Show BY APOSTLE ERASTUS SNOW owna arlun jr DELIVERED ji the ie tabernacle provo on sun ay Mo morning ruing mav slay 32 S st quarterly y conference 1885 5 REPORTED BY joler JOHN THE speaker commenced by reading from the chapter of genesis from fro al the verse to the end of the clia cila chapter P proceeding he said Inthe in the writings of moses we have an account of the creation of this earth and the inhabitants viere thereof of both man and beast and every living thing thin as also vegetation f in the first verse we read in the bc be ginning god created the heavens and ahe th earth in attempting to communicate intelligence e upon any theme if we attempt to do it t b by using 8 i ng words word sand and phrase swe are obliged dobli g e yiu to 0 use such language as the hearers or readers are able to compre I 1 hend and if the language be imperfect the ideas conveyed may be somewhat imperfect or defective and if the un 1111 der standing ferstanding of the persons to whom this language is addressed is limited and their use and understanding of language Is limited the information I 1 sought to be communicate communicated a to them r will be correspondingly limited and defective it is only by the inspiration of the holy ghost that we are able to t see clearly t the he things of god but the language employed by the writer of the V book R of genesis and by dy the translators of that work is perhaps sufficiently clear for our purpose at this time though the inspired translation rendered by the tile prophet joseph smith Is somewhat clearer and more impressive than the present king kin james translation t on in the inspired translation by the prophet joseph smith it is written that iu in the beginning the gods created the heavens and the earth that the earth was empty and desolate and god said unto ills only begotten let us do so and so let us alyx divide the light from the darkness let us separate the waters water s and cause the dry land to appear let there be lights in the firmament in the midst of the heavens to give live light to the earth let us create animals to walk upon the earth and creeping things and fowls to 10 fly in the air and add tish fish to swim in the waters ac and let us make man in our own image and af after ter our Il keness likeness that la Is the father addressing the son taking counsel together this rendering of this first chapter pf af genesis is s stained sustained by the writings of the apostle paul when he says for of him speaking of the only begotten gand and land through him dimand and for him are all thin things thins s 11 again A ain aln it is written in in the new NewT testament estam ent concerning the savior that he is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person so that when the anther father said oHis onis son in the beginning let us make man in our image and after our likeness it conveys to us the idea that man was organized in the same form and general appearance of both the father and the son this especially in relation to the man himself for yo yon you a will remark tiie the wording of the text which we have read in the image of god created he him referring to adam male and female created he them you will perceive a difference in the language in regard to the creation of females now it is not said in so many words in the scriptures that we have a mother in heaven as well as a father it is left for tor us to infer this from what we see and know of all living things in the earth including tiding man the male and female principle is united and both necessary to the accomplishment of the object of their being and if this be not the case with our father in heaven after whose image we are created then it is au an an omally in nature Butto but to our minds the idea of a father suggests that of a mother mother As one of our poets says in the heavens are parents single no bro the thought makes reason stare I 1 truth is reason truth eternal tells me ive vve a mother there hence when it Is said that god created our first parents in his likeness in the image of god creat edHe himmele him male maie and female created he them it is intimated in language sufficiently plain to my understanding that the male and female principle was present with the gods as it id is with man it needs only a common understanding of the organism of man roan and of all living creatures and the functions of this organism to show the primary object of the creator and that is the multiplication of the species the fulfillment of the commandment man dment given to multiply and replenish the earth given both to man and beast we need only to study the anatomy and construction of the human system and to understand its powers and capabilities to com comprehend the object and purpose of the creator even though the commandment had bad not been written to multiply and replenish the earth the tiie ancients who feared god and kept his commandments showed that they understood this principle and were willing to obey it it is written of the firse first fourteen generations that each succeed succeeding in generation of them ived so many years and begat sons bons r and daughters anu and and some of them lived wel on to a thousand years they multiplied and increased in the land until wickedness overran the land and it pleased god to check the growth of flood which swept the wicked off the earth but before thus destroying the inhabitants of the earth he caused the righteous to be gathered out from among the wicked by the preaching of the gospel enoch the seventh from adam was a powers powerful al instrument in the hands bands of god of rebuking the wickedness of the times he taught righteousness gathered the people together and established a zion ile he labored we are told some years in the which he communed with god and taught the people and sanctified his people so that they were translated to heaven many others who remained upon the earth who had accepted the gospel but were not sanctified and prepared to be caught up with enoch and his people sought diligently to follow they purified themselves so that angels ministered unto them and they the y were caught up unto zion before the flood even all who remained and kept the fayth faith saith except noah and his bis sons and their families who were especially called and chosen and detailed to build the tile ark and enter therein with a selection of the bea hea beasts ts of the earth and the fowls of the air to preserve seed through the nood flood thus did the lod lord lo d g gather a ther a harvest of souls unto himself of those who believed and obeyed the gospel gospe I 1 and worked righteousness while the wicked the flood then again the commandment of god to multiply and replenish the earth was renewed to noah and his posterity and soon the desolate places became inhabited but in the course of a few generations blindness and darkness and ignorance again began to prevail wickedness tegan leoan legan began to raise its head bead among the children of noah oah osh and it beca became me necessary that the lord should select from f born among amon smon the children of noah the better and nobler seed with whom ile he would establish ills his covenant and upon whom he would confer the keys of the priesthood and from among them should be raised up prophets and seers and revelators revelatory to teach the people of the nations of the earth earthy as the oracles of gad these chosen people were abraham and his seed seeds of abraham it is written that god called him from his bis fathers house when he dwelt in ur of the chaides Uh aldes and commanded hia him to go ko out from lis ils his fathers house because his bis fattier father was given to the ways of the heathen and to the idolatry ot of the surrounding peoples ile he called him to go to another land laud where lie he should be se narato from the traditions and teachings of his father and where he lie would make of him a great nation and raise up from his seed a holy people god appeared unto him in canaan whither he led him and swore by himself because ile he could swear by no greater that in blessing ile he would bless him and in multiplying he would multiply him that his hid seed should be as the tile stars of the tile heavens and as the sand which is upon the sea shore for multitude ile he renewed this promise to his son isaac and anc his grandson jacob who was also named israel and from them sprang the house bouse of israel and also the children children of arabia the sons of ishmael ish mael and the chief tribes of central asia it was the seed of abraham that dwelt in egypt who were brought into bondage to the egyptians and subsequently delivered by the hand of moses after wandering forty years in the wilderness in the land of canaan it was from union among this people that god raised up prophets f from rom generation to generation to whom he revealed his mind and will it wag waa was this people eople that was commanded to build erst arst the tabernacle Journe journeying yng in the wilderness a sort of moveable moveably move able temple and subsequently a temple in the the land of promise when they should become settled and located there it was among this people the savior was born and labored and taught the gospel bel pel and was crucified and rose again from rom the dead it was f from rom among this people that ile he the savior selected and ordained his rig A apostles 0 s ties to preach the gospel to all lre ite t the world the whole tenor of the tho scriptures shows us that those who believed god and were counted his ills people multiplied and replenished tile the earth and became nume as the stars in the heavens and aud as the sands upon the sea shore for multitude while many of the other unbelieving nations and peoples comparatively dwindled away and when the ili lii history of the generations of adam shall be revealed and comprehended b by the human race it will be found that in the providence of god ile he has greatly restricted the more corrupt rupt bupt while he has enlarged and multiplied the seed of abraham who millo did abide in the covenant arid although many ef of them have come short in many things and have wandered in darkness and unbelief yet as a people they have maintained a degree of sexual purity unknown in the gentile world and tor lor this reason has god multiplied them in the land they have great and special promises that in the latter days god would remember them now while goa god commanded ills his people to multiply and replenish the earth ile he gave strict laws against promiscuous sexual intercourse ile he forbade adultery fornication whoredom f for ormand mand the same doctrine was taught by paul the apostle namely marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled dented un but whoremongers and adulterers god will judge prevailed in all ages among the people of god encourage encouraging ing lug honorable wedlock and restraining illicit sexual intercourse ter course and there are many physical as well a theological reasons for this law it Is especially binding upon mankind because they are organized atter after the image of god and are his offspring I 1 refer now to the spirit for we understand that man in the nobler sense and the true sense is that immortal eternal being which has came forth from god and that the earthly tabernacle is but an outer clothing of that immortal belh beings g that the ear earthly athly tabernacle is in the image imag e and I 1 likeness of the heavenly or eternal beld bein being in other words the body is in the likeness and form forin of the soul soui or the spirit and that it is made conformable to any for the spirit to dwell in and to nil fill every portion and particle thereof and t to 0 direct its energies and powers to develop its ita capa capabilities and to guide lt its actions hence that immortal man is held responsible for the deeds of the body and it is written he shall be the judged d g ed according to the deeds done in the body because the body does not control the spirit but the spirit controls the body still the apostle paul faul says that there is a law of the flesh that wars against the spirit and say says s paul to be carnally mind minded ea is deatti death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace lie he aurthur says that this law of the flesh that is iti in our members and aud the lusts thereof that wars rs against the law of the spirit brings our bodies into bondage even the bondage of sin sins i it made duty doty ol 01 to subdue the llesh flesh and the lusts and tle desires thereof and to bring bri n g it into subjection to the law jaw of t the be spirit this is the warfare and the struggle ol 01 our lives tives this begins with the development vel vei of our physical power and the I 1 lusts lasts ana desires of the flesh the spirit of man is capable of rec receiving eivin elsin f from rom the spirit of atour nour father the holy spirit which is in con connection with the toe father and the son and is a minister of god unto men which our minds and us understanding for the spirit of manis mants the candle ol 01 the lord says one of old this teaches us just as far as we will give heed to it how to walk in obedience to the law of god and how to re and overcome evil with good and as far as the written word of god is given to us its object and influence upon us is to restrain the tile flesh and bring it into subjection to the spirit dispirit the lusts and desires of the tile fleen are not ot of themselves unmitigated evils un on the contrary they are implanted in us as a stimulus to noble nobie needs rather than low and beastly deas these affections and loves that are planted in us are the nobler qualities that emanate f from rom rum god they stimulate us to the performance of our duties to multiplying and replenishing the earth carth to 38 ume umu the responsibilities of families and rear them up for god they encourage and stimulate the woman to bear her burden and perform for ruthe the duties of life because oi of the hope of a glorious future while it stimulates the husband and father in like manner every instinct in us is tor for a wise purpose in god when properly regulated and restrained and guided by the holy spirit and kept within its proper legitimate bounds but all these instincts and desires of the thin flesh tiesh are susceptible of perversion and when perverted result in an sin whenever the gospel has been preached reach edon on carthand eart earth hand ami prophets and roly holy men have been sent among the people the purden burden of their lives has been to encourage them to the proper exercise of their powers and f functions ar and id to regulate them and restrain them within proper limits such as are prescribed in the written law and in the law lav of our being excesses of all kinds tend to death and to sickness and misery physically and spiritually while temperance and moderation and the proper use of all our functions tends to the glory of god and the welfare of his children the chief study of man is to comprehend these principles and to apply them in their lives I 1 said there was h a time after the flood that tuat the seed of noan noah be bean began an to corrupt their ways and god chose out from among them the seed of abraham with whom ile he established ills his covenant cd venant that ile he might preserve unto himself the priesthood and its ordinances and a people who would receive his hislaw law and among whom ile he would raise up prophets and through whom he would send ills his son in the meridian of time to become the savior and redeemer of the world thus abraham was blessed of the lorato lord to multiply and increase in the earth greatly when the lord determined to bless and multiply abraham and his seed he that they should take of the daughters of eve for 0 r wives and multiply and increase in the land I 1 do not nut say that plural marriage was not practiced prior to this time but I 1 say |