I have felt much impressed with the beautiful hymn which our choir has
just sung, speaking of our Heavenly Father and our return again into
his presence. We frequently talk about our Father who is in heaven,
and we delight to dwell upon our relationship with him, and anticipate
with pleasure the time when we shall behold his face, regain his
presence, and rejoice with him, with the Savior, and with the spirits
of the just made perfect, in the eternal world. The Lord has revealed
a great many good and great things unto us, but yet we seem scarcely
to appreciate the privileges with which we are surrounded and blessed,
nor to comprehend exactly our true relationship to our Heavenly
Father.
I was very much pleased with some remarks made by President Young in
relation to our Father two or three weeks ago, wherein he describes
him as being like ourselves, and possessing the power to associate
with us, and, that if we were to gaze upon him we should see a person
like ourselves; yet he is spoken of as being able to read the thoughts
of our hearts, and that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without
his notice. There are some peculiar expressions in the Scripture and
in the revelations that we have had given to us, which we may term
Scripture, if you please, pertaining to our Father who is in heaven.
We are told in one place that "He is the light that enlighteneth every
man that cometh into the world." We are told, also, "That every good
and perfect gift proceeds from the Father of lights, in whom there is
no variableness, nor shadow of turning." We are told in some of our
revelations, which the Lord has given to us in these last days, that
"He is the light that is in the sun, and the power thereof by which it
was made; that he is the light that is in the moon, and the power by
which it was made; that he is the light that is in the stars and the
power whereby they were made; and that is the same light that
enlighteneth the understanding of man." According to some of our
systems of philosophy, and the ideas that theologists would entertain
in relation to this matter, these remarks would appear strange and
incongruous.
We have been led generally to suppose that the light which
enlighteneth the understanding of man is what is termed of an
intellectual character, and differs materially from the solar light,
or the light of the sun; but if we examine these things critically, we
shall find that there is mixed up with the philosophy of the heavens
and the earth things that have been altogether out of the reach of
human philosophy; that all true intelligence, all true wisdom, all
intelligence that is of any use or benefit to the human family,
proceeds from the Lord; that he is the fountain of truth, the
source of intelligence, and the developer of every true and correct
principle that is known to man upon the earth; that there is no branch
of wisdom, of science, of philosophy, of good, sound common sense but
what proceeds from him; and we shall furthermore learn, when we come
to be acquainted more particularly with heavenly things than we are at
the present time, that everything associated with God and with his
economy, whether upon the earth or in the heavens, is strictly
reasonable and philosophical; and that the only reason why we do not
comprehend many things that are revealed to us, and that have been
revealed in former times, is because we are not acquainted with the
philosophy of the heavens, nor the laws that govern the intelligences
in the eternal worlds. The philosophy of man, of the earth, and of the
things with which we are surrounded, is deep—it is abstruse; it is
difficult of comprehension even by the most enlightened mind and the
most comprehensive and enlarged intellect.
One great reason why men have stumbled so frequently in many of their
researches after philosophical truth is, that they have sought them
with their own wisdom, and gloried in their own intelligence, and have
not sought unto God for that wisdom that fills and governs the
universe and regulates all things. That is one great difficulty with
the philosophers of the world, as it now exists, that man claims to
himself to be the inventor of everything he discovers; any new law and
principle which he happens to discover he claims to himself instead of
giving glory to God.
There are some ideas that have occurred to me lately in relation to
man, if I could only express them, which I consider have been revealed
by listening to the communications of others, and through the
inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord. There is something peculiar in
the organization of man, particularly in regard to his mind. We can
think, we can reflect, we can conceive of things, we can form our
judgment of events that are transpiring around; but it is difficult
for us to perceive or to comprehend how those things are accomplished,
and by what process they are brought about. A man, for instance, can
store up in his memory thousands and tens of thousands of things. A
good linguist, for example, can retain in his memory thousands of
words in his own language, and thousands and tens of thousands in
other languages, and he can draw upon these when he pleases, and
remember their significations. I can remember the time, some years
ago, when no person could tell me a passage in the Bible but what I
could turn to it; I could not remember every passage, but I knew their
connections and could tell others where they could find them.
President Young's memory is remarkable in regard to names and persons.
I have traveled with him throughout the length and breadth of this
Territory, and I do not know that I have ever yet seen him come in
contact with a man whose name he did not remember and the
circumstances connected with him. There is something remarkable in
this.
Again, on theological subjects, a man will remember not only all the
doctrines which he himself believes, but also the doctrines of various
systems of religion that exist in the world, and be enabled to
separate, to describe, or define them. Now, the question is, where are
all these things stowed away? What book are they written in; where are
they recorded? A man may travel over the earth, he may visit towns,
cities, and villages, and gaze upon oceans, seas, rivers, streams, mountains, valleys, and plains; upon landscapes and different
kinds of scenery, and make himself acquainted with all the vegetable
world, and these pictures and this intelligence is carefully laid away
somewhere. He may study chemistry, botany, geology, astronomy,
geography, natural history, mechanics, the arts and sciences, and
everything in creation which man is capacitated to receive and store
it away in his memory from the time of his youth up to old age. There
is something very remarkable in that. And then the question arises,
how do we judge of those things? If a man sees a thing, how does he
see it? There is something very remarkable in the construction of the
human eye; it is something like these photographic instruments that
receive impressions, only he gazes upon them and his eye takes them
in, and the scene he gazes upon is actually imprinted upon what is
called the retina of the eye; and one thing after another is recorded,
until thousands, and tens of thousands, and millions of things are
laid away through that medium, and he is enabled to see any of these
things whenever he pleases; his will can call them forth, and they
pass in panoramic form before his vision from some source, where they
are deposited and registered; all those things that he has gazed upon,
that he has handled with his hands, or felt by the sense of touch, he
can call up at his pleasure. There is something remarkable in this
when we reflect upon it. Men talk about this registry being in the
brain, but mens' heads do not get any larger. When men get what is
called the "big head," it is because there is nothing in their heads.
The heart gets no bigger, the body no larger, and yet all these
records are laid away somewhere.
Let us examine the Scriptures in relation to some things, and see what
they say concerning man. "But there is a spirit in man: and the
inspiration of the Almighty giveth it understanding." We learn from
this that there is a spirit in man in addition to this outward frame,
to these hands, these eyes, this body, with all its powers, and
appliances, and members; there is a spirit, an essence—a principle of
the Almighty, if you please—a peculiar essence that dwells in this
body; that seems to be inseparably connected therewith.
We are told in a revelation which the Lord has given unto us, "That
the body and the spirit is the soul of man" —that the two, when
combined, form what is termed in Scripture the soul. Now, then,
according to this, man would be what may be termed a natural and a
spiritual being—a being connected with the tabernacle that is
associated with this earth, and earthy, and another being that is
connected with the heavens, or heavenly; some would term it a temporal
and a spiritual organization. It is difficult, however, to find words
to convey ideas correctly in relation to these matters; our language
is meager when we speak of heavenly things, because it is made for
earthly beings, and not for the heavenly; and therefore it does not
embrace with that distinctness and clearness those heavenly forms of
speech which might convey to our intelligence more clearly those ideas
we can better reflect upon than we can express. But, suffice it to say
that there are two natures, if you please, mixed up in the human body;
the one is what we term material, and the other, some would call it,
immaterial; but then, that is not a right phrase—the one is earthly,
or pertaining to the earth, that is, liable to decay; the other is
heavenly, more spiritual—an essence or being that cannot be destroyed;
and hence, says Jesus in speaking concerning this, "And I say
unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and
after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you
whom you shall fear. Fear Him, which after he hath killed, hath power
to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear Him."
The body itself is a very remarkable structure or machine. Let me
refer to some few items associated with it—to the mediums through
which we receive the intelligence of which we speak. For instance, the
eye. How is it that you receive impressions into the eye? Just in the
same way as impressions are received by a daguerreotype instrument,
and they are planted there in what is termed the retina of the eye;
there are placed there a number of small nerves which receive these
impressions and convey the intelligence somewhere, in some manner,
that it is laid away in some place where it can be called up. When we
reflect upon and witness their peculiar powers, we discover operations
that are very remarkable, comprehensive, accurate, and mysterious; you
can see a mountain to the distance of fifty miles, and your eye will
take it in and receive the impression; you can gaze upon a thousand
objects, and your eye will register them all, and will convey an exact
likeness of them, so that you can describe by language, if you have
the power to use it, a true resemblance of the objects your vision
takes in, so nice and so precise are the figures conveyed to the human
mind through the instrumentality of the eye; so acute, so impalpable,
so ethereal and refined is its action and power, that its
susceptibilities approach very near to the spiritual, although it is
temporal, so-called.
Again, the power of smell is very peculiar; perfumes of various kinds
will last for years, and their various odors can be distinguished by
you. Take, for instance, a Tonquin bean, or a rose. The former is very
small, and yet it continues to emit or exude, year after year, myriads
of small, infinitesimal particles, without any sensible diminution,
all of which are charged or impregnated with its own peculiar aroma;
and convey this delicate, impalpable matter to the organs of the nose,
and so exquisitely sensitive are the nerves associated with the nasal
organ, that the minuteness of this touch, and the peculiar odor of the
Tonquin bean, the rose, or any other peculiar aroma, is conveyed as
distinctly to the understanding as words or signs of any kind can
convey impressions to the human mind. This is, indeed, mysterious, yet
strictly demonstrative, although, like the capacity of the eye, it
approaches the spiritual or ethereal.
Our sense of hearing is also another remarkable instance of the
peculiar sensitiveness of the organs of the human system. While I am
speaking to you, there is not in this vast assembly a man, woman, or
child that does not hear my voice at this time; all present can
distinguish every word I say. How do they hear it? My voice causes a
vibration in the atmosphere, the same as when a stone is thrown into
the water; the water undulates, and a succession of waves are
produced, which, if undisturbed, spread in continuous increasing
circles, until the disturbing force is exhausted. So, in like manner,
the action of the voice operates, or vibrates, upon the atmosphere,
which is full of impalpable atoms or globules that undulate, vibrate
and rush against each other with great rapidity above, below, around,
carrying with great accuracy and distinctness, and conveying the sound
so correctly, that every man and woman hears alike; the sound is
conveyed in an inexplicable manner to the drum of the ear. The
nerves are affected, and those nerves convey intelligence to the
congregation I am now talking to—to the understandings of those who
hear me.
We are made in the image of God, we were designed by the intelligence
of God, and the organs we have are the same kind of organs that the
Gods themselves possess. I consider that the body and the spirit are
connected together in some inscrutable, indefinable, and intelligent
manner; that, if we comprehended, would be a greater wonder and
mystery to us than anything that we have already referred to.
Now, then, let me speak of another subject immediately connected with
this. President Young remarked, and we are informed in the Scriptures,
and that was one of the things that led me to reflect about some of
these matters, as well as in our own revelations, something like this,
that "God sees and knows the acts of all men." We read something like
this, "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." Now, this is
a remarkable declaration. Look at the millions of human beings that
inhabit this earth, and that have inhabited it from the creation up to
the present time. It is supposed, generally, by the best authorities,
that from eight hundred to a thousand millions of people live upon
this earth at the same time, that is, this has been the case for a
great many generations at least; they are coming and going
continually, they pass into the world by thousands and tens of
thousands, and go out of it in the same way daily; a daily stream of
this kind is coming and going. Then, if we could discover the thoughts
and reflections of these numerous millions of human beings, look at
the wisdom, the intelligence, the folly, the nonsense, the good and
the evil that is connected with every one of them, it is so vast and
complicated that the human mind could not receive it, and it seems as
if it would be almost a thing impossible for God to gaze upon the
whole of them—to comprehend the whole, and judge of the whole
correctly. How shall this be done? My understanding of the thing is,
that God has made each man a register within himself, and each man can
read his own register, so far as he enjoys his perfect faculties. This
can be easily comprehended.
Let your memories run back, and you can remember the time when you did
a good action, you can remember the time when you did a bad action;
the thing is printed there, and you can bring it out and gaze upon it
whenever you please. As I stated before, if you have studied language,
you can call that out at pleasure; you can show the distinction
between the different parts of speech very readily. If you have
studied mechanism, your mind will go to the place where you saw a
certain machine, and you will go to work and make one like it. If you
have traveled in cities, you can tell what kind of houses and streets
composed the different cities you passed through, and the character of
the people you associated with; and you can ruminate upon them, and
reflect upon them by day or by night whenever you think proper, and
call the things up which you did and saw. Where do you read all this?
In your own book. You do not go to somebody else's book or library, it
is written in your own record, and you there read it. Your eyes and
ears have taken it in, and your hands have touched it; and then your
judgment, as it is called, has acted upon it—your reflective powers.
Now, if you are in possession of a spirit or intel lectuality of that kind, whereby you are enabled to read your own acts, do you not
think that that being who has placed that spirit and that intelligence
within you holds the keys of that intelligence, and can read it
whenever he pleases? Is not that philosophical, reasonable, and
scriptural? I think it is. Where did I derive my intelligence from
that I possess? From the Lord God of Hosts, and you derived your
intelligence from the same source. Where did any man that exists or
breathes the breath of life throughout this whole universe get any
intelligence he has? He got it from the same source. Then it would be
a very great curiosity if I should be able to teach you something and
not know that something myself. How could I teach you A, B, C, if I
did not know the alphabet, or the rudiments of the English Grammar, or
anything else, if I did not know it myself? I could not do it. Well,
then, upon this principle we can readily perceive how the Lord will
bring into judgment the actions of men when he shall call them forth
at the last day. Let me refer to some things in the Scriptures
pertaining to this matter. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, in which he saw
a variety of things pass before him. By-and-by the dream was taken
from him, and he could not remember it; and he called upon the
magicians, and soothsayers, and astrologers to give unto him the dream
and the interpretation thereof, but they said it was too hard a thing
for them to do; they could not give the king this information, for
nobody can know these things but the Gods whose dwelling is not with
flesh. They believed, as we do, that there is a Being that had spirit
and intelligence above the other gods, and that he alone could unravel
those mysteries. Finally, the king sent for Daniel, and Daniel knew
nothing about it until he prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord showed it
to him; for the Lord had given the dream to Nebuchadnezzar, and if he
had given it to one, he could to another. He could read it in
Nebuchadnezzar's mind or spirit in the record which He kept. He
revealed the same thing to Daniel, who said unto the king, "Thou
sawest a great image; its head was of gold, its arms and breast of
silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, and its feet
and toes part of iron and part of clay." When Nebuchadnezzar heard the
dream which he had forgotten, he gave glory to the God of Israel,
because he could reveal secrets and manifest things which had been
manifested to him. We look at things again on natural principles,
according to things that we can judge upon by our natural senses. A
man gazes upon a thing in the daytime, he goes to sleep, his senses
are gone, he wakes up in the morning, and he remembers the things he
had forgotten in his sleep—they are remembered as fresh as ever. There
have been men afflicted by what the physicians call catalepsy; they
lose their senses for a period of time, sometimes for years, and in
that state they are entirely ignorant of their former existence; they
do not know any events that transpire, they cannot read their own
register; but the moment their senses come to them, they reflect and
begin at the place they left off when they became deranged. Man sleeps
the sleep of death, but the spirit lives where the record of his deeds
is kept—that does not die—man cannot kill it; there is no decay
associated with it, and it still retains in all its vividness the
remembrance of that which transpired before the separation by death of
the body and the everliving spirit. Man sleeps for a time in the
grave, and by-and-by he rises again from the dead and goes to
judgment; and then the secret thoughts of all men are revealed
before Him with whom we have to do; we cannot hide them; it would be
in vain for a man to say then, I did not do so-and-so; the command
would be, Unravel and read the record which he has made of himself,
and let it testify in relation to these things, and all could gaze
upon it. If a man has acted fraudulently against his neighbor—has
committed murder, or adultery, or anything else, and wants to cover
it up, that record will stare him in the face, he tells the story
himself, and bears witness against himself. It is written that Jesus
will judge not after the sight of the eye, or after the hearing of the
ear, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with
equity the meek of the earth. It is not because somebody has seen
things, or heard anything by which a man will be judged and condemned,
but it is because that record that is written by the man himself in
the tablets of his own mind—that record that cannot lie—will in that
day be unfolded before God and angels, and those who shall sit as
judges. There will be some singular developments then, I think. If
this is to be the case, as was said formerly, "What manner of persons
ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" There is, in
fact, something in this, that in a partial degree can be read even on
this earth. There are men who profess to be phrenologists and
physiologists who profess to read character, and perhaps some man,
from a knowledge of human nature and from a study of the human mind,
can, upon natural principles, unfold a great many things. And there is
associated with this Church such a gift as is called the discerning of
spirits; but it is one of those things which we see in part and
understand in part, etc.; "But when that which is in part is done
away, and that which is perfect has come, then we shall see as we are
seen, and know as we are known." That is only a part of what the other
will be the perfection of. When we get into the eternal world, into
the presence of God our Heavenly Father, his eye can penetrate everyone
of us, and our own record of our lives here shall develop all. I
do not say that he will take trouble to read everybody. We read
concerning the apostles in former times, that when Jesus should sit in
judgment, they should be seated upon twelve thrones, judging the
twelve tribes of Israel; and it is also written, "Know ye not that the
saints shall judge the world?" Who will be judges of the world in this
generation? You, yourselves, who understand the laws of the Priesthood
must say, Now, then, if these things are so, it behooves us to consider
and ponder well the paths of our feet, it behooves me to be careful
what I do, what doctrines I advance, what principles I inculcate, and
see to it that I do my duty before God, and the angels, and all men,
for I cannot obliterate the record which is written here. If I am
engaged in business transactions of any kind, it behooves me to know
what I am doing; that I am dealing as I would wish men to deal with
me; if I do not, the record is there. I think we read somewhere, that
if our own conscience condemn us, God is greater than our conscience;
"if our own hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts." If I
be a father and have charge of a family, it behooves me to know what
kind of an example I set before them, and how I conduct myself; it
behooves both fathers and mothers to know that they are making a record
of their doings that they will not be ashamed of. It behooves children
to know what kind of a course they take towards their parents, and
towards the building up of the kingdom of God upon the earth. If I am an Elder in Israel, or whatever office I hold in the Church,
it behooves me to comprehend my position, know myself, and act as a
Saint of God in all things, which may the Lord help us to do in the
name of Jesus Christ. Amen.