Show 1 I copyright secured 1 history HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH arril APRIL 1844 at 31 pm pm the president ha having V arrived the eboff sung a hymn elder amaba amasa asa liman lyman lyman offered offe reil prayer I 1 president I 1 joseph smith 1 I delivered the following discourse before about saints being the f funeral sermon of elder king follett ite he ported by willard richards wilf wilford ord woodruff Wood rufey ruffy thomas bullock and william clayton 94 beloved saints I 1 will call the attention oc this congregation while I 1 address you on fhe the uhe the subject of the dead the decease of our beloved brother brothe elder king follett who was crushed crashed in a well by the falling of a tub of rock has more immediately led me to that subject hect I 1 have been requested to speak by his friends r ends and relatives but inasmuch as there are re a great many in this congregation who live in this city as well as elsewhere who have lost friends I 1 f eel feel disposed to speak on the subject in general and offer you my ideas so far as fhate ability anit ant so far as I 1 shall be inspired ed by the holy spirit to dwell on this subject t I 1 want t your prayers and nd faith falth that I 1 may have the instruction of almighty god and the gift of the holy ghost so hat I 1 may set forth things that are true and which can be easily compre comprehended hende pende d by you and that the testimony may carry conviction to your hearts and minds of the truth of what I 1 shall say gay pray dray that the lord may strengthen my lungs stay the winds and let the prayers of the saints to heaven appear r that they may enter into the ears of the uld urd lord of for the effectual prayers of the righteous ava ileth much there is strength th here and I 1 verily believe belleve that your prayers will be heard before I 1 enter fully feuilly into the investigation of the subject which is laying before me I 1 wish to pave ave th the e way and bring tip up the subject from the beginning that you may understand it I 1 will make a few preliminaries 1 in order that you yu may understand the subject when I 1 come to it I 1 do not calculate or intend to please your ears with superfluity of words or oratory or with much learning but I 1 calculate to edli edil edify you with the simple truths from heaven in the first place I 1 wish to go back to the beginning to the morn of creation there is the starting point for us to look to in order toun ferstand der dera tand stand and be fully acquainted with the mind purposes and decre decree eso the great El who sits in yonder heavens as he did at the creation of this world it ig is necessary for us vis to have an understanding of god himself himself in the beginning if we start right it is easy to go right all the time but if we start wrong we vve may go wrong and it be bi a hard matter to get right there are but hut a very few beings in the world who abo understand rightly the character of god the great majority of mankind do not comprehend anything either that which is past part or that which is to come as it respects their relationship to god they do not know neither do they understand the nature of that relationship and consequently they know but little above the brute beast or more than to eat drink and sleep this is all man knows about god or his hib existence unless it is given by the inspiration of the almi aimi almighty aty if it v a man learns not nothing ing more than to eat drink sleep and does not comprehend any of the designs of god the beast comprehends the same thing it eats drinks sleeps and knows nothing more about Go dyet it knows as much is as we unless we are able to comprehend by the inspiration of almighty Almish ty god if mendo not comprehend the character cha char racer acler of god gouthey they lo 10 not comprehend themselves I 1 want to go back to the bye ble beginning ginning and so lift your minds into a more lofty sphere and a more exalted understanding than what the thie htman human human mind generally 1 aspires to I want to ask this congregation every man woman and child to answer the question in their own heart what kind of a bein being heing g god is ask yourselves ourselves turn your thoughts into hito your hearts and say if any of you have hake seen seen heard or communed with him this is a question that may occupy your attention for a long time I 1 again repeat the question what kind of a being i is is god does any man or borri woman 1 an know llave any of you seen him heard beard him or communed with him here is the question that will peradventure from this time henceforth occupy your attention the scriptures inform us that this ia is life eternal that they might know thee ahe the only true god and jesus christ whom thou epst sent 2 if any man does not know god and inquires what I 1 kind in d of a being he is if be he will search diligently his own heart if the declarations of jesus and the apostles be true he will realize that hat he be has not eternal life for ther there a can be eternal life on no other principle my first object is to find out the charac character of the only wise and true god and what kind of a being he is and if I 1 am so fortunate as ito to be the man to comprehend god and explain or convey the th e principles to your hearts so that the spirit seals them upon you then let every man and woman henceforth sit in silence put their hands on their mouths and never lift their hands or voices or say anything against the man of god or the servants of god again but if I 1 fail to do atit becomes my duty to renounce all further pretensions to revelations lils ills inspirations ali actions or to be a prophet and I 1 should be like lle lre the rest of the world a false teacher be hailed balled as a friend and no man would seek my life but if all religious teachers were honest enough to renounce their pretensions to godliness when their ignorance of the enow knowledge of glod clod is made manifest they will all ail be as badly off as I 1 am at any rate and you yon might just as well take the liv ilves lives as of other false teachers as that of mine if ig I 1 adf am faise false alte it if any man ia is authorize authorized d to take away my life ilfe if a because he thinks and says I 1 am a false teacher then upon the e same principle the we should be justified in taking g away the life of eveia every false teacher ard and where would be the end of blood I 1 and who would woula not bethe sufferer berer lerer but meddle an y man foghis re 1 igdon and all governments ought to permit every man to enjoy his rel rei religion on unmolested no man an I 1 is authorized authorize d to t take taka a f e aw away ay life in con consequence quence of differ difference enee eDee of religion which all laws laiva and governments ought to tolerate and protect ri night right ht or wrong every man has h a natural and in in our country a constitutional right to be a false prophet as well as a true prophet if I 1 show verily that I 1 have the truth of god and show that ninety nine nide out of ev every ery hundred professing religious ministers are false teachers having no authority while they pretend to hold the keys of gods kingdom on earth earthy and was to kill them because they are false teachers it would deluge the whole world with blood I 1 will prove that the world ig is wrong by showing what god isi am going to inquire after god for I 1 want you all to know him and to be familiar with him and ano it if I 1 can bring you to a know knowledge ledgle of him all persecutions against me ought to cease you will then know that I 1 am his hia servant for I 1 speak as one having ali all authority 1 tho gity rity ity I 1 will go back to the begin beginning nin before the world word was to ab show ow what kii kli kind of a I 1 being eing god is what a being was god goa in the beginning open your ears and hear all ye ends of the earth for I 1 am going to prove it to you by the bible and to tell you the designs of god in relation to the human race and why he interferes ter feres with the affairs of man god himself was waa once as we are now and is an exalted ni man an and sits enthroned in yonder heavens that is the great secret if the vail was rent today to day and the great god who holds this world in its orbit and who upholds all worlds and all ail things by his power was to 0 make himself visible I 1 say if isyou yon were to see him today to day you would see him hirn like a man man in form like yourselves in all the person image and very form as a man for adam was created in the very fashion image and likeness of god and received instruction from and walked talked and conversed with him as one man talks and communes with another in order to understand the subject of the dead for the consolation of those who mourn mourn for the loss of their friends it is necessary we should understand the character and being of god and how bow he came to be so for I 1 am going to te tell ieli you vou how god came to be god we have imagined and supposed that god was god from all eternity I 1 will refute that idea and will aake take away and do away the vail BO so that you may see these are incomprehensible ideas to some but they are simple it is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of god and to know that we may maycon n verse with him as one man converses with another and that he was once a man like us yea that thai god himself the Fath Father erpf jf us all dwelt on an earth the same as jesus christ himself did and I 1 will show it from the bible I 1 wish I 1 was in a suitable place to tell it and that I 1 had the trump of an archangel so that I 1 could tell the story in such a manner that persecution se would cease forever for ever what did jesus SAV say mark it elder rigdon the scriptures inform info rm us that jesus jesua said as the father hath power in himself even so hath the son power powers to do what vh at why what the father did the answer is obvious in a manner to lay down his body and nd take it up again jesus what are you vou going to do to lay down my life as in my father did and take it up again do you believe W il if you do not believe it you do not believe the bible the scriptures say bay it and I 1 defy all the learning and wisdom ani and ant all the combined powers of e arth earth and hell together to refute it here then is eternal lif life ilfe e to know the only wise and true god and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves and anti to be kings icings and priests to go d the same as all gods have mone yone before you namely by going from one small smail degree to another and from a small capacity to a great one from grace to grace from exaltation to exaltation until you attain to tb the resurrection of the dead and are able bodwell in everl everi everlasting asthig burnings and to sit in flory fiory glory as do those who sit enthroned in ever fasting a ting power and I 1 want you to know t that hat god in the jast days while certain individuals are procla proclaiming 1 imlig his name is not trifling luig with you or me these are the first principles of consolation how consoling to the mourners when thel they a recalled to part with a husband wife f father a t r mother child or dear relative to know that although the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved they shall hise rise again to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory not to sorrow suffer or die any more but they shall be heirs of god and joint heirs with jesus Cl Ct frist what is it to inherit the i same power the same glory and the same exaltation al tation until you arrive at the station of a god and ascend the throne of eterna eternal I 1 power the same as those who have gone before what di did dia 4 jesus do why I 1 do the thin thins things s I 1 saw my F ather father do when worlds came boltin rolling 9 into existence my father worked out his kingdom with lear fear and trembling and I 1 must do the same and when I 1 get my kingdom I 1 shall present it to my father so that be may obtain kingdom upon kingdom and it will ex a alt ait t him in glory he fie will ivill hen then take a higher exaltation al and azid I 1 will take his place and thereby become acome exalted myself so that jesus treads in in the tracks of his father and inherits what god iid ild lid did before and god I 1 is I 1 s 6 thus ils glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all hi hs s children it is plain beyond disputation and you thus learn some of the first principles of th the gospel about which so much hath been said I 1 when you climb a ladder you must begin at the bottona and ascend by step until you I 1 arrive at the top and so it is with the aples ples pies of the gospel you must begin with the first and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation but it will be a great while after you have passed through the vail bea before are jre yo you yon 11 will have learned them it is not all to be comprehend comprehended com reli rell ended ad in this world it will be a great wore work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave I 1 suppose I 1 am not allowed to go into an investigation of anything that is not contained in the bible if I 1 did I 1 think there are so many wise ime w lse ise men here they would fould cry treason and put me to death so I 1 will go to the old bible and turn commentator today to day I 1 shall comment on the very first hebrew word in the bible I 1 will make a comment on the very verv first sentence of the history of creation in the ih bible bibie beros heit I 1 want to analyze the word baith in by through and everything ese rosh the head grammatical termination mint mi lon ion when the inspired man wrote wroth ithe it he did not put the baith there an old jew without any authority added the word he thought it too bad to begin to talk about the imad it read first the head one of the gods brought forth the god gods that is the true greaning of 0 the words barrau signifies to bring brine forth it if you do not believe it you do not believe the t learned man of god learned men can learn you no more mor e than what I 1 have told you thus the head god G od brought forth the gods in the grand council I 1 will transpose and simplify it in the en english language oh ye lawyers ye doc doctors and ye pries priests tsi who have hake persecuted me I 1 want to let you jou know that the holy ghost knows something as well as you do the head god called together the gods and ana sat in grand council to bring forth the world the grand counselors sat at the head in yonder heavens and contemplated the creation of the thie worlds which were created at that time when I 1 say doctors and lawyer lawyers I 1 mean the doctors and lawyers of the scriptures I 1 have done so hitherto without explanation to let the lawyers flutter and everybody laugh at them some learned doctor might take a notion to say the scriptures say thus and so and we must believe the scriptures they are not bof to be altered but I 1 am going to show you an error in them I 1 have an old edition of the new testament in ia the hebrew latin german and greek languages I 1 have been reading the german and find it to be the most moat correct translation and to correspond nearest to the revelations which godhan given to me for the last fourteen years it tells about choboy Ja the son of zebedee it means jacob in the english new testament it is translated james now 7 if jacob had the keys you might talk about james through all eternity and never get the tha th keys in the verse of the fourth chapter of matthew my old german edition gives t the word jacob instead of james the doctors 1 I mean doctors of law hot of physic say it if you preach anything not according to the bible we will cry treason tr bason bagon 2 how can we escape the damnation of hell except god be with us and reveal to us men bind us with chains the latin says jaeda bod which means jacob the hebrew |