Contemplation of the Eternal

Brethren and sisters, for our instruction this morning, in part at least, I will read some paragraphs in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

"My disciples, in days of old, sought occasion against one another, and forgave not one another in their hearts, and for this evil they were afflicted, and sorely chastened; ¶

"Wherefore I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another, for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses, standeth condemned before the Lord, for there remaineth in him the greater sin—(Doc—and Cov , Sec—64, pars—8 and 9 ) ¶

"For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two Priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the ¶

Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies; ¶

"They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God; ¶

"And also all they who receive this Priesthood receiveth me, saith the Lord; ¶

"For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; ¶

"And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; ¶

"And he that receiveth my Father, receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him; ¶

"And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the Priesthood ¶

"Therefore, all those who receive the Priesthood, receiveth this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved " (Doc—and Cov , Sec—84, pars—33 to 40 ) ¶

With the exercise of your faith, I wish to say a few words, perhaps not altogether in connection with what I have read, but as the Spirit shall dictate—I always feel very dependent and humble when I stand before and attempt to address a people that have been serving the Lord and, at least as a general thing, are worthy to be called Latter-day Saints, a people that have received a knowledge of the things of God, and are moving onward in the path of exaltation and glory to the fulness of their salvation—As I believe, when we come together as we have this beautiful morning, it becomes our privilege to receive instruction from those persons that address us, and if we do not the fault, generally, is in ourselves—It is our privilege as Latter-day Saints to seize upon those opportunities that are afforded us to make a proper preparation for the scenes that are before us and in which we may be called to act; and as the difficulties which we have to meet shall increase upon us perhaps and become harder to overcome, we need more strength in order to resist the temptations and to discharge the obligations that devolve upon us—I suppose it would be with Latter-day Saints generally as with me in regard to this point — that as we advance in years and come nearer to what we generally consider as the time of our departure into the other life we are more inclined to devote our thoughts and reflections upon those things that we anticipate we may receive in the next life, the circumstances that may surround us there, and the proper preparation that we have made and are making to reach that which we anticipate—I know it is so with me—In my 85th year it naturally occurs to me that it is very well to take into consideration these matters, and deeply too; to reflect upon the past, to see whether we have improved the opportunities along the line of our travel, and been making the proper preparation; and if we have not done this, to seek now to make amends with double diligence—We have a perfect right to understand something of what we may receive in the other life—We have to suffer almost everything in accomplishing the duties that are imposed upon us in moving along in this line that we have chosen—In the past, if we had time we might relate the various sacrifices the Latter-day Saints have been called to make; and if they did not make these sacrifices their own consciences would condemn them, because of the light which they had received and the knowledge they had of what they should do—It has proved very truly with the Latter-day Saints what Jesus said on a certain occasion, when He compared the kingdom of God to a man seeking pearls—Having found one of very great value, he went and sold all that he possessed that he might secure that pearl—Then again He compared it unto a man that found a treasure in a field, which, having found, he went and sold everything that he possessed in order that he might come in possession of that treas- ¶

ure—That has been the case with the Latter-day Saints—We have been called to suffer and to sacrifice that which was more dear to ourselves than our lives, and some have been called to sacrifice their mortal existence, having been placed in circumstances that they could not avoid suffering the loss of their lives—We are called upon daily to make sacrifices—The Lord requiring this at our hands, and we as a general thing having complied, it is our privilege to know something in regard to the future— what will be the result of this sacrifice, what will be the result of traveling upon this path—Indeed a Latter-day Saint can hardly sustain himself in the Church of God unless he does get some knowledge of this kind, that cannot be unfolded by common wisdom—We are no better than other people if this be not so ¶

I have read something that is very peculiar in 3-egard to the promises that are made, and which I know will be fulfilled, if we on our part do our duty—I have not lived in this Church for about sixty-two years without finding out something—I devoted myself to be worthy to receive something that no mortal man can receive except through the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost, and the Lord has shown me things and made me to understand them as clearly as the sun at noonday in regard to what shall be the outcome of those Latter-day Saints thut are faithful to their callings—Jasus says: ¶

"He that receiveth me receiveth—my Father; ¶

"And he that receiveth my Father, receiveth my Father's kingdom, therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him " ¶

This is in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants—Now, if it were in the New Testament some people, though they might not understand it, would pass it as being true, because it was in the Bible—Weil, I am just as sure of its truth as if it were found in the New Testament—And the New Testament bears us out in this doctrine—Jesus said, as recorded in the Revelation of St—John: ¶

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me on my throne, even as ¶

I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father in his throne " ¶

There are many Scriptures bearing upon this point—I believe in this—I believe that we are the sons and daughters of God, and that He has bestowed upon us the capacity for infinite wisdom and knowledge, because He has given us a portion of Himself, we are told that we were made in His own image, and we find that there is a character of immortality in the soul of man—There is a spiritual organism within this tabernacle, and that spiritual organism has a divinity in itself, though perhaps in an infantile state; but it has within itself the capability of improving and advancing, as the infant that receives sustenance from its mother—Though the infant may be very ignorant, yet there are possibilities in it that by passing through the various ordeals of childhood to maturity enable it to rise to a superiority that is perfectly marvellous, compared with its infantile ignorance—Why and how is it that this is accomplished? Because it possesses the susceptibilities and the capabilities of its father—So in regard to ourselves—There is a divinity within ourselves that is immortal and never dies—Thousands and thousands of years hence we will be ourselves, and nobody else, so far as our individuality is concerned—That never dies from all eternity to all eternity—Immortality never dies, and it is immortal—We are as children growing and increasing in knowledge and wisdom—Some men we read of, like Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, or Moses, great prophets, advanced themselves to that degree of knowledge, and develop their immortal possibilities to an extent that is perfectly astonishing—And you and I will have to advance in this line until we control those things that the world cannot possibly do ¶

As I read here, there was one thing that the disciples of the Savior did not accomplish — they did not succeed in establishing that union of spirit and feeling that they ought to have had, and the Lord chastened them for it—The Lord requires, that men should forgive one another, even seventy times seven—And even if the party does not ask forgiveness, we are to forgive for a certain number of times—He that ¶

forgives not his brother, we are told, there remaineth in him the greatersin— that is, he is a greater sinner than the person that offended him—The Lord requires us to love our neighbor as we do ourselves— a pretty difficult matter under many circumstances; but we will have to reach that point of perfection, and we will reach it—Moses, through the divinity that was always with him, did some extraordinary things—The people of Israel had abused him in every condition—They continually went contrary to his counsel, and on a certain occasion they appointed a captain to take them back into Egyptian bondage—It was as much as he could possibly bear to put up with their indignities—Finally the Lord became angry, His patience became exhausted, and He made up His mind that He would destroy every one of them, except Moses, and He would take him and make him what he proposed to do with Israel — a mighty nation—There are very few in these days but would have jumped at that opportunity, to become as it were the starter of a new world, of a mighty and an everlasting kingdom—That was proposed to Moses by the Lord—Well, Moses had educated himself by the spirit of God that he was able toact in that way that he might save the house of Israel on that very extraordinary occasion—He called upon th-> Lord with mighty faith, and conversed with Him—He tried to explain to Him that it was not a good proposition at the least—He argued with Him as one man argues with another—How was he capable of doing this? Why, he had seen God face to face, as some men have seen Him in these latter days, and he knew that he could reason and talk with Him—He told the Lord that if He did what He proposed— destroy Israel — the nations around would say that He had undertaken a task that He could not succeed in accomplishing—Well, the Lord changed His mind, so it reads, and did not that which He had intended to do—Now, whether the Lord had a disposition in this matter to try Moses, may be a question; but the distinct understanding with Moses was that if He did not plead with the Lord all Israel would be destroyed—It was the divinity within Moses, brought up to such a high point, that enabled him to do this. There was a divinity within Abraham also—No mortal man could have done what Abraham did — taking up on Mount Moriah his only son as a sacrifice — except he were inspired and had a divinity within him to receive that inspiration—We read of these extraordinary manifestations in the lives of the prophets—We find men at the present day that never could have done what they have done, never could have made the sacrifices they have, unless there had been a receiving and comprehending of the language of divinity — the Spirit ¶

As to our receiving these wonderful things about which I have read to you, I am just as sure of it as I am that I am talking to you today—Although it seems marvelous, it is here so stated, and I know the Lord tells that which is true—When He gives comfort to His Saints in His promises, those promises when fulfilled are vastly greater than the words seem to have indicated—President Woodruff could not have gone through the scenes that he has, and come out alive as He has, unless there had been a divinity within him — a part of God himself — receiving and understanding that divine Spirit that came to him and enabling him to accomplish what he has—Other men might be mentioned in the same way—Joseph Smith, the Prophet, with whom I was intimately acquainted for years, as well as I was with my brother, I know him to have been a man of integrity, a man devoted to the interests of humanity and to the requirements of God all the days in which he was permitted to live—There never was a man that possessed a higher degree of integrity and more devotedness to the interest of mankind than the Prophet Joseph Smith—I can say this from a personal acquaintance with him ¶

Latter-day Saints, we have had a lovely Conference, and the weather has been very beautiful—The Lord has blessed us abundantly—Here we are, gathered from many of the nations of the earth, and it has been a most marvelous accomplishment—God alone could have accomplished it—And the prospects before us are grand and glorious—The time is speedily coming ¶

— we do not want to talk very much, though, about going to Jackson County, Missouri, because through our foolishness and weakness we would not care anything about building houses and making ourselves comfortable here—I know when we first started a colony in Brigham City, the people generally thought it was nonsense, perfectly useless, to plant peach trees, apple trees, currant bushes and the like, because we were going to Jackson County so speedily; and it was with the utmost effort that we were enabled to disabuse them of this idea—We are not going tomorrow, nor next day, this week or next week; but we are going, and there are many — hundreds and hundreds within the sound of my voice that will live to go back to Jackson County and build a holy temple to the Lord our God—Be prepared to do these things that have been taught us during this Conference, and make ourselves worthy, and we will receive everything that I have read to you in this section—We have not time to explain these things—We bear our testimony in regard to what we know, and what God has done for us, and what we hope to do with His assistance, and leave it in that way ¶

God bless you, Latter-day Saints—We love to serve you, and to do everything that the Lord enables us to do, because we expect to be together in the other life, from all eternity to all eternity—May God help us, in the name of Jesus—Amen ¶