Show A SERMON by P P pratt addressed to the Conje conference rence in in the tabernacle Tabe macle great salt lake city april 1853 at the request of my brethren I 1 rise to occupy a portion of the time I 1 realize that there are many present who are equally prepared to administer in the things of the spirit of god the time is precious and I 1 desire that I 1 may have the spirit of god with the prayers and confidence of the people to speak in wisdom t that hat which is necessary and then give opportunity to my brethren for I 1 love to hear them and so do this people I 1 have reflected a little upon the text that was presented to us by our president a few days since and upon the excellent remarks made by himself and others upon the subject of or the inherent rights of the first born and of election I 1 consider indeed that it opens a broad field and that there is no danger of exhausting hau sting the subject whatever may be said of it the covenants made wibb the fat fathers fiers and the rights of the children cli ildren by reason of them is an interesting subject to me in the first place if all ali men are created alike if all have the same degree of intel intelligence I 1 irence a and nd purity of disposition all would be equal but notwithstanding the declaration of american sages and of the fathers of our to the contrary yet it is a fact that all beings are not equal in their intellectual capacity y I 1 in their dispositions and in the gifts and callings of god it is a fact that some beings are more intelligent than others and some are endowed with abilities or gifts which others do not possess in organizing and peopling the worlds it was found necessary to place among the inhabitants some superior who wao were capac capaci bated to teach to rule and preside among other in short a variety of gifts and adaptations to the different arts sciences 1 and occupations were as necessary as the uses s and benefits arising have proved to be hence one intelligence is peculiarly adapted to one department of usefulness and another to another we read much in the bible in relation to a choice or election on the part of deity towards in his government on earth whereby some were chosen to fill stations very different from others and this election not only affected the individuals thus chosen but c r 29 4 u Z F 6 their posterity for long generations or even for ever it may be enquired where eliere this election first originated and upon what principle a just and impartial god exercises the elective fr franchise anoise we will go back to the earliest knowledge we have of the existence of we learn from the writings of abraham and others and from modern revelation that the that now inhabit these tabernacles of earth were living active in yonder world while the particles of matter which now compose our outward bodies were yet mingled with their native elements element that then our embodied spirits lived moved conversed and exercised an agency all which exist possess a degree ot of independence in their 0 own w n sphere for instance the bee can go at will in search of honey or remain in the hive it can visit one flower or another as independent in its own sphere as god is in his we find a degree of independence in everything which possesses any degree of intelligence that thinks moves or acts because the very princia principle ae of voluntary action implies an independent will to direct such action among the which existed in the beginning some were more intelligent than others or in other words more noble and god said to abraham these I 1 will make rulers in my kingdom god said unto abraham thou art one of these thou wast chosen before thou thoa wast born NOBLE does he use the word noue noble yes the word noble or that which signified it was used in conversation between god and abraham and applied to superior on earth and which had pre existed in the heavens we are aware that the term is greatly abused abased in europe and elsewhere being applied to those titled and to ta those W who ho inherit certain titles ano n estates whether they are wise wise men I 1 or fools I 1 virtuous or vicious A man may even be an idiot a drunkard an adulterer ad ul or murderer and still be called a nobleman by the world and all this because his ancestor for some worthy action or perhaps for being skilled in murder and robbery under the false 9 glare lare of 11 military glory obtained a title and the possession of a large estate from which he had helped to drive the rightful occupant now the lord did not predicate pre I 1 dacate his principle of election or nobility upon such an unequal unjust and useless order of things when he spead of nobility he sim simply pi y means an election 0 n made and office or title conferred on the principle of superiority of intellect or nobleness of action or of capacity t to 0 act and when this election with its titles dignities and estates induces includes the unborn posterity of a chosen man as in the case of abraham isaac and jacob it is with a view of the noble spirits of the eternal world coming through their lineage and being taught in the commandments of god hence the prophets kings priests patriarchs apostles wid aud even jesus christ were included in the election of abraham and of his seed as manifested to him in an eternal covenant although some eternal may maybe be superior to others and although some are more noble and consequently elected to fill certain I 1 useful and necessary offices for the good of others yet the greater and the less may both be innocent in and both be justified and be useful each in their own capacity if each magnifies their own calling and acts in their own capacity it is all right it may be inquired why god made one une to another or inferior in intellect or capacity to which we reply that he did not ere create their intelligence at all it never was created being an inherent attribute of the eternal element called spirit which element composes each individual spirit and which element exists in an infinitude of degrees in the scale of intellect in all the varieties manifested in the eternal god and thence to the lowest agent which acts by its own will it is a fixed law of nature that the higher intelligence telli gence presides over or lias bas more or less influence or control of that which is less the lord in surveying the eternal which stood before hima him found some more noble or intellectual than others who were equally innocent this being so he exercised the elective franchise upon wise principles and like a good and kind father among his children he chose those for rulers who were most capable of bene fitting the residue among these was our noble ancestor abraham we do not take up the subject in the middle of 0 f it like the natural n man who knows little of the past or future and who judges by the things present before his eyes such an one might suppose that it so happened that ab abraham came along and was picked up without any particular reference to the past or to eternal principles and was elected to office that it might just as I 1 well have been somebody else instead of him but instead of this he was chosen before the world was and came into the world for the very purpose which he fulfilled but notwithstanding this pre election in passing the veil and entering a tabernacle of flesh he became a little child forgot all he had on once C e known in the heavens and commenced anew to receive intelligence in this world as is the case c ase with all he therefore was necessitated to come up by degrees receive an experience be tried and proved and when he had been sufficiently proved according to the flesh the lord manifested to him the election before exercised towards him in the eternal world he then renewed that election and covenant and blessed him and his bis seed after him and he said acin in in multiplying I 1 will multiply thee and in blessing I 1 will bless theay the sodomites Sod Canaan ites etc received the reverse of this blessing instead of giving them a multiplicity of wives and children he hae out cut them off root and branch and blotted their name from under heaven that there might be an end of a race so degenerate now this sev severity beveritt eritT was a mercy if we were like the people before the flood full of violence and oppression or if we like the sodomites Sod or Canaan ites were full of till all mariner manner of lawless abominations holding promiscuous intercourse with the other sex and stooping to a level with the brute creation and predisposing disposing pre our children by every means in our power to be fully given to strange and unnatural lusts appetites and passions would it not be a mercy to cut us off root and branch and thus put an end to our in increase C rease upon the earth you will all say bay it would the spirits in heaven would thank god for preventing them from being born into the world under such circumstances would not the spirits in heaven rejoice in the covenant and blessings of abraham isaac and jacob in relation to the multiplying of their seed and in every additional wife which god gave to them as a means of multiplying yes they would for they could say now there is an opportunity for us to take bodies bodie 8 in the lineage line age of a noble race and to be educated in the true soi sai ence of life and in the commandments of god 0 what an unspeakable contrast between being a child of sodom or a child of Abra abraham harn now I 1 abraham by his former superiority of int intelligence e and nobility by his former election before the world was and by conducting himself in this world so as to obtain the renewal of the same according to the flesh brought upon his posterity as well as upon himself that which will influence them more or less to the remotest generations of time and in eternity I 1 paul the great apostle of the gentiles when speaking upon this subject testifies that the children of israel differed much every ay way from the gentiles for to them says he pertains the election the covenants the promises the service of god the adoption the glory the giving of the law and the coming ol 01 of christ in the the flesh I 1 he then goes on to trace the peculiar branches in which the is perpetuated abraham had a son ishmael and several children by hist hia other wives and concubines which the lo 10 lord rd gave unto him they might all be blessed but the peculiar blessings of and priesthood remained and were perpetuated in isaac inae again when vim rebecca the wife of isaac had conceived twins the election to these peculiar blessings ran inthe in the lineage li n of jacob and not in EMU true esau was me first born and was heir to the inheritance which ai always ways pertains to the birthright but the election to hold and perpetuate the keys of eternal priesthood was peculiar to jacob and even that which esau did inherit was forfeited by transgression and therefore transferred to jacob the lord blessed ishmael in many things because he was abrahams seed the lord blessed emu in many things because he was a son of abraham and isaac but the peculiar things of the priesthood through which all nations should be blessed pertained exclusively to that peculiar branch of the hebrews which sprang from jacob now before these two children were born or had done any good gond or evil in this life god who was acquainted with them cheru in the former life and who knew the prades grades of intelligence or of nobility poes possessed essed by each revealed to rebecca their mother that two nations or manner of people would aprin sprin spring from orn these hose twins and that one people should be stronger than the other and that the elder should serve I 1 he younger when these theme two children had been born and had died and when their posterity had become two nations then the lord spoke by the prophet malachi that he loved jac b because of tome good d he had bad done and that he hated esau and laid ed his mountains moun ains waste becaas be caus of certain certaine 1 evils specified in the same declaration the apostle paul in speaking of jacob and esau quotes the revelation to rebecca before they were born and the revelation to malachi after they had become two nations and the two quotations both following in n immediate connection in pauls writings have been mistaken by many as if god had revealed both sayings before the two children were born and thus the scriptures are wrested and made to say that god hated a child before he was born or had done any good or evil A more false and erroneous doctrine could hardly be conceived or a worse charge sustained against juggernaut than the imputation of hating children before buiey aliey are born here I 1 would enquire if it is anything inconsistent or derogatory of the character of a good or impartial father who loves alt all his children for him to elect or appoint one of them to fulfil fulfill a certain purpose or calling eal ling and another fulfil fulfill another useful calling Is it anything strange for one person to be stronger than another lor for one person to serve another or for one peron to have a more numerous posterity than another Is it anything stran geor unrighteous for one person to be a farmer a wine dresser or a bu builder ildr and another a teacher a governor or a minister of justice and equity what is ismore more natt natural iral more useful or just than for a father who dib discovers covers the several abilities or adaptations of his children to appoint them their several callings or occupations god did not say that jacob should be saved in the kingdom of god and esau be doomed to eternal b hll 11 without any regard to their deeds b but ut he simply said that two distinct nations widely differing should spring of them and out one should be stronger than the other and the he elder should serve the younger if one nation is stronger than the other it can assist to defend the other if the one nation serves the other it will have a claim on a just remuneration for services rendered if one inherits a blessing or priesthood i estwood est hood through which all nations be ceased blessed surely the nation which is in composed of his brothers children will have an early claim on salvation through this ministry I 1 should estetta ea watt it a great privilege lege if while I 1 was serving my brother and we were both partaking of the fruits of my labors he should be elected to a priesthood through the ministry of which myself and all my posterity as well as his bis own might be taught exalted and eternally saved by our mutual labors then we could be matu mutually ally bene fitted in time and in eternity I 1 am administering to him and I 1 am happy he is to me and he is happy it is a kind of mutual service a classification of labor wherein each attends to the business most natural to him and wherein there is mutual benefit why then should I 1 find fault or entertain envy y or hatred towards my brother Dressin dressing gavine a vine ploughing sloughing hing a field harvesting or building is just as necessary as teaching or administering the ordinances of salvation one acts in ia one capacity and the other in another but they are mutually blessed and bene fitted by their separate 0 callings and endowments on the subject of hatred I 1 feel much as the lord did when he be hated esaul esau and laid his mountains waste when the children of jacob were in trouble with their enemies esaus de joined with the enemy and did not stand by their brethren when jacob was unpopular no and the nations hated bated him because of the peculiarities of his bis religion esau esaa forsook his brother and disowned relationship fellow shipping with his brothers persecutors I 1 also hate a traitor who turns against me in a day of adversity when I 1 have claim on li him i m as a brother boother but bat to return to the subject of election and of iu IQ the lineage of abraham isaac and jacob according to the flesh was |