Decrees of God Fixed in the Spiritual as in the Natural Universe—Ordinances Essential—The Living may be Baptized for the Dead—The Principle of Proxy—The Place for the Administration of Vicarious Ordinances—Revelation of Elijah, the Prophet—Connection with the Spirit World—True Order of Communication—Blessed Results of Work Done for the Dead.
The divine fiat has gone forth that "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This is a fixed law. The same certainty that is exhibited in the government of the material universe obtains in the spiritual domain, and is as much a necessity in one as in the other. As man cannot change the revolutions of the planets nor alter the principles that underlie all motion and regulate all matter, so he cannot turn aside the decrees of Jehovah, nor modify, in the least degree, any rule or commandment pertaining to the everlasting gospel. Neither will He who reigns in the unseen world, as well as in the sphere perceived by the senses, swerve from His established laws in the former any more than in the latter.
Baptism, or the birth of water in the form and mode already described, is an essential ordinance. There are others equally necessary in their time and place in the divine plan of human redemption. They must be rightly received and administered, or the blessings that spring from them, as their natural fruit, cannot be enjoyed. As aliens cannot be admitted to the rights and privileges of citizenship in an earthly government, without complying with the naturalization laws in such case made and provided, so aliens from the heavenly kingdom cannot be received into its dominion, nor be adopted into the family of the Eternal King, without obeying the laws set as the conditions of admission.
These laws and ordinances will be made known to the inhabitants of this planet, either in the flesh or in the disembodied condition. They will have the opportunity of receiving or rejecting them on the agency given to man, that a just judgment may be rendered in the great day of accounts. But ordinances, such as baptism, the laying on of hands for confirmation, ordination, marriage, etc., belong to the corporeal sphere. They are set for the state of probation.
Water is an earthly element, or compound of elements, and the blessings ordained to flow from the death, burial and new birth, typified by authorized baptism therein, cannot be secured in any other way. Millions of earth's sons and daughters have passed out of the body without obeying the law of baptism. Many of them will gladly accept the word and law of the Lord when it is proclaimed to them in the spirit world. But they cannot there attend to ordinances that belong to the sphere which they have left. Can nothing be done in their case? Must they forever be shut out of the kingdom of heaven? Both justice and mercy join in answering "yes" to the first and "no" to the last question. What, then, is the way of their deliverance?
The living may be baptized for the dead. Other essential ordinances may be attended to vicariously. This glorious truth, hid from human knowledge for centuries, has been made known in this greatest of all divine dispensations. It is indeed light in the midst of darkness. It shines in the depths of the shrouded past, illuminates the mystic future, and reveals the infinite love of God and His tender mercy over all His works. It explains the meaning of scripture texts long considered difficult and obscure. It links by loving ties the living with their dead. It shows why the fathers "without us cannot be made perfect." It opens the way of redemption for the hosts of departed heathens. It brings together in one all who are in Christ, even though parted by the vail that is drawn between the physical and spiritual spheres. It gives men and women the power to become "Saviors on Mount Zion," Jesus being the great Captain in the army of redeemers.
In God's house all things are done in order. There is a right way and a proper place for the administration of ordinances for the dead. The living relatives of those who have departed without an opportunity of obeying the earthly requirements of the plan of salvation, if they have themselves been born of the water and of the spirit, stand in the name and place of the departed and receive the ordinances to be placed to the credit of the dead. Either sex represents its own. Men are not baptized for women, nor women for men. The first-born son in each family has rights of priority connected with this vicarious work if he has proven himself worthy. The ordinances must be administered by those having authority, being set apart for the work, and must be duly witnessed and properly recorded. The books on earth must tally with the records in heaven.
The place for these administrations is in a temple built to the Most High God, after the pattern revealed. The baptismal font, like the brazen sea in the temple of Solomon, is placed in the basement, under the place where the living are wont to assemble, typifying the place for the dead, all things spiritual having their correspondence with things natural. That which is done on earth, according to the divine instructions, is acknowledged in heaven, and is of force and effect in the world to come. Herein is manifested the power of the Holy Priesthood, loosing or binding on earth, and it is loosed or bound in heaven, all according to the commandments and revelation of the Most High through Jesus the anointed.
This principle of proxy runs like a thread of gold throughout the entire robe of salvation. Christ is the proxy of blood for the whole race of sinners. The Spotless One died in the place of the impure. He is the offering for the deadly sin of Adam. He is the propitiation for the evil deeds of a world. The lamb on the smoking altar, the scapegoat turned into the wilderness, the sprinkling of atonement, all the sacrifices of the old covenant, as well as the infinite one of the new, are based on the doctrine of vicarious action and the divine acceptance of authorized substitutes.
The manifestation of this truth in the last dispensation came from the Prophet Elijah in the temple built to the Almighty by the Latter-day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio. On the third of April, 1836, he who was caught up to heaven without death, appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and committed the keys of the power to "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," that the earth might be saved from a curse. The living are thus authorized, under prescribed conditions, to act for the dead, and the fathers in the spirit world look to the children in the flesh to perform for them the works which they were unable to attend to while in the body.
Here is the peculiar blessing upon the heads of the Saints in the grand, culminating and completing dispensation of the fullness of times. To labor for the redemption of their progenitors until every lost link in the line of their ancestry, back to the Abrahamic stock from which they originally sprang, shall be taken up and welded into the perfect family chain. Herein is seen one of the blessings attending the perpetuation of a man's name in the earth; to die leaving no seed being considered in olden times, among the people of God, one of the greatest of calamities. Indeed the glory and dominion, and joy and rapture of the future state will be found to have intimate relation to the family condition, and the promise to Abraham of a numerous posterity was not merely of earthly portent, but reached into the exaltation and beatitudes of eternal existence.
This glorious doctrine bears the key to the sphere within the vail. It regulates the communion of the living with the dead. It saves those who receive it from improper and deceptive spirit communications. Tidings to the living from their friends who have passed away do not come in disorder and confusion, nor by the will of men or women, whether corrupt or pure. Order is maintained in all the works and ways of God. Knowledge that is needful concerning the spiritual sphere will come through an appointed channel and in the appointed place. The temple where the ordinances can be administered for the dead, is the place to hear from the dead. The Priesthood in the flesh, when it is necessary, will receive communications from the Priesthood behind the vail. Most holy conversations on all things pertaining to the redemption of the race, belong in the places prepared in the temples.
The Saints in the flesh are required to use all due diligence in obtaining their genealogies by the means at command, and a spirit has moved upon men in the world to collect and perfect and publish the records of their ancestors, by which, thousands upon thousands of acceptable names have been obtained, and the work of vicarious baptism already done is immense. But that which remains to be accomplished is so vast, that no mind, unless illuminated by the light of God, can see how it can ever be performed and perfected. Yet it will be done, and blessed are they who aid in the heavenly labor! With what joy will they be greeted by the spirits of their progenitors when they meet them in Paradise! What honor will crown their brows in the day of reward and compensation! They will stand among the saviors, and shine among their kindred who are redeemed, like glorious suns in the heavenly constellations!
This divine plan of vicarious action, is one of the broadest, brightest and loveliest leaves in the blessed tree of life. It bears a healing balm for millions upon millions of earth's sons and daughters who have passed away without hearing the only name whereby man can be saved, or who, having heard, were never taught the way of salvation as ordained through Jesus Christ. It is redolent of the love and mercy of the Eternal Father, and bears the sweet perfume of charity and gratitude of the children reaching out after the fathers, of the fathers blest in the works of the children, and of kindred affection enlarged, cemented and perpetuated for ever and ever. It parts the vail between the physical and the spiritual, it softens the heart, and brings the living and the dead nearer to God, and it sanctifies the soul to obedience, worship and devotion, filling it with reverence and adoration of Him who has devised this broad and universal plan for the redemption of the human race.
Universality of Death—Results of the Transgression of Law—Dissolution of the Body not the End of Existence—What is Resurrection?—The Spiritual Body of Jesus—All to be Raised from the Dead—The Order of the Resurrection—Necessity of an Immortal Body—Ignorance of the Laws of Nature—Matter Indestructible—Possibilities of Creative Energy—Life and Immortality Brought to Light.
Death is the common heritage. It is a legacy to all the children, left by our first progenitor. It is the result of transgression, the penalty of violated law. The immortal pair who dwelt in Eden fell into mortality through sin. Immortality is the power of continued existence. But "all things are governed by law." Sin is law-breaking. To live for ever requires perpetual obedience to the laws of everlasting life. "That which is governed by law is preserved by law." By the same rule reversed, the reverse obtains. Therefore, that which is immortal and obeys not the laws of immortality, will become mortal. If obedience insures preservation, disobedience involves destruction. Law reigns in the highest as well as in the lower spheres of being. Eternal life involves eternal compliance with the laws of existence.
All seeds produce their own kind. Mortal beings beget mortality. When the parents of our race became mortal through breaking the law of their immortal condition, they brought death to their offspring as well as to themselves. "In Adam all die." The curse of death smites the whole family. "It is appointed unto man once to die." No ingenuity he can exercise or precautions he can adopt will avert the impending doom. The decree has been proclaimed, "Thou shalt surely die," and it is irrevocable. The taint that came from the tree of death whose fruit was forbidden, descends to all generations, and every variety of form and feature, and color and stature, and tendency and peculiarity, have the one common characteristic, the certainty of death.
But is the dissolution of the body the end of existence? Not at all. We have seen that the part of man that comes from heaven lives on when that which comes from the earth returns to the earth. Yet this is not sufficient. The query arises, Shall this body, made mortal through transgression, remain for ever under the penalty of the broken law, or are there some means of expiation for the sin, and restoration from the doom, its consequence? Are all the associations formed in the flesh and pertaining to this mortal state, to perish with the decayed body and be scattered like the dust to which it is resolved? Are the fond relations of husband and wife, and parent and child to be dissolved forever? Is this exquisitely, "fearfully and wonderfully" formed mechanism, with the experiences of its temporal existence, to be obliterated and lose its identity in the material universe?
The answer comes down from the remotest ages, like sweet and sacred music whose tones swell and increase as the chorus is joined by the voices of the prophets and saints of each succeeding dispensation, until the grand harmony thrills every respondent soul. The burden of the song is in the words of the poetic Isaiah: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." And the ringing tones of Job the ancient are heard as a solo whose melody reaches unto heaven: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 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!"
The faith of all people who have communed with God or have been inspired by the Holy Ghost, has been that they should be resurrected from the dead. They not only had the assurance of spirit life beyond the grave, but of the revivification of the material body. The signification of the word "resurrect" is "to stand up again." That which was laid down was to be raised up. The release of the immortal spirit from the mortal body would not answer to this. It was this mortal that was to put on immortality, this corruptible that was to put on incorruption.
To make this matter certain, Jesus, who expiated the primal sin, after being offered on the cross as the great sacrifice, gave up the ghost. His lifeless body was taken down, embalmed and buried in a new tomb hewed out of the rock. It was guarded by Roman soldiers. On the third day from the interment that body came forth alive from the grave. The same Jesus who was crucified appeared again among His disciples, and proved that the same body interred was brought forth again, by exhibiting the wounds made by the nails and the spear, by permitting them to touch Him, by eating and conversing with them, and by repeated visits.
This was not a mere manifestation of the immortality of the soul, but a demonstration of the resurrection of the body. Yet that body was transformed. The corruptible blood was purged from the veins, and incorruptible spiritual fluid occupied its place. It was buried a natural body, it was resurrected a spiritual body. Here then, was a pattern of that which is to come. This was the "first fruits of them that slept," a glorious sample of the great harvest of the summer of redemption.
Now the sacrifice of the Savior had as one of its chief objects the restoration of mankind to the condition lost by the fall. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Death came to the race through one man's sin; life comes to the race through one man's atonement for that sin. The remedy is as broad as the disease. The plan is perfect. This is why Christ is called "The resurrection and the life." By virtue of His triumph over sin and His voluntary submission to death, which had no valid claim upon Him, being sinless, He obtained the keys of redemption for all the sleeping dust of the Adamic family. So He made no idle boast or mystic figure of speech when he declared, "The hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
The raising of the dead, though universal, is not simultaneous. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, He will first redeem those that are in Him. Having put on Christ and received of His spirit, they will come forth at His call to meet Him. They who have part in the first resurrection are those who have died in the Lord and are blessed and holy. Their bodies will be fashioned like unto His glorious body. Having been planted in the likeness of His death they will be also in the likeness of His resurrection. That is, they will be quickened by the celestial glory and be placed in a condition to receive a fullness thereof, and inherit all things as joint heirs with Christ.
The wicked dead remain unquickened for a thousand years. They reap the fruits of their evil seeds sown in lives of transgression. They drink the dregs of a bitter cup. Some are beaten with many stripes, others with but a few. Justice metes out to them their dues. And when they come forth to stand up in their bodies, they will not be quickened by the celestial glory, but by that for which they are fitted by their respective conditions consequent upon their earthly acts, and they will occupy positions accordingly. But all will be redeemed in due season from the grave and stand the scrutiny of the All-Seeing Eye and the judgment of unswerving Justice, which will determine their eternal future.
In this age of general doubt, when human reason is exalted above divine testimony, and the voice of faith is drowned by the clamors of pretended science, the possibility and use of a resuscitation of the body are scouted and denied. But "all things are possible to them that believe," and the divinely illuminated mind can perceive not only the use, but the necessity of the resurrection.
The being that was placed in Eden and endowed with power to wield dominion over all created things, was a living soul, a sentient spirit in an immortal body, a man fashioned in the image of God. He fell from that condition and paid the penalty of death. Christ's atonement, as we have seen restores him to his original condition. But this he cannot have without his body again made immortal. By the workings of the grand scheme of human exaltation, he and his posterity, with the benefits of the lessons of experience, will be restored to the immortality and pleasures of the primeval paradise, and placed on the path of eternal progress.
And, mark this, a body framed out of the grosser elements is essential to the perfect happiness and power of the refined spiritual organism which possesses it as a tabernacle. The principle of affinities and of the attraction and communion of similars proclaim this truth. Spirit ministers to spirit. Things of a like nature cohere. The higher or spiritual element reaches upward to the loftiest things; the lower or fleshy element reaches downward, and the twain, inseparably combined and governed by the laws of right and truth, draw pleasure and delight from the heights and depth of the boundless universe and the ever-extending spheres of eternal intelligence. A disembodied spirit is imperfect, and requires clothing with its denser parts. Without them, its affinities would lie in but one direction, and its joy and progress would be limited.
The family condition too is formed in the embodied state. Death separates the husband and wife, the parents and children. The resurrection, in its highest conditions, reunites them and restores all that was lost in the grave. Who can picture the bliss, the glory, the power, the might, the dominion and majesty that shall grow out of the redemption from the dead of the righteous man and his household, dwelling in perfect harmony and peace with all the powers of their being, spiritual and physical, purified, quickened, intensified and enlarged to a fullness, with all eternity before them for the exercise thereof in accordance with the designs of the Great Greater? It is beyond the skill of man to depict it, and no mortal mind can comprehend it without special divine illumination.
And who shall define the impossible, or draw the bounds of the powers of the Creator? The secret of ordinary life is hidden from the scrutiny of the most profound scientist. He knows not the mystery of the vital principle that quickens even the lowest form of animated nature. His own powers of mind and motion are incomprehensible to him. Their origin and cause are beyond his ken, and he cannot solve the problem any better than the ignorant Hottentot or the untutored Indian. The reproduction of plants from their seeds, the evolving of life out of the midst of their death, is a wonder unexplained. And shall we say that it is impossible for the Power that regulates the universe to reanimate a defunct body?
It must be remembered that nothing in nature is annihilated. No particle of matter is destroyed by any process. What is called death is but a change of form. All matter is not visible to the human eye. A body may exist, but so transformed as to be imperceptible to the natural vision. The forces that regulate the universe are occult, and though some of the laws that govern them are known, there are others that have not been discovered, and it is the height of presumption for those who have obtained a smattering of information concerning these things—and who has obtained more?—to declare that impossible which they know nothing of, or to limit the power of that creative or quickening energy, whose nature, capabilities and qualities they cannot comprehend in the smallest degree.
If one dead body has been raised to life, unnumbered millions may also be revived. That one we have in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and He is the forerunner of all the race. Let the sons and daughters of men rejoice and give thanks to Him who has wrought out this great redemption. Death is conquered. The grave has no terrors. Life and immortality are brought to light. Eternity with all its prospects and capabilities is open to the view. And through the power of the resurrection vested in Christ Jesus, the whole globe shall deliver up its dead, and the great progenitor of our race, Adam, the "Ancient of Days," shall stand forth at the head of his posterity all quickened and animated by the spirit of life; and while Jesus the Son is hailed as the mighty Redeemer, God the Eternal Father shall be honored and worshiped for ever as the Author of our being, from whom springs all life, light, power and glory throughout the vast domains of universal space!
Man or Woman Alone Imperfect—Marriage Ordained of God—Sanctity of Proper Sexual Relations—Matrimony a Part of Religion—The First Pair Immortal—Marriage for Eternity—Keys of Celestial Marriage—Condition of Those who Marry Only for Time—Man the Head of the Woman—Plurality of Wires—Continuation of the Righteous Forever—Eternal Family Organizations—Everlasting Increase and Dominion.
No man or woman, separate and single, can attain the fullness of celestial glory. Perfection of being, happiness, exaltation or dominion, is unattainable by either sex alone. The nature, desires, capabilities and manifest design of both male and female humanity proclaim this, and the voice of Deity has endorsed and sanctified the utterance of nature. Woman was made for man. Marriage is ordained of God. In its correct form it is under the divine direction. The Father of the race has the right to a voice in the sexual unions of His children. Those relations are fraught with so much consequence, relating to time and eternity, that the Supreme Ruler should regulate them for the benefit of the parties, the welfare of society and the good of posterity in this world, as well as for eternal results in the life to come.
The male and female elements of humanity seek union, of their own volition. The natural attraction that prompts this is right and proper. But if there were no rules and restrictions for the government of these tendencies and the actions resultant, confusion would ensue, and the effects would be sorrow, ruin and destruction. Matrimony therefore becomes a part of religion. It is a divine institution, and hence should be divinely directed. The first marriage on record was solemnized by Deity. It was God who said, "It is not good that the man should be alone." It was God who brought Eve and gave her to Adam. It was God who commanded the twain made one flesh to "increase and multiply."
Marriage, properly contracted, is therefore holy and pure, and its relations, unabused, are sacred and chaste. The notion that celibacy is purer than matrimony, that either man or woman is holier in the sight of heaven because of nonintercourse with the other sex, is a gross error, unwarranted by reason or revelation. There is no attribute of the mind or function of the body that is in itself, or in its legitimate exercise, impure or degrading. It is only the wrong use of any of our powers that is sinful.
The first marriage recorded in scripture was the union of immortals. The curse of death had not been pronounced when the ceremony was solemnized. There was no sin then, and therefore there was no death. The man and woman became ONE as eternal beings, and dominion was given to them over all earthly things, together. Death and the rule of man over the woman came as the consequences of transgression. The penalty was paid, the redemption was wrought out, and through the atonement those two persons are restored to their pristine condition.
In the resurrection, then, Adam and Eve come together as at the first in the garden, and there is no more separation for them. They are rejoined, not as ghostly beings without the feelings and powers of tangible personality, but as the man and the woman made one eternally, with power to increase and multiply and have dominion, with all eternity before them for the exercise of every power with which the Creator endowed them, spiritual, mental and physical, standing at the head of the race, perfected by experience and obedience to eternal law, and ready to act in the harmony with celestial intelligencies, and preside over their own posterity forever.
Here is a sample marriage. It was not for time alone, but for eternity. Death intervened, but only as an incident. The bond that bound them in matrimony was not sundered. The seal set upon them was of heavenly stamp. Its virtue reached within the vail. Its force extended into the world to come. There was no end to it. God had a hand in it and it was His seal and sanction that made it valid and everlasting. All other marriages solemnized on similar principles and under the same authority will be of the same virtue and effect. Ordinances performed by those divinely appointed are as though attended to by Deity in person. "Whoso receiveth you receiveth me," saith the Lord. What they "bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." Herein is the authority of the holy Priesthood, and herein is the sealing power for the Saints of God, by which they may enter into the holy order of celestial marriage that lasts while eternity endures. The KEYS of this power are only held by one man at a time on the earth, being vested in the president of the whole Church of God in the flesh. But while he holds the keys, others may officiate therein under his direction and authority.
Unions formed by men and women, of their own arrangement without any divine sanction or divine ceremony, are only temporary in their nature. They end when the parties or either of them die. God does not acknowledge that which He has not appointed. Neither the vows of the man and woman, nor the ceremony performed by a person unauthorized by the Almighty are recognized in heaven, but only pertain to earth and time. The claim of parents thus united, over their offspring, is but of the earth, earthy, and does not extend into the spheres beyond. Death dissolves both these marital and parental ties, and each family particle becomes disintegrated.
No power but that of Deity can bring them again together, and as God proceeds by law, and the law fixed for these relations have not been complied with, the separation continues while endless ages roll. "In the resurrectiontheyneither marry, nor are given in marriage," but, if in a saved condition, are as the angels, and they are ministering spirits or servants unto those who obtain the crown of eternal lives, "a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory," than that which rests upon any of the angels. Men and women may besavedin a separate and single state, but they cannot beexaltedinto the fullness of celestial glory without union in celestial marriage, because that is a state of perfection and comprehends the gift of perpetual increase, in which there are endless dominion and the exercise of all the powers of immortal manhood and womanhood united as one in the everlasting covenant.
In the divine economy, as in nature, the man "is the head of the woman," and it is written that "he is the savior of the body." But "the man is not without the woman" any more than the woman is without the man, in the Lord. Adam was first formed, then Eve. In the resurrection they stand side by side and hold dominion together. Every man who overcomes all things and is thereby entitled to inherit all things, receives power to bring up his wife to join him in the possession and enjoyment thereof.
In the case of a man marrying a wife in the everlasting covenant who dies while he continues in the flesh and marries another by the same divine law, each wife will come forth in her order and enter with him into his glory. Is there any reason why this should not be so? Is not each of these wives entitled to her position in eternity, by virtue of the sealing power which made her part of the man? Why should one enter into the exaltation of the celestial world, and the other be relegated to singleness and servitude? They all become one in the patriarchal order of family government. And if this be the case in heaven, why should not similar conditions so far as possible exist on earth? Is earth holier than heaven? If a man receives from the Lord more wives than one under the sealing ordinances of celestial marriage, where is the moral wrong? They belong to no other man, but are his by mutual consent of all the interested parties, and they live together in the marriage state, one as much as the other.
In this position there are occasions for the exercise of patience, forbearance, charity, self-sacrifice and the exercise of all the virtues to a far greater degree than in any other. In this plural family relation, an experience can be gained that no other condition in life affords, and the parties who so live and keep the law will be, in the very nature of things, prepared for a wider sphere of dominion, and power, and dignity, and might in the eternal world, than those who have only experienced the monogamic condition. They will, therefore, if they endure unto the end, go forward into the highest degree of exaltation, while their posterity will multiply in an ever-increasing ratio, until worlds will be filled by their generations and they will ascend to the majesty and splendor of the Gods on high.
Herein is our Eternal Father glorified and His dominions extended. By the continuation of the seeds of the righteous forever, the multiplication of His sons and daughters creates the needs for worlds and systems, to be brought forth according to eternal laws, to occupy their position in the universe as dwelling places for spirits, and embodied mortals, and perfected souls, in the various grades on the path of progress towards the perfection of the celestial order; as orbs of light and splendor, or globes of trial, punishment or correction, each in its allotted sphere in the galaxy of suns and stars and planets, and in the vast and wondrous plans of the Mighty Architect, the Eternal Parent of organized intelligencies.
In obedience to His laws, there is present peace and future joy. They who are in harmony with Him are in affinity with the source of all pleasure and power. His commandments are found in the laws of continuing life, which regulate as permanent things; and they who reject Him and His counsels shut the gate against their own happiness and advancement. But, for them who receive His gospel and conform to all its ordinances and teachings, the door is open to the highest courts in the heavenly mansions, and while they are helped through the ordeals of mortal life, they gain the keys to all the glories of that existence in which the family relation is perfected and perpetuated, and every power of the whole being, refined, intensified and developed, finds exercise, in its true sphere, to the complete and unalloyed bliss of each one in the endless family circle, and the glory of Him who is the Patriarch and Ruler of all.
Christ's Work Continued After His Death—The Perfect Science of Human Redemption—What was Lost in the Fall—What is to be Regained in the Restoration—Justice Tempered with Mercy—Loss Sustained by the Disobedient—Doom of the Sons of Perdition—The Celestial, Terrestrial and Telestial Glories—Redemption and Glorification of the Earth—Salvation of the Whole Race—The Finished Work of Christ—Universal Dominion of the Father.
The mission of Christ was to save that which was lost. It was not completed when He hung upon the cross. His dying exclamation, "It is finished!" referred to His sufferings for sin, the ordeals of mortality, His labors in the flesh. As we have seen, He continued His work of salvation when out of the body, by preaching to the dead. After His resurrection He met, on several occasions, with His disciples, and instructed them in the plan of redemption and sent them to all nations, that the work He had commenced on earth might be continued. He ministered to other nations, uttered His voice to other sheep which were not of the fold in Palestine, that the lost tribes of Israel and all who could not be reached by His Jewish Apostles might hear the glad tidings of salvation. This, however, not fully revealed in the Bible, is made clear in the Book of Mormon. After His ascension, to fulfill His own promise, He went to prepare a place for His faithful disciples, that when they left the earth they might be able to abide with Him.
But all this was only a small part of the perfect scheme of redemption. That which was lost in Adam is to be regained in Christ. Through the commission of crime, death came into the world. Satan gained dominion. The earth trembled under the curse. Eden bloomed no more upon its face. The tree of life was removed. Thorns and briers and noxious weeds came up in the place of the flowers and fruits of paradise. Deity was hidden from the sight of man. Sorrow and pain and toil and travail became the heritage of mortals. Enmity arose between man and beast. Venom entered the serpent's fangs, and rage the hearts of brute and fowl and aqueous creature. Strife dwelt in the very elements and death brooded over the face of the smitten globe.
What, then, was lost? The immortality of man; the blessed tree of life; communion with Jehovah; the companionship of angels; the purity of paradise; man's dominion over inferior creatures; freedom from satanic influence; exemption from toil and pain; earth's affinity with perfected realms on high.
Until all this has been restored, Christ's work must continue. The earth must be cleansed from its corruptions. The elements must melt with fervent heat, and be purified from evil. Satan and his hosts must be banished and bound. Eden must blossom again as at first. The lion and the lamb must lie down together. The fig tree and the myrtle must flourish where the rank weeds grow. The whole race of Adam must be raised from the dead. The vail between earth and heaven must be removed. The knowledge and glory of God must cover the earth as the waters cover the deep, and the spirit of life and peace and light and joy must be poured out upon all flesh, until the whole creation vibrates with pleasure and responds with praise.
The ushering in of the great millennial day, a glimpse of which has been seen by all the holy prophets since the world began, with the sweet rest of earth and its inhabitants, is not, however, the completion of Christ's glorious work. His kingdom must not only be established from pole to pole and from shore to shore, but His saving power must penetrate to every lost soul of our race in, the regions of the damned.
A just judgment will be meted out to all. They who reject the gospel must suffer the penalty. Those who are found worthy of many stripes must receive their portion. The wicked will be turned into hell, with all the nations that forget God. Each condemned person will pay the uttermost farthing for his sins. Justice, tempered, not warped or thwarted, by mercy, will mete out to all their right deserts, "every man according to His works." The punishment is always existent, therefore it is eternal punishment. But each one who suffers, receives only his just portion thereof. Shall the murderer and the Sabbath-breaker, the adulterer and the thief, the drunkard and the profane, all merit the same doom? Would human courts proclaim such judgment? Shall man have more equity than God? When stern justice has claimed its own and filled its purpose, shall there be no place for sweet mercy?
While there is one soul of this race, willing and able to accept and obey the laws of redemption, no matter where or in what condition it may be found, Christ's work will be incomplete until that being is brought up from death and hell, and placed in a position of progress, upward and onward, in such glory as is possible for its enjoyment and the service of the great God.
The punishment inflicted will be adequate to the wrongs performed. In one sense the sinner will always suffer its effects. When the debt is paid and justice is satisfied; when obedience is learned through the lessons of sad experience; when the grateful and subdued soul comes forth from the everlasting punishment, thoroughly willing to comply with the laws once rejected; there will be an abiding sense of loss. The fullness of celestial glory in the presence and society of God and the Lamb are beyond the reach of that saved but not perfected soul, forever. The power of increase, wherein is dominion and exaltation, and crowns of immeasurable glory, is not for the class of beings who have been thrust down to hell and endured the wrath of God for the period allotted by eternal judgment.
But Jesus, the anointed, with His army of saviors bearing the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, will seek and save that which is lost until everything salvable is redeemed. Only those beings who have learned the law, received of the light of truth, tasted the sweets of the divine spirit, basked in the sunbeams of the heavenly glory, made covenant to serve the King of kings and received power to advance to the pinnacle, of exaltation, and then have turned away from the right, chosen evil rather than good, driven away the power and promptings of the Spirit of light and truth, sought to become a law unto themselves, imbrued their hands in the blood of innocence or, drinking in of the influence of that evil one, consented to and endorsed the slaying of the world's Redeemer, thus sinning against the Holy Ghost and becoming servants of Satan and sons of perdition, will be in their nature and status unredeemable, and therefore will remain "filthy still" and thus be unfit for a kingdom of any degree of glory. Those will go away with the devil and his angels into the outer darkness, beyond the spheres where flows the river of salvation and where blooms the tree of life. For them alone of Adam's race there is no repentance, for them alone is the second death, for them alone is the blackness of darkness forever.
When the work of Christ and His associate kings and priests unto God is finished, the saints of all the ages will be crowned with glory and receive their reward. They will be made rulers over many things. In the order of eternity, they will stand in the heavenly family organization, and all things will be theirs. Of their increase there will be no end. They will hold the key to all heights and depths. They will have power over all the elements, spiritual and corporeal. The incorruptible and fadeless riches will be theirs. They will mingle with the highest. They will gaze upon the face of the Eternal God and dwell in the presence of the sinless Son. Pain and sorrow, and trial and death will henceforth be only known in memory, to form the contrast needful to make their joy complete. Eternity with its boundless opportunities and unutterable bliss and intelligence and majesty will be before them without a barrier in the way, secure for them as to the Almighty Father himself. This is the celestial glory.
Those who were not numbered with the Saints of God in the flesh, but who received the gospel in the spirit; the good and honorable who were led astray by the designing; the class not fitted for the crowning glory of the celestial world nor worthy of the doom of the wicked, will also receive their portion. They will not attain to the gifts of increase and dominion and the fullness of the highest, but will enter into their rest, which shall be glorious. And though they reach not to the Father's fullness, they will receive the visits of the Son and of His associates in the celestial world, and enjoy rich blessings unspeakable in their greatness and perpetuity. They inherit the terrestrial glory.
Those who were cast down to the depths for their sins, who rejected the gospel of Jesus, who persecuted the saints, who reveled in iniquity, who committed all manner of transgressions except the unpardonable crime, will also come forth in the Lord's time, through the blood of the Lamb and the ministry of His disciples and their own repentance and willing acceptance of divine law, and enter into the various degrees of glory and power and progress and light, according to their different capacities and adaptabilities. They cannot go up into the society of the Father nor receive of the presence of the Son, but will have ministrations of messengers from the terrestrial world, and have joy beyond all expectation and the conception of uninspired mortal minds. They will all bow the knee to Christ and serve God the Father, and have an eternity of usefulness and happiness in harmony with the higher powers. They receive the telestial glory.
Thus the inhabitants of earth, with the few exceptions that are beyond the power of redemption, will eventually be saved. And the globe on which they passed their probation, having kept the law of its being, will come into remembrance before its Maker. It will die like its products. But it will be quickened again and resurrected in the celestial glory. It has been born of the water, it will also be born of the Spirit. Purified by fire from all the corruptions that once defiled it, developed into its perfections as one of the family of worlds fitted for the Creator's presence, all its latent light awakened into scintillating action, it will move up into its place among the orbs governed by celestial time, and shining "like a sea of glass mingled with fire," every tint and color of the heavenly bow radiating from its surface, the ransomed of the Lord will dwell upon it; the highest beings of the ancient orbs will visit it; the garden of God will again adorn it; the heavenly government will prevail in every part; Jesus will reign as its King; the river of life will flow out from the regal throne; the tree of life, whose leaves were for the healing of the nations, will flourish upon the banks of the heavenly stream, and its golden fruit will be free for the white-robed throng, that they may eat and live forever. This perfected earth and its saved inhabitants will then be presented to the Eternal Father as the finished work of Christ, and all things will be subject unto the Great Patriarch, Architect, Creator, Ruler, the Almighty, to whom be obedience and reverence and praise in all the countless worlds that shine as jewels in His universal crown!
How shall I sing thy beauty, pow'r and light,O glorious kingdom of the latter days!I see thy loveliness, I feel thy might,But find no utterance to speak thy praise!I search in vain the records of the past,Which paint dead kingdoms in their short-lived pride,They cannot picture thee, whose pow'r shall lastWhile heav'n and truth and Deity abide.And shall the little "powers that be" to-day,Be likened for a moment to thy majesty?As well declare pale vesta's twinkling rayUnfolds the splendor of eternity.In hist'ry only Egypt's greatness lives—Lost are its treasures, all its wisdom hid,Except the scraps the crumbling mummy gives,The sculptured sphynx and tow'ring pyramid.Assyria! Thy sceptre lies in dust.Thy bow is broken and thy pomp has fled.Perished thy fruits of conquest, blood and lust,With all the warriors that Tiglath led!Where are the palaces of Babylon,The "hanging gardens" and the golden tow'rs?With the Chaldeans' starlight wisdom gone,Walls, gates and glory, images and flow'rs!And couldst not thou, Greece, avert thy fate,With oracles and wealth and victory?Couldst not thy world-wide reign perpetuate,With all thy gods and deep philosophy?The soul that moved thee in thy conquering march,That spoke in poesy and art and grace,Is disembodied; and the mouldering archAnd chiseled fragment mark thy burial place.And thou, O Rome! proud mistress of the world!Thine armored legions spread no terror now.They bring no blood-bought spoils of gems impearled,To deck thy bosom and thy haughty brow.Thy Coliseum's vast and vacant walls,Rot as an emblem of thy great decay,And on the ear its mournful echo falls,A dismal knell of thy departed sway!O! all ye living governments and states!Gaze on the relics of far mightier powers!The hand that shattered them, uplifted waitsThe bell that ends your few remaining hours!In the high chambers of the West, I seeAn infant kingdom struggling to the birth.And the prophetic spirit says to me,"In manhood this shall govern all the earth."O Zion! built by Saints of latter days.Bring forth the promised kingdom to the world!Upon the mountain tops "the ensign" raise,And spread its shining folds to all the world!Gathered from ev'ry clime and tongue and race,Under the banner, righteous men shall stand,And the all-conquering Christ shall show His face,And give dominion to that faithful band.Armored in truth and God's authority,Dauntless and terrible, yet full of love,The King shall lead them unto victory,And bring a van-guard from the ranks above.No weapon formed against them shall prevail,No cunning plan shall prove their overthrow;The prince of all earth's kingdoms they assail,And drive his forces to the shades below.The spirit that gives wisdom to the wise,Prom Council, Congress, Parliament, shall flee—Shall rest on those whom all mankind despise,And leave the world to human policy.Left, in a day of storms, each bark of state,Rotten and rudderless, whirled madly onAgainst each other on the sea of fate,With awful crash to depths of death go down.But see the ship no storm can overwhelm,Saving the remnants of the wrecks below!"The Priesthood" 's written on her shining helm,"God's Kingdom" is inscribed upon her bow.God's Kingdom! seen in vision by the seers!God's Kingdom! Clothed in justice truth and light!Theme of the prophet and the bard appears,To save the nations from chaotic night.A perfect government for all the earth.Not a republic nor a monarchy,And yet from both all principles of worthAre blended in this great Theocracy.Wielding almighty power in ev'ry land,The willing people bend to its supreme decrees,And mutual int'rest, like a golden band,Binds in one social compact men of all degrees.Appointed by the great Jehovah's voice,By intellect and virtue qualified,And a free people's universal choice,The leading spirits govern and preside.No longer bound beneath the cruel weightOf idle vampires, draining their life's blood,The joyful nations yield the pow'r of state,To legislators for their country's good.Earth's treasures, hiding 'neath the deep sea waves,Bound in the rock, or shining on the strand,Or glittering in subterraneous caves,Come sparkling forth at industry's command.New sciences and arts diffuse new light,Knowledge of future and of past events,Wisdom to comprehend the secret might,And subtle forces of the elements.In wondrous implements, mechanic skillGives unto labor swift and easy wings,Making each sterile spot with life to thrill,While water from the thirsty desert springs.Thought, freed from human trammels, brings to lightIts glorious conceptions without fear,And mouldy Precedent, struck dead with fright,Reposes on an unregretted bier.The laws which life and health perpetuate,By inspiration's sacred voice are taught,And every passion made subordinate,To principles with lasting pleasure fraught.Jesus, the Sinless, fills the regal throne,To Him all other rulers bend the knee;He reigns not by His right and might alone,But loving homage swells His majesty.Earth linked into the chain of worlds on high,Among the ransomed planets takes its place,And finds itself in blest affinityWith orbs that govern time through boundless space.Such is the kingdom now on earth begun,A branch of the great Governmental Tree,Whose roots are grounded in the central sun,Whose boughs bear fruit through all eternity.Happy are they who labor in its cause,Happy are they who suffer for its sake;For all who are obedient to its laws,Of all its joys and honors shall partake.
How shall I sing thy beauty, pow'r and light,O glorious kingdom of the latter days!I see thy loveliness, I feel thy might,But find no utterance to speak thy praise!
I search in vain the records of the past,Which paint dead kingdoms in their short-lived pride,They cannot picture thee, whose pow'r shall lastWhile heav'n and truth and Deity abide.
And shall the little "powers that be" to-day,Be likened for a moment to thy majesty?As well declare pale vesta's twinkling rayUnfolds the splendor of eternity.
In hist'ry only Egypt's greatness lives—Lost are its treasures, all its wisdom hid,Except the scraps the crumbling mummy gives,The sculptured sphynx and tow'ring pyramid.
Assyria! Thy sceptre lies in dust.Thy bow is broken and thy pomp has fled.Perished thy fruits of conquest, blood and lust,With all the warriors that Tiglath led!
Where are the palaces of Babylon,The "hanging gardens" and the golden tow'rs?With the Chaldeans' starlight wisdom gone,Walls, gates and glory, images and flow'rs!
And couldst not thou, Greece, avert thy fate,With oracles and wealth and victory?Couldst not thy world-wide reign perpetuate,With all thy gods and deep philosophy?
The soul that moved thee in thy conquering march,That spoke in poesy and art and grace,Is disembodied; and the mouldering archAnd chiseled fragment mark thy burial place.
And thou, O Rome! proud mistress of the world!Thine armored legions spread no terror now.They bring no blood-bought spoils of gems impearled,To deck thy bosom and thy haughty brow.
Thy Coliseum's vast and vacant walls,Rot as an emblem of thy great decay,And on the ear its mournful echo falls,A dismal knell of thy departed sway!
O! all ye living governments and states!Gaze on the relics of far mightier powers!The hand that shattered them, uplifted waitsThe bell that ends your few remaining hours!
In the high chambers of the West, I seeAn infant kingdom struggling to the birth.And the prophetic spirit says to me,"In manhood this shall govern all the earth."
O Zion! built by Saints of latter days.Bring forth the promised kingdom to the world!Upon the mountain tops "the ensign" raise,And spread its shining folds to all the world!
Gathered from ev'ry clime and tongue and race,Under the banner, righteous men shall stand,And the all-conquering Christ shall show His face,And give dominion to that faithful band.
Armored in truth and God's authority,Dauntless and terrible, yet full of love,The King shall lead them unto victory,And bring a van-guard from the ranks above.
No weapon formed against them shall prevail,No cunning plan shall prove their overthrow;The prince of all earth's kingdoms they assail,And drive his forces to the shades below.
The spirit that gives wisdom to the wise,Prom Council, Congress, Parliament, shall flee—Shall rest on those whom all mankind despise,And leave the world to human policy.
Left, in a day of storms, each bark of state,Rotten and rudderless, whirled madly onAgainst each other on the sea of fate,With awful crash to depths of death go down.
But see the ship no storm can overwhelm,Saving the remnants of the wrecks below!"The Priesthood" 's written on her shining helm,"God's Kingdom" is inscribed upon her bow.
God's Kingdom! seen in vision by the seers!God's Kingdom! Clothed in justice truth and light!Theme of the prophet and the bard appears,To save the nations from chaotic night.
A perfect government for all the earth.Not a republic nor a monarchy,And yet from both all principles of worthAre blended in this great Theocracy.
Wielding almighty power in ev'ry land,The willing people bend to its supreme decrees,And mutual int'rest, like a golden band,Binds in one social compact men of all degrees.
Appointed by the great Jehovah's voice,By intellect and virtue qualified,And a free people's universal choice,The leading spirits govern and preside.
No longer bound beneath the cruel weightOf idle vampires, draining their life's blood,The joyful nations yield the pow'r of state,To legislators for their country's good.
Earth's treasures, hiding 'neath the deep sea waves,Bound in the rock, or shining on the strand,Or glittering in subterraneous caves,Come sparkling forth at industry's command.
New sciences and arts diffuse new light,Knowledge of future and of past events,Wisdom to comprehend the secret might,And subtle forces of the elements.
In wondrous implements, mechanic skillGives unto labor swift and easy wings,Making each sterile spot with life to thrill,While water from the thirsty desert springs.
Thought, freed from human trammels, brings to lightIts glorious conceptions without fear,And mouldy Precedent, struck dead with fright,Reposes on an unregretted bier.
The laws which life and health perpetuate,By inspiration's sacred voice are taught,And every passion made subordinate,To principles with lasting pleasure fraught.
Jesus, the Sinless, fills the regal throne,To Him all other rulers bend the knee;He reigns not by His right and might alone,But loving homage swells His majesty.
Earth linked into the chain of worlds on high,Among the ransomed planets takes its place,And finds itself in blest affinityWith orbs that govern time through boundless space.
Such is the kingdom now on earth begun,A branch of the great Governmental Tree,Whose roots are grounded in the central sun,Whose boughs bear fruit through all eternity.
Happy are they who labor in its cause,Happy are they who suffer for its sake;For all who are obedient to its laws,Of all its joys and honors shall partake.
Scripture references in proof of the doctrines setforth in the body of this work.FIRST LEAF.But one God to worship—I. Cor. viii, 6.Man's ways not accepted of God—Matt. xv, 9.Only one correct way—John x, 1.Faith the first principle—Heb. xi, 6.Faith a principle of power—Heb. x.How faith comes—Rom. x, 14, 17.Human learning inadequate—I. Cor. ii, 5-14.God the Father of spirits—Heb. xii, 9; Eccles. xii, 7; John xx, 17.Man in God's image—Gen. i, 26; I. Cor. xi, 7.SECOND LEAF.Death by Adam, life by Christ—Rom. x, 12-21All, good and bad, to be raised from the dead—I. Cor. xv, 22;John v, 28, 29; Daniel xii, 2.Christ died for original sin—John i, 29; Rom. v, 18, 19; I.Cor. xv. 21, 22.Christ died for our actual sins—Rom. iv, 25: v, 8; viii, 32;I. Cor. xv. 3; Galatians i, 4; Ephesians, i, 7: Collossians,i, 14; Heb. ii, 9; ix, 28; I. Peter ii, 24; iii, 18;I. John ii, 2.Faith repentance and baptism fundamental principles—Heb.vi, 1, 2; Matthew xxviii, 19, 20;True repentance—II. Cor. viii, 10, 11.Baptism is immersion—Rom. vi, 4; Acts viii, 38, 39; Mark i, 4.But one baptism—Ephesians iv, 5.But one door into the fold—John x. 1, 2.THIRD LEAF.Gift of the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands—Acts viii,14-19; xix, 6; II. Timothy i, 6: Deut. xxxiv. 9.Office of the Holy Ghost—John xiv, 26; xvi, 13.Fruits of the Spirit-Gal. v, 22, 23.Birth of the Spirit essential—John iii, 3-5.FOURTH LEAF.No man to take the Priesthood upon himself—Heb. v, 1-4.What is sealed on earth by authority is sealed in heaven—Matt. xviii, 18; xvi 19.The Melchisedek Priesthood eternal—Heb. v, 5.The Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood another order, Heb. vii,11, 21.Jesus did not assume the Priesthood—Heb. v, 5.God called Jesus to the Priesthood—Jeb. v, 10; Psalms cx, 4.Moses and Elias administered to Jesus—Matt. xvii, 1-5;Mark ix, 2-7, Luke ix, 30-35.Jesus ordained apostles to the same authority—John xx,21-23; xvii, 22; xv, 16.The Apostles ordained others—Acts i, 23-26; vi, 6; xiii,1-3; xiv, 23; xv, 22; I. Timothy iv, 134; Titus i, 5.FIFTH LEAF.Christ the head of the Church—Ephesians v, 23: i, 22.Apostleship first authority in the Church—I. Cor. xii. 28;Ephesians ii, 20.Peter, James, and John chief Apostles—Galatians ii, 9.Seventies called and sent forth—x, 1.Officers of the Church—I. Cor. xii, 28: Eph. iv, 11; I.Timothy iii, 1-13; v, 1.Apostles and Prophets to continue—Eph. iv, 13.Progress of the Church towards perfection—Eph. iv, 12-16;v, 27.Church casts out evil doers—II Thess. iii, 6-14; Rom. xvi,17; I. Cor. v, 4-11; II. Cor vi, 14-17; Matt. xviii, 17.Members of the Church all one; no nationality—I, Cor. xii, 13;Galatians iii, 28; Rom. x, 12; Ephesians ii, 19-22.Church of the present connected with the past—Heb. xii,22, 23.SIXTH LEAFGod not the author of confusion—I. Cor. xiii, 33.Contention among the early Saints—I. Cor. i, 11.Great apostasy foretold—II. Thess. ii, 2, 3; I. Tim. iv, 1; II.Tim. iii, 1-7; II. Peter ii, 1-3; Revelations xiv, 8.The iniquity commenced in the first century—II. Thess. ii, 7;Rev. ii, 3.Christ's pure Church symbolized—Rev. xii, 1-5.The apostate church contrasted—Rev. xvii, 1-6.Darkness covered the earth—Isaiah lx, 2.Spirit of the deep sleep poured out—Isaiah xxix, 9, 10.The world worshipping God only with their mouth—Isaiahxxix, 13.SEVENTH LEAF.Restoration of the gospel by an angel—Rev. xiv, 6, 7.Knowledge to follow obedience—John vii, 17.John the Baptist could not confer the Holy Ghost—Matt. iii,11; Acts xix, 2-4.Powers of the Aaronic Priesthood—Doctrine and CovenantsSection cvii, 20.Powers of the Melchisedek Priesthood—Doc. and Cov. Sec.cvii, 18, 19; Heb. v, ix.Signs to follow believers—Mark xvi, 17, 18; I. Cor. xii, 7-11.Dispensation of the fullness of times—Eph. i, 9, 10.EIGHTH LEAF.No salvation but by Jesus Christ—Acts. iv, 12.Birth of water and of spirit essential—John iii, 5.All to be judged by the gospel—Rom. ii, 16.Gospel preached to the dead—I. Peter iv, 6.Christ preached to the spirits in prison—I. Peter iii, 18-20Preaching to captives foretold—Isaiah lxi, 1: xlii, 6, 7.Jesus led captivity captive—Eph. iv, 8.Jesus did not go to heaven when He died—John xx, 17;Luke xxiii, 43.Living and dead to hear the gospel—Rom. x, 14; Isaiah xxiv,21, 22.NINTH LEAF.Baptism for the dead—I. Cor. xv, 29.The fathers without us not perfect—Heb. xi, 39, 40.Saviors on Mount Zion—Obadiah i, 21.Order of baptism for the dead—Doc. and Cov. Sections cxxvii,cxviii.Elijah the Prophet to come—Malachi iv, 5.Christ the proxy of blood for all—Heb. ix, 12, 14, 22; x, 10;I. Tim. ii, 6.Knowledge about the dead to some from God—Isaiah viii,19, 20.TENTH LEAF.Sin the transgression of law—I. John iii, 14.Death the wages of sin—Rom. vi, 23.All men to die—Heb. ix, 27; Eccles. iii, 20.Death inherited from Adam—Rom. v, 12.Life after death—II. Cor. vi; Eccles. xii, 7.Resurrection of the body—Job xix, 25-27; Isaiah xxvi, 19;Luke xxiv, 26-42; I. Cor. xv, 35-54; Phil. iii, 20, 21.First resurrection—Rev. xx, 4-6.Three glories-I. Cor. xv, 15.A body necessary for full happiness—Ezekiel xxxvii, 2; Doc.and Cov. Sec. xciii, 23, 24.The Ancient of Days—Daniel vii, 9-14.ELEVENTH LEAF.Woman made for man—I. Cor. xi, 9.Marriage ordained of God—Gen. ii, 22-24; i, 28.Marriage honorable—Heb. xiii, 4.Man the head of the woman—Eph. v, 23; I. Cor. xi, 3.Man not without the woman in the Lord—I. Cor. xi, 11.Unmarried persons as the angels—Matt. xxii, 30.Saints to judge angels—I. Cor. vi, 3.Angels to be ministering Spirits—Heb. i, 14.God gave David wives—Judges viii, 30.Jacob's four wives—Gen. xxx, 1-26Abraham and his wives—Gen. xviii, 16-19; xvi, 1-3; xxv,1-6Abraham and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven—Matt. viii,11, 12; Luke xiii, 28.Celestial marriage—Doc. and Cov. Sec. cxxxii.TWELFTH LEAF.Christ came to save that which was lost—Matt. xviii, 11.Christ ministered to His disciples after His resurrection—Actsi, 3-8; I. Cor. xv, 5-8.Other sheep besides the fold at Jerusalem—John x, 16.Christ prepared a place for His disciples—John xiv, 2, 3.Earth to be cleansed from corruption—Isaiah xxiv, 1-6; Malachiiv, 1-3; II. Peter iii, 10-12.Satan to be bound—Rev. xx, 1-3.Restoration—Isaiah xi, 6-9; lxv, 17-25.All to be judged according to their works—Rev. xx, 12-15;Matt. xvi. 27.Some beaten with few, some with many stripes—Luke xii,47-48.Pay the uttermost farthing—Matt. v, 26.The unpardonable sin—Mark iii, 28, 29; i. John v, 16.The second death—Rev. xxi. 8; xix, 20.Remain filthy still—Rev. xxii, 11.The future of mankind—Doc. and Cov. Section lxxvi.Every knee shall bow—Philippians ii, 10.Earth to be made new—II. Peter iii, 13; Rev. xxi. 1.Sea of glass mingled with first—Rev. xv. 2.The righteous to inherit all things—Rev. xxi, 7.The river of life—Rev. xxii, 1; Ezekiel xlvii, 1.Leaves of the the tree of life—Rev. xxii, 2.All things become subject to God—I. Cor. xv. 24-28.
Scripture references in proof of the doctrines setforth in the body of this work.
FIRST LEAF.
But one God to worship—I. Cor. viii, 6.Man's ways not accepted of God—Matt. xv, 9.Only one correct way—John x, 1.Faith the first principle—Heb. xi, 6.Faith a principle of power—Heb. x.How faith comes—Rom. x, 14, 17.Human learning inadequate—I. Cor. ii, 5-14.God the Father of spirits—Heb. xii, 9; Eccles. xii, 7; John xx, 17.Man in God's image—Gen. i, 26; I. Cor. xi, 7.
SECOND LEAF.
Death by Adam, life by Christ—Rom. x, 12-21All, good and bad, to be raised from the dead—I. Cor. xv, 22;John v, 28, 29; Daniel xii, 2.Christ died for original sin—John i, 29; Rom. v, 18, 19; I.Cor. xv. 21, 22.Christ died for our actual sins—Rom. iv, 25: v, 8; viii, 32;I. Cor. xv. 3; Galatians i, 4; Ephesians, i, 7: Collossians,i, 14; Heb. ii, 9; ix, 28; I. Peter ii, 24; iii, 18;I. John ii, 2.Faith repentance and baptism fundamental principles—Heb.vi, 1, 2; Matthew xxviii, 19, 20;True repentance—II. Cor. viii, 10, 11.Baptism is immersion—Rom. vi, 4; Acts viii, 38, 39; Mark i, 4.But one baptism—Ephesians iv, 5.But one door into the fold—John x. 1, 2.
THIRD LEAF.
Gift of the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands—Acts viii,14-19; xix, 6; II. Timothy i, 6: Deut. xxxiv. 9.Office of the Holy Ghost—John xiv, 26; xvi, 13.Fruits of the Spirit-Gal. v, 22, 23.Birth of the Spirit essential—John iii, 3-5.
FOURTH LEAF.
No man to take the Priesthood upon himself—Heb. v, 1-4.What is sealed on earth by authority is sealed in heaven—Matt. xviii, 18; xvi 19.The Melchisedek Priesthood eternal—Heb. v, 5.The Aaronic or Levitical Priesthood another order, Heb. vii,11, 21.Jesus did not assume the Priesthood—Heb. v, 5.God called Jesus to the Priesthood—Jeb. v, 10; Psalms cx, 4.Moses and Elias administered to Jesus—Matt. xvii, 1-5;Mark ix, 2-7, Luke ix, 30-35.Jesus ordained apostles to the same authority—John xx,21-23; xvii, 22; xv, 16.The Apostles ordained others—Acts i, 23-26; vi, 6; xiii,1-3; xiv, 23; xv, 22; I. Timothy iv, 134; Titus i, 5.
FIFTH LEAF.
Christ the head of the Church—Ephesians v, 23: i, 22.Apostleship first authority in the Church—I. Cor. xii. 28;Ephesians ii, 20.Peter, James, and John chief Apostles—Galatians ii, 9.Seventies called and sent forth—x, 1.Officers of the Church—I. Cor. xii, 28: Eph. iv, 11; I.Timothy iii, 1-13; v, 1.Apostles and Prophets to continue—Eph. iv, 13.Progress of the Church towards perfection—Eph. iv, 12-16;v, 27.Church casts out evil doers—II Thess. iii, 6-14; Rom. xvi,17; I. Cor. v, 4-11; II. Cor vi, 14-17; Matt. xviii, 17.Members of the Church all one; no nationality—I, Cor. xii, 13;Galatians iii, 28; Rom. x, 12; Ephesians ii, 19-22.Church of the present connected with the past—Heb. xii,22, 23.
SIXTH LEAF
God not the author of confusion—I. Cor. xiii, 33.Contention among the early Saints—I. Cor. i, 11.Great apostasy foretold—II. Thess. ii, 2, 3; I. Tim. iv, 1; II.Tim. iii, 1-7; II. Peter ii, 1-3; Revelations xiv, 8.The iniquity commenced in the first century—II. Thess. ii, 7;Rev. ii, 3.Christ's pure Church symbolized—Rev. xii, 1-5.The apostate church contrasted—Rev. xvii, 1-6.Darkness covered the earth—Isaiah lx, 2.Spirit of the deep sleep poured out—Isaiah xxix, 9, 10.The world worshipping God only with their mouth—Isaiahxxix, 13.
SEVENTH LEAF.
Restoration of the gospel by an angel—Rev. xiv, 6, 7.Knowledge to follow obedience—John vii, 17.John the Baptist could not confer the Holy Ghost—Matt. iii,11; Acts xix, 2-4.Powers of the Aaronic Priesthood—Doctrine and CovenantsSection cvii, 20.Powers of the Melchisedek Priesthood—Doc. and Cov. Sec.cvii, 18, 19; Heb. v, ix.Signs to follow believers—Mark xvi, 17, 18; I. Cor. xii, 7-11.Dispensation of the fullness of times—Eph. i, 9, 10.
EIGHTH LEAF.
No salvation but by Jesus Christ—Acts. iv, 12.Birth of water and of spirit essential—John iii, 5.All to be judged by the gospel—Rom. ii, 16.Gospel preached to the dead—I. Peter iv, 6.Christ preached to the spirits in prison—I. Peter iii, 18-20Preaching to captives foretold—Isaiah lxi, 1: xlii, 6, 7.Jesus led captivity captive—Eph. iv, 8.Jesus did not go to heaven when He died—John xx, 17;Luke xxiii, 43.Living and dead to hear the gospel—Rom. x, 14; Isaiah xxiv,21, 22.
NINTH LEAF.
Baptism for the dead—I. Cor. xv, 29.The fathers without us not perfect—Heb. xi, 39, 40.Saviors on Mount Zion—Obadiah i, 21.Order of baptism for the dead—Doc. and Cov. Sections cxxvii,cxviii.Elijah the Prophet to come—Malachi iv, 5.Christ the proxy of blood for all—Heb. ix, 12, 14, 22; x, 10;I. Tim. ii, 6.Knowledge about the dead to some from God—Isaiah viii,19, 20.
TENTH LEAF.
Sin the transgression of law—I. John iii, 14.Death the wages of sin—Rom. vi, 23.All men to die—Heb. ix, 27; Eccles. iii, 20.Death inherited from Adam—Rom. v, 12.Life after death—II. Cor. vi; Eccles. xii, 7.Resurrection of the body—Job xix, 25-27; Isaiah xxvi, 19;Luke xxiv, 26-42; I. Cor. xv, 35-54; Phil. iii, 20, 21.First resurrection—Rev. xx, 4-6.Three glories-I. Cor. xv, 15.A body necessary for full happiness—Ezekiel xxxvii, 2; Doc.and Cov. Sec. xciii, 23, 24.The Ancient of Days—Daniel vii, 9-14.
ELEVENTH LEAF.
Woman made for man—I. Cor. xi, 9.Marriage ordained of God—Gen. ii, 22-24; i, 28.Marriage honorable—Heb. xiii, 4.Man the head of the woman—Eph. v, 23; I. Cor. xi, 3.Man not without the woman in the Lord—I. Cor. xi, 11.Unmarried persons as the angels—Matt. xxii, 30.Saints to judge angels—I. Cor. vi, 3.Angels to be ministering Spirits—Heb. i, 14.God gave David wives—Judges viii, 30.Jacob's four wives—Gen. xxx, 1-26Abraham and his wives—Gen. xviii, 16-19; xvi, 1-3; xxv,1-6Abraham and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven—Matt. viii,11, 12; Luke xiii, 28.Celestial marriage—Doc. and Cov. Sec. cxxxii.
TWELFTH LEAF.
Christ came to save that which was lost—Matt. xviii, 11.Christ ministered to His disciples after His resurrection—Actsi, 3-8; I. Cor. xv, 5-8.Other sheep besides the fold at Jerusalem—John x, 16.Christ prepared a place for His disciples—John xiv, 2, 3.Earth to be cleansed from corruption—Isaiah xxiv, 1-6; Malachiiv, 1-3; II. Peter iii, 10-12.Satan to be bound—Rev. xx, 1-3.Restoration—Isaiah xi, 6-9; lxv, 17-25.All to be judged according to their works—Rev. xx, 12-15;Matt. xvi. 27.Some beaten with few, some with many stripes—Luke xii,47-48.Pay the uttermost farthing—Matt. v, 26.The unpardonable sin—Mark iii, 28, 29; i. John v, 16.The second death—Rev. xxi. 8; xix, 20.Remain filthy still—Rev. xxii, 11.The future of mankind—Doc. and Cov. Section lxxvi.Every knee shall bow—Philippians ii, 10.Earth to be made new—II. Peter iii, 13; Rev. xxi. 1.Sea of glass mingled with first—Rev. xv. 2.The righteous to inherit all things—Rev. xxi, 7.The river of life—Rev. xxii, 1; Ezekiel xlvii, 1.Leaves of the the tree of life—Rev. xxii, 2.All things become subject to God—I. Cor. xv. 24-28.