I will call the attention of the congregation to a few passages of
Scripture, which will be found in the 20th and 21st chapters of the
Revelation given to St. John. In the 20th chapter we find these
words:
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and heaven fled away; and there was found no place for
them.
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of
life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works.
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every
man according to their works.
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire."
In the 21st chapter, commencing with the 1st verse, we read these
words:
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out
of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his
people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.
"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
"And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of
the water of life freely.
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God,
and he shall be my son."
It is a great and important undertaking to rise up before a
congregation of the children of men, and endeavor to declare the words
of eternal life to them. No man living can do this acceptably in the
sight of God, unless God is with him, by the power of his spirit and
by the inspiration thereof. I often feel my own weakness and
imperfection as a man, when endeavoring to do a work of this nature. I
oftentimes feel to ask myself the question—what am I, and how can I
perform the work which the Lord requires at my hand, unless he assists
me? Sometimes I almost feel to shrink; but then I know, from past
experience, that God has assisted me, and I have every reason to
believe that he will continue so to do, inasmuch as I am humble and
exercise faith in him, and strive to do his will.
These words written in the 20th and 21st chapters of the Revelation
given to St. John on the Isle of Patmos, occurred to my mind, a few
moments before I rose to my feet; for it is the practice of most of
the elders of this church to take no thought before hand what they
shall say, and it is very seldom that the officers of the church
endeavor to plan out in their own minds any particular form of
discourse, but, sometimes the spirit of the Lord may suggest certain
passages of scripture, and then that same spirit may dictate and
direct, in regard to the form of words that shall be used in
delineating the ideas contained in those texts.
We are told in the words which I have read, that there is a period of
time yet in the future, wherein this earth upon which we stand, where we have our being, and from which we derive our sustenance,
will pass away; and the heavens that are over our heads will also pass
away; at the time this great event shall happen, we are informed that
a great white throne shall appear; that a certain personage will sit
thereon, and that so great will be his glory, and so great the power
attending him, that the earth itself will flee away from before his
presence, and the heavens, the literal heavens that are over our
heads—probably meaning the heavens that pertain to this creation—will
pass away; the atmosphere and those things included in the atmosphere;
and the earth itself, the solid portions thereof, and the liquid
portions, will all pass away, before the face of him that sits upon
this throne. This is believed not only by the Latter-day Saints, but
by all Christian denominations, with very few exceptions. They believe
that the heaven and the earth will, at some future period have a great
change wrought upon them. They expect that they will pass away but I
believe that most of them consider that the earth will become
annihilated; that the very materials of which it is composed will be
reduced to nothing. I think that used to be, when I was a boy, a tenet
of the sectarian world; it used to be their idea, that the earth was,
in the beginning, made out of nothing by the word of God, and that it
would be reduced to nothing when it passed away.
But I have not time to dwell upon the idea of the Christian world, and
their views, concerning this matter; I shall touch upon those things
according to the ideas and the faith of the people called Latter-day
Saints. We do not believe that the earth was made out of nothing, like
the modern Christian idea; we have no such belief; for we do not find
any such declaration contained anywhere in the scripture. We do not
take it for granted, because they have incorporated these things in
their modern theology, in their doctrines, in their disciplines, in
their church articles, in their creeds—we do not receive it on this
testimony; but we search to see what the scriptures of truth have said
upon this subject; and when we have searched them, we find there is no
indications whatever, that the earth was made out of nothing, or that
it sprang into existence, where there was nothing on which to work.
We read in the first chapter of Genesis that God created the heaven
and the earth, and the earth was without form and void, but there is
nothing in this passage that informs us that he made the earth out of
nothing. Our view is that the elements out of which this and all other
worlds were made existed from all eternity; they never had any
beginning. There are a few individuals on the earth that make no
profession of religion—some call them materialists—who believe this
same principle; and in doing so, they have got one truth incorporated
among their ideas, though they do not believe in God. The materials of
this creation, according to our view, and that which God has revealed
to us, in this last dispensation, have existed from all eternity.
These materials have been, from all eternity, subject to the command
of the great Jehovah; they are under his jurisdiction; he has power to
control them; he gave them laws; they act according to these laws; and
they have been governed by laws, so far as we have any knowledge, and
so far as our creation is concerned, for indefinite ages past; and we
have every reason to believe that they have been under the dominion of law, so long as there has been a Supreme Being. And you
might ask how long is that? We answer, that he is co-eternal in his
existence, with the materials of creation—one existed as long as the
other; and neither of them had any beginning. There may have been an
endless cycle of organizations and disorganizations among the
materials of nature, governed for a certain period of time, for a wise
purpose, according to wise and just and holy laws, adapted to their
condition, and to bring about the great purposes of the great Jehovah.
We find that everything, at present, so far as we have any knowledge
and understanding to discern the workings of nature, seems to be under
the dominion of law. The earth rolls in its destined orbit according
to laws. The force by which it is supposed to have been projected is
according to a certain law. The great central force by which it is
governed, or to use a modern word "attracted," is according to a
certain law. The projectile force, so called, is adapted to the
central force; and it has rolled in its destined path, ever since its
present organization, or for some 6,000 years, and how much longer it
has rolled in that path or orbit, we do not know. It had a beginning
in its present organization, as Moses clearly gives us an idea. But in
organizing this world the Lord did not call it into existence from
nothing, but called the eternal elements that were spread abroad in
space and commanded them to come together, according to certain laws;
and the earth was formed and placed in its proper position, in the
midst of many other creations which roll around the great central
orb—the sun. It was no small work; it required the power of an
Almighty Creator to organize a world like this, to adapt it, in its
organization, to the principle of life, which, more or less, pervades
all of its materials, causing them to fulfil various laws, ordained in
relation to their action, obeying what are called chemical laws, in
forming the numerous compounds of which our earth is composed. The
solid portions, the liquid portions, and the aerial positions, were
all formed chemically by the power of the Almighty—I mean the
compounds which constitute those portions—and when we come to reduce
these compounds to their elements, we find upwards of sixty elementary
principles, from which, being joined together according to chemical
laws, all the numerous compounds are formed. Now, these laws in all
their operations are laws given by the Divine Being. He it is that
causes them to operate. Light, heat, electricity, and every substance
combined with the materials of our globe, are all under the dominion
of numerous laws; and the results that are brought about, or the good
that is bestowed upon the inhabitants of the earth, upon the animal
creation, giving them life, happiness, and peace—have all been brought
about by the wise ordination of these laws, exhibited through all the
elements of this creation. I say it required an Almighty power to so
wisely organize these elements; and when they were organized it
required great wisdom and judgment to produce the orbital motion of
the earth. The ascertained velocity that the earth has in its orbit,
as it flies in its destined course around the sun, is between eighteen
and nineteen miles per second. It not only requires great power to
organize the elements into a world, but it requires infinite wisdom
to organize the elements into flesh as at present in the
animal creation, including man, to give life to the beings which dwell
in these tabernacles.
This world, however, is not now as it was in the beginning, that is
when I speak of the beginning, I have reference to the beginning of
the earth, in its present organization; I do not have reference to the
beginning of duration, for it had no beginning; I do not have
reference to the beginning of an endless past, but I have reference to
the beginning relative to our little globe. In the beginning of our
creation, the earth was very fair, quite different from what it is
now. There were no children of mortality upon it, no animals that were
mortal upon it, no birds, nothing wherein we observe life in this
creation existed in its mortal state; but everything that had life was
immortal; every bird, fish, fowl, insect, creeping thing, cattle, and
man—all were immortal. The earth had no curse resting upon it; the
earth itself was immortal, and would have continued in all its glory,
as it issued from the hand of the Creator to the present time, without
any curse, had it not been for the transgression of our first parents.
That was the introduction of mortality, of pain and sorrow, misery and
wretchedness, not only upon man, but upon all creation that then
existed; everything was brought under the dominion of the curse. The
curse came upon man—that being who could stand in the presence of God
and converse with him face to face—the seeds of mortality were sown in
his immortal body—a change came and his whole system was affected
thereby. The seeds of death were placed within the tabernacle of man,
within the tabernacle of the lion, of the ox, and every beast of the
field, and every fish of the sea, and every fowl of the air. A very
great change then came over this creation. First, it was spiritual in
all its blessings and fullness of life and glory. Then it was reduced
to a temporal condition, wherein misery and wretchedness existed.
Another great change happened nearly two thousand years after the
earth was made. It was baptized by water. A great flow of water came,
the great deep was broken up, the windows of heaven were opened from
on high, and the waters prevailed upon the face of the earth, sweeping
away all wickedness and transgression—a similitude of baptism for the
remission of sins. God requires the children of men to be baptized.
What for? For the remission of sins. So he required our globe to be
baptized by a flow of waters, and all of its sins were washed away,
not one sin remaining. You were baptized, Latter-day Saints, for the
remission of your sins, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting
of your sin with all your heart, going down and being buried beneath
the liquid grave, you came forth as new creatures. So says the New
Testament; you buried the old man with all of his wicked deeds, and
came forth out of the liquid element born anew. So the earth in a
measure was renewed, not fully; no more than we are renewed fully by
baptism; we are not made immortal, when we come out of the waters of
baptism; we still retain the effects of the fall, so far as mortality
is concerned. So does the earth; the earth retains the effects of sin
and transgression that came upon its face. But notwithstanding it
retains these effects so far as mortality is concerned, yet it was
cleansed in a measure from this transgression. But alas! This earth
has again become corrupted. We are required, after being baptized for
the remission of our sins, to sin no more; to live holy and perfect
lives, so far as we possi bly can, and to keep the commandments
of God in all things, and to walk in newness of life, and this to the
end of our days. The earth has not been permitted to rest during the
period of four thousand years and upwards since its baptism.
Wickedness again has accumulated upon its face. The inhabitants of the
earth have corrupted and defiled the earth by their transgression. By
and by another great change will come. As the earth was cleansed from
its transgression by baptism in water, so it must again be cleansed,
before it is made immortal. It must be cleansed by an element that is
stronger and more purifying than that of water, namely, the element of
fire. Fire must prevail over all the face of this earth. What for? For
the purpose of cleansing the earth from its transgressions, the same
as the Latter-day Saints expect to be cleansed and purified more fully
than by baptism in water—by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost.
This is the promise to all that will repent of their sins and be
baptized for the remission of the same, that they shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, which is another baptism, more effectual, more
cleansing, more purifying in its nature, sanctifying the inner man and
the outward man, and making him a new creature. So this earth in due
time must be baptized with fire first, and then the Holy Ghost. Fire
will cleanse all the proud and they that do wickedly from its face—all
persons that are corrupt, all sinful persons, all disobedient persons,
all who do not keep the commandments of God; it will cleanse the earth
by burning them as stubble, fulfilling the words of the prophet
Malachi, in the last chapter, which reads thus: "For, behold, the day
cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all
that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn
them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither
root nor branch."
It seems, then, that this earth has to undergo a process very similar
to that of the redeemed man. It has to obey all the great sacred
ordinances of the Gospel, so far as its first principles are
concerned; the earth has to undergo a cleansing process, first by
water, a similitude of water baptism, and then by the Holy Ghost, a
similitude of baptism by fire and the Holy Ghost which you receive by
the laying on of the hands of those who have authority. Does this make
man immortal? No; man still retains his mortality, even after he is
baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost—his body is subject still
to death. It may be burned at the stake; it may pass away as the earth
will pass away; not annihilated, not one particle of our earthly
tabernacles shall be struck out of existence; but the elements may be
separated asunder, they may mingle perhaps with other elements—all
this may take place, even after we have been sanctified and purified
by the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost. So with our earth, when it
is renewed by the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, when he
shall descend, as Paul says, in flaming fire. What effect will that
have? It will have the effect that is spoken of by Malachi, all the
proud, including every wicked man, every wicked woman, will be swept
away like stubble before the devouring flame. It will be thus when
Jesus descends in the clouds of glory. The elements will be cleansed,
the same as you receive a cleansing by the Holy Ghost. You are made
new creatures. So the earth will be made new, and great
knowledge will be imparted to the inhabitants thereof, as predicted in
the 11th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah. The knowledge of God will
then cover the earth as the waters cover the mighty deep. There will
be no place of ignorance, no place of darkness, no place for those
that will not serve God. Why? Because Jesus, the Great Creator, and
also the Great Redeemer, will be himself on the earth, and his holy
angels will be on the earth, and all the resurrected Saints that have
died in former dispensations will all come forth, and they will be on
the earth. What a happy earth this creation will be, when this
purifying process shall come, and the earth be filled with the
knowledge of God as the waters cover the great deep! What a change!
Travel then, from one end of the earth to another, you can find no
wicked man, no drunken man, no man to blaspheme the name of the Great
Creator, no one to lay hold on his neighbor's goods, and steal them,
no one to commit whoredoms—for all who commit whoredoms will be thrust
down to hell, saith the Lord God Almighty, and all persons who commit
sin will be speedily visited by the judgments of the Almighty! But,
inquires one, can they sin? Yes; their agency will still be left. We
read in the 65th chapter of Isaiah that then, "There will be no more
thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his
days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner
being an hundred old shall be accursed." Children will grow up without
sin unto salvation, as a general thing, and in order to show how swift
the judgments will come upon the people, after Jesus comes and stands
upon the Mount of Olives, and all the Saints with him, we have only to
refer to the last chapter of Zechariah, where it is stated, "that
every one that is left of all the nations which came against
Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the
Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be
that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto
Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even unto them shall
be no rain." From this it appears that people who refuse to come up to
the land of Jerusalem, to worship God and to keep the feast of
tabernacles, are to be immediately visited with famine. They shall
have no rain, and that will stir them up, during the Millennium, to
repent of their sins; but if the Egyptians do not come up from year to
year to Jerusalem, they shall be visited with a great plague. What
kind of a plague? The plague will be so severe in its operations, says
the prophet Zechariah, that "Their flesh shall consume away while
they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their
holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." Thus you
see that swift judgment will come upon those that are rebellious,
after Jesus descends. This shows that mortality still continues, that
people are subject to plagues, subject to pain, and subject to be
afflicted with famine, for the want of rain. But by and by, when Jesus
has been here in person a thousand years, and all the ancient Saints
that have been resurrected, and the modern Saints also, after they
have lived upon the earth for the space of a thousand years, it seems
that Satan is to be loosed out of his prison, and permitted to go
forth and tempt. Whom shall he tempt? Those whom Jesus has brought
from heaven? No, they are beyond temptation. Whom will he tempt? Those
that are yet mor tal—the innumerable inhabitants of the earth
who have multiplied and spread forth, and become almost as numerous as
the sands upon the seashore. He will tempt them. He will go out into
the four quarters of the earth, and gather together all that he can
overcome, and bring them up against the camp of the Saints and the
beloved city. He thinks that he will fight and overcome the camp of
the Saints. They will be camped beside the beloved city; for all the
Saints will then be gathered, just the same as you are now gathered
from the four quarters of the earth, to escape the various judgments
that are coming, and finally the judgment of fire. So will the Saints
be gathered together to the new Jerusalem, and round about old
Jerusalem, and Satan will gather up his hosts, that have apostatized
from the truth, and he will marshal them round about the city, and
fire will descend from God out of heaven, and devour that portion of
the army of Satan that is still mortal. The elements of their bodies
will be separated; they will be consumed, the same as the wicked will
have been consumed over a thousand years before that, and this will be
another great change. But the earth is not yet immortal, not yet in
its glorified state, as it was before man fell. Then, after Satan's
army is devoured, and after Satan is cast into hell, and all over whom
he has power—then all the inhabitants of the earth will be judged;
this great white throne that I have been reading about, will appear;
the great and final judgment will come; and when this white throne
appears, the earth itself and the literal, temporal heavens that are
overhead will flee away, and there will be found no place for them.
What does this mean? Does it mean that the elements themselves will be
annihila ted? Or is there no place for the earth in its organized form;
for the elements will pass away, be scattered in space over millions
and millions of miles, just the same as our bodies after we have been
sanctified and purified, may be burned as martyrs at the stake and the
elements of our bodies passed into the atmosphere and into the
surrounding country. So will the earth pass away in like manner. But
by and by the same voice, the same power that calls forth our bodies
from the sleeping tomb, that unites bone to its bone, sinews and skin
and muscles, and the various compartments of the system, that breathes
the breath of life into them, that makes them immortal, even so will
the Lord God, in due time, speak by his power and call the scattered
elements of this creation from their dispersion, bring them together
again, and organize them into a new heaven and a new earth. Will there
be one particle of the earth lost? No, every particle that now is
combined with the heaven and the earth will still exist. Will it be
modeled after the present model? No. It may have the same shape and
form that it now has, the same as our bodies when they are brought
forth out of the grave will have a form something after the present
form. Every hair of the head will be restored, every part will be
restored to its proper form, not after the form of mortality, to
sicken again, to have pain and to die; but though the body is restored
to the same image, so far as the outlines are concerned, yet it is
immortal, no more subject to pain, or sorrow, but is restored to
perfect happiness and to bodies that will endure while eternity
endures. So it will be with the earth. A great many of our scientific
men consider that the earth has never had a beginning as an organ ized body, but they look back many millions and millions of
years, when they suppose that such and such an event brought about
such and such a cause; and they say, (the infidel portion of them)
that the earth will never have an end. Well, now, they are right so
far as the materials are concerned, but they are entirely out of the
way so far as the great revolutions I have named are concerned, and so
far as the annihilation of the earth is concerned. The earth never
will have an end, so far as the materials are concerned. The earth
after it is made anew, resurrected from its old materials, will
continue forever, and will be the abiding place of all the righteous,
throughout all the future ages of eternity. Hence, we read that John,
after the earth fled away, saw a new heaven and a new earth; but the
new one was much altered. There was no more sea. There must be a great
alteration when the sea, the elements that compose the water, the
oxygen and hydrogen, and the various elements that enter into the
constitution of sea water, shall be otherwise combined. Will there be
a new set of geologists in those days, who will figure as they do in
our days, and say such and such events exist, and they must have
existed from all eternity, or they must have been brought about by
such and such changes; that is, will the geologists be as limited in
their views as the present ones are? But the geologists that shall
live ten thousand years hence, or even two thousand years hence, when
this great change shall have come over the earth, will be able to
philosophize clearly; for they will be full of knowledge, understanding
and comprehension, and they will be able to understand something about
the process of world-making, creating worlds, the changes that come
upon worlds, and the final change when worlds are made anew and
immortal, and their philosophy, their ideas, and their system of
geology will be correct and can be depended upon. Why? Because they
were there; they saw the changes, they were present when the changes
were made, and they have not forgotten all these things, and they will
know them, and understand them, after the final change comes. There
will, however, be a change which some of the mortal inhabitants of
this earth will forget. Isaiah says, in the 65th chapter: "For, behold,
I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be
remembered, nor come into mind." Now, that has reference to the
creation that will be renewed, at the beginning of the millennium.
People will not remember. Our children that will be born during the
millennium will not remember all the wickedness and corruption that
existed in the days of their fathers. It will not come into their
minds, unless God puts it there; but when they become immortal, after
the thousand years have ended, then I think they will comprehend the
process by which this world was made. But, inquires one, how will they
know it? They will know it because they were all present when it was
made. You understand it, Latter-day Saints; you and I were there when
this world was made. We have forgotten it, but we will remember it
when we wake up in eternity, with all the fulness of knowledge that
will be given after everything is made anew. Well, inquires one, what
will be the occupation of this people, after descending upon the new
earth? After Jesus has been on the earth a thousand years, God himself
is to be on the new earth. What is he to do? He is to "wipe away all
tears; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things
are passed away." We will be there if we are righteous enough, if we
keep the commandments of God. If we will endure to the end, we will
have an inheritance in this world when it is resurrected and made
anew. Moreover, it says there will be no more death. What! A world
without death? A world thickly populated as this creation will be?
What a joyful creation! The tree of life will be on the earth in the
midst of that city that will descend on the earth, and whoever eats of
the fruit of that tree will live forever, just the same as the tree of
life was placed upon the earth before Adam transgressed. Anyone
eating of the fruit of that tree could not die, for the decree of the
Lord had gone forth, and his word must be fulfilled.
There are some few things to which I wish now especially to call your
attention, in relation to this new earth of which I am speaking. I
said that the saints would receive an inheritance upon it. I would ask
you, my brethren, upon what principle they receive an inheritance upon
the new earth? It is by securing it through a promise here in this
life. If you can secure 40, or 80, or 160, or 640 acres of land by
promise here in this life—I do not mean the promise of mortal men, I
would not give much for their promise concerning any blessing after
death comes; but if you can get a promise from him who has a right to
promise (for the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof), that
you shall inherit the earth for an everlasting possession, then it
will be given to you. But, says one, supposing I do not get any
promise? I do not know, then, that you will have a claim on a solitary
foot of it. Abraham got the promise, not after he was dead, but here
in this life. The Lord, because of his faith, made him a promise, and
told him to go out from his own country to a land he had never seen;
and after getting there, the Lord said unto him, "Now, Abraham, walk
through this land in the length and breadth of it; to thee will I give
it, and to thy seed." For how long? For an everlasting possession.
Abraham did not care about having a deed for time only, did not care
about getting a few acres just merely for a little while, and then
have it taken from him, and he have no claim upon it afterwards. Did
Abraham inherit it on this earth? Did his seed, Isaac, or his
grandson, Jacob, to whom the promises were confirmed and renewed—did
they get any of it while they lived? No. The prophet Stephen, who was
murdered for the Christian religion, has recorded in the New
Testament, speaking of this promise made to Abraham, that the Lord
"gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot
on." What! Stephen, are you not mistaken? You lived several thousand
years after Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were in their graves—do you mean
to say that the Lord did not even give them as much as a foot? What
did he do for them, Stephen? He made them a promise that they should
have it, and their seed after them; for an everlasting inheritance.
Oh, then, they are still to have it, are they, for an everlasting
inheritance, by virtue of the promise made in this mortal state who
are Abraham's seed? All that do the works of Abraham—all that are
baptized into Christ. They are Abraham's seed according to the
promise. What promise? The promise that he and his seed should have
the land of Palestine, east and northeast of the
Mediterranean Sea, for an everlasting possession. Now all who have
received the same covenants, obeyed the same Gospel, obeyed the new
and everlasting covenant, have the promise in connection with
Abraham's seed.
Has the earth been parceled out to anybody else except Abraham and
his seed? Yes. The Lord brought a nation to this great western
hemisphere, called Jaredites, from the Tower of Babel. When He brought
them here they were a righteous people, and he made promises to them;
and among the promises given was the promise that this great western
hemisphere should be given to them, and to those that were worthy
besides them, for an everlasting possession. We Gentiles have come
here; we have got upon the land of these Jaredites, and we think we
are very rich if we have got 640 acres, or perhaps ten times that
amount of land. Says one man, "I have got my deed from the Land
office; I am the owner." But, hold on; there is the original owner;
that you know nothing of, that came here from the tower of Babel, that
had all this western hemisphere promised to him and the righteous of
his seed for an everlasting possession. What will become of your 640
acres then? What will become of your farms when these resurrected men
shall come forth and show their deeds. Perhaps you may think they did
not keep any records in those days. But let me tell you they had
records of deeds; and all these things are spoken of and testified of
in the great books that are kept in the eternal world, and it will be
found that they are the inheritors before us, that is before the
Gentiles that came over here four hundred years ago and upwards. But
what about the Nephites that came here about six hundred years before
Christ. When they got here, the first thing the Lord did was to
confirm his promise unto them. He told them it was their inheritance
for an everlasting possession. Hold on, says one, that would take away
the right of the Jaredites. Oh, no. The Lord, in making this promise,
did not do it according to the deed-makers of this day; he did not
follow after the pattern of men. The records that he makes on the
books in eternity are records made upon principles in accordance with
celestial law, not in accordance with Gentile laws, nor our notions of
things. The notion, or idea, that the Lord had was that this
continent, North and South America, should be inhabited by the
righteous who will be resurrected from the dead, and who lived here on
this continent.
Latter-day Saints, do you not feel a little concerned? Has any promise
been made to you, or are you left out while the Nephites and Jaredites
gobble up all the land, and leave you to go around the streets
begging? Hear what the Lord, our God, had to say, through the Prophet
Joseph, concerning you, on the 2nd day of January, 1831. I was present
when the Lord gave this revelation, in the midst of a conference, to
his servant Joseph. I will repeat the words: "And I will hold forth
and deign to give unto you" (speaking to the Latter-day Saints
assembled in conference, and to all that should become Saints)
"greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and
honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh; And I
will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance. And this shall
be my covenant with you, ye shall have it for the land of your
inheritance, and for the inheritance of your children forever,
while the earth shall stand, and ye shall possess it again in
eternity, no more to pass away." The same promise you see; very
different from the promise of men; you will possess it again in
eternity, no more to pass away. He did not reveal to us the central
portion of our land of promise on that conference day, but told us it
should be revealed at a future time. Hence, in that same year he
appointed his servant Joseph and some twenty or thirty of the elders
to go from Kirtland, Ohio, westward through the State of Ohio, State
of Indiana, State of Illinois, State of Missouri, to the western
boundaries thereof. There he pointed out by revelation—which you will
find recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—the central
portion of our inheritance, where the great temple should be built,
upon which a cloud of glory should rest, and told us that that was the
land of promise, in time and in eternity, the same as the promise made
to the ancient Saints of God. We are not in possession of it at the
present time. It cannot, however, be said concerning us, as it was
said by Stephen concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He said he gave
those old ancient men not so much as to set their foot on. But it
happens we paid for some of that land, and we got our deeds at the
Land Office, and we claim this at the hands of our God, and ask him,
if we do not get it right now, this year, or ten years' hence, we will
ask our Father to give us that land after the resurrection, at any
rate. But will we inhabit any of it in time? Oh, yes. We will build a
great city in Missouri. We will also build a great temple unto the
Lord our God, in that city, and the temple block and place where it is
to stand is already known. It was laid out in the year 1831, and the
corner stone laid, and we will build a temple there, and build it
after the pattern that the Lord gave to his servant Joseph, the
Prophet, and also according to the pattern that he shall hereafter
show, if the pattern is not already given in full. I will tell you
another thing that will happen in our promised land, after that temple
is built: there will a cloud of glory rest upon that temple by day,
the same as the cloud rested upon the tabernacle of Moses, that was
carried in the wilderness. Not only that, but also a flaming fire will
rest upon the temple by night, covering the whole temple; and if you
go inside of the temple, the glory of God will be seen there as it was
anciently; for the Lord will not only be a glory and a defense on the
outside of that wonderful building, but he will also be a glory and a
power in the inside thereof, and it shall come to pass that every man
and every woman who is pure in heart, who shall go inside of that
temple, will see the Lord. Now, how great a blessing it will be to see
the Lord of Hosts as we see one another in the flesh. That will take
place, but not till after the temple is built. Moreover, you will not
only be favored with this great privilege, but Isaiah tells us that
"the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and
upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a
flaming fire by night." When you hold your meeting in the day time,
you shall be sheltered by a cloud, and when you hold your meetings in
the night time, instead of lighting up your lamps with common oil, or
with gas, or anything of this kind, you will have no need of any
artificial light, for the Lord God will be the light thereof, and his glory will be there, and you will see it and you will hear his
voice. Have you not read in this book called the Bible, about the Lord
suddenly coming to his temple? Read the 3rd chapter of Malachi:
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before
me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple. * * *
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they
may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous ness." That same fire
will rest upon the abodes of those that come into that temple, and
they will be filled with fire and the Holy Ghost. They will be purged
of all iniquity, and every ordinance that will be administered in that
temple will be administered by holy hands, and you will understand and
know the meaning thereof. The Lord will reveal these things in their
day; he will reveal everything that is needful, so that the knowledge
of God may rest upon you, and that there may be no darkness with you.
Amen.