| Show to the saints one of the greatest desires of the saints is ia to live to do good to help build up tile the kingdom of god i to those who live in in obedience to all the requirements I 1 of heaven death has no terrors but as the quiet peaceful sleep of the infant imparts renewed life I 1 and vigor bo do doss doas as death open anew life 0 io o the saint as ins his sprit spirit enters the paradise of increased happiness I 1 and glory among the spirits of the sanctified ones where they are waiting for their bodies to 0 o arise and reunite re unite that their souls may fhay be immortalized in m newness ne of life and berer into tile immediate presence of their vernal eternal Faff father caffier ier I 1 F par ar different with the hc unbeliever he be desires toive olive I 1 that lie may enjoy and escape the fearful lo looking oldrig lohof for of judgment or a vi 0 orld ald unknown for better or worse he knows not but fears the vvo st arid and therefore wishes to tarry as long as possible where tie lle is 1 he fears to meet ins last great enemy death lestr the grim monster should introduce him to some region of despair where he will mill find all his faint hopes difan 0 o f an I 1 immortal glory forever blasted and where the coite of mercy will no more sound its peaceful notes A in his bis doubting ear I 1 he knows not the he purpose for which he be came into the woi id he knows not nol the god who sent lum him ire ife e I 1 lie knows not the fate that awaits him at his bis del dewarf ire 11 ure li he C ba has s se seen e n his fellows co come M e an and d go till he is is that his turn must follow like all others and he be is all midlife his life long subject to bondage through ghear lear of that uncertain hereafter concerning I 1 which no BO tw eler returns to give 11 him information lie he lies down in misery and awakes in torment wl wishing shing that he knew what he be is ignorant of and forgetting lt that those who will not listen to lo tile the voice of gods prophets would not believe though one should return to them from the dead gold is his god he worships it at moi coining ning and evening at midday and and 1 lie he have his wish thus far would seat his last remains the skeleton of hi his s wasted body on his golden coffers to protect tile the object of his worship from desecration when his spirit shall have taken its departure ae to the 1 daik I ai k unknown n regions of futurity I 1 not so with the saints who esteem esteem the present only as a preparation for the future who know and feel that earth is is the he lords and the falness thereof the world and they that dwell therein that what they possess is a stewardship for the passing a rnoden moment that having bavin nothing of then own they can take nothing with them when they depart hence bence arid and if they could take all their gold and silver and substance in their I 1 coffins with them thein it would do them no good for all those things that perish with the using usi aig are of no value only as they are used tor for some valuable and use fil fal purpose and as there is no work wok device or knowledge 11 in the grave they have no desire to to take with them that which they cannot use and the want of which would deprive others who remain remain the privilege of dome doing good and thus far destroy the end of the creation of those good things good only for the good which may be done with them loving 11 others as they Tove love themselves and doing to their ne ghiors as they would he be dons done unto they want no means of doing good to be in their hands un tin improved mp roved but desire to put everything which god has put in their hands to be applied in the he most act 1 ive and useful way to promote the best interest of the redeemer Redee mei Is s kingdom and the greatest amount of happiness that mortals are aie capable of experiencing here to prepare them for a more exalted degree of fel felcita city hereafter bad as the he world is and all things connected there is the privilege of the saints to live as perfect in their sphere and calling and according to their knowledge here in w this stele of 0 probation as it will be in the world which is to come if it were not so why do they pray their heavenly father faer that his will may be done on the earth as it is done in the heavens and who will do the will of god on the earth as it is done in the heavens if the saints will not do not do it il I 1 surely no one for it is those and those alone that do the will of god dod who are saints in vain ye call nie me lord lord and do not the things which I 1 say says the savior if ye love me ye will keep my commandments love is I 1 the fuff fulfilling illing of the law men do ahat which they love to do those who hate bale god hate his law and of course will not keep or abde it il and those who cannot abide the law of god on the earth will not do his will on the earth and consequently will not be prepared to abide the celestial al law which governs god and all beings who bo dwell in his presence in the heavens As there is no space where there is no kingdom there is no kingdom 11 where there e bisno is no space where there is no law there is no iio kingdom and where th ereis no kingdom there is no law law for all kingdoms are composed of intelligent existence or beings and all beings are subjects of law more or less per pene feet in ibern themselves selves according to the intelligence and 1 puril y of the beings 11 to whom the law is given so far as gods laws are concerned where there is no law there can be berio no ti transgression anggi assion and where intelligent beina beines s cannot transgress or do wrong there is no test of ef their good or evil properties passions propensities ar or acts no test by which they can be judged praised or blamed pu punished dished or rewarded or what they do A kingdom implies a king or of liw lawgiver giver laws tind and subjects to be governed by those lawsond laws law sand and neither neit beKof the three can be without the others and a perfect I 1 kingdom exist even the kingdom of satan has the te three the devil is his own king and lawgiver so go far as ag his power ek extend fenas and has his jaws and subjects A bein being is not capable of keeping keepin a ter terrestrial es law for want of knowledge a terrestrial being is not capable of keeping a cele celestial stio law for want of knowledge and lie he is not capable of receiving re that knowledge for want of capacity his soul is not sufficiently expand edy the terrestrial law fills him full and he be cannot retain more adre when any measure is full to add more is to waste it will run over and be I 1 lost As kiib measures so with when a man is filled with the intelligence the law pertaining to the kingdom which he inhabits hean be can receive receive no more he can retain no BO more and if a law of higher order were given n to him he be would have no room for atno it no capacity to improve by it before man sinned he be was perfect in the sphere in which he was placed and his creator and lawgiver gave him but one law one command or prohibition and that as a test of his obedience all things connected with the kingdom in which he lived and on the earth commit committed teil to his charge were at his disposal dispo salo and he was permitted to te give free scope to ailais all his de sites sues su es and do as he pleased in his sphere just as his bis gool god aid 34 in his if he would only keep one simple plain and easy to be understood law but the moment he sinnett sin he was under the curse of that broken law and many privileges and blessings which he had bad before enjoyed were taken from him his hitherto almost I 1 unlimited fre freedom and liberty were taken from him by his lawgivers giving him other laws more imore restricting strict ing in their nature or more extensive in their operation ope ration depriving him of blessings before enjoyed as a punishment for the one lethad he had broken alli L this course god has pursued with his people in all I 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 dispensations the law was w changed to to I 1 uit suit his acts and circumstances the law to israel in the days of moses was changed to suit their acts and circumstances god changes banies ri not he does right all the time and roost most peculiarly in this one thing he does not vary wherein he shows his disposition to do good unto aud and to bless his bis children I 1 in in that he be always I 1 adapts his laws to their capacities and necessities when israel would not keep the law of the high higher priesthood god took it from their midst in mercy to them lest they should utterly destroy themselves by sinning against it and left th the elesser lesser priesthood with them and the law of carnal commandments as a school waster master to preserve them a distinct nation until they should repent and be ready to receive and then he was ready to restore the higher priesthood which he did in the per person peron on of christ again to sive save man from si sinning ining so eliat he would be obliged to be destroyed from the earth before the alie I 1 earth had filled up the irie ilie asure of its erea creation tion he elsel wisely received the holy priesthood up into heaven a and nd with it the opening door to a celestial law and celestial glory and left man to wanda on the earth for centuries in m such darkness and ignorance ii gratice that he be could not commit the unpardonable sin sn and utterly and d forever destroy himself from the pi pic sence of his maker leaving yet a door of hope through future pi preaching plea earbin ching g of the gospel to those ignorant igloi ant beings in the prisons of their spirits spirit as jesus did to similar spirits while his body was resting in the sepulchre the eternal father having beheld the wickedness of man for many generations generation that be had transgressed ahe laws changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant the only eo covenant venant by which he be could hope for fog forgiveness here bere or hei cafter that the earth was hastening ba to its consummation and fast filling up the measure of its creation that the sabbath of days since the end of its creation numbering with the seventh day pr or sabbath of days d tiring during its creation or formation according to the measurement of ai time me att t the planet dolob the residence of the creator and knowing that without his antei position those living on the earth those who would live on the earth those who had lived on the earth without the gospel and the earth itself could not be prepared for celestial glo gio r ry y sent forth his holy ani angels vels and committed the g greater reafer and the lesser Priest hoods unto his servant sei vant joseph smith who by the virtue and power of that priesthood established the church and kingdom of god on the earth earthy committed that same priesthood to many others other opened up the way of lifland afe and salvation to the presence of the father to the earth and all beiggs thereon who would receive the glad tidings I 1 sealed his testimony with his blood and fell asleep with all the martyred marty red prophets which had gone before him to celestial paradise and what was the first lii st great and all important law given to the saints through joseph for the establishing ii 8 bin of the church and kin kingdom dam of god on the earth in this dispensation would you say faith repentance pen tance baptism in water for the remission of sins sins and the laying on of hands for the reception of the holy ghost all tins this was required n ed of sinners that they might become saints always was and always will be required of the inhabitants of the earth that I 1 they may be saints and without all these things no one can be a saint As eve evey y kingdom requires es a space and without a space there can be no kingdom it was necessary there should be a space for the kingdom of god on earths earth wid id God godfoy foreseeing this raised up wise meu long beffi e the opening of this last dispensation and revealed to them a constitution and form of political government on this land under which all men could worship god according to their own consciences and no one should be molested in his worship according to the he laws jaws of ine land and knowing also that this government the best beat of all governments uncommon in iri common with all other governments ern ments had bad assumed to itself the right tol to control the land which he had formed for the benefit of the crea creatures bires of his creation commanded his saints to guther gather up tip their money and all their money without regard to the amount and send their wise men with it to pur purchase ehase land so that there might bea be a space on the earth where h his is c hurch church a and n d ki kingdom ri adom n might ai b bp e established and no one could have it to say that space that land is mine and the saints have robbed me I 1 dd ald the saints abide this great command some did and some did not there were some who sent all they coulbo could purchase land fo for r the establishment of zion and there were many who sent little or none pretending M they had none that what they had was a cifes or childrens dowry and they racist must not dispose of if i and and many excuses were invented by the saints to keep iciek their money and comparatively but little land was purchased and what was the resu result it they were few in numbers and their en enemies pinies i came upon them and overcame them and scattered them just a as the prophet joseph told theto them they if they did not keep the commandment from that lay day almost to abbe be pre present sent the saints its b have ave be been en driven from cit city y to city and tr from place to place their lives have been wasted from the the earth till few who then were are left to bear witness of their urgings and enough of their property has been wasted to have purchased a resting place a thousand times time but no thanks to the the wib wicked who abol have done this scourging for god will re require quire it at their hands bands in his own time and and although though il he uses the wicked as a rod to chastise his people when they transgress and will not abide his law they do it voluntarily unta rily in the exercise of their agency and they them must be responsible for their acts and sooner oi or later suffer the penalty penally due their crimes but but to the saints in the opening of this last bisp despen ell bation as at a t the th e in introduction of man on the earth god gave the most perfect law he could give for fhe rapid furtherance of his kingdom for the good of his people yand and endeavored to into their minds that as they had enlisted in the greatest and most glorious cause that buld be instituted ed they ought to consider der all they possessed as a loan from froin their creator and kin king who owned all things and they ought to use ase it all freely for the advancement of his hia kingdom ditl out querying or gainsay gainsaying gain saying Ingi not counting themselves or anything any thing they possessed as their own but that they had been bought with a 0 price which blood or treasure could never pays and themselves and all i their po p 0 sessions fes were ewer ever ready at the call of then their master fo be used even when he would I 1 to whom was this law of consecration given to the saints before they had proved themi themselves alves disobedient and for the simple reason that they might receive the greatest blessings pos possible sibl through ibe the rapid building 11 up of the abe kingdom of god D d th they icy scatter keep the law no they refused and were scat scattered and what was the result the law of tithing was given to whom to the saints after they had prove dby their acts that they would not keep the law of I 1 consecration did the lawag law of tithing abrogate or destroy the law of con consecration tion by no means it is just |
