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| Parley P. Pratt |
Wow, wow, wow! Truly I could have highlighted the entire book, but to make it easier, I didn't do that. ;) I have shared below the paragraphs I did highlight. However, if you would like to read the entire book, I have provided a link at the bottom of the post to the book that you can read for free online.
Before, we get started I must say that what I loved most about this book it that it explains the mysteries and powers of the Kingdom as a science. Science of course, was created by God. It is made up of laws that are His laws which govern the Universe. I love this because this is how I have always explained it. If you have watched my Happy Bug workshops series on my YouTube channel, then you already know. I LOVE theology, I LOVE science, and I LOVE knowledge! Sometimes we are afraid of the words, "Theology" and "Philosophy" as we often associate them with cunning deceptions of man and the devil. Theology is simply the study of the nature of God and philosophy is the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct. Parley P. Pratt uses these terms quite liberally throughout his book and coming from an apostle of the Lord, his words are an added witness to what the spirit has taught me over the past several years, and this book contains everything that I love all in one read.
Alright, if you don't know much about Parley P. Pratt, here are some interesting facts about his life:
- Pratt has been called "the Apostle Paul of Mormonism" for his promotion of distinctive Mormon doctrines.
- Pratt first read a copy of the Book of Mormon owned by a Baptist deacon. He was baptized on September 1, 1830
- He is the great-great-grandfather of Mitt Romney, and the great-great-great-grandfather of Jon Huntsman Jr.
- In addition to having converted his brother Orson and preacher Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt introduced the Mormon faith to several future church leaders, including Frederick G. Williams, John Taylor and his wife, Leonora, Isaac Morley, and Joseph Fielding, along with his sisters, Mary and Mercy.
- Pratt was a noted religious writer and poet. His most influential works was a book entitled A Voice of Warning (1837), a work that served the church as its most powerful proselytizing tool—after the Book of Mormon—for more than a century."
- Pratt explored and surveyed Parley's Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah (named in his honor), and subsequently built and maintained the first road for public transportation in the canyon.
- His wife Elenor (whose ex-husband murdered Pratt) was the mother of three children, a girl and two boys. Her sons were baptized, but Mr. McLean (her ex) did not accept Mormonism and did not want his children to belong to the Mormon Church, so he sent them around the Horn to New Orleans to be cared for by Elenor McLean’s parents.
- On November 14, 1855, she and Pratt underwent a "celestial marriage" sealing ceremony in the Endowment House. She was the twelfth woman to be sealed to Pratt. For religious and cultural reasons, Eleanor considered herself unmarried at the time of her sealing to Pratt, but she had not legally divorced from Hector. (This was common practice to be sealed to a righteous man whom was already married, but not be legally wed to him nor consider yourself married in this life, nor live as married or be in any way intimate with that person. It was about the ordinance. In that day many women had unrighteous husbands, or husbands who were not interested in joining the church. The women worried that they would miss their opportunity to be sealed in this life and obtain all the blessings that go with it. Therefore this was common practice then, as righteous women outnumbered righteous men. It is no longer practiced today. With modern day revelation we know that these opportunities can be provided after this life.)
- When called to serve his last mission, Parley told his first wife, Agatha that he had a feeling “I shall never come back.” While on his mission, Eleanor went back to New Orleans to get her children from her parents. Because Eleanor took the children, Hector (her ex) blamed Pratt.
- Hector pressed criminal charges, accusing Pratt of assisting in the kidnapping of his children. Pratt managed to evade him and the legal charges, but was finally arrested in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) in May 1857. Pratt and Eleanor McLean were charged with theft of the clothing of McLean's children. (The laws of that time did not recognize the kidnapping of children by a parent as a crime.) Tried before Judge John B. Ogden, Pratt was acquitted because of a lack of evidence and Ogden's own feelings after interviewing Eleanor. Ogden sympathized with Eleanor and Pratt, because he was so disgusted by Hector's drinking and wife-beating. Shortly after being secretly released, on May 13, 1857, Pratt was shot and stabbed by Hector on a farm northeast of Van Buren, Arkansas. He died two and a half hours later from loss of blood.
- As Pratt was bleeding to death, a farmer asked what he had done to provoke the attack. Pratt said, "He accused me of taking his wife and children. I did not do it. They were oppressed, and I did for them what I would do for the oppressed any where." Pratt was buried near Alma, Arkansas, despite his desire to be buried in Utah Territory.
- His dying words were said to be, "I am dying a martyr to the faith."
- In 2008, Pratt's family received permission from an Arkansas judge to rebury his remains in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, but no human remains were found at what was believed his gravesite. No further search efforts for Pratt's burial site have been planned.
http://jared.pratt-family.org/parley_family_histories/ann_agatha_walker_reminiscences.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APFlh_VGvio )
Highlights from the Book
First. THEOLOGY is the science of communication, or of correspondence, between God, angels, spirits, and men, by means of visions, dreams, interpretations, conversations, inspirations, or the spirit of prophecy and revelation.
Second. It is the science by which worlds are organized, sustained, and directed, and the elements controlled.
Third. It is the science of knowledge, and the key and power thereof, by which the heavens are opened, and lawful access is obtained to the treasures of wisdom and intelligence—inexhaustible, infinite, embracing the past, the present, and the future.
Fourth. It is the science of life—endless and eternal, by which the living are changed or translated, and the dead raised.
Fifth. It is the science of faith, reformation, and remission of sins, whereby a fallen race of mortals may be justified, cleansed, and restored to the communion and fellowship of that Holy Spirit which is the light of the world, and of every intelligence therein.
Sixth. It is the science of spiritual gifts, by which the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk, the sick are healed, and demons are expelled from the human system.
Seventh. It is the science of all other sciences and useful arts, being in fact the very fountain from which they emanate. It includes philosophy, astronomy, history, mathematics, geography, languages, the science of letters; and blends the knowledge of all matters of fact, in every branch of art, or of research. It includes, also, all the scientific discoveries and inventions—agriculture, the mechanical arts, architecture, shipbuilding, the properties and applications of the mariner's compass, navigation, and music. All that is useful, great, and good; all that is calculated to sustain, comfort, instruct, edify, purify, refine, or exalt intelligences; originated by this science, and this science alone, all other sciences being but branches growing out of this—root.
By the perversion and unlawful use of this science king Nimrod built the stupendous Tower of Babel, but was frustrated, and his works were destroyed before their completion.
By the perversion and unlawful use of this science the magicians of Egypt withstood Moses for a time, and performed their enchantments.
By it he rose, like Enoch, to a higher sphere, without returning to dust.
Finally—By this same power a mighty angel descended, shook the earth, frightened the Roman guards, rolled away the great stone, broke the seal of the tomb, and called to life the sleeping body of Jesus Christ.
By this power the risen Jesus, eating, drinking, and conversing with his disciples, after his resurrection, commissioned and instructed them in the same science, ordained them to act in the same, and to impart its power to others, in all the world, with signs following them that believed.
By this science he ascended to the Father, and lives for ever in the flesh, to shed forth the gifts and powers of the same science, according to his own will, and the will of his Father, to reign henceforth until he descends to the earth, conquers death in a last great conflict, and puts all enemies under his feet.
By this same power his Apostles, being clothed with the full powers of the same on the day of Pentecost, ministered the powers and knowledge of this science to others, both Jew and Gentile, insomuch that the sick were healed, the blind saw, the dumb spake, the deaf heard, the lame walked, devils were cast out, and the dead were raised, while everywhere, dreams, visions, the ministering of angels, and the gift of prophecy were enjoyed.
By this science the Prophets Lehi and Nephi came out with a colony from Jerusalem, in the days of Jeremiah the Prophet, and after wandering for eight years in the wilderness of Arabia, came to the sea coast, built a vessel, obtained from the Lord a compass to guide them on the way, and finally landed in safety on the coast of what is now called Chili, in South America.
By this science these twelve and others established the Gospel, Church, and ordinances of God throughout the entire western hemisphere.
By this science their sick were healed, demons were expelled, the lame walked, the blind saw, the dumb spake, the deaf heard, and their dead were raised.
By this science three of those Apostles, having a change wrought upon them, tarried in the flesh upon the earth, ministered the Gospel and its blessings nearly four hundred years, and then withdrew from the people because of their iniquity, took away the keys of Apostleship and of the Gospel, and its powers, sealed up the records, and caused the work of healing, and of gifts and miracles, to cease from among the people, because of iniquity, bloodshed, and persecution.
By this science they yet live in the flesh upon the earth, holding keys of Apostleship and power upon the western hemisphere, being now about one thousand eight hundred years old.
Loss of the Science of Theology in the Western Hemisphere
All government became extinct, and the countries overrun by tribes and bands of robbers at war with each other.
Keys of the Mysteries of the Godhead
On account of the double relationship of Jesus Christ—with God the Father on one hand, and with man on the other, many have adopted the creed, that "Two whole and perfect natures" were blended in the person of Jesus Christ; that he was every way a God, and every way a man; as if God and man were two distinct species. This error came by reason of not knowing ourselves. For just in proportion as we comprehend ourselves in our true light, and our relationships and affinities with the past, present and future, with time and eternity, with Gods, angels, spirits and men, who have gone before us, and who will come after us, so, in proportion, we may be able to benefit by the keys of the mysteries of the Godhead, or, in other words, to know and comprehend Jesus Christ and his Father.
An immortal man, possessing a perfect organization of spirit, flesh, and bones, and perfected in his attributes, in all the fulness of celestial glory, is called a God.
An immortal man, in progress of perfection, or quickened with a lesser degree of glory, is called an angel.
An immortal spirit of man, not united with a fleshly tabernacle, is called a spirit.
An immortal man, clothed with a mortal tabernacle, is called a man.
All physical element, however embodied, quickened, or refined, is subject to the general laws necessary to all existence.
Some of these laws are as follows—
First. Each atom, or embodiment of atoms, necessarily occupies a certain amount of space.
Second. No atom, or embodiment of atoms, can occupy the identical space occupied by other atoms or bodies.
Third. Each individual organized intelligence must possess the power of self motion to a greater or less degree.
Fourth. All voluntary motion implies an inherent will, to originate and direct such motion.
Fifth. Motion, of necessity, implies that a certain amount of time is necessary, in passing from one portion of space to another.
These laws are absolute and unchangeable in their nature, and apply to all intelligent agencies which do or can exist.
He associates with myriads of His own begotten sons and daughters who, by translation or resurrection, have triumphed over death.
Origins of the Universe
And it is intimated that, of the spirits thus placed upon their agency, one-third failed to keep their first estate, and were thrust down, and reserved in chains of darkness, for future judgment. As these are not permitted to multiply their species, or to move forward in the scale of progressive being, while in this state of bondage and condemnation, we will trace them no further, as their final destiny is not revealed to mortals.
During his progress in the flesh, the Holy Spirit may gradually awaken his faculties; and in a dream, or vision, or by the spirit of prophecy, reveal, or rather awaken the memory to, a partial vision, or to a dim and half defined recollection of the intelligence of the past. He sees in part, and he knows in part; but never while tabernacled in mortal flesh will he fully awake to the intelligence of his former estate. It surpasses his comprehension, is unspeakable, and even unlawful to be uttered.
When—O when, will their day dawn, and the day star of their ancient science appear above the horizon, disperse the cloud, and usher in the morning of a brighter day?
Worlds are mansions for the home of intelligences.
When the planet on which he dwells has conceived, brought forth, and nourished the number of tabernacles assigned to it in its rudimental state, by infinite wisdom, it must needs be acted upon by a chemical process. The purifying elements; for instance, fire, must needs be employed to bring it through an ordeal, a refinement, a purification, a change commensurate with that which had before taken place in the physical tabernacle of its inhabitants. Thus renovated, it is adapted to resurrected man.
Joy, in its fulness, depends on certain principles, viz.—
In order to be wealthy, eternal man must possess a certain portion of the surface of some eternal planet, adapted to his order or sphere of existence.
This inheritance, incorruptible, eternal in the heavens, must be sufficiently extensive for his accommodation, with all his family dependencies. It must also comprise a variety of elements, adapted to his use and convenience. Eternal gold, silver, precious stones, and other precious materials would be useful in the erection and furnishing of mansions, and of public and private dwellings or edifices.
Keys of Knowledge Power and Government
First. The Gods, composed of embodied spirits, who inhabit tabernacles of immortal flesh and bones in their most refined state, and who are perfected in all the attributes of intelligence and power.
Second. The Angels, who are also composed of spirits and immortal flesh and bones, less refined, and endowed with vast intelligence and power, but not a fulness.
Third. Embodied Spirits, without a tabernacle of flesh and bones. These are they who hate passed the veil of death, and are awaiting a resurrection.
Fourth. Embodied Spirits, with mortal tabernacles, as in the present world.
Fifth. Embodied Spirits, who have not yet descended to be clothed upon with mortality, but who are candidates for the same.
There is also a sixth division, but of those we need not speak, as they are not, as yet, included in the scale of progressive being, not having kept their first estate.
The spirits of all men in their primeval states, were intelligent. But among these intelligences some were more noble, that is to say, more intelligent than others.
And God said, these will I make rulers in my kingdoms.[A] Upon this principle was manifested the election, before the foundation of the world, of certain individuals to certain offices, as written in the Scriptures.
In other words, certain individuals, more intelligent than the others, were chosen by the Head, to teach, instruct, edify, improve, govern, and minister truth and salvation to others; and to hold the delegated powers or keys of government, in the several spheres of progressive being.
These were not only chosen, but set apart, by a holy ordinance in the
eternal worlds, as Embassadors, Foreign Ministers, Priests, Kings,
Apostles, &c., to fill the various stations in the vast empire of the
Sovereign of all.
Although the chosen instruments to hold the keys of this Priesthood must be the literal lineage of Israel, yet that lineage are not all thus commissioned, nor indeed are any of them Priests merely because they are of the chosen seed. Such an instrument must be revealed, and his ordination which he had before the world began, be renewed and confirmed upon his fleshly tabernacle, or he cannot be a Priest on earth.
Oh the weariness, the painful suspense, the watchings, the wanderings, the anxieties, the pains and sorrows of eighteen centuries! Oh the mist of ages which has shrouded a nation as it were in the gloom of an endless night!
When—O when, will their day dawn, and the day star of their ancient science appear above the horizon, disperse the cloud, and usher in the morning of a brighter day?
When the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
When they shall welcome a messenger in the name of the Lord.
That dispensation will fulfil the times of the Gentiles, complete their fulness, restore the kingdom to Israel, gather home their twelve tribes, organize them into a theocratic government, that is, a government founded and guided by Prophets, Priesthood, visions and revelations. It will, in fact, not only restore to them the ministration of angels, but receive its final consummation, by the resurrection of the ancient Saints, and their return to the earth, accompanied by the Son of God, in his own proper person. To this dispensation, all nations must submit.
Revival of the Science in This Present Age
In the midst of all this scene, the Prophet's presence of mind did not forsake him. He saw his brother Hyrum fall, stiffen and die. He then exclaimed, in the anguish of his soul—"O my brother!" and sprang for the window, amid showers of ball as thick as hail. He instantly threw himself from the upper story into the midst of the bristling bayonets of the enemy, and, on alighting, was pierced with a shower of balls, and instantly died without a struggle or a groan.
A modern Prophet! Yes, a mighty Seer!
From Israel's royal line, must next appear;
Clad in the spirit of Elijah's power,
To prune the vineyard in th' eleventh hour;
To light the dawn of that effulgent day,
When King Messiah shall his sceptre sway.
Thus ended the mortal career of a youth who had revealed the ancient history of a continent; restored to man the keys and powers of the divine science of Theology; organized the Church and kingdom of God, and revealed, and re-established those principles, which will eventually prevail, and govern the sons of earth, in countless ages yet unborn. "The good shepherd," said Jesus, "layeth down his life for the sheep."
Keys of Initiation
The candidate is now initiated into the first principles of the science of Divine Theology. His mind is quickened, his intellectual faculties are aroused to intense activity. He is, as it were, illuminated. He learns more of divine truth in a few days, than he could have learned in a life time in the best merely human institutions in the world.
This law of spiritual fluid, its communicative properties, and the channel by which it is imparted from one person to another, bear some resemblance, or analogy, to the laws and operations of electricity. Like electricity, it is imparted by the contact of two bodies, through the channel of the nerves.
Having passed through this ordinance, the hands of some one, or more, of the authorised Priesthood, are next laid upon the head of the candidate, in the same sacred names, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is confirmed upon him. This baptism of water and of the Spirit is called a new birth; and it is in reality a repetition of the natural birth, or entrance into the elements of a new existence.
The embryo formation of the human body, is commenced and sustained by blood and spirit, in the womb of nature, where, until the period of birth, it floats in the element of water. At birth, then, it is literally born of water, that is, it emerges from that element in which it has been so long immersed, into a different element, called the atmosphere, which then becomes a necessary element of existence.
The candidate is now initiated into the first principles of the science of Divine Theology. His mind is quickened, his intellectual faculties are aroused to intense activity. He is, as it were, illuminated. He learns more of divine truth in a few days, than he could have learned in a life time in the best merely human institutions in the world.
He also feels the spirit of prayer and watchfulness continually, and pours out his soul in the same, and finds he is answered in all things which are expedient. He is now in a fit capacity to exercise some one or more of the spiritual gifts.
The Philosophy of Miracles
An agent filled with this heavenly fluid cannot impart of the same to another, unless that other is justified, washed, cleansed from all his impurities of heart, affections, habits or practices, by the blood of atonement, which is generally applied in connexion with the baptism of remission.
This spiritual substance is the most refined, subtle, and powerful element in the universe. It is endowed with all wisdom, all knowledge, all intelligence and power. In short, it is the light, life, power and principle of all things, by which they move; and of all intelligences, by which they think.
The mandates of angels, or of holy men, in order to be legal, or of due force and power, must be issued in the name of Jesus Christ, or of the three who compose the Head Council; and must be in accordance with their united mind and will. The Holy Spirit then goes forth and executes their mandates. This agency being invisible, and the effect visible, the act performed appears to those who are unacquainted with spiritual agency, as a miracle, or an effect without a cause.
All these gifts and miracles were the workings of that one, and the self same Spirit given to the members of the Church of the Saints, while the world did not partake of a sufficient measure of the Spirit to possess these gifts. The reason of this is, that they did not repent, and believe in Jesus Christ, and be baptized in his name, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, by the laying on of the hands of the Priesthood—these duties and ordinances, being the legal or appointed channel by which the gift of the Holy Spirit was imparted. The reason why these gifts of the Spirit have not been enjoyed in all ages of the so called "Christian Church" is because it is not the true Church; nor, is the true ministry or Apostleship to be found among the Church, or Churches, where these gifts are denied. Every minister and member of such institutions have need to repent, and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins; and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, by the laying on of hands of those who have authority, in order to enter into the kingdom of God.
These ordinances, ministered by a legal Priesthood, being divinely appointed, are the only legitimate means by which man may receive and exercise these divine powers; or, in other words, they are the means ordained of God, by which one being may communicate or impart a portion of this divine substance to another, so as to place that other in communication with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and with angels, and the spirits of just men in the world of spirits, and with the members of the true Church on the earth.
To heal a person by the touch, or by the laying on of hands in the name of Jesus Christ, or to impart the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, is as much in accordance with the laws of nature, as for water to seek its own level, an apple to fall to the ground when loosened from the tree where it grew, quicksilver to attract its own affinities, or the magnet to obey its own laws.
The usual channel for all spiritual fluids, whether holy or impure, in their operations upon the human system, or in their passage from one animal body to another, is the nerves.
A person commissioned of Jesus Christ, and filled with this spiritual substance, can impart of the same to another, provided there is a preparation of heart, and faith on the part of the receiver. Or if, as in cases of healing, casting out devils, &c., it happens that the receiver has no command of his own mind—as in cases of little children, persons swooned, fainted, deranged, or dead, then the faith of the administrator alone, or in connexion with other friends and agents, in his behalf, is sufficient, in many cases, to perform the work.
However, the touch, or laying on of hands, is not the only means of communicating the gift of healing. A word spoken, a mandate issued, or even a handkerchief, apron, or other garment, worn or touched by a person full of this Spirit, and conveyed to another, has, according to sacred history, and also the experience of the present age, proved sufficient to communicate the spiritual fluid, between minds of strong and mutual faith. So well acquainted was the Prophet Elisha with this principle, that he sent his servant to lay his staff upon a dead child, in order to raise it from the dead; but, in this instance, the undertaking failed. The Prophet could only resuscitate the child by placing face on face, eye to eye, mouth to mouth, hand to hand, &c., so as to give the greatest possible effect to the imparting of the spirit of life.
When the miracles and gifts of the divine Spirit ceased from among men, Christianity ceased, the Christian ministry ceased, the Church of Christ ceased.
That ministry which sets aside modern inspiration, revelation, prophecy, angels, visions, healings, etc., is not ordained of God; but is Anti-Christian in spirit. In short, it is that spirit of priestcraft and kingcraft, by which the world, for many ages, has been ruled as with a rod of iron.
Angels and Spirits
SPIRITS are those who have departed this life, and have not yet been raised from the dead.
These are of two kinds, viz.—Good and evil.
These two kinds also include many grades of good and evil.
The good spirits, in the superlative sense of the word, are they who, in this life, partook of the Holy Priesthood, and of the fulness of the Gospel.
This class of spirits minister to the heirs of salvation, both in this world and in the world of spirits. They can appear unto men, when permitted; but not having a fleshly tabernacle, they cannot hide their glory. Hence, an unembodied spirit, if it be a holy personage, will be surrounded with a halo of resplendent glory, or brightness, above the brightness of the sun.
Whereas, spirits not worthy to be glorified will appear without this brilliant halo; and, although they often attempt to pass as angels of light, there is more or less of darkness about them.
Many spirits of the departed, who are unhappy, linger in lonely wretchedness about the earth, and in the air, and especially about their ancient homesteads, and the places rendered dear to them by the memory of former scenes. The more wicked of these are the kind spoken of in Scripture, as "foul spirits," "unclean spirits," spirits who afflict persons in the flesh, and engender various diseases in the human system. They will sometimes enter human bodies, and will distract them, throw them into fits, cast them into the water, into the fire, &c. They will trouble them with dreams, nightmare, hysterics, fever, &c. They will also deform them in body and in features, by convulsions, cramps, contortions, &c., and will sometimes compel them to utter blasphemies, horrible curses, and even words of other languages. If permitted, they will often cause death. Some of these spirits are adulterous, and suggest to the mind all manner of lasciviousness, all kinds of evil thoughts and temptations.
A person, on looking another in the eye, who is possessed of an evil spirit, will feel a shock—a nervous feeling, which will, as it were, make his hair stand on end; in short, a shock resembling that produced in a nervous system by the sight of a serpent.
Some of these foul spirits, when possessing a person, will cause a disagreeable smell about the person thus possessed, which will be plainly manifest to the senses of those about him, even though the person thus afflicted should be washed and change his clothes every few minutes.
There are, in fact, most awful instances of the spirit of lust, and of bawdy and abominable words and actions, inspired and uttered by persons possessed of such spirits, even though the persons were virtuous and modest so long as they possessed their own agency.
Some of these spirits cause deafness, others dumbness, etc.
Among the diversified spirits abroad in the world here are many religious spirits, which are not of God, but which deceive those who have not the keys of Apostleship and Priesthood, or, in other words, the keys of the science of Theology to guide them. Some of these spirits are manifested in the camp-meetings of certain sects, and in nearly all the excitements and confusions in religious meetings falsely called "revivals." All the strange extacies, swoonings, screamings, shoutings, dancings, jumpings, and a thousand other ridiculous and unseemly manifestations, which neither edify nor instruct, are the fruits of these deceptive spirits.
We must, however, pity, rather than ridicule, or despise, the subjects or advocates of these deceptions. Many of them are honest, but they have no Apostles, nor other officers, nor gifts to detect evil, or to keep them from being led by every delusive spirit.
There is still another class of unholy spirits at work in the world—spirits diverse from all these, far more intelligent, and, if possible, still more dangerous. These are, the spirit of divination, vision, foretelling, familiar spirits, "Animal Magnetism," "Mesmerism," &c., which reveal many and great truths mixed with the greatest errors, and also display much intelligence, but have not the keys of the science of Theology—the Holy Priesthood.
These spirits, generally, deny the divinity of Christ, and the great truths of the atonement, and of the resurrection of the body. Of such are the Shakers of the United States, and their revelations. They deny the resurrection of the body. From this source are the revelations of Emmanuel Swedenborg, which also deny the resurrection. From this source, also, are the revelations of Andrew Jackson Davis, of Poughkeepsie, New York, which deny the resurrection and the atonement. From this source are all the revelations which deny the ordinances of the Gospel, and the keys and gifts of the Holy Apostleship.
Last of all, these are they who climb up in some other way, besides the door, into the sheepfold; and who prophesy or work in their own name, and not in the name of Jesus Christ.
No man can do a miracle in the name and by the authority of Jesus
Christ, except he be a good man, and authorized by him.
Dreams
When the outward organs of thought and perception are released from their activity, the nerves unstrung, and the whole of mortal humanity lies hushed in quiet slumbers, in order to renew its strength and vigour, it is then that the spiritual organs are at liberty, in a certain degree, to assume their wonted functions, to recall some faint outlines, some confused and half defined recollections, of that heavenly world, and those endearing scenes of their former estate, from which they have descended in order to obtain and mature a tabernacle of flesh. Their kindred spirits, their guardian angels then hover about them with the fondest affection, the most anxious solicitude. Spirit communes with spirit, thought meets thought, soul blends with soul, in all the raptures of mutual, pure, and eternal love.
It is the pure in heart, the lovers of truth and virtue, that will appreciate these remarks, for they know, by at least a small degree of experience, that these things are so.
Those who are habitually given to vice, immorality and abomination; those who walk in the daily indulgence of unlawful lust; those who neither believe in Jesus Christ, nor seek to pray to him, and keep his commandments; those who do not cultivate the pure, refined and holy joys of innocent and heavenly affection, but who would sacrifice every finer feeling at the shrine of lawless pleasure and brutal desires—those persons will not understand and appreciate these views, because their good angels, their kindred spirits have long since departed, and ceased to attend them, being grieved and disgusted with their conduct.
The Spirit of the Lord has also been grieved, and has left them to themselves, to struggle alone amid the dangers and sorrows of life; or to be the associates of demons and impure spirits. Such persons dream of adultery, gluttony, debauchery, and crimes of every kind. Such persons have the foreshadowings of a doleful death, and of darkness, and the buffetings of fiends and malicious spirits.
The Spirit World
As to its location, it is here on the very planet where we were born; or, in other words, the earth and other planets of a like sphere, have their inward or spiritual spheres, as well as their outward, or temporal. The one is peopled by temporal tabernacles, and the other by spirits. A vail is drawn between the one sphere and the other, whereby all the objects in the spiritual sphere are rendered invisible to those in the temporal.
To discern beings or things in the spirit world, a person in the flesh must be quickened by spiritual element, the vail must be withdrawn, or the organs of sight, or of hearing, must be transformed, so as to be adapted to the spiritual sphere. This state is called vision, trance, second sight, clairvoyance, etc.
The former bid farewell to the world of spirits on the third day, and returned to his tabernacle of flesh, in which he ascended to thrones, principalities, and powers, while the latter is, no doubt, improving in the spirit world, and waiting, believing, hoping for the redemption of the body.
Again, those who obey the Gospel in the present age will rise from the spirit world, and from the grave, and reign on the earth during the great thousand years; while those who reject it will remain in condemnation in the spirit world, without a resurrection, till the last trump shall sound, and death and hell deliver up their dead.
Resurrection
The second will take place in a few years from the present time, and will be immediately succeeded by the coming of Jesus Christ, in power and great glory, with all his Saints and Angels. This resurrection will include the Former and Latter-day Saints—all those who have received the Gospel since the former resurrection.
But in the resurrection which now approaches, and in connexion with the glorious coming of Jesus Christ, the earth will undergo a change in its physical features, climate, soil, productions; and in its political, moral, and spiritual government.
Mineralogy will also be greatly improved, and its knowledge extended. Its hidden treasures will be developed, and gold, silver and the most precious and beautiful stones will be the building materials in most common use, and will compose the utensils and furniture of the habitations of man.
Why, then, should his aspirations not reach forth, his mind expand, his bosom swell with love, and his heart beat with the boundless, fathomless infinitude of thought, of feeling, and of love? Why not be noble and boundless in charity, like the God whom he calls his father? Why does he not rise from his groveling sphere in this small island, which floats in the ocean of space, as a small black speck, amid the numberless shining orbs? The reason is obvious; it is not for the want of noble aspirations; it is not for the want of grand conceptions; it is not for the lack of will. It is because the body is chained, imprisoned, confined here, by the operation or attraction of surrounding elements, which man has not yet discovered the means to control. It may be said that the powers of earth enslave him, and chain him down, beyond the possibility or hope of escape.
Now, if it were possible to overcome the resisting elements, so as to increase the speed of conveyance for your body—that is, if there were no resisting element to be overcome, your will might dictate, and your body would move through actual space with the speed of light, or electricity. There is no apparent limit to the speed attainable by the body when unchained, set free from the elements which now enslave it, and dictated by the will.
Planets will be visited, messages communicated, acquaintances and friendships formed, and the sciences vastly extended and cultivated.
Next in order, will be the field of prophetic science. The spirit of prophecy will be poured upon the immortal mind, till, from seeing in part, and knowing in part, man will be able to gaze upon a boundless prospective, a future of still increasing glory, knowledge, light, love, might, majesty, power and dominion, in which the sons of God-the kings and priests of heaven and earth, and of the heaven of heavens, and all their retinue of kingdoms and subjects, will find ample room for boundless increase and improvement, worlds without end. Amen.
In his last chapter he talks about Celestial marriage and polygamy, but because I had nothing highlighted in that chapter, I didn't share here.
Read the book online: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/35470/pg35470-images.html
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