Eternal Marriage, Sins of Omission, and the Proper Meaning of Divorce

I am very thankful for the privilege of meeting with the Latter-day Saints in general conference, once more. A person has to go away from home, I think, in order to fully enjoy the blessings of home on returning; and I think we will find that to be part of our history; if we are privileged to return home to our Father in heaven, and renew the associations which are to be had in His presence, we will enjoy them ¶

more than ever in consequence of our absence for a while on the face of this earth. I think, also, that one enjoys the blessings of health very much more because of occasionally receiving a reverse. The Lord has been very merciful to me in this regard, as well as in many others, for which I feel deeply grateful. But this morning, and for two or three days past, I have been suffering from a severe cold, which I hope to overcome and then to appreciate still more, if possible, the blessings of good health. I trust that during the time I occupy this morning I shall be inspired by the Holy Spirit, which has rested down so generously upon our brethren who have addressed us already, and that I may be able to make myself heard, without difficulty, in this large congregation. This is a beautiful sight to look upon. To see so many of the sons and daughters of the living God, gathered in solemn convocation, to worship the Lord, to sing His praises, to call upon His holy name, to receive instructions from those who are appointed to be ministers of the Most High to the Saints and to all the world, is a great privilege which I hope all who are present appreciate and also the blessings of the beautiful weather we have. ¶

I have closely followed the remarks that have been made to us while we have been in conference, and particularly the opening address by President Joseph F. Smith, in which he covered a large area of thought and of action, and presented to us in terse sentences, very pointedly, the conditions of the work of the Lord in the different parts of the earth. I found in them great cause for congratulation, to think that the work of the Lord is spreading and extending so widely, and that the faith of the Latter-day Saints is manifested in their good works. We expect that there will be some people, always, in the Church — until that which is perfect has come — who will not live up, fully, to the teachings of the Lord through His servants; and to the covenants and obligations which they are under to serve Him in all things. So we hear something on both sides — the good works that are being performed and the things that are omitted ; for there are sins of omission as well as sins of commission. When the time comes that we shall give an account for our deeds while we were in mortal flesh, we will find that we shall reap the consequences of our actions, and also the effects that follow from neglect and from omission or failure to live up to the requirements of the gospel. These things are brought to our attention when we assemble in conference, so that we may do better in the future than we have done in the past. There is always room for improvement. We hear that very frequently, and we realize it for a fact, in our experience, when we look upon the past. We should be prepared for the future ; that is to say, we should be more diligent, if possible, than we have been, and not again neglect those things that we have left undone. Our minds are called to those things that we have left undone, by the teachings of our brethren, and I hope that when we go away ¶

from this great assembly to our respective places of abode, we shall feel determined in our hearts to live according to the principles of eternal life which have been taught to us while we have been together, and to serve the Lord in all things. ¶

One subject touched upon by the president, in his remarks to us at the opening, was in relation to the marriage question. We learn from him that during the year 1910, in addition to the marriages performed in the temples of the Lord, in which that grand sealing ordinance is administered, by which men and women are united together in holy matrimony for time and all eternity, about eleven hundred unions had taken place outside of the temples, most of them, perhaps, performed by what is called a civil ceremony — according to the civil law. Now, while this is a matter to be regretted, to think that so many people who are members of the Church neglect their opportunities to receive the highest blessings, and will be content with that which comes from a marriage for time only. We do not repudiate these ceremonies when they are administered by a person authorized by the law of the land to perform marriages. They are recognized in the Church for what they are ; they are civil contracts, when not solemnized by a man holding the priesthood of God ; but they are legal contracts, and the people who enter into them are bound by them — in honor and according to law. We understand that, or should understand it, and our friends who are not of us ought to know, that we recognize the ordinances that are performed under the laws of the country, as binding according to what they are; that the civil marriage that is performed by men holding civil authority is simply till death parts the pair. When death comes, that is the end of the contract, as we understand it ; and we understand it that way because the Lord has so revealed it. ¶

In a revelation contained in section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants, we learn a little about the eternity of the marriage covenant. The Lord has revealed, that when a marriage is performed under the sealing ordinance which He has revealed, by persons who are appointed and ordained and authorized to seal on earth and it shall be sealed in heaven, that a union of that kind will extend beyond the grave; and that when death parts the individuals, the marriage is not dissolved, but continues and goes on, and if the parties are fit for it, worthy of it, it will be continued forever, and of the increase of their posterity there will be no end. There is something grand and glorious in this manifestation of light and intelligence from the Lord. When people have that real regard for each other which is true affection — I do not refer merely to that which is sometimes called love, and is merely passion — but when two souls, though perhaps not with "but a single thought," and two hearts which may not, perhaps incessantly "beat as one," are really united in spirit, loving each other, trusting each other, having confidence in each other, having that admiration for each other which comes from true respect and from a recognition of virtue and honor and everything that is good and great, and having the desire and disposition to pass by the weaknesses of mortal flesh, of human nature — those little failings that sometimes disturb the heart and the home, — I say when people ¶

are thus joined together in spirit, in addition to the sealing ordinance and ceremony which the Lord has instituted, there is something very hopeful, and encouraging and joyful in the thought that though death may part them, yet in the resurrection from the dead they shall come forth and enjoy the fulness of the blessings of the family relation. In the resurrection, the man will be a man, and the woman will be a woman, with all the faculties and powers with which the sexes are endowed, both of spirit and of body, the body being restored to the spirit, and the spirit to the body. These being living souls, — like Adam and Eve when united in the garden of Eden before death came into the world will go on, increasing in that affection, and love, and admiration, in power, and in dominion, and in the blessings of the family relation. This will continue forever, and there will be no more partings, because there will be no more death; sorrow and sighing will flee away, and happiness and joy will abound; and in the presence of God, the Father, and Christ, the Son, and holy beings of that order, they will associate in all things that are good, and great, and elevating, — and all eternity will be opened to them for exploration, and experience, and increase in that bliss that can only be had in an eternal state of existence. This is one of the glorious things revealed through the great prophet of the nineteenth century, of which the world was in ignorance, and on which the world, today, is in the dark. We should rejoice in the manifestations of the Lord in this as well as in a great many other respects. ¶

Now, in relation to this subject, I have heard some people, not only in the world but even among the Latter-day Saints, making a query as to the correctness of this doctrine because of a few words spoken by the Savior, when He was consulted by the Sadducees in regard to a woman who had a husband, and he died, and under the Mosaic code the deceased man's brother had to take that woman for his wife. She had a long experience in the marriage relation, for it appears that consecutively she had seven husbands. The Sadducees wanted to know what Jesus had to say in regard to this matter and, particularly, whose wife she would be in the resurrection. I think perhaps I had better read a few verses on this subject. You will find them in the 22nd chapter of Matthew, also in the 20th chapter of Luke. When you have time, read both together, because Luke uses a little different language from that which is employed by Matthew, but the ideas are the same. I shall commence at the 23rd verse : ¶

"The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, ¶

"Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. ¶

"Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: "Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. ¶

"And last of all the woman died also. ¶

"Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. ¶

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. ¶

"For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." ¶

Now, generally, when this matter ¶

is touched upon by persons who do not view the subject in the same light that we do, they simply quote this one verse : "For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." In reading the scriptures, whether the Old Testament or the New Testament, in order to understand them properly we should not take one isolated text, but read it in conjunction with the context, then we get the meaning of the writer or speaker. The Sadducees came to Jesus, as the Pharisees also did occasionally, tempting Him and trying to get Him into a tangle in His sayings ; but they did not succeed; to use a modern popular expression, He generally "came out on top." The Pharisees, on this occasion, were very much elated when they found the Sadducees had been turned down, and they came and congratulated Jesus on His replies. Now, he was speaking of the class of people to whom the Sadducees referred. Under the law of Moses marriage for eternity was not celebrated, except at the exceptional times when the Melchizedek priesthood was given to men on the earth, which we can read about in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 132. Therefore, the marriages under consideration were for time only, and those persons to whom Jesus Christ was referring, were, as we read in the 20th chapter of Luke, where the same subject is touched upon, "the children of this world," not the children of the kingdom. ¶

"The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage : But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage." Christ said further : "They are as the angels." What is the condition of the angels? According to the revelation that I have briefly referred to, they are those that are not worthy of that "far more and eternal, and exceeding weight of glory" that comes to those who obey the fulness of the gospel and receive the ordinances of the new and everlasting covenant, who are sealed for time and for all eternity on the earth, and their marriage is sealed in heaven. They, then, who are called "the angels," are "ministering spirits unto the heirs of salvation and exaltation." They are waiters upon those who are worthy of this "more exceeding weight of glory" — the exaltation that "continues the seeds forever and ever, wherein the Father is glorified ;" so that those who only obtain the position of the angels are not in the condition of those who obtain the greater blessing and exaltation. They come forth in the resurrection, according to that revelation to us, "in their saved condition, separately and singly ;" therefore, they are not numbered among the Gods, but among the angels, or those that minister unto and are messengers and servants of "the heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ." Now, you take these two chapters, that I refer to, together, and I think the matter will be made very clear to your minds. Jesus did not say, as some people imagine He did, that there is no marriage after the resurrection. You can't find it anywhere. I do not say, this morning, that marriages are solemnized in the resurrection state, but I do say that marriages can be performed on the earth by representatives of those who have passed away; and that these, being sealed by the holy spirit ¶

of promise, by him who is anointed, both for time and for all eternity, having the keys thereof, will stand good forever, and those for whom they are performed will receive the full benefits and blessings thereof. I say again that what I have read to you and what there is in other parts of the scripture, concerning this subject, do not convey the idea that there is no such thing as marrying and giving in marriage after the resurrection. All these affairs, of course, are in the hands of Him who knoweth all things. Thank God, there is one great Supreme Judge, and many things that may be done here on the earth, in the flesh, or left undone and neglected, can and will be supplied by the supreme judge of all, when necessity requires, and those who are worthy to enter into this great exaltation will find that a plan is prepared and that God, who is the Great Judge, will put all things right that may have been done wrong here on the earth. Many things may be performed here in ignorance, or with lack of experience, but the Lord will make it all up, in the future, to those who are worthy of obtaining this great exaltation. ¶

Now, I regret that there should be so many persons, eleven hundred persons, connected with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who have not been able or have neglected to obtain the benefits of this sealing ordinance. These grand Temples that have been erected according to a divine pattern revealed from heaven, are for the benefit of this people. I am glad that we have four of them ; I hope the time will come, and I have no doubt of it, when many more will be erected in different parts of this glorious land of Joseph, and even in other lands; when necessity requires they will be erected for the performance of ordinances for the living and for the dead, that the great work of the Millennium may go on, and the way be prepared for God to come and dwell among His people, and "wipe away all tears from their eyes." I would exhort my brethren and sisters who have influence among the people, particularly our brethren who are called to preside in the various wards and stakes of Zion, to instruct the Saints on these matters ; instruct the fathers and mothers as well as the young people upon the blessings and benefits of obtaining a proper ordinance of marriage, which is not merely till death parts them, but which will extend beyond the grave. This is an ordinance that will enter into the world behind the veil ; that will stand good and true before the Lord in the resurrection of the dead, when the man and the woman, separated by death, but who have been sealed by this sacred ordinance, shall come together again and stand at the head of their posterity ; and all of their posterity who are worthy will enter into that grand patriarchal order of family government, and, as I have said, of the increase thereof there will be no end. ¶

The Lord told Abraham about this matter when He showed him the stars by the gift and power of God, by which he could discern things something like God does Himself. Abraham beheld the multiplicity of worlds that the Father had created, as the Lord also showed Enoch. The Lord told Abraham that if he could count them, so he could count his seed; that his seed should be as numerous as the sands on the seashore, ¶

and as the stars of the heaven, for multitude. You cannot count them. The multiplicity of the posterity of those who enter into this grand order of family government, sealed on earth and sealed in heaven will go on forever, while the stars shine, while the throne of God endures ; while the glory of God, which is intelligence, continues to scintillate and be manifested among the myriads and hosts that inhabit the eternal worlds. This opens up a subject too broad and wide for me to enter into fully this morning; but I draw the attention of my brethren and sisters to this grand and solemn ordinance that God has instituted— the everlasting covenant; and those who have the opportunity to enter into it, and do not are under condemnation. A stronger term is used in the revelation — "then are they damned." Why? Because the end of their increase comes at death; their power and dominion at the head of a family ends when the grave yawns to receive their mortal bodies. But those who obey these ordinances, in the spirit and power thereof, arise when the Lord shall call them; they will be "Christ's at His coming," and He will call their sleeping dust to life, and they will be joined together, not only the spirit and the body be reunited, but the happy parents will come together again, as "Adam and Eve will stand at the head of a multitude, quickened and raised from the dead." Teach this to the Saints, and if they will not receive it, then they will have to suffer the consequences. ¶

Now, a few words in regard to a kindred subject, touched upon by President Smith; that is in regard to divorce ; for the questions of marriage and the question of divorce, particularly in these latter days, have to be viewed together. The president expressed his feelings that he had no objection if the Congress of the United States desire to take up this matter, but that they should legislate upon the whole question of marriage, forbidding plural marriage, if they wish to do so, establishing what shall be a legal marriage, if they desire, and showing in what manner that civil marriage can be dissolved by competent divorce. Now, what I wish to draw attention to, particularly, is this : There is an idea prevalent in the Christian world, and it obtains to some extent among us, that the Savior of mankind declared there could not be a proper divorce, except for one great sin. On that matter we must read the context as well as the text, in order to understand what he had to say concerning it. This time it was the Pharisees that came to Jesus Christ and asked Him a question. He made a reply, but his reply is only partly quoted, generally. Here is what is quoted: "And I say unto you, whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." That is taken in an isolated way and established as a rule — not that the Christian world carry it out, by any means ; but they point to it, and the great preachers of the times, in the various Protestant churches as well as in the Catholic church, hold to it as a principle — that a man or woman cannot be divorced properly, except for that one offense. Now, did Jesus say that? No, He did not. Here is what He said, as I will read to you: ¶

"The Pharisees also came unto him, ¶

tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? ¶

"And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, ¶

"And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? ¶

"Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. ¶

"They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? ¶

"He saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." ¶

Then He goes on with the words I have read to you, referring to the arbitrary rule which you can read in Deuteronomy twenty-fourth, in regard to putting away a wife. Moses said if a man married a wife, and he found some defilement in her, he could give her a writing and tell her to get out, give her a bill of divorcement and tell her to go away. That is what they were talking about, and Jesus Christ did not believe in that kind of thing; and, therefore, He said a man could not put away his wife except for one cause. That is not a question on the principle of divorce, when the decision is given by a civil or ecclesiastical tribunal. Jesus Christ did not say that a woman should be compelled to live with a man who is a brute, filled with all kinds of filthiness, who injures her and beats her ; or, if he does not use a club beats her in spirit till she is sore and wounded and distressed, and it is a misery for her to live with such a being. He did not say it was wrong that she should get a divorce ; He did not say that if she married a man who was vile, and drunken, and corrupt, a disgrace to humanity, that she should be compelled to live with him. Nothing of the kind. I might go on and describe conditions that exist in many married families, but I do not want to take up the time ; I merely want to call your attention to this fact, that in these passages which are so frequently quoted, Jesus Christ did not lay down any rule by which divorces should be obtained either in an ecclesiastical court or a civil court; He was talking to the question that was propounded to him, which was, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife "for every cause," as under the law of Moses, giving her a bill of divorcement and telling her to go away; and He pronounced against that. ¶

Under the law of God a man and woman should be joined together for all eternity, she to be bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, spirit answering to spirit, soul to soul, joined together with an eternal bond, to exist in life, in death, in the resurrection, and throughout the countless ages of eternity; this was the union at "the beginning;" that is the right kind of marriage, and the marriage that we Latter-day Saints should support and sustain and teach to our children, that they may enter into it prepared to gain the benefits thereof. But the power that can seal can unseal ; the power that can bind can loose, according to the eternal principles of right, and that power has been in the Church of Jesus Christ whenever it has been established. These things can be regulated in the Church under proper rules and regulations according to justice, mercy, equity, and truth. But in the quotation I have read, Christ was talking ¶

about the old Mosaic practice of a man putting away his wife, simply by giving her a bill of divorcement, he being the judge and the executor of his own decree. Christ taught a better law, and, thank the Lord, it has been revealed anew in the days in which we live. We have it written in the book of the Lord, in the Doctrine and Covenants, which we can read at our leisure. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I am thankful that I am connected with a Church in which the word of the Lord is declared, in which the counsels of God are made manifest, in which everlasting covenants can be entered into and sealed for time and for all eternity, which shall not be disrupted at death but shall be continued forever and ever, for the glory of God and the joy of His people. I bear my testimony to you, this morning, that I know this work is God's work. I know that He lives, that he is our Father, the Father of our spirits ; that our spirits are, in form, like unto Him, and our bodies have been made to conform to the spirit, under the laws of generation that God has established, to which there was no beginning, and of which there shall be no end. We have not sprung from the lower orders of creation ; we are the sons and the daughters of the living God. I bear testimony that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ and is the Christ, the Son of the living God, in body and in spirit; that He is our Redeemer, and that by obedience to His laws and commandments we shall go on through all eternity increasing in light, and knowledge, and bliss, and power, and dominion. I pray God to bless this congregation. I bear testimony that we are led today by the living oracles. The man who stands at the head succeeds to all the keys and powers and authorities revealed from God, through men who lived on the earth in the past, who restored their keys to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Every key and power restored by that means is held in the Church and vested in the man who now stands at the head. I bear testimony to his integrity, and his honor, and his truth, and his devotion to that which is good, which I have learned through long experience and acquaintance. I hold him up in my faith, in my prayers, in my acts and works, and I am glad to know that the great bulk of the Latter-day Saints do the same. God bless him and preserve him, that he may stand at our head for many years. God bless this work, that it may go forth to victory in every land and clime. I know that the efforts which are now being made to retard its progress will hasten it onward, will open the way by which thousands will be brought to investigate and come to a knowledge of the truth. The work of God shall prevail ; evil shall be overcome ; darkness shall be dispersed; and the rule and government and dominion of the Almighty shall be established from the rivers to the ends of the earth. God help us to be faithful and true in all things, to understand the truth as it is before Him, and walk in the light thereof, to do those things that we should do, and to leave undone those things that we ought not to do, to have no sins of omission any more than of commission; that we may gain the great exaltation in the presence of God our Father, through Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶

The popular hymn, "School thy feelings, O my brother," written by Elder Charles W. Penrose, was sung by Elder Horace S. Ensign, to appropriate music recently composed by Prof. George Careless. ¶