Show y DISCOURSE I 1 my I 1 ELDER ORSON PRATT rup 7 in irn bic tic the iyih ward assembly B booms qa 1 ay salt sall lake city fity sunday afternoon march lith 1875 REPORTED BY DAVID W P EVANS BANS vans I 1 WILL read a few paragraphs which you will 11 find recorded jn the book of tine lne and covenants commencing near the middle of the second paragraph of a revelation given december 1832 in that he comprehended comprehended ended all things that be might be in all and through all things the the tho light of truth which truth shinetha sh neth ineth this thid la is the light 0 C christ As A also he is in the tho sun and the light of the suie SUB and the power thereof by which it was made As also be 11 la jn the moon and la Is the light of the moon and tha the power thereof by was moade roade Tn adeAs As alao alio the light of th the tho stars and th power thereof hereof by which they were made and the earth also aiso and aud and the power thereof even the tho earth upon which you stand and the light which now shinetha shi sh ineth neth which 1 alveth eveth you lla ilg light atlis Is through him imo who e en n I 1 SIght eneth your eyes which Is JS it that hat quick eneth your understandings which I 1 ight edeth forth from the pre presence gence pence of G god ocl oci to fill the immensity Th the elight light which is in all things which life to all things which li the law by which all things are governed even tha the power of god who upon nils his throne who h la in the bosom of eternity who is ja n the tho midst of all things ve we will wih now pass on to the ninth paragraph orthis of this same revelation given through joseph smith the prophet all kingdoms have a law riven given riv ris en and the there r e are many kingdoms tor lor there is no space in the which there Is no kingdom and there is no kingdom in which there is no space either a greater or lesser kingdom and unto every kingdom Is given a law latr and unto e every ery law there are certain bounds also and condit condition loni ioni all beings who abisa abida not in those conditions are not justified for intelligence cleare cleave clea veth tb unto intelligence wis eth wisdom truth embra ceth truth virtue loveth loreth virtue light cleateth clea veth unto light mercy hath bath compassion on mercy and clai cla mercy meth her own justice contin its course and clai meth its own judgment lodgment goeth before the face of him who u upon 0 a the throne and go verneth and execute ohp a all nil i 1 things ho he compre ampre bendeth all things and all thing things rs arm are re before him and all things are arc round about him an and ho be is above all thin thiu things and in all things and is through all things thing and is round about alt all things and lind ii li nil all 11 things are by him and of him even god for forever ever and ever and again verily I 1 say eay unto you bouhe he hath bath giyen given a law unto all things by which they move inove in their times and their seasons and their thie courses areg aref ame are nixed fixed even the courses of the heavens and the ear earth th which comprehend the earth and all tha the planets and they re live light to each other in their times and a their seasons la their minutes in their bourasa hours houns in their day days in their weela weeks in their mont months it s in ther years all these are one ono year with god but not with man the tha earth rolls upon her wings and the sun his light by day and the moon her light by night and the stars also their light as they roll upon bleir wings in their glory in the midst of the power of god unto what shall shail I 1 liken these kingdoms that ye may understand behold all these are kingdoms and any man who bath seen any or the least of these hath bath seen ged gad moving in his majesty and power J I 1 say unto you be hath bath geem seem him nevertheless he who came unto his own waa was not comprehended the light chineth in darkness and the darkness comprehend eth it not nevertheless the rayshall day shall shail come when you shall comprehend even god being in quickened in him and by him then g shail bhail all ali ye know that ye have seen me that I 1 ami am t that at I 1 am the true light that la is ia IQ you soul and that you are la in mel me otherwise ye could not abound behold I 1 will liken these tha kingdoms unto a man having a field and ho he sent forth his servants into the field to dig in the field and he said unto the go ye yo and labor in the field fields and in the tho first hour I 1 will come unto you and yo shall behold tho the joy or my countenance and he said unto the second go ye also aiso into the nie fie fled d and in tho the second fo hour 0 r I 1 will visit you with the joy of my countenance and also unto the third saying I 1 will visit you and unto tho aho fourth and so on unto the twelfth and the lord of the field went unto the birst first in the first hour and tarried with him all that hour and he was made madd glad with the light of the countenance of his lord tand kand and then ho he withdrew from the first that bo be might visit the second also and the third am aul the fourth and so on unto the twelfth and thus they all received the light of the countenance of their lord every man la in his hour and in his time and in his season beginning at the first and so on unto the last it and nd from the last unto the first and from the first unto the last every man in his own order until his hour was finished even according as his lord had commanded him that his lord might be glorified in him and ha he in him that they all might be glorified therefore unto this parable will I 1 liken all these kingdoms and the inhabitants thereof every kingdom in its hour and in ats its time times and in its season even according to tho the decree which god hath bath made and abrain verily I 1 say eay unto you my friends I 1 leave these thew sayings with you to ponder in your hearts with this commandment which I 1 give gite unto you that ye shall call upon me while I 1 am near draw near unto me and I 1 wl wiil will lid iid draw raw naw near unto you seek me diligently and ye shall find me ask and ye shall receive knock aal an it shall be opened unto you whatsoever ye ask the father in my ray name it shail shall bo be given unto you that la Is expedient for you and it ye ak anything that is not expedient for tor you it sha shu shail shall abbing I 1 turn unto your condemnation ibold that which you hear Is as the voice of one crying in n tho the wil wll wilderness willeria derla deria ess in jn the wilderness because you cannot see him M my frit irit voice votes because my voice isep is spirit irit my spirit P is truth truth arideth and hath bath no end and it it bo be in you it shall abound and it if your eye be single to my glory your whole bodies shall be filled with light and there shall bo no da darkness ryness in you and that body which is felled with lio liz light compre all things therefore sanctify yours yourselves bIves that your minds become bingle to god and the Ms days will come como that you shall see tee him for be will wiil III ili unveil his face unto you fou you and it shall be in his bis own time and in his own way and according to his own will I 1 I 1 have read these sayings from a revelation given a little over forty two years ago to that youth called jose joseph ph SM smitha h a farmers bo boy r do th they ey soun soon sound d 1 like ilke I U the ravings of a madman rodman do they sound like something that was invented or composed by the wisdom of manor do they sound like the truth jo seph smith was not a learned man he had bad to work for his living when he was a lad and when god called him and gave these those revelations through gli him he be llad not studied any more than the jhb generality of the young men who now sit in this congregation and probably not near asmuth as much vet yet yet these words were vere given to him and they contain information and knowledge far beyond that which you will find recorded in the writings tor for the learned d information expressed so simply that a common mind can in some degree grasp it and yet so ao sublime and end so great that when we come to investigate its depth depths sit it regu requires res greater greaten rea er powers and greater greiter understand understanding than what man naturally poss possesses s we are tid told in the part of the first paragraph that I 1 read that god is in the sun of our f firmament irm ament that he is th the elight light of chesun the min win and that be lie is the power ower of the sun by which it was z made ade nde we are also told that he is in the moon and that lie ho is the light of that be heavenly caven luminary and the power tower by which it also aiso was made we are also told that god is in the stars I 1 those worlds so distant from ours those great centres bentres around which no doubt millions on millions of opaque bodies revolve as our planets revolve around our central body the sun that he is in those stars that lie he is ther their light t and the power by wh which ich they are gover governed lied or to come home directly to our earth earthle he is in the earth eaith and is the power and light and glory that is attached to the elements of our globe this would seem t exhibit I 1 it b before us the natu nature re of tha that t be being ing whom we worship we worship him because of his glory greata greatness ess E goodness fodness ness justice mercy kho kno w ledge and wIsdom We worship him because he hm has the power to govern and control the un universe ivers e and because he has commanded commanded us so to do he is a personage and we are told that in t e beginning man was created in his image we are also told that we are his sons bons and alid his daughters that we were begotten by him before the foundation of this world that we are ate his offspring as much BO so as the little children in this room are the offspring of their parents seeing th enthat lie be is a personage and that we are in in his image we can form some idea of the general outlines and resemblance of that personage but can we for a an idea odthe intelli gence that he p possesses assesses oss esses we have but a very limited idea of that he comprehends all things all things are before him all things are round about hi him mand and he is the great and supreme governor of all the works of his hands we are told that that same light which shines from the sun from the moon and from the stars is the same light that quickens the onder understandings der standings of the children of men but who is there in this congregation t gre gation or upon the face of the earth that can tell how that light operates in quickening the understandings of men it js 3 the same light by which you are enabled to seebach see each other and surrounding lia ika nature the light that proceeds fort forth h froh from all these heavenly luminaries with very great velocity is the sanie same light that that quickens the understanding der standing do you know how that is done I 1 do not yet this is what god has revealed he is the light that is in all things do you vou or I 1 comprehend how that light ligat is connected with all things no these are lessons lessens which wo we have got to learn in the future when we ascend in that scale of knowledge and intelligence now possessed b by y celestial beings how long it will be before we corn comprehend these things I 1 know not how our capacities pa cities may hereafter be enlarged enlarge ed I 1 know not how the tiley will be de and quickened sa so as to comprehend all these great truths and principles I 1 know not but we are told in this revelation that the light that quickens the understandings of the children childre n of men and t hat that ligh teth all things is one and tho the same and that it is a also aiso iso the life of all things what wha alewe are we to understand derst der stand arld arid by this nave have we life yes we certainly have where didde did we obtain this life when was was it lt created or made there is a revelation upon this subject which says that intelligence or the light of truth was not nat created neither indeed can be Is it then eternal yes then this light that shines is ete eternal Trial in hi its nattle nature is it yes because it is 14 the same sana 6 light that gives life to ai ajr things did our spirits that hava have power to thiel and to reason have life before the foundation of the world yes and what gave them this life the elements composing our spirits were eternal they were never created neither indeed can cail be they existed from all eternity and were at a cert eert certain alil airl period combined or organized in the form of our spirits and hence the pre existence of man before the world was made this same light which gives us life and without which we could not abound proceeds forth from the presence of god to fill the immensity of space can clan we get away from it no for it fills all the in intermediate ter mediate spaces between world and world betl beti between veen one system and anid another and between bili bril universe verse and arid universe and there is no space in which there is no king kingdom doru dorn and there is no kin hin hindom kindom kingdom dom in which there is go space hence licence this being befog the case all eternity as far as jour your minds minas can eau possibly str e is filled with kingdom sand with this thi 19 power of god thias thijs light which is the life of all things and the law lav by which all things arc are I 1 goyer gover governed ned 1 perhaps you may ask hsk me why I 1 dweldon dw dwell ellon on this mysterious subject I 1 answer why did the lord dwell upon it forty two years ago if he did not want us in lu some measure to understand it would bespeak he speak at random would he give jive a revelation without expecting that the people would ever try to td understand it jt if rf the lord wished us to understand something and con descended to reveal ab should ot ild lid we after forty two years ears of experience think that we arestea are stepping over our bounds in trying to approximately bitely comp compre rehe rebe hemf n a what tiie the lord desired us to understand in some measure forty two years yeara ago I 1 it is an old sectarian whim and notion to suppose that we must not try to understand revelation you know that when they come to something in the divine records which they do dd not understand they will say oh the lord never intended us to under stand tha that t that is a 6 mystery we must not search into the these ise things they are mysteries just as though would reveal something that he never Int intended eLded or wished the human family to understand saying laying nothing about the deity it would be an act of foolishness on the part of a man to attempt a revelation of something that he never intended hig his fellow men to understand the lord is more consistent than man mid and if he reveals al y thing he be surely intends that thing to be for the profit and edification of the tho pure in heart I 1 was going to say siy that we had dwelt too long on baptism for the remis rewis remission alon plon of sins but no wa we should sti still 11 ll retain that in our remembrance membra mem brance fice not leaving lea iea ving the tho principles of the doctrine of christ we ought to go 0 o on to perfection 1 believe that king ring jamess translation of that passage says therefore There foie fole leaving the principles of the doctrine tri trl neof of christ let ua go on unto perfection but the translation given by the inspiration of the holy ghost through gil gli the prophet of the lord puts in the little word word not therefore not noe leaving the principled les ies of the doctrine of christ let us go on unto perfection JC do not want the tho people to leave baptism or to cast from their minds and forget the first principles of the doc trine of christ but oil on the contrary you |