Truth never Changes Volume 12, Number 5

TRUTH NEVER CHANGES

A PUBLICATION IN THE SPIRIT AND TRADITON OF TRUTH MAGAZINE

Y VOLUME 12    NOVEMBER  2009   NUMBER 05 Y

BRIGHAM YOUNG'S

OCTOBER 8, 1854 DISCOURSE

The following discourse (found in the church archives) is taken from a hand-written transcript recorded by Brigham Young's scribe, George D. Watt.  It was acclaimed by those who heard it as "the greatest sermon that ever was delivered to the Latter-day Saints since they have become a people" (Wilford Woodruff Journal, Oct. 8, 1854).  The Journal of the Southern Indiana Mission hails it as "a discourse equaled by none."

Because it was delivered at general conference its message was intended to be general instruction for the church membership at large:

I purpose to speak on a subject that does not immediately concern yours or my welfare.

IN THIS ISSUE: DISCOURSE OF BRIGHAM YOUNG………………..81 PLURAL MARRIAGE AFTER THE MANIFESTO, PART II………..…………………….92 A PROPHECY & BLESSING……………………….…98 EDITORIAL…………………………………………….100

I expect that in my remarks I shall allude to things that you search after as being absolutely necessary for your salvation in the Kingdom of God. It is true that if you are faithful and diligent, they are things that will fully be made known to you in due time-at the proper time, according to the will of the Lord. But so many among us are preaching, lecturing, and conversing about things away beyond our reach; sometimes I wish to gratify the people by speaking on these subjects. For I think upon them as well as you; I meditate upon the future and past as well as you, and I now gratify myself by gratifying the people.

In the first place, I wish to say to all men and women who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Bible, and in the revelations that have been given at sundry times from the days of Adam to the present, I request that I may have your faith and prayers united with mine that whatever the Lord is pleased to give to the Latter-day Saints through your humble servant this afternoon, He may give it, and that He does not wish to give He may retain, and keep from you. I make this request of the Saints for this reason; I know by my experience, by the visions of eternity that God reveals things to individuals that does not belong to the Church at present, or that does not yet belong to the Mass. That I know.

It is natural for the people to desire that which is not beneficial to them. It is so in temporal things, and it is so in things that are spiritual. That I know.

Again, the Lord blesses His people with temporal things in abundance, and wishes to bless them with knowledge and understanding that is not for the world of mankind who do not believe him. That I also know.

 I may say things this afternoon that does not belong to the world. What if I do? I know the Lord is able to close up every person's mind who have eyes but see not, hearts but do not understand; so I may say what I please with regard to the Kingdom of God on the Earth, for there is a veil over the wicked that they cannot understand the things that are for their peace.

Jesus said at one time, "It is not meet to take the children's bread and give it to the dogs."  This saying applies to all the dispensations that have been brought forth to the children of men from the days of Adam until now.

I wish the congregation to understand in connection with my sayings thus far, that the Latter-day Saints believe in God the Father, in Jesus Christ His son, in the Holy Ghost, God's minister, and in the Celestial Law, or, in other words, the ordinances of the House of God, which, if obeyed, are calculated to save intelligent beings, exalt them, and bring them back into the presence of their God.

I will tell you what I believe still further than this; though I do not pretend to say that the items of doctrine, and ideas I shall advance are necessary for the people to know, or that they should give themselves any trouble about them whatever. I believe in the eternities of worlds, saints, angels, kingdoms, and gods: In eternity without beginning. I believe the gods never had a beginning, neither the formation of matter, and it is without end; it will endure in one eternal round, swimming in space, basking, living, and moving in the midst of eternity. All the creations are in the midst of eternity, and that is one eternity, so they move in one eternal round.

Consequently, when you hear philosophers argue the point how the first god came, how intelligence came, how worlds came, and how angels came, they are talking about that which is beyond conception; about that which never was, and never will be worlds without end. It manifests their folly. It shows they know nothing of such matters; and if they know some things they have a right to know, there are things they have no right to know. This applies to all classes of mankind.

These are my views with regard to the Gods and Eternities. Do you wish that I should particularize?

Then, can you by process of reasoning or argument, tell whether it was an apple that bore the first seed of an apple, or an apple seed that made the first apple? Or, whether it was a seed of a squash that made the first squash, or a squash that bore the first squash seed? Such abstruse questions belong to the philosophy of the world; in reality there never was and never will be a time when there was not both the apple and the apple seed.

(You must be patient with me, as I am not well enough to preach to such a large congregation in the open air, and labor onward without cessation; you must allow me to take my own time.)  I will proceed a little further in my preliminaries before I commence my subject.

Inasmuch as I have taken the ground that there never was a beginning, nor end - I wish to say further; there is an eternity of elements, and an eternity of space and there is no space without a kingdom; neither is there any kingdom without a space. Were the best mathematician to multiply figures from the time he first commenced to learn at five or ten years of age, until he is one hundred years old, or until he has exhausted the capacity of figures known to man, he can then tell no more about the number of creations of God in comparison than a mere child who knows nothing whatever of figures. There is no beginning, no end; there is no bounds, no time, when the elements will cease to be organized into bodies with all the variety you have a faint specimen of on this Earth.

There are philosophers who believe that this Earth upon which we stand has been in existence for millions of ages. I wish to advance a few items that will open the minds of these philosophers, that they may be well instructed scribes who treasure up in their hearts the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, the Principles of Eternity. Those who wish to be taught eternal principles, and become true philosophers, their minds can reach forth into the unlimited fields of eternity and still discover no end to the boundless expanse, and to its fullness.

There is no necessity of creating a world like this, and keeping it in one unalterable state or condition for the express purpose of bringing intelligent beings upon it, while there is an eternity of matter yet to be organized; and when we have lived as long as the best mathematicians among you can figure by millions, billions, trillions of years, and when you have exhausted all your wisdom and knowledge and figures, you are then in the midst of eternity where you began.

A true philosopher wishes to grow, and increase continually; he wishes his mind to expand and reach forth, until he can think as God thinks; as angels think, and behold things as God beholds them.

You recollect I told you in the commencement, I should talk about things that did not particularly concern you and me; but the people want to hear something in advance of their present knowledge; they want to find out if there is anything more for us to learn. When you have lived through eternities to come, learning continually, you may then inquire, "Brother Brigham, is there anything more for me to learn." My reply to such an inquiry would be, yes, there is an eternity of knowledge yet to learn.

Search after wisdom, get knowledge and understanding, and forget it not; and be not like the fool whose eyes are in the ends of the Earth, or like the misers who are around us here; they are so craving and anxious after property, that if they saw a picayune on the wall opposite me here, they would run over forty dollars to secure that picayune; their eyes are on earthly riches to the neglect of the riches that are more enduring.

There are a great many persons who are so anxious to learn about eternity, gods, angels, heavens, and hells, that they neglect to learn the first lessons preparatory to learning the things they are reaching after. They will come short of them.

I wish to speak a few words about the Bible as I have hinted at it. The Ordinances of the Kingdom of God on the Earth are the same to the children of Adam from the commencement to the end of his posterity pertaining to the carnal state on this Earth, and the winding up scene of this mortality. With regard to the Bible; we frequently say, we believe the Bible, but circumstances alters cases, for what is now required of the people may not be required of a people that may live a hundred years hence. But I wish you to understand, with regard to the ordinances of God's House to save the people in the Celestial Kingdom of our God, there is no change from the days of Adam to the present time, neither will there be until the last of his posterity is gathered into the Kingdom of God.

Those who are not acquainted with our doctrine are astonished, and say, "That is strange indeed; we thought no such thing as preaching Faith, Repentance, and Baptism was practiced in ancient, or Old Testament times." I can tell you that no man from the days of Adam, no woman from the days of Eve to this day, who have lived, and who are now living upon the Earth will go into the Kingdom of their Father and God, to be crowned with Jesus Christ, without passing through the same Ordinances of the House of God, you and I have obeyed. I wish you distinctly to understand that.

There are many duties, and callings spoken of in the scriptures, and there are many not written, those for instance which are handed out to you by your President as circumstances require. Those imposed by the President of the Church of God, or by the president of any portion of it, are duties as necessary to be observed as though they were written in the Bible; but these requirements, duties, and callings change with the circumstances that surround the people of God. But when you speak of the system of Salvation to bring back the children of Adam and Eve into the presence of our Father and God, it is the same in all ages, among all people, and under all circumstances, worlds without end. Amen.

I think these preliminaries will satisfy me, and I feel prepared to take my text; it is the words of Jesus Christ, but where they are in the Bible I cannot tell you now, for I have not taken the pains to look at them. I have had so much to do, that I have not read the Bible for many years. I used to be a Bible student; I used to read and study it, but did not understand the spirit and meaning of it; I knew well enough how it read. I have read the Book of Mormon, the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and other revelations of God which He has given to His people in latter times; I look at them, and contrast the spirit and power of them with my faithfulness. My clerks know how much time I have to read, it is difficult for me to snatch time enough to eat my breakfast and supper, to say nothing of reading. I tell you my text is in the Bible and reads as follows. "And this is Life Eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."  I will now put another text with this and then offer a few remarks; it is one of the sayings of Paul. "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in Earth, (as there be gods many and lords many) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."  This God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of our spirits. I feel inclined to make a little scripture. (Were I under the necessity of making scripture extensively, I should get Brother Heber C. Kimball to make it, and then I would quote it. I have seen him do this when any of the Elders have been pressed by their opponents, and were a little at a loss; he would make a scripture for them to suit the case, that never was in the Bible, though none the less true, and make their opponents swallow it as the words of an Apostle, or one of the Prophets. The Elder would then say, "Please turn to that scripture, gentlemen, and read it for yourselves." No they could not turn to it, but they recollected it like the devil for fear of being caught.)  I will venture to make a little scripture. This God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ precisely as He is our Father-varying from mortality to immortality, from corruptible to incorruptible, and that is all the difference. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, both body and spirit; and He is the Father of our spirits. You may add these words to it, or let it alone, it is all the same to me, that He is not only the Father of our spirits, but also of our flesh, He being the founder of that natural machinery through which  we all have obtained our bodies.

Do you wish me to simplify it? Could you have a father without having a grandfather; or a grandfather without having a great grandfather? I never heard of but one circumstance that varied from this rule, and that was a son of the Emerald Isle who said he was born of one of his aunts.

Does this unlock to your understandings how the Lord Almighty is our natural Father? He set the great machine to working. If you cannot see this truth now, you will if you are faithful, and patient.

I will now quote another scripture: "And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the Earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations."  From these words we understand that God has made of one blood all the inhabitants that are upon the Earth -all that has been, and that will be in the future will be of the same blood as those that have been. Do you believe that scripture? I do with all my heart. I believe we are all of one flesh, blood, and bones. We are made of the same matter, the same elements, we have sprung from one mother, Earth.

Matter was brought together from the vast eternity that exists, and this terra firma upon which we stand was organized, then comes the world of mankind, the beast, fishes, fowls, and every living thing to dwell upon the Earth after its kind; and the vegetation of every kind to support animal life on it, until the organization of this world was perfected in all its variety; being brought from the eternity of matter, and prepared for intelligent beings to dwell upon, wherein to prepare themselves to dwell eternally in the presence of their Father and God. Those who keep this their second estate, and do honor to their being, and answer the design of their creation, shall be exalted to inhabit the earth, and live upon it when it shall be Celestial, and brought back into the presence of God, there to dwell forever and ever.

Before I proceed any further, I will ask a question. And I would like you men, and women of intelligence, to understand and watch well, to see if I keep the thread of truth, whether I preach to you according to the law, and the testimony, according to the words of the Prophets, of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and according to the words of angels. Mark ye well my sayings, and see if you can pick any flaw in them. If you think you can so do, when you come to the proper place to be corrected, you may then receive instructions that will do you good. The question I wish to ask is simply this; and I put it to all the Elders of Israel, and to all the men and women of intelligence in Israel which pertains to the Kingdom of God on Earth; and if the whole world were before me I would ask them the same question. Can any man, or set of men officiate in dispensing the laws, and administering the ordinances of the Kingdom of God, or of the kingdoms and governments of the world legally, without first obeying those laws, and submitting to those ordinances themselves.

Do you understand me? If a foreigner wishes to become a citizen of the United States he must first become subject to this government; must you not first acknowledge and obey the laws of this government? Certainly you must.

Then, to apply this to the Kingdom of God on Earth, and ask if any man has the power, the influence, the right, the authority, to go forth and preach this gospel, and baptise for the remission of sins unless he himself has, in the first place, been baptised, ordained and legally called to that office? What would the Elders of Israel and every other sensible man say to this? They would decide at once with me, that no man can lawfully officiate in any office in the Kingdom of God, or in the government of men, he has not been called to, and the authority of which has not been bestowed upon him. I am not going to talk a thousand things to you, but I wish to tell you a few, and desire you to understand them, and connect them together.

There are a few more questions I would like to ask, for the simple reason of bringing the minds of the people to bear upon certain items of principle, and the philosophy of the Kingdom of God on Earth, that they may know how heavenly things are. But I will pass on, and notice some of the texts I have quoted. Before I proceed, however, I will put one more question, at the same time I wish you to bear in mind the one I have just asked, Do not forget that no man has authority to officiate in the ordinances of heavenly or earthly governments only so far as he has obeyed them himself. Now, to know the only wise God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, will put the man, woman, congregation, or nation in possession of Eternal Life. Are the hearts of the Latter-day Saints prepared to have Eternal Life given to them en mass, and say that there shall be no more apostasy, but bring them all up that they may know and understand the Gods, Eternities, Creations, Heavens, Hells, Kingdoms, Thrones, Principalities, and Powers? It cannot be done.  The sheep and the goats are together, the wheat and the tares are growing together; the good and the bad are mixed; and they must so remain until the time when Jesus Christ will say: "gather the sheep into my fold; gather my wheat into my garner, and let the tares, and chaff, and stubble, be burned."  That is not yet. Now if you believe what you have heard me say you will believe that there is lords many, and gods many; and you will believe that unto us, the inhabitants of this Earth there is but one God with whom we have to do; and according to the tenor of the Bible, we believe that there are many, very many who have entered into Power, Glory, Might, and Dominion, and are gathering around them Thrones, and have power to organize elements, and make worlds, and bring into existence intelligent beings in all their variety, who if they are faithful and obedient to their calling and creation will in their turn be exalted in Eternal Kingdoms of the Gods. Do you believe that? You and I have only one God to whom we are accountable, so we will let the rest alone, and search after the one we have to do with; let us seek diligently after Him, the very being who commenced this creation. (asked blessing on bread)

We will now make our inquiries with regard to our position with the God with whom we have to do. You will please recollect all ye Elders in Israel; for I want you to be instructed by my remarks, that you may not fall into errors, that you have tested the question in your own minds with regard to the rights of officiating in ordinances. Now I wish to ask you if you have any conception or idea as to the creation of the world? "Oh, yes," you reply, "A great many of us have a tolerable idea of it, but still there are mysteries we do not understand; there are some things in the Bible about the creation that seem to be dark: we have learned some things in this Kingdom we do not understand, and that do not correspond with the reading of the Bible." Let me open the eyes of your understanding.

There has never been a time when the creations of worlds commenced; they are from eternity to eternity in their creations and redemption. After they are organized they experience the good and the evil; the light, and the dark, the bitter and the sweet, as you and I do. There never was a time when there were not worlds  in existence as this world is, and they pass through similar changes in abiding their creation preparatory to exaltation. Worlds have always been in progress, and eternally will be.

Every world has an Adam, and an Eve: named so, simply because the first man is always called Adam, and the first woman Eve; and the Oldest Son has always the privilege of being Ordained. Appointed, and Called to be the Heir of the Family, if he does not rebel against the Father; and he is the Savior of the family. Every world that has been created, has been created upon the same principle. They may vary in their varieties, yet the eternity is one eternal round. These are things that scarcely belong to the best of this congregation. There are items of doctrine, and principles, in the bosom of eternity that the best of the Latter-day Saints are unworthy to receive. If the visions of their minds were opened to look into the vast creations, and gaze upon the Power, and Glory, and Goodness, and Exaltation of the Gods they would exclaim; "Wo is me, I am undone, I am of unclean lips."

But we will look at it a little. Do any of you know anything about the creation of this world? "Oh yes, I understand a good deal about it from the account given in the Bible." So you read in the Bible of there being three persons in one god; many religionists in the world believe in a three-in-one god, however I do no wish to spend time to deliberate upon the notions adopted by the sectarians, the world is full of them. There are lords many and gods many according to the Bible; it does not contradict the doctrine, neither can you find a single passage that does away with that idea.

But let us turn our attention to the God with which we have to do. I tell you simply, He is our Father; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Father of our spirits. Can that be possible? Yes, it is possible. He is the Father of all the spirits of the human family.

All things are first made spiritual, and brought forth into His kingdom. The spirits of all the human family were begotten by one Father. Now be watchful, for if I have time, and feel able, I shall communicate something with this you are not expecting. Yes, every son and daughter of Adam according to the flesh can claim one parentage; the Heathen, and the Christian, the Jew and the Gentile, the high and the low, the king and the beggar, the black and the white, all who have sprung from Adam and Eve have one father. "Then you make it out we are brethren and sisters." Certainly for the whole human family are made of one blood of the same material; the are all begotten and brought forth by one parentage, and from one generation to another they are of one flesh and blood, and of one kindred. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father of our spirits.

I began at the end, and shall probably finish at the beginning of my discourse; but it is no matter which end a man begins at, for the first shall be last and the last first; which proves it is one eternal round; it is one eternity. Eloheim looks round upon the eternity of matter, and said to His associates, and those that He was pleased to call upon at that time for His counselors, with regard to the Elements, Worlds, Planets, Kingdoms and Thrones; said He: "Yahovah Michael, see that Eternal Matter on all sides, this way and that way; we have already created Worlds upon Worlds, shall we create another World? Yes, go and organize the elements in yonder space" -not empty space for there is no such thing, once in a while, earth quakes, and the extensive destruction of combustible matter by fire will come nigh to making empty space for perhaps the millionth part of a second- "Yahovah Michael, go and create a world, make it, organize it, form it; and then put upon it everything in all the variety that you have seen, that you have been in the habit of being associated with in other worlds, of beasts, birds, fowls, fish, and every insect, and creeping thing,  and finally, when the whole eternity of element is full of life, bring it together and make of it living creatures."

Yahovah Michael goes and does as he is told. What I am now going to tell you, will no doubt astonish the whole of you. When Yahovah Michael had organized the world, and brought from another kingdom the beasts, fish, fowl, and insects, and every tree, and plant with which we are acquainted, and thousands we never saw -when He had filled the Earth with animal and vegetable life- Michael or Adam goes down to the new made world, and there he stays.

Do you suppose he went there alone? Moses made the Bible to say his wife was taken out of his side, was made of one of his ribs. I do not know anything to the contrary of my ribs being equal on both sides. The Lord knows if I had lost a rib for each wife I have, I should have none left long ago. Some try to say  how many wives the Governor of Utah has, but if they can tell, they can tell more than I can, for I do not know how many I have; I have not counted them up for many years. I heard that I had ninety. Why, bless your souls, ninety is not a beginning. You might ask me if I have ever seen them all; I answer no; I see a few of them I pick up myself here. I have lots, and scores I never see nor shall not until the morning of the resurrection.

Now about the rib. As for the Lord taking a rib out of Adams side to make a woman of,  He took one out of my side just as much.

"But Brother Brigham, would you make it appear that Moses did not tell the truth?"

Not a particle more than I would that your mother did not tell the truth, when she told you that little Billy came from a hollow toad stool. I would not accuse your mother of lying, any more than I would Moses; the people in the days of Moses wanted to know things that was not for them, the same as your children do, when they want to know where their little brother came from, and he answered them according to their folly, the same as you did your children.

Now some will be ready to say, "We always heard these Mormons did not believe the Bible." I believe all the truth that is there and that is enough for me, and for you to believe.

"Then the Lord did not make Adam out of the dust of the earth."

Yes he did, but I have not got to that part of my discourse yet. Adam was made of the dust of the earth.

"Was he made of the dust of this earth."

No, but of the dust of the earth whereon he was born in the flesh; that is the way he was made; he was made of dust.

"Did the Lord put into him his spirit?"

Yes, as the Lord put into you your spirit, he was begotten of a father, and brought forth as you and I were; and so are all intelligent beings brought forth from eternity to eternity. Man was not made the same as you make an adobe and put in a wall. Moses said that Adam was made of the dust of the ground, but he did not say of what ground. I say he was not made of the dust of the ground of this Earth, but he was made of the dust of the earth where he lived, where he honored his calling, believed in his Saviour, or Elder Brother, and by his faithfulness was redeemed, and obtained a Glorious Resurrection. All creatures that dwell upon this Earth are made of the elements that compose it; which are organized to see if they will abide their creation, and be counted worthy to receive a resurrection.

"What, every flesh?"

Yes, every flesh, for all flesh pertaining to this world is made of the dust of this Earth; it is made from the same material, according to the will and pleasure of Him who dictates all things. Our bodies are composed of the same material that composes this Earth; they are composed of water, air, and solid earth, either of which will resolve back to their native fountain.

How many elements there are I do not know any more than you. They have never all been classified by science, though scientific gentlemen have tried to do it.

I tell you more: Adam is the Father of our spirits. He lived upon an earth; he did abide his creation, and did honor to his calling and Priesthood. He obeyed his Master or Lord, and probably many of his wives did the same; they lived and died upon an earth, and then were resurrected again to Immortality and Eternal Life.

"Did he resurrect himself?" you inquire. I want to throw out a few hints upon the resurrection as it seems to come within the circuit of my ideas whether it ought to come within the circuit of my remarks or not. I believe we have already acknowledged the truth established that no person can officiate in any office he has not been subject to himself and legally appointed to fill. That no person in this Kingdom can officiate in any ordinance he himself has not obeyed; consequently no being who has not been resurrected possesses the Keys of the Power of Resurrection. That you have been told often. Adam, therefore, was resurrected by someone who had been resurrected.

I will go a little further with this lest some of you will be querying, doubting and philosophizing this away. It is true that Jesus said, "I lay down my life and take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again."  I doubt not the power of Christ; but did he prove that in his resurrection? No. But it is proved that an angel came and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and did resurrect the body of the Son of God.

"What angel was this?"

It is not for me to say. I do not know him. If I ever did know him it is so long since I have entirely forgotten who it was. That Jesus had power to lay down his life, and power to take it up again I do not dispute.  Neither do I dispute, but what an angel came, that was sent by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to roll away the stone from the sepulchre, and resurrect the Son of God. Suffice it to say that he was some character who had himself been resurrected.

 "Is there any further proof with regard to this sacred order of the Kingdom of God on the Earth?"

 Oh yes, you can find it in the scriptures. For instance, when the Saviour appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road, in answer to the question, "Lord what will you have me do," he was told to go into the city of Damascus, and it should be told him there what to do. In the meantime, one Ananias was sent to him, who Baptized and Ordained him.

Jesus would not do this, because he had servants on the Earth whose special duty it was to administer these ordinances.

Again, the angel that appeared to Cornelius would not operate in the ordinances of the Gospel, but told him to send men to Joppa to the house of one Simon the Tanner, and call for one Peter, etc., whose duty it was to do it, he being called and ordained to that power. Many more instances of this kind might be quoted but the above will suffice to illustrate the principle.

Now, many inquiries will be made about the Savior, such as, "Who is he? Is he the Father of Adam? Is he the God of Adam?" 'When Christ has finished his labor and presented it to his father, then he, Adam, will receive a fullness.'  That is all easily understood by me. He cannot receive a fullness of the kingdoms He has organized until they are completed. If He sends His servants off to the right and to the left to perform a certain labor, His kingdom is not complete, until His ministers have accomplished everything to make His kingdom complete and returned home again.

Many inquire, who is this Savior? I will tell you what I think about it.  The Southerners say I reckon, and the Yankees say I guess; but I will tell you what I reckon. I reckon that Father Adam was a resurrected being, with his wives and posterity, and in the Celestial Kingdom they were crowned with Glory, Immortality and Eternal Lives, with Thrones, Principalities and Powers: and it was said to him, "It is your right to organize the elements; and to your Creations and Posterity there shall be no end, but you shall add Kingdom to Kingdom, and Throne to Throne; and still behold the vast eternity of unorganized matter."

Adam then was a resurrected being; and I reckon that our spirits and the spirits of  all the human family were begotten by Adam and born of Eve.

"How are we going to know this?"

I reckon it.

And I reckon that Adam came into the Garden of Eden, and did actually eat of the fruit that he himself planted; and I reckon that there was a previous understanding, and the whole plan was previously calculated, before the Garden of Eden was made, that he would reduce his posterity to sin, misery, darkness, wickedness, wretchedness, and to the power of the Devil, that they might be prepared for an Exaltation, for without this they could not receive one.

I reckon that all things were first made spiritual preparatory to the natural organization.

"What was the use of all this? Could not spirits be happy?"

Yes, as far as they could. These Indians that roam upon these plains, and upon the mountains are comparatively happy in their degraded condition, because they do not know the comforts of civilized life. They can lay upon the ground; pull up sage brush to form a temporary shield against the cold, and get plenty of lizards and crickets to eat, and they are happy. We would want a comfortable house to live in and something comfortable to eat; something that is suited to our nature, ability, taste, and appetite. We would not be happy and satisfied short of that. So our spirits are as happy as they know how to be. Were you now to live without a house you could not be happy; neither could the spirit be happy without a tabernacle which is the house of the spirit.

When the spirit enters the body it is pure, and good, and if the body would be subject to the spirit it would always be taught to do the will of the Father in Heaven. But the spirit is interwoven with the flesh and blood; it is subjected to the body, consequently Satan has power over both. I reckon the Father has been through all this.

Do you recollect what I told the brethren who came across the plains this season, when they were perplexed by their oxen; and were calling upon God to give grace to you to perform the labor which lay before you, He could not sympathize with you, or know the nature of your trials if He had not passed through the same Himself. He knew just as much about crossing the plains, and the trials connected with it as any of us.

The inquiry will arise, among those who are strenuous, and tenacious for the account given by Moses, as to Adam: "Did not Adam die?"

Yes he died.

"Does not the Bible say he died?"

I do not know nor care, but it would be hard I think to find where he died; or where Moses died, though I have no doubt Moses died, and Adam also. How? Just as you and I have to die, and be laid away in the bowels of Mother Earth; that, however, Moses did not see fit to tell us.

Adam planted the Garden of Eden, and he with his wife Eve partook of the fruit of this Earth, until their systems were charged with the nature of the Earth, and then they could beget bodies for their spiritual children. If the spirit does not enter into the embryo man that is forming in the womb of the woman, the result will be false conception; a living, intelligent being cannot be produced. Adam and Eve begat the first mortal bodies on this Earth, and from that commencement every spirit that was begotten in eternity for this Earth will enter bodies thus prepared for them here, until the winding up scene, and that will not be until the last of these spirits enters an earthly tabernacle.

Then I reckon that the children of Adam and Eve married each other; this is speaking to the point. I believe in sisters marrying brothers, and brothers having their sisters for wives. Why? Because we cannot do otherwise. there are none others for me to marry but my sisters.

"But you would not pretend to say you would marry your father and mothers daughter."

If I did not I would marry another of my sisters that lives over in another garden; the material of which they are organized is just the same; there is no difference between them, and those who live in this garden. Our spirits are brothers and sisters, and so are our bodies; and the opposite idea to this has resulted from the ignorant, and foolish traditions of the nations of the Earth. They have corrupted themselves with each other, and I want them to understand that they have corrupted their own flesh, blood, and bones; for they are of the same flesh, blood, and bones, as all the family of the Earth.

I am approaching the subject of our marriage relations Brother Hyde lectured upon, but I shall not have time, or strength to say much about this. But, I reckon that Father Adam, and Mother Eve had the children of the human family prepared to come here and take bodies; and when they come to take bodies, they enter into the bodies prepared for them, and that body gets an exaltation with the spirit, when they are prepared to be crowned in Father's Kingdom.

"What, into Adam's Kingdom?"

Yes.

As to my talking what I want to say at this time I shall not do it. I am exhausting myself; I have to speak loud, and it is hard labor.

I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bore your spirit, you will see Mother Eve. And when you see yourselves there, you have gained your exaltation; you have honored your calling here on the Earth; your body has returned to its mother Earth; and somebody has broken the chains that bound you, and given you a resurrection.

How are you going to get your resurrection? You will get it by the President of the Resurrection pertaining to this generation, and that is Joseph Smith Junior. Hear it all ye ends of the Earth; if ever you enter into the Kingdom of God it is because Joseph Smith let you go there.

This will apply to Jews and Gentiles, to the bond, and free; to friends and foes; no man or woman in this generation will get a resurrection and be crowned without Joseph Smith says so. The man who was martyred in Carthage Jail in the State of Illinois holds the Keys of Life and Death to this generation. He is the President of the Resurrection in this Dispensation and he will be the first to rise from the dead. When he as passed through it, then I reckon the Keys of the Resurrection will be committed to him. Then he will call up his Apostles. You know I told you last conference I was an Apostle of Joseph Smith; and if faithful enough I expect Joseph will resurrect the Apostles; and when they have passed through the change, and received their blessings, I expect he will commit to them the Keys of the Resurrection, and they will go on resurrecting the Saints, every man in his own order.

I want to say a little more about marriage relations, so that you may understand what my views are. When you get your resurrection, you are not yet exalted; but by and by, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Elder Brother, the Saviour of the world, the Heir of the Family, when he has put down Satan, and destroyed death; then he will say, come let us go home into the presence of the Father.

What will become of the world then? It will be baptized with fire. It has been baptized with water, and it will then be cleansed by fire, and become like a sea of glass, and be made Celestial; and Jesus Christ our Elder Brother will take the whole of the Earth, with all the Saints and go with them to the Father, even to Adam; and you will continue to receive more and more Intelligence, Glory, Exaltation, and Power.

I want to tell you a thing in regard to parents, wives, brothers, sisters, etc. The time will come when it will be told where this man, and that woman should be placed; The real blood of Joseph will be selected out from among the tribes of Israel, and every man, and woman will be put in their places, and stand in their order where the Lord designs them to be. When you get back into the presence of God, and the Lord should say "Who have you brought with you?" your reply would be, "My wife and children." When you meet your Father in Heaven you will know Him, and realize that you have lived with Him, and rested in his bosom fore ages gone past, and He will hail you as His sons and daughters, and embrace you, and you will embrace Him, and "Hallelujah, thank God I have come to Father again, I have got back home" will resound through the Heavens. There are ten thousand things connected with these ideas. You see the human family of every shade of color between black and white. I could stand here and tell you what I reckon but it would take me an age for me to tell you all there is about it.

We have all come from one father even Adam, both the black and the white, the grizzled and gray; the noble, and the ignoble, and the time will come when they will all come back again into his presence. When they have all behaved themselves, and proved faithful to their calling, and to their God the curse will be removed from every class and nation of men that desires to work the work of God. This has been told you, that saviours would come upon Mount Zion, and judge the Mount of Esau.  Let me read it for you, "There shall saviours come upon Mount Zion, and Save the Mount of Esau." What does gentile signify? Disobedience. What does Israel signify? Obedience. What is the name of the first man? Adam, which signifies first man, and Eve signifies first woman. And when Michael the Archangel shall sound his trump and the Ancient of Days shall come, all things that we have once been familiar with will come back again to our memory.

In our marriage relations here we are marrying our brothers, and our sisters. As to a man having more wives than one, this is startling indeed to the traditions of the people. With regard to it being the law of the Lord for a man to have only one wife, or for a man to have no wife, it is no such thing, all that rests in the traditions of the people, and in the doings of legislative bodies; that is all there is about wives in the world as to their having many or none. It is corruption for men to deny the truth; for men to work iniquity, to defile themselves, and to betray the innocent.

If there are any of my friends who do not belong to the Church here, I want to tell you one thing. I will take all the sin in the world there is before God and angels in men having one wife, two wives, ten, or fifty wives, that will use them well, upon my own shoulders, if they will acknowledge them, support them, raise children by them, and bring them up as well as they know how; I say I will take all the sins there is in this, of the whole of the Latter-day Saints, and place them with one sin of you poor devils, who when you were young courted that poor innocent girl, and made her believe you would marry her, then got her in the family way and left her to the wide world, you poor curses. This one sin of yours will weigh down all the sins of the Latter-day Saints together, and go down about enough for you to be damned in the bottomless pit; while the Elders of Israel will be exalted among the Gods. There are scores, and hundreds, and thousands of these poor girls upon the streets of the cities of the United States.

"Why Governor did you ever see any of them?"

Yes, lots of them; in that neighborhood, and in the other neighborhood.  I have found respectable families, where a young mechanic, a merchant, a lawyer, or a farmer, or some other miserable wretch fit for nothing but the fire of Hell, would insinuate themselves into the family, court the daughter, win her affections, deceive her, and then forsake her, and then boast of your achievements and rejoice over your success; but weep and howl for the miseries that shall come upon you, you poor damned wretches. I want to cut their damned throats and I will if I catch any of them doing it here. I should hold myself guilty before God and angels if I did not sweep the Earth of such a wretch. I will not ask the Lord to do a dirty trick I would not do myself. Let them prowl around my daughters, and I will slay them, yes, as fast as I can come to them.

What more will I do? When I find a young woman caught in this snare, I will take her to my house, and say, you shall have a home with me and my family.

I only know these iniquities by observation. I was never of such sins; the wickedest day I ever saw I would not betray an innocent female, but instead of prostituting them, I would tell them how to do right, and teach them the way of Life and Salvation, and see them safe in the Kingdom of God if they would obey my counsel. But you will take a poor helpless, innocent creature, and lead the unsuspecting victim nigh unto the altar of marriage, and then ruin the innocent lamb, you poor cursed gentiles, go and weep, and howl. In New York alone there is over eighteen hundred prostitutes licensed in that city, to corrupt themselves for Hell; and I want to tell every man that is going to hell that it is full of such creatures, so full that their elbows stick out of the windows.

Instead of creating such an awful state of society as this presents, we take to ourselves wives, acknowledge them, raise their children, school them, and try to teach them the way of Salvation. Let me tell you what they should do in the City of New York -that holy, righteous city- and to other cities, where there are thousands of licensed houses of ill fame, besides thousands of private ones that are not licensed but go under different appellations. They should set fire to every poor filthy debaucher, and collect the illegitimate children, as they are called, that are running the streets, and wash them, and school them, and teach them righteousness, and not suffer them to mingle with those that mingle unlawfully together. Also take the women, and wash them clean, and put them to work, at spinning, weaving, and at other useful employment in the country. As they now exist they want to die, they have lost their character, and nothing appears in the future for them but a life of wretchedness of the lowest grade. There are thousands of these poor women who would bless the first person who would kill them. They do not wish to kill themselves, but live they must and disguise their real feelings.

Let the world cleanse themselves before they talk of Utah; and when they get sanctified, and become purer than we are, they may come and give us a few lessons upon purity. It is a subject I do not wish to name, but my remarks seem to run on it, and could not well avoid it.

I wish you should understand well the position I have taken, and the nature of the remarks I have made. Profit by them, both saints and sinners. You have had things laid before you that does not belong to the world, nor to men and women, who calculate to apostatize. They belong to the wise; to those who are serving God with all their hearts. Now let me say to the wicked in heart, you cannot remember a word of this discourse unless you remember it in the Lord. I might reveal all there is in eternity, and those who have not their hearts on righteousness would know nothing about it, or be in the least instructed.

I commenced with Father Adam in his resurrected state, noticed our spiritual state, then our temporal, or mortal state, and traveled until I got back to Father Adam again. After considering all this, what have you seen that makes it appear we are not brethren and sisters? does it appear that we are not because we are commanded to multiply and replenish the Earth? You think when you run into grandchildren and great-grandchildren, etc. that by and by there will be no connection?

They are just as much connected in spirit and body, in flesh, blood and bone, as your children are that you bear off your own body.

This is something pertaining to our marriage relation. The whole world will think what an awful thing it is. What an awful thing it would be if the Mormons should just say we believe in marrying brothers and sisters.

Well we shall be under the necessity of doing it, because we cannot find anybody else to marry. The whole world are at the same thing, and will be as long as man exists upon the Earth.

I feel as though I had said enough. I have talked long enough for my own good; and we shall bring our conference to close.

PLURAL MARRIAGE
AFTER THE MANIFESTO
Rulon C. Allred, 08/01/1970, Salt Lake City, Utah, Fireside
PART II

When Christ came there were a handful, such a small amount who really accepted Christ, that it was pitiful.  Before Christ was crucified He said, “Peter, lovest thou me?”  He said, “You know that I love you.”  “Peter, lovest thou me?”  :Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Peter was quite irate.  Jesus said, “When you are fully converted, feed my sheep.”  This was Peter, the chief of the apostle.  And Peter denied Him three times at the time of His crucifixion before He was finally hung on the cross.

And the Book of Mormon says all Israel shall reject Christ and shall put Him to death and He shall hang upon the cross for the sins of men.  All Israel would reject Him.  And they did.  And because all Israel rejected Him, did that make Him less Christ?  Less the Son of God?  Less the word of God to the people?  No.  As I say, all Israel, Judah, Ephraim, all Israel has been rejected of God as a people since their apostasy in the days of Moses.  And they have been suffering tribulations and darkness.  And the punishment upon Judah was such that they are not to be converted until Christ will come in His glory.  But that doesn’t make them right just because they were Israel and they were united in their rejection of God.  And it doesn’t make us right today because we are united in our rejection of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

COMMENT: In following the prophets, this is the cry of those who would like to reject polygamy—You’ve got to follow the prophet!  I agree.  But you have to look at what they did, as well as what the results of the things they provided for.  Because of the things they directly did, was plural marriage carried on, or was it not?  The things they said meant nothing if they did something else.

RCA: The will and the belief of the prophets, said Hubbard, can be determined not so much by the words of the prophets, as by their works and deeds.  The position of the Church and what they did, than by what was published or said about them by their enemies and even by themselves, under pressure.  The Prophet Joseph Smith himself denied the tenet of plural marriage in the Church in his own time.  It wasn’t a tenet of the Church.  It was a law of the Priesthood.  The Church hadn’t accepted it, the Mormon Church didn’t teach it.  But Joseph was living it before the Church even knew about it.

The Manifest is a revelation?  Why is it, then, that as a revelation Wilford Woodruff set Anthony W. Ivins, John W. Taylor, Matthias F. Cowley and others apart to continue the practice?  And at least 108 of the leaders of the Church entered into plural marriage after the Manifesto was signed.  Seven of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve entered in plural marriage after the Manifesto was signed.  Their names were printed in the Tribune.  If the Manifesto was a revelation, why didn’t President Joseph F. Smith as president of the Church acknowledge before the Reed Smoot Investigation committee that he had violated the provisions of the Manifesto, by continuing to live in plural marriage and having 11 children born to him under that covenant?

COMMENT: That’s two presidents after the Manifesto.

RCA: If the Manifesto is a revelation, why did the presidents of the Church and the apostles of the Church continue to enter into the principle?  This is the question you are going to have to answer!

COMMENT: The only thing is the proof that they did.

RCA: If they didn’t, we sure can’t account for their children in the genealogical records, because they were all born after the Manifesto by wives sealed to them after the Manifesto.  President Heber J. Grant acknowledged the violation of the State Law in 1899.  He was brought before the 4^th District Court in Salt Lake City, and pled guilty to the charges.  And paid his fine.  It was a misdemeanor then.  That was in 1899.

COMMENT: $100.00.

RCA: $100.00.

COMMENT: But you reach the point where looking up all the proofs and reading all the material available doesn’t amount to much anymore.  If a person feels that he has to follow the Church and Joseph Feilding Smith—fine.  Do it.  You’ll receive your reward.  But if you have yearnings for truth inside yourself, and that’s from where it must come, not from papers or books or what people have to say—then you go to the Lord about it.

Q: Yes, but can’t you be deceived?

RCA: Yes, you can be deceived.

COMMENT: All right, let’s take the other side—the one who say you are wrong.  Can they be deceived?

COMMENT: Yes, you haven’t got a chance!

COMMENT: You can’t be deceived if you’re following the prophet.

RCA: Then follow what they have done.

COMMENT: How can you be deceived by fasting and prayer for your own knowledge?

RCA: President Brigham Young said, “If you will not receive the revelations which have been given to us of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and accept them as they stand, and constantly question them and ask for new proofs and evidences as to their validity, calling upon the Lord for additional information and the ministering of angels, the Lord will withdraw His Spirit from you and will suffer you to receive revelations to your heart’s content from the devil.”

COMMENT: The point here is the revelations from Joseph Smith as they stand.

Q: Then what good are modern-day prophets?

RCA: Our latter-day prophets lead us in the paths of truth and righteousness as far as we want to be led, or will be led.  And if we want to know the truth about these things we can get that truth beyond what the Church is teaching, because the Church has pledged itself to conform to the law of the land regardless of the law of God.  And the Church in ancient Israel had pledged themselves to obey the law of the land regardless of the law of God in Daniel’s day.  And they conformed to the law, and they were blessed according to the manner in which they conformed to the law of the land and the law of God.  But they couldn’t be blessed as Daniel was blessed, who obeyed the law of God no matter what the consequences.  Even unto death.  They violated the law of the land and the rule of the people.  Now, who was deceived?  Daniel and the three Hebrews, or all of Israel?

Q: Brother Rulon, would you explain the three sources of revelation?

RCA: Well, let’s put it this way.  There are three spirits that govern us.  There is our own spirits and our own conscience, which is the result of our environment and our traditions and our teachings and we often believe things to be true, which are not true.  For instance, we can believe evolution, and the majority of the Church believes evolution today.  But it is a doctrine of the devil.  And this is the prompting of our spirit because we believe and accept the teachings and traditions of our environment.

There is another spirit that may dictate to us, and that is the spirit of the devil.  And he prompts us to do that which is wrong and to lead us astray as is spoken of in the seventh chapter of Moroni, that he will prompt us and lead us astray if he possibly can.  That is the second spirit that dominates us.  The third spirit is the Spirit of God, which reveals to us all truth, which is given to us as a gift after baptism if we will seek it and walk in its light.  And the Spirit will discern between our spirit and the spirit of the devil and reveal to us all truth.  Now this is a promise of God.  Moroni quoted it.  But many of us want to know what is true on our own conscious level, and we can convince ourselves because of our environment and our teachings and our fears of persecution and our love of the world, that what we have always been taught is correct.  And that the word of God is now, for our sake, null and void.

COMMENT: And by their fruits ye shall know them.  I don’t know how evil could possibly sustain righteousness and light and truth.

COMMENT: I know wonderful men, presidents of stakes, bishops of wards.  One within the last two weeks made this statement: Plural marriage is a nasty, dirty thing.  It was never the truth, and Joseph Smith was deceived when he gave it to the Church.  A president of a stake made that statement!

COMMENT: I was turned in to the First Presidency at one time, and the secretary to the First Presidency wrote a letter to the woman we were talking to, saying that anyone who had ever lived plural marriage was of the devil!  This was the secretary to the First Presidency of the Church!

RCA: I was a member of the high council in the Los Angeles Stake, and I was very active in my calling.  I advocated plural marriage and was called before the presidency of the stake and my own body of men on the high council, and rebuked for teaching this.  President Leo J. Muir, president of the stake, said I was on the very brink of hell, and if I didn’t repent I was going to fall off.  I took this rebuke and made no contention about it.  But afterward I went to him in his office privately, bore my testimony to him that I knew that all of the gospel was true, that we could not obtain any blessing from God except by obedience to the law upon which it was predicated, that celestial plural marriage was a divine principle that had never been revoked, nor would it, and that I believed it and nothing in the world could change my opinion.  And he came over and put his arms around me and said, “Brother Rulon, you are right.  But keep your mouth shut.”

Now, can we believe the prophets?  Yes, we can.  But we’d better believe what we know they know is true.  And not what we want to believe.  Therein is the difference.

Paul, in speaking of this subject says, “In that day shall they heap unto themselves teachers who will speak pleasant things unto them, for they will have itching ears to hear that which flattereth them and leadeth them away to hell.”  And he goes on to say that they will say, Teach not unto us doctrine; give not unto us hard things which we do not want to believe.  And our people are very much this way.

President Joseph Fielding Smith in conference during the time of President David O. McKay, got up and gave one of the finest addresses I ever heard.  We have it; we are going to publish it for you.  He said, “I want the LDS people to repent and turn to God.  I want you to know,” and you find this published in his Way to Perfection, “that you cannot enter into the fullness of God’s glory by just going to Sunday School, by attending your meetings, by paying your tithes, by being average Latter-day Saints.  You will never enter into the fullness of God’s glory.”  And then he held up the book in conference and said, “Unless you keep every law the Lord has revealed in this book,” and he held up the combined reference book, “every law the Lord has revealed in this book.  Now I’ve said this to many of our people in just such occasion as this.”  Well, what did he mean by that?  “Well, he certainly didn’t mean just plural marriage!”  Now did he or didn’t he?

COMMENT: Well, it’s in the book.

RCA: It’s in the book.

Q: Is he a prophet?

RCA: I know he is a prophet.

Q: Which one are we going to listen to?

COMMENT: Know what they did as well as what they said.

RCA: I’m going to promise you as a servant of the Lord that if you want to obey everything the living prophets tell you, if you want to be restricted by every restriction that they seemingly impose upon you, that you will receive all the blessings for which you have lived.  But you cannot obtain, and I again quote the Doctrine and Covenants, you cannot obtain any blessing from God except by obedience to that law upon which that blessing was predicated.  God makes no exceptions.

Q: You’re not going to qualify that statement just a little?

COMMENT: No, he’d better not!

Q: You’re not going to qualify it at all? You’re going to stand on it?

RCA: I may not, but the Lord will!

Q: That’s the point I want to bring out.  This law stands as it was stated without any qualifications of any kind.

Q: So where’s the weak philosophy that says it’s not necessary now?

COMMENT: Because the prophets of the Church said it wasn’t.

COMMENT: That’s the philosophy that’s been stated since the beginning of time.  You don’t have to live these things now.

RCA: Ancient Israel had the same philosophy.  The majority of the Church since the beginning of its organization had that same philosophy.  When the law was given to the Church in 1852, and had it in the Church for 38 years, the people had that philosophy.  We have a letter in your Most Holy Principle written by a sister who signs her name, and President John Taylor who signs his name in answering the letter, who said, “Do we have to live this now?  Why can’t we live it in the millennium?”  She sincerely believed and wanted to believe it was not necessary now.  President John Taylor said, “You seem to think you can live this law in the next world and not have to live it now.  But this law is particularly adapted to this mortal stage of existence, and if you don’t live it now, you can’t have the blessings.

COMMENT: He was very firm on that principle before the Manifesto.

RCA: President Joseph F. Smith was very firm on that principle before the Manifesto and after the Manifesto.  Never in public addresses, but countlessly to individuals whom he instituted into that law after the Manifesto.  How do I know?  Because he instructed my father to enter into it in 1903, thirteen years after the Manifesto.  Heber J. Grant verified it.

COMMENT: By a letter.  And signed his name to it.  This was during Heber J. Grant’s administration, when he was president of the Church.

RCA: in 1932.  He said, “Your mother was given to your father in plural marriage by Anthony W. Ivins in old Mexico, with the perfect knowledge and consent of the First Presidency of the Church.”

COMMENT: If the Manifesto is a revelation stopping plural marriage, why didn’t it stop, then?

RCA: And why did the First Presidency give my father permission to enter into that law?

Q: If you went to Joseph Fielding today, what would he say?

RCA: As a member of the Church he’d say you have to abide by the rules and policy of the Church.  He can’t do anything else, because if he does—let’s see why he can’t: Samuel said, Lord they have rejected me that I should rule over them.  And the Lord said, “They have not rejected thee, Samuel, they have rejected me, that I should not rule over them.  But hearken unto the voice of the people, for I have decreed that they should have according to the desires of their hearts.  Grant unto them a king.  Nevertheless, reveal unto them all those things that shall come upon them because of their disobedience before you give the king to them.”  And he did.  He told them all the things that would come—they would be taken into slavery, they would have to pay high taxes, etc.  But they still wanted a king, and they got it.  And from then on, all their leaders said, “You have got to abide by the rules you have established for yourselves.”  And the president of the Church, as president of the Church, is going to tell you that you have got to abide by the rule that you have established yourself, with uplifted hand.

COMMENT: Now, let’s look at it another way.  Has President Joseph Fielding Smith himself lived plural marriage after the Manifesto?

RCA: I don’t know.

COMMENT: No, you don’t know.  But there are those who do.

COMMENT: Remember, you don’t know.  And remember what Brother Rulon said.  The Lord will grant to the people according to the desire of their heart.

RCA: Not only that, the Lord predicted through Isaiah, 750 years before Christ, that they would make this covenant.

COMMENT: He said, “I will send the people strong delusions, because they ask for them.”

COMMENT: Again I say, I don’t care what they say, I don’t care what Joseph Fielding Smith says.  What did he do?  And what can be proven?  I have taken the time to talk to people who know, and who will verify and testify to you that they know and were in his home when he was living with more than one wife.

RCA: Well, I would not for anything in the world do anything to hurt or incriminate or involve President Joseph Fielding Smith, whom I know personally and whom I love.  But I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knows that that law was never revoked, that the Manifesto was not a revelation, and that nobody can enter into the fullness of God’s glory unless it is obeyed.  I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knows.  And I also know that he has acted according to that knowledge.  And I also know as surely as I know that, that neither I nor any of you could go there and get him to betray that fact.

COMMENT: I firmly believe that.

Q: Is the law such that the Church could yet be disfranchised, as it was under the Edmunds-Tucker law?

RCA: Oh, yes.  If the Church were to accept that principle as a law and go back on their word, they would be disfranchised immediately and everything they have would be seized immediately.

COMMENT: And I’ll go still further.  The Constitution of the State of Utah would be revoked.

RCA: It provides that it shall be if they accept plural marriage.

COMMENT: That shows why they cannot openly do this.  But they will do what they have to do personally.

COMMENT: Yet he says in a speech recently given, of which I have a copy, that, “I never have at any time had more than one living wife.”

RCA: Well, as far as the world is concerned, it’s true.  As far as others are concerned, it is not true.

COMMENT: One legal wife, maybe.

RCA: Yes.  I’m going to tell you a little story that I have heard in the Huntington Park Chapel, in a very beautiful address given by President Heber J. Grant, back in 1943.  He said, “I was a general agent for the Beneficial Life Insurance Company and an apostle of the LDS Church.  And as a member of that company I was called in by the president of the company and asked, ‘Heber, there are rumors going around that you have two wives.  And if this is true, I am going to have to release you, because I cannot have you representing this company if you have violated the provisions of the law of the land and the rule of your Church.’  And brothers and sisters, I told that man, ‘That is a lie.  I do not have two wives.’  And as God lives, I told him the truth.’ ”  Now notice: “As God lives, I told him the truth.  I did not have two wives.  I had three at the time.”

COMMENT: Joseph F. Smith did this constantly on the stand at the Reed Smoot Investigation, if you’ll read it.

COMMENT: All you have to do is read it.  He answered questions that way until he was trapped and then he came out and admitted it.  Now, I heard President Grant make that address.

COMMENT: If not telling all the truth and misleading people is a lie, then all of the presidents have lied.

RCA: The Savior, in His perfection, and Almighty God in His dealings with men, because of the wickedness of men and the hardness of their heart, has given them part-truths from the beginning, according to what they are able to receive.  First, the story of Eve having been made out of a rib of Adam is not a truth.  It is an allegorical statement; it is paraphrasing the truth; it is a part truth.  Adam and Eve are of the same flesh; they were begotten as you and I are begotten.  But Eve certainly was not made out of Adam’s rib, and the interpretation is fallacious itself.  President Brigham Young in speaking of the subject said, “I believed that when I was a child.  But now that I have received the fullness of the gospel and hold the Priesthood, I no longer believe the fairy tales my mother taught me.”  But that’s in the Bible; and if we can’t believe the Bible, what can we believe?

Now, Abraham left the land of his fathers, led by the Spirit of God to the promised land.  And while he was in the land of the Egyptians under Abimalech, king of Egypt, people came to him who wanted to slay him in order to get his wife, because the law of the land was that they couldn’t have more than one wife, or that they couldn’t take another man’s wife.  But if they killed him and took his wife, that was all right.  The Lord knew the wickedness of their laws, and He knew what they would do, because Sarah was a very beautiful woman.  So the Lord said to Abraham, “When they ask thee concerning thy wife, Sarah, say unto them, ‘She is my sister.’ ”  The Lord told him to lie.  But the Lord didn’t tell him to lie.  We only understand these things as we read them.  We see in part and as Paul says, we know in part, but when that which is true in its fullness comes forth, we will see it in its fullness.  Now why did the Lord tell him to do that?  Because there was a law in ancient Syria, that a man of royal birth, if he had a wife who was not in his same category of birth of royalty, might legally adopt her as his sister.  And according to the law of Syria, Abraham had adopted Sarah as his sister legally, according to the law.  But these people over in Egypt didn’t know that.  (Rulon Clark Allred, Treasures of Knowledge, Volume One, pp. 56-63)

A "Three Nephite" Prophecy and Blessing

in Bountiful, Utah

by John E. Fisher -- May 1921

               

When a boy of nine years, I received the following testimony:

                During most of her life, my mother had but little voice and spoke in a subdued whisper, and for which medical treatment gave no relief.

Great-grandmother was 88 years of age, lived with us in Bountiful and continued to pray that Mother would get her voice again.

                One day there came to our home an elderly gentleman of medium height, light in complexion, with gray hair, blue impressive eyes and a voice most angelic. I was playing at the side of the house when I noticed this gentleman's sudden appearance. I went quickly to my mother and told her that a sweet old gentleman wanted to see her at the front door. Just then he knocked and the sudden impression came to Mother--he is a Nephite, let him in quickly or he will be gone. He came in, upon invitation, saying, "Sister, I have come to bless you." My mother assured him that she was blessed and in need of no blessing that she did not have. All this time she was whispering near his ear in order to make herself heard, which was a habit. The thought of overcoming her affliction seemed impossible, as for years she had been administered to by the Priesthood, and physicians, to no avail. "Yes," he said, "You have need of blessings you are not aware of."

                Mother asked him who he was. "I am a Mormon," he replied. She then asked where he lived. "Away down south," was his answer in a sweet, calm voice, with a most peaceful smile illuminating his countenance, both of which I shall never forget.

                After the first impulse that he was a Nephite, came a feeling of fear and doubt, and Mother was weak and pale. She asked the gentleman if he would eat. He said, "Yes, sister, if it is not too much work." Mother wanted an opportunity to be by herself before allowing him to place his hands upon her head, so she prepared him a quick lunch, and while he ate, she prayed upon her knees in the pantry for the discernment of truth of the spirit of the visitor. The feeling came back that all was all right and with much force the thought that she would be able to discern his influence as soon as he laid his hands upon her head.

                After finishing a fairly hearty lunch, he sat a chair in the middle of the room and asked my mother to be seated. He stood at the back of the chair, laid his hands upon her head and said, "Sister, the prayer I pray no earthly ears may hear." So saying, he went on, "O God, the Eternal Father," and then remained quiet for a minute or so and said, "Amen."

                He then told us that he traveled the whole earth over, administering and bringing comfort to Saints in need. He told us many other things of interest to our family, of our people, our Church, etc., causes of certain atmospheric conditions, and stated in effect, that the full choiceness of this land was being withheld because the people of the world would desire it and get it away from us if it were to be permitted to blossom in fullness and that this was God's way of protecting the land for His work and His people.

                He spent an hour or an hour and a half with us. Then he prepared to leave, and as he did, he asked God to bless us, our home and surroundings.

Placing his hands upon the heads of our children, he said, "These are tokens of God's love entrusted for a time to your care."

                Mother and I followed this brother out upon the front porch to watch him depart. He went for about a hundred steps or so and then actually disappeared before our eyes, in the open road. Mother turned pale and had to lean upon the wall of the house for support. She asked me if I saw what happened, this time using a rich, full voice, and I called her attention to that fact, which added to her alarm.

                While this, our brother, had visited us, a gentle shower fell in the vicinity of our home, so that to reassure ourselves, we traveled his steps. They went to the spot where he disappeared, but no further. Inquiry of the neighbors along the road failed to show that he had been seen after leaving our home.

                When we went back into the house, great-grandmother, who sat quietly rocking all the while in an adjoining room watching what happened through an open door, said, "I have lived to be 88 years of age and this day have had the privilege of seeing a Nephite."

                We were all very much concerned over this matter and in relating our experience later to our neighbors, we were informed that on the previous Sunday in Sacrament meeting, Apostle John W. Taylor had spoken with much spirit* and bore a fervent testimony, and then prophesied that before the week was over, a Nephite should visit a home in East Bountiful and leave a blessing and that this testimony of the gospel and the gospel itself was true.

                It was unfortunate that none of our family were present at Sacrament meeting upon the occasion, but we feel it a great privilege to bear witness of these things. My mother's voice has served her these seventeen years since, and for these things we are all thankful unto our Heavenly Father.

                I bear testimony and am a witness that the above is a brief account of the truth as I know it to be the truth. I pray it may help others as not a few of our people have had such visitations, but perhaps not all so impressive as this which we have had. (Signed: John E. Fisher, May 15, 1921; SLC, Utah; Stories of Faith, Kraut, 177-179)

E    D    I    T    O    R    I    A    L

WILL THE CHURCH BE REDEEMED?

An Examination of 2 Esdras Chapter 2:  Part 1

This article will examine 2 Esdras Chapter 2 in three installments.

Recently, I had the opportunity to dine with some acquaintances of mine in the LDS Church who asked me the question, “Do you believe that there is priesthood left in the Church?”

I answered, “I do.  But I also believe that the Church is out of order.”

It is common in the world of fundamentalist Mormons to denounce the mainstream LDS Church as out of order, in transgression of the law, the whore of the Book of Revelations, etc.  For many of us, this was a result of having been cut off from the Church that was so dear to us.  It is only natural for some sort of residual bitterness to be present.  And yet I have always asserted that the Church will be redeemed at some point.

Some speculate what would have happened if the Church had not capitulated in 1890.  Such speculations are useless.  It happened.  Get over it.  It is what it is.  Moreover, I believe that the Prophet Joseph was aware of what condition the Church would find itself in one day.  Even more, I also believe that the scriptures speak of the apostasy and redemption of the Modern LDS Church.  This is found in the Apocrypha, in 2 Esdras Chapter 2.

It is one of the few instances of reading the scriptures where I had an epiphany, as it were.  It was an instance where I could recognize the veiled references contained in the verses and understood them for what they were.  I would like to examine this chapter and explore some of the deeper meanings contained therein.

Ironically, 2 Esdras (Hellenistic for Ezra) – although it was included in the Vulgate – is the only book of the Apocrypha that is NOT included in the Catholic text.  If you look on Wikipedia, it will describe this chapter as a treatise on charity, on feeding the hungry and helping orphans and widows.  Let’s take a look:

1 Thus saith the Lord, I brought this people out of bondage, and I gave them my commandments by menservants the prophets; whom they would not hear, but despised my counsels.

Allow me to pose a few questions, to allow you to reflect:  How are the Saints (this people) in bondage in this day and age?  Have this people refused to hear the “counsels” of the Lord?  Can there be any mistake which people the Lord is speaking to?  Isn’t it interesting that the Lord speaks of his prophets as “manservants”?  Do the current leaders (both in the Church and in the splinter Groups) fit the description of servants?  Or have they set themselves up so that the people are their servants?

2 The mother that bare them saith unto them, Go your way, ye children; for I am a widow and forsaken.

Who is the mother that is spoken of in Verse 2?  Who is the widow?  This is the part where I explain my opinion that Joseph Smith knew what condition the Church would be found in

In Nauvoo in 1842, there was a pamphlet published called “The Peacemaker”.  If you look at the cover, the byline says “Udney Hay Jacobs”, and then underneath it, it says, “Publish by Joseph Smith, Jr.”

So who was this mysterious Udney Hay Jacobs character?  He was a Jew, and a non-member.  He had lived close to the Saints since 1830, and at the time that the paper was published, he was living in Hancock County, Illinois.  The pamphlet was circulated in the area and gained notoriety among the Saints.  Why?  Because it spoke favorably about plural marriage.

Up until this time, plural marriage was not a doctrine openly embraced by the Church.  So a pamphlet by a non-member was written, and it was sorely rejected.  There were rumors that also went about that the pamphlet was REALLY written by the Prophet Joseph.  He denied this emphatically, and his denial was published in Times & Seasons on December 1, 1842.  This is what he wrote:

“There was a book printed at my office, a short time since, written by Udney H. Jacobs, on marriage, without my knowledge; and had I been apprised of it, I should not have printed it; not that I am opposed to any man enjoying his privileges; but I do not wish to have my name associated with the authors, in such an unmeaning rigmarole of nonsence, folly, and trash. JOSEPH SMITH”

In 1843, one year after the publication of “The Peacemaker”, Udney Hay Jacobs joined the Church.

Years later, after the death of the Prophet, John D. Lee wrote in his “Confessions” in 1877:

“During the winter Joseph, the Prophet, set a man by the name of Sidney Hay Jacobs to select from the Old Bible scriptures as pertained to polygamy, or celestial marriage, to write it in pamphlet form, and to advocate that doctrine. This he did as a feeler among the people, to pave the way for celestial marriage.”

One of the main topics addressed in “The Peacemaker” is the topic of fornication as it occurs in marriage.  The scripture quoted is Matthew 5: 32:

³²But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Generally, in Mormondom, “fornication” is defined as a sexual indiscretion between unmarried people.  So how does a woman commit fornication against her husband?  The Peacemaker defines fornication as “alienation of affection”.

Romas 7: 2 states:

²For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

Now, I hardly consider myself to be like those strict type of Christians that uses scripture to demand obedience from his wife.  I think there is a deeper meaning to this.  Ephesians 5: 22 – 25 says:

²²Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

 ²³For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

 ²⁴Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

 ²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;

Taking these scriptures in account, let us examine what the Peacemaker says:

We should recollect that the marriage relation is clearly illustrated to us by the relation that exists between Christ and his Church. When the church ceases to obey Christ, and to love him, they then commit fornication against him, and thus is the term used when speaking of a bride, throughout the scriptures. When the church rebels against her lawful husband and master Jesus Christ, and will not submit to him in all things; she then commits fornication against him and this is the plain sense of the matter. So in the case of the wife, when she refuses to submit cheerfully to her husband in all things; (a broad commandment this, but limited by reason and love only,) when she ceases to reverence her husband, to be submissive to him; trusting in her husband, and believing in him, then she commits fornication against the law of marriage, and against him; even as the false church has against Christ. And in no other possible way can she commit this act and it then becomes the right of her husband to write her a bill of divorcement according to the strict letter of the law of God given by Moses: and to put her away unless she repent. A right understanding of this matter, and a correct law properly executed, would restore this nation to peace and order; and man to his true dignity, authority and government of the earthly creation. It would soon rectify the domestic circle, and establish a proper head over the families of the earth, and be the means of driving satan; together with the knowledge arid restitution of the whole penal law of God and the glorious and everlasting gospel; yea, of driving satan from the human mind and, setting a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more until his time. And by no other means can order and peace be restored to man. And by no other means can the heart of the fathers be turned to their children, and the heart of the children be turned to their fathers. The spirit of God and Christ will then return to deliver us from all evil, and to guide the mind of happy and exalted man into all truth. Length of days, peace and blessings foretold shall be ours. Man shall then cease committing fornication against his head and husband Jesus Christ. For the head of the woman is the man, and the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. It is the disorganization and disobedience of these eternal laws of order, and of God, that has ruined us.

Mentioning at this point that there is a defined difference between the Church and the Priesthood is kind of like preaching to the choir.  In history, there is only three recorded instances where the Church existed:  1) After Christ, 2)  at the Waters of Mormon, and 3) at the Restoration.  In all other times, the structure of organization was more priestly, after the order of Christ (the Bridegroom).  Priesthood is a patriarchal order.  Priesthood is the Father and Husband, and, as shown above in the Peacemaker, the Church is the Wife, the Mother.

Consider Revelations Chapter 12:

¹And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

 ²And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

 ³And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

 ⁴And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

 ⁵And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

 ⁶And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

 ⁷And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

And also verses 13 through 17:

¹³And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

 ¹⁴And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

 ¹⁵And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

 ¹⁶And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

 ¹⁷And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ

So who is this woman who went into the wilderness with her child?  It is an archetype that we see several times in the scriptures.  The vision of Nephi, where he saw the woman and her son.  Mary fleeing from the wrath of Herod, taking the Baby Jesus to Egypt for safety.  And in the esoteric histories, we read of Mary Magdalene being placed by her enemies (the dragon) being thrown on a boat and set adrift (the serpent casting water out of his mouth).  Mary took her son with her, the literal descendant of Jesus Christ, the heir to Kingdom, and they landed in France (the earth), and place where they could find safe haven.

More figuratively, you have the Church (the Mother) established in these last days, being driven from place to place (from Kirtland to Missouri, from Missouri to Nauvoo).  The Prophet Joseph established the priesthood in its fullness in Nauvoo, and brought forth a child within the Church – the Kingdom of God.  He shook his cloak and laid the burden of the Keys of the Kingdom upon his Council.  He laid responsibility of the rearing of this “Child” upon his brethren and marched to his death.

The Dragon drove the Saints from Nauvoo, and the Mother fled into the wilderness, taking her infant child with her to the mountains of Utah.  The Dragon was “wroth” with the woman and made war with the “remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”  The Child went to a place where it could grow and develop until such a time when it could “rule all nations with a rod of iron”.

But in the interim, the Mother (the Church) grew to commit fornication.  She developed an “alienation of affection” in her heart against her Husband.  How did she do this? 

⁵The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.  Isaiah 24:5

Wherefore Isaiah saw our day, right?  How can you transgress the law unless it is given to you?  How can you change an ordinance unless you are empowered to do so?  How can you break a covenant unless you have taken one?  The “Mother” changes the temple ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant.  And for this, the earth is defiled.  For this, the Mother is found in fornication.  It is found in “disorganization and disobedience”.

So is it too late?  Can the Church be redeemed?  It can.  I will discuss this in Part 2.

--The Editor--

Holiness

Y
To The  

Lord

TRUTH NEVER CHANGES
Volume 12, Number 05
November 2009