boys will only go out into the world this way, carrying with them the
spirit of the gospel and the behavior of true Latter-day Saints, no
matter what may befall them in life, they will endure with the best.
They will be able to endure as much as anybody else can possibly endure
of fatigue or of suffering, if necessary, and when they are brought to
the test they will stand it! Because they have no fear of death! They
will be free from fear of the consequences of their own lives. They
will have no need to dread death, for they have done their work; they
have kept the faith, they are pure in heart, and they are worthy to see
God!
I have some feelings in these matters, for I have boys of my own, and
I love my sons. They have grown up with me. They are mine! The Lord
gave them to me. I expect to claim them, in the relationship of father
and sons that exists {535} between us, throughout all eternities
that will come. I would rather see my sons shot down by the enemies
of God and humanity, by those who are inimical to the freedom of the
children of men, while defending the cause of Righteousness and Truth,
a thousand times rather, than to see them die the vile death of sinners
and of transgressors of the laws of God. While death in battle might
be instantaneous, or it might linger, perhaps, to one whose cause
is just it would be honorable; but the death that is caused by the
transgression of the laws of God, by the poison and sting of sin, is to
be dreaded worse, a thousand times, than to die sinless in defending
the cause of Truth.
I don't want to see one of my boys lose the faith of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. I don't want to see one of them deny Christ, the Son of
the living God, the Savior of the world. I do not want one of them
to turn his back upon the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith
whose blood courses in their veins. I would rather see them perish in
defending a cause of righteousness, a thousand times, while they are
firm in the faith, than I would see them live to deny that faith and
the God that gave them life! That is where I stand with reference to
the matters that are facing us at this moment!--_Improvement Era,_ Vol.
20, July, 1917, p. 824, _June C. R._
MESSAGE TO THE BOYS IN WAR SERVICE. Our country is at war. This
regrettable condition has been forced upon us by enemies of
representative government and individual freedom. Despotism is
endeavoring to gain the ascendency and to establish its might in the
earth. Many of our young men who have been reared in the Church,
and taught the principles of the gospel in the Sabbath Schools and
other organizations of the Church, have been called to the colors in
defense of our liberties and the liberty and freedom of the world.
In all probability they will be sent to the front before many months
have passed, to take their places in the trenches in the European
battlefields and engage {536} in this appalling conflict, the like of
which the world has never seen until this day.
We most sincerely hope that our young men will prove loyal to their
country and stand honorably in its defense and prove themselves worthy
in every respect as defenders of those principles for which our
government was born and for which it still exists.
In going forth to war these young men are liable to be confronted with
danger far greater than that which they might expect from the bullets
of the enemy. There are many evils that usually follow in the wake
of marshaled armies equipped for and engaged in war, far worse than
honorable death which may come in the conflict of battle. It matters
not so much when our young men are called, or where they may go, but
it does matter much to their parents, friends and associates in the
truth, and above all to themselves, how they go. They have been trained
all their lives as members of the Church to keep themselves pure and
unspotted from the sins of the world, to respect the rights of others,
to be obedient to righteous principles, to remember that virtue is one
of the greatest gifts from God. Moreover, that they should respect
the virtue of others and rather die a thousand times than defile
themselves by committing deadly sin. We want them to go forth clean,
both in thought and action, with faith in the principles of the gospel
and the redeeming grace of our Lord and Savior. We would have them
remember that only by living clean and faithful lives can they hope to
attain the salvation promised through the shedding of the blood of our
Redeemer.
If they will go forth in this manner, fit companions for the Spirit
of the Lord, free from sin, and trusting in the Lord, then whatever
befalls them they will know that they have found favor in the sight of
God. Should death overtake them while thus engaged in the discharge of
duty in defense of their country, they need have no fear, for their
{537} salvation is assured. Moreover, under conditions such as these
they will have a better claim to the blessings of the Almighty and,
like the two thousand young men of Helaman's army, they will be more
likely to receive the protecting care of the Lord.
Let them go in the spirit of truth and righteousness; the spirit which
will direct them to save rather than destroy; which leads to do good
rather than to commit evil; with love in their hearts for their fellow
men, prepared to teach all mankind the saving principles of the gospel.
And, should they be required, in the defense of the principles for
which they go, to shed the blood of any among the contending forces,
it shall not be a sin, and the blood of their enemies shall not be
required at their hands.
We will have no fear for those who will be true to the covenants
they have made in the waters of baptism and observe to keep the
commandments of God. If they die, they shall die unto the Lord and
shall stand before him spotless and void of offense. And should they
return unharmed, we will give to our Father in heaven the credit for
his protecting care over them while in the discharge of perilous duty.
While they are away the prayers of the Saints will ascend in their
behalf for their protection, and we sincerely hope their prayers
will not be without avail, and surely they will avail if our boys
will continue to be worthy of the mercies of the Lord.--_Juvenile
Instructor,_ August, 1917, p. 404, Vol. 52.
{538}
CHAPTER XXIV
ETERNAL LIFE AND SALVATION
ETERNAL LIFE AND SALVATION. Every man born into the world will die. It
matters not who he is, nor where he is, whether his birth be among the
rich and the noble, or among the lowly and poor in the world, his days
are numbered with the Lord, and in due time he will reach the end. We
should think of this. Not that we should go about with heavy hearts or
with downcast countenances; not at all. I rejoice that I am born to
live, to die, and to live again. I thank God for this intelligence.
It gives me joy and peace that the world cannot give, neither can the
world take it away. God has revealed this to me, in the gospel of
Jesus Christ. I know it to be true. Therefore, I have nothing to be
sad over, nothing to make me sorrowful. All that I have to do with in
the world is calculated to buoy me up, to give me joy and peace, hope
and consolation in this present life, and a glorious hope of salvation
and exaltation in the presence of my God in the world to come. I have
no reason to mourn, not even at death. It is true, I am weak enough to
weep at the death of my friends and kindred. I may shed tears when I
see the grief of others. I have sympathy in my soul for the children
of men. I can weep with them when they weep; I can rejoice with them
when they rejoice; but I have no cause to mourn, nor to be sad because
death comes into the world. I am speaking now of the temporal death,
the death of the body. All fear of this death has been removed from the
Latter-day Saints. They have no dread of the temporal death, because
they know that as death came upon them by the transgression of Adam, so
by the righteousness of Jesus Christ shall life come unto them, {539}
and though they die, they shall live again. Possessing this knowledge,
they have joy even in death, for they know that they shall rise again
and shall meet again beyond the grave. They know that the spirit dies
not, at all; that it passes through no change, except the change from
imprisonment in this mortal clay to freedom and to the sphere in
which it acted before it came to this earth. We are begotten in the
similitude of Christ himself. We dwelt with the Father and with the Son
in the beginning, as the sons and daughters of God; and at the time
appointed, we came to this earth to take upon ourselves tabernacles,
that we might become conformed to the likeness and image of Jesus
Christ and become like him; that we might have a tabernacle, that we
might pass through death as he has passed through death, that we might
rise again from the dead as he has risen from the dead. As he was the
first fruits of the resurrection of the dead, so shall we be the second
fruits of the resurrection from the dead; for as he came forth, so
shall we come forth. What is there, therefore, to be sad about? What is
there to make us heavy of heart or sorrowful in this matter? Nothing at
all. Sorrowful, indeed, to think that we shall live forever! Is there
any cause for sorrow to know that we shall rise from the dead, and
possess the same tabernacle that we have here in mortality? Is there
cause for sorrow in this great, glorious gospel truth that has been
revealed to us in this dispensation? Certainly there can be no sorrow
connected with a thought like this. There must be only joy connected
with this knowledge--the joy that springs from the ten thousand
feelings and affections of the human soul; the joy that we feel in
association with brethren, with wives and children, with fathers and
mothers, with brothers and sisters. All these joyous thoughts spring
up in our souls at the thought of death and the resurrection. Wherein
should we be sad or sorrowful? On the contrary, it is cause for joy
unspeakable, and for {540} pure happiness. I cannot express the joy I
feel at the thought of meeting my father, and my precious mother, who
gave me birth in the midst of persecution and poverty, who bore me in
her arms and was patient, forbearing, tender and true during all my
helpless moments in the world. The thought of meeting her, who can
express the joy? The thought of meeting my children who have preceded
me beyond the veil, and of meeting my kindred and my friends, what
happiness it affords! For I know that I shall meet them there. God has
shown me that this is true. He has made it clear to me, in answer to my
prayer and devotion, as he has made it clear to the understanding of
all men who have sought diligently to know him.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1899,
pp. 70-71.
CLOSE RELATION OF THE NEXT LIFE. I feel sure that the Prophet Joseph
Smith and his associates, who, under the guidance and inspiration of
the Almighty, and by his power, began this latter-day work, would
rejoice and do rejoice,--was going to say if they were permitted to
look down upon the scene that I behold in this tabernacle; but I
believe they do have the privilege of looking down upon us just as
the all-seeing eye of God beholds every part of his handiwork. For I
believe that those who have been chosen in this dispensation and in
former dispensations, to lay the foundation of God's work in the midst
of the children of men, for their salvation and exaltation, will not
be deprived in the spirit world from looking down upon the results
of their own labors, efforts and mission assigned them by the wisdom
and purpose of God, to help to redeem and to reclaim the children of
the Father from their sins. So I feel quite confident that the eye
of Joseph, the prophet, and of the martyrs of this dispensation, and
of Brigham, and John, and Wilford, and those faithful men who were
associated with them in their ministry upon the earth, are carefully
guarding the interests of the kingdom of God in which {541} they
labored and for which they strove during their mortal lives. I believe
they are as deeply interested in our welfare today, if not with greater
capacity, with far more interest, behind the veil, than they were
in the flesh. I believe they know more; I believe their minds have
expanded beyond their comprehension in mortal life, and their interests
are enlarged and expanded in the works of the Lord to which they gave
their lives and their best service. Although some may feel and think
that it is a little extreme to take this view, yet I believe that it is
true; and I have a feeling in my heart that I stand in the presence not
only of the Father and of the Son, but in the presence of those whom
God commissioned, raised up, and inspired, to lay the foundations of
the work in which we are engaged. Accompanying that sense of feeling,
I am impressed with the thought that I would not this moment say or do
one thing that would be taken as unwise or imprudent, or that would
give offense to any of my former associates and co-laborers in the work
of the Lord.
I would not like to say one thing, or express a thought, that would
grieve the heart of Joseph, or of Brigham, or of John, or of Wilford,
or of Lorenzo, or of any of their faithful associates in the ministry.
Sometimes the Lord expands our vision from this point of view and
this side of the veil, that we feel and seem to realize that we can
look beyond the thin veil which separates us from that other sphere.
If we can see, by the enlightening influence of the Spirit of God
and through the words that have been spoken by the holy prophets of
God, beyond the veil that separates us from the spirit world, surely
those who have passed beyond, can see more clearly through the veil
back here to us than it is possible for us to see to them from our
sphere of action. I believe we move and have our being in the presence
of heavenly messengers and of heavenly beings. We are not separated
from them. We begin to realize more and more fully, as we {542}
become acquainted with the principles of the gospel, as they have
been revealed anew in this dispensation, that we are closely related
to our kindred, to our ancestors, to our friends and associates and
co-laborers who have preceded us into the spirit world. We cannot
forget them; we do not cease to love them; we always hold them in our
hearts, in memory, and thus we are associated and united to them by
ties that we cannot break, that we cannot dissolve or free ourselves
from. If this is the case with us in our finite condition, surrounded
by our mortal weaknesses, shortsightedness, lack of inspiration and
wisdom, from time to time, how much more certain it is, and reasonable
and consistent, to believe that those who have been faithful, who
have gone beyond, are still engaged in the work for the salvation of
the souls of men, in the opening of the prison doors to them that are
bound and proclaiming liberty to the captives, who can see us better
than we can see them--that they know us better than we know them. They
have advanced; we are advancing; we are growing as they have grown; we
are reaching the goal that they have attained unto; and therefore, I
claim that we live in their presence, they see us, they are solicitous
for our welfare, they love us now more than ever. For now they see the
dangers that beset us; they can comprehend better than ever before,
the weaknesses that are liable to mislead us into dark and forbidden
paths. They see the temptations and the evils that beset us in life,
and the proneness of mortal beings to yield to temptation and to wrong
doing; hence their solicitude for us and their love for us and their
desire for our well being must be greater than that which we feel for
ourselves. I thank God for the feeling that I possess and enjoy, and
for the realization that I have that I stand, not only in the presence
of Almighty God, my Maker and Father, but in the presence of his Only
Begotten Son in the flesh, the Savior of the world; and I stand in the
presence of Peter and James (and perhaps the {543} eyes of John are
also upon us and we know it not) and that I stand also in the presence
of Joseph, and Hyrum, and Brigham and John, and those who have been
valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ and faithful to their mission
in the world, who have gone before. When I go, I want to have the
privilege of meeting them with the consciousness that I have followed
their example, that I have carried out the mission in which they
were engaged, as they would have it carried out; that I have been as
faithful in the discharge of duty, committed to me and required at my
hand, as they were faithful in their time, and that when I meet them, I
shall meet them as I met them here, in love, in harmony, in unison, and
in perfect confidence that I have done my duty as they have done theirs.
I hope you will forgive me for my emotion. You would have peculiar
emotions, would you not, if you felt that you stood in the presence
of your Father, in the very presence of Almighty God, in the very
presence of the Son of God and of holy angels? You would feel rather
emotional, rather sensitive. I feel it to the very depths of my soul
this moment. So I hope you will forgive me, if I exhibit some of my
real feelings.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1916, pp. 2-4.
CONDITION IN A FUTURE LIFE. Some people dream, you know, and think, and
teach that all the glory they ever expect to have in the world to come
is to sit in the light and glory of the Son of God, and sing praises
and songs of joy and gratitude all their immortal lives. We do not
believe in any such things. We believe that every man will have his
work to do in the other world, just as surely as he had it to do here,
and a greater work than he can do here. We believe that we are on the
road of advancement, of development in knowledge, in understanding, and
in every good thing, and that we will continue to grow, advance, and
develop throughout the eternities that are before us. That is what we
believe.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1912, p. 8.
{544} SPIRITUAL DEATH. But I want to speak a word or two in relation
to another death, which is a more terrible death than that of the
body. When Adam, our first parent, partook of the forbidden fruit,
transgressed the law of God, and became subject unto Satan, he was
banished from the presence of God, and was thrust out into outer
spiritual darkness. This was the first death. Yet living, he was
dead--dead to God, dead to light and truth, dead spiritually; cast out
from the presence of God; communication between the Father and the
Son was cut off. He was as absolutely thrust out from the presence of
God as was Satan and the hosts that followed him. That was spiritual
death. But the Lord said that he would not suffer Adam nor his
posterity to come to the temporal death until they should have the
means by which they might be redeemed from the first death, which is
spiritual. Therefore angels were sent unto Adam, who taught him the
gospel, and revealed to him the principle by which he could be redeemed
from the first death, and be brought back from banishment and outer
darkness into the marvelous light of the gospel. He was taught faith,
repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins, in the name of Jesus
Christ, who should come in the meridian of time and take away the sin
of the world, and was thus given a chance to be redeemed from the
spiritual death before he should die the temporal death.
Now, all the world today, I am sorry to say, with the exception of a
handful of people who have obeyed the new and everlasting covenant, are
suffering this spiritual death. They are cast out from the presence
of God. They are without God, without gospel truth, and without the
power of redemption; for they know not God nor his gospel. In order
that they may be redeemed and saved from the spiritual death which has
spread over the world like a pall, they must repent of their sins, and
be baptized by one having authority, for the remission of their sins,
that they may be {545} born of God. That is why we want these young men
to go out into the world to preach the gospel. While they themselves
understand but little, perhaps, the germ of life is in them. They
have been born again, they have received the gift of the Holy Ghost,
and they have the authority of the holy priesthood, by which they can
administer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost. Though they may know but little in the beginning, they can
learn, and as they learn they can preach, and as they have opportunity
they can baptize for the remission of sins. Therefore, we want them
to do their duty at home. We want them above all things to be pure in
heart.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1899, p. 72.
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN. Now, if Judas really had known God's power, and
had partaken thereof, and did actually "deny the truth" and "defy" that
power, "having denied the Holy Spirit after he had received it," and
also "denied the Only Begotten," after God had "revealed him" unto him,
then there can be no doubt that he "will die the second death."
That Judas did partake of all this knowledge--that these great truths
had been revealed to him--that he had received the Holy Spirit by the
gift of God, and was therefore qualified to commit the unpardonable
sin, is not at all clear to me. To my mind it strongly appears that not
one of the disciples possessed sufficient light, knowledge nor wisdom,
at the time of the crucifixion, for either exaltation or condemnation;
for it was afterward that their minds were opened to understand the
scriptures, and that they were endowed with power from on high; without
which they were only children in knowledge, in comparison to what they
afterwards become under the influence of the Spirit.
Saul, of Tarsus, possessing extraordinary intelligence and learning,
brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the perfect
manner of the law, persecuted the {546} Saints unto death, binding
and delivering unto prisons both men and women; and when the blood
of the Martyr Stephen was shed, Saul stood by keeping the raiment of
those who slew him, and consented unto his death. And "he made havoc
of the Church, entering into every house, and haling men and women
committed them to prison." And when they were put to death, he gave his
voice against them, and he "punished them oft in every synagogue, and
compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them,
persecuted them even unto strange cities," and yet this man committed
no unpardonable sin, because he knew not the Holy Ghost. Acts 8:3; 9:1;
22:4; 26:10, 11.
While, for the crime of adultery with Bathsheba, and for ordering Uriah
to be put in the front of battle in a time of war, where he was slain
by the enemy, the priesthood, and the kingdom were taken from David,
the man after God's own heart, and his soul was thrust into hell. Why?
Because "the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of David"--or, in other
words, David possessed the gift of the Holy Ghost, and had power to
speak by the light thereof. But even David, though guilty of adultery
and murder of Uriah, obtained the promise that his soul should not
be left in hell, which means, as I understand it, that even he shall
escape the second death.
While suspended upon the cross, in the agonies of death, as he was
about to yield up his spirit, our gracious, glorious Savior breathed
this memorable and merciful prayer: "Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do." (Luke 23:34.)
No man can sin against light until he has it; nor against the Holy
Ghost, until after he has received it by the gift of God through the
appointed channel or way. To sin against the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of
Truth, the Comforter, the Witness of the Father and the Son, wilfully
denying him and defying him, after having received him, constitutes
{547} this sin. Did Judas possess this light, this witness, this
Comforter, this baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, this endowment from
on high? If he did, he received it before the betrayal, and therefore
before the other eleven apostles. And if this be so, you may say,
"he is a son of perdition without hope." But if he was destitute of
this glorious gift and outpouring of the Spirit, by which the witness
came to the eleven, and their minds were opened to see and know the
truth, and they were able to testify of him, then what constituted the
unpardonable sin of this poor, erring creature, who rose no higher in
the scale of intelligence honor or ambition than to betray the Lord of
glory for thirty pieces of silver?
But not knowing that Judas did commit the unpardonable sin; nor that he
was a "son of perdition without hope" who will die the second death,
nor what knowledge he possessed by which he was able to commit so great
a sin, I prefer, until I know better, to take the merciful view that
he may be numbered among those for whom the blessed Master prayed,
"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."--_Improvement
Era,_ Vol. 21, June, 1918, p. 732.
THE RESURRECTION. Speaking of the resurrection, the subject on which
so much has been said during this conference, and appropriately said,
too--we distinctly believe that Jesus Christ himself is the true, and
only true type of the resurrection of men from death unto life. We
believe there is no other form of resurrection from death to life; that
as he rose, and as he preserved his identity, even to the scars of the
wounds in his hands and feet and side, that he could prove himself to
those that were skeptical of the possibility of rising from the dead,
that he was indeed himself, the Lord crucified, buried in the tomb,
and raised again from death to life, so it will be with you and with
every son and daughter of Adam, born into the world. You will not lose
your identity any more than Christ did. You will {548} be brought forth
from death to life again, just as surely as Christ was brought forth
from death to life again, just as surely as those who ministered to the
Prophet Joseph Smith had been raised from death to life--therefore, in
the same manner in which Christ has been raised, so will life, and the
resurrection from death to life again, come upon all who have descended
from our first parents. The death that came into the world by Adam's
transgression has been conquered, and its terror vanquished by the
power and righteousness of the Son of God. He came to redeem man from
the temporal death, and also to save him from spiritual death if he
will repent of his sins, and will believe on the name of Christ, follow
his example, and obey his laws.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1912, pp. 135-136.
NATURE OF MINISTERING ANGELS. We are told by the Prophet Joseph Smith,
that "there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do
belong or have belonged to it." Hence, when messengers are sent to
minister to the inhabitants of this earth, they are not strangers,
but from the ranks of our kindred, friends, and fellow-beings and
fellow-servants. The ancient prophets who died were those who came to
visit their fellow creatures upon the earth. They came to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob; it was such beings--holy beings if you please--who
waited upon the Savior and administered to him on the Mount. The angel
that visited John, when an exile and unfolded to his vision future
events in the history of man upon the earth, was one who had been here,
who had toiled and suffered in common with the people of God; for you
remember that John, after his eyes had beheld the glories of the great
future, was about to fall down and worship him, but was peremptorily
forbidden to do so. "See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant,
and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings
of this book; worship God." (Rev. 22:9) Jesus has {549} visited the
people of this earth from time to time. He visited and showed himself
in his spiritual body to the brother of Jared, touching certain
stones with his finger, that the brother of Jared had fashioned out
of the rock, making them to give light to him and his people in the
barges in which they crossed the waters of the great deep to come to
this land. He visited others at various times before and after he
tabernacled in the flesh. It was Jesus who created this earth, it
therefore is his inheritance, and he had a perfect right to come and
minister to inhabitants of this earth. He came in the meridian of time
and tabernacled in the flesh, some 33 years among men, introducing
and teaching the fulness of the gospel, and calling upon all men to
follow in his footsteps; to do the same thing that he himself did,
that they might be worthy to inherit with him the same glory. After he
suffered the death of the body, he appeared, not only to his disciples
and others on the eastern continent, but to the inhabitants of this
continent, and he ministered unto them as he did to the people in the
land of Palestine. In like manner our fathers and mothers, brothers,
sisters and friends who have passed away from this earth, having been
faithful, and worthy to enjoy these rights and privileges, may have
a mission given them to visit their relatives and friends upon the
earth again, bringing from the divine Presence messages of love, of
warning, or reproof and instruction, to those whom they had learned
to love in the flesh. And so it is with Sister Cannon. She can return
and visit her friends, provided it be in accordance with the wisdom
of the Almighty. There are laws to which they who are in the Paradise
of God must be subject, as well as laws to which we are subject. It
is our duty to make ourselves acquainted with those laws, that we may
know how to live in harmony with his will while we dwell in the flesh,
that we may be entitled to come forth in the morning of the first
resurrection, clothed {550} with glory, immortality and eternal lives,
and be permitted to sit down at the right hand of God, in the kingdom
of heaven. And except we become acquainted with those laws, and live in
harmony with them, we need not expect to enjoy these privileges; Joseph
Smith, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Jedediah M. Grant,
David Patten, Joseph Smith, Sen., and all those noble men who took an
active part in the establishment of this work, and who died true and
faithful to their trust, have the right and privilege, and possess the
keys and power, to minister to the people of God in the flesh who live
now, as much so and on the same principle as the ancient servants of
God had the right to return to the earth and minister to the Saints of
God in their day.
These are correct principles. There is no question about that in
my mind. It is according to the Scriptures; it is according to the
revelation of God to the Prophet Joseph Smith; and it is a subject
upon which we may dwell with pleasure and perhaps profit to ourselves,
provided we have the Spirit of God to direct us.--Discourse delivered
at the funeral services of Elizabeth H. Cannon, Fourteenth Ward
assembly rooms, Salt Lake City, January 29, 1882. _Journal of
Discourses,_ Vol. 22, pp. 350-353.
REDEMPTION BEYOND THE GRAVE. "But woe unto him that has the law given;
yea, that has all the commandments of God, like unto us, and that
transgresseth them, and that wasteth the days of his probation, for
awful is his state." (II Nephi 9:27-38; see also Alma 11:40, 41).
Now, it is evident that such as these have no chance for redemption,
no matter what may be done for them in hope or by faith, for they will
have sinned against life and knowledge, and are, therefore, worthy
of damnation. It is nowhere revealed that such as these will ever be
forgiven, although we are informed that all of God's judgments are not
given unto men.
{551} There is no other means of salvation revealed or given to the
children of men except that offered by the Son of God, and those who
reject this, whether before or after they have received it in part,
cannot be saved, because they rejected the means of their redemption
and salvation. Not so with those to whom Christ went to deliver the
gospel when his body lay in the tomb; they were disobedient to the
message of Noah, which was a warning to them to repent or they should
be destroyed by a flood. We are not told to what extent the gospel
of Christ, in its fulness, was proclaimed to them, but are left to
suppose that the message of Noah was not the fulness of the gospel,
but a cry of repentance from sin that they might escape destruction
by the flood. They hardened their hearts against Noah's message, and
would not receive it, and were punished for this disobedience in their
destruction by the flood; thus in part paying the penalties for their
disobedience; but not having received the light they could not be
condemned as those spoken of in 9th Nephi, who had all the commandments
of God given unto them.
Therefore, Jesus went with his message to their spirits in prison and
proclaimed liberty and deliverance to them through their obedience in
the spirit world, that the work might be done for them in the flesh,
and they be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according
to God in the spirit. So there is no conflict in these scriptures.
Of course, there is a difference between those who receive the light
of the gospel and the testimony of Jesus Christ and afterwards rebel
against that light and reject it, thereby putting Christ to an open
shame and crucifying him, and those who are referred to by Alma:
"Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption
made." These are not under as great a condemnation as those who have
received it and rejected it; but so long as they remain unrepentant and
wicked, there is no redemption for them any {552} more than for the
others; but it is possible that these may repent in the spirit world.
In relation to the deliverance of spirits from their prison house, of
course, we believe that can only be done after the gospel has been
preached to them in the spirit, and they have accepted the same, and
the work necessary to their redemption by the living be done for them.
That this work may be hastened so that all who believe, in the spirit
world, may receive the benefit of deliverance, it is revealed that
the great work of the Millennium shall be the work in the temples for
the redemption of the dead; and then we hope to enjoy the benefits of
revelation through the Urim and Thummim, or by such means as the Lord
may reveal concerning those for whom the work shall be done, so that
we may not work by chance, or by faith alone, without knowledge, but
with the actual knowledge revealed unto us. It stands to reason that,
while the gospel may be preached unto all, the good and the bad, or
rather to those who would repent and to those who would not repent in
the spirit world, the same as it is here, redemption will only come to
those who repent and obey. There is, no doubt, great leniency given
to people who are anxious to do the work for their dead, and in some
instances, very unworthy people may have the work done for them; it
does not follow, however, that they will receive any benefit therefrom,
and the correct thing is to do the work only for those of whom we have
the testimony that they will receive it. However, we are disposed to
give the benefit of the doubt to the dead, as it is better to do the
work for many who are unworthy than to neglect one who is worthy. Now,
we know in part and see in part, but steadfastly look forward to the
time when that which is perfect will come. We are left largely to our
own agency here, to exercise our own intelligence and to receive all
the light that is revealed so far as we are capable of receiving it,
and only those who seek the light, and desire {553} it, are likely to
find it.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 5, December, 1901, pp. 145-7.
NATURE OF DEATH. God has given laws to govern all his works, and
especially has he given laws to govern his people, who are his sons and
daughters. We have come to sojourn in the flesh, to obtain tabernacles
for our immortal spirits; or, in other words, we have come for the
purpose of accomplishing a work like that which was accomplished by
the Lord Jesus Christ. The object of our earthly existence is that
we may have a fulness of joy, and that we may become the sons and
daughters of God, in the fullest sense of the word, being heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, to be kings and priests unto God,
to inherit glory, dominion, exaltation, thrones and every power and
attribute developed and possessed by our Heavenly Father. This is the
object of our being on this earth. In order to attain unto this exalted
position, it is necessary that we go through this mortal experience, or
probation, by which we may prove ourselves worthy, through the aid of
our elder brother Jesus. The spirit without the body is not perfect. It
is not capacitated, without the body, to possess a fulness of the glory
of God, and therefore it cannot, without the body, fulfil its destiny.
We are foreordained to become conformed to the likeness of the Lord
Jesus Christ; and in order that we may become like unto him, we must
follow in his footsteps, even until we sanctify ourselves by the law
of truth and righteousness. This is the law of the celestial kingdom,
and when we die, its power will bring us forth in the morning of the
first resurrection, clothed with glory, immortality and eternal lives.
Unless we do keep the law that God has given unto us in the flesh,
which we have the privilege of receiving and understanding, we cannot
be quickened by its glory, neither can we receive the fulness thereof,
and the exaltation of the celestial kingdom.
"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before {554} the
foundations of the world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and
when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law
upon which it is predicated."--(Doc and Cov. 130:20.)
We must, therefore, learn the laws of heaven, which are the laws of the
gospel, live and obey them with all our hearts, and in faith abide in
them, perfecting ourselves thereby, in order to receive the fulness of
the glory of that kingdom. * * *
While we are in mortality we are clogged, and we see as through a
glass darkly, we see only in part, and it is difficult for us to
comprehend the smallest things with which we are associated. But when
we put on immortality, our condition will be very different, for we
ascend into an enlarged sphere; although we shall not become perfect
immediately after our departure from the body, for the spirit without
the body is not perfect, and the body without the spirit is dead. The
disembodied spirit during the interval of the death of the body and its
resurrection from the grave is not perfect, hence it is not prepared
to enter into the exaltation of the celestial kingdom; but it has the
privilege of soaring in the midst of immortal beings, and of enjoying,
to a certain extent, the presence of God, not the fulness of his glory,
not the fulness of the reward which we are seeking and which we are
destined to receive, if found faithful to the law of the celestial
kingdom, but only in part.
The righteous spirit that departs from this earth is assigned its
place in the Paradise of God; it has its privileges and honors which
are in point of excellency, far above and beyond human comprehension;
and in this sphere of action, enjoying this partial reward for its
righteous conduct on the earth, it continues its labors, and in this
respect is very different from the state of the body from which it is
released. For while the body sleeps and decays, the spirit receives
a new birth; to it the portals of life are opened. It {555} is born
again into the presence of God. The spirit of our beloved sister in
taking its departure from this world is born again into the spirit
world, returning there from the mission it has been performing in
this state of probation, having been absent a few years from father,
mother, kindred, friends, neighbors, and from all that was dear; it has
returned nearer to the home-circle, to old associations and scenes,
much in the same way as a man who comes home from a foreign mission, to
join again his family and friends and enjoy the pleasures and comforts
of home.
This is the condition of her whose remains now lie before us, and of
every one who has been faithful to virtue and purity, while traveling
here below; but more especially of those who while here had the
privilege of obeying the gospel, and who lived true and faithful to
its covenants. Instead of continuing here among the things of time,
surrounded as we are with the weaknesses of a fallen world, and subject
to earthly cares and sorrows, they are freed from them to enter a state
of joy, glory and exaltation; not a fulness of any one of them but
to await the morning of the resurrection of the just, to come forth
from the grave to redeem the body, and to be reunited with it and thus
become a living soul, an immortal being, never more to die. Having
accomplished its work, having gone through its earthly probation, and
having fulfilled its mission here below, it is then prepared for the
knowledge and glory and exaltation of the celestial kingdom. This Jesus
did; and he is our forerunner, he is our exemplar. The path which he
marked out we have to walk, if we ever expect to dwell and be crowned
with him in his kingdom. We must obey and put our trust in him, knowing
that he is the Savior of the world.
What reason have we to mourn? None, except that we are deprived for a
few days of the society of one whom we love. And if we prove faithful
while in the flesh we will soon follow, and be glad that we had the
privilege of passing {556} through mortality, and that we lived in
a day in which the fulness of the everlasting gospel was preached,
through which we will be exalted, for there is no exaltation except
through obedience to law. Every blessing, privilege, glory, or
exaltation is obtained only through obedience to the law upon which
the same is promised. If we will abide the law, we shall receive
the reward; but we can receive it on no other ground. Then let us
rejoice in the truth, in the restoration of the priesthood--that power
delegated to man, by virtue of which the Lord sanctions in the heavens
what man does upon the earth. The Lord has taught us the ordinances of
the gospel by which we may perfect our exaltation in his kingdom. We
are not living as the heathen, without law; that which is necessary for
our exaltation has been revealed. Our duty, therefore, is to obey the
laws; then we shall receive our reward, no matter whether we are cut
down in childhood, in manhood, or old age; it is all the same, so long
as we are living up to the light we possess we shall not be shorn of
any blessing, nor deprived of any privilege; for there is a time after
this mortal life, and there is a way provided by which we may fulfil
the measure of our creation and destiny, and accomplish the whole great
work that we have been sent to do, although it may reach far into the
future before we fully accomplish it.
Jesus had not finished his work when his body was slain, neither did
he finish it after his resurrection from the dead; although he had
accomplished the purpose for which he then came to the earth, he had
not fulfilled all his work. And when will he? Not until he has redeemed
and saved every son and daughter of our father Adam that have been or
ever will be born upon this earth to the end of time, except the sons
of perdition. That is his mission. We will not finish our work until
we have saved ourselves, and then not until we shall have saved all
depending upon us; for we are to become saviors upon Mount Zion, as
well as Christ. We are {557} called to this mission. The dead are not
perfect without us, neither are we without them. We have a mission to
perform for and in their behalf; we have a certain work to do in order
to liberate those who, because of their ignorance and the unfavorable
circumstances in which they were placed while here, are unprepared
for eternal life; we have to open the door for them, by performing
ordinances which they cannot perform for themselves, and which are
essential to their release from the "prison-house," to come forth and
live according to God in the spirit, and be judged according to men in
the flesh.
The Prophet Joseph Smith has said that this is one of the most
important duties that devolves upon the Latter-day Saints. And why?
Because this is the dispensation of the fulness of times, which will
usher in the millennial reign, and in which all things spoken by the
mouths of holy prophets, since the world began, must be fulfilled, and
all things united, both which are in heaven and in the earth. We have
that work to do; or, at least all we can of it, leaving the balance
to our children, in whose hearts we should instill the importance of
this work, rearing them in the love of the truth and in the knowledge
of these principles, so that when we pass away, having done all we
can do, they will then take up the labor and continue it until it is
consummated.
May the Lord bless this bereaved family and comfort them in their
deprivation. Those who die in the Lord shall not taste of death. When
Adam partook of the forbidden fruit he was cast out from the presence
of God into outer darkness; that is, he was shut out from the presence
of his glory and the privilege of his society, which was spiritual
death. This was the first death; this indeed was death; for he was
shut out from the presence of God; and ever since, Adam's posterity
have been suffering the penalty of this spiritual death, which is
banishment from his presence and {558} the society of holy beings. This
first death will also be the second death. Now we look upon the mortal
remains of our departed sister; her immortal part has gone. Where? Into
outer darkness?--banished from the presence of God? No, but born again
into his presence, restored, or born from death to life, to immortality
and to joy in his presence. This is not death, then; and this is true
in relation to all Saints who die in the Lord and the covenant of the
gospel. They return from the midst of death to life, where death has no
power.
There is no death except to those who die in sin, without the sure and
steadfast hope of the resurrection of the just. There is no death where
we continue in the knowledge of the truth and have hope of a glorious
resurrection. Life and immortality are brought to light through the
gospel; hence, there is no death here; here is a peaceful slumber, a
quiet rest for a little season, and then she will come forth again
to enjoy this tabernacle. If there is anything lacking in regard to
ordinances pertaining to the House of the Lord, which may have been
omitted or not reached, those requirements can be attended to for her.
Here are her father and mother, her brothers and sisters; they know
the ordinances necessary to be performed in order to secure every
benefit and blessing that it was possible for her to have received in
the flesh. These ordinances have been revealed unto us for this very
purpose, that we might be born into the light from the midst of this
darkness--from death into life.
We live, then; we do not die; we do not anticipate death but we
anticipate life, immortality, glory, exaltation, and to be quickened
by the glory of the celestial kingdom, and receive of the same even a
fulness. This is our destiny; this is the exalted position to which
we may attain and there is no power that can deprive or rob us of it,
if we prove faithful and true to the covenant of the gospel.--Funeral
{559} sermon preached over the remains of Emma Wells, Salt Lake City,
April 11, 1878.--_Journal of Discourses,_ Vol. 19, 1878, pp. 258-265.
THE RESURRECTION. Guided by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus by faith in
God, in the testimony of his prophets and in the scriptures, I accept
the doctrine of the resurrection with all my heart, and rejoice at its
confirmation in nature with the awakening of each returning spring. The
Spirit of God testifies to me, and has revealed to me, to my complete
personal satisfaction, that there is life after death, and that the
body which we lay down here will be reunited with our spirit, to become
a perfect soul, capable of receiving a fulness of joy in the presence
of God.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 16, 1912-1913, pp. 508-510.
THE RESURRECTION. It is true, all of us are clothed with mortality, but
our spirits existed long before they took upon them this tabernacle
that we now inhabit. When this body dies, the spirit does not die. The
spirit is an immortal being, and when separated from the body takes its
flight to the place prepared for it, and there awaits the resurrection
of the body, when the spirit will return again and re-occupy this
tabernacle which it occupied in this world.
This great and glorious principle of the resurrection is no longer a
theory, as some think, but it is an accomplished fact which has been
demonstrated beyond all successful contradiction, doubt or controversy.
Job, who lived before the resurrection of Christ, possessing the
spirit of prophecy, looked forward to the time of the resurrection.
He comprehended the fact. He understood the principles and knew
the power and design of God to bring it to pass, and predicted its
accomplishment. He declares: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that
he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth." He further says,
"And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh
shall I see God." (Job 19:25-26) He looked forward to something not yet
{560} done, something which had never been done in this world before
his day. It was not accomplished till long after his time. Having
received the spirit of the gospel and of revelation, he was enabled
to look down into unborn time and see his body which had moulded and
crumbled into dust, raised from the dead. What he saw by the eye of
faith has become actual history unto us, and we possess not only the
history of the fact but a knowledge by the testimony of the Holy Ghost
of its truth. We are not therefore situated as Job was; we live in the
latter times which are pregnant with grand and glorious events, among
the greatest of which is this glorious principle of the resurrection
of the dead, which is no longer a mere prediction, a cherished hope,
or a prophetic promise, but a reality; for long before our day it has
actually been accomplished. Christ himself burst the barriers of the
tomb, conquered death and the grave and came forth "the first fruits
of them that slept." But, says one, how can we know that Jesus was put
to death or resurrected? We have plenty of evidence to show that Jesus
was crucified and resurrected. We have the testimony of his disciples,
and they produce irrefutable evidence that they did see him crucified,
and witnessed the wounds of the nails and spear which he received on
the cross. They also testify that his body was laid away in a sepulchre
wherein no man had lain, and they rolled a great stone to the door and
departed.
Now the chief priests and Pharisees were not satisfied with the
crucifixion and burial of our Lord and Savior; they remembered that
while living he had said that after three days he would rise again, so
they established a strong guard to protect the sepulchre, and set a
seal upon the stone, lest his disciples should come by night and steal
away the body and say unto the people, "He is risen from the dead," and
thus perpetuate a fraud upon the world.
Lo and behold! by this act those unbelieving guards {561} became actual
witnesses to the fact that a heavenly personage came and rolled away
the stone and that Jesus came forth. The disciples witness and testify
to the resurrection, and their testimony can not be impeached. It
therefore stands good, and is true and faithful.
But is this the only evidence we have to depend on? Have we nothing but
the testimony of the ancient disciples to rest our hopes upon? Thank
God we have more. And the additional evidence which we possess enables
us to become witnesses to the truth of the testimony of the ancient
disciples. We go to the Book of Mormon; it testifies of the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ in plain and unmistakable terms; we may
go to the book of Doctrine and Covenants containing the revelations of
this dispensation, and we shall find clear and well defined evidence
there. We have the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the testimony
of Oliver Cowdery, and the testimony of Sidney Rigdon, that they saw
the Lord Jesus--the same that was crucified in Jerusalem--and that he
revealed himself unto them. Joseph and Sidney testify to it as follows:
"We, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the
sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened
and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand
the things of God--even those things which were from the beginning
before the world was, which were ordained of the Father, through his
Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, even from the
beginning, of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the
fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and
with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision." (Doc. and Cov. 76:
11-14).
They were called to be special witnesses of Jesus Christ and his death
and resurrection.
{562} We have also the testimony of the ancient disciples who lived
on this continent of the crucifixion and resurrection. You will find
their testimony recorded in the Book of Mormon. The disciples who
lived upon this continent knew what transpired at Jerusalem; the Lord
showed them these things. After his resurrection he manifested himself
to his disciples on this continent, and showed them the wounds he had
received on Calvary. They were convinced that Jesus was the Christ
and the Redeemer of the world. They beheld him in the flesh and they
bear witness of it, and their testimony is true. We have the testimony
of many witnesses. We have the testimony of eleven special witnesses
to the divine origin of the Book of Mormon, which book testifies of
Christ's resurrection, containing as it does the records of the ancient
prophets and disciples of Christ on this continent, thus confirming
their testimonies.
Is this all the evidence we have? No. Joseph Smith boldly declared to
the world that if mankind would sincerely repent of their sins and be
baptized by authority, they should not only receive a remission of
their sins, but, by the laying on of hands, they should receive the
Holy Ghost, and should know of the doctrine for themselves. Thus all
who obey the law and abide in the truth become witnesses of this and
other equally great and precious truths. Today there are thousands of
Latter-day Saints living in Utah and throughout the world who have
attained to the possession of these things, both men and women. If we
witness by our acts, and from our hearts, our determination to carry
out the mind and will of the Lord, we shall have this double assurance
of a glorious resurrection, and be able to say as the Prophet Job
said--his was a glorious declaration "For I know that my Redeemer
liveth, and that he shall [again] stand at the latter day upon the
earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall
behold, {563} and not another; though my reins be consumed within me."
(Job 19:25-27) Thousands have received this testimony and can witness
unto God and testify from their hearts that they know these things.
I bear my testimony, and surely it is of as much force and effect, if
it be true, as the testimony of Job, the testimonies of the disciples
of Jerusalem, the disciples on this continent, of Joseph Smith, or
any other man who told the truth. All are of equal force and binding
on the world. If no man had ever testified to these things upon the
face of the globe, I want to say as a servant of God, independent of
the testimonies of all men and of every book that has been written,
that I have received the witness of the Spirit in my own heart, and I
testify before God, angels and men, without fear of the consequences,
that I know that my Redeemer lives, and I shall see him face to face,
and stand with him in my resurrected body upon this earth, if I am
faithful; for God has revealed this unto me. I have received the
witness, and I bear my testimony, and my testimony is true.
The testimony of the Latter-day Saints is in addition to and consonant
with that of the disciples of Jesus Christ who lived at Jerusalem,
those who lived on this continent, the Prophet Joseph, Oliver, Sidney,
and others, of our crucified and risen Redeemer, because they received
it not of them, but by the same Spirit by which they received it. No
man ever received this testimony unless the Spirit of God revealed it
unto him.
We will see Brother Urie again. Sister Urie will meet him on the other
side of the grave. The spirit and the body will be reunited. We shall
see each other in the flesh, in the same tabernacles that we have here
while in mortality. Our tabernacles will be brought forth as they
are laid down, although there will be a restoration effected; every
organ, every limb that has been maimed, every deformity {564} caused
by accident or in any other way, will be restored and put right. Every
limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame. We will know
each other and enjoy each other's society throughout the endless ages
of eternity, if we keep the law of God. It is for us to remain true
and faithful and keep our covenants, and to train our children up in
the paths of holiness, virtue and truth, in the principles of the
gospel, that we may with them be prepared to enjoy the perfect and
eternal day.--Discourse delivered at the funeral services of James
Uric, Sixteenth ward, Salt Lake City, February 3, 1883.--_Journal of
Discourses,_ Vol. 24, pp. 75-82.
ON THE RESURRECTION. I believe that as Christ arose from the dead, so
shall all the faithful arise. We shall all see one another again. I
know that Jesus is the Christ, that after his death and burial he arose
from the dead, and became the first fruits of the resurrection. To all
believers, and to the Latter-day Saints especially, there is sweet
comfort in this knowledge, and in the thought that through obedience to
the ordinances and principles of the gospel, which Christ, our Savior,
taught and enjoined upon the people and his disciples, men shall be
born again, redeemed from sin, arise from the grave, and like Jesus
return into the presence of the Father. Death is not the end. When we,
sorrowing, lay away our loved ones in the grave, we have an assurance
based upon the life, words and resurrection of Christ, that we shall
again meet and shake hands and associate with them in a better life,
where sorrow and trouble are ended, and where there is to be no more
parting.
This knowledge is one of the greatest incentives that we have to live
right in this life, to pass through mortality, doing and feeling and
accomplishing good. The spirits of all men, as soon as they depart from
this mortal body, whether they are good or evil, we are told in the
Book of Mormon, are taken home to that God who gave them life, where
there {565} is a separation, a partial judgment, and the spirits of
those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness which is
called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they expand
in wisdom, where they have respite from all their troubles, and where
care and sorrow do not annoy. The wicked, on the contrary, have no part
nor portion in the Spirit of the Lord, and they are cast into outer
darkness, being led captive, because of their own iniquity, by the evil
one. And in this space between death and the resurrection of the body,
the two classes of souls remain, in happiness or in misery, until the
time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth and be
reunited both spirit and body, and be brought to stand before God, and
be judged according to their works. This is the final judgment.
Where a man has obeyed the principles of the gospel, used his influence
for good, injured no soul, loved righteousness, and despised wrong
doing, laying down his body to the rest of the righteous in the grave,
I feel and know that, in addition to the spirit's promised state of
peace and rest in paradise, there will be a glorious reunion of body
and spirit, a bright awakening for him in the resurrection, and a
future beyond, full of happiness. When this time shall come, none but
God knoweth, but we do know that all men shall come forth from the dead.
Now, I know these statements to be true; I know them to be true by the
thrill of the inspiration of God which fills my entire being with this
knowledge. To me they are consistent with God's wisdom and with his
holy purposes. We have the testimony of Christ, the testimony of the
prophets, the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, and with these evidences,
I cannot help but believe, and know that there is a resurrection of
the dead, a literal, actual resurrection of the body. I cannot believe
that a wise and merciful God would create a man like our friend and
brother, upright, honorable, honest in all his dealings and in his
{566} life, only to live a few years, then to pass away forever, to be
known no more. As Jesus arose from the dead so will he, and all the
innocent and righteous, arise. The elements which compose this temporal
body will not perish, will not cease to exist, but in the day of the
resurrection these elements will come together again, bone to bone, and
flesh to flesh. The body will come forth as it is laid to rest, for
there is no growth nor development in the grave. As it is laid down,
so will it arise, and changes to perfection will come by the law of
restitution.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 7, June, 1914, p. 619.
RESURRECTION AND FINAL JUDGEMENT. When the spirit leaves the body, it
returns, says the prophet, immediately to God, to be assigned to its
Place, either to associate with the good and the noble ones who have
lived in the paradise of God, or to be confined in the "prison-house"
to await the resurrection of the body from the grave. Therefore we
know that Brother Clayton has gone to God, gone to receive the partial
judgment of the Almighty which pertains to the period intervening
between the death of the body and the resurrection of the body, or
the separation of the spirit from the body and their uniting together
again. This judgment is passed upon the spirit alone. But there will
come a time which will be after the resurrection, when the body and
spirit shall be reunited, when the final judgment will be passed on
every man. This is in accordance with the vision of John the Revelator:
"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 death and hell were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
{567} "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:12-15)
That is the final judgment, which we will all receive after we have
performed this our earthly mission.
The Savior did not finish his work when he expired on the cross, when
he cried out, "It is finished." He, in using those words, had no
reference to his great mission to the earth, but merely to the agonies
which he suffered. The Christian world, I know, say he alluded to the
great work of redemption. This, however, is a great mistake, and is
indicative of the extent of their knowledge of the plan of life and
salvation. I say, he referred merely to the agonies of death, and the
sufferings he felt for the wickedness of men who would go so far as
to crucify their Redeemer. It was this feeling, and this alone, that
prompted him to cry out in the agony of his soul, "It is finished," and
then he expired.
But his work was not completed; it was in fact only begun. If he had
stopped here, instead of his being the Savior of the world, he, as well
as all mankind, would have perished irredeemably, never to have come
forth out of the grave; for it was designed from the beginning that
he should be the first fruits of them that slept; it was part of the
great plan that he should burst the bands of death and gain the victory
over the grave. If, therefore, his mission had ceased when he gave up
the ghost, the world would have slumbered in the dust in interminable
death, never to have risen to live again. It was but a small part of
the mission of the Savior that was performed when he suffered death; it
was indeed the lesser part; the greater had yet to be done.
It was in his resurrection from the tomb, in his coming forth from
death unto life, in uniting again the spirit and the body that he might
become a living soul; and when this was done, then he was prepared to
return to the Father. {568} And all this was in strict accordance with
the great plan of salvation. For even Christ himself, though without
sin, was required to observe the outward ordinance of baptism, in order
to fulfil all righteousness.
So, after his resurrection from the dead he could return to the
Father, there to receive the welcome plaudit, Well done; you have
done your work, you have accomplished your mission, you have wrought
out salvation for all the children of Adam; you have redeemed all men
from the grave; and through their obedience to the ordinances of the
gospel which you have established, they can also be redeemed from the
spiritual death, again to be brought back into our presence, to partake
of glory, exaltation and eternal life with us.
And so it will be when we come forth out of the grave, when the trump
shall sound, and these our bodies shall rise and our spirits shall
enter into them again, and they shall become living souls, no more to
be dissolved or separated, but to become inseparable, immortal, eternal.
Then we shall stand before the bar of God to be judged. So says the
Bible, so says the Book of Mormon, and so say the revelations which
have come direct to us through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And then those
who have not been subject and obedient to the celestial law will not be
quickened by the celestial glory. And those who have not been subject
and obedient to the terrestrial law will not be quickened by the
terrestrial glory. And those who have not been subject and obedient to
the telestial law, will not be quickened by a telestial glory; but they
will have a kingdom without glory.
The sons of perdition, men who once were in possession of the light and
truth, but who turned away from them and denied the Lord, putting him
to an open shame, as did the Jews when they crucified him and said,
"His blood be on us, and on our children;" men who consent, against
light {569} and knowledge, to the shedding of innocent blood, it will
be said unto them, "Depart from me, ye cursed." (Matt. 25:41) I never
knew you; depart into the second death, even banishment from the
presence of God for ever and ever, where the worm dieth not and the
fire is not quenched, from whence there is no redemption, neither in
time nor in eternity. Herein is the difference between the second and
the first death wherein man became spiritually dead; for from the first
death he may be redeemed by the blood of Christ, through obedience to
the laws and ordinances of the gospel, but from the second, there is no
redemption at all.
We read in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, that the devil tempted
Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit, and transgressed the
commandment, wherein he became subject to the will of the devil because
he yielded unto temptation, and because of this transgression he became
"spiritually dead, which is the first death, even that same death,
which is the last death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced
upon the wicked when I shall say--Depart, ye cursed!" (Doc. and Cov.
29:41.)
But who will receive such punishment? Only those who deserve it, those
who commit the unpardonable sin.
Then there is the banishment of the transgressor (not the sons of
perdition) into the prison-house, a place of punishment, with no
exaltation, no increase, no dominion, no power, whose inhabitants after
their redemption may become servants of them that have obeyed the
laws of God and kept the faith. That will be the punishment of such
as reject the truth, but sin not unto death.--Discourse delivered at
funeral of William Clayton, in the Seventeenth Ward meetinghouse, Salt
Lake City, December 7, 1879. _Journal of Discourses_ Vol. 21, 1881,
pp. 9-13.
CONDITION OF CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. If we have received the testimony
of the spirit of truth in our souls we know that all is well with
our little children who pass away, {570} that we could not, if we
would, better their condition; and least of all would it better their
condition if we could call them back here, for the reason that so long
as man is in the world, clothed with mortality, surrounded by the evils
that are in the world, he runs chances and is subject to risks, and
there are responsibilities resting upon him which may prove fatal to
his future prosperity, happiness and exaltation. It is only those who
are thoroughly and firmly grounded in the truth, who are established in
the principles of life, that will be able to certainly claim the reward
of the faithful, and an exaltation in the presence of the Father. As
soon as any man turns away from the truth that binds him to God, that
moment he is in danger, and may fall.
But, with little children who are taken away in infancy and innocence
before they have reached the years of accountability, and are not
capable of committing sin, the gospel reveals to us the fact that they
are redeemed, and Satan has no power over them. Neither has death any
power over them. They are redeemed by the blood of Christ, and they
are saved just as surely as death has come into the world through the
fall of our first parents. It is further written that Satan has no
power over men or women, except that power which he gains over them
in this world. In other words, none of the children of the Father who
are redeemed through obedience, faith, repentance, and baptism for the
remission of sins, and who live in that redeemed condition, and die in
that condition are subject to Satan. Therefore he has no power over
them. They are absolutely beyond his reach, just as little children are
who die without sin. To my mind this is a consolation and a glorious
truth that my soul delights in. I am grateful to my heavenly Father
that he has revealed it unto me, for it affords a consolation that
nothing else can give, and it brings a joy to my spirit that nothing
can take away, except the consciousness on my {571} part of having
sinned and transgressed against light and knowledge which I may have
possessed.
Under these circumstances, our beloved friends who are now deprived of
their little one, have great cause for joy and rejoicing, even in the
midst of the deep sorrow that they feel at the loss of their little
one for a time. They know he is all right; they have the assurance
that their little one has passed away without sin. Such children are
in the bosom of the Father. They will inherit their glory and their
exaltation, and they will not be deprived of the blessings that belong
to them; for, in the economy of heaven, and in the wisdom of the
Father, who doeth all things well, those who are cut down as little
children are without any responsibility for their taking off, they,
themselves, not having the intelligence and wisdom to take care of
themselves and to understand the laws of life; and, in the wisdom and
mercy and economy of God our Heavenly Father, all that could have been
obtained and enjoyed by them if they had been permitted to live in the
flesh will be provided for them hereafter. They will lose nothing by
being taken away from us in this way.
This is a consolation to me. Joseph Smith, the prophet, was the
promulgator under God of these principles. He was in touch with the
heavens. God revealed himself unto him, and made known unto him
the principles that lie before us, and which are comprised in the
everlasting gospel. Joseph Smith declared that the mother who laid down
her little child, being deprived of the privilege, the joy, and the
satisfaction of bringing it up to manhood or womanhood in this world,
would, after the resurrection, have all the joy, satisfaction and
pleasure, and even more than it would have been possible to have had in
mortality, in seeing her child grow to the full measure of the stature
of its spirit. If this be true, and I believe it, what a consolation it
is. Jesus Christ was the Son of God before he came into the world, yet
he {572} came as an infant, grew and developed into manhood, and when
his spirit departed from its tabernacle it went to proclaim the gospel
to the spirits which were imprisoned, possessing all the intelligence,
powers and faculties which it had in the flesh, except the possession
of the body, wherein he became absolutely like unto God. And so I
believe it is with all men that come into the world. Every spirit that
comes to this earth to take upon it a tabernacle is a son or a daughter
of God, and possesses all the intelligence and all the attributes
that any son or daughter can enjoy, either in the spirit world, or in
this world, except that in the spirit, and separated from the body,
they lacked just the tabernacle of being like God the Father. It is
said that God is a spirit, and they who worship him must worship him
in spirit and in truth. But he is a spirit possessing the tabernacle
of flesh and bones, as tangible as a man's and therefore to be like
God and Jesus all men must have a body. It matters not whether these
tabernacles mature in this world, or have to wait and mature in the
world to come, according to the word of the Prophet Joseph Smith, the
body will develop, either in time or in eternity, to the full stature
of the spirit, and when the mother is deprived of the pleasure and joy
of rearing her babe to manhood or to womanhood in this life, through
the hand of death, that privilege will be renewed to her hereafter, and
she will enjoy it to a fuller fruition than it would be possible for
her to do here. When she does it there, it will be with the certain
knowledge that the results will be without failure; whereas here, the
results are unknown until after we have passed the test.
With these thoughts in my mind, I take consolation in the fact that I
shall meet my children who have passed behind the veil; I have lost a
number, and I have felt all that a parent can feel, I think, in the
loss of my children. I have felt it keenly, for I love children, and
I am particularly fond of the little ones, but I feel thankful to God
for the knowledge {573} of these principles, because now I have every
confidence in his word and in his promise that I will possess in the
future all that belongs to me, and my joy will be full. I will not be
deprived of any privilege or any blessing that I am worthy of and that
may be properly entrusted to me. But every gift, and every blessing
that it is possible for me to become worthy of I shall possess, either
in time or in eternity, and it will not matter, so that I acknowledge
the hand of God in all these things, and say in my heart, "The Lord
giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord."
This is the way we should feel with regard to our children, or our
relatives, or friends, or whatever vicissitudes we may be called to
pass through.
Now, the beauty of this to me is that I know these things, that I am
satisfied of them, and so long as I possess the spirit of truth I have
no fear that any doubt or uncertainty will ever enter my mind in regard
to these principles. There is only one course that I might pursue which
would bring about mistrust and fear, trembling and doubt, in relation
to these things. And that would be for me to deny the truth and cut
myself loose from the guiding influences of the Holy Spirit, for I
do know that so long as a man is under the guiding influence of the
Spirit of God he never can deny these truths which God has revealed to
him, and in that condition he is not subject to the power of Satan.
It is only when he transgresses the law of God, and dismisses these
principles from his thoughts, that he becomes subject to the powers of
evil, that his mind becomes darkened, and he begins to doubt and fear.
But, let a man have the Spirit of God in his heart, that Spirit which
reveals the things of God unto men, and makes them to know the truth
as God himself knows it, he never can doubt those things which God has
revealed. Therefore, I rejoice in these truths, for I know they are
true.
I know that Brother Heber and his companion, if they {574} are faithful
to the light they possess and to the covenants that they have entered
into before the Lord, will just as assuredly inherit the joy and the
possession and the glory of this little one that has now departed,
as that they see its little form lying here before them this moment.
Everyone who has the spirit of truth in his soul must feel this to be
true.--Remarks at the funeral of Daniel Wells Grant, child of Heber
J. Grant, and Emily Wells Grant, in family residence, Salt Lake City,
March 12, 1895.--_Young Woman's Journal,_ Vol. 6, pp. 369-374.
STATUS OF CHILDREN IN THE RESURRECTION. The spirits of our children
are immortal before they come to us, and their spirits, after bodily
death, are like they were before they came. They are as they would have
appeared if they had lived in the flesh, to grow to maturity, or to
develop their physical bodies to the full stature of their spirits. If
you see one of your children that has passed away it may appear to you
in the form in which you would recognize it, the form of childhood; but
if it came to you as a messenger bearing some important truth, it would
perhaps come as the spirit of Bishop Edward Hunter's son (who died when
a little child) came to him, in the stature of full-grown manhood, and
revealed himself to his father, and said: "I am your son."
Bishop Hunter did not understand it. He went to my father and said:
"Hyrum, what does that mean? I buried my son when he was only a little
boy, but he has come to me as a full-grown man--a noble, glorious,
young man, and declared himself my son. What does it mean?"
Father (Hyrum Smith, the Patriarch) told him that the Spirit of Jesus
Christ was full-grown before he was born into the world; and so our
children were full-grown and possessed their full stature in the
spirit, before they entered mortality, the same stature that they
will possess after they have passed away from mortality, and as they
will also appear {575} after the resurrection, when they shall have
completed their mission.
Joseph Smith taught the doctrine that the infant child that was laid
away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and,
pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her: "You will
have the joy, the pleasure, and satisfaction of nurturing this child,
after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its
spirit." There is restitution, there is growth, there is development,
after the resurrection from death. I love this truth. It speaks volumes
of happiness, of joy and gratitude to my soul. Thank the Lord he has
revealed these principles to us.
In 1854, I met with my aunt, the wife of my uncle, Don Carlos Smith,
who was the mother of that little girl that Joseph Smith, the Prophet,
was speaking about when he told the mother that she should have the
joy, the pleasure, and the satisfaction of rearing that child, after
the resurrection, until it reached the full stature of its spirit;
and that it would be a far greater joy than she could possibly have
in mortality, because she would be free from the sorrow and fear and
disabilities of mortal life, and she would know more than she could
know in this life. I met that widow, the mother of that child, and she
told me this circumstance and bore testimony to me that this was what
the Prophet Joseph Smith said when he was speaking at the funeral of
her little daughter.
One day I was conversing with a brother-in-law of mine, Lorin Walker,
who married my oldest sister. In the course of the conversation he
happened to mention that he was present at the funeral of my cousin
Sophronia, and that he heard the Prophet Joseph Smith declare the very
words that Aunt Agnes had told me.
I said to him, "Lorin, what did the Prophet say?" and he repeated,
as nearly as he could remember, what the Prophet Joseph said in
relation to little children. The body {576} remains undeveloped in
the grave, but the spirit returns to God who gave it. Afterwards, in
the resurrection, the spirit and body will be reunited; the body will
develop and grow to the full stature of the spirit; and the resurrected
soul will go on to perfection. So I had the statement of two witnesses
who heard this doctrine announced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, the
source of intelligence.
Eventually I was in conversation with Sister M. Isabella Horn. She
began to relate to me the circumstance of her being present at the
funeral that I refer to, when Joseph spoke of the death of little
children, their resurrection, as little children, and of the glory,
and honor, and joy, and happiness the mother would have in rearing
her little children in the resurrection to the full stature of their
spirits. "Well," she said, "I heard Joseph say that. I was at that
funeral." Sister Isabella Horne told me this.
Then I said to her: "Why haven't you spoken about it before? How is it
you have kept it to yourself all these long years? Why haven't you let
the Church know something about this declaration of the Prophet?"
She replied: "I did not know whether it was my duty to do so, or
whether it would be proper or not."
I said: "Who else was there?"
"My husband was there."
"Does he remember it?"
"Yes, he remembers it."
"Well, will you and Brother Horne give me an affidavit in writing,
stating the fact, and let it be sworn to?"
She said, "With the greatest of pleasure."
So I have the testimony in affidavit form of Brother and Sister Horne,
in addition to the testimony of my aunt, and the testimony of my
brother-in-law, in relation to the Prophet Joseph's remarks at that
funeral.
Just a little while later, to my joy and satisfaction, the first man
I ever heard mention it in public was Franklin D. {577} Richards; and
when he spoke of it, I felt in my soul: the truth has come out. The
truth will prevail. It is mighty, and it will live; for there is no
power that can destroy it. Presidents Woodruff and Cannon approved of
the doctrine and after that I preached it.
It is a good thing for us not to attempt to advance new doctrine,
or new and advanced thought in relation to principles and doctrines
pertaining to, or presumed to pertain to, the gospel of Jesus Christ,
without weighing it carefully, with the experience of years, before we
attempt to make a doctrinal test and to advance it to the people of the
Lord. There is so much simple truth, necessary to be understood, that
has been revealed to us in the gospel that it is extreme folly in us to
attempt to go beyond the truth that has been revealed, until we have
mastered and can comprehend the truth that we have. There is a great
deal within our reach that we have not yet mastered.--_Improvement
Era,_ Vol. 21, May, 1918, pp. 567-573.
ADDRESS AT FUNERAL SERVICES OF MARY A. FREEZE. There does not seem to
be much left to be said. I endorse heartily and fully every kindly
sentiment that I have heard expressed here this afternoon with
reference to our departed sister. I have known her, as a worker in
the Church, for a goodly number of years, and have had the pleasure
of frequently meeting her in the various capacities in which she has
labored in the Church, and in every instance I have been more and more
impressed with the pure character and spirit of the woman. There was a
calmness about her appearance, her conversation, and her conduct that
seemed to indicate a well-matured character and a well-established
principle of life. Nothing that I have ever perceived in her has
appeared flighty, unsettled, or unstable, but in everything, her life
indicated a life of stability, of reliability and fidelity to the Lord
and to his covenants.
After hearing the many good things that have been said {578} (yet, as
Brother Joseph E. Taylor has remarked, "not half has been told") in
relation to the good life and labors of our dear sister, it makes my
mind revert to the blessed hopes that are inspired in our souls by and
through our faith in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ--the hope
that that gospel inspired in our souls that we are following in the
footsteps of our Redeemer and that every man and woman following in
his footsteps will become like him, will enjoy the blessed privileges
which he enjoyed, will pass through the varied ordeals through which he
passed, and will eventually land at the same goal and will be blessed
with the same privileges, and power and glory, and exaltation that
he, himself, vindicated, proved and fulfilled in his life and death
and resurrection from death to life again. I cannot conceive of any
more desirable thing than is vouchsafed to us in the gospel of Jesus
Christ--that though we die, yet we shall live again, and though we
die and dissolve into the native elements of which our tabernacles
are composed, yet these elements will again be restored to each other
and be reorganized, and we will become again living souls just as the
Savior did before us; and his having done so has made it possible for
all the rest of us. What can there be more joyous to think of than the
fact that Brother Freeze, who loved his wife and whom she loved, to
whom he was true and who was true to him all her days of association
with him as wife and mother, will have the privilege of coming up on
the morning of the first resurrection clothed with immortality and
eternal life, and resume the relationship that existed between them in
this life, the relationship of husband and wife, father and mother,
parents to their children, having laid the foundation for eternal glory
and eternal exaltation in the kingdom of God! Life without this hope
would seem to me in vain. And yet there is nothing that I have ever
discovered in the world, except the gospel of Jesus Christ, that gives
this assurance. Nothing has ever pointed it out {579} in a tangible
way except the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has laid this
foundation, has taught this principle and this truth, and has uttered
that memorable sentiment that, "He that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
never die." (John 11:25, 26.)
Now, to me this explains the sentiment expressed by Brother Joseph E.
Taylor, when he said he did not feel the presence of death when he
went to visit her. Do you feel the presence of death here? He did not
feel it then. Just prior to the departure of her spirit, there was no
element of death there. The element of dissolution--the separation of
the spiritual from the temporal, of the immortal from the mortal was
visible, but in the presence of the Spirit of the Lord, and with the
hope inspired in the gospel of the Son of God, that "he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die," and in the knowledge of the fact that
every provision the Lord has given by which we may be prepared to enjoy
the fulness of these blessings has been observed and entered into,
believed and followed by this good woman, what reason could there be,
under such circumstances, for thoughts of death? It was not death, but
a change from mortality to immortality, from death, in fact, to life
everlasting.
Now, I believe that if ever a soul in the world is entitled to the
enjoyment or realization of that saying, of the Son of God this good
woman is entitled to it; for I believe, according to her knowledge, she
was true to every principle by which she might fulfil the intent of it
and by which she may receive the verification of it in the world to
come.
I do not feel that it would be proper or necessary for me to occupy
very much time, but while the brethren and sisters were speaking, the
thought naturally passed through my mind--what will be her occupation
in the world to come? {580} What will she do there? We are told that
she will not be idle. She could not be idle. In God's plans, there
is no such thing as idleness. God is not pleased with the thought of
idleness. He is not idle, and there is no such thing as inertia in
the providences and in the purposes of God. We are either growing and
advancing, or are retrograding. We are not stationary. We must grow.
The principles of everlasting growth and development tend to glory, to
exaltation, to happiness, and to a fulness of joy. What has she been
doing? She has been working in the temple, among other things. She has
been working, also, as a minister of life among young women of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She has labored diligently
and earnestly in trying to persuade the daughters of Zion to come to a
knowledge of the truth as she possessed it. She seemed to be thoroughly
established in it. I have never discovered the least symptom of any
dubiety in her mind in reference to the gospel of Jesus Christ. She
has been laboring to bring others of the daughters of Zion to the same
standard of knowledge, faith and understanding of the principles of the
gospel of Christ that she herself possessed, a ministering angel and a
mother in Israel, seeking the salvation of other daughters and other
mothers in Israel. What can you conceive of grander than a calling like
that? Then, as I said, she has been at work in the temple. What for?
Administering ordinances that God has revealed are essential to the
salvation of the living and their preparation for greater exaltation
and glory here and hereafter, and also for the redemption of the dead.
What can you think of greater than this? To my mind, there isn't
anything so great and so glorious in this world as to labor for the
salvation of the living and for the redemption of the dead. We read of
the Savior going to preach the gospel to the spirits in prison, when
his body lay in the tomb. That was a part of the great mission he had
to perform. He was sent not only {581} to preach the gospel to those
dwelling in mortality, but he was foreordained and anointed of God to
open the doors of the prison house to those in bondage and to proclaim
his gospel to them.
I have always believed, and still do believe with all my soul, that
such men as Peter and James and the twelve disciples chosen by the
Savior in his time, have been engaged all the centuries that have
passed since their martyrdom for the testimony of Jesus Christ, in
proclaiming liberty to the captives in the spirit world and in opening
their prison doors. I do not believe that they could be employed in
any greater work. Their special calling and anointing of the Lord
himself was to save the world, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison doors to those who were bound in chains
of darkness, superstition, and ignorance. I believe that the disciples
who have passed away in this dispensation--Joseph, the Prophet, and
his brother Hyrum, and Brigham, and Heber, and Willard, and Daniel and
John, and Wilford and all the rest of the prophets who have lived in
this dispensation, and who have been intimately associated with the
work of redemption and the other ordinances of the gospel of the Son of
God in this world, are preaching that same gospel that they lived and
preached here, to those who are in darkness in the spirit world and who
had not the knowledge before they went. The gospel must be preached to
them. We are not perfect without them--they cannot be perfect without
us.
Now, among all these millions of spirits that have lived on the
earth and have passed away, from generation to generation, since the
beginning of the world, without the knowledge of the gospel--among
them you may count that at least one-half are women. Who is going to
preach the gospel to the women? Who is going to carry the testimony of
Jesus Christ to the hearts of the women who have passed away without a
knowledge of the gospel? Well, {582} to my mind, it is a simple thing.
These good sisters who have been set apart, ordained to the work,
called to it, authorized by the authority of the holy priesthood to
minister for their sex, in the House of God for the living and for the
dead, will be fully authorized and empowered to preach the gospel and
minister to the women while the elders and prophets are preaching it
to the men. The things we experience here are typical of the things of
God and the life beyond us. There is a great similarity between God's
purposes as manifested here and his purposes as carried out in his
presence and kingdom. Those who are authorized to preach the gospel
here and are appointed here to do that work will not be idle after
they have passed away, but will continue to exercise the rights that
they obtained here under the priesthood of the Son of God to minister
for the salvation of those who have died without a knowledge of the
truth. Some of you will understand when I tell you that some of these
good women who have passed beyond have actually been anointed queens
and priestesses unto God and unto their husbands, to continue their
work and to be the mothers of spirits in the world to come. The world
does not understand this--they cannot receive it--they do not know
what it means, and it is sometimes hard for those who ought to be
thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the gospel--even for some of us,
to comprehend, but it is true.
Now, may the Lord bless Brother Freeze. As Sister Martha Tingey has
said, Sister Freeze could never have done the work she has done if it
had not been for his seconding her in her efforts. He consented to her
partially neglecting her home duties in order to labor in a broader
field for the salvation of others. But just here let me my a word to
you mothers. Oh, mothers, salvation, mercy, life ever-lasting begin
at home. "What profiteth it a man, though he gain the whole world and
lose his own soul?" What would it profit me, though I should go out
into the world and {583} win strangers to the fold of God and lose my
own children? Oh! God, let me not lose my own. I can not afford to lose
mine, whom God has given to me and whom I am responsible for before
the Lord, and who are dependent upon me for guidance, for instruction,
for proper influence. Father, do not permit me to lose interest in my
own, in trying to save others. Charity begins at home. Life everlasting
should begin at home. I should feel very badly to be made to realize,
by and by, that through my neglect of home, while trying to save
others, I have lost my own. I do not want that. The Lord help me to
save my own, so far as one can help another. I realize I cannot save
anybody, but I can teach them how to be saved. I can set an example
before my children how they can be saved, and it is my duty to do that
first. I owe it more to them than to anybody else in the world. Then,
when I have accomplished the work I should do in my own home circle,
let me extend my power for good abroad just as far as I can.
My brethren and sisters, I know as I know I live that Joseph Smith was
and is and ever will be the instrument chosen of God the eternal Father
to lay the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and to establish the kingdom of God on earth, never more to
be thrown down. I bear testimony to you. I know as I know I live that
every doctrine that he taught is calculated to build up, to ennoble, to
enlarge the soul, to establish peace and righteousness in the hearts of
the children of men, and lead them up to God, and not away from him.
I know it as I know I live. It is true, and I thank God that, like my
dear sister here, whose earthly remains only now are with us, he has
made me to believe it and to accept of it without recourse. I believe
it with all my heart, just as I believe I live, and as I believe my
own mother and father. Let us all strive for this belief, and if we
will, we shall have joy and satisfaction, and we shall enter into God's
rest, right here, {584} in this world. For he that entereth in God's
rest here will never more be disturbed by the hallucinations of sin and
wickedness, and the enemies of truth will have no power over him.
That God will help us to reach that point is my prayer, and may the
blessings of the Lord attend the family of Sister and Brother Freeze
and their children, that not one of them will ever take a course that
will bring sorrow to their beloved and sainted mother. That has been
one of the stimulants of my life, one of the things that has made me
strive to do good. I would not grieve my blessed mother, if I knew
it, for anything in the world. There is nothing between me and the
heavens that would compensate for doing something that would grieve
or hurt my mother. Why? Because she loved me, she would have died for
me over and over again, if such were possible, only to have saved me.
Why should I grieve, why should I disappoint her? Why should I take a
course contrary to her own life and her life's teachings to me, for she
taught me honor, and virtue, and truth, and integrity to the kingdom of
God, and she taught me not only by precept but by example. I would not
grieve her for the world. Boys and girls, do not do anything to grieve
your mother. You know she was a Latter-day Saint, you know she was true
to her convictions. Be as true as she was, and, as the Lord lives,
you will be exalted with your mother, and will have a fulness of joy,
which, may God grant, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.--_Young
Woman's Journal,_ Vol. 23, 1911, pp. 128-132.
THE RESURRECTION. Now I am going to take the liberty of reading a
little scripture to you, and then, as I go along, express my belief
and conviction in relation to what we believe as Latter-day Saints
with reference to the resurrection from the dead. I shall not take the
pains or time to go into the subject in detail, for there are a great
many scriptures that can be brought to bear upon the subject, {585}
scattered through the New Testament, in the declaration of the Son
of God; but I will content myself by reading the description of his
resurrection. We all know that he was lifted upon the cross; that he
was pierced in the side, and that his life blood flowed from the body;
and that he groaned upon the cross and gave up the spirit; that his
body was taken from the cross, embalmed and wrapped in clean linen and
laid in a new sepulchre wherein the body of no man had ever been laid.
And then, remembering the remark that he was to lay down his body and
take it up again, the claim that he made that that temple was to be
destroyed but that it would be raised up the third day, that he was
going to lay down his life and take it up again, the chief priests went
to the chief authorities and demanded that a great stone be placed at
the mouth of the sepulchre and that a seal be placed upon it, and that
also a guard should be placed there, lest his disciples should come at
night and take away the body and impose upon the public the claim that
he had risen from the dead. And so a cordon of soldiers were placed
to guard the tomb, and a great stone was placed at the mouth of the
sepulchre, and a seal was placed upon it according to the history given
in the scriptures of it, so that it would be absolutely impossible
for the disciples of Christ to perpetrate a deception upon the world
by clandestinely stealing and taking away the body of Christ and then
proclaiming to the world that his body had been raised from the dead.
Sometimes even the enemies of the truth and those who are seeking to
destroy it become the unwitting means of verifying truth and of putting
it beyond possibility of a doubt; for if they had not taken this
precaution themselves, and if their guard had not been placed at the
tomb to guard the sepulchre to see that no fraud could be perpetrated,
then they could easily have gone out to the world and said, "Why, his
disciples came and took the body away; they slipped in and stole it at
night." But they closed their own mouths {586} in a vain attempt to
destroy the effects of his resurrection from the dead upon the minds of
the people and upon the history of the world.
Thomas, one of the Twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus
came, after his resurrection. "The other disciples therefore said unto
him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see
in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print
of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."
(John 20:25.)
We have a great many Didymuses in our day and generation, but we hope
that there are none of them here, but the other class Jesus named.
"And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with
them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst,
and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy
finger, and behold my bands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it
into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered
and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas,
because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that
have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:26-29)
The disciple who wrote this, the beloved disciple, the personal witness
himself, he who ran to the sepulchre and who outran Peter and came to
it first, and looked into it, and who afterwards went into it after
Peter, he who has written these words, says further: "And many other
signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not
written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have
life through his name." (John 20:30, 31)
Now what I want to call to your minds is, emphatically, the undeniable
and unequivocal and direct description of {587} the body, the
resurrected body of the Lord Jesus Christ, given in this narrative of
his resurrection and appearance to his disciples, which dissipates all
imagination or thought that the death of the body and the departure
of the spirit from the body is the resurrection of the dead. Does it
not? Christ is the Son of God, and his disciples bear faithful record
of the truth as they witnessed it--as they declare they did witness
it; for they declare that they saw it with their eyes, heard it with
their ears, were pricked in their hearts, and they examined the wounds
with their own hands, to see and feel that he was indeed the same
individual, the same person, the same body that was crucified, bearing
the same marks that were inflicted upon the body while it was extended
upon the cross--all this must go to show to you that the resurrection
of Christ was the resurrection of himself, and not his spirit. Before
I proceed further, there is another scripture that I will read to you,
from the 24th chapter of Luke:
"And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called
Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three-score furlongs. And they
talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to
pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself
drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they
should not know him." (Luke 24:13-16)
And he journeyed and talked with them on the way, and unfolded the
scriptures unto them, but they did not know that it was he. They did
not personally know that it was Christ resurrected.
"And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and
blessed it, and brake, and gave to them."
Now this is not the testimony of John. This is the testimony of Luke,
another of the disciples of Christ.
"And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out
of their sight. And they said one to another, {588} Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened
to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour, and returned
to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that
were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared
to Simon. And they told what things were done in the way, and how he
was known of them in breaking of bread. And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto
you. But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they
had seen a spirit. And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why
do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that
it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit bath not flesh and
bones as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them
his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and
wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a
piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat
before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake
unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the
psalms, concerning me." (Luke 24:30-44)
Now, shall we accept the scriptural definition of the resurrection of
the body? Shall we accept Christ's manifestation in his own person
resurrected from the dead? Or shall we take the Rev. Mr. Phillip's
opinion of it, that the death of the body and the separation of the
spirit from it is the resurrection of the dead? Which do you choose?
Joseph the Prophet declared in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants (Sec.
130:22) that the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as
man's, and the Son of God has a body of flesh and bones as he himself
has declared that he has, and is not a mere spirit, but is a risen
being, a resurrected {589} soul. And the Holy Ghost is a personage
of spirit, but not a personage of bones and flesh, as are the Father
and the Son. Consequently, the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, may be
conferred upon men, and he may dwell with them for a while, or he may
continue to dwell with them in accordance with their worthiness, and he
may depart from them at his will.
Now I am going to read a little from the Book of Mormon, a book of
scripture that was translated by the gift and power of God, for
the voice of God declared to the three witnesses that it had been
translated by the gift and power of God and that it was true. The
three witnesses declared and testified to its truth, and eight other
witnesses, besides the Prophet Joseph, declared that they beheld the
plates and handled them, and saw the engravings on them, and that
they do know that Joseph Smith did have the plates from which the
Book of Mormon was translated. And it is one of the greatest puzzles
to scientists that they are discovering in the path of ancient
civilization of this continent evidences and proofs of the divinity
of the Book of Mormon, that they cannot dispute or gainsay. And their
wonder is, how Joseph Smith, a man unlearned in history, in theology,
in science, a man without book learning, practically, could ever so
closely hit upon facts that are now being discovered by explorers and
scientists throughout this historical country, that the Book of Mormon
covers, and they say it is perplexing to them. It is astonishing to
them that three men could testify, as the three witnesses to the Book
of Mormon have testified, and that the eight other witnesses could
testify as they have done, and yet not one of them ever repudiate
his testimony. They cannot understand and they cannot account for it
upon any scientific principle. If it was a fraud, and these men were
deceived or led into a trap, and did it by sophistry or with a purpose
of deceiving the world, surely some one or more of them {590} would
have risen to the truth before they died and have divulged the fraud.
But no, not one of them did. They apostatized from Joseph, but they did
not deny the divinity of the Book of Mormon. They remained faithful
and true to their testimony to that. True, they declared that Joseph
Smith had gone astray, that the Church had gone astray, just like all
other apostates have declared. You never saw apostates anywhere who
would admit that they were wrong; but they always claim that they are
right, and the Church is wrong. So it was with Oliver Cowdery until he
repented and returned to the Church.
So it was with David Whitmer until the day of his death. He believed
that Joseph had been led astray, first, into receiving the Melchizedek
Priesthood as well as the Aaronic priesthood. That he received the
Aaronic priesthood and was ordained under the band of John the Baptist
he admitted and believed, but he denied any ordination under the
hands of Peter, James, and John to the Melchizedek priesthood, and
consequently he went to work and organized a church and a presidency
after the order of the Aaronic priesthood. But never, up to the time
of his death, did he deny his testimony as one of the three witnesses,
and in his dying words he declared that his testimony contained in this
book is true.
So did Oliver Cowdery. He came back into the Church after saying many
bad things and after wandering about for a while, and confessed his
follies and his wrong, and claimed that if he could only be permitted
to come back a lay member in the Church it would be all that he could
ask, or would ask for. He felt that he was unworthy of anything better
or greater, and he was permitted to come back and be baptized.
Martin Harris also came back and was baptized into the Church, and died
with his testimony on his lips, for not one of them ever repudiated his
testimony.
{591} Furthermore, not one of the eight witnesses ever did either.
Neither did the Prophet Joseph. So, here you have a record, the
witnesses of which remain unimpeached and whose integrity no power
beneath the kingdom of God can impeach, for they told the truth, and
they abode in the truth which they told until they died in the flesh.
Now, one of the ancient disciples or prophets who lived upon this
continent, who was inspired of God and who delivered this message
to the world afterwards that was engraven upon plates of gold, and
preserved and handed down and revealed in this dispensation of the
world, has something precious to say upon this subject. This is not
from Jerusalem. This is not a message that was delivered to the
disciples of Christ in Jerusalem; but this is a message that was
delivered by a prophet who lived upon this continent;--and here are his
words:
"And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; [for this was
before the coming of Christ to redeem his people] and he shall take
upon him the transgression of those who believe on his name; and these
are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none
else."
Now let me say here: "He shall come into the world, and he shall take
upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name."
And those who believe will do the works that he commands. No man
that will believe in truth will ever refuse to do what is required.
And these are they that believe, that shall have eternal life, and
salvation cometh to none else.
"Therefore, the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption
made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the
day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God,
and be judged according to their works. Now, there is a death which
is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the
bands {592} of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from
this temporal death; the spirit and the body shall be reunited again
in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its
proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought
to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright
recollection of all our guilt. Now this restoration shall come to all,
both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the
wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of
their heads be lost; but all things shall be restored to its perfect
frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be
arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the
Holy Spirit, which is one eternal God, to be judged according to their
works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Now, behold, I
have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also
concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. [Not the resurrection
of the spirit, but the resurrection of the mortal body.] I say unto
you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body; that is from
death; even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more;
their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus
the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see
corruption." (Alma 11:40-45)
Now that is the doctrine of the Latter-day Saints. That is the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and, as he is the first fruits of the
resurrection from the dead, as he was raised up, so will be raise up
all the children of his Father upon whom the curse of Adam came. For as
by one man came temporal death upon all men, so by the righteousness of
Christ all shall come to life, through the resurrection from the dead
upon all men; whether they be good or whether they be evil, whether
they be black or white, bond or free, learned or unlearned, or whether
they be young or old, it matters not. The death that came by the fall
of our first parents is {593} eradicated by the resurrection of the Son
of God, and you and I cannot help it.--_Journal of Discourses,_ October
26, 1867.
WORK FOR THE DEAD. The work for our dead, which the Prophet Joseph laid
upon us with more than ordinary injunction, instructing us that we
should look after those of our kinfolk and our ancestors who have died
without the knowledge of the gospel, should not be neglected. We should
avail ourselves of those sacred and potent ordinances of the gospel
which have been revealed as essential to the happiness, salvation and
redemption of those who have lived in this world when they could not
learn the gospel and have died without the knowledge of it, and are now
waiting for us, their children, who are living in an age when these
ordinances can be performed, to do the work necessary for their release
from the prison-house. Through our efforts in their behalf their chains
of bondage will fall from them, and the darkness surrounding them
will clear away, that light may shine upon them and they shall hear
in the spirit world of the work that has been done for them by their
children here, and will rejoice with you in your performance of these
duties.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1916, p. 6.