Veterans of the Church: The Eternal Union of Spirit and Body

veterans of the Church, veterans in the great latter-day work which the Lord has begun on the face of the earth, men of faith, men of honesty, men of honorable character and mind; men of virtue who have resisted the temptations and allurements of the world; tried men, men who have been placed in positions wherein their courage and their fidelity have been tested, and they have been worthy and have stood the trial and the struggle and, so far, have been able to overcome. Now they are getting prepared to enter into their rest so far as their bodies are concerned, to close their earthly career, and to enter upon a wider and higher sphere in the spirit, still to be engaged in the great latter-day work, the work of the dispensation of the fulness of times, only part of which can be accomplished on the earth in the flesh, a great deal of which has to be performed in a different sphere, in the spirit world, for the work of the Lord pertains to those who have departed as well as those who are remaining here on the earth in the body. They are His sons and daughters just the same when they have parted with their earthly forms, and have gone into the world behind the veil and all have to be prepared for the great events which lie before them, and all have to learn the mind and will of the great Father of all. ¶

This idea, which I merely repeat — nothing original about it nowadays, because the Lord has trained our minds in this direction for many years — this idea may be strange to some people, who take the notion that has been planted in their minds by false teachers for centuries, that this life, this stage of our existence, is the only one wherein man can receive the principles and doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, and that when death comes, that ends their opportunity. The Lord has revealed to us this is not true, that we are His sons and daughters whether in the body or out of the body; that He is our Father, the Father of our spiritual part, which is the most important part, not saying anything against the importance of the temporal part, for the body has to endure, its elements persist, and the time is to come when all persons who have lived in the body will have their earthly tenements revived. ¶

Now, it takes the eternal union of the spirit part and the physical and material part of man to be joined together in one so that he may be able to advance on all lines in the future. If we leave our bodies in the grave and they are restored to us no more, our existence will have to be entirely along the spiritual line — spirit without being joined to the body. But when the body is raised again, quickened by spirit and not by blood, raised up by the power of God, like the body of Jesus Christ was, and the body and the spirit are rejoined, and we have an eternal future before us, then we can draw from the highest heights and from the lowest depths of all parts of God's great universe everything that will contribute to joy, to pleasure, to progress and development, to knowledge, to wisdom, to power, and to dominion above all, if we have that glorious gift of celestial glory, the power of endless increase, worlds without end. And this is what we Latter-day Saints are after, ¶

what we are trying to get, this fulness of glory and joy and power and dominion ; in other words, to be made exactly like the Father. We read in the writings of the early apostles a great deal concerning this. The apostle John, for instance, in writing to the saints in his day, said : ¶

''Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." (I John 3:2, 3). ¶

There is the great lesson, my brethren and sisters, and friends. If we want to come into the. complete and perfect society of God, in His personality, to be where He is, to enjoy His company, His divine presence, His instructions, the joy that comes from looking upon His countenance, and feeling the influence that proceeds from Him who is our life, if we want that we have to be like Him. In this respect, to be pure, even as He is pure ; to keep His commandments; to ^walk in His ways ; to do that which He desires us to do. And this is the lesson that Jesus of Nazareth taught, in Flis example, in His life : "I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." That was His motto ; that should be ours. He left that to us "as an example, that we should follow in His steps ;" that we should be Christians. And if we really are Christians we will follow Christ; we will do that which He commanded, that which He came here to teach ; and as He gave His life for us, that we will value the atonement that He wrought out for us and show our appreciation for it by keeping His commandments. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." "Everyone that loveth Me doeth My word." ''He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings." That was what He declared, and so if we want to be real Christians we should find out what Christ taught, find out what He showed in His personality and character, that as He is we may be : that we may meet Him face to. face, that we may be one with Him in time and in eternity. ¶

We read in the writings of John, that He said on one occasion to His disciples : "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater, works than these shall he do, because I go unto Mv Father." (John 14:12).. What is the meaning of that? It is that he will not only do the works that Christ did while He dwelt in the flesh, those works that Christ performed when He dwelt in mortality, but that as He was going to the Father, they also would go to the Father; that when He went away from this earth, whatever He did then they would follow and do similar work, and as He was going to the Father, they also would go to the Father and be with the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and always be under their direction. They would be eternally progressing, obtaining light and wisdom and knowledge and power and eternal joy. When Christ died, so we Latter-day Saints have learned He went and preached to the spirits which were in prison. What spirits ? Why, we are told they were the spirits that were disobedient in the. days of Noah while the ark was preparing. Christ went and preached to them, "preached deliverance to those captives," "the opening of the prison to them that were bound ;" ¶

that He preached the Gospel to the dead, "that they might be judged like men in the flesh but live according to God in the spirit." When His disciples departed from the earth they followed in His footsteps and went and preached to the spirits that were in the spirit world that needed enlightenment and teaching. And so in the latter days, the Gospel having been restored in its fullness, and all the powers and authorities and gifts and blessings pertaining thereto having been restored with it, the authority of the Holy Apostleship and all the offices and ordinances of the Holv Priesthood, so when the servants of God depart in the latter days, they will follow in the footsteps of the Redeemer in times of old, and of Apostles in the earlier days and proclaim liberty to the captives. ¶

O, what a mighty host there must be in the spirit world who did not understand the Gospel of Christ! Think of the millions of heathen who never heard of Christ ! Think of the millions of the house of Judah, who have never believed in Christ, who have been trained up from their childhood to believe thai Jesus of Nazareth was an impostor and that their forefathers put Him to death properly, or aided in that great tragedy! Think of the millions of those people called "Christians" who have for ages been wandering in darkness and many of them sunk in corruptions and abominations ! Think of those whose blood has been shed in the wars between "Christian" nations, nation rising' against nation, and people against people, and each nation praying to God for strength and power and understanding to go forth and destroy the lives of other "Christians!" Where are they? Where are all these multitudes that have gone from the earth ? Has the spirit of man perished , with the body? Has the knowledge and understanding and wisdom and experience gained by dwelling in the flesh departed? Do wisdom and knowledge and understanding and experience and all the ties that have been formed between mortals go down into the grave and perish when the body is shuffled off, when the earthly tenement is taken away from the living spirit? No. Our reason tells us to the contrary, and revelation denies it and proclaims that man is immortal, that when he dies his body goes to the dust, but that some time in the great eternity that lies before us that body shall be resuscitated, that the essential, elements forming it and giving it peculiar identity shall be brought together again, by a natural process to God but something mysterious to us, and that like the body of the Redeemer, it shall be joined together with the spirit and the man shall stand up on his feet and be in a position to give account for the deeds done in the body. ¶

For man in spirit form, in his spirit nature, is an independent entity. It is an organized being, a son of God or a daughter of God, as the case may be, and in the spirit birth he obtained not only an eternal organization, but power and intelligence by which he can determine and understand light from darkness, truth from error, - and choose between that which is right and that which is wrong. In the Pearl of Great Price we read that God gave him that power. The Lord revealed to Moses in the beginning, when He made manifest to him how this earth came into being and how the various orders of earthly creations were ¶

formed in their time and season, each of the animal creation and of the vegetable, bearing seed within themselves to be reproduced of the same kind always, that before this took place there was a council in the heavens and the Lord says that He gave to His only begotten Son the right to come here and perform the work of redemption, a power that was coveted by the Evil One : ¶

"But, behold, My Beloved Son, which was My beloved and chosen from the beginning, said unto Me — Father, Thy will be done, and the glory be Thine forever." ¶

"Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against Me and sought to destory the agency of man which I, the Lord God had given him, and also, that T should give unto him Mine own power; by the power of Mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down." (Book of Moses, Chap. 4.) ¶

Here we read that that power of choice, the gift, the ability to understand right from wrong, to understand light from darkness, was given to the spirit of man by the Lord and He gave to him that agency, power in himself to choose the good and refuse the evil, to choose the light or the darkness as he willed. So because of that, man can be brought to judgment for the deeds that he performs, for he is not forced to do evil, neither is he forced to do right. The power of volition is in the spirit man and he brings it with him when he is born into the earthly sphere, and. so we can do good or do evil as we elect, and therefore we will be brought to judgment and every man will be judged according to the deeds done while in the body : according to his works, so will his future be determined. ¶

Now, to explain briefly, I will say that the Lord has revealed that there are various degrees of the conditions of mankind in the future, but all are to be raised from the dead — everyone without exception, the good and the evil, the old and the young, the rich and the poor, all races and colors and conditions of men. They die because of the transgression of one; they live again because of the righteousness of One who redeemed them I and when they are brought up again from the dead they shall all come forth in their own order; but there is the resurrection of those who are Christ's. Christ was the first fruit of them that slept; afterwards, the Apostle Paul says, "those who are Christ's at His coming. Who are they ? They are they who keep His commandments. They are they who are baptized unto Him in water and in the Spirit. They are they who follow Him. They are they that drink of the influence that comes from His presence ; who fight the good fight, who overcome, who are His in very deed. He will number up His jewels in that great day and they will be His at His coming, i [:e will call and they will answer ; and they will come forth in the first resurrection to inherit glory and immortality and eternal lives, which means endless increase. ¶

Then there is another class who will not come up until another gathering in the resurrection. The glory of the first is called the glory of the sun. Just to make it clear to our minds * it is called the glory of the sun because the sun appears to us as the greatest luminary in the heavens, although it is not so in reality, but it is to us. The next is the glory of the moon — honorable men of the earth who are blinded by the craftiness of men, people who would not receive the Gospel in the flesh but afterwards receive it. they come ¶

forth in that portion of the resurrection. And then there is an innumerable company who were corrupt and wicked, who rejected the truth and they were thrust down to hell ; the rebellious and the abominable, those who rejected light and truth, those who walked in the ways of darkness. They go down unto death, but the time will come when, through the atonement of Christ, and the preach- . ing of the truth and their willing; obedience to it in the spirit life, theyj will bow the knee to God and to* King Immanuel, and will be brought forth to come up in the resurrection which is called telestial, the glory of the stars ; and as one star differs from another star in glory, so also is this resurrection from the dead. But they will all be brought forth. ¶

There is one class which will be different from all the rest. They shall be brought forth, the Lord says, but they will go back into their own place. They would not receive that which they might have had ; they would not obey that which they might have obeyed. They received the light and the truth and then would not use it in the way that God had appointed. They would not go on unto perfection by keeping every word that proceeded from the mouth of God, but prostituted the power God had given them, to rise to the highest heights but sunk down to the lowest depths ; denying the truth revealed to them ; shedding innocent blood ; consenting to the death of Christ; thus sinning against the Holy Ghost and becoming so corcupt and abominable that they cannot be redeemed. But they shall be brought forth from the grave and become subject to the devil and his angels in eternity. What is their end we do not know ; nobody knows, the Lord says. Some people are inquiring about the end of these sons of perdition. The Lord says no man knows it, that the end thereof and the height and the extent and the depth thereof no man knoweth and if the Lord does reveal it to some He shuts up the vsion. What, then, is "the second death?" Why, the Lord tells us what that is in His revelation in the twenty-ninth section of the Doctrine and Covenants. It is eternal banishment from His presence. He is the source of light and truth and power and glory and happiness and joy and dominion and increase forever, of which they will all be deprived. Being shut right out from the light, these shall go away into outer darkness where no ray of light comes, spiritual or physical — no ray of light from sun or moon or twinkling star or even a comet ; to be in outer darkness, and no wonder there is "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth," to use the scripture expression. ¶

Now, brethren and sisters, and friends, we are here on the earth for a purpose. It is that we may learn the things that pertain to this lower world, that we may obtain a body through which we can become acquainted with these earthly elements and the laws that govern the earth on which we live and other planets of a similar character ; that we may face truth and error and choose the good and refuse the evil, or take the evil and refuse the good ; that we may be tested and proved to see what we shall be fit for in the future in the great future that lies before us all, and to form our family associations according to the mind and will of God, according to His law. And if we do so according to that law, it will be made perpetual— the wife sealed to the husband by the law that God has revealed will come forth in the resurrection, and they will be husband and wife forever, and the children of that union, if fit to come into that family circle, will be there, sharing with the parents in the joys and the glories of the celestial world. If not, then they will have to take that which justice shall deal out to them. After justice has had its course, mercy wil reach out its hand and rescue them from darkness and despair and from banishment, but the\ must go into the condition for which they have fitted themselves. There isn't time to enter into the detail of that; but here is a point that I wish to touch upon before sitting down, that is this : ¶

We are left to ourselves to a large extent. We can appeal to our Father and obtain His Spirit and by the power of that Spirit entering into our personalities we can conquer the lusts of the flesh, the powers of darkness, the evils of the world ; we can refrain from doing harm to our neighbor; we can cultivate the spirit of peace, which is the Spirit of God. We can avoid the troubles and strifes and wars that exist in the world, by being in communion and harmony with our great Creator, by obeying the Gospel and being baptized into Christ. If we put on Christ and follow in His footsteps and are imbued with His Spirit we shall be the children of peace, the children of humility, the children of obedience, seeking to God our heavenly Father to guide us in the right path. If we turn on the other road we may mingle with the world and become imbued with its spirit and go clown to darkness and death. ¶

Some may say : Well, why can't God stop all this? Why does He permit these evils to be here upon the earth ? They are a part of the present conditions of this world in which we live and the things that pertain to it. It was intended to be a world of trial and testing and proving. God could stop the wars that exist on the continent of Europe, but He permits them. Why? Because He will not interfere with the agency of man, that He gave him in the beginning before He gave it to our parents in the Garden Sf Eden and which we have inherited— power in ourselves, so that we may exercise this great gift of liberty, in freedom. He will not restrain us; He will not prevent us. Satan can't force us, but we walk in the ways of Satan when we yield to him, and we walk in the ways of God when we yield to Him, and we shall find when we get to understand all of God's purposes concerning this earth, and other worlds that He has created, that these intelligences which are born of Him are placed in these opposing conditions that they may manifest what they are fit for in the great future, and a place will be found for everyone and everyone will find his place in the vast Eternity to which we are all hastening. ¶

And now here, today, we have this power within ourselves; and if w.e will exercise it for right, right will come to us. If we seek after the good, good will come to us. If we reach up to the Eternal Father for His light and guidance and power it will come to us. If we yield to the power of that Evil One and walk in the ways of the wicked and yield ourselves to sin and are imbued with the spirit of the Adversary, then we will go down to darkness and to death.. It is our duty and our privilege, and it should be our pleasure and joy, to do the will of the Father, ¶

to keep His commandments, to walk in His ways. And these good men whom I alluded to in the beginning of my remarks who have fought the good fight so long, let them take care that in their latter days they do not wander into darkness and go down to death and lose the gift and power and glory that shall come to the Saints of God. but endure faithful to the end. ¶

Let us continue, my brethren and sisters, in this grand and glorious work to which God has called us. I know that He has called us today; that He raised up Joseph Smith in the Nineteenth century to introduce and usher in this grand and mighty latter-day work in which we have labored so long. Now, let us continue while we have strength and power and ability and endure to the end of our earthly career, and then when we pass away we will have a wider sphere, greater works to perform than we had while we dwelt in the flesh. We shall be rid for the time being of that which drew us down to the earth by the law of gravitation. We will mount up to the spirit world, and we will carry the Gospel to countless millions of the once inhabitants of the earth, and in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ we will walk always until the resurrection day shall dawn, and in the glorious morning thereof we shall come forth, clothed with power and glory and immortality and eternal lives, and with our loved ones gathered around us we will go right into the family of our Eternal Father, and while endless ages roll along we will glorify God and keep His laws and walk in Flis ways and obtain power and dominion forever. May God bless us and enable us to be faithful in all things and do our duty in every respect. Let us hearken to the counsel that we have had today from our President and our brethren, and perform our duties faithfully and untiringly and we shall have joy therein while we live, power and glory when we depart, and in the eternal future we shall tie come one with God and Christ and the Holy Ones forever. Amen. ¶