The Elements Eternal

I feel very thankful today for the many blessings bestowed upon me. In the first place I thank the Lord for preserving my lite and giving me the opportunity of gathering with the Saints in this confererence, especially that I had the pleasure and privilege of listening to the discourse delivered by the President of the Church — so timely and with so much fervor and strength of body and of spirit. I rejoice in the progress that President Grant has made since he was chosen and set apart as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ¶

I am thankful to a large number of my friends, whom I have not had the privilege of communicating with since the celebration of my ninetieth birth-day, when so large a gathering met in this house and paid me so many gracious compliments, and for the letters of congratulation that I have received from all points of the compass, from different lands, from friends — I won't say foes — but persons not connected with the Church, many of them to my great surprise and all to my satisfaction, and I take this public opportunity of returning thanks to those who have conimunicated with me on this matter. ¶

The Lord has been good to me all my days and especially since he opened the eyes of my understanding so^ that I was able to see the truth and the beauty of his great latter-day work — a blessing that does not now come to all people. It will, I presume, in the eternities that lie before us, when the time comes that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that willingly and freely of their own choice and to the glory of our heavenly Father. ¶

THE ELEMENTS ETERNAL ¶

The light of the Lord shines always, even in the darkness, although the darkness comprehendeth it not, but there is a light that proceeds from the presence of the Son of Righteousness and goes throubout all the immensity of space. Of course it cannot "fill" space, because space cannot be filled, as there is no outside to it, but throuhgout "the immensity of space," the Lord has revealed, that this light that com*eth ¶

from Him, which is "in all things and through all things, and round about all things and is the law by which all things are governed," and by which he created all things, both spiritual and temporal, using the word temporal after the manner of our speech, for all things are eternal to Him and therefore spiritual is not always in force. ¶

Everything that is organized, of course had a beginning, and so, in the nature of things, its beginning was when it was organized, but the beginning of all substance is nowhere and is not. The elements of all things spiritual and physical, are eternal in their nature and our bodies which had a beginning when they were organized, when they were born into this world, as far as the body is concerned, had a beginning ; but, according to the word of the Lord, the essence or substance, whether we call it spiritual or physical, is eternal in its nature, as are1 light and truth and power and justice; all those eternal verities had no beginning and certainly will never have an end, but they come to beings when they are ready to receive them, according to their organization. Jesus of Nazareth tells us in his own words that he was "in the beginning with the Father," not as Jesus of Nazareth, not as the Son of the Virgin Mary, but as the First-born of every creature, as he is named by his ancient Apostles. He was in the beginning with the Father, was "the First-born," and we also, He says, "were in the beginning with the Father ; that which is spirit," that part of us which is spirit, wjas in the beginnning with God. We had our beginning as persons, as individuals, as the sons and daughters of God, when we were organized or created or begotten, whichever term you like to use. ¶

WE SHOULD NOT GO BEYOND WHAT THE LORD HAS REVEALED ¶

Now, all these things ought to be very plain to us from what we have learned by revelation from God, and we need not try to go further back than the period spoken of in the revelations of God, and speculate about ourselves and our fellows. We are living in a time, in our Church, of a great deal of speculation, of imagination, of desire to go beyond what the Lord has revealed, both as to that which precedes our present state and that which is to follow us in our future condition, but the Lord stands in our midst, and he is our Father, he is the God that we worship. The very first article of our faith, as made known and arranged by the Prophet Joseph Smith, is that : ¶

"We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in his Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost." This is a simple statement of the persons in whom we believe and whom we revere as we are commanded to do. God' our eternal Father is the Father of Jesus Christ and is the Father of Adam, or rather Michael, the name of that person before he came in the flesh. There is nothing new in what I am saying; it is all very old to me, and to members of the Church who have investigated the latter-day work from the revelations of God. Now, this ought to be clear to all our minds, and yet, among some of the classes in the Priesthood and in our Sunday school classes, and other organizations, some disputes arise. There shouldn't be any; there is no need for it. I would not try to limit the thoughts of men, nor their progress in understanding the things of God and the things of man. I believe in eternal progression, but when the Lord has revelaed something very plain and simple to us, we should take that for granted and let that be sufficient for us until he reveals something further. ¶

WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF THE DAY OF REVELATION ¶

I do not mean to say that the day of revelation is past- We are in the midst of it ; we have the spirit of revelation in the Church. It was by that spirit that we heard that splendid discourse this morning, by which it was spoken and by which we understood it. I hope all of us did understand. I hope that all who are here this afternoon were hire this morning and heard that discourse, and if not, I hope that when it is published they will all read it and understand it. Jesus taught that lesson, you know, when' he was on the earth. "Whoso readeth let him understand," and we Latter-day Saints should all understand the things of God alike as he has revealed them. We may not have the same degree of light upon these matters, but we should have the same light and come to the same understanding in all things that are essential ; and one of the essentials of our faith is that we believe in God, the eternal Father, and it is He whom we worship; it is to Him that we pay deference and reverence, and all revelation, whether it comes through Jesus Christ or from any of the prophets of God, comes from Him. Sometimes men are endowed with authority to use His name and speak for Him, and Jesus Christ is one of them, He is "The Word." ¶

GOD THE ETERNAL FATHER OVER ALL ¶

President Grant quoted this morning the word of the Father to the Prophet Joseph, in the grove, when he prayed to God that he might learn which was the true religion. The Father, turning, said, "This is my beloved Son, hear Him." That is the word of God to all the world and was so from the beginning; the word comes through the Son, sometimes from Him through living prophets, sometimes by the mouths of angels, and when it comes in that way, authority is bestowed to use the sacred name of the Savior and of the Eternal Father. One of the ancient prophets whose writings are in the New Testament, said, "If any man cometh unto God, he must believe that he is, and that he is a revvarder of those who diligently seek him." That is quite an important point. He is a being, a personality, an individual, as we were told this morning, and He made man in His own image, and likeness That is very clear and plain to us if we will take it as it stands. We are in the image and likeness of God the Father, and Jesus Christ was His express image and likeness, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. Sometimes, in any family, there is one ¶

person in the express image of the father or the mother. The relationship between him and the first parent on earth, the father of our bodies — Adam is our father — can be read in the 107th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. We are told there that a few years before his death, Adam gathered together his posterity, who were in the faith, (some of them went out of the faith) but all those who were in the Lord and were high priests, met in the Valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and Adam arose in the midst of the congregation and blessed his children and predicted what would befall them to their latest generations, and the Lord appeared and He blessed Adam and said, "See, I have placed thee at the head ; a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever." And they called him Michael, the prince, the archangel. That was his station before he came here. When he came here as Adam, he was the son of God, and God was over him and he, Adam, prayed to the Eternal Father as we do. I merely mention that because there are some disputes in regard to the personality of Adam before he came into the body. The Lord said he was Michael, the archangel, and He, the Father, set him here at the head of His race to which we belong. He is "our father, Adam," and as Adam's body was of the dust of the earth, this earth on which we live, it had to return to dust because of his transgression. ¶

THE REDEEMER'S NAME IS JESUS CHRIST ¶

Now, in regard to the second individual spoken of in the first article as the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Some of us have adopted the habit of saying "the Christ , "He is all th at, but He is named Jesus Christ ; that is His name. In the 18th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Savior there, Himself reveals to us that His name, the name that was given to Him of the Father, is Jesus Christ. He is the anointed ; He is the Redeemer; He is the Savior ; but His name is Jesus Christ ; and when you say "in the name of Jesus" you only use half of His name. Now just understand that wc are commanded of the Lord, Jesus Christ, (o do all things in His name and that is the name given Him of the Father and "the only name under heaven whereby man can be saved." ¶

This is what we preach to all the world, go out in our missions to preach to all the world, that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the Virgin Mary, was the Son of God in the flesh and that he was also the Son of God, the First-born in the spirit, and his name is to be preached and the name is Jesus Christ. A great many of us, when we pray and are a little careless, say, "In the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶