I will read a few sayings of our Savior, recorded in the second, and
third verses of the 14th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John:
"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you."
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
It is not very customary for the Latter-day Saints to select a text
and to confine their remarks to the subject matter thereof; yet I do
not know that there is any particular harm in doing so, provided we do
not limit the operations of the Spirit of God upon ourselves. It is my
most earnest desire, when addressing a public assembly, to understand
the mind and will of God in relation to what should be said to them.
No man, by his own wisdom, understands the wants of his
fellow creatures in all respects, but the Spirit of the Most High
understands the circumstances of all the people, and that spirit,
having all power and wisdom, is capable of moving upon the hearts of
His servants to speak in the very moment what is most adapted to the
condition of the people.
I listened with great interest this forenoon to the many subjects
which were briefly touched upon by Elders Woodruff and Smith, one of
which, in a particular manner, seemed to rest with considerable
bearing upon my mind: that was the condition of mankind in a future
state, and the principalities, powers, glories, dominions, and
exaltations that will be enjoyed by the true Saints. This is a subject
of special interest to the Latter-day Saints, and we should look
forward with feelings of great joy in anticipation of the future, and
we should understand what is necessary for us to do in this short
life, to secure the great blessings promised to the faithful
hereafter. Jesus, in the passage I have read, has informed the world
that there are many mansions in his Father's house. This, however, was
not spoken especially to the world, but to the Apostles and Disciples
who were gathered around him. The Father's house! There is a great
deal comprehended in these words. Where is it, and what kind of a
house may we conclude it to be? Are we to understand by the term
house, used in this passage, small buildings such as are erected for
our residence, here on earth, and if not, what are we to understand? I
understand that God is a Being who, as the Scriptures declare,
inhabits eternity. Eternity is His dwelling place, and in this
eternity are vast numbers of worlds—creations formed by His mighty
hands; con sequently when we speak of the Father's house we are
to understand it in the Scriptural sense, in the idea that is conveyed
by many of the inspired writers. It is declared in many places that
eternity is His habitation. He is not the God of one little world like
ours; He is not a Being who presides over a few isolated worlds in one
part of eternity, and all the rest left to go at random; He is not
confined to the worlds that are made, comparatively speaking, today;
but all worlds, past, present, and future, from eternity to eternity,
may be considered His dominions, and His places of residence, and He
is omnipresent. Not personally; this would be impossible, for a person
can only be in one place at the same instant, whether he be an
immortal or a mortal personage; whether he be high, exalted, and
filled with all power, wisdom, glory, and greatness, or poor,
ignorant, and humble. So far as the materials are concerned, a
personage can only occupy one place at the same moment. That is a
self-evident truth, one that cannot be controverted. When we speak,
therefore, of God being omnipresent we do not mean that His person is
omnipresent, we mean that His wisdom, power, glory, greatness,
goodness, and all the characteristics of His eternal attributes are
manifested and spread abroad throughout all the creations that He has
made. He is there by His influence—by His power and wisdom—by His
outstretched arm; He, by His authority, occupies the immensity of
space. But when we come to His glorious personage, that has a dwelling
place—a particular location; but where this location is, is not
revealed. Suffice it to say that God is not confined in His personal
character to one location. He goes and comes; He visits the various
departments of His dominions, gives them counsel and instruction, and
presides over them according to His own will and pleasure.
But if eternity is His house, habitation, or residence, what are the
mansions referred to by our Savior, mentioned in the text? I
understand them to be places that the Creator has constructed like
this present world of ours; for this world, in its future history and
progress, will no doubt become one of the mansions of the Father,
wherein His glory will be made manifest as it is in many other
redeemed worlds. I consider that this idea of mansions has reference
more especially to celestial mansions, or worlds that have been
redeemed and made celestial. God has formed more worlds than can
possibly be enumerated or numbered by man. If it were possible for man
to count the particles of this little earth of ours; if he were able
to enumerate the figures that would express these particles, it would
scarcely be a beginning to the number of the mansions which God has
made in the eternal ages that have passed—mansions that were made,
first temporal and afterwards redeemed and made eternal. Mansions, no
doubt, constructed somewhat similar to the one we now inhabit; and in
the eternal progression of worlds they rise upwards and still upwards
until they are glorified and are crowned with the presence of Him who
made them, and become eternal in their duration, the same as our earth
will eventually become. We know, according to the declaration of the
Scriptures, that our earth was made some few thousands years ago. How
long the progress of formation lasted we do not know. It is called in
the Scriptures six days; but we do not know the meaning of the
scriptural term day. It evidently does not mean such days as we are
now ac quainted with—days governed by the rotation of the earth
on its axis, and by the shining of the great central luminary of our
solar system. A day of twenty-four hours is not the kind of day
referred to in the scriptural account of the creation; the word days,
in the Scriptures, seems oftentimes to refer to some indefinite period
of time. The Lord, in speaking to Adam in the garden, says, "In the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die;" yet he did not
die within twenty-four hours after he had eaten the forbidden fruit,
but he lived to be almost a thousand years old, from which we learn
that the word day, in this passage, had no reference to days of the
same duration as ours. Again, it is written, in the second chapter of
Genesis, "In the day that He created the heavens and the earth;" not
six days, but, "in the day" that, he did it, incorporating all the six
days into one, and calling that period "the day" that He created the
heavens and the earth.
When this world was formed, no doubt, it was a very beautiful
creation, for God is not the author of anything imperfect. If we have
imperfections in our world God has had nothing to do with their
introduction or origin, man has brought them upon himself and upon the
earth he inhabits. But however long or short may have been the period
of the construction of this earth, we find that some six thousand
years ago it seems to have been formed, something after the fashion
and in the manner in which it now exists, with the exception of the
imperfections, evils, and curses that exist on the face of it. Six
thousand years, according to the best idea that we have of chronology,
are now about completed; we are living almost on the eve of the last
of the six millenniums—a thousand years are called a millennium—and
tomorrow, we may say, will be the seventh; that is the seventh
period, the seventh age or seventh time; or we can call it a day—the
seventh day, the great day of rest wherein our globe will rest from
all wickedness, when there will be no sin or transgression upon the
whole face of it, the curses that have been brought upon it being
removed, and all things being restored as they were before the Fall.
The earth will then become beautified, not fully glorified, not fully
redeemed, but it will be sanctified, and purified, and prepared for
the reign of our Savior, whose death and sufferings we have this
afternoon commemorated. He will come and personally reign upon it, as
one of the mansions of his Father; and after the thousand years have
passed away, and wickedness is permitted again, for a short season, to
corrupt the face of the earth, then will come the final change which
our earth, or this mansion of our Father, will undergo. A change which
will be wrought, not by a flood of waters, or baptism, as in the days
of Noah, cleansing it then from all its sins; but by a baptism of fire
and of the Holy Ghost, which will sanctify and purify the very
elements themselves. After the seventh millennium has passed away the
elements will be cleansed, or in other words, they will be resolved
into their original condition—as they were before they were brought
together in the formation of this globe. Hence John says, in the 20th
chapter of Revelation: "I saw a great white throne and Him that sat
thereon, from before whose face the heavens and the earth fled away,
and there was no place found for them."
Now, this fleeing away of the literal heavens, and of the earth on
which we dwell with all it contains, will be similar to the
destruction or death of our natural bodies. We might say, with great
propriety, when a man is martyred or burned at the stake, his
body has fled away, its present organization is dissolved, and its
elements are resolved into their original condition, and perhaps
united with and dispersed among many other elements of our globe; but
in the resurrection these elements are brought together again and the
body reorganized, not into a temporal or mortal tabernacle, but into
an eternal house or abiding place for the spirit of man. So the earth
will pass away, and its elements be dispersed in space; but, by the
power of that Almighty Creator who organized it in the beginning, it
will be renewed, and those elements which now enter into the
composition of our globe, will again enter into the composition of the
new heavens and the new earth, for, says the Prophet John, "I saw a
new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth
had fled away."
He then beheld two cities, as is recorded in the 21st chapter of
Revelation, descending from God out of heaven. The first one is called
the New Jerusalem. The description of this city is not given in this
chapter; we have no information regarding its size, or the number of
its gates, and the height of the walls; all that we know is that John
saw it descend out of heaven. Afterwards he was taken off into a high
mountain and saw a second city descend out of heaven. A description of
this, called the "Holy City," is given. The number of the gates, the
height of the walls, the nature of the houses, the streets, and the
glory of the city are plainly given in the revelation. But when the
first city, called the New Jerusalem, descended, he heard a voice say,
"Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, henceforth there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, for the former things have
passed away and all things are made new." This will be the final
transformation of this earth, and when that is effected it will become
one of the mansions of our Father. It will be redeemed, or, we might
say resurrected after it passes away. That renewed state will be
eternal, it will never be changed; and it will be the eternal
residence of those disciples to whom Jesus was addressing the words of
the text.
Where will Jesus be? What is the particular creation assigned to him?
I answer that our globe will become the abiding place of all the
Saints from the days of Father Adam until the time that it passes away
and is renewed again and becomes glorified, after which the tabernacle
of God will be with men, and he will wipe away all tears from their
eyes, and this creation from that time henceforth and forever will be
free from sorrow; and from that period to all the ages of eternity
there will be no more death, for death will be swallowed up in
victory. The curse that came by the Fall will be entirely removed, and
God, Himself, will light up the world with His glory, making of it a
body more brilliant than the sun that shines in yonder heavens.
Some may inquire, "Do you think the sun is a glorified world?" Yes, in
one sense. It is not yet fully glorified, redeemed, clothed with
celestial power, and crowned with the presence of the Father in all
the fullness and beauty of a celestial mansion, because it is still
subject to change more or less. If it were fully glorified; if it had
passed through its temporal existence and had been redeemed,
glorified, and made celestial, and had become the eternal abiding
place of celestial and glorified beings, it would be far more glorious
than our eyes could behold, the eyes of mortality could not endure the
light thereof. We can endure and rejoice in its present light
and glory. It gives light and heat to the surrounding worlds, and thus
renders them fit habitations for intelligent human beings. But were it
glorified, as it will be hereafter, and as our earth will be, men such
as we are, clothed with mortality, would be overpowered, we could not
stand in the presence of its glory without being consumed. This earth,
therefore, is destined to become one of the heavenly mansions.
And now, with regard to its being the place of the habitation of the
Saints forever and ever, let me quote some proofs in relation to it
from the Scriptures. Jesus, in his great and beautiful sermon on the
mount, has told us of the blessings that should rest on his people,
among which he says, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the
earth." This certainly could not have had reference to this temporal
existence, for look at the meek who lived on the earth in the first
ages of Christianity. Did they inherit the earth? No. What was their
destiny? To wander about in sheepskins and goatskins, dwelling in
the dens and caves of the earth, not being counted worthy by the
wicked to receive an inheritance with them, yet Jesus said, "They
shall inherit the earth." When? If they do not inherit it before death
they must after the resurrection. In proof that they will inherit it
after the resurrection, let me refer you to the testimony of John,
recorded in the fifth chapter of Revelation. John saw a great company
of Saints in the presence of God the Father, and except those who were
resurrected at the time of the resurrection of Christ, they were the
spirits of men. They were singing a beautiful song, the purport of
which was emigration. They had it in view to emigrate from their
present home or location in the celestial paradise to some other
place, and their song reads something like this: "Thou art worthy to
take the book and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and
by thy blood hast redeemed us from all nations and kindreds and
peoples and tongues, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth." This is the place of their future
residence, and they rejoiced much in the anticipation of returning to
their mother earth, the place of their nativity; they rejoiced
exceedingly at the prospect of getting back again to their old
homestead. They were absent a little season because of the wickedness
that covered the earth, they were absent a little season because death
overpowered their mortal tabernacles. The Fall had brought them down
to the grave, but they rejoiced that the grave would no longer hold
its captives. These spirits from all nations, kindreds, tongues, and
peoples were rejoicing in the great day when they should receive their
resurrected bodies and return again to their old homestead—the earth,
to receive their kingdoms, thrones, and dominions. "We shall reign on
the earth!" Not come to be persecuted and driven about as the meek
always have been when the wicked have had power; not come to be
scattered, peeled, and driven, as the ancient Saints were; not to be
sawn asunder, beheaded, persecuted, and buffeted, as the servants and
Saints of God have always been; but they will come here to reign:
"Thou hast made us kings and priests unto God, and we shall reign on
the earth." The period during which they were to reign, as mentioned
in the 20th chapter of Revelation, was one thousand years, and this
was the introduction to their eternal reign. "Blessed and holy is he
who hath part in the first resurrection," for on such the second death
can have no power, and all such shall be priests to God and to
Christ, and they shall reign with Him a thousand years. In their song
they did not stretch forth to that eternal reign on the earth which
will commence after the one thousand years have ended and the earth
has passed away and been renewed. That was too glorious a theme to be
recorded by John and for the inhabitants of the earth in their corrupt
and fallen state to become acquainted with. If they rejoiced with such
exceeding great joy in the prospect of returning to reign only for a
thousand years, before the earth was fully redeemed, glorified, and
made new, how much greater would be their joy, and how much more
glorious would be the song, if they could see themselves made kings
and priests to God, and knew they were about to commence a reign on
the earth which would endure throughout the countless ages of
eternity.
To prove that mankind, when they come out of their graves, will come
into possession of the earth, let me quote a very familiar passage
from the 37th chapter of Ezekiel. Ezekiel lived in the midst of a
people who had apostatized in a great measure from the religion of
their fathers, and who began to think that their hope was lost, and
that they were cut off from inheriting the promises made to their
fathers, because they saw that their fathers for many generations were
dead and gone, and neither they nor their seed had come into
possession of the Promised Land, according to the prediction made in
the days of Abraham and Jacob. You recollect that the Lord promised
Abraham and Jacob that they should have the land of Palestine for an
everlasting possession. Not only their seed, but they themselves,
Abraham and Jacob, were to inherit it everlastingly. Well might the
Jews, when considering these promises, and looking upon the bones of
Jacob and their old forefathers, who were righteous men, bleaching, as
it were, in their sepulchers, be ready to find fault and say: "Our
bones are dried, our hope is lost, the promise is not fulfilled, and
we are cut off from our portion—that is the promised land given to us
for an everlasting inheritance." The Lord, to do away with such wicked
and erroneous notions which were prevalent among the apostates of
Israel, carried Ezekiel into the midst of a valley full of bones, and
then told him to prophesy unto those bones and to say unto them: "O ye
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord unto these
bones: Behold I will bring up flesh and sinews upon you and will cover
you with skin," etc. And Ezekiel prophesied as he was commanded, and
as he prophesied there was a great noise and a shaking and the bones
came together, bone to its bone. And while he was examining these
numerous skeletons, without either flesh, sinews, or skin, "Lo, the
sinews and flesh came upon them and the skin covered them above, but
there was no breath in them." Then the Lord said unto the Prophet:
"Prophesy unto the wind, son of man, and say to the wind, thus saith
the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon
these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me,
and the breath came into them and they lived and stood upon their
feet, an exceeding great army."
Now, if we were to go to uninspired men and ask them the meaning of
this, they would say it was the conversion of sinners to newness of
life; but the Lord had another interpretation, which you will find in
the following verse: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of
Israel," including the old patriarchs, including their
forefathers for many generations. The people in Ezekiel's day said,
"Our bones and the bones of our fathers are dry, and our hope is lost,
for we are not brought into the inheritance of the land of Palestine,
etc.," but the Lord, by this parable of the valley of dry bones,
wished to do away with this lack of faith among Israel, and His
interpretation of it was this: "Behold, I will open your graves and I
will bring you up out of your graves, and will bring you into the land
of Israel." Notice now, the Lord did not say He would take them off to
some unknown region in the immensity of space, according to the
notions of some of our modern poets, who look forward to a heavenly
place beyond the bounds of time and space. When a boy I used
frequently to attend the Methodist meetings, though I never joined any
religious society; but I recollect a very beautiful hymn they used to
sing about being wafted away to a heaven of some kind. I will repeat
two or three lines of the hymn:
"Beyond the bounds of time and space,
Look forward to that heavenly place,
The Saints' secure abode."
I did not, at that early period of my life, see the inconsistency of
this, and being very much charmed with the beautiful tune, I thought,
of course, that the words were all right, until I, in after years,
reflected upon the subject, and began to understand about the future
residence of the Saints. I then could not understand the description
of the heaven they sang about, I could not comprehend how any place
could be located outside the bounds of space, which is illimitable,
and has no bounds, consequently I concluded that it was merely the
poet's flight, and that it was not a scriptural doctrine, for when I
came to the Scriptures, I found that the heavenly place spoken of by
the ancient prophets that we are to look forward to is in our land, if
we can find where that is. There are a great many people, though, who
will not have any land, for the Lord never gave them any. A great many
generations have lived without securing any land except by human laws,
that the Lord never had anything particular to do with, and only
permitted for the good order of society. But all human laws must
perish when the Lord comes, for then the world will be governed by
divine laws, and blessed are the people who have secured their landed
estates from the Great Creator, who owns the earth, having created it
by His own power, and who can give it to whomsoever He will. He gave to
the righteous among the house of Israel the land of Palestine and the
regions round about, and He says: "Behold I will open your graves and
bring you into your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord."
When the Lord has brought them out of their graves and has placed them
in the land which He gave to their fathers they will fully comprehend
that He will fulfil His promise. I would like to dwell on this subject
further, and in doing so to refer you to the 37th Psalm, and to many
sayings of the Lord to Moses about inheriting the earth forever, and
so on; but we will pass by that to some other things that are on my
mind.
We heard this forenoon that, when the Saints come into the possession
of their everlasting inheritance and are exalted as glorified and
eternal beings, to the increase of their posterity there would be no
end. "No end!" What does that mean? It means that it will be
eternal—that there never will be a period throughout all the future
ages of eternity, but what they will be increasing and multiplying, until their seed are more numerous than the dust of the
earth or the stars of heaven. They will multiply throughout all the
ages of eternity, and the earth will be their headquarters. There is
another principle connected with this. "What is it," inquires one?
They will not only people worlds, but they will create them. There is
room enough to accomplish this when we consider that space is
boundless. There is no end to the worlds that might be formed, for the
materials existing in space from which to form them are infinite in
quantity, and consequently can never be exhausted; for that which is
infinite can, by no process whatever, be exhausted, no matter how many
millions or myriads of creations may be formed out of it; and,
consequently, though millions and millions, through their observance
of the higher law that pertains to exaltation and glory, should be
counted worthy to receive this earth as their everlasting inheritance;
and should these millions and millions multiply their seed until they
are as the sands on the seashore for multitude, yet there is room in
boundless space for new creations and materials enough for the creation
of new worlds, and for this innumerable offspring to spread forth and
people them. Certainly they could not all dwell here: the earth would
be overrun by them after awhile, but this would be one of the heavenly
mansions, and their headquarters. And here comes in another doctrine.
This forenoon you heard many of the principles and doctrines touched
upon wherein this people differ from the outside world. I will now
briefly call your attention to one.
We believe that we are the children of our parents in heaven. I do not
mean our tabernacles, but our spirits. That being that dwells in my
taber nacle, and those beings that dwell in yours; the beings who are
intelligent and possess, in embryo, all the attributes of our Father
in heaven; the beings that reside in these earthly houses, they are
the children of our Father who is in heaven. He begat us before the
foundations of this earth were laid and before the morning stars sang
together or the sons of God shouted for joy when the cornerstones of
the earth were laid, as is written in the sayings of the patriarch
Job. In the midst of all the patriarch's trials the question was put
to him: "Job, where wast thou when I laid the cornerstones of the
earth, when the morning stars sang together for joy?" Job did not
pretend to answer the question, but left it for the Lord. But the
question was highly suggestive of a pre-existence, and of the fact
that Job existed before Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden. Not his
body, but the living being who inhabits the body, who thinks and
reasons, and moves the body by his will, and that lives when the body
is moldering in the dust; that being or those beings who shouted
together when the cornerstones of the earth were laid. Why did they
rejoice and shout together for joy when the cornerstones, or rather,
when the nucleus was formed around which the materials of this globe
were gathered together? Because, being intelligent, and knowing the
path that led to immortality and exaltation, they saw a prospect
before them of walking therein. But the point to which I wish to
direct your attention now is a fact of a pre-existence—a principle
believed in by this people, and which is new to them and the world
generally; but it is not new, for it was taught in ancient times, and
is a scriptural doctrine. Solomon says when the body is laid down the
spirit will return to God who gave it. Now would there be any
sense in that doctrine if we had never been there before? Could I say
I will return to China, when I have never been to China. No, the word
"return" would not correctly express the idea. If the spirit returns
to God, it has been there before, and we are only strangers here,
having been sent forth from our Father's house to one of His mansions
in its imperfect state. What for? To try us and give us experience, to
place us in a school in which we may learn some things that we never
could have learned if we had stayed at home, where we were at the time
this earth was formed. By and by we will return home again. There is
something comforting in the anticipation of returning home when we
have been away for a long time; but if we never had been in heaven, in
our Father's house; if we never had associated with the heavenly
throng and had never beheld our Father's face we could not realize the
feelings we now realize when we reflect that we are going back to
where we once dwelt. Happy thought, to think that the memory, now
clogged so that we cannot pierce the veil and discern what took place
in our first estate, will by and by be quickened again and that we
will wake up to the realities of our past existence. When a man goes
to sleep at night he forgets the doings of the day. Sometimes a
partial glimpse of them will disturb his slumbers; but sleep as a
general thing, and especially sound sleep, throws out of the memory
everything pertaining to the past; but when we awake in the morning,
with that wakefulness returns a vivid recollection of our past history
and doings. So it will be when we come up into the presence of our
Father and God in the mansion whence we emigrated to this world. When
we get there we will behold the face of our Father, the face of our
mother, for we were begotten there the same as we are begotten by our
fathers and mothers here, and hence our spirits are the children of
God, legally and lawfully, in the same sense that we are the children
of our parents here in this world. We are so called in the scriptures.
It is written in the epistle of James: "Shall we not much rather be in
subjection to the father of our spirits?" Again, we read that Jesus
was with the Father from before the foundation of the world; and in
his last prayer he prayed that he might be restored to that glory
which he had with the Father before the world was.
Now, who is Jesus? He is only our brother, but happens to be the
firstborn. What, the firstborn in the flesh? O no, there were millions
and millions born in the flesh before he was. Then how is he the
firstborn? Because he is the eldest—the first one born of the whole
family of spirits and therefore he is our elder brother. But why these
spirits came to inherit mortal tabernacles is a question worthy of
consideration. This world is full of sin, sorrow, affliction, and
death, and mankind see nothing, as it were, but mourning and sorrow,
from their birth until they go down to the grave; then why send these
heavenly spirits to dwell in mortal tabernacles, corrupt, fallen, and
degraded as we are in this world? It is to learn, as I have already
said, certain lessons that we never could learn up in yonder mansions.
Learn to understand by experience many things pertaining to the flesh
that we never could learn there, that when we should be redeemed by
the blood and atonement of our elder brother, the firstborn of every
creature, and brought back into the mansions whence we emigrated we
might appreciate that redemption, and understand and
comprehend it by experience and not by precept alone. We might bring
up many arguments with regard to experimental knowledge. Who that is
born blind can know by experience, or in any other way, the nature of
light? No one. You might tell the blind man, who never saw the first
glimmer of light about its beauties, you might speak of its various
hues and colors, and of the benefit of being able to see, but what
could you make him understand? He would not know light from anything
else, and when you had talked to him for a hundred years about the
beauty of light, he would not have a comprehension of it. Why? For the
want of experience; he must experience the sense of sight or he cannot
understand its worth. When his eyes are opened and the light beams
forth upon the optic nerve it creates a new experience, by calling
into play a new sense, and he learns something he did not before
comprehend. He could not learn it by being taught. So in regard to
coming from yonder heavenly creations to this world. We learn by our
experience many lessons we never could have learned except we were
tabernacled in the flesh.
But another and still greater object the Lord had in view in sending
us down from yonder world to this is, that we might be redeemed in due
time, by keeping the celestial law, and have our tabernacles restored
to us in all the beauty of immortality. Then we will be able to
multiply and extend forth our posterity and the increase of our
dominion without end. Can spirits do this? No, they remain single.
There are no marriages among spirits, no coupling together of the
males and females among them; but when they rise from the grave, after
being tabernacled in mortal bodies, they have all the functions that
are necessary to people worlds. As our Father and God begat us, sons
and daughters, so will we rise immortal, males and females, and beget
children, and, in our turn, form and create worlds, and send forth our
spirit children to inherit those worlds, the same as we were sent
here, and thus will the works of God continue, and not only God
himself, and His Son Jesus Christ have the power of endless lives, but
all of His redeemed offspring. They grow up like the parents; that is
a law of nature so far as this world is concerned. Every kind of being
begets its own like, and when fully matured and grown up the offspring
become like the parent. So the offspring of the Almighty, who begot
us, will grow up and become literally Gods, or the sons of God. Here
is another doctrine wherein we differ from the world, perhaps not so
much differ either, for they do sometimes believe in that passage of
scripture which speaks of Gods. "If they call them Gods unto whom the
word of God comes," says Jesus, or words to that effect, "why then do
you find fault with me because I make myself the Son of God?" If those
prophets and inspired men, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
Samuel, and others to whom the word of God came were Gods in embryo
why do you find fault with the only begotten of the Father, so far as
the flesh is concerned, because he makes himself the Son of God? We,
then, shall become Gods, or the sons of God.
This puts me in mind of a certain vision that John the Revelator had
on the Isle of Patmos. On that occasion he saw one hundred and
forty-four thousand standing upon Mount Zion, singing a new and
glorious song; the singers seemed to be among the most happy and
glorious of those who were shown to John. They, the one hundred and forty-four thousand, had a peculiar inscription in their
foreheads. What was it? It was the Father's name. What is the Father's
name? It is God—the being we worship. If, then, the one hundred and
forty-four thousand are to have the name of God inscribed on their
foreheads, will it be simply a plaything, a something that has no
meaning? Or will it mean that which the inscriptions specify?—that
they are indeed Gods—one with the Father and one with the Son; as the
Father and Son are one, and both of them called Gods, so will all His
children be one with the Father and the Son, and they will be one so
far as carrying out the great purposes of Jehovah is concerned. No
divisions will be there, but a complete oneness; not a oneness in
person but a perfect oneness in action in the creation, redemption,
and glorification of worlds.
I thought I would make a few remarks on these subjects, inasmuch as
they were broached this morning. You begin to understand, strangers,
what the Latter-day Saints' views are in regard to the multiplication
of the human species to all ages of eternity. You begin to understand
what is meant by that passage in the New Testament in the writings of
Paul, that the man is not without the woman in the Lord, neither is
the woman without the man. You will find it in the eleventh verse of
the eleventh chapter of Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. Here
is a mystery which the whole religious world perhaps have not
understood. They suppose that old maids and bachelors are just as
honorable in the sight of God as though they were married. It is not
so according to the words of Paul. If a man be in the Lord he must not
be without the woman and the woman must not be without the man. Why?
Because there is an eternal union to exist in the marriage covenant
between the male and female to carry out and fulfil those great
purposes of which I have been speaking—namely, the peopling of the
mansions of our Father in the future. And those mansions will multiply
to all eternity; there will be no end to the increase of worlds, and
no end to the inhabitants of those worlds; and the father of the
spirits who go forth, take tabernacles, and are redeemed, will be king
over his own sons and daughters in the eternal worlds, through all the
ages of eternity. He will not go and rob his neighbor of his children
to set up a kingdom of his own. He must have a woman in the Lord, and
the woman must have a man in the Lord if they ever carry out the great
and eternal purposes of which I have been speaking.
Much might be said in this connection with regard to the doctrine of
plurality of wives. There is a difference between the male and the
female so far as posterity is concerned. The female is so capacitated
that she can only be the mother of a very limited number of children.
Is man thus capacitated? Was not Jacob the patriarch of old capable of
raising posterity by all his wives? He certainly was; and were not
many of the ancient prophets and inspired men capable of raising
twenty, forty, fifty, or a hundred children, while the females could
only raise a very limited number on an average. In the resurrection,
when the four wives of Jacob come out of their graves, will he divorce
three of them and only keep one? Or will they all multiply and spread
forth their dominions under the old patriarch while eternal ages shall
last? And would a monogamist have power to fill a world with spirits
sooner than a polygamist? Which would accomplish the peopling of a
world quickest, provided that we admit this eternal increase,
and the eternal relationship of husband and wife—after the
resurrection as well as in this world? In that state they do not marry
nor give in marriage. Why? Because marriage is an ordinance that has
to be attended to here, and unless it is secured in this life for
eternity it cannot be secured in the resurrection, for they neither
marry nor are given in marriage there. They do not baptize after the
resurrection, they do not confirm and administer the ordinances
pertaining to this life after the resurrection. All these things have
to be attended to here, then we have a claim to the blessings here and
hereafter. If a man would obtain an eternal increase and eternal
kingdoms without number for his posterity to inhabit, under the
direction and control of Him who is King of kings and Lord of lords,
he must secure the right to these blessings in this life. When Adam
and Eve were married they were married for eternity, from the very
fact that they were united together before they fell, before death
entered into the world. Death was not considered in the marriage
covenant. The first example of marriage on record was between two
immortal beings—two beings who would have lived until now if they had
not sinned, and the end of that marriage covenant would never have
come; but notwithstanding this, throughout the whole Christian world,
when the marriage ceremony is performed the minister stands up and
says: "I pronounce you husband and wife until death does you
separate;" when death separates you the marriage covenant is at an
end. Can they live together after the resurrection by virtue of these
covenants made by uninspired men? No. Why? Because they were only
married for a certain definite period, and that was until death, when
that comes the time is run out. The covenant is no longer binding. It
is not legal in the sight of heaven for eternity. But when a man is
united to a woman by virtue of that priesthood which has power to seal
on the earth and it is sealed in heaven, their marriage covenant is
not dissolved, but it will stand and be good and lawful as long as
eternity endures, just like the covenant entered into by our first
parents. Perhaps you may think that Brother Pratt is rather
enthusiastic and fanatical in his ideas to suppose that immortal
beings can multiply; but I would ask any person who has read the first
and second chapters of Genesis if the command which was first given to
multiply was not given to two immortal beings who had not yet fallen?
If, therefore, two immortal beings, were then commanded to multiply,
why should it be thought incredible that immortal beings who are
raised from the grave and restored to all that which Adam and his wife
possessed before the Fall, should have the power to do the same?
Then again, it oftentimes happens that a monogamist, or the man with
but one wife, loses that wife; and by the Scriptures he is permitted
to marry again. If he loses a second wife it is lawful for him to
marry a third wife, and so on. Now if we admit the eternal covenant of
marriage between the first pair—two immortal beings, and that they
were commanded to multiply, then, if the same order of marriage is to
be continued, and we become immortal, and all the man's three wives
who have died in succession come up out of the grave, must he divorce
all but one, or will he have them all? And if he must divorce any,
which must he divorce, and which must he claim? Does not everything
that is consistent and reasonable, and everything that agrees with the Bible show that plurality of wives must exist after the
resurrection? It does, or else there will be a breaking up of the
marriage covenant.
I do not know but I ought to apolo gize for detaining you so long; but
the subject is interesting to my own mind and I trust it has been
interesting to the hearers.