These words are found in the 5th verse of the 1st Epistle of John:
"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."
Inasmuch as God is represented to be a being full of truth, full of
knowledge and intelligence, having almighty power, we would naturally
suppose that he was also a God of light, that is full of the
principle of light; and that there is nothing too deep for him to
understand, or too great for his understanding to comprehend or reach.
He being full of light, there can be no darkness in him. Indeed, he is
spoken of by James as the "Father of lights." In other words, his
offspring, his children, his sons and daughters, partake of a portion
of that light which dwells in the Father; the same as our children,
born unto us, partake, in some respects, of the light and intelligence
which dwells in their parents. All creatures that we are acquainted
with, that have life, and being, and power to move upon the earth,
have a degree of light, a degree of understanding, and that light or
understanding is meted out to them, according to the decree of heaven,
and according to the condition in which they are placed, to fill the
object of their creation.
The Lord does not entrust a fullness of light to any of his creatures
in this world, not even his own sons and daughters have this
privilege, while in this mortal state of existence. It seems to be in
accordance with the great purpose of Jehovah, to place his own
children here in this creation and impart to them a very small degree
of light and truth. They are required to improve upon this degree of
light, adding thereunto understanding, knowledge and truth. Some, in
reflecting upon this subject, might ask the questions, "If the Lord is
an almighty being, possessing all power, and is full of intelligence,
knowledge and truth, and if we are his children, why did he not impart
unto us the fullness of this light in the beginning of our existence
in this world? Why should he give us little by little? Why are we not
born with an understanding of all things past, all things present, and
all things to come?" To my mind these questions are easily answered.
The Lord designed, in placing his children here upon this creation,
that they should not only attain to great knowledge, and
understanding, and wisdom, but that they should show themselves
approved in every sphere in which they might be placed. Where little
is given, but little will be required. And having determined in his
own purpose and mind that they should be agents to themselves, he
designed to try them in their agency, with a small degree of light and
truth at first, to see how they would act in relation to the degree of
intelligence given; in other words, to see whether they would make a
good use of the same, exercising their agency in doing that which is
right, cleaving to that which is good, and resisting evil of every
kind. And then having been found worthy he would impart a greater
degree of light, and impart to them greater knowledge concerning
himself, and his purposes, and his ways, and the works of his hands.
If we were created with a fullness of knowledge, it would be very
difficult for us to conceive how it could be possible, to use this
agency properly before the Lord. It is true we would be placed in
possession of a vast amount of information concerning the past, present
and future, but being agents to ourselves we might, peradventure, use
this knowledge in a manner to do great injury. Therefore the Lord
determined that we should only be entrusted with a little information,
and with an agency to use it according to his mind and will.
We are the sons and daughters of God, just as much so as the children,
present this afternoon, are the sons and daughters of their parents,
and in the same light, that we are the children of our earthly
parents, so are the children of men the offspring of the Almighty. He
is our Father in the full sense of the word, and we were begotten by
him, and born to him, not in this probation, but in the world prior to
the existence of this one—in our former or first estate. There we were
born, there we were begotten, there we received a spiritual existence
in the image of God, we were then without flesh, without bones,
without the organization we now are in possession of. When I speak of
a spiritual existence, do not misunderstand me, I do not mean the kind
of existence spoken of in the writings of many theologians in which
the spirits of men are represented as occupying no space, and as
having no relation to duration or time. Such an existence is
inconceivable; it is absurd in its very nature, to suppose that there
can be any existence, either in an immortal form, or in the present
form of body and spirit, as persons occupying no space; it is one of
the greatest absurdities ever invented by intelligent beings. Yet this
is incorporated in the articles of faith of some of the Christian
societies and especially in their theological writings. They try to
make spiritual existence as mysterious as they possibly can, and often
declare our Father and God to be a person, and yet, according to their
articles of faith, he is said to be without body, parts or passions,
as though we could comprehend the existence of something without a
body or parts.
Some of you, my hearers, may be surprised, especially the rising
generation growing up in these valleys, when I tell you that there are
millions of Christians (so called), who believe that God occupies no
space, that is, as a body, and yet is a person. You read the 39
Articles of the Church of England, if you doubt what I say, and you
will there find it just so; also the Articles of the Methodists, which
are more or less copied from those of the Church of England. In the
Methodist discipline it reads: We believe in one God, consisting of three persons, without body, without parts, without
passions.
In reading these things when a boy, and not having reflected much, I
thought, of course, it was one of the mysteries which we were not
permitted to understand. I did not then perceive the absurdity of the
idea, incorporated as one of the articles of faith of a great and
numerous religious body. But after I grew up to manhood, and reflected
upon these things, and began to try to grasp in my mind and
comprehend, in some measure, a being consisting of two other beings
beside himself, and yet having no body, I could not do it. It was a
contradiction in my mind, something that did not look consistent; and
especially when they, in order to make the thing so plain, in their
estimation, that nobody might misunderstand them, declare that he
has no parts. Consequently he does not occupy any portion of finite or
infinite space. However minutely we may divide a cubic inch of space,
though separated into millions of parts, yet every one of these minute
portions are parts of the cubic inch; and when you speak about that
which has no parts, then you come to the representation of nothing;
then you come to the modern Christian God, as represented in their
discipline, and in their articles of faith. I have ofttimes wondered
how it is, that there are so many who believe in these absurd ideas;
men of intelligence, men that would scorn to believe such principles
connected with natural philosophy, and with the sciences of the day,
yet so mistaken in their minds, and so infatuated by false religions,
as to conceive of the existence of a being that has no parts.
Now let me say something about that being, the subject of our text.
"God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." Does he exist as a
person? Yes. Has he a Son called his Only Begotten? Yes. Did his Son
have a body? Yes. We have, this afternoon been celebrating the Lord's
Supper, and commemorating his broken body, that was crucified for us.
Had he parts? Yes, and those parts occupied space just the same as all
the children of men? Yes. Was he about the common height of men? Yes.
Had he dimensions? Yes, a body and parts. And yet we are really told
that God consists of three persons without body or parts. Is Jesus one
of these three persons? They will tell you so, and that these three
have one body. How did the Jews crucify him when he had nothing to
crucify? Please do not blame me for speaking of these absurdities. But
what says the Scriptures in regard to these matters. Paul, in speaking
of Jesus, says, he was "the brightness of his (Father's) glory, and
the express image of his person." The martyr Stephen, in his last
dying testimony said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of Man standing on the right hand of God." How many persons did
Stephen see? Two; and the Son was standing on the right hand of the
Father. Then we have testimony to show that the Father has a right
hand, and it would, therefore, be fair to infer that be has a left
hand also. But let me refer you back to a very early period just
before, and immediately after man first appeared on our earth; among
other things that are said of him, you will find these words: "And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." And then
it says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him." Hence, whenever we have had any account given
us of heavenly beings appearing to man on the earth, they have always
come in the form of man. For instance, the Lord and two other heavenly
personages appeared to Abraham, who besought them to tarry until
something could be prepared for them to eat; and we are told that "a
calf, tender and good," was killed and dressed, and cakes also were
prepared, which, together with batter and milk, constituted the meal,
and that they did eat. Can you conceive of a more ridiculous idea than
for a person without body or parts to sit down to a meal and eat? You
may say, these were angels; but you will find by reading the whole of
this chapter that I have quoted from namely: the 18th of Genesis, that
after the repast, they proceeded on their way towards Sodom,
accompanied by Abraham, and that two of the persons went ahead leaving
the Lord himself in conversation with Abraham, both of them in the
same human form.
Again, we are informed that seventy of the Elders of Israel, at a
certain time, went up into Mount Sinai, where "they saw the God of
Israel;" and they describe his person, and also the appearance of the
ground upon which he stood. Jacob also tells us that he saw God face
to face; and we have many declarations made by many of the ancient
Prophets to the effect that they saw him. Isaiah speaks of having seen
him, and says that his train filled the Temple; he was accompanied by
a numerous host of heavenly beings.
In all of the references, the Lord appears as a man, they saw him as a
man, and those who saw him describe him as a man, as having a head,
eyes, ears, mouth, etc., in common with the human family, his
children. The difference, however, between man and God does not
consist so much in the personal form, as in the vast, immeasurable
amount of knowledge and information in possession of the Father, while
we, his offspring, have but little, a very limited amount,
comparatively the same as our little children: they have power to move
their limbs, and that information apparently is all that they have;
their minds are much limited, indeed, and they have to learn by actual
experience. They at first learn something that concerns them; they
have to learn the nature of their sight, and that is not correct at
first, but by experience they learn to compare things, and also find
the distances of things. For instance, a little child taken to the
door and seeing the moon shining in the heavens, puts forth its little
hand to reach that luminary; it does not know the distance of objects,
until it learns by experience. And hence it seems we have been placed
in the first conditions of knowledge, and we have to cultivate this
knowledge by degrees—from one degree to another, until we arrive to
manhood and womanhood; and some continue to cultivate knowledge and
information until they become old and grayheaded. But some learn much
faster than others, from either natural advantages, or those of
method. But there is a certain school far superior to any schools
established among men. It is this. The Lord has taught us that if we,
his children, will only repent of our sins—when I speak of repentance,
I mean a reformation, a putting away of sin; when we do this with all
our hearts, and are immersed in water for remission of our sins, we
have the promise that the Holy Ghost shall be given to us. This is a
blessing that the natural man is not acquainted with; but when he
becomes a spiritual man, so far as learning is concerned, he
comes in possession of a power he never knew before to any great
extent; in other words, he is baptized with the Holy Ghost. What does
this do for the education of the children of men? Far more than our
academies do. Our children have, by hard study, year after year, to
acquire their learning in these human institutions; hard thinking is
necessary, reasoning, gaining little by little, and it frequently
requires many years of close application to become what is termed a
learned man—a man that understands the sciences, that has worked his
way through the various departments of mathematics, and perhaps
geology, and mineralogy, and all the sciences, such as are usually
taught in universities. But the man filled with the Holy Ghost has got
the advantage of students who graduate at our universities. Why?
Because he can learn more in ten minutes, in regard to many things,
than another, not so favored, can in all his life. Indeed, he can
learn some things by the operations of the Holy Ghost, which no
natural man or woman could learn, however gifted they may be. You may
inquire where they could learn these things? I answer, by the
revelations of the Holy Ghost, which brings to light many things that
are past, and shows things that are in the future. The Lord is just as
able to show one of his pupils, who will take the necessary steps to
be taught, what will take place a year, or ten years, or a hundred, or
a thousand or more years hence, as the principals in our universities
are to teach persons concerning things present. God is not confined to
the present, or to things immediately concerning his pupils, or those
who may enter into the university he has prepared, but he opens the
past and future to the minds of men, just as Jesus promised his
disciples, when he was about to leave them. "Howbeit when he, the
Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; and he
will show you things to come."
Supposing then that the children of God, who are counted worthy to be
in possession of the Holy Spirit, should comply with all his
commandments, and become revelators, and supposing they should inquire
about the condition and formation of the earth, when the Lord rolled
it into existence, also about the changes that have come upon it, how
easy it would be for the Lord to show them, in a moment, almost in the
twinkling of an eye, all about it, giving the whole history of its
condition, before and when it was first formed. Geologists may study,
year after year, all the best works they can obtain, concerning the
geological phenomena of our globe; they may speculate and say, the
earth is several millions of years old, founding their speculations
upon geological appearances; they may say, that it must have passed
through successive changes for millions of years. But after all, what
do they really know? They may have a very imperfect idea in relation
to the surface of the earth; but they do not know anything about the
depths, underneath this superficial stratum—the great interior; they
have only a faint idea of certain very limited localities—a few
surface scratches, and almost infinitesimal in thickness. From these
uncertain data they have drawn their conclusions concerning the age of
the earth.
Supposing persons, under the influence of the Spirit of the living
God, should behold how many of these changes have been brought about,
and how great revolutions have taken place, since the earth was last organ ized out of pre-existent and eternal materials; supposing
they should behold the solid earth gradually emerging from its watery
envelope, and becoming one land, the waters gathered together into one
place—not into two places, not into different oceans, seas and lakes,
but into one place, leaving the dry land in one place. Supposing they
should still further see by the power of the Holy Ghost, this dry
land, after a few thousand years, separate into great continents, not
by long gradual phenomena, in the nature of geological periods, but by
the immediate power of the great Creator; supposing again, that the
ocean should change from its location, and land, in many places,
should be brought to light. Supposing again, that they should behold
in vision, mountains sink, forming deep valleys, and valleys rise up,
forming high mountains. Supposing again, that they were to see many
parts of these continents sink, and lakes appear in the sunken
portions; and supposing too, they were to behold great and important
changes, at different times, wrought upon the dry land, and upon the
parts called ocean, changing places by degrees.
Now, a geologist would say that all these things, and all these
revolutions were brought about by gradual and slow changes; whereas
the man of God, being taught by the Holy Ghost, would say that these
things were accomplished in a comparatively short period of time.
Which of the two would be most correct, the man who speculates from
the little he can find out from the surface examination of our little
globe, or the man who, by the power of the living God, penetrates in
vision, into the depths of the earth, and also beholds those various
revolutions which have taken place upon the surface of the earth?
Then again, when it comes to astronomical phenomena, we are taught
that there are very slow climatic changes taking place, which occupy
very long periods, during which, the northern and southern hemispheres
of our globe, are alternately affected with extremes of heat and
cold. It is true, there are causes of an astronomical character,
which, if permitted to act through immense periods, would necessarily
produce alternate extremes of temperature in the two polar
hemispheres. It is also true, that differences of temperature in the
two hemispheres, would necessarily diminish the polar ice in one, and
increase it in the other; thus there would necessarily result a
continued change of sea level—a change in the earth's center of
gravity—a rising of the ocean in the colder hemisphere, a
corresponding retirement of the ocean in the warmer, giving rise to
glacial and interglacial periods of great length.
But all these great phenomena could also be brought about, in a few
thousand years, by simply and alternately changing the angle between
the planes of the earth's orbit and the equator. He who formed the
universe holds the regulating key in his own hand. By his almighty
power it was organized; by his law it is governed; by his good will
and pleasure it passes through great changes; by his decree it will
pass away and be renewed. Which gives the most information, that which
comes from God, direct by the power of his Spirit—revelation from
heaven—or that which comes from mere speculation, based upon some
uncertain data, that may be correct, and that may not be correct? I
would say, give me the privilege of being taught from on high, give me
the privilege of being taught by that being who knows and
comprehends everything pertaining to this creation, and knows the
changes that it has undergone, and how long the earth has continued in
its present condition, or nearly in its present condition.
We infer from this good book, called King James' translation of the
Bible, that a few thousand years ago the earth was formed. And many
have supposed that it was then formed out of nothing. I need hardly
say to this congregation, that no such nonsense can be found in the
Scriptures; but in the creeds of men, may be found this idea set
forth, that God created all things from nothing. Now, how do the
founders of these creeds, as well as those who believe in them, know
that he did such a thing? Have they any revelation, from the first
chapter of Genesis to the end of the revelations of St. John, which
states or intimates that the Lord made the earth out of nothing? Not
one. This is the addition of man; this is a tradition formed by
uninspired articles of faith and discipline to govern people in their
religious ideas; whereas the word of God says nothing of the kind. The
materials out of which this earth was formed, are just as eternal as
the materials of the glorious personage of the Lord himself. Now, he
consists of a body and parts, and not only of parts but passions. He
has the passion of love, so much so that he is called a God of love:
hence this nonsense about God having no parts nor passions is among
the inventions of human wisdom. This being, when he formed the earth,
did not form it out of something that had no existence, but he formed
it out of materials that had an existence from all eternity: they
never had a beginning, neither will one particle of substance now in
existence ever have an end. There are just as many particles now as
there were at any previous period of duration, and will be while
eternity lasts. Substance had no beginning; to say that laws had no
beginning would be another thing; some laws might have been eternal,
while others might have had a lawgiver. But the earth was formed out
of eternal materials, and it was made to be inhabited and God peopled
it with creatures of his own formation.
There have been many people in this world so limited in their
information and knowledge, in consequence of tradition and false
creeds, and catechisms, that they really believe that our earth is the
only creation that exists on which inhabitants dwell, that the stars
were made to shine for the benefit of our earth, that the sun and moon
were made especially for us, and that the earth is the great central
standard, and that all things were made for its benefit. But I am
happy to say, that these ideas are fast getting out of date, and that
people are beginning to learn that God is not so limited in his power
as to confine himself to a creation so little and insignificant as
that of our earth. There is an infinitude of space, boundless in every
direction. In other words, when I say boundless, I mean that it is
impossible for us to limit any bounds to that space. Has this space
materials existing in it? Yes. (So far as our telescopes are able to
penetrate, and some of them go very far indeed.) You take Lord Ross'
six foot reflector, and point it towards yonder heavens, and you find
new systems, new universes, as it were, revealed. What are these
worlds? They are mighty globes. To say they are like our globe would
not be correct; for if they were only little specks like our little
earth, they could not be seen. But they are mighty suns, like
our sun in yonder firmament. Our sun is over twelve hundred thousand
times larger than our earth; and those distant bodies that are
seen—some of them by the naked eye, and others by the aid of powerful
glasses, are worlds of great magnitude. For what purposes were all
these mighty worlds framed? What object had the Lord in view in their
creation? Was it to satisfy a few individuals that should dwell upon
this little earth that the Lord made them to twinkle in yonder
heavens, to shine by night? Was that the main object that he had in
view? No; he had a greater and more glorious object than that. He has
created worlds without number, that is they cannot be numbered by us;
millions on millions have been discovered by the aid of glasses, but
those are only a beginning of the immensity of the worlds in
existence; and he has made them to be inhabited by his own offspring,
or own children, his own sons and daughters, intelligent beings
designed to be brought up and eventually to be made like him. You know
our children become like their parents in many respects; and you
know, too, that it is the hope of all parents that their children, if
they live, and are properly educated and trained, will grow up to be
good men and women, and that they will possess the same intelligence,
if not more, than their parents. And we also see other kinds of beings
brought forth in the likeness of their parents; the lion begets a
lion, not a lamb; and so with every species of beings that exist, each
begets his own likeness. And why not we, the masterpiece of the
creations of our Father, grow up unto all that fullness of eternal
knowledge and truth which he himself possesses. If he is full of
light, and in him there is no darkness at all, why not his children,
if they be educated and taught properly, and prove themselves
acceptable and worthy before him, be brought up, in due time, and be
made like him, on the same principle that all other things beget their
like. It is true, we are now fallen beings, we have departed from our
Father, we have transgressed his holy laws, we have been thrown into
unhappy circumstances, in consequence of the transgression of our
first parents, in the Garden of Eden, and hence, darkness reigns over
this little creation, and has taken possession of mankind; but as they
were immortal when placed in the garden, and death had no power over
them, so must their offspring (if they were permitted to have any)
have been immortal and not subject to death. But by the fall, death
came; by sin and transgression men became subject to death, and
consequently this world of ours became a fallen world. Our first
parents were in the immediate presence of God, their Father; they
could behold him and converse with him face to face, before the
transgression. But how changed everything became! They were not only
cast out of the garden, but out of the presence of their Creator and
God; cast out from the presence of celestial beings—cast out into a
world of darkness, there to learn by sad experience many lessons,
which we, perhaps, never could have learned, had we still continued to
dwell in our former condition.
Now this, no doubt, has been done in wisdom. When we occupied our
first estate, dwelling in the presence of the Father, before this
world was created, we were without bodies of flesh and bones, but
possessing parts and passions then as much as we do now; we were there
as intelligent spirits, in our present form and shape, but although we had no bodies of flesh and bones, that spiritual substance
of which our spirits were formed had a term, and that form was after
the likeness and image of God, the Father. But if we had continued to
dwell there for innumerable millions of years, we never could have
learned, in that state of existence, many things that we are being
taught in this fallen world. We might have seen other worlds formed:
we might have had some idea, perhaps, of their condition and of their
misery and wretchedness, and we might have had some idea of the awful
calamities that happened to the bodies of other fallen creations; but
then there are many things that intelligent beings cannot learn
without experiencing the same. For instance, we can learn a great many
things by our reflective powers, without the aid of natural senses; we
might, by reason alone, find out some obtuse problems of mathematics;
we might, by reason, too, comprehend more or less of the revolutions
and mechanism of our celestial system; we might, by a pure process of
reason, find out all the principles of geometry, and the differential
and integral calculus and many other principles of mathematics. But
there are some things we might never find out by the process of
reason. For instance: suppose we were created in the celestial world
without a knowledge of that which we term pain, could we learn to
sense it by seeing others suffer? No, no more than a person born in a
dungeon and kept there until he reached the years of manhood, without
the least gleam of light, could, while in that condition, be
instructed about the principle of light. Why could he not be
instructed? Because it is something he never has experienced. You tell
him that light produces beautiful colors, such as red, blue, green,
etc., what would he know about these colors? Nothing at all; his
experience has not been called to grasp them; such a thing as a ray of
light never penetrated his dungeon. But when he is permitted to
experience the nature of light, when he sees the various colors, he
then learns something which he never could reason out. So with regard
to ourselves. We, in our first state of existence, never having seen
misery among any of the immortal beings, and never experiencing it in
our spiritual personages, how could we know anything about it? I do
not think we could possibly comprehend the nature of it. We could not
reason out the difference between happiness and misery. Why? For the
want of experience. It was for this reason that God the Father caused
the tree bearing forbidden fruit to be placed in the garden. This tree
was not placed beyond Adam's reach, but it was found in a conspicuous
place—in the midst of the garden, so that man, by his agency, might
bring upon himself his own misery, and by that means he would be able
to distinguish between happiness and misery. The Lord prepared
everything, and he made special reference to the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, forbidding Adam to eat of it, saying that in the day he
eat the fruit of that tree he should surely die. But then, what did
Adam know about death? Such a penalty could not be understood by him;
the only way possible for him to conceive of it was through vision,
and the probability is he did not know anything about it. But he was
his own agent, and he exercised that agency by putting forth his hand
and partaking of the fruit: both he and his wife ate the fruit, and
thus transgressed the law of God. Then the earth became fallen, and
all the inhabitants thereof have inherited the effects of the
fall, through these two fallen beings. Death is not something we bring
upon ourselves, but we are sure to die because our first parents
rendered themselves mortal; before that they were immortal. They made
themselves mortal by partaking of the forbidden fruit, transgressing
the law of heaven and we are the inheritors of these calamities and
these penalties, the same as children are susceptible of parental
diseases, and frequently inherit, for many generations, evils that
their forefathers were in possession of. We learn quite an experience
here: we learn what it is to be miserable, we learn what it is to be
unhappy, and we can now contrast misery with happiness; and we can say
in our hearts, if I could only get rid of sickness, and pain, and
sorrow, the effects of this death, how I could appreciate it! We often
give expression to such feelings, when we are deeply afflicted. The
Lord intends to free us, if we keep his commandments, after having
suffered sufficiently long through this state of sickness and
feebleness, this state of suffering and sorrow, which we have endured
for so many years. He intends to bring us forth triumphant over the
grave, bring up our bodies from the tomb, restoring our spirits to
immortal bodies, as Adam was in the Garden of Eden, and make us
immortal and eternal in our nature. Then we shall know, by experience,
how to appreciate as well as distinguish between happiness and misery,
and be as the gods, knowing good and evil. Is this lesson necessary?
Yes, suppose the Lord were to appoint to you a kingdom; suppose he
were to say to you, "Son, yonder are materials which you may organize
by my power into a world; and you may place upon it your own
offspring, as I did my offspring upon the world upon which you dwelt."
What kind of person would you be if you had no experience? What? Go
and create a world, and then people that world with your own
offspring, and not know the difference between good and evil, between
sickness and health, between pain and happiness, having no knowledge
of these by experience. I think that such a one would not be fit to
be entrusted with a world that was to undergo and pass through the
same ordeals that our creation is now experiencing.
As Latter-day Saints, we look forward to the future with a great deal
of pleasing satisfaction, when we shall come forth from the grave, and
our vile bodies be changed and fashioned after His most glorious body;
and this is what the Scriptures set forth and testify of. Hence, when
the materials of our body shall come together again to be reorganized,
our bodies will be a little different to what they are now. Blood will
not then flow in the arteries and veins of the immortal male and
female; for blood leads to death—leads to change; but instead of blood
will flow the pure Spirit of the living God. This is referred to in
the 37th chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel, as follows:
"The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of
the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of
bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there
were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he
said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord
God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus
saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and ye shall live:
"And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and
cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye
shall know that I am the Lord.
"So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his
bone.
"And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them,
and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
"Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man,
and say unto 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 up upon their feet, an exceeding great
army." That was a vision of the resurrection. The interpretation is
given in the following verse. The children of Israel at that time
disbelieved more or less in the resurrection, which was taught by
their Prophets; and they began to say in their hearts, "Our bones are
dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts."
"Therefore (says the Lord) prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you
to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel."
When the Lord brings up the children of Israel out of their graves, he
will do it just as Ezekiel saw it in vision. The materials that form
the bones will come together: first, the anatomy or framework, the
most part of the system; then the flesh, afterwards the skin, and then
the Spirit of the living God will enter into them, and they will live
as immortal beings, no more to be subject to death. And when they
leave, instead of going away off to a heaven inconceivable, such as we
find in the articles and creeds of men—a "heaven beyond the bounds of
time and space," a place supposed to be beyond infinity, they will
actually come here and be brought to the land of Israel, as immortal
beings, male and female. They will have kings and priests among them,
and they will reign on the earth. And if you want to know how long,
you can learn it from the revelation which John had. He says, "a
thousand years." But that "the rest of the dead lived not again until
the thousand years were finished." After the thousand years here
referred to, this earth will die; it will pass through a change
similar to that of our bodies; it will pass away, as an organized
world, but not a particle, however, will be destroyed or annihilated;
it will all exist, and when it is resurrected again, it will be a new
earth. Then those immortal beings who come up out of their graves, at
the beginning of the thousand years, will again descend from heaven
upon the new earth; and the earth will be eternal; and the beings that
inhabit it will be eternal. And the earth will at that time have no
more need of the light of a luminary like our sun, or any artificial
light, for it will be a globe of light; for when God makes this earth
immortal, he will make it glorious like the inhabitants that will be
permitted to live upon it. They will become immortal, and be crowned
with crowns of glory, and light will radiate from their personages and
countenances; so will the earth radiate its light, and shine forth in
celestial splendor. I will not say as the splendor of our sun, for it
is not a celestial body. Although the light of the sun is very
glorious, it will not begin to compare with that of this earth, when
it becomes celestial and eternal and is lightened by the
presence of God the Father. It is doubtful whether the children of
mortality on other worlds, will ever behold the light of this earth,
after it is made eternal, unless they happen to catch a glimpse of it
by vision. God dwells in a world of light too glorious for mortal eyes
to behold, unless aided by the Spirit of the living God.
Let me say a few words on these different worlds of which I have
spoken. They are stretched out in the immensity of space, are infinite
in every direction, and they are inhabited. I doubt very much, whether
any of these worlds are celestial. I do not think we could behold
them, unless by vision, if they were celestial. They are worlds in
various stages of progression, some more glorious than others,
inhabited by beings prepared to dwell upon them, beings who are the
sons and daughters of God, or the sons and daughters of his children.
If God is our Father, and we become like him, we may have our
attributes greatly enlarged, sufficiently to prepare us to occupy a
greater sphere of existence, to become rulers and creators under the
command of God, being one with him, as the Father and the Son are one,
to carry out his law and eternal purposes. Not only are present worlds
existing, but worlds without number have existed from all ages of
eternity, in their various stages of progress from the infinite
duration of the past, and are peopled by the children of God—his own
offspring, or the offspring of those who have become Gods. Besides,
these worlds will exist forever, and there still remains no end, as
it were, to the materials which will yet be organized into worlds, for
the materials are infinite in quantity; they cannot be exhausted. And
do these worlds communicate one with another? Why not; is the Lord
limited in the process of communication? We find that man, poor, weak,
fallen man, is now able to communicate from one end of the world, on
which we live, to the other; and why not immortal beings communicate
from world to world. If they were limited, then they would partake
more of the nature of mortality. But they are not limited in their
communications. There is a faculty in mankind which, when lighted up
by the Spirit of God, cannot only pierce in vision through millions
of miles of space, but can also hear through millions of miles of
space. Indeed, the progress of man, in this the nineteenth century,
shows to us, in a very forcible manner, what may be hereafter in our
more perfect state. What a wonderful thing it was to the whole world,
a few years since, to communicate their thoughts, by the means of
electric wires, sending them from city to city, from state to state,
and then across the great ocean to foreign countries, and that too
almost momentarily! If people had been told some fifty years ago that
such wonderful developments would take place, in so short a time, they
would have laughed at and even derided the idea; but now it is an
accomplished fact. Who, some two years ago, would have supposed that
the senses of the ear could have been awakened by sounds transmitted
some hundreds of miles distant? And yet this is now done by the aid of
the telephone; and although the discovery is yet only in its infancy,
the human voice is heard distinctly, and readily recognized at that
distance.
Now, supposing we were immortal beings, and we stood upon one
celestial world, away in a distant part of space, and others dwelling
upon another celestial world innumerable miles distant from
us, there may be a process by which we could communicate one to
another, and ideas be exchanged, from world to world, without adopting
the slow progress of communication by light or electricity. Well, says
one, "I thought that light was transmitted more rapidly than anything
that we could conceive of." Light proceeds from one luminary to
another, at the rate of 185,000 miles per second. Can anything be
swifter than this? Do you suppose the Lord would reveal all his
resources to us? I think not; I believe that when the children of men
become immortal and eternal, their privileges will be enlarged; and
those powers of nature, and laws of which we have such a limited
understanding, will become greatly multiplied and enlarged. There may
be a process of communication by means of celestial, heavenly light,
that will far outstrip the natural light which proceeds from yonder
luminaries in our heavens. It may be that this natural light travels
very slowly, compared with the light that proceeds forth from
celestial worlds, wherever they may be situated. Then again, if
immortal beings on celestial worlds can hear, and see, and communicate
with each other, would it not be just as pleasant as though they were
associated together in the same room? What difference can it make,
seeing that distance is no impediment to them? This is the destiny of
these worlds that twinkle in the firmament of heaven; they will
finally arrive at that state of perfected existence, unless they
forfeit their privileges through transgression; all that do not
forfeit these privileges will be exalted to them; and they will be
sanctified; they will be full of light, like unto the sea of glass,
that John the Revelator saw, upon which the redeemed were permitted to
dwell, whom he saw and heard, singing the songs of Moses and the Lamb.
What a happy state and condition, not only to study these things
pertaining to this little world we inhabit, but to extend our
researches to our neighboring worlds, learning the laws, institutions,
and governments of the peoples that inhabit them, also their history,
and everything pertaining to them, and then extend our researches
still further. Let me here quote from one of the revelations given
anciently to Enoch, and revealed anew, in these latter days to Joseph
Smith. Enoch, we learn, was favored with a great and glorious vision;
he saw the different worlds, and saw the Lord and other glorious
personages, who were weeping over the fallen sons and daughters of
this world. This astonished Enoch; he was astonished beyond measure,
to think that there should be so many worlds in existence, and all
passing through certain changes and degrees of changes, and yet the
Lord should weep over the fallen sons and daughters of this little
planet. So he inquired about it, asking how it was that the heavens
wept and shed forth their tears like rain upon the mountains; saying,
Thou art holy from all eternity to all eternity; and were it possible
for man to number the particles of this earth and a million of earths
like it, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations,
and yet thou art there and thy bosom is there, how is it that thou
canst weep! It was marvelous to him, why the Lord should weep over so
small a creation, when there were so many others. The Lord then told
him concerning the wickedness of the people who existed before the
flood; he told him of their abominations and sinful practices. And
then he further tells him, that his eyes could pierce all the
creations which he had made, showing how powerful are the eyes of the
great Jehovah, that he can behold all these creations; however
numerous, and can behold all that transpires upon them.
There is one thing connected with this same revelation, to which I
wish also to call your attention; it is in regard to the fallen
condition of many of these creatures. Notwithstanding the unnumbered
worlds which have been created, out of each one of these creations the
Lord had taken Zion (in other words a people called Zion) to his own
bosom. What does this signify? Are we not to understand that all these
creations were fallen worlds. Why did he not take them all? Because
they were not all worthy, because being fallen, they did not keep his
commandments, because they did not exercise their agency to worship
God; for that reason he did not take them all to himself. He did not
qualify them and make them one in him, as Jesus is one with the
Father; he did not make them like him in all respects, to go forth and
make new creations and people them. I mention these things to show
that we have, in the revelations that God has given, many indications,
that there are worlds beside our own that are fallen; also that we may
see that the Lord has one grand method, for the salvation of the
righteous of all worlds—that Zion is selected and taken from all of
them. And reasoning from analogy, may we not, with propriety believe,
that these fallen creations, after fulfilling their temporal destiny,
will be changed, and become the celestial abodes of their respective
Zions? Let us, for a moment, consider the planets of our solar system,
namely, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ura nus and Neptune—the
great primary planets of our system; are these made for nothing? No.
What has the Lord said to us, Latter-day Saints, concerning these
planets? He says, all these are kingdoms, to which he has given laws.
And he likens these worlds, or kingdoms, unto a man having a field,
and he sent forth his servants to dig in this field. To the first he
said, "Go and labor in the field, and in the first hour, I will come
unto you, and ye shall behold the joy of my countenance. And he said
unto the second, go ye also into the field, and in the second hour I
will visit you with the joy of my countenance; and unto the third and
so on unto the twelfth. And the lord of the field went unto the first
in the first hour; and tarried with him all that hour, and he was made
glad with the light of the countenance of his Lord; and then he
withdrew from the first, that he might visit the second also, and so
on unto the twelfth." This withdrawing from one, to go to another is
something which I will explain. Why was it necessary, that there
should be a withdrawal of the presence of the Lord in visiting the
different worlds? I think it was necessary, so far as mortality is
concerned, and indicates that the inhabitants of these different
planets are fallen, as we are. It does not say so, in so many words,
but I can see that they must be fallen, and for that reason the Lord
withdraws his presence from them, and visits them in their hour, and
time, and season, and then withdraws from them, leaving them to
ponder in their hearts the commandments given them. If they were
immortal beings and celestial in their nature, the Lord would not act
with them thus, for then they would always be in his presence, whether
they are beings of one world or another, or whether the worlds
upon which they dwell are as numerous as the sands upon the seashore;
when they become celestial the veil that obscures the view of mortals
is removed, and it makes no difference whether a world be one million,
a hundred million, or a million million of miles distant from another,
if the veil is taken away, they are still in each other's presence.
There is a spiritual faculty of seeing, different from that of the
natural sight, a power of discerning through space, by which celestial
beings can see innumerable millions of miles in distance, just as easy
as mortals can see ten feet with their natural vision. To be in the
presence of God, then, is simply to have the veil withdrawn, which
will be done when we prove ourselves worthy of celestial glory. If the
worlds of which I have spoken, pertaining to the planetary system,
were celestial worlds, occupied by celestial inhabitants, they would
all the time be in the presence of their Father, and there could be no
withdrawing from the first, to visit the second, etc., according to
the revelation from which I have quoted. His method of conveying
intelligence is far more rapid than that of light. Light, how slow!
Only 185,000 miles in a second. It would take three and a half years
at that rate for light to come from one of the nearest fixed stars. A
long time to wait, especially if you were in a hurry to get an answer
to any message you may send; you would have to wait three and a half
years for the message to go, and probably for the same time, for the
returning answer. Now, the Lord has powers beyond those with which we
are acquainted. He has almighty powers. He has only entrusted us his
children of mortality with a knowledge of some of the more gross
principles and laws of this fallen creation, and when we, through hard
study, search out the relation of one law to another, we think we are
learned men; but I think when we learn in that great university the
sciences of which the Lord our God is the great Teacher, we shall
learn more rapidly and comprehend more easily the things of his
kingdom, than we now do the things of time. Amen.