pas-sage we learn that this intense fire willattend the presence of the Lord at Hiscoming, and appears to be of the natureof " lightning," which is to "enlightenthe whole world." We can form sortieidea of its intensity from the fact of its" melting hills like wax," and " dis-solving the earth."

If we had an antediluvian map, weshould be able to point out the futuregeographical positions of the land andwater as it will exist during the M len-nium ; or in other words, an antedilu-vian map would answer very well thepurpose of a Millennial map. For theearth is to be restored to its formercondition.

In order to maintain the presentellipticity of the earth, and its presentdiurnal period of rotation, and at thesame time retain the seas in the polarregions, it will be necessary that thesolid portions, now submerged be-neath the equatorial sea, should beupheaved or lifted up. This couldnot be done without producing a cor-responding depression around thepoles, and the waters would thus,under the present laws of gravitation,be obliged to rush from the equatorialto the polar regions. Although it isdone by the direct command of God,yet He generally accomplishes Hispurposes through the medium of lawswhich are in operation. For aughtwe know the raising up or the equa-torial bed of the ocean, may be ac-complished by the internal forces ofthe earth, with which we are entirelyunacquainted, only as we now andthen behold their effects in the earth-quake and volcano. But whatever bethose internal forces, it is certain thatthey will be controlled intelligentlyso as to arrange the continents andislands in their ancient position.

252 REPENTANCE.

REPENTANCE.BY THE EDITOR.

(Concluded.)

Many other evils might be men-tioned of which it is needful for youto repent; but as you have much ofthe word of God pointing them outto you, it is not necessary for me inthis article to describe every particu-lar evil. Many of you are guilty ofblaspheming that Holy Being who gaveyou existence, and of continually usinghis name in vain. Many of you areguilty of defrauding and taking theadvantage of your neighbor ; of bear-ing false witness ; of slandering, re-viling, and speaking evil of one anoth-er ; of oppressing the poor ; and ofbeing lifted up in great pride ; and ofwithholding your riches and yoursubstance from the widow and thefatherless, and from the poor andneedy, while you and your false teach-ers revel in the luxuries of the earth,and adorn your chapels, and yoursynagogues, and your churches withall manner of costly ornaments : andyou clothe yourselves in silks and sat-ins, and in fine twined linen, and re-member not that God has given thesethings to you, that you might not on-ly be blessed yourselves, but that youmight bless the sick and afflicted.—Of all these things, and of many oth-er evils, you must repent, or you canin no wise inherit the kingdom of God;for the cries of the poor and needywill ascend up before God against. you.

Having set forth the evils of whichyou are guilty, we now come to thesecond part of our subject, namely—The nature of the sorrow connectedwith true repentance. There are dif-erent kinds of sorrow. Thieves, rob-bers, murderers, adulterers, &c., arefrequently sorrowful because theyhave been detected in the crimes whichthey have committed. They are notsorrowful, because they have sinnedagainst God, or because they have in-jured others ; but they are sorry that

their crimes have been exposed, orthat they have been prevented froma realization of the happiness whichthey anticipated. This is the sor-row of the world ; and it is of thesame nature as the sorrowing of theevil spirits in hell: they are sorrywhen they fail to accomplish theirmalicious designs against God andHis people. This kind of sorrow,worketh death.

Others have a species of sorrow,arising through fear. They are con-vinced that they have, in numerousinstances, violated the law of God,and they greatly fear the consequencesin the great judgment day ; but yetthey feel no disposition to reform.—They are sorry that there is a law ofGod, or a punishment in the worldto come. They love wickedness, andare sorry that they must one day givean account before God for all theirevil deeds. They are sorry that theycannot continue to cheat and defraudtheir neighbor, and heap up riches,without being harassed with the ideaof future punishment. Many are con-vinced in their hearts that the Bookof Mormon is a divine revelation :and they are sorry that God shouldagain speak to man ; they are sorrythat there is not some more popularway of being saved ; they are sorrythat they must subject themselves tothe scorn and ridicule of the worldin order to receive the message whichGod has now sent into the world.—Finally, there are many things whichcreate sorrow in the world.

But the sorrow that is acceptablein the sight of God is that which leadsto true repentance, or reformation ofconduct : it is that sorrow which arises,not only through fear of punishment,but through a proper sense of the evilconsequences of sin ; it is that sorrowwhich arises from a knowledge of our

REPENTANCE. 253

own unworthiness, and from a con-trast of our own degraded and fallencondition with the mercy, goodness,and holiness of God. We are sorrythat we should ever have condescended to do evil. We are sorry that weshould ever have rendered ourselvesso unworthy before God ; we are sor-ry at the weakness of our own fallennature. This kind of sorrow will leadus to obey every commandment ofGod ; it will make us humble andchildlike in our di ,positions ; it willimpart unto us meekness and lowliness of mind ; it will cause our heartsto be broken and our spirits to be con-trite ; it will cause us to watch, withgreat carefulness, every word, thought,and deed ; it will call up our pastdealings with mankind, and we willfeel most anxious to make restitutionto all whom we may have, in any way,injured. It will lead us to sympathizewith the poor and needy, and, if wehave riches, to administer to theirwants ; it will cause us to visit thesick and afflicted, and to do all thatthe gospel requires to alleviate theirsufferings : these, and many othergood things, are the results of a God-ly sorrow for sin. This is repent-ance not in word but in deed ; this isthe sorrow with which the heavensare well pleased.

Third, The confession necessary forthe penitent, in order to render himstill more acceptable in the sight ofGod, is something that should not beoverlooked by those who are desirous,not only to reform, but to obtain for-giveness of past sins. Though we maybreak cff from our sins, and reformour conduct, yet we cannot expect aforgiveness of our past sins w thouta humble confession of the same. Ifwe have trespassed against any of ourneighbors, it is our duty, not only tomake restitution. but to male a suita-ble confession a►,d seek their forgive-ness. We should also confess oursins to God with a Godly sorrow andcontrition of spirit.

And Fourth, this confession shouldbe accompanied with a promise anddetermination to sin no more. To con-fess our sins before God would be of

no particular benefit, unless we weredetermined to forsake them Without acovenant or promise before God thatwe will forsake sin with an unshak , ndetermination, that we will henceforthyield to no evil, our confession and re-pentance will he vain, and we mustnot expect to be pardoned ; for theHoly One of Israel cannot be deceiv-ed, and will not pardon those whomerely confess their sins, and stillmake no resolution to forsake them ;a confession of sins, unaccompaniedwith the resolution to forsake, is asolemn mockery before Him and willadd to our guilt, and increase the dis-pleasure of heaven against us. Thereare many who are afraid to make apromise that they will sin no more,lest they should break it. Now suchthoughts are not right ; for withoutentering into such a covenant howcan such ones expect to be forgivenand obtain salvation ? If you were ina house, enveloped with flames, andhad the privilege of € ;cape, wouldyou Mill remain for fear hat some fu-ture evil might happen to you ? No :yon would gladly accept the only pos-sible means of safety. Oh, then, whysuffer the devil to cheat you out ofthe only possible means of salvationthrough fear of some imaginary evilwhich you have the power, throughthe grace of God, to ward off? Ifyou linger behind, and enter into nocovenant with God for fear you maybreak it, you are sure to perish inyour sins. Whereas, if you exerciseyour agency and repent, entering intoa solemn covenant. to sin no more, thegrace of God will be sufficient for youto sustain you in the hour of tempta-tion and trial.

We have now pointed out all theprominent principles, connected withtrite repentance. And it can easily beseen by every honest heart, that Godrequires mankind, first to seek dili-gently to discern good from evil andto ascertain what sins and evils theyare guilty of; secondly, to be exercisedwith a Godly sorrow that they haveever sinned against so great and gooda Being as God : thirdly, to makesuitable confession before God for all

254 BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.

past sins committed, and lastly, such aconfession must be accompanied with asolemn covenant or promise to sin nomore ; and the heart should be fixedand immovable in this covenant. Allpersons who will do these things willhave a measure of the Spirit of Christresting upon them, imparting humili-ty, and meekness, and lowliness ofheart. But still this repentance doesnot guarantee to them a remission ofsins ; it only prepares the heart toobey properly a great and holy ordi-nance which God has instituted ex-pressly for the remission of sins. Wemean the ordinance of Baptism. Asthis holy ordinance is of so muchimportance, and instituted expresslyfor the benefit of penitent believers,that they may obtain forgiveness ofall past sins, we feel it our duty tosay a few words on the nature of thisinstitution. But, in the meantime,before we enter into its investigation,

permit us to exhort you, my dearreader, to repent of every evil whichwe have pointed out to you in thisarticle, and of every other sin whichyou may be guilty of. Repent withall your heart. Be determined thatyou will neither eat, nor sleep, untilyou have commenced the infinitelyimportant work. Remember howmuch you have at stake—that it isno less than the eternal 'happiness ofthe soul, eternal life beyond the grave.Oh, how many millions have gonedown to their graves in an impenitentstate ! you may in an unexpectedmoment be cut off also. Oh then giveheed to the warning voice ; let yourheart be humble, and your spirit becontrite ; confess your sins beforeGod, and forsake them, and prepareyourself in all things to receive for-giveness through the ordinance ofBaptism.

0401.10

BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS.BY THE

Having treated upon the subject ofFaith and Repentance, in the preced-ing Nos. of this volume, we will nowproceed to show the way in whichthe truly penitent believing soul maybe pardoned of all his past sins. Ithas pleased God to ordain Baptismor Immersion in water, as the mediumthrough which the truly penitentshould be forgiven of all the sins hehas commi ted. Baptism does not atonefor sins, but it is an institution grant-ed to man, because of the atonementof Christ. The atonement is madeby the blood of Christ, but man can-not receive the blessings of the atone-ment legally and fully without strict-ly complying with the conditions or-dained of God. One of the choiceblessings purchased by the preciousblood of Christ is the forgiveness ofsins, hut all mankind do not have theirsins forgiven, but only such as claimthe purchased blessings by complyingwith the requirement. Now we have

EDITOR.

already shown that the first require-ment is to have Faith or belief in thewords of Christ and his atonement ;and that the second requirement is torepent with a humble and contr toheart, entering into a covenant to for-sake all sin. Both these conditionsmay be strictly complied with, and yetpast sins remain unforgiven. Why ?Because the individual, as yet, hasnot complied with the third conditionthrough which forgiveness is granted.By complying with the first two con-ditions, he has received a measure ofthe spirit of Christ by which his heartis melted down into humble contri-tion : This spirit of meekness andlowliness of heart is imparted to hitnas a preparation to receive the holyordinance of Baptism acceptably inthe sight of God ; and when this or-dinance is complied with by the be-lieving penitent, then comes the Re-mission of sins ; all former trans-gressions are blotted out. Oh what

BAPTISM FOR THE REMISSION OF SINE 255

joy now fills the heart ! He is indeed,a new creature ! born of water ! andadopted in the name of the Father,Son and Holy Ghost into the familyof Christ ! one of the sons of God !his sins, though many, are freely par-doned! they no longer stand recordedagainst him ! Oh who would not re-pent and be baptized to receive sogreat a blessing, and to be filled withsuch great joy! Alas ! there are manywho care not for these things ; andthe forgiveness of sins and the joys ofheaven, are treated with indifference ;and they go down to their graves inimpenitence without any preparationfor the great judgment.

Baptism is just as essential to sal-vation, as Faith and Repentance.—Without being immersed in water noman can enter into the fulness of Ce-lestial glory : for baptism is institutedfor the remission of sins ; and if a per-son does not take the necessary stepsto obtain pardon of sins, of course,he cannot be saved in the kingdom ofGod. Jesus did not shed his bloodto save US in our sins, but to open away whereby man might obtain for-giveness through Faith, Repentance,and Baptism : and no man can besaved who neglects either of theseprinciples. Many have been taughtto seek forgiveness by prayer, andhave been told that baptism being on-ly an outward ordinance would notavail any thug, and that it is to be ad-ministered to those only who havealready received forgiveness : theseare doctrines of false teachers, andthey are the wicked traditions hand-ed down by apostate Christendom.Baptism is a condition of forgive-ness, and to teach mankind to seekfor pardon in any other way than meone set forth in the gospel, is awicked perversion of truth, and allsuch false teachers will, if they donot repent, be sent down to hell , forcursed be that man or angel whopreaches another gospel, or pervertsthe true gospel of Christ.

Baptism in order to be acceptablein the sight of God must be adminis-tered by a man ordained of God andauthorized of Jesus Christ, otherwise,

it will be a solemn mockery beforeGod, and highly sinful in His sight.But who in this generation have au-thority to baptize ? N one but thosewho have received authority in thechurch of Jesus Christ of Latter daySaints : all other churches are en-tirely destitute of all authority fromGod ; and any person who receivesBaptism or the Lord's supper fromtheir hands will highly offend God ,for he looks upon them as the mostcorrupt of all people. Both Catho-lics and Protestants are nothing lessthan the "whore of Babylon" whomthe Lord denounces by the mouth ofJohn the Revelator as having cor-rupted all the earth by their fornica-tions and wickedness. And any per-son who shall be so wicked as to re-ceive a holy ordinance of the gospelfrom the ministers of any of the seapostate churches will be sent downto hell with them, unless they repentof the unholy and impious act. ifany penitent believer desires to obtainforgiveness of sins through baptism,let him beware of having any thing todo with the churches of apostateChristendom, lest he perish in theawful plagues and judgments, denoun-ced against them. 'file only per-sons among all nations, kindreds,tongues, and people who have author-ity from Jesus Christ to administerany gospel ordinance are those calledand authorized among the Latter-daySaints. Before the restoration of thechurch of Christ to the earth in theyear 1830, there have been no peopleon the earth for many generationspossessing authority from God to min-ister gospel ordinances. We again re-peat, beware of the hypocritical falseteachers and imposters of Babylon.

Another great abomination practi-ced among Christendom is the Bap-tism of infants and little children,—This wicked doctrine was inventedby the devil, in order to blind theminds of the children of men, andmake them think that infant baptismis all sufficient, and that the baptismof adults for the remission of sins isnot necessary, provided that theywere sprinkled in infancy. All in.

256 NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.

flints and little children are free fromsin, having been redeemed from thefall by the blood of Christ, and thattoo without any conditions of Faith,Repentance, or Baptism. All suchare innocent before God, and are al-ready prepared to inherit the kingdomof heaven. Therefore, for parents tohave their little children bap ized isawfully wicked before God; it is asolemn mockery of the ordinances ofthe gospel; and unless parents re-pent of this great wickedness, theywill go down to hell. No doubt butmany have committed this great evilin their ignorance, but now Godcalls them to repent of this evil andof every other sin, and be immersed

in water for a remission of all theirtransgressions : and if they will notdo this, the sins that they have com-mitted in their ignorance, will beanswered upon their heads, as if theyhad done them with a knowledge ofthe will of God. Parents who areguilty of having their infants bap-tized must repent of the evil, or theycannot be saved.

It is unnecessary for us to appealto the scriptures in proof of the doc-trine of Faith, Repentance, and Bap-tism as taught in these articles : forthis we have already done in a seriesof pamphlets which we have formerlypublished.

.400.

NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.

Our subscribers are hereby in-formed that after the publication of thesixth number of the present volumeof the SEER, the paper will be discon-tinued, as the present limited circula-tion is altogether inadequate to meetthe necessary expenses. The publi-cation thus far has been attended inthis country with a loss of severalhundred dollars. We will send toeach of our subscribes enough of ourchurch publications to make up thebalance of the other half year's sub-scription. When we commenced the

present volume, we were in hopes thatthere would have been sufficient in-terest manifested by the nation to learnour doctrines from our own publica-tions, instead of those of our enemies ;but it seems that they prefer falsehoodto truth ; and when we would en-lighten them and correct the misstate-ments concerning us, they choose toremain in ignorance and darkness.

We expect to leave Washingtonabout the first of May for Utah. Allletters for us, arriving after that date,will most probably not be attended to.

EDITOR.

CONTENTS:

War,... 241

Foreign Intelligence—Sandwich Islands, 247Appointment,........ 247

Formation of the Earth—Its Division into Islands and Continents--Its Restoration

to its Antediluvian Condition, . 248Repentance,. • •••• •••• . 252

Baptism for the Remission of Sins,... 254

Notice to Subscribers, 256



At 01 per annum, invariably in advance.

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Ilelifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains,—Isaiah xvin, 3.

VoL. II. MAY, 1854. No.5.

NEW .REVELATION.BY THE

There is no subject which is moreridiculed by the religious world, atthe present day, than that of NewRevelation. All Christendom professto admit that the Father, Son, andHoly Spirit, are still in existence, andthat they are unchangeable in theirattributes, and that there are just asmany angels now as in ancient timesbut to assert that any of these holybeings have communicated any NewRevelation to man since the first cen-tury of the Christian era, is consider-ed, if not blasphemy, something nearakin to it.

Now a religion that excludes NewRevelation from its principles, is justthe very religion that suits the devil :he is well pleased with it. He caresnot how moral people may be, norhow genteel and polished in their de-portment, nor how much they go tochurch, nor how many prayers theypretend to offer up, nor how piousthey may be in every respect, if theywill only disbelieve in New Revela-tion for he knows well that God hasnothing to do, nor never had, withany religion that did not acknowledgeProphets and Revelators, throughwhom He could speak and reveal Hiswill to his sons and daughters.

The devil knows that God neverhad a church on the earth withouthaving inspired men in it. No otherchurch gives him any uneasiness. Helikes to see them pray and be very

EDITOR.

sanctimonious, as long as he knowsthat they have no faith in New Reve-lation. The devil rejoices, and hisangels are glad, when they look overtheir wide spread dominions, and be-hold countless churches and syna-gogues professedly built to the Godof ancient revelation, and contemplatethe hundreds of millions whom theyhave deluded with the idea that allNew Revelation is unnecessary. Solong as the devil can deceive thepeople with this anti-christian andunscriptural doctrine, he knows thathe is sure of them.

How well pleased his satanic ma-jesty must have been, when he pre-vailed upon the " Third Council ofCarthage," at the close of the fourthcentury, to sit in judgment upon the'manuscript copies of the word of God,compiling a few of them into a vol-ume, and rejecting all the others, andthen passing an ecclesiastical law thatno other books or revelations shouldever be added to the canon or vol-ume. This bound all their deludedfollowers to reject, in every succeed-ing generation, every thing in the formof New Revelation. Oh! how thehosts of hell must have exulted overtheir signal success in thus cutting offall further communication betweenGod and man !

And again : what could have moregratified Satan when he found thatthe religion of the Romish Church

258 NEW REVELATION.

did not altogether suit all the people,than to have them, under the name ofProtestants, invent some new formsof religion, excluding prophets, andbinding the people to believe in onlythe sixty-six books of the Bible. Thisnewly invented religion, inasmuch asit made the canon of sciipture full,and would in no wise admit prophetsto add any new books to the volume,was just as acceptable to the devil asthe religion of the Catholics ; forwhat the Catholics did not catch, theother impositions would.

But the moment that God sentangels from heaven to earth, andraised up inspired men, and oncemore restored the true ChristianChurch to the earth, the devil, withall his combined armies of Catholicsand Protestants, was enraged. ForGod to dare restore the religion of theBible again to the earth, by sendingprophets and inspired men, by givingvisions, and by sending angels, as 11edid in all other ages when His religionwas on the earth, was more than thedevil could bear without making atremendous exertion to put it down.To undertake to put it down by scrip-ture, reason or argument, was entirelyin vain, though this was attempted insome few instances at first, but it al-ways resulted in the most disastrousconsequences to the devil's kingdom.The devil soon found that there wasnot the least shadow of evidence tosustain the Catholic and Protestantimposition against the doctrine ofcontinued revelation. This forlornhope having utterly failed him, hisnext and most successful operationwas to ridicule and denounce the doc-trine, and lie about it, and, if possible,to close the eyes, and ears, and heartsof the people effectually against it.But even in this thing he will be de-feated ; though he may for a time tri-umph, yet the refuge of lies shall beswept away, and God will show untothe honest in heart, with power andgreat glory, that He is the same yes-terday, to-day and for ever, and thathe is a God who delights to revealHimself by revelations, and dreams,and visions, and prophecies, by the

ministering of angels, and by the mir-aculous gifts and power of the HolyGhost. All who deny these things,and do them away, will be cut offfrom among the people, and be sentdown to hell to suffer with the devilwho has deceived them, and by whomthey have been led captive to rejectand deny the gifts of the Holy Ghostand the powers and glory of God'skingdom.

If this generation are asked to givea reason for rejecting all revelationlater than Jolvj the Revelator's day,their answer is, almost universally," W e have enough, and need nomore ;" and we reply, yes, they haveenough to send them to hell, unlessthey will receive more, when God inmercy offers it to them. The veryBible, which they pretend is enough,will rise up in judgment against apos-tate Christendom, and condemn them,because in it is taught the doctrine ofcontinued revelation, which they havethe great wickedness to reject.

But why is the devil so angry witha church under the guidance of NewRevelation ? Because he knows thata people who live near enough to theLord to receive information from Him,will receive by that means a knowl-edge of all his cunning plans, and de-tect the cunning devices by which hehas blinded the nations of apostateChristendom so long. To have the an-cient and venerated systems of priest-craft exposed, and the false doctrines,which he has taken so much pains tointroduce and maintain for so manycenturies, overturned by the restora-tion of true Christianity again to theearth, is calculated to make the hellishhosts and all under their influence,who delight in darkness, to tremblewith anxiety and through fear of theconsequences.

Fear and trembling seize upon thewicked priests, whenever the soundof ancient Christianity, with its reve-lations, prophecies, visions and thegifts and powers of the Holy Ghost,approach heir neighborhood. Theircraft is in danger—they fear for theirrotten, corrupt forms of religion—they fear that the people will get their

NEW REVELATION. 259

eyes open to discern the wide differ-Ience between the religion of the Bibleand their powerless forms invented bythe devil and his servants —they fearthat their popularity will wane, andtheir salaries be decreased or entirelyfail them. To travel without. purseor scrip„ as the Latter-day and Form-er-day Saints have done, they cannotafibrd to do. And then if they shoulddo so, they would receive no reward,but condemnation for preaching falsedoctrines among the people.

If they preach false doctrines theythink that they must be well paid :for it is the only reward that theycan get, and bye-and-bye the endcomes and they are hewn down andcast into the fire : their motto, thenis, to live grand while they have thechance, and so long as they can de-lude the nations with their apostateforms of religion, under the sacredgarb of Christianity, they have theprospect of waxing fat on the hardearnings of their deluded victims.No wonder then that ancient Chris-tianity, taught by the humble servantof God, as the Holy Ghost gives himutterance, is like an arrow to thehearts of such hypocritical imposters.Oh ! how abhorrent and disgusting toa humble servant of Christ, and toGod, and to all His holy angels, tosee Catholic and Protestant ministersenter their richly adorned churchesand chapels, and there pretend toworship God, when they are as des-titute of almost every feature of an-cient Christianity as the devil and hisangels. The days are not far distantwhen such base hypocrites, and allthat will suffer themselves to be de-ceived by them, will be cast down bydevouring fire, that their impositions,and their hypocrisies, and their cor-ruptions, and all their filthiness andabominations, may cease to come upbefore the Lord of Hosts.

Tremble and fear ! for if there everwere a generation that had need totremble and fear, it is the present.—Tell about this being an enlightenedage—an age of gospel light! Neverwas there an age of greater darknesssince man was created upon the earth

so far as it regards the religion ofheaven. It is the very age predictedby Isaiah, the Prophet, when "dark-ness should cover the earth and grossdarkness the people " it is a day ofthick darkness—darkness that hasbeen accumulating for centuries,through the abominations practicedby the apostate nations of Christen-dom. Not even one ray of light fromheaven has forced its passage throughthe dark, gloomy, dismal night withwhich they have been for centuriesenshrowded, until an angel penetratedthe depths and brought to light thatsacred, heavenly, and most precioustreasure—the Book of Mormon—andraised up inspired men by which lightfrom heaven again shines on ourearth. But so great are the mists ofdarkness, that this generation do notperceive the light. "The light shinethin darkness but the darkness compre-hendeth it not."

" An age of light !" Oh tell it notin the face of high heaven! Whereare your holy apostles inspired fromheaven to speak the word of the Lordin the ears of fallen man ? Whereare your prophets to lift up theirvoices by the word of the Lord, andwarn the nations of approachingdanger ? Where are your Seers, en-rapped in the visions of the Al-mighty, bringing to light things bothnew and old, opening the grandevents of futurity, and unlocking thehidden mysteries of the heavenlyworld ? Where now is the voice ofinspiration, and the voice of angels,to salute the ears of mortal man withglad tidings of great joy ? Wherenow are the gifts of healing—theopening of the eyes of the blind—theunstopping of the ears of the deaf—the speaking with other tongues, andall the miraculous gifts and powers ofthe Holy Ghost ? They are not to befound in apostate Christendom, onlyas enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints.Will Christendom have the unblush-ing impudence to call themselves thepeople of God, when they are desti-tute of all these most precious giftspromised in the gospel ? " An ageof light 1" Oh shame ! Oh impu-

260 NEW REVELATION.

Bence ! when will you cease to call evilgood ? How long will the heavens suf-fer such wickedness to go unpunished!

44 An age of light !"—"a Christiannation !" Go to all your large citiesthroughout the land—find one, if youcan, where there are not whoredomsand other abominations enough, com-mitted every day, to sink the wholenation to the lowest hell. Look atthe swarms of public prostitutes, per-mitted to roam at large and corruptsociety with their accursed filthiness,and then lift your eyes to heaven andhypocritically thank God that youlive in such a christian nation. Oh,fear and tremble, ye hypocrites, yewhited sepulchres, lest God shallsmite you, for thus provokingly tell-ing him that you are a christian na-tion ! But God suffers you thus tocorrupt yourselves, because you lovedarkness, and priestcrafts, and whore-doms, and false doctrines and everyevil work. He will suffer you untilyour golden cup is full and runningover, that he may visit you with amere speedy and awful judgment, andblot out your name from under heav-en ! Then shall the holy apostles,and prophets, and all the heavens re-joice over your downfall ; for youshall fall to rise no more.

At the present time, so great is yourwickedness, that silence reigns inheaven, and all eternity is pained, andthe angels are waiting with longinganxiety for the great command toreap down the harvest of the earth,and bind the tares in bundles, and givethem to the burning flame ! And ifyou will not listen to the warningvoice, and repent, the servants of Godwill not cease their cries to the heav-ens, until God shall come out of hishiding place, and make a full end,that the earth may be cleansed andrest for a season.

How is it, that you will not awaketo a sense of the awful condition thatyou are in ? How is it, that you willclose your eyes to the signs of thetimes, and not perceive the day ofyour visitation ? How is it, that youwill not pay any attention to thatwhich belongs to your peace ? How

is it, that you can be so hard in yourhearts and blind in your minds thatyou cannot perceive the hand of theLord in bringing to light the sacredRecords of the ancient Israelites whodwelt upon this continent ? Why doyou condemn that most excellentwork upon popular rumour, withouteven reading one page of its contents?Why will you be proud in your hearts,and exalt yourselves above all othernations, and boast in your ownstrength as a nation, and imaginethat no evil will come upon you,though you continue in your wicked-ness ? Why not discern and under-stand that it is God that has madeyou a strong and powerful nation, andnot yourselves ? It is God that set-teth up and pullet!) down. If youwould repent, as He requires you inthe Book of Mormon, you wouldcontinue to be blessed upon the land;but if you obey not, and reject Hisword, He will certainly visit you as itis written. Oh, then, why will younot repent ? it will certainly do youno harm to repent, and forsake falsedoctrines, and every species of wick-edness. If you repent and call uponthe Lord even as our pilgrim fathersdid, when they first came to this land,God will be merciful unto you andprolong your blessings in the land.—Even though you, in your darkness,may suppose the Book of Mormon animposition, you certainly will be onthe safe side if you repent and do asthat book requires.

if this new revelation required youto do something that was evil, youwould have some reason for distrust-ing it and paying no attention to it ;but when it requires you to repent, andforsake every evil practice, and setsforth your evils and abominationsplainly before your eyes, of whichyou yourselves know that you areguilty, where is your excuse for notobeying, even though you may thinkthat it is the work of man ? If it bethe work of man, can you be excused,and will God overlook all the sinswhich you know you are guilty ofand which that book accuses you of,and which it requires you to repent of ?

ZION OF ENOCH. 261

No : you have no excuse you wellknow that you ought to repent of ev-ery evil of which that book accusesyou; and that God will in no wiseacquit the guilty. And if you alreadyknow this, how much more oughtyou to fear when a professed revela-tion makes its appearance threateningyou with awful and speedy judgment,if you do not repent.

Oh my nation ! the inhabitants ofthis beautiful and lovely country ! openyour ears to the voice of your Re-deemer, whose bowels of compassionyearn over you—whose voice is to allthe inhabitants of the land calling up-on them to repent, and turn away fromall their iniquities, and be baptized inHis name for the remission of theirsins, that they may be filled with theHoly Ghost. Then shall ye knowHis voice, and the voice of his ser-vants, and the voice of his spirit : forthe spirit is light, and maketh mani-fest the truth, and if it be in you, youshall be the children of light and notwalk in darkness.

Now what man is there in all thisnation that will not acknowledge thatrepentance would not only be benefi-cial to individuals, but to the wholenation ? Why then condemn theBook of Mormon, for calling uponyou to do that which you knowwould be beneficial ? But, you mayreply, the Book of Mormon professesto be a New Revelation and to callupon us by authority to repent, andwe do not believe in new revelation,and therefore we will not repent.—A poor excuse, indeed ! that you willnot do that which you acknowledge

would be beneficial, because you areafraid of giving sanction to theBook of Mormon.

Another thing should cause you tofear and tremble exceedingly. Youshould remember that, that very bookis substantiated to this generation withfar greater evidence than they havefor any other revelation. (See "DivineAuthenticity of the Book of Mor-mon," by 0. Pratt.) To reject so greatevidence, and still remain in your sinswill be presumptuous on your part.

Again, every man in the nation hasthe privilege on condition of repent-ance and obedience of receiving theHoly Ghost, which will most assured-ly guide them into all truth, and bearrecord unto them of the truth of thisNew Revelation, so that they mayhave the same knowledge of the di-vine Authenticity of the Record asthey have of any other truth. Toknow a thing to be true certainlywould impart more happiness andjoy, than to remain in uncertainty anddoubt. A knowledge of the truthwill give stability to the mind, so thatit will not fluctuate to and fro withevery wind of doctrine, invented bythe cunning craftiness of uninspiredmen. is there any excuse therefore,for any man in the nation ? when itis within the power of all to obtainthe most perfect knowledge that theBook of Mormon is a revelation fromGod ? And especially when thisknowledge is to be obtained by doingthat which every man will acknowl-edge ought to be done, and which allsee would be beneficial both to indi-viduals and to the nation to do ?

ZION OF ENOCH.BY THE EDITOR.

What is the meaning of the wordZion? The Prophet Enochans wersthis question in the following lan-guage :—" And the Lord called Hispeople Zion, because they were ofone heart and one mind, and dwelt in

righteousness ; and there was no pooramong them." The Lord by themouth of Joseph the Prophet gavethe following definition :-- 44 Let Zionrejoice, for this is Zion—The purein Heart." Enoch was called of God,

262 ZION OF ENOCH.

when but a young man, and was sentforth unto the antediluvian nations topreach Faith, Repentance, and Bap-tism for the remission of sins, and toProphesy and warn the people of ap-proaching judgment. Many amongthe nations hearkened to his voice,and received the gospel, and becamethe sons of God ; for the Holy Ghostfell upon them, and they were bornof God. These by the commandmentof God, were gathered out from thenations by themselves, and they wereestablished upon the high places ofthe earth and upon the mountains; andbecame sanctified before the Lord ;"and the Lord came and dwelt withHis people, and they dwelt in right-eousness. The fear of the Lord wasupon all nations, so great was theglory of the Lord which was uponHis people."

It was under these circumstancesthat the Lord called his people Zion.And from what God has revealed,concerning this great continent, wehave reason to believe that this is thevery land where the righteous weregathered in the days of Enoch. Andthere are indications in the revelationswhich God has given us through themouth of Joseph Smith, that this isthe very land, where once flourishedthe garden of Eden. One thing iscertain, that three years previous toAdam's death " he called Seth, Enos,Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jare( ', Enoch, andMathuselah, who were al high priests,with the residue of his posterity whowere righteous, into the valley of Ad-am--Ondi-Ahman, and there bestowedupon them his last blessing. And theLord appeared unto them, and theyrose up and blessed Adam, and calledhim Michael, the Prince, the Archan-gel. And the Lord administered com-fort unto Adam, and said unto him,have set thee to be at the head—a multi-tude of nations shall come of thee, andthou art a prince over them for ever,"(Doc. and Coy. Sec. 2: 28.)

Here then were eight generations,including all the righteous of Adam'sposterity, all assembled in the valley.of "Adam—Ondi—Ahman." Accord-ing to other revelations of the mar-

tyred Prophet Joseph, this valley is inthe state of Missouri, only about 50or 60 miles north of Jackson Co.,where the city of Zion is to be builtup in the last days. From the factthat Adam "called" his descendantsinto that valley, we have reason to be-lieve that it was his place of residence

his old homestead, perhaps, wherehe may have dwelt for many centu-ries.

Enoch built a city, called Zion, andthe people who received the gospelthrough his ministry dwelt therein.—It is very probable that Jared the fath-er of Enoch and all his Ancestors, evento Adam, were not located very farfrom the city of Enoch. WhetherAdam and all those of his descendantswho were righteous in Enoch's daystill dwelt near their native country ;or whether they had emigrated fromsome distant part of the earth in orderto detach themselves from the wicked-ness of surrounding nations, we can-not positively determine without fur-ther revelation. As the earth was notdivided into continents and islands be-fore Enoch's day, it would not havebeen difficult for Adam, and the right-eous of those days, to have emigratedby land from the opposite side of theglobe to this country. But if theAncestors of Enoch came with himfrom some distant part of the globe,it would be reasonable to supposethat they would have located them-selves in the same city with him, andhave been translated and caught upinto heaven with him and his people.But from the fact that all his Ances-tors, except Adam, were alive atthe time that Zion was caught up, andthat they were all left behind andlived on the earth many years afterthat event, it seems almost certain thatthey did not live in Zion ; but proba-bly were located on their old inher-itances where they lived when thefoundations of Zion were laid.

Mathuselah, the son of Enoch, wasalso left behind, and lived for somesix centuries until the flood. Hisgrand-son, Noah, most probably builtthe Ark in this land : if so, he musthave been wafted by winds and cur-

ZION OF ENOCH. 263

rents for many months until he landedupon the mountains of Ararat.—Without direct revelation it wouldhave been difficult for Noah to havedetermined the geographical positionof his landing place ; he and his sonslocated themselves in Asia, and it isvery doubtful whether they had anyidea of the great distance that inter-vened between them and their nativecoun try.

America, then, may be consideredthe Old woild—the cradle of the hu-man race—the theatre of events per-taining to the antediluvian age. FromAmerican soil was formed the firsttabernacles of man and beast, fowl andcreeping things. Here was the gar-den of the Lord, where flourished thetree of life whose fruit was calculatedto impart immortality and eternal lifeto those who should partake thereof:Here God conversed freely with manand gave him dominion over theearth. Here Satan introduced sin, andmisery, and death. Here holy mes-sengers guarded with a flaming swordthe tree of life from the hands of fallenman. Here Cain imbrued his handsin the blood of righteous Abel. Herenations multiplied on nations andwaxed strong in wickedness beforeGod. Here Enoch preached repent-ance and baptism for the remission ofsins, and led the people of God, whoovercame their enemies that came tobattle against them. Here Enoch"spake the word of the Lord, and theearth trembled, and the mountainsfled, even according to his command ;and the rivers of water were turnedout of their course ; and the roar of thelions was heard out of the wilderness ;and all nations feared greatly, so pow-erful was the word of Enoch, and sogreat was the power of languagewhich God had given him. Therealso came up a land out of the depthof the sea ; and so great was the fearof the enemies of the people of Godthat they fled and stood afar off, andwent upon tl'e land which came upout of the depths of the sea. And thegiants of the land, also, stood afar off;and there went forth a curse upon allthe people which fought against God :

and from that time forth there werewars and bloodsheds among them."Here flourished the city of Zion,built by Enoch and his people, andGod chose it for his dwelling placefor ever, and He came and dwelt inthe midst of it ; and His glory over-shadowed it for upwards of three cen-turies, when it was taken up with allthe inhabitants thereof into heaven.—Here was built an ark of safety, where-in seed of all flesh was preserved torepeople a world cleansed from wick-edness by baptism in the mightyflood.

What portion of the land was takenup with the Zion of Enoch is not re-vealed. It seems very probable thata sufficient quantity of the earth wouldbe translated with the city to form in-heritances for the people. In whatpart of space this city is located is un-known. During the interval betweenthe translation of Zion and the flood,angels came down out of heaven andappeared unto many, "and the HolySpirit fell on many and they werecaught up by the powers of heaveninto Zion." The descendants of Noahnot having faith sufficient to be caughtup into Zion, concluded to build atower sufficiently high to get therewithout being under the necessity ofreceiving a translation. From this itappears that the early descendants ofNoah had an idea that Zion was loca-ted somewhere near the earth. Abra-ham sought to become an inhabitantof the same city ; for, as Paul declares," he looked for a city which bathfoundations, whose builder and makeris God." Abraham understood thatin the translation of the city there wassomething more than the housescaught up : he was aware that thecity had "foundations" as well asbuildings ; and he knew that Godwas the " budder and maker" of it ;or, in other words, that God gaveEnoch the pattern and instructed himhow to build it.

There have been many conjecturesamong the saints in regard to the con-dition of the inhabitants of Enoch'scity : some have supposed them stillto be mortal—that they die—a•d that

264 ZION OF ENOCH.

successive generations come and go ashere : others have supposed that theywere only partially changed so thatdeath could have no power over them ;conjecturing that the change was sim-ilar to that received by the threeNephites, mentioned in the Book ofMormon, and that they will not re-ceive a full change until the comingof Christ, or the last day : Otherssuppose them to have been changedfrom mortality to immortality. Wehave no revelation to decide directlywhich of these suppositions is correct ;although we are inclined to believethat the latter supposition is the mostprobable. But this is a subject whichdoes not immediately concern us, asa matter of importance; God is wil-ling for us to know all about the Zionof Enoch, and about many otherthings that are good, and great, andglorious, just as fast as we will pre-pare our hearts to receive knowledge:and it is only on account of our dark-ness, unbelief, and disobedience thatmany mysteries are withheld from us.

To suppose that the inhabitants ofthe city of Enoch have been caughtaway to some other planetary body,and that they have there continued tomultiply a fleshly offspring, wouldnecessarily involve the idea of mor-tality and death ; for we know of norevelation that indicates that a fleshlyoffspring could be derived from im-mortal parents. If therefore, a fleshlyoffspring are begotten in the Zion ofEnoch, then mortality and death reignamong them ; and generation musthave succeeded generation ; and therehas been time enough for them to havepeopled several worlds as large asthis. On the other hand, if theywere immortal, their offspring musthave been spirits ; and as in this con-dition none of their children couldmultiply, the increase would be farless. Indeed, a city containing fourhundred thousand inhabitants, consisting of an equal number of immortalmales and females, would requireabout three hundred thousand yearsto people one world with the samenumber of inhabitants as have alreadycome upon our globe ; that is, suppo-

sing the rate of increase to be twohundred thousand per year.

However far the Zion of Enoch maybe from the earth's appointed orbit, it iscertain, according to the promise ofGod, that it will return again to theearth at the second coming of Christ.We can hardly believe that this citywas taken away beyond the limits ofthe Solar system ; for if it had beencarried with a velocity of one mileper minute, it would have required up-wards of five thousand years to havegone as far as the planet Neptune :and with that velocity it would haverequired over ten thousand years togo there and return. As an immortalbody has the power of rendering it-self invisible, it is reasonable to inferthat a city wrought upon by the power of God, and changed in its nature,could be rendered invisible, and stillbe within our immediate vicinity.

One of the most beautiful charac-teristics of the antediluvian Zion, wasthat they were of one heart and onemind, and there were no poor amongthem," a perfect union of sentimentand feeling : no bitterness—no hatred—no slandering or reviling—no de-frauding or taking the advantage oneof another—no person seeking to ag-grandize himself by heaping up richeswhile others were poor—no selfish-ness or pride—no hypocrisy or af-fectation : but every one loved hisneighbor as himself—every one stu-died the welfare of the whole—everyone considered himself as only a stew-ard over the things committed to hischarge : it was all considered theLord's, and ready to be appropriatedfor any purpose which the Lordshould direct. They were equal inearthly things, therefore the Lordmade them equal in heavenly things.Nothing short of continued revelationcould ever have brought about an or-der of things so perfect. Such unionwas strength and power; such one-ness was after the order of heaven :the powers of the earth could not holdthem—the laws of nature could notretain them : their faith laid hold onimmortality—on eternal life—on thepowers of heaven—on heavenly things;

LATTER-DAY ZION. 265

the veil was parted and could no morebe closed—the city of Zion fled fromearth to heaven there to be reserveduntil a day of righteousness shouldcome, when the earth should rest ;then shall they return to their nativeland and their city with them ; thenshall be fulfilled the words of Isaiah :" Thy watchmen shall lift up theirvoice, and with the voice togethershall they sing ; for they shall see eye

to eye when the Lord shall bringagain Zion." Yes : when the Lordbrings again the Zion of Enoch fromheaven to earth the watchman of theLatter day Zion shall see eye to eyewith the watchman of the Zion fromheaven : then shall ancient and mod-ern saints embrace each other, andtheir hearts shall be full of joy ; forthe Lord himself will be there, and Hewill comfort his people for evermore.

*OM.

LATTER-DAY ZION.BY THE EDITOR.

The Latter-Day Zion will resem-ble, in most particulars, the Zion ofEnoch : it will be established uponthe same celestial laws—be built up-on the same gospel, and be guided bycontinued revelation. Its inhabitants,like those of the antediluvian Zion,will be the righteous gathered outfrom all nr 'ions : the glory of Godwill be seen upon it; and His powerwill be manifested there, even as inthe Zion of old. All the blessingsand grand characteristics which wereexhibited in ancient Zion will beshown forth in the Latter-Day Zion.As the Zion of Enoch was caught upby the powers of heaven, so will theLatter-Day Zion be taken up into thecloud when the heavens are openedand the face of the Lord is unveiledat His second coming.

As the building up of Zion in thelast days is to be a work of so greata magnitude, it will not, we trust, beuninteresting to our readers if we re-fer to some of the ancient propheciesrelative to it ; especially as the day isat hand when the Lord has laid thefoundation and commenced the ful-filment of the great work.

The Psalmist, speaking propheti-cally, exclaims, "Thou shalt arise,and have mercy upon Zion : for thetime to favour her, yea, the set time, iscome. For thy servants take pleas-ure in her stones, and favour the dustthereof. So the heathen shall fearthe name of the Lord, and all the

kings of the earth thy glory. Whenthe Lord shall build up Zion, he shallappear in His glory. He will regardthe prayer of the destitute, and notdespise their prayer. This shall bewritten for the generation to come :and the people which shall be createdshall praise the Lord. For He hathlooked down from the height of Hissanctuary ; from heaven did the Lordbehold the earth ; to hear the groan-ing of the prisoner ; to loose thosethat are appointed to death ; to declarethe name of the Lord in Zion, and Hispraise in Jerusalem when the peopleare gathered together, and the king-doms to serve the Lord." (Psalm102: 13-22.)

From this we learn that the build-ing up and the favouring of Zion wasnot to take place in that age, for it isexpressly declared, that what wasthen written was for the benefit of"a generation to come." That ithad no reference to the ChristianChurch built up in the days of theapostles, is certain from the declara-tion that, ,4 W hen the Lord shallbuild up Zion, he shall appear in Hisglory." It was to be a work, there-fore, immediately preceding the glori-ous appearing of our Lord. It willbe a work in which the power of Godwill be so marvelously displayed, thatit will excite the attention of wholenations and kingdoms to that degree,that they will actually gather togetheramong the people of Zion to serve

266 LATTER-DAY ZION.

the Lord. One object they will havein view in gathering, will be toworship the Lord in His house, andto receive ordinances therein. Or asthe Prophet Isaiah, when speaking ofthis subject, says, " And it shallcome to pass in the last days, thatthe mountain of the Lord's houseshall be established in the top of themountains, and shall be exalted abovethe hills ; and all nations shall flowunto it. And many people shall goand say, Come ye, and let us go upto the mountain of the Lord, to thehouse of the God of Jacob ; and Hewill teach us of His ways, and wewill walk in His paths : for out ofZion shall go forth the law, and theword of the Lord from Jerusalem.And He shall judge among the na-tions, and shall rebuke many people :and they shall beat their swords intoploughshares, and their spears intopruning hooks : nation shall not liftup sword against nation, neither shallthey learn war any more." (Isaiah2 : 2-4.)

It is very evident from this thatthere will be a glory and power con-nected with the establishment of thehouse of the Lord, that will be suffi-cient to cause whole nations and king-doms to flow unto it. They flow tothe mountains where the house of theGod of Jacob is erected, because theycan there be taught in the ways of theLord, and receive information that isimpossible for them to receive in theirown lands. In Zion a law will begiven by the Great Law Giver, whichwill be for the government of all na-tions ; and all nations will have tosubmit to that law, or be destroyedfrom the earth : for the " Lord willrebuke strong nations afar off." Thelaw for the government of all nationswillgo forth from Zion the same as thelaws for the government of the UnitedStates now go forth from Washing-ton. Zion will be the seat of gov-ernment, and her officers will be farmore respected, and have far more in-fluence, than those of any governmentupon the earth ; all nations will yieldthe most perfect obedience to theircommands and counsels. There will

be no party politicians, and partynewspapers to speak evil of them, asthey now do of the President andhighest authorities of this nation : aword from them will control all theinhabitants of the earth as one man.This great influence and high respectwill not be obtained by swaying thesceptre of tyrants—by binding thepeople down with the strong arm ofoppression ; but it will be because oftheir righteousness, and their faith inGod, and because their power is givento them from God ; and they act, andspeak, and counsel, and command inHis name and by His authority ; and,therefore, the nations must obey orincur the displeasure of Him whogoverns all things, according to Hisown will and pleasure.

The Lord says, concerning Zion," And I will restore thy judges as atthe first, and thy counsellors as at thebeginning : afterward thou shalt becalled The city of righteousness—the faithful city." (Isaiah 1 : 26.)" I will also make thy officers peace,and thine exactors reighteousness."(Isaiah 60 : 17.) When the Lord re-stores the judges, counsellors and offi-cers of Zion, after the same order asin the ancient Zion, or among Israel,He will choose good and righteousmen who can be entrusted to directthe governmental affairs of every na-tion under heaven, who will see thatthe laws issued from Zion are proper-ly respected and obeyed.

Ambitious politicians are now striv-ing, contending, and exerting all theirpower in order to obtain the presi-dential chair or a seat in Congress.If they can only arise high enough topreside over this nation for four years,they think it wonderful honor. 0fools ! how little do they know whattrue honor is ! We would rather behonored with the office of deacon,among the high and honorable peopleof Zion, than to be elected Presidentof the United States; for the latter isbut a momentary office, expiring atthe close of four short years ; whilethe former will endure for ever; orrather, lie who honors the office ofdeacon, and faithfully discharges the

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duties of the same, will receive acrown, and kingdom, and power, andauthority, and greatness, and honor,and glory, that will never have anend : and even in this life the dayswill come that deacons in Zion willbe more honored and more respected,than any emperor, king or president,now ruling among the nations.

Before Zion can partake of theglory and honor promised to her, shewill be hated, afflicted, and despisedby the wicked : and because she doesnot, at first, give heed in all things tothe word of the Lord, He will chas-ten her, and for a moment hide Hisface from her, and forsake her ; andshe will be as a wife of youth, for-saken and grieved in spirit. And inthe midst of her affliction she will ex-claim, " The Lord hath forsaken me,and my Lord hath forgotten me."But the Lord saith, " Can a womanforget her sucking child, that sheshould not have compassion on theson of her womb ? yea, they may for-get, yet will I not forget thee. Be-hold I have graven thee upon thepalms of my hands ; thy walls arecontinually before me." (Isaiah 49 :14, 15.) All the shame and reproachwhich she has suffered from her ene-mies will be wiped away : hence,Isaiah says, . 4 Fear not ; for thou shaltnot be ashamed ; neither be thou con-founded ; for thou shalt not be put toshame : for thou shalt forget the shameof thy youth, and shalt not rememberthe reproach of thy widowhood anymore. For thy Maker is thine hus-band ; the Lord of Hosts is His name ;and thy Redeemer, the Holy One ofIsrael ; the God of the whole earthshall He be called. For the Lordhath called thee as a woman forsakenand grieved in spirit, and a wife ofyouth, when thou toast refused, saiththy God. For a small moment haveI forsaken thee ; but with great mer-cies will I gather thee. In a littlewrath I hid my face from thee for amoment ; but with everlasting kind-ness will I have mercy on thee, saiththe Lord thy redeemer." (Isaiah 54 :4-8.)

Though Zion has been driven by

these United States, and been perse-cuted, hated, and despised, let hernot be discouraged, nor faint-hearted,nor afraid ; for God will surely re-member His kindness towards her, tobring to pass all that is written. Asthe Lord has "sworn that the watersof Noili should no more go over theearth ; so bath He sworn that hewould not be wroth with thee, norrebuke thee." And again for the en-couragement of Zion in her affliction,the Lord says, "for the mountainsshall depart, and the hills be removed :but my kindness shall not depart fromthee, neither shall the covenant of mypeople be removed, saith the Lordthat hath mercy on thee. 0 thouafflicted, tossed with tempest, and notcomforted, behold, I will lay thystones with fair colours, and lay thyfoundations with sapphires. And I willmake thy windows of agates, and thygates of carbuncles, and all thy bor-ders of pleasant stones. And all thychildren shall be taught of the Lord ;and great shall be the peace of thychildren." (Isaiah 54 : 9-13.)

When the city of Zion is built upin Jackson county, in the state ofMissouri, with all the precious stonesspoken of in the above quotation, itseems that they will be no more"afflicted and tossed to and fro andnot comforted." Mob violence willno more prevail against them, provi-ding that they continue in righteous-ness. For the Lord says, "In right-eousness shalt thou be established ;thou shalt be far from oppression ; forthou shalt not fear : and from terror :for it shall not come near thee." (verse14.) :Their enemies no doubt willeven then seek their overthrow, butthey will be completely disappointed."Behold they shall surely gather to-gether, but not by me, whosoevershall gather together against thee shallfall for thy sake." (Verse 15.)

Should the enemies of Zion eveninvent new weapons of warfare, andthink to prevail against her by thatmeans, it will be useless for them totry it ; for the Lord says. "No weap-on that is formed against thee shallprosper; and every tongue that shall


rise against thee in judgment thoushalt condemn. This is the heritageof the servants of the Lord and theirrighteousness is of me, saith theLord." (Verse 17.)

The Lord will not only deliverZion from all her enemies, but Hewill actually make all nations serveher, as will be seen by the followingquotation :-.44 And the sons of stran-gers shall build up thy walls, andtheir kings shall minister unto thee :for in my wrath I smote thee, but inmy favour have I had mercy on thee.Therefore thy gates shall be open con-tinually ; they shall not be shut daynor night ; that men may bring untothee the forces of the Gentiles, andthat their kings may be brought.—For the nation and kingdom that willnot serve thee shall perish; yea, thosenations shall be utterly wasted."—" The sons also of them that afflictedthee shall come bending unto thee ;and all they that despised thee shallbow themselves down at the soles ofthy feet ; and they shall call thee, Thecity of the Lord, The Zion of theHoly One of Israel." (Isaiah 60 : 10,11, 12, 14.)

0 how great must be the glory andpower of the Lord to cause kings torise up and leave their native countryto visit Zion! The forces of the Gen-tiles will come to her as a flowingstream whose waters cease not, daynor night : they will come like cloudsflying, and like doves seeking refugein their windows from storms andtempests. What a change of senti-ments and feelings there must be, tocause those who have despised thesai,its to bow themselves down at thesoles of their feet ! if any nations aretoo stubborn or too proud to showthis respect, and to serve Zion, theywill have the alternative of being de-stroyed and utterly wasted.

But why does the Holy One ofZion confer this honor upon his peo-ple ? Because they have patientlysubmitted to every kind of insult andabuse that the Gentiles could heapupon them for the truth's sake : be-cause they have been " afflicted andtossed to and fro" by their enemies ;

and because in all their tribulation ,they have held fast the truth. Andtherefore, will the Lord place them, asthe head of the nations ; and insteadof being compelled to labor and toil tobuild the walls of Zion, and to takecare of their flocks and cultivate theearth, the Lord will cause this to bedone by strangers. "And strangersshall stand and feed your flocks, andthe sons of the alien shall be yourplowmen and your vinedressers. Butye shall be named, The Priests of theLord: men shall call you, The Min-isters of our God." (Isaiah 61 : 5, 6.)

The children of Zion having beenrobbed and driven from county tocounty and from state to state, andeven from the United States, and hav-ing suffered the loss, time after time,of their houses, and lands, and of theirhard earned labors, the Lord willcompensate them by giving them theriches of the Gentiles ; hence, Hesays " ye shall eat the riches of theGentiles, and in their glory shall yeboast yourselves. For your shame yeshall have double ; and for confusionthey shall rejoice in their portion :therefore in their land they shall pos-sess the double; everlasting joy shallbe unto them." (Isaiah 61: 6, 7.)" Whereas thou Nast been forsakenand hated, so that no man wentthrough thee, I will make thee aneternal excellency, a joy of manygenerations. Thou shalt also suckthe milk of the Gentiles, and shaltsuck the breasts of kings : and thoushalt know that I the Lord amthy Saviour and thy Redeemer, themighty One of Jacob. For brass Iwill bring gold, and for iron I willbring silver, and for wood brass, andfor stones iron." " Surely the islesshall wait for me, and the ships ofTarsliish first to bring thy sons fromfar, their silver and their gold withthem, unto the name of the Lord thyGod, and to the Holy One of Israel,because he bath glorified thee." (Isa-iah 60: 9, 15, 16.)

Contrast this glory, and honor, andmajesty, and greatness, and richeswith the past and present conditionof Zion; and then let her sons shout

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aloud for joy, and sing with gladnessof heart: though Zion is now smalland little, remember what the Lordhath said concerning her : " A littleone shall become a thousand, and asmall one a strong nation : I the Lordwill hasten it in its time." (Isaiah60 : 22.) Who hath heard such athing ? who hath seen such things ?shall the earth be made to bring forthin one day ? or shall a nation be bornat once ? for as soon as Zion travailed,she brought forth her children."(Isaiah 66 : 8.) Zion will become a lstrong nation suddenly ; her increasewill be at once ; and they will returnto their waste and desolate citieswhich the Gentiles have robbed themof; and their former possessions willbe too small for them. Then shallthe following words of Isaiah be ful-filled " Thy waste, and thy desolateplaces, and the land of thy destruc-tion, shall even now be too narrow byreason of the inhabitants, and theythat swallowed thee up shall be faraway. The children which thoushalt have, after thou halt lost theother," (that is after the other has beendriven out and forced to seek refugein the Rocky mountains) " shall sayagain in thine ears, the place is toostraight for me : give place to me thatI may dwell. Then shalt thou sayin thine heart : Who hath begottenme these, seeing I have lost my child-ren, and am desolate, a captive, andremoving to and fro ? and who hathbrought up these ? Behold, I wasleft alone ; these, where had theybeen ?" (Isaiah 49 : 19-21.) Theirwaste and desolate places which were,by mob violence, forcibly wrestedfrom them, not being sufficient tocontain the vast number of the saints,they will spread forth into all quar-ters of the land. Then shall anotherprophecy of Isaiah be fulfilled : " En-large the place of thy tent, anal letthem stretch forth the curtains ofthine habitations ; spare not, lengthenthy cords and strengthen thy stakes ;for thou shalt break forth on theright hand and on the left : and thyseed shall inherit the Gentiles, andmake the desolate cities to be inhab-ited." (Isaiah 54 : 2, 3.)

The desolate cities of the Gentiles,which have been left desolate by thegreat and terrible wars among them-selves will in that day be inhabited bythe children of Zion ; for the childrenof the " married wife " or of the Gen-tiles who in ancient times became themarried wife, instead of Israel, will be,because of wickedness, greatly dimin-ished, while the children of the deso-late, whom the Lord has for a smallmoment apparently forsaken, willspeedily become a strong nation :though barren, and a captive, wander-ing to and fro, despised, and afflicted,and tormented, and cast out into themountains and deserts, and hated bythe whole United States, yet thewords of Isaiah shall be fulfilled, andZion shall sing and forget the re-proach of her youth. " Sing, U bar-ren, thou that didst not bear , breakforth into singing and cry aloud, thouthat didst not travail with child : formore are the children of the desolate,than the children of the married wife,saith the Lord." (54 : 1.) The child-ren of Zion, therefore, will, in thatday, be more numerous than the na-tion who has oppressed them, andtrodden them under their feet.

Hear another prophecy, "Thussaith the Lord God, behold, I willlift up mine hand to the Gentiles,and set up my standard to the people :and they shall bring thy sons in theirarms, and thy daughters shall be car-ried upon their shoulders. Andkings shall be thy nursing fathers, andtheir queens thy nursing mothers :they shall bow down to thee withtheir face towards the earth, and lickup the dust of thy feet; and thoushalt know that I am the Lord : forthey shall not be ashamed that waitfor me. Shall the prey be taken fromthe mighty, or the lawful captive de-livered ? But thus saith the Lord,even the captives of the mighty shallbe taken away, and the prey of theterrible shall be delivered : for 1 willcontend with him that contendethwith thee, and I will save thy child-ren. And I will feed them that op-press thee with their own flesh : andthey shall be drunken with their own


blood, as with sweet wine : and allflesh shall know that I the Lord amthy Saviour and thy Redeemer, themighty One of Jacob." (Isaiah 49 :22-26.)

From this prophecy, it will be seenthat the Lord commences His workfor the gathering of his people bylifting up His hand to the Gentiles andby setting up a standard to the people.This work has already commencedamong this Gentile nation. He hasalready lifted up his hand, by sendingamong them a great prophet to bringforth that sacred and holy Record—the Book of Mormon, as a "standardto the people." And the time isclose at hand when the kings and thequeens of the Gentiles will assist ingathering many of the descendants ofIsrael unto Zion upon this land, whilethose of the house of Judah will fleeto their own land, even to Jerusalem,where they will suffer many afflic-tions and great chastisements, becauseof their unbelief in the true Messiah ;but the believing of the other tribeswill gather to Zion, in America, wherethey will remain until the full timefor their return to receive their ancientinheritances in Palestine.

The American Indians, who are aremnant of Israel, will gather toZion ; for they will believe in thehistory of their forefathers, containedin the Book of Mormon ; they willrepent of all their sins, and become arighteous branch of the house of Is-rael : and this work will be a speedywork among them, resembling thebirth of a nation in a day ; and allthe promises that the Lord has madeto Israel and to the Latter-Day Zion,will be realized by these remnants ofIsrael in America. While their ene-mies that have oppressed them willbe fed with their own flesh, and bedi- unkenwith their own blood, as'with sweet wine ; and all flesh, fromone end of the earth to the other,shall know that it is the Lord whohas humbled the pride and haughti-ness of this nation, and exalted theremnant of Israel upon the land.Then Zion shall be clothed in herbeautiful garments, and be armed

with strength ; the bands of her neckshall be broken off, and she shall befree ; her ensign shall be lifted onhigh to welcome the nations ; herlight shall be as the sun to enlightenthe world ; her tabernacles shall bethe dwelling place of the Most High ;her dwellings shall be encircled withglory : a cloud by day and a fire bynight shall be her defence ; her wallsshall be called Salvation, and hergates Praise. Violence shall no morebe heard in the land ; wasting nordestruction within her borders. ThenAmerica shall be called the land ofthe Lord, the holy place of the taber-nacles of the Most High : then shallthe fear of the Lord be upon all na-tions, upon their kings, and upontheir princes, and upon their nobles,and upon their rulers ; and all kin-dreds and tongues shall see the sal-vation of the Lord, and behold Hisglory ; and submit themselves to Hislaws, for the whole earth shall he fullof His glory ; and God himself will bein the midst of His people and reignover all flesh.

But before that day shall come,what sorrow—what mourning—whatlamentations will be heard in theearth ! Nations shall rush fiercely onnations—thrones be overturned—kingdoms be removed, and the earthwill be soaked with blood. Everynation under Heaven will be at warexcept Zion. The city of Zion willbe the only place of refuge. Thereshall be shelter from the furiousstorms, and tempests, and whirl-winds, that will agitate the nationsand toss them to and fro upon theraging billows. There the righteousshall find safety and dwell securelyin peaceable habitations ; and noneshall molest them or make themafraid. Oh, that the people wouldopen their eyes and discern the signsof the times! for if they will nottake warning, they must perish ! Butthey rush blindly on, giving no heedto the prophecies of the holy prophets,nor to the voice of the Lord which iskindly calling after them ; nor to thevoice of His servants, who are labor-ing day and night to rescue them

UTAH. 271

from the coming evils ! The voice ofmercy falls listlessly upon their ears,or is entirely lost in the confusion ofgreat. Babylon ! Gladly would weawake them to the sense of the aw-ful dangers which threaten them ; butthe slumbers of death have taken afirm hold upon them, and they areprepared for the slaughter, and to theslaughter they will go.

Let the saints study the propheciesdiligently, and then look at the signsof the times ; and they will see thehand writing of destruction in broadand legible characters written uponall the thrones, and kingdoms, and na-tions of great Babylon. Hear, then,

Oh ye saints, the great voice fromheaven, saying, 44 Come out of her, 0my people, lest ye partake of her sins,and receive of her plagues ; for hersins have reached to the heavens, andGod hath remembered her iniquities."Therefore, flee ye, get ye out of themidst of her ! Stay not ; tarry not,lest while you linger, some sore ca-lamity or sudden evil befall you. Wespeak more particularly of the saintsin the United States. The destroyeris sent forth to lay waste and destroy,and his mission is to the nationsof Babylon, and he will not returnnor cease, until he hath made a fullend.

UTAH.

Our latest intelligence from Utah isup to the 12th of Dec. All things ap-parently were in a prosperous condi-tion. Two volunteer companies, un-der the direction of Elder Orson Hyde,had started in the month of Nov. toform a settlement between one andtwo hundred miles east of Salt LakeCity, on Green river. They werewell fitted out with farming utensils,and every thing necessary for theformation of a permanent settlement.A colony formed in that vicinity willbe of great importance in renderingaid and assistance to the weary emi-grant, as he pursues his tedious andlonely track towards Oregon and Cal-ifornia. The emigrating Saints will,also, reap much benefit in finding set-tlements of their own brethren neartwo hundred miles east of their desti-nation. It is to be hoped that thislittle colony will flourish and prosper.

The Indians of the territory appearto be more friendly than they werea few months since. The massacreof Captain Gunnison and party wasby a band of the Par-van-tes whowere highly exasperated by the brutalconduct of a company of California

emigrants, under the command of aman by the name of Hillsworth, whohad wantonly killed one of their num-ber and wounded two others ; previ-ous to this, that small tribe had beenfriendly with the whites. The Saintshave constantly studied the welfareof the red-men, although they have,in some few instances, been reluct-antly compelled to defend themselvesagainst their depradations. The In-dians in that territory, near our set-tlements, are in a ten fold more pros-perous condition than they were pre-vious to the location of the Saints inthe country. Through the wise andhumane policy of Governor Young,and of the people generally, there isa bright prospect of extending civili-zation and Christianity among the un-cultivated and savage tribes of the in-terior. Already many of their childrenare being comfortably clothed and fed,and are acquiring the first rudimentsof an English education. And it is tobe hoped, that not many years hence,we shall see whole tribes laying asidethe tomahawk and scalping knife, andpursuing the peaceful avocations of acivilized life.

272 EXTRACT FROM GOV. YOUNG'S MESSAGE.

EXTRACTFROM GOVERNOR YOUNG'S MESSAGE TO THE LEGISLATURE OF UTAH.

Happily for Utah, she has no partypolitics for her Legislature to discuss,she can therefore lend her energiesfor the benefit of the country, andpracticing that industry, so worthy ofimitation by the people, benefit themby example, as well as precept.

Judging the future by the presentand past, unparalleled prosperity isdawning upon us as a people. Healthand contentment universally prevail,and the mountain breezes, and cool-ing streams bring vigorous strengthand action. Nature's wilderness isfast receding before the scythe, th esickle, and the plow, and her swarthychildren keep company with themountain game, or retire with theBuffalo of the arid and extended plain,to make way, to give place for thepale face, the citizen who inhabitshouses, and cultivates the ground.Although far distant from the chan-nels of the trade and commerce of theworld, and, moreover, isolated in agreat degree from the influence of hersociety, yet it is a rich inheritancewhich has been extended unto us,and which in due time will, if rightly

improved, add a brilliant to the con-stellation of nations illuminating thenorthern hemisphere.

As hitherto, self-exertion meets herown reward, and the laborer delveswith a certain prospect of success,and the teeming earth yields forth herfruits and grain, in rich abundance,for the sustenance of the children ofher bosom.

Let us continue to cultivate thearts of peace, and impart to the wearywanderer comfort and consolation,abiding in charity and benevolencetowards our fellows, whether foundin the forlorn wandering ignorance ofages, or the enlightened bondage oftradition and error.

Feeling to reciprocate for past kind-ness and forbearance, I shall ever beready to participate with you in yourlabors, hoping that our united exer-tions may become advantageous, andpromote the interest, prosperity, rapidgrowth, and advancement of the risingState.

BRIGHAM YOUNG.UTAH TERRITORY,

EXECUTIVE OFFICE,Dec. 12, 18 53.

CONTENTS:New Revelation, — ..Zion of Enoch, Latter-Day Zion, Utah, • •Extract from Governor Young's Message to the Legislature of Utah, • • • • • 272



41 01 per annum, invariably in advance.

• • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • 257• • • • • OOOOO • • •• • • • • • • • 261

• • • 265•• • • 271

If I

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, See Ye, when Holifteth up an Ensign on the Mountains,—Isaia/i xviii, 3.

VOL.VoL.lI. JUNE, 1854. No. 6.

RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS.BY THE EDITOR.

Among all the blessings which Godhas promised to fallen man, there arenone greater than that of the resur-rection of the body to eternal life andhappiness. The life that we now en-joy, though mingled with sorrow andtrouble, is still desirable and soughtafter most eagerly by man. Whendeath stares him in the face, he wouldbe willing to part with thrones andkingdoms, with houses and lands, andwith all his possessions, could he re-deem himself from the grasp of thisawful monster. Many remedies havebeen sought out and prescribed, not toredeem man from death, but to shieldand protect him fora few years longerfrom this fearful enemy. But no onehas been able to discover a remedythat will render man immortal. Allare overtaken, sooner or later, by thegrim tyrant and prostrated low in thedust. Generation after generation fallbeneath the mighty conqueror! Oh,how dismal must be the thought of anever-ending sleep in the tomb ! Deathmust be bitter indeed, to those whohave no knowledge of the resurrec-tion—who lay their bodies downwithout the least idea of receivingthem again ; and yet, many hundredsof millions have passed away withoutthe faintest hope of a future resurrec-tion—who suppose that they part withtheir bodies for ever.

Could man be fully persuaded thathis body would rise again from the

grave, and that he would live, andmove, and act, as he does now, andenjoy the same that he now experi-ences, he would consider it a blessingfar greater than earthly riches or hon-ors ; and were he certain that such ablessing could be attained, there wouldbe no sacrifice too great for him tomake in order to secure an immortal-ity in a world that would afford himno greater happiness than the presentone. If, then, in a world like this,where troubles meet us on every side,we still enjoy life, and so earnestlycling to it, what would be our joywere we assured of a resurrection toan eternal life of the most perfect hap-piness ? where no troubles or sorrowscould ever come ? where death couldno more enter ? What tidings couldbe more joyful to the soul than these ?

Now, the inhabitants of this fallenworld have been most positively as-sured by the word of God, that theirbodies shall all live again—that theyshall be called forth from the dust andbe reorganized, and that the same spirtswhich once inhabited them, shall re-animate them again. This redemp-tion of the body is not a partial one--that is, the body is not merely re-deemed from the grave to a life ofmortality subject to a second disso-lution, but it is redeemed to immor-tality—the spirit being re-united withthe body never more to be disunited.

The resurrection of the body from

274 RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS.

the dust will be effected by the wordand power of God. The Spirit ofGod which dwells in the elements,will, by His command, bring them to-gether, depositing every particle in itsproper position, so as to form a per-fect tabernacle! The deformities ex-isting in the mortal body, will not ap-pear in our resurrection bodies ; butall who are counted worthy to receivea celestial body, will appear in theimage and likeness of the glorifiedbody of Jesus ; and his body is in theexpress image and likeness of hisFather's person. Paul, in speaking ofthe resurrection says, that Jesus "shallchange our vile body, that it may beihshioned like unto his glorious body."(Philippians 3 : 21.) Notwithstand-ing we shall be fashioned like hisbody, yet there will be a variety offeatures and size by which one will bedistinguished from another, the sameas in this life. The likeness will bein the general outlines—in the perfec-tion of the organization—in the beau-tiful adjustment of the several parts—in the perfect symmetry of the whole—and in the purity, immortality, andglory with which it is filled and sur-rounded. In all these respects therewill be a perfect likeness. But whensizes are compared, there will be agreat variety from the tabernacles ofinfants up through every grade to thoseof gigantic magnitude. Although therewill be an endless variety of features,yet all will appear equally gloriousand beautiful ; the beauty being theresult of the perfection and glory ofthe spirit inhabiting the tabernacle.There will undoubtedly be distin-guishing characteristics relating to theage attained previous to the dissolu-tion. This distinction will probablybe manifested, in some small degree,in the countenance and in the color ofthe hair, and in the difference of sizebetween the child and the man of grayhairs. In all the works of God, webehold a resemblance among classes ;but a variety among individuals belong-ing to each class. All the planets ofour system resemble each other moreor less in form ; but in magnitude andin many other respects, there is a

great variety. In every species of an-imals and plants, there are many re-semblances in the general outlines,and many specific differences charac-terizing the individuals of each species.So in the resurrection : there will beseveral classes of resurrection bodies;some celestial, some terrestrial, sometelestial, and some sons of perdition.Each of these classes will differ fromthe others by prominent and markeddistinctions ; yet in each, consideredby itself, there will be found many re-semblances as well as distinctions.There will be some physical peculi-arity by which each individual in everyclass can be identified.

Will the same identical materialscomposing the mortal body be reor-ganized in the resurrection body ?—There will be a sufficient quantity ofthose materials brought forth to forma perfect tabernacle for the spirit. Butit is not to be expected that every parti-cle, which at any time has formed acomponent part of the mortal body,will be raised and enter into the im-mortal one. Many persons by severesickness, lose from fifty to a hundredpounds of flesh in the course of a fewmonths ; and after recovering, theynot unfrequently, in the course of oneor two years, regain as much flesh asthey lost. And in the course of a longlife, they may, by successive intervalsof health and sickness, gain and losefrom ten to fifteen hundred poundsof flesh. Now it would be altogetherabsurd to suppose that these ten orfifteen hundred pounds of flesh are allto be reorganized in the resurrectionbody. The same reasoning will ap-ply to the bones as well as the flesh,for small pieces of bones may be ex-tracted from the system, and by thedeposition of new matter, new bones,or rather parts of bones, will beformed; and in the course of a longlife, there could be many pounds ofbone extracted by small pieces at suc-cessive intervals from the human sys-tem, and many pounds of new honeformed to supply the place of the old.Also, children shed their teeth, andothers grow in their stead. Now wecannot suppose that in the resurrec-

RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS. 275

tion, the old and new teeth, and theold and new bones will all be raisedand enter into the composition of theimmortal body. Many persons cut offover one-tenth of an inch of theirbeard every week, which, in thecourse of a year, will amount to overfive inches, and in the course of sixtyyears, will amount to over twenty-fivefeet. And those who are in the habitof paring off the ends of the fingerand toe nails, will find that in thecourse of sixty or eighty years, theyhave actually cut off from each fingerand toe, from six to eight feet of nail.If, therefore, all the old materials ofthe human system are to arise, weshall be favored with a beard and hairfrom twenty-five to thirty feet long ;with finger and toe nails, six or eightfeet long; with two sets of teeth, andwith ten or fifteen hundred pounds offlesh and bones. Such a suppositionwould be ridiculous. We are, there-fore, compelled to believe that in theresurrection, each immortal body onlytakes that quantity of the old materi-als as is amply sufficient to form abeautiful and perfect tabernacle for thespirit.

It is believed by many scientificmen that our bodies are constantlyand gradually changing through thewhole of our lives, and that in theperiod of from seven to ten years,the whole body undergoes an entirechange ; the old particles having beenthrown off, and new ones having suc-ceeded in their stead, and that thereason why many old scars remainduring a long life is, because the newparticles in the gradual interchange,take the position of the old, necessa-rily perpetuating the shape of the scaryears after the old particles have fled.It is pretended that this doctrine is es-tablished by many indubitable eviden-ces that cannot be shaken. If weshould admit this idea to be correct, itwould still further prove that in the res-urrection all the materials of the mortalbody do not come forth ; for an oldman whose weight has been some twohundred pounds the most of his days,and having passed through ten entirechanges of the materials of his sys-

tern, would have had, during his life,about one ton of flesh and bones thathas been successively deposited andthrown off, and in the resurrection notover one-tenth part of these materialswould be needed to construct the im-mortal body. Therefore, whether weadmit the idea of a constant and grad-ual change, or sudden changes, pro-duced by successive intervals of sick-ness and health, we are led to thesame conclusion, that only a part ofthe old materials of the mortal bodywill enter into the composition of theimmortal one.

Some persons have denied the pos-sibility of the resurrection, on theground that among cannibals, wherethey are in the constant habit of de-vouring human flesh, one human bodyis, in a great measure, formed out ofthe component parts of many others.And because the same particles lave,at successive periods, existed in scoresof individuals, forming parts of eachsuccessive tabernacle, they argue thateach individual has equal claim uponthe same identical particles. And asthe same particles in the resurrectioncan only be organized in one body atthe same time, they reason that allthe others who have equal claims tothe same, would be lacking of thenecessary materials, and consequentlycould not rise. If, in this argument,the premises are granted, the conclu-sions would be correct. But thepremises are false : for all flesh wasoriginally formed from earthly andvegetable matter ; and though canni-bals and carniverous animals grow andincrease, both in size and weight,on flesh ; yet that very flesh, whentraced back through successive ani-mals which have been devoured, willbe found to have originated in herbif-erous animals whose flesh is whollycomposed of earthly and vegetablesubstances. Now the amount ofvegetable substances, converted intoflesh, is not only equal to, but fargreater than the amount of animalsubstances, converted into the flesh ofother animals. This is evident fromthe constant change to which thebodies of all animals are subject, ow-


ing to the removal of old particles,and the deposition of new, as mani-fested by a decrease or increase offlesh, depending on the scarcity orabundance of food. When we takeinto consideration the whole animalkingdom, nothing is more certainthan that the flesh, formed by de-vouring other flesh, can never exceedin weight the flesh formed from vege-tables and earthly matter : indeed itwould be an absolute impossibility forthe former ever to exceed the latter.And when we take into considerationthe calls of the appetite, and thatevery animal, in the course of a veryfew years, requires many times its ownweight in food, it demonstrates be-yond all controversy that the amountof flesh, formed from herbs and veg-etables, must far exceed, by manytimes its own weight, that formedby devouring flesh ; for were it notso, the former would in a very fewmonths be wholly devoured by thelatter, and the earth would speedilybe depopulated of men and animals.

II, then, the amount of flesh, form-ed directly from vegetable substances,exceed, by an immense quantity, allother kinds of flesh, it demonstratesthe fact, that in the resurrection thewhole herbiferous and carniveroustribes of the land and water, includ-ing fish, fowls, animals, and men,could be raised up from t le dust withimmortal bodies, consti :acted of thesame identical particles, or rather asufficient quantity of them, that onceexisted in the form of mortal flesh ;and still there would be an immensequantity to spare, being surplus flesh,arising from the constant mutations orchanges to which all mortal flesh issubject.

We will venture to remark stillfurther, that should it be maintainedthat even every vegetable of our globeshould be reconstructed and madenew, there would be an abundance ofmaterials that have once existed inthose vegetables to form them allanew without making use of any for-eign matter that has not been thusorganized. This may, at first view,appear impossible ; it may be supposed

that as the whole animal kingdom, ifraised to immortality, being composedof vegetable matter, would require avast amount of the vegetable materialsto reconstruct their immortal bodies ;and that, therefore, if the whole vege-table kingdom was likewise to receivea resurrection, it would require thatportion of its materials which con-stitutes animal flesh. But this wouldbe unnecessary : for the same change,which is said to be constantly takingplace in the animal body, is also af-firmed to be a characteristic in thevegetable economy. It is said thatevery blade of grass—every herb andplant, and every tree, is constantlythrowing off or parting with its oldparticles, and that new matter is everymoment being secreted to supply theplace of the old. It is said that a tree,as well as a man, undergoes an entirechange of materials every few years.If this he the case, time whole vegeta-ble kingdom, including those of everyage, might be reorganized out of oldvegetable particles, without interfer-ing, in the least, with that portion ofvegetable matter which enters into theanimal economy ; and, also, withoutbeing under the necessity of borrow-ing materials from foreign sources,that never were before vegetable con-stituents.

Without coinciding with the viewsof the scientific world in regard to theconstant and gradual change, operat-ing upon all organic substances, bywhich they are said to contain, in thecourse of a long period, several timesthe quantity of matter that they inheritat any one time, we can still accountfor the resurrection and reconstructionof all organic bodies, both of the veg-etable and animal kingdoms, by sup-posing, that in the renewal of thosebodies, it is not absolutely necessarythat their whole systems should becomposed of materials which havepreviously been thus organized. Ifthere be enough of the old materialsto form the germ or nucleus of theresurrection body, it will not matter,in our view of the subject, whetherthe balance of the materials are theold particles again collected, or foreign


that which thou sowest is not quick-ened, except it die : and that whichthou sowest, thou sowest not thatbody that shall be, but bare grain, itmay chance of wheat, or of some othergrain : but God giveth it a body as ithath pleased him, and to every seedhis own body. All flesh is not thesame flesh : but there is one kind offlesh of men, another of beasts, anotherof fishes, and another of birds." (1Corinth. 15: 35-39.) When a ker-nel of wheat falls into the earth, it dies,or rather a portion of its substance isdisorganized ; and the germ unitesitself with other materials, and formsa stalk which heads, and blossoms,and numerous other kernels of wheatbegin to make their appearance whichgrow and ripen ; and it is at lengthfound that sixty or a hundred otherkernels of the same, shape, size, andquality, as the one sown, are produced.Now these new kernels are not thesame identical materials sown : neitheris the one-hundredth part of the oldparticles found combined in each ofthe new : they are each composed ofalmost entire new substance that neverwas before organized as wheat : Theold particles were only necessary as afoundation to give direction to the or-ganization, that the new might bemoulded after the old, bearing thesame appearance, and possessing thesame quality. Hence the farmer sow-eth not that body that shall be, buthe soweth its likeness; and other bodiesof the same form spring forth. Solikewise man sows not the body thatshall be, but he sows one containingthe form, and magnitude, and, in somedegree, the elements of the new.—Without the sowing of the old wheat,and its dissolution in the earth, thenew could not be expected : so also,without our bodies are sown in cor-ruption, there would be no foundationfor incorruptible bodies. And as thenew wheat is mostly composed ofnew particles never before organizedas wheat ; so, it is probable, that thenew immortal body will contain muchmatter never before organized in hu-man bodies.

" But God giveth it a body as it

matter, similar in kind, but not identi-cal in substance. In the formation ofa drop of water, it would make no dif-ference, whether it were composed ofthe eight parts of oxygen and one ofhydrogen that it was previously com-posed of, or whether the same propor-tions of these elements were derivedfrom some foreign source where theynever had existed in combination aswater. Two drops of pure water—one formed in Asia and the other inAmerica, would be composed of thesame definite proportions of their ele-mentary constituents—would have thesame properties and qualities in everyrespect ; and one could be changed forthe other without the least inconveni-ence, and would subserve exactly thesame purpose in all experiments, con-ditions, or circumstances to which itmight be subjected : and, therefore, theoriginal circumstances in which theelements existed, would not have theleast bearing upon their present com-binations and future purposes. If theparticles of the body, themselves, wereintelligent and accountable beings, theythen might, with some propriety, con-tend that it was their right to be re-organized into an immortal tabernaclein connection with their old compan-ions, and again be placed in conjunc-tion with the same immortal spiritthat governed and controlled them intheir mortal career. But if those par-ticles only exist as an organized taber-nacle for the accommodation and hap-piness of the immoital spirit, and theythemselves are not benefited, or re-main insensible to their condition, thenit would make no difference, so far asthey are concerned, whether they werereorganized in the bodies of men, orbrutes, or remai:i unorganized ; and itcertainly would make no difference tothe human spirit what particular par-ticles its tabernacle was constructedof, providing the organization was per-fect and consisted of the right kind ofmatter.

Paul compares the resurrection tothe growing up of grain after it is sownand dies. "But some man will say,How are the dead raised up ? and withwhat body do they come ? Thou fool,


hath pleased Him, and to every seedhis own body ;" that is, God cloth not.cause thorns to grow from figs, norwheat to spring from potatoes, norelephants to be produced from mus-quitoes : but He giveth to " every seedhis own body," not the identical oldone, but one in its likeness in magni-tude, form, and construction. " Allflesh is not the same flesh : but thereis one kind of flesh of men, anotherflesh of beasts, another of fishes, andanother of birds." When the ponder-ous whale that flounces in the mightydeep, is raised from the dead, he willnot take the form of the rhinoceros,neither will the tiger, in the resurrec-tion morn, put on the form of a shark,neither shall we have wolves convertedinto lambs, nor lions into cows ; but inthe resurrection, God will give to everyseed his own body ; not the identicalone, but a similar one, so that the dif-ferent species of fish, fowls, and animalswill be distinguished from each other.

The springing forth of new grainfrom the kernel of the old which fallsinto the earth and dies, is analogousto the resurrection only in those qual-ities already named ; and this seems tobe as far as the apostle intended theanalogy to be carried when he madeuse of the representation. The newwheat, like the old, is subject to decay ;but the new body is immortal andeternal, and in this respect is unlikethe old. The new wheat is formedthrough a gradual and rather lengthyprocess of growth ; while the immor-tal body is organized at once of theproper size and form : the former isslow in its operation ; the latter is aquick and sudden work, when com-pared with the formation of the infantthrough the process of generation, andits gradual growth to manhood : andoven when compared with the slowprocess of the growth of grain, it maybe considered a quick and suddenwork. There is no doubt, but whatthe resurrection will occupy a shortinterval of time in the formation andcompletion of the different organs andframe work of the immortal body. Itwill not be as sudden as a flash oflightning, or as the twinkling of an

eye ; neither will it be a prolongedwork, like that of the growth of vege-tables, or the still slower growth ofanimals.

Ezekiel describes the resurrection asfollows : " The hand of the Lord wasupon me, and carried me out in thespirit of the Lord, and set me downin the midst of the valley which wasfull of bones, and caused me to passby them round about : and behold !there were very many in the openvalley : and lo ! they were very dry.And he said unto me, Son of man,Can these bones live ? And I an-swered, 0 Lord God, thou knowest.Again he said unto me, Prophesy uponthese bones, and say unto them, 0 yedry bones, hear the word of the Lord.Thus saith the Lord. God unto thesebones ; Behold, I will cause breath toenter into you, and ye shall live : andI will lay sinews upon you, and willbring up flesh upon you, and coveryou with skin, and put breath in you,and ye shall live ; and ye shall knowthat I am the Lord. So 1 prophesiedas I was commanded : and as I proph-esied, there was a noise, and behold ashaking, and the bones came togetherbone to his bone. And when 1 beheld,lo ! the sinews and the flesh came upupon them, and the skin covered themabove: but there was no breath in them.Then said he unto me, Prophesy untothe wind, prophesy, Son of Man, andsay to the wind, Thus saith the LordGod ; Come from the four winds, 0breath, and breathe upon these slain,that they may live. So I prophesiedas he commanded me, and the breathcame into them, and they lived, andstood upon their feet, an exceedinggreat army." (Ezekiel 37 : 1-10.)

From this vision of the resurrection,we can see that it is not accomplishedin the twinkling of an eye : first thebones come together, bone to its bone ;and thus the foundation and frame-work is laid ; secondly, the flesh andsinews come upon the bones ; thirdly,the skin covers the flesh and sinews ;and lastly, the breath enters them, andthey live and stand upon their feet. Incases where the bones are decayed, aswell as flesh, sinews, and skin, the first


process will be to bring together theparticles and form the various bones,after which they will be joined togetherin their appropriate positions. Theformation of so many bodies directlyfrom the dust, will require a wisdomand skill far surpassing our utmostcomprehension; but there will benothing more marvelous in this, thanthere was in the formation of the tab-ernacles of our first parents who wereconstructed directly out of the dust, ofthe full size and shape.

Indeed, all the immortal bodies offlesh and bones are made independentof the process of generation. Allfleshly bodies begotten and born aremortal : all made directly out of thedust, as Adam and Eve, and the firstfish, fowls, and animals, are immortal.To organize a mortal body out of theground, independent of generation,would be something unheard of, andconsequently, unnatural : So likewise,to organize an immortal body of fleshand bones by the process of generation,would be something unheard of, un-revealed, and consequently unnatural.We call that natural which transpiresin a certain definite manner, so thatunder the same circumstances, thesame event happens, according to thesame fixed laws. We call that unnat-ural which happens out of the ordinarycourse : for an immortal body of fleshand bones to be born, would be un-natural, because we have no accountof such an event ever happening, orthat such an event ever will happen:but to form it directly from the dustwould be natural, because this is theway that new revelation, as well asold, informs us that all the first pairsof fish and fowl, beast and man, werefirst constructed ; and this is the waythat the resurrection is brought about.

There is nothing more marvelousabout the resurrection and reorganiza-tion of all the generations of men andanimals out of the dust, than there isin the generation of their mortal bod-ies : the latter is just as miraculous asthe former. All the difference is, wecease to regard the latter as a miracle,because of the frequency of its occur-rence; while the former, only having

happened at a certain period beforethe fall, and, in a few instances, im-mediately after the resurrection ofChrist, is regarded in the light of amiracle. When all the righteous arecalled from their graves at the secondadvent of our Saviour ; and when,during the Millennium, all the agedthat fall asleep in death, are immedi-ately raised again to immortality, weshall cease to call the resurrectionany thing more miraculous than theformation of the mortal tabernacle bygeneration. This method of callingthings unnatural or natural, mimcu•lous or not miraculous, according tothe unfrequency or frequency in whichthe events happen, is extremely erro-neous. Gravitation, by which a pieceof iron sinks in the water, is just asmiraculous as the causing of the sameto swim on water : the latter, how-ever, is called a miracle because ofthe unfrequency of its occurrence ;and because it deviates from theformer mode of action, which, by itsconstancy, is called a law of nature.A deviation from this law is called amiracle ; while the law itself, whichis still more marvelous, is looked up-on as nothing but a common occur-rence. A law of nature is the exer-tion of the power of God upon thematerials of nature to make them actall the time in a certain fixed definitemanner ; consequently a law of natureis nothing less than the continued ex-ertions of the power of God, accord-ing to prescribed laws. A deviationfrom the laws of nature is the exertionof the power of God, contrary to Hisgeneral method of action : both arethe effects of the same power and ofthe same God ; but of the two, thelaws of nature arc the most astonish-ing and the most marvelous, becausethey are the displays of Omnipotentpower upon a more extensive andgrand scale. To see all the universeacted upon at the same time, andthese actions continued year afteryear without any interruption, is as-tonishing beyond all measure ; it isoverwhelming and almost overpower-ing to every contemplative mind ; butto see a body spring forth from the


dust, though it is certainly miracu-lous, yet it is local in its character,and only as it were a momentary ac-tion, and in itself no more miraculousthan the springing forth and growthof a blade of grass, or the falling of astone, or the intense power that holdstogether the particles of a piece ofiron ; all these are the effects of thatsame Almighty power that bringsforth the dead from their graves, andstamps immortality upon all resurrec-tion bodies.

The resurrection is a gift bestowedupon all mankind. Because of thefall the human race forfeited theirbodies and lost them ; but the Son ofGod, having given his body to theshafts of death, and suffered in man'sbehalf, wrought out a full and per-fect redemption for the bodies of allthe human family ; not a redemptionwhich immediately restores man toimmortality, but a redemption whichgrapples with the monster death, afterhe has overpowered his victim andlaid him low in the grave. Justicearmed death with eternal powers ; itauthorized him to destroy all nationsand generations, and plunge them intothe dismal gulf, and to set an eternalseal upon them ; it gave him power tobind them down with everlastingchains which no man could loose ;the huge gates were closed ; the bolts,and bars, and locks, were firmly fast-ened ; a world of fallen beings wasenclosed in the eternal prison of thegrave ; all nature wept! and eternitywas clothed in mourning ! while thegreedy monster death, having satiatedhis capacious maw, sat enthroned up-on the funeral pile exulting in theeternal ruin of a once beautiful world!

But hark ! a voice is heard on highof one mighty and strong ! It is thevoice of one who pleads ! Ah see !He stands before the majestic throne,where justice sits ! He weeps ! butnot for himself ; it is for fallen man !Listen ! he speaks of mercy for aruined world ! What compassionswells his bosom ! what lovely wordspoured forth in melting strains ofmercy ! Justice is moved to tears,but still holds fast the flaming law,

and with sword unsheathed exclaims,"How can I show mercy ? must notthe penalties of my law be inflicted ?and the honor of my throne be main-tained ?" The merciful—the kind—the Holy One, with bowels yearningo'er the miseries of a fallen world,replies, "On me, 0 Justice, let all thyvengeance fall 1 but spare these mybrethren !" Mercy prevailed—theoffer was accepted—and the only Be-gotten of the Father left the peacefulheavenly mansions of glory to suffer,to die, to enter the solitudes of thegrave, to unbar the gates of death, andbreak the everlasting chains, and sayto the sleeping nations, live.

Though all the human race willeventually be liberated from the grave,yet the righteous will be liberatedlong before the wicked. When thegreat Redeemer shall roll back thecurtains of heaven, and unveil hisglorious face, an angel shall sound histrump, both long and loud, which willcause the whole earth to quake : thenwill the graves of the saints be open-ed, and their sleeping bodies will comeforth, clothed in all the beauty andfreshness of immortality ; arrayed inbeautiful garments and white robes,and encircled with pillars of light,their glory will be as the dazzlingrays of the sun. These shall all becaught up from the earth, and bewafted from the four winds towardsthe great central gathering place in theclouds of heaven, where the Redeemerwill be seen, armed with Omnipotentpower, followed by the saints of allages, nations, and kindreds, accom-panied by the angels and all thearmies of heaven. In the midst ofthe numberless hosts will be seen allthe saints of the latter-days who shallbe alive on the earth at that time forthey also shall be caught up, as wellas the righteous dead ; and they shallbe quickened by the power of God.And thus shall the whole combinedhosts of the righteous, of both theheavens and the earth, be gathered inone. Then shall the nations of thewicked, who have not previouslybeen destroyed, gaze with awful fearand terror upon the immense multi-

RE SURRECTION OF THE SAINTS. 281

tude of glorified beings, filling all theheavens above. And while they gazewith frightful astonishment at theglory, power, and majesty, displayedin the heavens, another trump is heard,calling forth another class who havereceived their part in prison, wherethe gospel has been preached to themthat they might be judged accordingto men in the flesh. These are notChrist's until his coming, but thenthey are redeemed, being broughtforth from their prison houses by thepower of the Lamb.

While the terror-stricken nationsstill behold, they hear the sound ofthe third trump, calling forth thespirits of wicked men who are to bejudged, and who are not found worthyto receive their bodies, until the thou-sand years are ended, and who are tobe cast out into outer darkness, whereis weeping, and wailing, and gnash-ing of teeth. After which the fourthtrump will proclaim the dreadful doomof the sons of perdition. When thespirits of the dead have been attendedto, and sealed over unto the end, toreap the results of their own evil do-ings, then shall the fifth angel soundhis trump in the ears of the frightenednations still living, proclaiming thatthe hour of God's judgment is come :then shall the arm of the Lord fallupon them; and the fierce and vividlightnings shall streak forth, and thethunderings of his power shall shakethe earth and heavens, and the nationsof great Babylon shall be cast downby devouring fire ; and the hills andmountains shall melt like wax at thepresence of the Lord, and the earthshall be purified of its wickedness,and the saints shall receive their in-heritances on the same, and the poorand the meek shall be comforted, forthe fatness of the earth and all thefulness thereof shall be theirs.

The saints who have received theirimmortal bodies from the grave, willeach receive a crown immediatelyafter their resurrection. Some havesupposed that the saints would notbe crowned until after the Millennium,and the earth passes away, and thenew heavens and new earth are made.

But Jesus says, c‘ Verily, verily, I sayunto you, and it bath gone forth in afirm decree, by the will of the Father,that mine apostles, the twelve whichwere with me in my ministry at Jeru-salem, shall stand at my right hand atthe day of my coming in a pillar offire, being clothed with robes of right-eousness, with crowns upon their heads,in glory even as I am, to judge thewhole house of Israel, even as manyas have loved me and kept my com-mandments, and none else ; for atrump shall sound both long andloud, even as upon Mount Sinai, andall the earth shall quake, and theyshall come forth : yea, even the deadwhich died in me, to receive a crownof righteousness, and to be clothedupon, even as I am, to be with me,that we may be one." (Doctrineand Covenants, Sec. 10, par. 3.)

From this quotation we learn thatthe crowns are to be on the heads ofthe apostles and of the resurrectionsaints in the day of the Lord's com-ing, and that they will not have towait one or two thousand years long-er before they receive their kingdoms.If the apostles have crowns placedupon their heads immediately afterthey obtain their bodies, they willmost unquestionably each have athrone. When Jesus was with themin his ministry at Jerusalem, he madethem the following promise " VerilyI say unto you, that ye which havefollowed me, in the regeneration whenthe Son of Man shall sit in the throneof his glory, ye also shall sit upontwelve thrones, judging the twelvetribes of Israel." (Matthew 19 : 28.)These twelve thrones will not merelybe thrones of judgment, but they willbe thrones of kingdoms, as we are in-formed in a parallel passage : "Yeare they which have continued withme in my temptations. And I appointunto you a kingdom, as my Fatherbath appointed unto me ; that ye mayeat and drink at my table in my king-dom, and sit on thrones judging thetwelve tribes of Israel." (Luke 22 :28-30.) As the twelve tribes of Is-rael, or that portion of them who arerighteous enough to come forth in the


first resurrection, will receive their in-heritances in the land of Palestine :the twelve apostles will, no doubt,have their thrones located in Jerusa-lem, after it is rebuilt. John, therevelator, in describing the appearanceof that city, as he beheld it in visiondescending upon the new earth, says,it " had a wall great and high, andthe wall of the city had twelve founda-tions, and in them the names of thetwelve apostles of the Lamb." (Rev.21: 12, 14.) Jerusalem, then, will bethe residence of these twelve kings :there their thrones will be located,upon which they will sit and judgethe tribes. When the great and highwall is built around it, the names ofeach of these twelve kings will bemost beautifully engraved upon thetwelve great foundation stones.

At what time the wall will be builtis uncertain : the commencement ofthe building of the city will be justprior to the coming of the Messiahand the Millennium : it will undoubt-edly be continued under the superin-tendence of Jesus and his apostles,during the whole of that peaceful andhappy period. It is very probable thatthe wall will be about the last thingbuilt; this will be thrown around thecity to prevent the apostate nationsafter the thousand years are endedfrom encroaching upon the holy andconsecrated place. We are told bythe prophet Isaiah, that Jerusalemshall put on her beautiful garmentsand become a holy city, and that from" henceforth there shall no more comeinto her the uncircumcised and theunclean." (Isaiah 52: 1.) To pre-vent the intrusion of wicRed characterswhen Satan shall be loosed, a highwall will be built ; it will also serve asa splendid ornament to the city, thegates being formed of the most costlyand magnificent pearls, while the twelvefoundation stones will each be differ-ent, and each will be garnished withall manner of precious stones ; and thelight of the glory of God shining uponthem, will give the whole a most bril-liant and dazzling appearance.

The Lord has promised that thiscity, after it is rebuilt, " shall not be

plucked up nor thrown down any morefor ever." (Jer. 31: 38-40.) Con-sequently, when the old earth passesaway, and the new one is formed outof the old materials, it will be neces-sary for the preservation of the city totake it up from the earth into theheavens, where it will remain until thenew earth is fully completed, when itwill descend as the great capital andseat of government over the new cre-ation, where Jesus and his apostleswill continue to reign over the Houseof Israel for ever and ever.

But to return again to the sceneries,connected with the first resurrection.We have already ascertained, that theapostles after their resurrection willhave crowns, and thrones, and a king-dom given to them ; and that Jerusa-lem, where they formerly sufferedshame, and affliction, and persecution,will be their residence, where theirmansions, and their palaces, and theirthrones, will be erected ; and that theresurrection saints, included in thetwelve tribes of Israel, will be judgedby them, or in other words, be ruledand governed by them, as their lawfulkings.

Jesus will also have his throneerected in Jerusalem : for he will reignover the house of Israel ; and the apos-tles, in the exercise of their kinglyoffice, will be subject to him. Theangel said to Zacharias concerningJesus : " He shall be great, and shallbe called the Son of the Highest : andthe Lord God shall give unto him thethrone of his father David : and lieshall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shallbe no end." (Luke 1: 32,33.) Thethrone of Jesus will be erected in themagnificent temple, described by theprophet Ezekiel in the last chapter ofhis prophecy. "Afterward he broughtme to the gate, even the gate thatlooketh toward the east : and, behold,the glory of the God of Israel camefrom the way of the east : and Hisvoice was like a noise of many wa-ters : and the earth shined with Hisglory." " And the glory of the Lordcame into the house by the way of thegate whose prospect is toward the east.


So the spirit took me up, and broughtme into the inner court ; and, behold,the glory of the Lord filled the house.And I heard Him speaking unto me outof the house ; and the man stood byme. And He said unto we, Son of man,THE PLACE OF MY THRONE, and theplace of the soles of my feet, where lwill dwell in the midst of the childrenof Israel for ever, and my holy name,shall the house of Israel no more de-file, neither they, nor their kings."(Ezekiel 43 : 1, 2, 4-7. Whether thetwelve apostles will have their twelvethrones in the same temple, or in sepa-rate palaces, is not stated.

The dwelling places of many of theresurrection saints will be in the samecity : others of them will have theirmansions erected in other cities, andupon their farms and inheritancesthroughout the land of Canaan. Eze-kiel, as we have already noticed, hada view of their resurrection : he sawtheir bones united ; he saw the flesh,sinews, and skin, placed in their properposition ; he saw the breath enter them,and that they lived and stood upontheir feet an exceeding great army.And not fully understanding who orwhat people they were, the Lord gavehim further instruction, as follows" Then He said unto we, Son of man,these bones are the whole house ofIsrael," (meaning no doubt the right-eous among them, for the wicked willnot be favored with a resurrection atthe time of the righteous ;) " behold,they say, Our bones are dried, and ourhope is lost : we are cut off for ourparts." No doubt the house of Israelin Ezekiel's time, were in great fearsand doubts, about the fulfilment of thepromises made to their fathers : theycould read in their sacred books thatthe righteous of Abraham's seed wereto inherit that land for ever ; and yetthey saw that many holy prophets andrighteous men of Israel died in foreignlands in captivity. And having noknowledge that the promise could befulfilled after death, they contendedthat many had died without receivingthe promise, and that their bones weredry and mouldering in their graves,and that those righteous persons never

inherited a foot of the promised land :and seeing all this, they exclaimed indespair, " Our hope is lost : we arecut off for our parts." The Lord inorder to show them that the promisewas still sure, gave Ezekiel this vision,and showed him how Israel shouldinherit the promise after the resurrec-tion. Hence, the Lord commandedhim to prophesy to those bones or tothe whole house of Israel in their se-pulchres, "and say unto them, Thussaith the Lord God; Behold, 0 my peo-ple, I will open your graves, and causeyou to come up out of your gravesand bring you into the land of Israel.And ye shall know that I am the Lord,when I have opened your graves, 0my people, and brought you up out ofyour graves; and shall put my spirit inyou, and ye shall live, and I shallplace you in your own land : thenshall ye know that I the Lord havespoken it, and performed it, saith theLord." (Ezekiel 37 : 11-14.)

All the righteous of the twelvetribes are to have their graves opened,and they are to come up out of theirgraves an exceeding great army. AndOh, what joy will fill their bosoms,when they find themselves in posses-sion of that very land, where thetribes of Israel once lived—the landwhere Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob livedas strangers and pilgrims 1. How joyfulit will be for Abraham, Sarah, Hager,and his other concubines to find them-selves dwelling again in the land oftheir pilgrimage ; and to see the nu-merous hosts of their immortal chil-dren all around them. Jacob and hisfour wives will gaze upon the descend-ants of their twelve sons, and see themspread out upon the face of the land,like the stars of heaven for multitude.How these ancient fathers and mothersof the hosts of Israel, will rejoice togather around them their descendantsto the hundredth generation and relateto them the sceneries of their childhood,and point out to them the placeswhere they pitched their tents—wherethey built their altars—where theycalled upon the Lord in mighty prayer—where angels descended and com-forted them—where the God of glory


appeared and gave them great promises,concerning their seed forever ! Howdelighted will all the generations oftheir children be, to visit the mansionsof these glorified patriarchs and eatand drink with them, and realize, thatdeath can no more separate them, butthey shall dwell in the land of Israelfor ever !

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob havealready received their crowns, and theirthrones, and now sit upon them, (see jRevelation in No. 1, vol. 1 of the Seer,paragraphs 11 and 14,) being exaltedamong the principalities and powersof the heavenly worlds ; and they lookforward with longing anticipations, tothe time when all their righteous chil-dren shall come out of their graves,that they may return to the land ofCanaan, and reign on the earth, as theynow reign in the heavens. As theseancient patriarchs now sit upon theirthrones, it is evident that they musthave received their resurrection imme-diately after the resurrection of Christ.Matthew says, that " The graves wereopened, and many bodies of the saintswhich slept arose, and came out of thegraves after his resurrection, and wentinto the holy city, and appeared untomany." (Matthew 27: 52, 53.) TheBook of Mormon bears testimony thatmany of the saints in ancient Americaarose from the dead, and appeared tomany on this land. All those whothen arose have undoubtedly receivedtheir crowns, and have been sittingupon thrones, and reigning as kings inthe heavens, from that day to this.Their redemption has been perfected,but they wait for the redemption oftheir children to be perfected also,until which, they cannot return totheir promised inheritances upon theearth.

America, being the land of Adam,and the land of Enoch, and the land ofthe Jaredites, and the land of the branchof the tribe of Joseph, and the land ofthe Gentiles who are now upon the facethereof; will be the promised land of therighteous of all those nations and gen-erations, even as the land of Palestineis to the righteous of the twelve tribes.And in the first resurrection, the right-

eous who have dwelt on this land, willagain inherit it in their immortal state.

The twelve American disciples ofJesus whom he chose, soon after hisresurrection, at the time he showed theremnant of Joseph his risen and glori-fied body, will also sit upon twelvethrones to judge the righteous uponthis land who are of Israel : and thesetwelve will be judged by the othertwelve at Jerusalem : or in other words,they wilt be guided and directed by theadvice and counsel of the twelve apos-tles in all the important affairs pertain-ing to their kingdom and governmentin America.

One of the most important persona-ges whose throne will be establishedin America, will be Adam, the fatherof the human race. He will reign overall the other kings upon the face of thewhole earth, under the counsel anddirection of the Holy One : Jesus alonewill have the pre-eminence over him.Adam, therefore, will stand forth as thegrand Patriarch and chief Prince overall he righteous of his posterity. Thispromise was made to him three yearsprevious to his death by the mouth ofthe Lord who appeared to him, andthe righteous of his posterity, in thegrand council. held in the valley of hisresidence, called Adam–Ondi–Ahman,near the western boundaries of Mis-souri. This venerable Patriarch wascalled Michael the arch-angel, or thehead angel. He is called in Daniel, " thedIncient of days," being the most an-cient personage who lived in days—the first flesh formed from the dust ofthe earth. Having received the eter-nal priesthood which includes thekingly power, he received a crownmost glorious, and sits upon a thronehighly exalted in the eternal heavens,awaiting the period when the corruptthrones of earthly monarchs shall hecast down, when he will be sent fromheaven to earth, accompanied by thou-sands on thousands of glorified beings,to make ready and prepare all thingsbefore the Son of Man, who will comewith the clouds of heaven, and presenthimself before the ancient of days,even Adam, who will stand forth asthe head representative of the earthly


kingdom and present it to his greatRedeemer, the King of kings, and Lordof lords : then will the kingdom ofheaven and the kingdom of God onthe earth become one.

It it Michael the arch-angel whosounds the seventh trump, and pro-claims the finishing of the great pre-paratory work for the reign of hisSaviour : it is Adam or Michael whoholds the keys of the mysteriesof the mighty works of God whichare to be accomplished during theseventh thousand years, or Mil-lennium ; and lie will proclaim thesame, at the second sounding of histrump, in the ears of all living : itis he who is to " stand forth upon theland and upon the sea, and swear inthe name of him who sitteth, upon thethrone, that there shall be time no long-er;" it is he that will lead forth allthe armies of heaven, against all thearmies of the combined hosts of hell,after the close of the Millennial period,and the Devil and his armies will beovercome, and they will be cast intotheir own place where they will not,henceforth, have power over the saintsany more at all.

The throne of this great and illus-trious personage will most probablybe in America—the land of his pil-grimage, and the land of his fall ; theland where first the glad tidings ofredemption reached the eats of mortalman.

The throne of Enoch will also bein or near America, in the midst of hisown city, Zion, which he built untothe Lord before the flood, and whichfled from earth to heaven, to be re-served until a day of righteousnessshould come, when it will come againin the sight of the astonished nations,and have place, until the end shallcome. This city will, most probably,not rest upon the earth but hover overit, and will be the abode of glorifiedimmortal beings : hence we read thatwhen the aged die, during the Millen-nium, they are not buried in the earth,but they are immediately raised to im-mortality, and are caught up wheretheir rest is glorious. This provesthat there will be aglorified place abovethe surface of the earth to which these

aged people ascend after they areraised. This place is undoubtedly thecity or Zion of Enoch in connectionwith other redeemed cities which theLord has taken from all the creationswhich He has made. The Zion ofEnoch, therefore, will probably bevery near the earth, located over theAmerican continent where it was an-ciently built; and, most likely, willpartake of the diurnal and annual rev-olutions of the earth, so as not tochange its relative position in regard tothe western hemisphere of our planet.

We have spoken of Jesus and thetwelve apostles having their thrones inJerusalem, and of the resurrectionsaints, connected with the twelvetribes of Israel, receiving their inher-itances in the land of Canaan : butthese are only their earthly thronesand their earthly inheritances ; besidesthese, they will have heavenly thronesand heavenly inheritances, not con-nected with the earth, or rather, notstanding upon the earei, but in theredeemed cities and glorified worldsabove. Therefore, these celestial Kingsand Priests, and resurrection Saintswill only visit their earthly kingdoms,and sit upon their earthly thrones, andoccupy their earthly mansions, anddwell upon their earthly inheritances,at intervals, whenever they feel dis-posed, and whenever they think itnecessary for the welfare and benefitof the earthly and mortal inhabitants.

That the Father, and Son, and allthe children of God will have thronesand kingdoms in the heavens eternallyas well as upon the earth, is clearlyrevealed in many parts of scriptureboth ancient and modern. In thesecond epistle of Mormon to his SonMoroni, he closes thus : "And maythe grace of God the Father, whosethrone is high in the heavens, and ourLord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on theright hand of His power, until allthings shall become subject unto Him,be, and abide with you for ever."God the Father has a throne high inthe heavens. The prophet Mormonin his sermon on Faith, Hope, andCharity, speaks of Christ thus : " Headvocateth the cause of the childrenof men ; and he dwelleth eternally in


the heavens." And in speaking of thethree Nephites who were never to tasteof death, but who received a partialchange, he says, that in the judgmentday of Christ they are to receive a fullchange from mortality to immortality,and " be received into the kingdom ofthe Father to go no more out, but todwell with God eternally in the heav-ens." The same idea is clearly ex-pressed in many other revelations,from which it is plain that the earthlythrones and kingdoms are but a smallportion of the vast dominions andblessings of the righteous.

In a revelation given through Josephthe Seer in March, 1832, the Lord setsforth a pattern for His servants in re-gard to being equal in temporal things,that they might become equal in heav-enly things. He says, "Through myprovidence, notwithstanding the tribu-lation which shall descend upon you,that the Church may stand indepen-dent above all other creatures beneaththe celestial world, that you may comeup unto the Crown prepared for you,and be made Rulers over many king-doms, saith the Lord God, the HolyOne of Zion." Thus we see that thereare many kingdoms, besides thosepertaining to the earth, over which thefaithful servants of God will be maderulers. In this same revelation theLord says "he that is a faithful and wisesteward shall inherit all things." (Doc.& Coy. Sec. 76.) Again, the Lordsays, concerning His faithful servants,that " he that is ordained of God andsent forth, the same is appointed to bethe greatest, notwithstanding he isleast and the servant of all : wherefore,he is possessor of all things, for allthings are subject unto him, both inheaven and on the earth, the life andthe light, the spirit and the power, sentforth by the will of the Father, throughJesus Christ His Son ; but no man ispossessor of all things, except he bepurified and cleansed from all sin ;and if ye are purified and cleansed fromall sin, ye shall ask whatsoever youwill in the name of Jesus and it shallbe done." (Doc. & Coy. Sec. 17 : 6.)

From these quotations, it will beperceived that the children of God who

are purified from all sin are to be madeequal one with another in earthly andheavenly things--that they are to pos-sess the light and the life, the spiritand the power; that all things are to besubject unto them both in heaven andon the earth—and that they are to in-herit all things. In section Seventh,paragraph thirty-third, we are informedthat the saints are to be made equalwith Christ immediately after theirresurrection ; and in the vision, we aretold that they are to be made " equal inpower, and in might, and in dominion."How, it may be asked, will the saintsbe made equal "in dominion?" Weknow not, unless it will be by eachone inheriting all things : if all thethrones, and kingdoms, and worldsthroughout universal space, should bethe inheritance of God the Father, andof His Son, and of each of His childrenwho attains to a fulness of celestialglory ; then it might with propriety,be said that they were equal "in Do-minion :" if one ruled over a greaternumber of worlds than another, itwould appear not only to destroy theequality " in dominion," but the equal-ity " in power," arid the promise of allthings, and of the inheritance of allthings would seem to be void. Jesusin his prayer to the Father says, " andall mine are thine, and thine are mine."(John 17: 10.) Again, Jesus says," All things that the Father hath aremine." (John 16: 15.) Hence weperceive, that the Father inherits allthings, that Jesus inherits all that theFather does ; and that the saints are tobe equal with Jesus and be joint heirswith him in all his possessions, and tosit down with him on his throne, evenas Jesus sits on his Father's throneand exercises almighty power in hiskingdoms : consequently all glorifiedworlds that have been, that are, andthat ever will be, appear to be thecommon property of all saints whoattain to the fulness of the glory ofthe celestial world. Herein consiststhe perfect oneness between the Father,Son, and all his Saints. The Saintswill be as perfect as the Father andSon are perfect; they will be as pureas they are ; they will receive a fulness


of all truth—even a knowledge of " allthings as they are, as they were, andas they are to come." They will be" equal in power, and in might, and indominion," they will "inherit allthings ;" they will be crowned overall the kingdoms of our God. Allprincipalities and powers, whether inheaven or in the heaven of heavens, inthe heights above or in the depths be-neath will be subject to them. Eachone will be God in all the fulness ofHis glorious attributes, swaying al-mighty power over all, and in all, andthrough all things. Then we shallknow that we are in God and God inus ; otherwise, we could not abound ;then we shall know that there is butone God so far as the attributes areconcerned, and that He dwells in aninfinity of tabernacles ; and that He hasprescribed laws to govern Himself inall the tabernacles which He inherits,and that He acts in and through eachtabernacle according to His own laws ;and the fulness of His attributes in onetabernacle will not act in opposition tothe fulness of His attributes in another;but He will act in all His dwellingplaces in harmony with Himself.

Nov, we are but parts of God,dwelling in different tabernacles, andwe are required to gain other parts ;and if we abide in the law ordained forour government, God will impart moreof Himself; hence Jesus says, " Inas-much as ye have received me, ye arein me, and I in you." When we havereceived him in fulness, it prepares usto be joint heirs with Him in the in-heritance of all things It is this ful-ness of God in each tabernacle that in-herits al lthings—that possesses allthings—that exercises power over allthings—that reigns over all, erectingHis thrones upon all glorified worlds,and giving Himself universal dominionwherever He may dwell whether inone tabernacle or in the whole.

The earth, as we have already stated;will be one of the glorified kingdoms,where the resurrection saints will re-ceive their inheritances, and theirthrones ; but during the Millennialperiod, they will not dwell so con-stantly on their earthly thrones as on

their heavenly ones. After the earthhas passed away and been made new,and becomes a glorified and celestialworld, it will be crowned with thepresence of God the Father, and it willbe the dwelling place of numerous tab-ernacles of God ; for though each in-herits all things, no one can be in twoplaces at once, so far as the tabernacleis concerned ; therefore the glorifiedearth will be the homestead of thosesaints who have previously inhabitedit ; while the saints of other glorifiedworlds who also inherit all things,will have the respective worlds towhich they belong as their everlastinghomes or head quarters. Thus Godby His attributes, inhabiting an infinityof tabernacles, dwelling on numberlessworlds, can be in them all at the samemoment, and thus be Omnipresent.While if it were not for this arrange-ment, He could only be on one worldat a time. Oh, how great and marvel-ous are the ways of the Almighty !How wonderful are His doings! Heorganizeth for Himself dwelling placesin all glorified worlds that He mayabide in them for ever! He makeththem beings independent in the highestsphere, and yet by His wisdom Hesubjecteth them to the same celestiallaw and uniteth them as one !

When the resurrection saints haveattained to all this fulness of glory,and have become exalted as gods upontheir eternal thrones, there will be nopossibility of their falling, any morethan there is of the fall of the Fatherand Son. Therefore the inhabitantsof all inferior kingdoms, over whomthey reign, will look to them withthe same confidence that we now lookupon the Lord our God. And God,that is in each, will rroclaim Himselfto all his creations as the only wiseGod, that besides Him there is noneelse, and that He is from everlastingto everlasting, His works having noend, neither beginning.

Notwithstanding we have spokenof the saints jointly inheriting allthings, yet there will, undoubtedly,be strict and unchangeable laws regu-lating this joint inheritance, by whichno one will be permitted to infringe

288 NOTICE.

upon the rights of others; these lawsbeing established upon the strictestprinciples of justice and equity, fromwhich there will be no deviation.Each will be appointed to take theimmediate charge of particular orspecified portions of the joint inherit-ance, over which he will more imme-diately rule : though the whole is theinheritance of each, yet each cannot,in his own person, be every wherepresent to govern and rule over thewhole : therefore each will have hisfamily, and particular kingdoms, andworlds assigned him to govern andcontrol, so that the great, universal,and infinite inheritance may be prop-erly managed for the benefit of itsjoint owners. This will be a grandco-partnership, embracing the inhab-itants of all glorified worlds who haveattained to the fulness of celestialglory.

Though the saints are all "4 equalin power, and in might, and in do-million," so far as the universal jointinheritance is concerned, yet, we sup-pose, that they will be unequal in re-gard to the extent of the allotted por-tions of the joint inheritance assignedto the management of each. Thisinequality probably arising from thenature of their callings and their right-eousness in this life. To illustratethis, we will suppose that all the in-habitants of Utah were united togeth-er in a firm or co-partnership, inwhich each individual should he con-sidered as having equal privileges, orin other words, each individual shouldbe called the possessor and owner of

the whole capital invested. .1f thiscapital were appropriated to everyspecies of useful business throughoutthe territory, it is evident that branch-es of business assigned to individualswould be very unequal : some requir-ing a hundred fold more of the jointcapital than others, and some wouldbe entrusted, from the nature of thebusiness, with a hundred fold moreresponsibility than others ; but not-withstanding this great inequality inthe multiplied branches of industry,in the extent of the responsibility, andin the amount of the joint capital en-trusted to some in comparison withothers, yet when the whole capital istaken into consideration, they are allequal ; for each one possesses thewhole ; each one has equal powers inregard to the whole ; each one inher-its all things, included in the greatgeneral capital.

N ow let this general capital be in-finitely enlarged, so as to take with-in its scope all glorified worlds inboundless space, that now is or thatever will be, and the same principle isequally applicable : it accounts for theinequalities in some things, and theequality in others ; it reconciles theapparent contradictions which somehave supposed to exist in the revela-tions of heaven : it shows how wecan 44 inherit all things," and be made" equal in power, and in might, andin dominion," and at the same time bevery unequal in the distribution of themanagement of different portions ofthe joint inheritance.

NOTICE.We have forwarded to our subscribers in the States and Provinces other publications in connection

with the 4th Number of the present volume, sufficient to compensate them for their fliture half year's sub-scription. This is the last Number which will be issued in this country. The remaining six Numberswill he published in England. Those wishing to procure the bound volumes of " 0. PitArr's Wosics,"can olgain them through the mails, at any time hereafter, by forwarding $1.50 to A. F. Farr, Post Box833, St. Louis, Missouri. Postage, if paid in advance, 17 cont., ; if not prepaid, 23 cents. Those desirousof supplying themselves with any of the books mentioned in our Catalogue, should forward their ordersbetween this and the 1st of May, as we expect to leave for Utah in May.

CONTENTS:Resurrection of the Saints,.......... ..

Notice,



273288

ALL YE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD, AND DWELLERS ON THE EARTH, SEE YE, WHEN HELIFTETH UP AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS.-Isaiah xviii, 3.

Vol. II, No. 7. JULY, 1854. Price 2d.

THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS.

BY THE EDITOR.

" BE ONE AND IF YE ARE NOTONE, -YE ARE NOT MINE." This is theCOLA nnand of Jesus Christ to the Lat-ter-day Saints, given as early as aleyear 1831, before the Church was oneyear old. In what respects are theSaints required to be one ? We an-swer, they are required to be one inthings temporal and spiritual, in earth-ly and heavenly things—one in faith,repentance, and haptism—one in thenew birth—one in the same family andkingdom—one in justification ) sanc-tification, and redemption—one inobedience to the powers and authorityordained of God—one in virtue, hones-ty, and uprightness of conduct—onein the enjoyment of heavenly andspiritual gifts— and when they areperfected, to he one in glory, power,and dominion—to he one with theglorified beings of all celestial worlds—each one inheriting all things—each one possessing a fulness of wis-dom. knowiedge, and power—each onedwelling in God, and God in him—each one knowing as he is known, andseeing as be is seen—each one per-fected in all the fulness of every at-tribute of God. This oneness is to heso perfect. that either of these glorifiedbeings ksillreprebeutGod iu all the glory

of his attributes, in all the fulness ofhis wisdom and excellency, in all themajesty and omnipotence of his power.

The command to "Be One," em-braces all other commands. There isno law, statute, ordinance, covenant.nor blessing, but what was institutedto make the Saints one. This is theultimate end and aim of the great planof salvation. For this, Jesus sufferedand died ; for this, his servants havetoiled and labored day and night inour fallen world ; for this, all thepowers of heaven will be exerted, un-til Satan shall be overcome, and theearth be redeemed, and all the glori-fied inhabitants thereof become one.

As the grand and ultimate ol►ectof the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,is to take their own children who havemade themselves imperfect, and re-store them to perfection, and makethem one like themselves, let us ex-amine the plan by which this greatwork is accomplished. First, God hasrevealed a plan of adoption, by whichthese imperfect beings may be mademembers of His own family. Secondly.He has revealed laws for the govern-ment of His family ; and lastly, Hehas ordained authorities to teach Hislaws and minister in all things to make

290 THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS,

the Saints one. Through faith, re-pentance, baptism, the forgiveness ofsins, and the gift of the Holy Ghost,the imperfect sons and daughters ofAdam become the sons and daughtersof God and being born of God, and allbaptized with the same spirit into thesame body, they begin to feel alike,think alike, and act alike, in manythings : this is a first approximation towards a oneness : but beingweak, and only having obeyed the firstprinciples of the celestial law, they aretempted by the devil ; divisions offeeling arise ; each one sees the faultsand imperfections of his brothers orsisters ; and instead of trying to re-claim them in the spirit of meeknessfrom their faults, he whispers them toothers ; prejudice arises ; their lovetowards them begins 'to grow cold ;this coldness is felt by others, andbegets the same feeling in them. Andthus the seeds of division are sown,and begin to sprout, and grow, and, ifnot checked, they speedily bring forthnauseous and bitter fruit, which, whenripened, contains the poison of death.

To counteract these divisions strictlaws are given, and authorities or-dained to strengthen and succour theweak ; to root out all evil-speaking ;and to check every sinful thing on itsfirst appearance. Those who give di-ligent heed, will become habituated tokeep the law of God, and will under-stand their duties, and perform themwith cheerfulness and delight. Suchwill become more and more assimila-ted in their feelings ; their love to-wards each other, and towards God,and His word, will grow stronger andstronger ; and thus by habit they learnobedience to the law of oneness, un-til they are ready and willing to doanything which that law requires.While those, on the other hand, whodo not give heed, find themselves moreand more tempted, and their lovegrowing colder and colder, and thefaults and imperfections of their breth-ren and sisters still more magnifiedin their eyes ; and at last, they be-

come destitute of the spirit—destituteof good desires—destitute of the meek-ness and humility of the Gospel ; andthe devil takes possession of them, andleads them captive at his own will andpleasure. These do not abide a celes-tial law, therefore they cannot bemade one.

The Saints are not only one in doc-trine, but they are to be made one intemporal things, without which theycannot be made equal in spiritualthings. For many centuries past man-kind have sought to accumulate riches,and to aggrandize themselves oneabove another ; and this covetousspirit has prevailed even among thosewho have professed to be the followersof Jesus and his Apostles : hence, wefind rich and poor, all belonging tothe same Church, and all expectingto go to the same heaven : one rollingin luxury and wealth, and anotherground down in poverty and affliction.Was this the way that the Church wasbuilt up in the days of the Apostles ?Did they not sell their houses andlands and lay the avails thereof at theApostles' feet`? Did they not have alltheir property in common ? Did notthe poor rejoice in that he was exalted,and the rich in that he was made low ?Were they not all considered equaland one in temporal riches ? Yes :they consecrated all they had to theLord ; and holy men were appointedto minister these temporal things toothers, according to their wants, with-out partiality ; and this they did inthe fear of the Lord : and no part norportion of the great common stockfund was considered as belonging tosome individuals to the exclusion ofothers ; but it belonged to the Lord,and to them all equally, and the offi-cers who were appointed to supply thewants of the Saints had no more titleto it, than the least member of theChurch. And thus they were allequal in temporal things.

This same oneness in temporalthings existed in the Christian churchamong the ancient Nephites, so long

THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS. 291as they continued in righteousness : foreach one had equal claims upon the whole.The same order of things existed in theZion of Enoch : there were no pooramong them. And the same order ofthings must exist in the Zion of the Lat-ter-days, or else the inhabitants thereofnever will be one. Any thing short of aperfect equality in temporal things is asin : hence, the Lord says, " It is not giventhat one man should possess that whichis above another, wherefore, the worldlieth in sin." (Doc. and Coy. lxv. 3,)

is this law now enforced upon theSaints? Do they have all things common"Do they all possess the same ? No :They have not become righteous enoughto obey this law. Covetousness has takensuch deep root in their hearts, throughthe wicked traditions of their Gentilefathers, that this law remains unheeded.And had it been enforced in all its striet-ness, but few would have continued in theChurch. The Lord, in order that Hemight be just, granted His Saints the pri-vilege of living up to this law, when Hefirst began to gather them on the landwhere the Zion of God is to be built. Butthe Saints seon manifested their Gentilecovetousness and would not obey the law;and the rich refused to gather becausethe law required them to consecrate alltheir property, and place it in the generalstorehouse of the Lord, and henceforthbecome stewards over such portions of theLord's property as he saw fit to bestowupon them or place under their charge.This was too holy a law for their covetousdispositions ; they could not endure it.The Lord, therefore, concluded that ifthey would not endure His holy law, theyshould not remain on His holy land topollute and corrupt it. He, therefore,suffered them to be smitten and driven bytheir enemies, and to be expelled fromhis goodly land. But He did not whollycast them off, because he knew that theircovetousness was instilled into their mindsby their wicked fathers ; and He knewthat they were very weak, and lacked ex-perience, and that in the main they wereinclined to do right ; He therefore gavethem another law more suited to theirweakness. This latter law only requiredthem to consecrate all their surplus pro-perty, and afterwards pay one-tenth of alltheir annual income. This left them withall the property which was not surplus, astheir own. The first law required themto consecrate all their property, in tend of

the surplus portion, and afterwards to be-come stewards. The last law permittedthem to keep a certain portion, riot calledsurplus: The first law required them toconsecrate annually all the income of theirstewardships, except what they needed fortheir immediate support : the second lawrequired them to pay annual tithes of onlyone-tenth of their income. Thus we seethe great difference between the perfectlaw of oneness by which the latter-dayZion is to he built up, and the law givento the children of Zion in their scatteredand persecuted condition.

But the Saints are not perfect enoughto give heed even to this last law. Whenthey gather to Utah, instead of conse-crating all their surplus property as therevelation requires, they only give one-tenth to begin with, and afterwards payone tenth of their annual income : conse-quently they are transgressors, and do notabide the lesser law only in a degree. Thechildren of Zion, while scattered fromtheir inheritances, could not obey the per-fect law of the Lord in all respects, asthey could if they were dwelling on theconsecrated land ; hence the Lord said," Let those commandments which 7 havegiven, concerning Zion and her law, beexecuted and fulfilled after her redemp-tion." (Doc. and Coy. cii. 10.) Inthe mean time, the Saints are underpreparatory laws given because of thehardness of our hearts, and the blind-ness of our minds, and our covetous-ness : not that the celestial law hasbeen wholly taken from us : for we areunder an inferior law only in some tem-poral matters, adapted to our present con-dition, during the days of our correctionand chastisements, that we may learn bydegrees how to subdue our covetousness.And hen we have fully learned by thethings we suffer, how to wean ourselvesfrom the god of this world, the Lord willagain restore us to the privileges of thecelestial law of consecration ; and we shallonce more be permitted to consecratehouses and lands, flocks and herds, goldand silver, jewels and precious things.We shall then have the glorious privilegeof giving everything to the Lord, and ofreceiving from him in return whateverHe in His boundless liberality shall seeproper to return or bestow upon us.

We are in hopes that the time will sooncome, when the inferior law of conse-cration, which we are now under, willbe kept to the very letter. We want to

292 THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS.

see the time come, that when the Saintsarrive in Utah, all their surplus propertyshall be consecrated, instead of one-tenth :and that when a Saint arrives with onehundred thousand dollars, instead of giv-ing ten thousand and keeping ninetythousand himself, he shall give all exceptwhat the Bishop may judge sufficient forhis immediate necessities in procuringhouse, and home, and other comforts inthe same proportion that the rest of hisbrethren enjoy. After that, let him earnhimself a living in whatever business hemay be engaged, and give annually one-tenth of all his income, be it little or much.And if he by accieent, or misfortune, orsickness comes to want, let him be libe-rally supplied out of the Lord's storehouse,and let the Lord's Bishops judge concern-ing the wants and necessities of all Hispeople. And when the Saints have learn-ed to keep this inferior law of consecration,it will prepare them to keep the moreperfect one, when they shall return tobuild up Zion according to the celestialorder ; when all the riches and wealth ofZion shall be common property, and eachof the Saints inherit their portion as ste-wards. Then, and not till then, will theybe equal in temporal things ; and the leastmember of Zion will be as rich as thehighest Apostle or Prophet. This will bea oneness in earthly things which willprepare them for a oneness in heavenlythings ; for the equality in heavenly thingsis to be brought about and establishedupon the same principles as the equalityin earthly ones ; the one being a type ofthe other.

The Lord, in a revelation given in 1832,speaks of an " everlasting establishmentand order," into which the Church mustbe organized, that they " may be equal inthe hands of heavenly things : yea, andearthly things also, for the obtaining ofheavenly things ; for if ye are not equalin earthly things, ye cannot be equal inobtaining heavenly things." (Doc. andCoy. lxxvi. 1.) Nothing is more certain,than that the Saints must eventually be-come perfect enough to consent to thegreat principles of equality in regard toproperty. And if they cannot abide suchan order of things in this life, they nevercan attain to the fulness of the glory ofthe celestial kingdom. Heavenly richesand earthly riches are of the same nature;only one is glorified and made immortal,and the other is in a fallen, unglorifiedstate, If we are not willing to be go-

verned by the law of equality in regard tothat which is of least value, who shallintrust us with all the riches of eternity ?If we seek to grasp more than our brotherof this world's treasures, will not the samespirit of selfishness govern and control usin regard to the more valuable treasuresof the world to come? He that will notconform to the law in earthly things, cannot be intrusted with the more sacredthings of heaven.

Where property is all invested inone common fund, there will be onecommon interest among the Saints inincreasing that fund. We see this illus-trated in well-regulated families, where thehusband and wife, sons and daughters, allseem to be engaged with equal interest toadd to or increase the family property ;for each receives a support from that pro..perty ; and each feels anxious to contri-bute his portion to the fountain ; and thefather or head directs each one in regardto his particular branch of business, notonly for his own good, but for the mutualgood of the whole. When prosperityattends them, they all rejoice together :when adversity overtakes them, and theircommon fund is diminished, they all suffertogether ; and thus they bear each other'sburdens ; and as Paul says, when onemember suffers, they all suffer ; when onerejoices in affluent circumstances, and hasan abundance of the luxuries of life, theyall participate in the same, and rejoicewith him. In such a family, under awholesome discipline, there is an equalityin the enjoyment of temporal things : thereis a union and oneness of interest and feel..ing. By this union of action and interest,they are able to accomplish more, unitedly,than they could accomplish individuallywith separate interests. Indeed, in manycircumstances, certain objects could beaccomplished with a united exertion whichnever could be brought about by separateindividual action.

What is applicable to small families isalso applicable to larger ones ; and thesame great heavenly principle is applicableto larger ones; and the same great hea-venly principle is applicable to a union ofany number of families ; or to the wholebody of the Saints : yes, more ; it isapplicable to the union of all the glorifiedinhabitants of all celestial worlds : theycan accomplish great and wonderful worksby union, which they could not accom-plish as individuals.

In this life all Saints have not an equal

THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS. 293degree of knowledge and wisdom to man-age property, yet such may be equallyfaithful to all the commands of God. Now,is it right for these faithful ones to sufferfor the good things of this life, becausecircumstances, or the want of experience,has prevented them from accumulatingproperty ? No. They are just as muchentitled to the good things which theLord has made, and which He owns, asthose whom circumstances have favored.And for one part of the Saints to retainthese blessings from another part equallyfaithful, is sin, and not according to thecelestial law which requires them to beone. If then all are to share alike, it isproper that the property of the wholeChurch should be placed under the man-agement of those who have wisdom, andwho are ordained of God to manage tem-poral things : for this purpose, God hasappointed Bishops, whose duty it is toappoint every family their stewardships,and to receive the avails of these steward-ships, not to aggrandize themselves,but as the agents of the Church, andthe Lord's agents, to regulate the tem-poral affairs of the Saints, by the re-velations of the Holy Ghost, and thecounsels and voice of the presidency ofthe Church. We are now speaking ofwhat ought to be, and what must be whenZion is built up according to the celestiallaw. The First Presidency, and theTwelve, and other authorities, are doingall that they can, under present circum-stances, to prepare the people for thismore perfect law of consecration, whichwe know must, sooner or later, be broughtinto full force and operation.

It bishop any more honorable, or anybetter in the sight of God, because he iscalled to direct in temporal things, thanthe humble, private citizen who conse-crates the avails of his stewardship intohis hands ? No. If they are equallyfaithful, they are equally beloved of theLord ; andthey are equally entitled tofood and raiment, and to the good thingsof the earth. And the Bishop has nomore claim upon the Lord's storehouse,than the least member of the Church, onlyas his time may be more occupied in publicmatters, which may prevent him fromcultivating the earth or engaging in otherbusiness avocations. And the same istrue in regard to the Twelve, or the FirstPresidency. The highest officers and thelowest are all one in Christ—children ofthe same great family ; God is their

father, and He looks upon His childrenwithout partiality ; if they serve Himequally, He loves them equally,. and Hewill make them equal ; or, in otherwords, joint owners of all the propertyand riches which He thinks proper, inthis life, to confer upon them.

An inequality in riches lays a found-ation for pride, and many other evils. Afamily who are rich can build comfortablehouses, purchase inheritances and finecarriages, clothe themselves in splendidattire, and educate their children in everybranch of useful learning ; while thosewho are poor labour and toil from morn-ing until evening to procure a scanty sub-sistence ; their families are coarsely clad,their children are not so highly educated.These opposite circumstances producedistinctions ; the rich family do not feelto associate with the same degree of fami-liarity with the poor as they do with therich : the sons and daughters of the richseek for companions among those that arewealthy; the poor feel themselves slighted,and feel envious, because they are notrich. Besides the great inequalities inregard to the actual comforts of life, itproduces great inequality in education, inthe social circle, in marriage associations,and in almost every other respect. Hence,an inequality in property is the root andfoundation of innumerable evils ; it tendsto division, and to keep asunder the socialfeelings that should exist among the peo-ple of God. It is the great barrier erectedby the devil to prevent that unity andoneness which the Gospel requires ; it is aprinciple originated in hell; it is the rootof all evil.

Riches are not a curse, but they are agreat blessing : it is inequality in richesthat is a great curse. God has made all theriches of the earth, and the riches of allworlds. He made the gold, and the silver,and the precious metals : He formed theflocks and herds, and all useful animals :He has made the earth exceedingly rich ;and He has given man dominion over allthese things : the more His people enjoy ofthese things the better he is pleased ; it isimpossible for His people to become toorich : if the whole world, with all thetreasures thereof, were in the hands ofthe Saints, the Lord would still be de..lighted for them to have more. But theseblessings have become a great curse toman, because they have been unequallypossessed. We again repeat the word ofthe Lord to this Church : " IT IS NOT


GIVEN THAT ONE MAN SHOULDPOSSESS THAT WHICH IS ABOVEANOTHER ; WHEREFORE THEWORLD LIETH IN SIN." Unequalpossession of that which God has madefor the benefit of all His children, is sin.All nations, kindreds, and people, are insin because of this inequality. TheSaints are still in sin so far as theyapprove of this unequal possession ; andwe shall remain in sin until we makeexertions to put this inequality awayfrom us. We must be one, not onlyone in heavenly riches, but one in earthlyriches.

But how are we to be made one andequal in the inheritance of temporalthings ? If the riches of the earth wereequally divided among all the children ofGod, circumstances would soon renderthem unequal ; accidents, misfortunes,unwise calculations, sickness, and manyother calamities would reduce some topoverty ; while through experience andfavorable circumstances, others wouldgreatly add to their property ; and inmany instances, increase the same ten,fifty, or a hundred-fold. Hence, it issupposed by some, that under suchchanging and fluctuating circumstances,equality could not be maintained, eventhough it should be established. Theyargue that if they were all made equal to-day, circumstances would render them un-equal to-morrow. To such, we reply,that God's plan of making His Saintsequal in property is not subject to anyfluctuating circumstances ; it is a perfectplan ; it is not brought about by an equaldivision of property, nor by any divisionat all. Division of property, like a divi-sion in doctrine, is a plan of the devil, fol-lowed by Gentiles,Equalit among theSaints is not to be introduce l by an equaldivision of property, but by a UNION ofproperty. Let all the property of theChurch be united instead of divided : andthen let each person in the Church pos-sess the whole ; and let this joint posses-sion be under strict and impartial laws ;and let each individual and family havetheir stewardship ; some in one branch ofbusiness and some in another; some havingmore capital under their charge, and someless, according to the nature of their cal-lings and business ; and let each one givean account of his stewardship to thosewhom God has appointed as judges inIsrael ; and let each family receive a suf-ficient portion of the avails of their ste-

wardship to supply their proper wants andnecessities, according to the magnitude ofthe joint fund, and the amount of popula-tion to be supplied from it. In this waya perfect equality could be maintained ;for if each inherited all things, then allwould be perfectly equal ; and while thisorder of things remained, no circum-stances could render them unequal. Thenno one could say to his neighbor, I ownmore than you, or you own more than I.No one would shun his neighbor becausehe was more poor, or because his childrenhad not the same advantages of educationas his own. No envying could exist, be-cause of wealth and riches. No chancefor one to sit in idleness, and feast himselfupon the luxuries earned by the hard la-bors and toils of others. Whatever a manearned in his stewardship, whether littleor much, would go into the Lord's store-house, except what was needed for hisimmediate necessities : and thus therewould be no chance for one to btcomerich and another poor. And if any familywere sick and unfortunate in their ste-wardship, so that they did not accumulateenough to supply their wants, they wouldhave claim upon the Lord's storehouse.The widow and the fatherless, as well asthose of old age, or who are lame, or blind,or afflicted in any way, are just as rich asthe others. The great common stockfund is all theirs, to be dealt out by thosewhom the Lord appoints by the voice ofhis people. The poor emigrant also whoescapes from Babylon, and arrives in Zionweary, hungry, and naked, becomes asrich as any of his brethren. This orderof things is not now established, but itsurely will be established as a permanentand everlasting order, to remain, not intime only, but in eternity. For " he thatis a faithful and wise steward shall inheritall things," in eternity as well as in time:" all things are theirs, whether life ordeath, or things present, or things tocome, all are theirs, and they are Christ's,and Christ is God's." Each one becomesthe "possessor of all things in heaven andupon the earth," whether they are theheavenly worlds at present existing, orthe heavenly worlds that are yet to come.All the fulness of the riches thereof is his.He is a joint inheritor—a joint heir—per-fectly equal with all the rest " in domi-nion," in power, in glory, being, as mo-dern revelation says, made equal with Je-sus, who is also equal with the Father :being one, as he and the Father are one :

THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS. 295and their glory will be one, even as theglory of the sun is one.

Some, perhaps, may object to this per-fect order of equality, on the suppositionthat it will lay the foundation for idlenessamong certain individuals who will claima support, whether they labor much, orlittle, or none at all. But this objectionis effectually destroyed by the followingitems of revelation :-

"Every man shall be made accountableunto me, a steward over his own property,or that which he has received by conse-cration, inasmuch as is sufficient for him-self and family." (Doc. & Coy. xiii. 9 )

" It is required of the Lord, at the handof every steward, to render an account ofhis stewardship, both in time and in eter-nity. For he who is faithful and wise intime is accounted worthy to inherit themansions prepared for them of my Father."(Sec. xc. par. 1.)

Every steward must render an accountof his stewardship in time as well as ineternity. The individuals whom the Lordhas ordained to judge these accounts andkeep records of the same, are the Bishopswhom the Lord has appointed to be judgesin Israel. These judges with their coun-sellors are required to judge according tothe law of the Lord. Now what law hasGod given concerning idlers ?

" Thou shalt not be idle ; for he that isidle shall not eat the bread nor wear thegarments of the labourer." (Doc. andCoy. xiii. 12.)

" And the inhabitants of Zion, also,shall remember their labours, inasmuchas they are appointed to labour, in allfaithfulness ; for the idler shall be had inremembrance before the Lord. Now, I,the Lord, am not well pleased with theinhabitants of Zion, for there are idlersamong them." (Doc. and Cov. xxii. 4.)

"Let every man be diligent in all things.And the idler shall not have place in theChurch, except he repents, and mends hisways." (Doc. and Coy. lxxxviii. 5.)

The idler, when he stands forth beforethe judgment seat of the Bishop, will findthat there are strict laws in regard to hiscase : he will find that it is not for him toeat the bread nor wear the garments ofthe labourer." He will find himself castout, and entitled to no place among thepeople of God. Therefore, the Lord'splan of equality is effectually guardedagainst idlers. We would remind such tostudy the parable of the talents. Thesteward that buries his talent in the

earth, or is idle, and does not improve hisstewardship, will have that which is com-mitted to his charge taken from him, andgiven to other stewards who have laboredfaithfully, while the unfaithful stewardwill be cast out of the vineyard of theLord, and be counted unworthy to haveplace among those that are faithful.

The benefits derived from this order ofthings, are infinitely superior to the Gen-tile order : for it is not only impartial inconferring temporal blessings upon theSaints, but it prevents an immense amountof suffering, which would naturally at-tend any other order. Where individualsare wholly dependent upon their own re-sources, sickness, fires, and other calami-ties may reduce them to great povertyand sufferings:; but when these losses aresustained by the whole people, instead ofone individual, the burden becomes light,or is scarcely felt. And thus much suffer-is prevented.

This method is also the surest way ofbecoming rich and wealthy as a people.Much poverty is frequently the result ofmismanagement ; hut where there arewise men ordained of God to managetemporal things, to whom the Lord's ste-wards must seek for counsel, and to whomthey must render an account, the variousdepartments of the Lord's vineyard will bemanaged by the wisdom of the Spirit ;economy will characterize the movementsof the whole people ; the farmer, the me-chanic, the manufacturer, and the mer-chant will flourish and greatly prosper intheir business. Riches will flow in abun-dance through all these channelsinto thegreat common reservoir. If there:is anygreat enterprise to be undertaken, requiringa vast amount of capital, that capital is onhand, being furnished by the whole people,instead of a few individuals. If any greatpublic works, such as railroads, canals,electric telegraphs, temples, state houses,Universities, forts, fortifications, walls, &c.,are required for the good of the people,the union of the whole property andstrength of the people have many foldmore power to accomplish these greatundertakings, than the exertions of a fewindividuals. Where idleness is considereda sin, and not permitted to exist among apeople, and where industry universallyprevails, and is directed in the properchannels, there wealth will rapidly in-crease, and unbounded prosperity will ne-cessarily crown their united exertions.

But it may, perhaps, be asked, What


benefit is to be derived from becomingexceedingly rich as a people ? We answer,that God designs to restore to civilizationand Christianity the American Indians,who are a remnant of the tribe of Josephof the house of. Israel. These Indiansnumber many millions, and they are gene-rally poor : and being unaccustomed tothe arts and sciences, and the labors ofcivilization, they wit! require a Vast amountof assistance, preparatory to their beingin a condition to support themselves.The riches and wealth accumulated bythe Saints, will be of incalculable benefit,towards alleviating their wants, in prepar-ing food, raiment, habitations, farms,farming utensils, and other necessities, tosuccour and sustain them, while they arelearning to take care of themselves. Andit doing this work, we shall be fulfillingthe word of the Lord, which says, " I willconsecrate of the riches of those who em-brace my gospel among the Gentiles, untothe poor of my people who are of the houseof Israel." (Doe. and Coy. xiii. 11.)Riches will also he needed to build up thecity of the New Jerusalem, which, we areinformed, is to be constructed of the mostcostly materials, and in the most magni-ficent style ; and it will require immensewealth to procure the precious stones, thegold, and other costly ornaments withwhich it must be adorned. Riches willalso be needed to gather home hundredsof thousands of poor Saints, who will em-brace the gospel in foreign lands. Forinstance, to gather only one million ofSaints at the low rate of one hundreddollars per head, would cost about twohundred tons of gold. Many great enter-prizes the Saints wiil be obliged to engagein, which will require all the means thatthey can accumulate by their united en-ergy and industry.

The object of riches is to alleviate thesufferings of mankind, and place them in aprosperous, happy condition. And whenthis can be accomplished upon just andequitable principles; when all can be madeequally happy and comfortable, then theend is attained for which riches aregiven. Riches are not given to gratifythe pride and ambition of man ; theyare not given to exalt one man in ex-travagance and grandeur above another ;they are not given to make kings andprinces of some, and beggars and slaves ofothers; they are not given to encourage 'man in idleness and in vain and unprofit-able pursuits; but they are given to ame-

liorate his cot ditioe ; to satisfy the wantsof his physical nature ; to beautify andadorn his habitations, his gardens, hisvineyards. his inheritances; to supply himabuedantly with wholesome food, withcomfortable raiment, and with all theluxuries that can be righteously desiredto please the eye, the taste, or the smell;to furnish him with useful or entertain-ing books, or with musical instrumentsto delight the Par or gladden the heartwith melodious sounds ; that with music,and with cheet Ail songs and hymns ofpraise, the full hearts of the Saints mayflow with joy and thanksgiving to Himwho is the Author of riches, and fromwhom all blessings flow. For all these,and many other great and good purposes,riches are given, not to be enjoyed by some,to the exclusion of others equally worthy ;for this is sin, but to be equally enjoyed bythe whole family of God, that they may beone. Otherwise, there will ever be envy-ing, fault- finding, dissatisfaction, pride, ex-iravagance, oppression, murmuring, com-plaining, continual divisions, unjust specu-lations, defrauding, and every other evilwork, all arising from separate interests,and inequalities in temporal things.

If the riches of the Saints were all con-secrated to the Lord, and they occupiedthe same as accountable stewards, beingrequired to annually consecrate all theincome of their stewardships, except whatwas sufficient to supply their wants, theywould have no desire to speculate one outef another ; for if one half of the Saintsshould, by close bargains and businesstransactions, speculate with the other half,and take away their stewardships or anypart of them, nothing would be gained atthe end of the year ; for 'all that the spe-culators had gained out of their brethrenwould have to be consecrated, and wouldstill belong to the whole Church ; thisproperty would not be increased by merelychanging hands from one family to ano-ther. Speculation, therefore, out of eachother could not exist with the least degreeof advantage to the common fund. Thegeneral fund could only be increased by asurplus of that which was actually manu-factured or raised in flocks or herds,or from the ground, or obtained fromsome foreign source. If one half should.turn thieves, and steal millions of propertytrom the other half, when the stolen pro-perty was consecrated it would not increasethe general fund in the least ; for if it hadremained in the hands of the rightful

THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS. 297owners or rather stewards, they wouldhave consecrated it; therefore, there wouldbe no object for stealing one from ano-ther; neither would there be any objectin cheating or defrauding one another;for none of these evil acts could increasethe great capital. Therefore, this orderof equality would effectually do away withspeculating, defrauding, cheating, or steal-ing from one another. Each one owningthe whole, no one would feel any interestin stealing his own property, or in de-frauding his right hand for the sake ofhis left.

It is true, where each one receives hisstewardship, there would still be bud ingand selling, trading and exchanging pro-perty with one another as well as with theworld ; for no one would be permitted totake that which was in the charge ofanother, without paying for the same.And in this way each could render aproper account of his stewardship. Onthe other hand, if each one had a right totake property wherever he found it, with-out paying an equivalent for the same, allwould be confusion; no one would be ableto account satisfactorily for his gains orlosses. Hence, the Lord says, " Thoushalt stand in the place of thy steward-ship; thou shalt not take thy brother'sgarment ; thou shalt pay for that whichthou shalt receive of thy brother ; and ifthou obtainest more than that whichwould be for thy support, thou shalt giveit into my storehouse, that all things maybe done according to that which I havesaid." (Dec. and Coy. ;iii

It will easily be seen, from what wehave said, how the Saints are made evaland one in earthly things: it is not bydividing the properties of the Churchequally among them all, but it is by aunion of the same for the good of each ;wherein each becomes the possessor ofthe whole, under certain restrictions andlaws. But m ill there not be a differencein regard to the amount of the steward-ships distributed among the Saints ?Yes ; there will be a great difference.Some stewards will be intrusted witha hundred-fold more than others, andhave a hundred-fold greater responsi-bility resting upon them. There aremany useful branches of industry whichcould not be successfully carried on, with-out ten, fifty, a hundred, or even a thou-sand-fold more capital, than others : con-sequently, stewardships must necessarilyvary in amount and value, according to the

nature of the business, callings, capacities,and circumstances of the several stewards;but as all the profits, arising from these un-equal stewardships, must go into the generalfund, they are all equally enriched by them.

As in temporal things, so in spiritual:each faithful member here in this life ismade a partaker of all spiritual blessingsgranted to the Church: each one inheritsthe benefits of all the gifts. There are agreat variety of spiritual gifts given ; butnone of these gifts are given fur the ex-clusive benefit of the individual possessingthem : for instance, God has given to someto hold the keys of revelation, and know-ledge, and wisdom : they become stewardsover these gifts : they use these keys tounlock the sacred treasures of eternity,and become acquainted with hidden storesof knowledge, deep mysteries are madeplain ; secret things are manifested ; won-ders are exhibited ; and the mind, richlyladen with the choice treasures of theheavenly worlds, and the wonderful worksof God, feasts upon the delicious food ;the soul is filled with joy unspeakable ;the heart swells with the love of God;and the bosom yearns with compassiontowards all mankind, and especially to-wards all who are pure in heart. Theylong to pour out the knowledge whichthey have received, into the hearts of otherswho are equally worthy with themselves :the impartation of knowledge to otherswho are pure in heart, diffuses in each andall, the same joy and happiness that theythemselves have . indeed, their own joy isincreased by imparting their knowledge toothers; and if they impart all the know-ledge they have to the pure in heart,then, all become equal in knowledge, sotar as it is revealed : this makes them oneso far as the revealed knowledge is con-cerned. Now the whole body of theSaints who are thus made equal in know-ledge are not revelators ; the keys werenot intrusted to them all, but the keysof this rich stewardship were intrustedto some for the benefit of all. Now itmatters not, through what source thisknowledge is first communicated, whetherto one or to all, if the pure in heart areall equally benefitted by it.

There is not a division in knowledge,that is, it is not divided into equal shares,and one portion given to one, and anotherto another : this is not God's plan of mak-ing His Saints one and equal in knowledge :but each becomes the possessor of thewhole revealed : they are joint heirs--

298 THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS.joint owners of the whole, the same as intemporal things, which are the types ofheavenly ones. There is this difference,however, between temporal riches andknowledge : when each Saint obtains thefullness of all the knowledge revealed, in-stead of being made an accountable ste-ward over a small portion of tile jointfund, he is accountable for the whole ; foreach is made a steward of the whole whichcould not conveniently exist in relation totemporal things.

Each is required to improve upon hisstewardship, and obey every law connectedwith the additional knowledge imparted,in order that he may be prepared for more,through the keys that are ordained • andthus knowledge is multiplied upon know-ledge, and the light grows brighter andbrighter 'until the perfect day, the wholebody being perfected in knowledge, light,and truth, through the choice gifts ofrevelation given to some.

To some it is given to teach the wordof wisdom, that the whole Church may beequally wise, inasmuch as they give dili-gent heed. The Saints may have greatknowledge revealed to them, and still beexceedingly unwise in the use of thatknowledge. Therefore, God has ap-pointed some to be filled with great wis-dom as well as knowledge ; not for theirown benefit alone, but for the benefit ofthe whole body. God is altogether infavour of the common stock principle inwisdom and knowledge, as well as in pro-perty. He, therefore, is not willing thatthe stewards over these rich treasuresshould hoard them up for their own ex-clusive use, when there are others equallyworthy of enjoying the same. They arecommanded to give, not a part, but thewhole, to the pure in heart, that all maybe equal in the enjoyment of these pre-cious gifts.

So likewise, the gifts of prophecy, visions,the discerning of spirits, or the beholdingof angels and ministering spirits, the giftsof healing, miracles, tongues, interpreta-tions, &c., are distributed among theSaints ; each to be exercised for thebenefit of all, being common stock bless-ings belonging to the whole body, thoughministered through many channels. Thesegifts are given to perfect the whole Church,that it may become the tabernacle of God—His habitation—His temple, becomingsanctified, purified, glorified, and finally,perfected ; being filled with the fulness ofHim who is in all things—who knoweth

all things, woo maketh them equal, evenone with himself. Then, and not tillthen, the most of these gifts will be doneaway : having subserved the purposes forwhich they were given. Healings willthen cease, for the Saints will then all beimmortal, and will have no need of heal-ing ; tongues and interpretations will thenfail, for from thenceforth they will all useone perfect pure language, viz., the lair-guage of the Holy Ghost; prophesyingwill cease, for all things in the future willbe known by all ; knowledge in part willbe done away, for the Saints will know allthings ; the gift of revelation will cease,for the Saints no longer know in part, butalready know as they are known, and seeas they are seen. While knowledge itpart continues, revelations and prophesy-ing will continue ; but when all thingsare known, these gifts necessarily cease.But charity never faileth ; it is a gift thatwill abide for ever. The fullness of know-ledge and wisdom, light and truth, willalso remain for ever ; the gift of immor-tality and eternal life will continue andhave no end. All things that are per-fected will be everlasting ; but the mostof the instruments or gifts used to bringabout this perfection, will cease, beingadapted to imperfect beings only, and likethe scaffolding to a building, wholly unne-cessary, when the edifice is finished.

It is in this glorified perfect state thatthe most indissoluble ties will exist; beingperfected in wisdom and knowledge, lightand truth, justice and mercy, goodnessand love, no one can or will do anything,but what will be the will of the whole.Each one in all the greatness and infinityof his works will be doing the perfect willof the whole. As the Father, Son, andHoly Ghost, are united in all their works,and never do the least thing contrary toeach other's will, so all this infinitude of ce-lestial beings, inhabiting all glorified worlds,will possess the same perfect oneness, act•ing in this same perfect union. This one-ness will be as undeviating and as un-changeable as truth itself, and will continuethroughout all eternity, and have no end.

Although an equality of knowledge isintended for the Saints, yet there aresome who do not prepare themselves toreceive it ; therefore, it is withheld fromthem. Some are permitted, because oftheir righteousness and faith to receiveknowledge that is not lawful to be utteredto others. This inequality arises, not fromany imperfection in the plan, but from the

THE EQUALITY AND ONENESS OF THE SAINTS. 299imperfection of those who profess to re-ceive the plan. God desires them tohave all the knowledge that He has ;but he desires that they should obtainit in the way that he has appointed.If any fail of obtaining the knowledgewhich others have received, and whichthey are not permitted to utter, the faultis wholly in themselves : it is free to allupon the same principles ; and God is

ibetter pleased with those who attain to it,than He is with those who do not. It is,true, here in this life, there is a great ine-quality of circumstances surrounding in-dividuals which may prevent them fromobtaining a perfect equality in the know-ledge of God. The improvement of thecapacities or intellects of some may differin consequence of some physical organiza-tion, or some injury which the body mayhave sustained, or which they may haveinherited from their ancestors. All thesethings arise in consequence of the imper-fections introduced into our world by thefall of man. And furthermore, there isno doubt but the spirits of man in theirantecedent state vary, not in capacities,but in the improvement of them ; somespirits being reckoned among the nobleand great ones, because of their attain-ments. All these circumstances combined,prevent some from obtaining knowledgewith the same ease as others. Yet, whenall these shall be fully redeemed from allopposing causes, and all shall be blessedwith immortal bodies, perfect in theirorganization, nothing will binder themfrom understanding all things, discerningthem by the Spirib of God. This willmake them equal and one.

In what manner, it may be asked, willthis fullness of truth be imparted ? Willit be by the long and tedious process ofstudy ? or will it be by the immediatelight of the Spirit which is in us ? Wewill answer these questions by a quotationfrom the word of the Lord spoken untoMoses, given to Joseph the Seer in June,1830. The Lord said unto Moses, "Look,and I will shew thee the workmanship ofmine hands, but not all, for my works arewithout end, and also my words, for theynever cease. Wherefore, no man canbehold all my works, except he behold allmy glory ; and no man can behold all myglory, and afterwards remain in the flesh."* * * * " And it came to pass,as the voice was still speaking, he cast hiseyes, and beheld the earth, yea, even allthe face of it; and there was not apar..

tide of it which he did not behold, dis-cerning it by the Spirit of God; and bebeheld also the inhabitants thereof ; andthere was not a soul which he beheld not ;and he discerned them by the Spirit ofGod ; and their numbers were great, evennumberless as the sand upon the seashore. And he beheld many lands ; andeach land was called earth, and therewere inhabitants upon the face thereof."

From this we perceive, that Moses be-held the whole earth, not merely its gene-ral outlines, or the surface, consisting ofland and water, islands and continents,rivers, lakes, and oceans, but the interiorportions also : " there was not a particleof it which he did not behold." All theinhabitants thereof were also beheld ; notone soul escaped his vision. The greattelescope, by which the whole was ren-dered visible, was not formed by humanart : it was no less than the all-wise—all-powerful Spirit of dod. If this all-power-ful telescope had been pointed to the sun,moon, planets, or comets, it would haverendered every particle of each distinctlyvisible : Moses could have looked uponeach with the same ease that he lookedupon those of the earth. It was a tele-scope not limited in its field of vision ; itscapacities were such that the astonishedbeholder could see in all (12.rections at thesame instant. And if prepared with animmortal body, so as not to be overpoweredwith the dazzling glory, and magnificence,and omnipotence of the scenery, eternityitself, with all its boundless contents, andinfinitude of worlds, would be presentbefore the eyes : every particle in endlessspace could be seen through the samemedium that Moses beheld every particleof the earth. But no man can have theaid of this most wonderful telescope, toshow him all the works of God which in-dude all His glory, till he is prepared withan immortal and celestial body ; for theglory of the infinitely extended view wouldconsume his mortal body in a moment.

Another wonder is connected with thistelescope ; it not only shows things asthey now exist, but as they have existed,and as they will exist. That great andrenowned philosopher, the brother ofJared, by calling upon the Lord, obtainedthe use of this magnificent telescope for ashort time, by which he was enabled tolook upon the Lord, and saw the bodyof His spirit, and beheld his gloriousface, and conversed with Him as a manconverses with his friend; and not satisfied

300 A PROPHECY AND

with beholding things present, he lookedupon things past, and upon things tocome ; and the Lord showed unto him" all the inhabitants of the earth whichhad been, and also all that would be ; andHe withheld them not from his sight,even unto the ends of the earth." Whata wonderful instrument ! it enables oneto look not only in all directions at thesame time, but to look into the past, pre-sent, and future, at the same moment.

Lord Ross has constructed a telescopethat will enable us to see millions of worldsso distant that their light by which theyare now rendered visible, must have leftthem hundreds of thousands of years be-fore our earth was made : this enables usto see, not the present existence of theseworlds, but their past existence, Butwith all his ingenuity, neither he, norany other mall can form a telescope thatwill show u. the present existence ofthose distant bodies : neither can theyinvent instruments that will show the fu-ture existence of bodies that are to becreated and made. Neither will his tele-scope, nor any other instrument of man'sinvention, enable us to look at every parti-cle that enters into the composition ofworlds. Hence, the Lord's plan of assist-ing the vision is infinitely superior to allothers. We can readily perceive that themeans by which man discerns knowledgein the heavenly worlds are not by reason-ing nor studying as here : it will be by asudden process ; for if the Holy Ghost,when resting upon mortal men, can in amoment show them such wonderful things,what an infinitude of knowledge it willpour into the mind of an immortal beingupon whom it rests, not in measure, butin fulness. Can anything, past, present,or to come, be hidden from them ? Willthere be bounds set to circumscribe theirvision ? Or is the field so extensive thatthe power of the telescope will not reach it ?

It is upon this same principle that Godthe Father can behold all things ; or asHe says in the prophecy of Enoch, " I

ITS FULFILMENT.can stretch forth mine hands, and holdall the creations which I have made; andmine eye can pierce them also ; " or as ourSaviour says, " Thus saith the Lord yourGod, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am,Alpha and Omega, the Beginning andthe End, the same which looked upon thewide expanse of eternity, and all the se-raphic hosts of heaven, before the worldwas made : The same which knoweth allthings, for all things are present beforemine eyes." (Doc. and Cov. xii. 1.)

Enoch informs us that if every particleof this earth was numbered, and millionsof earths like this, it would not be a be-ginning to the --number of worlds whichthat Being had made whom he was ad-dressing and yet that God informs himthat He could pierce all these creationswith His eye. Jesus also says, " All thingsare present before mine eyes " and thishe gives as a reason why he knows allthings. It is very evident, therefore,that all these Beings discern thingsthrough the same medium ; that is by theSpirit ; and though the works of God areinfinite, yet there are none beyond thereach of His all-powerful vision. Andbecause they all behold and discern by theSpirit without any opposing obstacles,they all have an opportunity of seeingalike, and understanding alike, and know-ing the same things; they are madeperfect in one, and enjoy the sameglory.

Oh, ye Saints of the Latter Days, do notforget the high destiny that awaits you.An eternity is before you, which has noend : a boundless space surrounds you,filled with an infinitude of worlds. Thekingdoms, principalities, and heavenlypowers that fill all the vast expanse areyours : the heights and depths, the lengthsand breadths, the riches and honors, thewisdom and excellency, the knowledgeand power, the glory of all things, andthe fulness of all things, are yours forever and ever. Blessed is he that over-cometh, for he shall inherit all things.

A PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILMENT.

In February, 1831, the Lord spake,concerning His servants, by the mouth ofJoseph the Seer, saying : —

" And it shall come to pass that they

shall go forth into the regions roundabout, and preach repentance unto thepeople ; and many shall be converted, in-somuch that ye shall obtain power to or-

A PROPHECY AND

ganize yourselves, according to the lawsof man ; that your enemies may not havepower over you, that you may be pre-served in all things; that you may be en-abled to keep my laws, that every band maybe broken wherewith the enemy seeketh todestroy my people." (Doc. & Coy. lxii. 2.)

It is now upwards of twenty-three yearssince this prophecy was delivered. Con-trast the condition of the Saints at thattime, with their present condition, and itwill at once be apparent to all, that therehas been a most perfect fulfilment of theprediction. At that time the Churchwas less than a year old : only a very fewhad then received the divine message ;and they were hated and despised by thepeople, and considered as poor weak-minded individuals; unlearned in thewisdom and education of the world ; des-titute of this world's riches ; persecutedby every religious denomination ; de-flounced in the pulpit as deceivers, reli-gious impostors, and fanatics : lied aboutand slandered by their enemies and thepress. On every hand, it was supposedand predicted by thousands, that theChurch would be broken up and cease toexist in six months, or at the longest, in ayear. But mark the prophetic word ofGod ! " And it shall come to pass thatthey " (the servants of God) " shall goforth into the region round about, andpreach repentance unto the people." Didthey go? Did they preach repentance ? Yes :they went forth, though ignorant and un-learned, not trusting to their own strength,but in the name of the Lord who sent them.Their speech and their preaching were inmeekness and lowliness of heart: they wentas lambs among wolves, without salaries,without purse or scrip, without havingwhere to lay their heads, being cast out,scorned, and derided ; suffering hunger,cold, and fatigue ; they stemmed themighty torrent of public opinion ; theyencountered the venerated systems ofpopular priestcraft, made sacred by theirantiquity and the traditions of the fathers :they testified boldly against the sinsand abominations of the people : theybore their humble testimony that Godhad once more spoken ; that angels hadonce more visited man ; that the kingdomof God was at hand, having been set upin fulfilment of the words of the prophets,preparatory to the second advent of theLord from heaven : they exhorted andpersuaded the people to repent, and tocome forth, humble and childlike, and be

ITS FULFILMENT. 301immersed for the remission of their sins :testifying that as many as would do thiswith all sincerity of heart, should be filledwith the Holy Ghost by the laying on ofhands, as in ancient times.

And what was the result ? Let the wordof prophecy answer this question. "Andmany shall be converted." How literalhas this prediction been fulfilled ! Thehearts of thousands were softened ; theybelieved the message ; for what honest soulcould refrain from believing ? they re-pented; they called upon the Lord inhumble prayer ; they sought earnestly forfurther evidence—evidence that comes fromGod—evidence upon which their souls couldrest as a sure foundation ; and the Lordwas merciful, bearing witness unto themby many infallible testimonies, that thiswas his work, sent forth in fulfillment ofthe prophets : and having received a mea-sure of the Spirit of the Lord to convince,enlighten, and soften their hearts, theysought baptism at the hands of those whomGod had called and authorized to ministerthis sacred ordinance. Branches of theChurch began to multiply. Thousands wereconverted; and thus the word of the Lordwas fulfilled, in opposition to the expect-ations and predictions of all their enemies.

Perhaps some may say, that the pre-diction that " many shall be converted"is indefinite ; and if only a few scores, or afew hundreds were converted, it might beclaimed as a fulfillment of the prophecy..In reply, we refer again to the quotation,in which it will be seen that the predictionis not ambiguous, but contains sufficientexplanation within itself. " And manyshall be converted, insomuch that ye shallobtain power to organize yourselves ac-cording to the laws of man." Thisbegan to be fulfilled, in some small de-gree, about twelve or thirteen years ago,while several thousands of our peoplewere dwelling in Nauvoo. The Legisla-ture of Illinois granted a charter, confer-ring upon that city the same privileges asupon many other cities, wherein we hadthe right of enacting our own laws, andregulating our own internal affairs withinthe limits assigned by the charter. Thisshielded us, in some measure, and for ashort time, from the fury of our persecu-tors. But the - charter being repealed,our enemies were let loose upon us ; theProphet and many of the Saints weremurdered, and the balance, driven bymob violence, were obliged to seek refugein the far distant and lonely vales of the

302 A PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILMENT.

rocky mountains, where, by the kind pro-vidence of God, they have again beenorganized, " according to the laws of%tan," and upon a far more extensive scale.

In our former organization we werelimited to a few miles of ground, includedin our city plot ; now we occupy a terri-tory, embracing several hundred thousandsquare miles : then, our legislative Councilenacted laws for only one city ; now ourlegislature make laws for the governmentof a whole territory ; including manycities, towns, and counties. In spite ofthe devil and our enemies, we have, in thestrength of the Lord our God, triumphed;and the whole world can now see the ful-filment of the saying : " And many shallbe converted, insomuch that ye shall ob-tain power to organize yourselves accord-ing to the laws of man." How little didnatural appearances, twenty-three yearsago, indicate the fulfilment of this pro-phecy What tremendous efforts ourenemies have put forth to overthrow anddestroy the Saints, and prevent the wordof the Lord from being fulfilled ; but con-trary to their numerous predictions, con-trary to their ev cry expectation andcalculation concerning us, and contraryto all their mighty exertions against us,the Saints stand forth this day as anorganized people ; not only organized ac-cording to the laws of God, but alsoaccording to the laws of man. They arelifted up and exalted by the hand of Godupon the mountains, as a great people, asan ensign to the nations, as a sign andinfallible evidence to all nations, that Godhas, indeed, again spoken and fulfilledthat which He declared should come topass. How vain are the efforts of man,when he undertakes to thwart the pur-poses of Jehovah ! The very thing whichman vainly supposes will destroy the workof God and His people, is frequently madeto contribute largely to the prosperity ofthe same. Little did the enemies of theSaints suppose, when they were canno-nading them out of the States, and forcingthem to flee for their lives to the moun-tains, that they were thus placing the Saintsin a position for the word of the Lord to bemore speedily fulfilled! Little did theLegislature of Illinois think that by un-justly repealing the charter of Nauvoo,they were laying the foundation for ourpersecuted people to obtain a more exten-sive territory and charter ! No thanks tothem for these privileges : they meant itfor evil, but the Lord permitted it for the

good of his people ; they thought to driveus out to perish, but the Lord has turnedit for our salvation, and for the salvationof many people among the nations, whowill come by thousands to our great andextended territory, to partake of thesweets of religious liberty which are deniedthem in their own country.

But what object had the Lord in viewin prophesying that we should convertmany, and have power to organize them" according to the laws of man ?" Theobject is particularly specified in the verynext words of the revelation. "That yourenemies may not have power over you ;that you may be preserved in all things;that you may be enabled to keep my laws;that every band may be broken wherewiththe enemy seeketh to destroy my people."

When this prophecy was given, it shouldbe borne in mind that our enemies had notas yet come out with sword and bayonet,cannon and fire-arms, to unlawfully dis-possess us of our peaceable homes ; yet theLord knew that they would do so, and asa comfort, promised that we should havepower to organize ourselves according tothe laws of man, which should have a tend-ency to destroy the power of our enemiesover us. Has not this also come to pass ?Do our enemies now have power over usto persecute and destroy our lives, andtake our houses and lands from us, as theyhave done in times past ? Not only thenhas the organization predicted taken place,but it accomplishes the very object forwhich the Lord predicted it should beestablished: it has effectually destroyedthe power of our enemies over us. Letan enemy now undertake to burn ourstacks of hay or grain—to shoot downour flocks and herds—to burn or other-wise destroy our dwellings—to steal,plunder, or rob any of the citizens—toravish women—or to murder the Saints,and they will find that there is justice inthe courts of Utah—that there are lawsfor the protection of Saints as well asGentiles. Murderers are not permittedthere to roam at large, boasting of theirbloody deeds, as was the case in Missouriand Illinois. There all religious societiescan have the most unbounded privilegesof worshipping as they please, or who, orwhat they please, and there is no one thatwill be permitted to infringe upon theirrights, or persecute them. But if theytrespass upon the rights of others, andbreak the laws of the land, by those lawsthey will be condemned or acquitted. A

A PROPHECY AND

perfect equality of rights is extended toJewor Gentile, Christian or Mahommedan,Saints or Sinners, Americans or Asiatics,white or black ; all are protected by thelaws—all have liberty to serve one God,or many, or none at all, and be account-able for their own belief to God and notto man. This is the spirit and letter ofthe great constitution of the AmericanRepublic ; this is the spirit and letter ofthe laws of Utah ; and this is the spiritand law printed in the hearts and thoughtsof the whole people. Liberty is theirmotto—unbounded liberty of conscienceto the whole human race.

The object of this organization was notonly to break every band " wherewith theenemy seeketh to destroy," but as therevelation further states, " that you nzaybe enabled to keep my laws." There aresome of the laws of God which conflictwith the State laws ; and which the Saintsin those States could not keep withoutsubjecting themselves to the penalties oftheir unjust laws. But these State lawsare local in their nature ; they are not thelaws of the land. For instance, theselocal law-making departments have be-come so bigoted, that they have actuallymade it a crime for a man to follow theexample of the holy prophets and Patri-archs of old in his domestic relations : notpermitting a man to have but one wifeliving at the same time. Now a manwishing to enlarge his family and followthe examples of ancient men of God inhis family relations, is actually forbiddenby these local State laws so to do. Nowinasmuch as the Abrahamic and Israelitishcustom is no where condemned by theword of God as a crime, and can in nopossible way be injurious to society, whereit is voluntarily practised, and regulatedby wise and judicious laws, the same asthe one wife system, liberty should, thei.e-fore, be granted for man to marry one wife,or many, or none at all; and no law shouldbe enacted to take this liberty from him.

The Saints, having been favored withrevelation from heaven, have had lawsgiven to them from God, regulating, asin ancient times, their domestic institu-tions. Inasmuch as these laws, like thoseof old, approbate the marriage of one wifeor many, it is evident that the Saintscould not keep them under the local go-vernments of the Stares. Theretore, itwas in reference to these conflicting lawswhich the Lord intended to reveal, thatHe predicted that the Saints should have

ITS FULFILMENT. 303power to organize themselves according tothe laws of man ; that is, they should havepower to organize themselves according tolaws which their own legislature shouldenact, not repugnant to the Constitutionand laws of the United States. Nowthere is nothing in the Constitution andlaws of the general government that pro-hibits this Bible institution, conse-quently the Territories have a right toembrace this divine institution withoutthe fear of infringing upon any law ofman. The Saints in Utah, then, areeffectually delivered from the bondage ofthese unjust local laws, and placed in acondition where, as the revelation pre-dicted, they are enabled to keep the lawsof God, and still, at the same time, notbreak the laws of man.

The Lord says, "Let no man break thelaws of the land, for he that keepeth thelaws of God bath no need to break thelaws of the land." This saying, no doubt,has reference to the laws of the UnitedStates, and to all State laws that are inconformity with them. Had the Saintsembraced the Abrahamic domestic insti-tution, while residing in any of the Statesof the Union, they would not have vio-lated any of the ws of the land ; that is,any of the United States' laws, but onlythe local laws of the State where theyresided. And that they might not violatethe latter, they are separated from them,and organize(' in a Territorial capacity,no more subject to State laws or theirpenalties. In all these respects, howspeedily, and how literally has the wordof the Lord been fulfilled !

When the Saints reflect upon this, letthem take courage, and have the mostunbounded confidence in every wordwhich God has spoken by the mouth ofJoseph the Prophet: for as surely as theLord lives, every prophecy in the Book ofMormon, and in the Book of Doctrine andCovenants, and in the other revelationswhich God has given through that greatand holy prophet, which has not alreadycome to pass, will, every jot and tittle, befulfilled in its time and season. Andthere is no power on earth or in hell thatcan prevent it. God hath in these lastdays spoken, and He is almighty to fulfil.All the glory. and power, and dominion,and greatness, promised to the Saints ofthe latter times, will most assuredly cometo pass. And all the nations that will notyield themselves to the law of the Lord willcertainly perish and be utterly wasted: and

289300

304 A PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILMENT.

the kingdom and the greatness of the do-minion under the whole heaven will be giveninto the hands of the Saints of the MostHigh. Remember that this is our destiny.

As sure as ever Zion was to be called to"get ?cp into the high mountain," accord-ing to the words of Isaiah, (chap. xi ) soshe will eventually roll from that moun-tain as the stone of Daniel, to smite thegreat image, representing the corruptpowers of the earth, and break them topieces; and they will become like theelaff of the summer thrashing floor andbe blown away, and no place be found forthem ; and that same stone will increase,and grow, and become a great mountain,and fill the whole earth. This is thedecree of the Almighty ; and no powercan prevent its coming to pass.

Whether Utah will eventually he or-ganized as a State government, we do notknow ; neither does it matter to us, whe-ther this shall be the case or not ; if weare faithful, we shall enjoy all the powerthat is necessary fur our good. And ifwe are never organized in the capacity ofa State, still there has already been a ful-filment of the word of the Lurd in ourbehalf, and we now enjoy peace and restfrom out enemies, as it was foretold ; andthese blessings are the results of the pre-dicted organization. When the popula-tion of Utah becomes sufficiently numerous,the probability is, that Congress will grantus a State government, and admit us intothe Union, with all the powers and privi-leges belonging to the other States. Thiswould still more effectually break evetyband by which our enemies seek to bindus. We are anxious to enjoy all theliberties guaranteed in the glorious con-stitution of our country. And as thetime is not far distant when mobocracywill gain the ascendancy over the otherStates of the Union, we wish to be soeffectually organized as to maintain invio rlate the great principles of liberty so dearly

purchased by our fathers, and to effee.tually resist every attempt to trample uponthe rights of man.

It is our desire to see Utah organized asa State, in order that all religions may beequally protected by good and wholesomelaws; that the Mahommedan and heathenmay enjoy equal privileges with the Chris-tian in their domestic institutions, which,at present, are denied them in all the Stategovernments, and which are great barriersto emigration from many nations. Theseanti. Bible and anti-liberal laws shouldhe done away. It is to be hoped thatUtah, if she becomes a State, wilt neverdisgrace herself with such illiberality;but that she will unfurl the banner ofliberty to the Hindoo, the Chinese, theMahotnmedan,, and all other nations with-out compelling them to break up theirfamilies, and to divorce all their wiveshut one, and to succumb to the bigotedinstitutions of apostate Christendom.

This Republic can never become anasylum to all nations, until her domesticinstitutions are founded upon liberal laws;until she will protect polygamy as equallysacred wi h monogamy, as a Bible insti.tution, as a right that should be sacredlyguaranteed not only to the polygamicemigrant who may land upon our shores,but to all the inhabitants of our countrywho may desire to embrace this Bible in-stitution. It Utah be admitted as a State,she will, most undoubtedly, see that therights of the domestic institution are nottrampled upon by religious b;gotry ; thatno illiberal laws are enacted to preventemigration from polygatnic nations. She%%ill protect her citizens in the enjoymentof every right embraced in the belovedconstitution of our country. She will bestrict to punish crime, but z.ai.ous for therights of man, whether Pagan or Jew,Christian or Mahomtnedan. May the timespeedily roll on, when Utah shall becomea State.—ED1TOR.

CONTENTS.The Equality and Oneness of the Saints

•A Prophecy and its Fulfilment

EDITED BY ORSON PRATT.LIVERPOOL:

PUBLISHED BY F. D. RICHARDS, 15, WILTON STREET.

LONDON;FOR SALE AT THE L. D. SAINTS' BOOK AND MILLENNIAL STAR DEPOT, 35 JEWIN STREET, CITY.

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Vol. II, No. 8. AUGUST, 1854. Price 2d.

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TEM SETTING UP OF THE LATTER-DAY KINGDOM - ITS LOCATION IN THE MOUNTAINS

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GATHERING OF THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM DOWNFALL OF THE APOSTATE

NATIONS OF CHRISTENDOM, UNDER THE NAME OF GREAT BABYLON.

BY THE EDITOR.

There is no event that ever transpiredin our world, of such magnitude and im-portance as the coming of Christ to reignon earth. And as such, it has command-ed the attention of the Saints of all ages.All have looked forward to that day as afull consummation of all their hopes. Itis the happy period when the righteousshall receive their full reward ; it is thetime of the resurrection of the righteousdead; it is the day when sin and sorrowshall cease ; it is the day of rest theMillennium of peace : the opening of anentirely new era upon our fallen world.

Many events have happened since thecreation, of great magnitude, wonderfulin their nature, and of overwhelming in-terest to mortals; among which may bementioned, the overthrow of the antedi-luvian world in the mighty flood ; theconfusion of tongues; the destruction byfire from heaven of Sodom, Gomorrah,and other cities of the plain ; the miracu-lous delivery of Israel from Egypt; thedescending of the Lord upon Sinai ; thegrand display of miracles from generationto generation among the Israelites ; thefirst advent of the Messiah, and thepreaching of the Gospel among all na-tions, attended with miraculous signs fol-lowing the believers. But all these grand

events, though accompanied with suchgreat power, dwindle, comparatively speak..ing, into nothing, when contemplated inconnexion with the august, majestic, glo-rious, and most powerful sceneries of thesecond advent of the Messiah in the cloudsof heaven, accompanied by all the hostsof Saints and angels, before whose pre-sence the sun shall hide his face in shame,the elements melt with fervent heat, thehills and mountains be cast down, thevalleys be raised up, the earth reel to andfro, the heavens shake, and the wicked beconsumed as stubble before the devouringflame.

As revelation informs us that such aday is surely coming, it is of the utmostimportance that we prepare ourselves forit; for whether we are dead or alive atthat day, we shall be equally concerned init, and equally affected by it. It was justas important for the people of the ante-diluvian world to be prepared for thesecond coming of Christ, as for thosewho shall live immediately preceding thatevent. People of all nations, genera-tions, and ages should be equally con..cerned in preparing for it. Those whohave died in past ages without such pre-paration will fail of receiving the rewardof the righteous, the same as if they lived

306 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT.now ; for in that day both the quick andthe dead will be judged, whether in theflesh or out of it ; whether their bodiessleep in the grave till the last resurrection,or rise with the just — all must receivetheir judgment and their sentence todarkness, misery, and death, or to light,happiness, and eternal life. Consequently,the people of all ages are alike concernedin the great events of that day.

Let us now most earnestly inquire,What preparations are necessary for manin order to meet the Lord in peace ?

In answer to this inquiry, we say, thatit has been necessary for each individualand generation, from the days of thecreation until nom, to strictly obey thewords of the living prophets and inspiredmen among them : this, in connectionwith the teachings of the Holy Ghost,would have given them every necessarypreparation for that great day. Withoutthis, they have died unprepared. Perhapssome may ask, if the words of prophetsand inspired men that are dead, are notsufficient to make known the whole dutyof man, without having living ones ? Weboldly answer, no. God never intendedthat man should learn his whole dutyfrom written laws and commandmentswithout a living inspired authority throughwhom He could communicate His willfrom time to time. Written laws, statutes,and ordinances are good and of greatbenefit to man, in making known to himmuch of the will of God ; but God neverrevealed in any written book His wholewill to the world, or to his people ofsucceeding generations. He has, fromtime to time, revealed some of the leadingoutlines of His will which have been ap-plicable to all generations alike, and whichall generations who have had knowledgeof them, have been required to obey. Butin order that each individual might learnhis whole duty from a written law or book,it would be necessary that avery largevolume should be written, especially adapt-ed to the circumstances of each individual,from which he could learn each succeeding-clay, during his whole life, that whichGod required at his hands.

If all the duties of one man had been writ-ten before hand by the spirit of prophecy,it would have required a volume muchlarger than the Old and New Testaments.All the multiplied and varied duties of oneyear might possibly be printed on onehundred octavop ages : and sixty years'duties might be printed on six thousand

such pages. But as the circumstances ofindividuals differ widely from each other,there would be millions of .duties requiredof one, not required of another ; therefore,each individual would require a separatevolume in which the particular duties re-quired of him should be prophetically andclearly revealed for each successive dayduring his whole life. A thousand mil-lion of such books would be required foreach generation, all of them differing in avast number of duties, according to thecircumstances and callings of mankind.If a million of prophets had been diligent-ly engaged in writing from the creationtill now, they could not have written onehalf of the duties of one generation, tosay nothing of succeeding ones. There-fore, God never intended that the wholeduty of man should be contained in inspi-red books ; but a living inspired Priest-hood, and the teachings of the Holy Ghost,are intended to acquaint man with thewhole will of God, excepting that smallportion contained in his written wordwhich is applicable to all persons. Itshould be constantly bor se in mind, thatthe Bible does not contain the one thou-sand millionth part of the will. of God, inrelation to the successive generations ofman.

Each generation, in order to be prepa-red for the coming of the Lord, and toenter into His glory, should make them-selves acquainted with His whole will, andperform the same. This would requireconstant revelation in every age andgeneration.

We can safely affirm, that all indivi-duals, nations, and generations, who havenot had prophets and new revelationsamong them, have died without the neces.sary preparations to enter into the millen-nial glory in all its fulness : for no onecan abide the fulness of the glory of theSon of God without doing his will ; andno one can learn his will in all thingswithout new revelation.

Since inspired men ceased, the Churchof God has not existed on the earth ; con-sequently mankind have gone down totheir graves in darkness, unprepared forthe glorious appearing of the great Judgeof quick and dead. So long as mankindremain without prophets, inspired men,and new revelations, they will be unpre-pared for the day of Christ. And shouldChrist be revealed in flaming fire in a daywhen there were no prophets and revela-tory among men, there would not be one

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT 307solitary soul among mortals that couldabide that day ; no, not one. But thewhole earth would be smitten with a curse,and all souls would perish from off its face.

But according to the Scriptures therewill be a few prepared for the coming ofthe Bridegroom—a few, as in the days ofNoah, who will escape the dreadful des-truction—a few who will be caught upwith the righteous dead to meet the Lordin the air. Now these few will be thechildren of the kingdom, or the faithfulmembers of his Church. Therefore, it iscertain, that the kingdom of God, or HisChurch, must be set up or restored to theearth before His coming or there willbe no flesh who can abide the day.

Is it reasonable to suppose that Christwould return to the earth to reign uponit for a thousand years without preparingthe way before-hand, for this most won-derful of all eras ? What would be thenature of this preparation ? Could therebe any preparation whatsoever, short ofrestoring to the earth a Gospel Church ?As there has been no true church on theearth for some twelve or fifteen centuries,one of the first steps towards preparingfor the second advent would be to restoreto the earth His Church. Now a workof this kind, and of so great importance,would most likely be the subject of pro-phecy among ancient prophets, whichwe find to be the case. Daniel, in hissecond chapter has spoken expressly of thesetting up of this latter-day Church, or ashe very appropriately calls it, the kingdomof God, represented by a stone.

" And in the days of these kings shallthe God of heaven set up a kingdom,which shall never be destroyed : and thekingdom shall not be left to other people,but it shall break in pieces and consumeall these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest thatthe stone was cut out of the mountainwithout hands, and that it brake in piecesthe iron, the brass, the clay, the silverand the gold ; the great God hath madeknown to the king what shall come topass hereafter : and the dream is certain,and the interpretation thereof sure.(Daniel ii. 44, 45.)

This same great event is also mentionedin the 34th and 35th verses of the samechapter as follows :—

" Thou sawest till that a stone was cutout without hands, which smote the imageupon his feet that were of iron and clay,and brake them to pieces. Then was the

iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, andthe gold, broken to pieces together, andbecame like the chaff of the summerthreshing floors ; and the wind carriedthem away, that no place was found forthem : and the stone that smote the imagebecame a great mountain, and filled thewhole earth."

The kingdom which the God of heavenwas to set up, has been by many supposedto refer to the Church or kingdom whichwas established on the earth at the firstadvent of the Messiah, but this idea is al-together erroneous, as we shall now pro-ceed to show.

The time of the organization of theancient Church does not agree with theperiod announced in the prophecy. " Inthe days of these kings shall the God ofheaven set up a kingdom." In the daysof what kings ? We reply, in the days ofthe kings or kingdoms, represented by thefeet and toes of the great image, shownin dream to Nebuchadnezzar. This isevident from the 34th verse, " Thou saw-est till that a stone was cut out withouthands, which smote the image upon hisfeet that were of iron and clay, and breakthem to pieces." Nebuchadnezzar saw asuccession of kingdoms, each representedby different parts of the image. His ownkingdom was represented by the head ofgold. Next in succession was that of theMedes and Persians : the third was theMacedonian under Alexander: the fourthwas the Romans. These four kingdomswere represented by the head of gold, thebreast and arms of silver, the belly andthighs of brass, and the legs of iron : andin order that the image might be complete,the feet and toes had to be formed : thesewere constructed from the divided stateof the Roman empire, the ten toes, repre-senting the ten kingdoms, growing out ofthe iron legs, or the eastern and westernempire of the Romans : or, in other words,the feet and toes of the image representall the broken fragments of the oncepowerful empire of Rome, which havebeen or shall be, down until the wholeimage is entirely destroyed. All theEuropean kingdoms, together with thenations now inhabiting America who areof European extraction, are the feet andtoes of the great image shown to theking of Babylon.

The Roman monarchy was the last whichruled over the eastern continent with al-almost universal dominion : all other king..doors and governments, growing out of

308 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT.

it since that day, have been comparativelyfeeble, which is literally foretold in theprophecy.

" And whereas thou sawest the feet andtoes, part of potters' clay, and part ofiron, the kingdom shall be divided ; butthere shall be in it of the strength of theiron, forasmuch as thou sawest the ironmixed with miry clay. And as the toesof the feet were part of iron, and part ofclay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong,and partly broken. And whereas thousawest iron mixed with miry clay, theyshall mingle themselves with the seed ofmen : but they shall not cleave one toanother, even as iron is not mixed withclay." (Verses 41, 42, 43.)

All who are acquainted with the historyof the European kingdoms will perceivehow the kings and rulers have mingledthemselves with the seed of men by mar-riages; those of one nation forming ma-trimonial alliances with those of another ;but notwithstanding all this, they do " notcleave one to another, even as iron is notmixed with clay." Hence there havebeen many wars among these nationsfrom time to time, and there will stillcontinue to be. And their marriage rela-tions will not prevent them from fight-ing and seeking each other's overthrow.Some of these nations have, in some smalldegree, the strength of the iron in them,but it is so mixed with the miry clay, thatthere is no stability or security for them,as was the case in relation to the fourgreat monarchies who preceded them.

The cause of their weakness and in-stability is owing to the great diversity ofreligious and political view S entertainedby the people ; and the Op' ession of thepoor, and the great inequa ity of classes,and the awful corruption, wickedness, andabominations existing in every grade ofsociety. With all these elements at work,the whole heterogeneous mass of iron andclay is kept in constant agitation, foment-ing and heaving to and fro, like the trou-bled ocean, tossed in wild commotion, andwhose billows find no rest. In this rest-less, fearful state, they have continuedfrom generation to generation, as the oldmuddy, miry, clayey feet and toes, plas-tered on to the old rusty iron legs of theancient empire of Rome. The old ironbands, by which the muddy, clayey feethave been kept from crumbling to pieces,are nearly rusted asunder, and the wholeimage is waxed old, and full of wrinklesand bruises, and putrifying sores, and

trembles under its own weight, as if con-scious of a sudden downfall and speedydissolution. If a small stone were to rollfrom the mountains and smite the oldgentleman's feet, they would crumble topieces ; and before he had time to procurecrutches, his whole body, clay, iron, brass,silver, and gold, would fall with a tre-mendous crash, breaking the whole asfine as the chaff of the summer threshingfloors, which would be blown away by thewinds of heaven, and no more place onthe earth be found for them.

Many long centuries before these feetand toes were formed, the Saviour esta-blished His Church on the earth by His firstadvent. This occurred in the days of theiron legs: and so strong and powerful wasthe iron kingdom that in time it " madewar with the Saints, and prevailed againstthem." "And it waxed great, even to thehost of heaven : and it cast down some ofthe host and of the stars to the ground,and stamped upon them. Yea, he magni-fied himself even to the prince of the host,and by him the daily sacrifice was takenaway, and the place of his sanctuary wascast down. And an host was given himagainst the daily sacrifice by reason oftransgression, and it cast down the truthto the ground ; and it practised, and pros-pered." (Daniel vi. 21, and viii. 10, 11,12.)

" And his power shall be mighty, butnot by his own power ; and he shall de-stroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, andpractise, and shall destroy the mighty andthe holy people." (Verse 24.)

" Therefore he shall be grieved, andreturn, and have indignation against theholy covenant : so shall he do ; he shalleven return, and have intelligence withthem that forsake the holy covenant. Andarms shall stand on his part, and they shallpollute the sanctuary of strength, andshall take away the daily sacrifice, andthey shall place the abomination thatmaketh desolate. And such as do wick-edly against the covenant shall he corruptby flatteries : but the people that do knowtheir God shall be strong, and do exploits.And they that understand among thepeople shall instruct many : yet they shallfall by the sword, and by flame, by cap-tivity, and by spoil, many days. Nowwhen they shall fall, they shall be holpenwith a little help : but many shall cleaveto them with flatteries. And some ofthem of understanding shall fall, to trythem, and to purge, and to make them

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 3O9

white, even to the time of the end : be-cause it is yet for a time appointed. Andthe king shall do according to his will ;and he shall exalt himself above everygod, and shall speak marvellous thingsagainst the God of gods, and shall prospertill the indignation be accomplished : forthat that is determined shall he done."(Daniel xi. 30-36.)

This same wicked power is described byJohn the Itevelator under the name ofthe beast with seven heads and ten horns :he says-

" And all the world wondered after thebeast. And they worshipped the dragonwhich gave power unto the beast : andthey worshipped the beast, saying, Whois like unto the beast ? who is able to makewar with him ? And there was givenunto him a mouth speaking great thingsand blasphemies ; and power was givenunto him to continue forty and two months.And he opened his mouth in blasphemyagainst God, to blaspheme his name, andhis tabernacle, and them that dwell inheaven. And it was given unto him tomake war with the Saints, and to over-come them : and power was given himover all kindreds, and tongues, and na-tions." (Revelations ;iii. 3-7.)

In these quotations it is clearly pre-dicted that the Saints, composing theChurch and kingdom of Christ, were tohave war made against them ; and thatthe beast, assisted by the dragon or devil,would prevail against, overcome, and de-stroy theni ; and that they were to fall bythe sword, by flame, and by captivity ; andthat many should forsake the holy cove-nant, and many should cleave to them byflatteries; and so complete was to be thetriumph of the beast, that all the worldshould wonder after him, and worship thedragon that gave him power: "and powerwas given him over all kindreds, andtongues, and nations."

What then became of the kingdom ofChrist, established at his first advent ? itwas caught up unto God and to Histhrone, having passed through great tri-bulation, while it tarried on the earth :but the world being unworthy of so glori-ous a kingdom, it fled from earth to hea-ven ; and all kindreds, and tongues, andnations were left without the least vestigeof the kingdom among them, except itsancient history, called the New Testament.

The kingdom of Christ having been en-tirely rooted out of the earth, the dragon,in order to hush the cortsciences of men,

invented a spurious religion, and gave itthe sacred name of Christian, and palmedit off upon all kindreds, tongues, and na-tions ; from this apostate religion, formedby the dragon, sprang all the Catholic,Greek, and Protestant religions whichhave so extensively prevailed among all thegenerations and nations who have formedthe feet and toes of the great image whichis destined to be broken in pieces andutterly destroyed.

As the powers of the earth have driventhe kingdom of Christ from among men,and entirely banished it from the earth,it is evident that it was not the kingdomof God which Daniel predicted should to-tally destroy the image. The first advent,therefore, was not the time for the stoneto be cut from the mountain withouthands. The great image made war uponthe former-day kingdom and overcame it,while the latter-day kingdom will smitethe feet and toes of the image, and thewhole mixed and corrupt mass will bedashed to pieces together. The former-day kingdom of Christ was set up in thedays of the iron legs of the image ; thelatter-day kingdom of God is set up afterthe feet and toes have been attached. Theformer-day kingdom was itself to be de-stroyed from the earth ; the latter-daykingdom should never be destroyed, butshould stand for ever, and should becomea great mountain and fill the whole earth.

It should be borne in mind that Nebu-chadnezzar saw successive portions of theimage formed, until it was completed inall its parts, from the head of gold to thefeet and toes of iron and clay ; and it wasnot till after the image stood complete inall its parts before him, in a form majesticand terrible, that he saw the stone rollingfrom the mountains. Hence Daniel, afterhaving described to the king the vision ofthe whole image, even to the toes, says," Thou sawest till that a stone was cutout without hands which smote the imageupon his Tea." This expression mostclearly shows that the cutting of the stonefrom the mountain was a work of a laterperiod than the formation of the feet andtoes. The king of Babylon saw kingdomsucceeding kingdom, and his vision ex-tended down till he saw something en-tirely distinct from the image—a some-thing that had no connexion whateverwith the corrupt powers and kingdoms ofman's formation—a something cut froma mountain without hands, that is, notfounded by the hands of man—a some-

310 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT.thing in a mountain or high place — asomething that had no fellowship for theiron and clayey toes and feet, but imme-diately smote them, and they had nopower to stand before it, but were brokento pieces, and all the powers included inthe image were utterly destroyed, and noplace was found for them ; while that victo-rious stone increased till it filled the wholeearth. This latter-day kingdom, then,was the last thing seen in the grandpanorama of kingdoms that passed beforehim. And it was not to be set up at thefirst advent, but as Daniel said to theking, " There is a God in heaven that re-vealeth secrets, and maketh known to theking Nebuchadnezzar what shall be inthe latter days." It was a propheticscenery, reaching to the latter times,showing him how man-made governmentsshould be destroyed, and how the Divinegovernment should succeed and triumph,and have universal and everlasting domi-nion on the earth.

It has been supposed by some that thekingdom, represented by the stone, wasnot to be set up by the God of heavenuntil the second advent, when Christcomes to reign on the earth. But thisview of the prophecy is no less erroneousthan the supposition of its being set upeighteen hundred years ago. If Christshould not set up his kingdom until hecomes in his glory, there would be noSaints on the earth ready to be caughtup to meet him ; for we have alreadyshown that the former day kingdom nowhere exists on the earth, but has beenprevailed against and overcome, and no-thing is left but man-made churches andgovernments among all kindreds, tongues,and nations. If this had not been thecase—if the kingdom had continued on theearth during the last eighteen centuries,there would have been no necessity for itsbeing set up. It would be folly to saythat the kingdom of England should beset up, if it were already in existence ; solikewise, it would be an absurdity to pro-phesy that the kingdom of God should beset up to destroy the powers representedby the great image, if such kingdom hadalready been on the earth for eighteencenturies. But from the fact that it wasto be set up after the feet and toes of theimage had been formed, it is demonstratedthat the earth at the time had no suchkingdom on it : and being destitute of suchkingdom, the God of heaven was under thenecessity of cutting it out of the mountain

without hands, and of setting it up by hisown power.

That this kingdom is to be set up beforethe second advent, is still further evidentfrom the prediction that "the stone thatsmote the image became a great mountain,and filled the whole earth." At the timeof its first origin it is " cut out of themountain ;" from which fact it mustbe much smaller than the mountainfrom which it is taken ; and while of thisdiminutive size, it smites the image uponthe feet and toes ; but it rapidly increasesin magnitude till it becomes a mountain,not a- mall one, but " a great mountain,and filled the whole earth." In this pro-phecy, it is clearly expressed that in thefirst origin of this kingdom, it is verysmall, not a mighty rock or a mountain,but a stone cut from a mountain, and thatit rapidly grows to an exceedingly greatmagnitude, till the whole earth is filled by it.

Now, if the kingdom were not to be setup till the second advent, it would at onceappear in its full size and grandeur ; forwhen Christ comes, he brings all his Saintsan holy angels with him ; and instead ofa stone from the mountain, the kingdomwould at once fill the whole heavens, andthen the earth.

The cutting of the stone from the mown.tain shows also that the kingdom is notfirst seen in the clouds of heaven in all itsglorious majesty, but that it is a kingdomset up on the earth in a high place ormountainous region. Its location mustevidently be near the extremities of thefeet and toes of the image.

The locality of the powers, forming theimage, are known. The first two greatmonarchies, forming the head, breast, andarms, are found in the western parts ofAsia : the third, in the eastern borders ofEurope, extending into Asia ; the fourth,including the feet and toes, are found inEurope, the United States, and other na-tions of America of European origin. Rem.nants of all the nations, forming the image,are still in existence, though not in theirformer grandeur and greatness. The head,breast, and arms, belly and thighs, andiron legs still exist, as well as the feet andtoes, though in a weak and feeble condi-tion ; and they will all continue to existuntil a kingdom of divine origin shallcome down from the mountains upon thefeet and toes ; and then comes the mightycrash of republics, kingdoms, thrones,and empires, all desolated—all destroyed,no more to rise again; no more place on

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 311earth can be found for them. In their 'place Saints will live and reign, governed,not by human, but by divine laws ; andthis universal kingdom will not, like theformer ones, be taken from one people andtransferred to another ; but the people ofthe Saints of the most High will possess itfor ever and ever, and God Himself willbe their King and their Law Giver.

Having learned from Daniel's prophecy,that " in the latter days," God's kingdomis to be set up to abolish all other king-doms, and that it will be located in amountain, and that the subjects of thiskingdom will be called the Saints of theMost High, let us next inquire into themanner of setting up this kingdom. Itmight be expected, that a work of suchgreat magnitude, involving the interestsof all the world, would be a subject fre-quently referred to by inspired writers. WeEnd accordingly, that many have spoken ofit,and predicted many events in relation to it.

To set up the kingdom of God on theearth would require a restoration of au-thority to minister the principles, ordinan-ces, and laws of that kingdom, or, in otherwords, authority to preach the gospel ofthe kingdom and minister its ordinances.In what manner is it predicted that thisauthority is to be restored to the earth ?It certainly has not existed among menfor many generations: if so, the kingdomwould have been among them, and therewould have been no necessity to set it up.Therefore, as certain as the kingdom ofGod is to be set up, so were all mankindto be destitute of authority to minister itsordinances and laws. Can any one, for amoment, suppose that God has authorizedministers of the gospel on the earth, andyet there is no kingdom ? The very ideais an absurdity too glaring to be harbouredby the most ignorant. If He has no king-dom, he has no authorized ministry amongmen ; and if this be the case, the Gospelcan not be embraced, so far as its ordi-nances are concerned. Baptism, confir-mation, and the Lord's supper, can notbe legally ministered or received : no ordi-nation or office can be legally conferred.Therefore the setting up of the kingdom,includes the restoration of the gospel, anda gospel ministry, with all the powers, gifts,and blessings of the same. These thingscould not be restored, short of somethingbeing revealed anew from heaven. Theinfinitely important question to be solvedis, How have the scriptures predicted thatthe gospel should be restored ?

The Revelator John, in his great visionon Patmos, was permitted to behold therestoration of the gospel to our fallen world.He says,

" And I saw another angel fly in themidst of heaven, having the everlastinggospel to preach unto them that dwell onthe earth, and to every nation, and kindred,and tongue, and people." (Rev. xiv. 6.)This prophetic vision most clearly shows,that when the " everlasting gospel " isrestored to our earth, an angel is to be theimportant personage who will fly fromheaven to earth with the glad tidings.We furthermore learn that when theangel brings this gospel " every nationand kindred, and tongue, and people," areto have it preached to them. Will thisangel himself, come down on the face ofthe earth, and travel about from place toplace, from city to city, from nation tonation, preaching, baptizing, confirming,and ministering the Lord's supper ? No :if one angel, alone, should undertake toattend to all these matters, it would takemany thousand years for him to fulfil hismission. Will he merely fly over the variousnations, proclaiming, as with a voice ofthunder, the gospel in their ears, and com-mand them to obey all the sacred ordin-ances of the same? No : for this wouldbe of no benefit to the nations, unless theyhad an authorized ministry on the earth,who could baptize the penitent for theremission of sins, and confirm the HolyGhost upon them by the laying on ofhands. Therefore, we are compelled tobelieve, that when this angel comes fromheaven to restore the gospel, he willrestore the authority also to preach it ;and that these chosen vessels, being or-dained by an angel, will be commanded topreach the gospel, and baptise, and ordainothers, and thus reorganize the kingdomof God on the earth, according to theprediction of Daniel. When the kingdomof Christ was organized on the earth,eighteen centuries ago, it was by callingapostles, prophets, and other officers, andinspiring them with the gifts of revelations,visions, and prophecy, and with all othersupernatural gifts, requisite to preach theGospel and build up the kingdom amongmen. And when the kingdom of God isrestored to the earth in the latter days,it is to be expected that it will resemblethe one of former days.

At the time the angel comes with theeverlasting gospel in order to set God'skingdom upon the earth, he finds the people

312 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT.of the whole earth destitute of these gladtidings. Not even one, among all theunnumbered millions, who has receivedthe Gospel. It is true they have the his-tory of others receiving it in ancient times,recorded in the New Testament ; butwhat benefit is the history of others' en-joyments, unless they themselves can bebaptized and receive the same gifts, powers,and blessings ? What benefit to a hungryman would it be to read the history ofthe people anciently feasting upon theloaves and fishes, unless he himself couldpartake and eat ? Though the nationscan read the history of the three thou-sand being baptized on the day of Pente-cost for the remission of their sins, thiswill do them no good, as they have killedoff the ancient Saints, and destroyed everyvestige of divine authority from the earth,and there is no one left to baptize themfor a remission of their sins. Thoughthey can read of the history of Peterand John laying their hand upon baptizedbelievers, and confirming upon them thegift of the Holy Ghost, yet they are leftwith the sad reflection, that there areno authorized apostles to confirm thisgreat gift upon them ; though they canread the history of the Saints partakingof bread and wine to commemorate thedeath and sufferings of Christ, yet thereis no authorized minister to officiate ingiving them these sacred emblems : andto receive any of these holy ordinancesfrom unauthorized men would prove acurse to them instead of a blessing. Inthis sad, benighted, and forlorn condition,they can read what the Gospel is —what authority is necessary to ministerits ordinances—and what its gifts, powers,and blessings are : but alas! there is noone to minister it to them.

The Lord, beholding the wretched con-dition of all nations, determined to sendan angel from heaven to restore the ever-lasting gospel, and give all nations, kin-dreds, tongues, and people, one more op-portunity to come into his kingdom, decree-ing that if they would not obey it, thekingdom should roll upon them and breakthem to pieces, and blot out their very namesfrom under heaven. Connected with themessage of the Gospel was another pro-clamation of a most fearful nature. Thesame angel was to cry, " Saying with aloud voice, Fear God, and give glory toHim; for the hour of his judgment iscome." (Verse 7.) dignation." But first, in order that God

The period when the angels commits ► may be just in inflicting these severe

this Gospel to man on earth, is peculiarlycharacterized as " the hour of His judg..rent." In order to more clearly under-stand what is meant by " the hour of Hisjudgment," we are told in the followingverses, that,

" There followed another angel, saymg,Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,because she made all nations drink ofthe wine of the wrath of her fornica.tion."

And the third angel followed them,saying with a loud voice, if any manworship the beast and his image, and re.ceive his mark in his forehead, or in hishand, the same shall drink of the wine ofthe wrath of God, which is poured outwithout mixture into the cup of His in-dignation ; and he shall be tormentedwith fire and brimstone in the presence ofthe holy angels, and in the presence of theLamb : And the smoke of their tormentascendeth up for ever and ever : and theyhave no rest day nor night, who worshipthe beast and his image, and whosoeverreceiveth the mark of his name." (Verses8-11.)

To read those passages, and contem-plate the fearful doom of all the apostatenations that live on the earth at the timethe angel restores the message of theGospel, is truly calculated to make oneshudder at the awful and most terriblejudgments denounced against them. Fromthese passages, it is certain that the greatmass of the apostate Christian nations,under the name of " the beast and hisimage" will reject the " everlasting gos-pel" that the angel brings, which ripensthem for the sore judgments that are im-mediately to follow. They are the oneswho are to " be tormented with fire andbrimstone ;" they are the ones who areto " have no rest day nor night," but" The smoke of their torment ascendethup for ever and ever ; " they are the oneswho constitute the old worn-out corruptimage of Nebuchadnezzar ; they are theones whom the Lord designates greatBabylon, of whom the angel is to proclaimthe downfall ; they are the ones who havecorrupted all kindreds, tongues, and na-tions, with their false doctrines, theirwhoredoms, and with " the wine of thewrath of their fornications ; " they are theones who shall be made " to drink of thewine of the wrath of God, which is pouredout without mixture into the cup of His in-

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 313judgments, He offers them His gospelwhich He has sent His angel to restore tothe earth ; but they will close their eyes,ears, and hearts against it : they will rejectit, as Pharaoh and the Egyptians rejectedthe proclamation of Moses and Aaron ;they will scorn it as the antediluviansscorned the message of Noah ; they willtreat it with the same contempt that theSodomites did the message of the angelsto Lot. And as the cities of the plainwere punished with the vengeance of eter-nal fire, so shall these be punished withfire and brimstone, where their wormdieth not, neither is their fire quenched.

Having learned from the Scriptures theexact way in which the Gospel is to berestored, and God's kingdom to be set up;and having also learned that these mar-vellous events are immediately to precedethe downfall of Babylon or the greatimage of Nebuchadnezzar; or, in otherwords, the utter destruction and abolish-ment of the apostate Christian nationsinhabiting Europe, Western Asia, andAmerica, let us next enquire if there areany indications of the angel's having comewith the gospel.

First, we have no reasons why he maynot come in our day. There are noprophecies, that we are aware of, thatneed fulfilling, before the angel comes.The whole political organization of thenations corresponds, in every particular,with the predicted state of society, asit should exist at the time of thismemorable event. The feet and toes ofthe image have been long in existence ;Babylon, the mother of harlots and abomi-nations of the earth, has been indefatigablein spreading her corrupt principles amongall the nations and kindreds of the earth ;the nations have greedily swallowed thefilthiness and abomination of her goldencup, by which they have been made drun-ken with the wine of her forrications. Allthings, according to the prophecies, seemto be in the most perfect readiness for theangel to descend from heaven with themessage of the Gospel, connected with amessage of judgment.

But has the angel yet come ? Go to theRoman Catholics and ask them. Theywill tell you that they are the Church andkingdom of God —that their authority hasbeen transferred direct from the apostles—and that there is no need of an angel'scoming with the everlasting Gospel ; forthey have it already ; and it would besuperfluous for an angel to bring some-

thing that they have had long before Johnsaw his vision on Patmos. Next go tothe Greek Church, among the Russiansand other nations, and ask them if anangel has lately come from heaven with amessage of the everlasting Gospel, in-tended for all nations, kindreds, tongues,and people, and they will be ready toput you in prison for daring to ask sucha question. They will consider it thehighest blasphemy, for you to dare to callin question their ancient and veneratedreligion : they will inform you that theirChurch has had the everlasting Gospelamong them ever since the first advent ofthe Messiah. Last of all, go to the Pro-testants—to every name, and sect, anddenomination, from those established bylaw to the dissenter of yesterday ; askthem all, if an angel has made his appear-ance from heaven to any of them, havingthe everlasting Gospel to preach to allpeople upon the face of the whole earth ;and you will hear a united voice, ascend-ing from all their ranks and grades,saying, " We have the everlasting Gospelin the New Testament — we have thekingdom of God among us and in ourhearts; and this everlasting Gospel andkingdom have been on the earth eversince the first advent ; and we have au-thorized ministers to administer all theordinances of the Gospel; and there is noneed of an angel's coming from heavenwith the Gospel, when we already have it ;there is no need of God's setting up Hiskingdom on the earth, when it is alreadyon the earth, and has been for more thaneighteen centuries."

Thus, after you have inquired of theCatholics, Greeks, and Protestants invain ; and can get no information of theappearance of the angel ; but learn fromall of theta, that such an event is whollyunnecessary, you will, perhaps, concludethat Daniel and John were mistaken ; or,if not mistaken, that they had referenceto some mystery, not for man to know, orto be understoo I in some mysterioussense : thus you may endeavour to hushyot- a fears, and to quiet your minds, andto think that all is well, and that the trueChurch is indeed on the earth, and isgreatly flourishing, according to theunited testimony of the whole of Chris-tendom.

But stop 1 Do not be too hasty in yourconclusions. This is a subject of toogreat importance to pass over with somefew slight inquiries. Remember that your


inquiries have been limited to those verypowers who are to be destroyed, becausethey reject the Gospel message of theangel—to the very powers, called Baby-lon—the most corrupt and soul-destroyingof all other powers: it is not, therefore, tobe expected, that you will find them re-joicing in anticipation of the angel ; it isnot to he supposed, that an event so op-posed to their views, would find any fa-vour among them. Go, now, to somepeople entirely disconnected with them ;make your inquiries of them. If you goto the heathen nations of Asia, Africa, orthe Islands of the sea, they will tell youthat they know nothing about Christ,angels, or the Gospel : therefore, you canobtain no information from them uponthis subject.

There remains one more people, gather-ed out of the nations, isolated by them-selves, dwelling far up in the sequesteredvales of the Rocky mountains ; go andinquire of them if an angel has come withthe everlasting Gospel to preach to allpeople, tongues, and nations : they willwith one united voice answer, yes : theywill tell you that in the year 1827, Godsent an holy angel from heaven, and com-mitted into the hands of Joseph Smith,the sacred records of ancient America,containing the fulness of the everlastingGospel : they will tell you that after theProphet Joseph translated these records bythe aid of the Urim and Thummim, the an-gel appeared unto three others, and showedthem the plates of gold, containing thiseverlasting Gospel, at the same time,commanding them to bear their testimonyto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peo-ple to whom the record should be sent :they will tell you that on the sixth day ofApril, in the year 1880, God set upHis kingdom by giving written command-ments and revelations : they will tell you,that chosen men were ordained under thehand of angels to preach this Gospel, andordain others, through the gift of prophecyand revelation : they will tell you thatGod commanded His servants by His ownvoice and by the voice of angels to preachthis Gospel to every nation, kindred, andtongue : they will tell you, that throughthe preaching of this Gospel, and by thecommandment of the Most High, thechildren of the kingdom are being gather-ed from the nations unto the peacefulvales of the great Rocky mountains, form-ing the divided ridge between the greatAtlantic and Pacific oceans: they will tell

you that God has, indeed, set up Hiskingdom as a stone upon the mountains :they will tell you that it will roll forthfrom the mountain tops, increasing ingreatness, in power, in majesty, and indominion : they will tell you that it is des-tined to fill the whole earth, and to con-tinue forever and ever.

Here then, dear reader, you find a peo-ple that answers every description, pointedout by the prophets ; not one feature islacking. Did John testify that an angelshould fly, having the everlasting Gospel ?this people testify of its fulfilment, andpresent you with the Book of Mormon,containing it, already translated into manyforeign languages. Did Daniel testifythat God should set up His king-dom in the latter-days ? This people tes-tify that they were set up by special com-mandments and revelations, and presentyou with the books containing them.Did Daniel prophesy that the latter- daykingdom should be " cut from the moun-tain without hands ?" this people arebeing gathered to the mountains, as theappropriate position of the stone. Didthe former-day kingdom have inspiredapostles and prophets ? the latter-day onehas the same. Did signs follow the be-lievers in the former-day kingdom ? thesame is true of this people. Did the former-day kingdom receive their laws andcommandments by revelation from thegreat king ? the latter-day kingdom aregoverned by new revelation in the samemanner. Not one ordinance, command-ment, law, gift, or blessing, pertaining tothe kingdom of God, is lacking : not oneitem of prophecy, pertaining to the settingup of this kingdom, has failed. Yet, withall this overwhelming testimony, apostateChristendom will reject it, and perish ;and their nations and kingdoms be blot-ted out of existence ; for the kingdom ofGod shall smite them, and they shallcrumble to pieces and be known no more.This is the decree of heaven from ancienttimes, and no nation can thwart the pur-poses of Jehovah.

If any should feel disposed to admit thetruth of Daniel's and John's prophecies,butyet be unwilling to believe that the Churchof the Latter-day Saints is the kingdompredicted : we would ask such the follow-ing questions—

Where else will you go to find a peoplethat fulfil the terms of the prophecy ?Where else will you go to find a peoplethat even believe that an angel must come

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 315with the Gospel ? Where else can youfind a people that even profess that theyhave been set up, by express revelation, asa kingdom, representing the stone of themountains ? Where else do you find apeople, claiming that God has by an angelrestored the authority and ordained Apos-tles ? As you can find no other people,professing to have all these characteristics,are you not compelled to admit that theseprophecies have not been fulfilled, unlessin the setting up of the Church of theLatter-day Saints ? If you reject them,as being the kingdom predicted, on whatgrounds do you reject them ? Is thereany discrepancy or imperfection in theirdoctrines ? Is there anything which youcan prove false or contrary to the Gospeltaught by our Saviour and his Apostles ?Is there any office lacking, which was inthe ancient church ? Is there anythingin the Book of Mormon, or in any of theirbooks of revelation, that is contrary tosound doctrine? If, then, you cannot re-ject them upon any of these grounds, doyou not run a fearful hazard by rejectingthem as not being the kingdom predicted?Do you say, that though you can find noother people that answer the terms of theprophecy, yet you look for such a peoplehereafter to arise ? What assurances haveyou that you would believe in their testi-mony, any more than you do in the Lat-ter-day Saints ? In what respects wouldthey differ from this church ? Wouldthey have any doctrine, or ordinance, orprinciple, or office, or power, or gift thatthis Church have not got ? Would therebe any mark or sign by which you coulddistinguish a people whom you expect toarise, from this people? If you believethis is not the predicted kingdom, mustyou not look for another precisely like it ?Must you not look for one which will tes-tify that an angel is come with a messageof the Gospel, connected with a proclama-tion of judgment ? If it did not testifyof this, would you believe it to be theLatter-day kingdom predicted ? Oh, then,when you see all these predicted charac-teristics connected with this people, whywill you doubt ? Why will you join withapostate Christendom in condemningthem ? Why follow popular opinion andpursue the broad road, thronged by themultitudes ? Why not realize and lay itto heart that the gate is strait and theway narrow that leads to truth, happiness,and eternal life ?

We commenced ttiis article with the

intention of pointing out some of the greatleading events that are to take place, priorto the second advent. We have alreadypointed out several, namely, the comingof the angel—the restoration of the Gos-pel—the preaching of the same to all na-tions—the setting up of the kingdom ofGod—and the breaking to pieces of thegreat image, or in other words, the down-fall of Babylon. To show still more clearly,that these are events immediately preceed-ing the glorious appearing of our Lord,the revelator John, after seeing the angelwith the Gospel fly, says-

" And I looked, and behold a whitecloud, and upon the cloud one sat likeunto the Son of man, having on his heada golden crown, and in his hand a sharpsickle.

" And another angel came out of thetemple, crying with a loud voice to himthat sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle,and reap : for the time is come for thee toreap ; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.And he that sat o f the cloud thrust in hissickle on the earth ; and the earth wasreaped.

" And another angel came out of thetemple which is in heaven, he also havinga sharp sickle.

" And another angel came out from thealtar, which had power over fire ; andcried with a loud cry to him that had thesharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharpsickle, and gather the clusters of the vineof the earth ; for her grapes are fully ripe.And the angel thrust in his sickle into theearth, and gathered the vine of the earth,and cast it into the great wine-press ofthe wrath of God. And the wine-presswas trodden without the city, and bloodcame out of the wine-press, even unto thehorse bridles, by the space of a thousandand six hundred furlongs." (Rev. xiv.14-20.)

Thus it can be perceived that shortlyafter the angelic message of the Gospel isrevealed, the Son of man is beheld sittingupon a white cloud, with a sharp sickle ;and the harvest of the earth is reaped :that is, the wheat is cut and lifted up intothe cloud, and the vine of the earth isgathered into the great wine-press of thewrath of God, and trodden without thecity. The Gospel message, then, broughtby the angel, is the great preparatorymessage for the second advent of the Sonof man in a cloud.

This kingdom which the God of hea-ven was to set up, is frequently mention.


ed in the prophecies, under the name ofZion. Hence the Psalmist says-

4, When the Lord shall build up Zion,He shall appear in His glory." (Psalmell. 16.)

This is an additional evidence that Zionnowhere existed on the earth—that theCatholics, Greeks, and Protestants, whocall themselves Zion, are assuming a namethat in nowise belongs to them ; for Zionwas not to be built up, until immediatelyprior to the Lord's appearing in His glory.If it had already existed for upwards ofeighteen centuries, there would be nonecessity for building it up; but inasmuchas the Lord has not yet appeared in Hisglory, we know that Zion could not haveexisted on the earth for so many centu-ries, as the most of religious societies havethe presumption to assert. It is a latter-day work; it is a people especially pre-pared for the coming of the Lord in Hisglory : it is not a work brought about byhuman wisdom ; but, it is the Lord, Him-self, who builds up Zion.

Perhaps some may object to this Churchbeing the kingdom of God, from the factthat its first origin was not in the moun-tains, whereas Daniel says, that the stoneshall be cut out of the mountain withouthands. But we ask, does Daniel say, thatthe first origin of the stone was in themountain ? Or does he not rather say,that it was to be taken from the moun-tain about the time that it should smitethe feet of the image ? We answer, thatit is very evident, that the mountain is theplace from which it is taken when thefull time shall arrive for the image to besmitten.

In order to show that a mountain isnot the place of the first origin of Zion,we will quote a prophetic exhortation ofIsaiah in relation to it.

" 0 Zion, that bringest good tidings,get thee up into the high mountain."(Isaiah xl. 9.)

That this prophetic exhortation wasaddressed to the latter-day Zion is evidentfrom the next verse.

" Behold, the Lord God will come withstrong hand, and His arm shall rule forHim : behold, His reward is with Him, andHis work before Him." (verse 10.)

Before the Lord God comes with astrong hand, to rule in great glory, Hewill, as the Psalmist says, "build upZion : " and this people, called Zion, willbring glad tidings, and be commanded,as Isaiah says, to "get up into the high moun-

tain." It is certain, then, that Zion, orthe kingdom, does not take its first originin the mountains ; but after having beenbuilt up, it is commanded to take itsjourney up to the mountains, and to belocated in its appropriate position, againstthe time when it shall roll, as a stone, tosmash the old Babylonish image.

Consequently, the very fact, that theChurch of Latter-day Saints did not ori-ginate in a mountainous country, but arenow going up by thousands annually "intothe high mountain," is an additional evi-dence of no small importance that theyare, in very deed, the real Zion of the lat.-ter-days, built up by the Lord's own hand,preparatory to His coming.

It will be noticed that the people whomIsaiah addresses as Zion, and whom heexhorts to " Get up into the high moun-tain," are those who bring " good tidings."Now what tidings could be more joyfulthan those of the fulness of the everlast-ing Gospel ? The Gospel is frequentlydefined to be glad tidings. Indeed, with-out the Gospel, Zion could not be builtup. And as this work does not takeplace until just before the coming of theLord, it is evident that prior to that allpeople must have been, for a long time,without the Gospel : but being restoredto the earth by an angel, Zion are thepeople who receive it ; they are the oneswho bring good tidings. When Isaiah,enwrapt in prophetic vision, saw Zion inthe high mountains, and saw them tend-ing forth hundreds of missionaries to thenations afar off, with the good tidings ofthe Gospel, he exclaimed-

" How beautiful upon the mountainsare the feet of him that bringeth goodtidings, that publisheth peace; that bring..eth good tidings of good, that publishethsalvation ; that saith unto Zion, Thy Godreigneth ! Thy watchmen shall lift upthe voice ; with the voice together shadthey sing : for they shall see eye to eye,when the Lord shall bring again Zion."(Isaiah lii. 7, 8.)

Beautiful, indeed, upon the mountains,are the messengers of Zion ! they go forthto the nations, with a proclamation to allpeople, " That the Lord hath foundedZion, and the poor of His people shalltrust in it." As an evidence that thepoor trust in Zion for a place of deliver-ance, see them come from the islands andfrom the nations afar off! see mightyships spread forth their sails to the windsof heaven, filled with Zion's children !

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 317hear their cheerful songs, as they are swift-ly carried up the rolling current of thebroad majestic ri.rers of Zion's land ! seethem launch forth upon the almost bound-less prairies that lie stretched out like avast sea of meadows before them ! Theseare the pastures of the Lord, covered witha luxuriant growth of grass, and bespan-gled with the flowers of Eden! Here,week after week, and month after monththe joyful camps of Zion move slowly on !Here they gradually ascend the greathighway of the redeemed, till they gainthe mountain tops, and descending intothe lovely vales of Ephraim, they greettheir friends, and shout aloud for joy !How beautifully has Isaiah described thisgreat highway of the Saints.

" They shall feed in the ways, and theirpastures shall be in all high places. Theyshall not hunger nor thirst ; neither shallthe heat nor sun smite them : for Hethat bath mercy on them shall lead them,even by the springs of water shall Heguide them. And I will make all mymountains a way, and my highways shallbe exalted. Behold these shall come fromfar : and lo, these from the north and fromthe west ; and these from the land ofSinim. Sing, 0 heavens : and be joyful,0 earth ; and break forth into singing,0 mountains : for the Lord bath com-forted His people, and will have mercyupon His afflicted." (Isaiah xlix. 9—13. )

Throughout this long journey, springsof water abound in every direction ; andthe Lord truly has made His " mountainsa way," and exalted His highways uponthem, and spread out His " pastures inall high places," where the flocks of Hispeople feed, among the wild buffalo, thedeer, and the elk.

Behold the children of Zion spreadforth upon the mountains, upon the hills,and in the vales, surrounded with theirnumerous flocks and herds ! see theirgranaries and storehouses full to over-flowing with the rich products of the earth !see her children and the rising generationflocking by thousands to her schools, heracadarnies, and her numerous institutionsof learning ! look at her manufacturers,her mechanics, and her artists, all indus-triously engaged to produce from the rawmaterial everything necessary for the com-fort and well-being of the people ! Be-hold her borders enlarged by the emigra-ting thousands that annually pour in uponthem from many nations ! and then read

the prophecy of Isaiah concerning herprosperity, and rejoice.

" For the Lord shall comfort Zion :He will comfort all her waste places ; andHe will make her wilderness like Eden,and her desert like the garden of theLord ; joy and gladness shall be foundtherein, thanksgiving, and the voice ofmelody." (Isaiah li. 3.)

From the passages which we have al-ready quoted, it will be perceived that thelatter-day kingdom or Zion is to be form-ed by the gathering of those who receivethe Gospel. That instead of remainingscattered abroad, they will be required togather in one. This feature of the latter..day kingdom is one dwelt upon largely bythe inspired writers. Jesus said-

" The kingdom of heaven is like unto anet, that was cast into the sea, and ga-thered of every kind : which, when it wasfull, they drew to shore, and sat down,and gathered the good into vessels, butcast the bad away. So shall it be at theend of the world : the angels shall comeforth, and sever the wicked from amongthe just, and shall cast them into the fur-nace of fire ; there shall be wailing andgnashing of teeth." (Mat xiii. 47-50.)

The kingdom here spok,,n of is not theone then built up, but the one that was tobe set up just before " the end of theworld," not the end of the earth, but theend of the wicked world. Both good andbad are gathered into the kingdom : bothgood and bad are drawn to the shore—allprofessing to be the children of the king-dom. This has no reference to any, but thosewho are called the children of the king-dom. The final separation of these wick-ed characters does not take place till afterthey are gathered out from the nationsand then it will be done by angels whowill sever them from among the just.The same thing is represented in the pa-rable of the wheat and tares ; " the har-vest is the end of the world ; and thereapers are the angels. As therefore thetares are gathered and burned in the fire ;so shall it be in the end of this world.The Son of Man shall send forth his an-gels, and they shall gather out of his king-dom all things that offend, and them whichdo iniquity ; and shall cast them into afurnace of fire : there shall be wailing andgnashing of teeth. Then shall the right-eous shine forth as the sun in the king..dom of their Father." (Matt. xiii. 39—43.)

Tares or bad fish will be found in the


kingdom, as well as out of it; throughfear of judgments, or for some other cause,they will even go so far as to gather outof the nations with the children of thekingdom, and will both grow togetheruntil the harvest is fully ripe, and the an-gels pluck them out, bind them in bundles,and cast them into the fire.

That the children of the latter-daykingdom will be gathered out, preparatoryto the second advent, is clearly foretold inthe parable of the ten virgins. When speak-ing of the day of his coming, Jesus said-

" Then shall the kingdom of heaven belikened unto ten virgins, which took theirlamps, and went forth to meet the bride-groom." (Matt. xxv. 1.)

It should be particularly noticed thatthe former-day kingdom was not likenedto ten virgins: but Jesus spake of thefuture—of the time when he should comein his glory : " THEN " should be theperiod, when the children of the kingdomshould take their lamps and go " forth tomeet the bridegroom." But to what partof the earth do they go ? We answer,they "get up into the high mountain."But will they find the bridegroom in themountains ? No : they only go forth to themountains in order to be more thoroughlyprepared against the bridegroom shallcome in the clouds of heaven. And evenafter they have taken all this trouble, itseems that those represented by the foolishvirgins will merely take their lamps, buttake no oil with them. And after theyhave all gathered out from the ends of theearth, the wise and foolish will all becomerather careless : or as Jesus says, " Whilethe bridegroom tarried, they all slumberedand slept." (verse 5.) Although they areall expecting the bridegroom, yet it seemsthat after they have gathered themselvesout from the nations of the wicked, theywill feel apparently secure, and becomerather inclined to be off from their watchtower ; but " at midnight there was a crymade, Behold, the bridegroom cometh :go ye out to meet him." What a start-ling cry ! How it must thrill throughthe hearts of those who are thus suddenlyawakened from their slumbers ! " Thenall those virgins arose, and trimmed theirlamps. And the foolish said unto thewise, give us of your oil ; for our lampsare gone out." (verses 7, 8.)

What a fearful condition the foolishvirgins will be in ! Fancy to yourself,dear reader, the earth trembling, reelingto and fro—the mountains sinking, the

' vallies rising, the heavens shaking, thetrump of God sounding, the curtains ofheaven parting asunder, and all naturein tremendous convulsions ; and then de-pict upon your mind the despair, the fear..ful agony of those whose lamps have goneout! hear them plead with the wise togive them oil ! But their petition is invain ! "The wise answered, saying, Notso ; lest there be not enough for us andyou : but go ye rather to them and sell,and buy for yourselves. And while theywent to buy, the bridegroom came; andthey that were ready went in with himto the marriage : and the door was shut.Afterwards came also the other virgins,saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But heanswered and said, Verily, I say untoyou, I know you not." (Verses 9-12.)

In this parable, as well as the otherswhich we have quoted, it is most definite-ly stated that the children of the kingdomwill be gathered in one ; and that amongthem there will gather some who are re-presented by the bad fish or tares ; andothers who will become apostates—whoselamps will only burn long enough forthem to gather out with the righteous tothe mountains, and there they will go en-tirely out, and they will careressly fallinto a deep sleep, from which nothing canawake them, but the midnight cry ; butalas ! they awake too late! the door isshut against them, and they will perishwith the rest of the wicked.

This is also represented by the parable ofthe Supper : "A certain man made a greatsupp,,r, and bade many : and sent his servantat supper time to say to them that werebidden, Come; for all things are now ready.And they all with one consent began to makeexcuse. The first said unto him, I havebought a piece of ground, and I mustneeds go and see it : I pray thee have meexcused. And another said, I have boughtfive yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them :I pray thee have me excused. And an-other said, I have married a wife, andtherefore I cannot come. So that ser-vant came, and sheaved his lord thesethings. Then the master of the housebeing angry said to his servant, Go outquickly into the streets and lanes of thecity, and bring in hither the poor, andthe maimed, and the halt, and the blind.And the servant said, Lord, it is done asthou haat commanded, and yet there isroom. And the lord said unto the ser-vant, Go out into the highways and hedges,and compel them to come in, that my

PREPARATIONS FOR THE SECOND ADVENT. 319house may be filled. For I say onto you,that none of those men which were old-den shall taste of my supper (Lukexiv. 16-24.)

The supper, or the marriage feast, hadno reference whatever t9 the first advent,but to the great day of his second coming.And the sending of " his servant at sup-per time," was a latter• day message, show-ing that the Lord would again speak tohis servants, and give them a mission toinvite the rich and wealthy of the Gen-tiles to come to his supper ; that is, toleave their fine habitations, and farms,and merchandise, and gather to the moun-tains to prepare a feast of fat things—ofwines on the lees well refined—to preparefor the supper of the great bridegroom.But Jesus says, that all these wealthy peo-ple should with one accord excuse them-selves from going, on account of theitproperty or some other worldly considera-tion. The language of the parable clearlyshows, that the invitation to come to thesupper, required them to go to some place.And because of their excuses the Lordwas to be sorely displeased ; and then hisservants are commanded to gather " thepoor, and the maimed, and the halt, andthe blind." And this being done, theywere to be sent forth on a third mission,with power to compel those in the high-ways and hedges to come in.

In all three of these missions the Lordwas to speak to his servants ; that is, givethem new revelation, pointing out theduties of each mission ; and also in allthree of the missions there is a gatheringimplied.

Where is there a church in all Christen-dom that profess that the Lord has spokendirectly to them, and committed into theirhands the everlasting Gospel by an angelfrom heaven, and commanded them topreach it, and to say to all people who re-ceive it,. Arise and go forth with yourlamps to the supper of the Lord—to meetthe bridegroom ? Do not every churchsay to their followers, " Receive the doc-trine which we preach, and stay whereyou are, upon your farms, and in yourcomfortable houses ; for God will saveyou here, as well as anywhere else ? Don'tgo forth to meet the bridegroom : thereis no need of your gathering together inone ; it is all folly for Zion to get upinto the high mountain :' God don't speakto people in our day ; he has said nothingto any one since the days of John the Re-velator I " Is not this the constant Ian-

gttage of both Catholics and Protestants ?0 how differeftt does Jesus show, in hisparables, the nature of the great prepa-ratory work for his coming ? Jesus says," They shall go out to meet him : " butall Christendom say, " Stay where youare." Jesus says, " They shall be biddento come to the supper : " but Christendomsay, " Don't leave your splendid mansions,and your native land, to be gathered tothe mountains ; for you can enter intothe marriage supper of the Lamb just aswell if you remain at home."

Only one people upon the whole earth,are crying to the Saints among all na-tions, saying, " Depart ye, depart ye, goye out from thence, touch no uncleanthing ; go ye out of the midst of her ; beye clean, that bear the vessels of theLord." A voice has come from heaven,as John the Revelator predicted, saying," Come out of her my people, that ye benot partakers of her sins, and that ye re-ceive not of her plagues : for her sinshave reached unto heaven, and God hathremembered her iniquities."

This voice from heaven was to followthe proclamation of the Gospel broughtby the angel. Two causes are here as-signed, why the people of the Lord—theLatter- day Saints, should come out ofBabylon : one was that they might notpartake of her sins ; and the other wasthat they might not receive of her plagues.

The judgments which are to befall theapostate nations of Christendom, underthe name of great Babylon, are of themost fearful and terrible nature. Andas Lot was saved by literally fleeing outof Sodom into the mountains, so will theLatter- day Saints be saved from the mostdreadful plagues of Babylon,, by fleeingto the mountains.

This latter-day Zion is to be like acity set upon a high hill, and lighted withthe glory of God : she will give light toall the surrounding nations. This willnot only be an intellectual, spiritual light,enlightening the mind, but a light thatwbe seen with the natural eyes . HenceIsaiah says, that " The Lord will createupon every dwelling place of mount Zion,and upon her assemblies, a cloud andsmoke by day, and the shining of a flamingfire by night." (Isaiah iv. 5.) That thisliteral manifestation of the glory of theLord in a cloud, and smoke, and fire, isto take place while yet the wicked nationsare on the earth, is evident from the fol-lowing prediction of the same prophet-

320 LONTENTS.

" Arise, shine ; for the light is come,and the glory of the Lord is risen uponthee. For, behold. the darkness shallcover the earth, and gross darkness thepeople : but the Lord shall arise upon thee,and his glory shall be seen upon thee "(Isaiah lx. 1, 2.)

Thus, while darkness covers the earth,and gross darkness the people, the gloryof the Lord will be literally seen in theform of a cloud and smoke by day, and aflaming fire by night, not merely uponthe temple, but upon all the dwellingplaces of the city, and upon all herassemblies.

Reader, contemplate for a moment thisgrand and magnificent scenery. Con-template a great and extended city, with adazzling and glorious light, envelopingevery habitation, and filling all the hea-vens above it. Would not such a won-derful phenomenon attract the attentionof all nations? Suppose that the news-papers and periodicals of the day shouldactually publish the news that a wholecity was enveloped in the brightness of aflaming fire, night after night, monthafter month, and year after year ; andthat the buildings remained unconsumed,would it not create the most intense ex-citement ? Would it not be the greattopic of conversation ? Would not thou-sands and millions come from the mostdistant nations to gaze upon so strangeand unexpected a scenery ? Hear whatIsaiah further says, " The Gentiles shallco le to thy light, and kings to the bright-ness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyesround about, and see : all they gather

themselves together, they come to theethy sons shall come from far, and thydaughters shall be nursed at thy side.Then thou shalt see, and flow together,and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged;because the abundance of the sea shall beconverted unto thee, the forces of the Gen-tiles shall come unto thee." " Thy gatesshall be open continually ; they shall notbe shut day nor night ; that men maybring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles,and that their kings may be brought. Forthe nation and kingdom that will notserve thee shall perish ; yea, those nationsshall be utterly wasted." " The sons also ofthem that afflicted thee shall come bendingunto thee ; and all they that despised theeshall bow themselves down at the soles ofthy feet ; and they shall call thee, the Cityof the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One ofIsrael." (Isaiah lx. 3-5, 11, 12, 14.L

Such a scene as this the earthnever realized, but it must come to passbefore the Saviour appears. And therewill • be great multitudes from all nations,kindreds, tongues, and people, who willcome with their gold and silver unto thename of the Lord of Hosts. But aftera while the excitement will gradually sub-side, and the nations will be enveloped ina seven-fold greater darkness than whatthey were in before ; and when this takesplace they will be speedily ripened for theburning, and be consumed from the earthby the coming of the Lord. Then shallthe glorious reign of peace commence, andthe earth shall be full of the knowledgeof the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

CONTENTS.Preparations for the Second Advent 305

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