We certainly should be extremely knowing, did we know everything; but,
as we do not, we will be satisfied with what we do know and can still
learn. This people know much. Their experience and their knowledge,
coupled with that which has been revealed to them from the Fountain of
all knowledge, are far beyond the capacities of those who have not
heard and received the Gospel.
I have a few words to say touching our present existence, and in
reference to the remarks made today by brother Kimball pertaining to
the body. Our mortal bodies are all important to us; without them we
never can be glorified in the eternities that will be. We are in this
state of being for the express purpose of obtaining habitations for
our spirits to dwell in, that they may become personages of
tabernacle. Our former religious traditions have taught us that our
Father in heaven has no tabernacle, that his center is everywhere and
his circumference nowhere. Yet we read that, "God came from Teman, and
the Holy One from mount Paran." "Before him went the pestilence, and
burning coals went forth at his feet." "And the Ancient of days did
sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like
the pure wool." "Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder
with a voice like him?" "And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt
see my back parts: but my face thou shalt not see." "The eyes of the
Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry." The
idea that the Lord our God is not a personage of tabernacle is
entirely a mistaken notion. He was once a man.
Brother Kimball quoted a saying of Joseph the Prophet, that he would
not worship a God who had not a Father; and I do not know that he
would if he had not a mother; the one would be as absurd as the other.
If he had a Father, he was made in his likeness. And if he is our
Father we are made after his image and likeness. He once possessed a
body, as we now do; and our bodies are as much to us, as his body to
him. Every iota of this organization is necessary to secure for us an
exaltation with the Gods. Our mortal tabernacles decline. The spirit
is inseparably connected with the body until death, and it is so
designed; but when we get through with our worship in this Tabernacle
or building for worship, we dispense with it until we wish to meet
again. We are not inseparably connected with it; it may be consumed by
the element of fire and pass away forever. But it is not so with our
bodies; if we willfully loose these, we loose everything that God has
provided for the faithful.
This is an item I wished to explain, though we do not know everything.
When brother Kimball speaks, I am so well acquainted with his
views and style that I easily understand his meaning; but he does not
always fully explain his views to the understanding of the people.
This is a point of doctrine that is all and in all to us, consequently
it is essentially necessary that we should understand it as it is,
and not carry away the idea, from what has been said by brother
Kimball, that this is a spiritual kingdom and the body is nothing.
Brother Kimball understands this doctrine as I do, but he has his
method of expressing his ideas and I have mine; and I am extremely
anxious to so convey my ideas to the people that they will understand
them as I do. Our language is deficient, and I do not possess in this
particular the natural endowment that some men enjoy. I am a man of
few words, and unlearned in the learning of this generation. The
reason why brother Kimball has not language as perfectly and fully as
some other men is not in consequence of a lack in his spirit, for he
never has preached when I have heard him, that I did not know what he
was about, if he knew himself. I know that his ideas are as clear as
the sun that is now shining, and I care not what the words are that he
uses to express them.
We have foolish Elders, and I have had to contend, time after time,
against their foolish doctrines. One of our most intelligent Apostles
in one of his discourses left the people entirely in the dark with
regard to Jacob and Esau, and he never understood the difference
between foreknowledge and foreordination. Foreknowledge and
foreordination are two distinct principles. And again, I have had to
contend against what is called the "baby resurrection" doctrine,
which, as has been taught and indulged by some, is one of the most
absurd doctrines that can be thought of. Having had these foolish
doctrines to combat, I am not willing that the idea should possess
your minds that the body is neither here nor there, and that the work
of salvation is entirely spiritual. We have received these bodies for
an exaltation, to be crowned with those who have been crowned with
crowns of glory and eternal life. Yes, Joseph Smith said, the Lord
whispers to the spirit in the tabernacle the same as though it were
out of it. That is correct and true.
What you understand with regard to this doctrine and religion, and
with regard to the things of God generally, you understand in the
Spirit. Take the spirit from the body, and the body is lifeless; but
in the resurrection the component parts of our bodies will again be
called together, expressly for a glorious resurrection to immortality.
Our bodies, which are now subject to death, will return to mother
earth for a time, to be refined from that which pertains to the fall
of man, which has particularly affected the body but not the spirit.
When the spirit enters the body, it is pure and holy from the heavens;
and could it reign predominantly in the tabernacle, ruling, dictating,
and directing its actions without an opposing force, man never would
commit a sin; but the tabernacle has to suffer the effects of the
fall, of that sin which Satan has introduced into the world and hence
the spirit does not bear rule all the time.
When we receive the Gospel, a warfare commences immediately; Paul
says, "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I
see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members."
We have to fight continually, as it were, sword in hand to make the
spirit master of the tabernacle, or the flesh subject to the law of
the spirit. If this warfare is not diligently prosecuted, then
the law of sin prevails, and in consequence of this some apostatize
from the truth when crossing the plains, learn to swear instead of to
pray, become high-minded and high-tempered instead of learning to be
patient and humble, and when they arrive in these valleys they feel so
self-sufficient that they consider themselves the only ones that are
really right; they are filled with darkness, the authority of the
Spirit is not listened to, and the law of sin and death is the ruling
power in their tabernacles. They could once testify, by the
revelations of Jesus Christ to them that Mormonism, or the Gospel is
true; then the Spirit triumphed over the flesh, they walked in the
light of God, and great was their joy, and brilliant their hope of
immortality and eternal life. The rule of the flesh brings darkness
and death, while, on the other hand, the rule of the Spirit brings
light and life. When through the Gospel, the Spirit in man has so
subdued the flesh that he can live without willful transgression, the
Spirit of God unites with his spirit, they become congenial
companions, and the mind and will of the Creator is thus transmitted
to the creature. Did their spirits have their choice, there is not a
son or daughter of Adam and Eve on the earth but what would be
obedient to the Gospel of salvation, and redeem their bodies to
exaltation and glory. But there is a constant warfare between them,
still they must remain together, be saved and exalted together, or
neither of them will be saved and exalted with the salvation and the
exaltation which the Gospel offers.
Our bodies are all important to us, though they may be old and
withered, emaciated with toil, pain, and sickness, and our limbs bent
with rheumatism, all uniting to hasten dissolu tion, for death is sown
in our mortal bodies. The food and drink we partake of are
contaminated with the seeds of death, yet we partake of them to extend
our lives until our allotted work is finished, when our tabernacle,
in a state of ripeness, are sown in the earth to produce immortal
fruit. Yet, if we live our holy religion and let the Spirit reign, it
will not become dull and stupid, but as the body approaches
dissolution the spirit takes a firmer hold on that enduring substance
behind the veil, drawing from the depths of that eternal Fountain of
Light sparkling gems of intelligence which surround the frail and
sinking tabernacle with a halo of immortal wisdom.
I shall soon be sixty-one years of age, and my spirit is more vigorous
and powerful today than it has been in any day I ever saw; it is more
quick to comprehend, more ready to discern, the understanding is more
matured, more correct in judgment, the memory more vivid and enduring
and discretion more circumspect, and when I have attained eighty years
I shall be better than I am today, God being my helper. I am better
now than I was twenty years ago. Write it down and read it twenty
years hence, and see whether my spirit is not better and brighter than
it is today. Need we in spirit bow down to this poor, miserable,
decaying body? We will not. Brother Kimball's side has been broken by
a fall from a wagon, but he will be mended up, and his life will not
be shortened on that account; and we are going to live until we are
satisfied.
The Elders of Israel, though the great majority of them are moral men,
and as clear of spot and blemish as men well can be, live beneath
their privilege; they live continually without enjoying the power of
God. I want to see men and women breathe the Holy Ghost in every
breath of their lives, living constantly in the light of God's
countenance. Brother Kimball says you must keep alive, and give
nourishment and vitality to the body, comparing the Church to a tree;
that you must help your Prophet and Revelator and keep that portion of
the tree alive. God keeps that alive, brethren and sisters. I thank
you for your prayers, your integrity, &c., but I feel today as I did
in Nauvoo, when Sidney Rigdon and others intended to ride the Church
into hell. I told them that I would take my hat and the few that would
go with me and build up the kingdom of God, asking no odds of them. If
you support me, you support yourselves; if you do not choose to do
this you will dry up, blow away and be damned.
A tree or plant of any kind that sends its roots into the ground does
not gain strength and vitality from the ground alone, but the
atmosphere contributes to its support as well as the ground, and it
will live longer out of the ground with air than in the ground without
it. From the atmosphere and the rays of the sun it gathers elements
that we do not see, which operate upon the sap sent up through the
roots under the bark into the branches and leaves where it is prepared
to make wood and fruit, and give strength and growth to the trunk,
roots, and the whole tree. Then you may cut off all the limbs and
roots of some trees, and the atmosphere will make more in great
profusion.
I do not expect to preach a lengthy sermon this afternoon, but there
is a great deal to be said and done. The Lord Almighty leads this
Church, and he will never suffer you to be led astray if you are found
doing your duty. You may go home and sleep as sweetly as a babe in its
mother's arms, as to any danger of your leaders leading you astray,
for if they should try to do so the Lord would quickly sweep them
from the earth. Your leaders are trying to live their religion as far
as I am capable of doing so? Yes, I do. The power of God is with me
continually and I never mean to live an hour without it.
I am satisfied that we do not realize to the fullest extent our moral
and intellectual growth as a people, but let us be straightened up and
a fountain of knowledge is opened, a rich mine of intellectual wealth
is revealed, and in time we shall find that heaven and earth have come
together, for the earth will be celestialized and brought back to the
presence of God, who dwells in eternal burnings in the midst of
perfection. Then we should be prepared to enjoy the fullness of the
blessings and glory God has in store for us. If we live in these
bodies as we should we shall be prepared to receive all the glory he
has for the faithful. Let us continue the warfare, fight the good
fight of faith, sanctify our hearts before the Lord, and day by day
perform the labor he has for us to do, and we shall be accounted
worthy to receive our exaltation.
May God bless you. Amen.