| Show ED a S 0 0 U az S MI BY ELDER ORSON PRATT delivered in the tabernacle sait salt lake city sunday afternoon august 1880 REPORTED BY JOHN irvine introductory remarks beaven heaven and earth to pass away not annihilate annihilated beaven Heaven and earth not created from nothing materials ebern eternal al materials under the dominion of laws central and orbital forces aps compound and elemen ital itai substance earth barth m thebe the be ginning uvo mortality then known on this creation the fall the Earths Barths Baptism in water 16 ba baptism by fire Ps its baptism by the S spirit its justification its sanctification cation its purification fi cation its thousand years rest the last a apostasy apo stacy the last gathering of the righteous destruction of gatans satans army the burning of the earth barth its cements dispersed the earths resurrection its full redemption it nature when made immortal The eternal abode abode of the resurrected righteous zite zae geologists of the new creation owners of odthe the land deeded only to such as obtain titles in this life the jaredine Jar Jare edice edite title the mephile title the latter day saints title the location of their capital city its future glory As its tempie temple 7 pie rie and those I 1 I 1 who eho worship p therein I 1 VILL WILT call the attention of ot the congregation to a few passages of scripture which will be found in the 1 doth voth 1 and chapters of the revelations given to st john in the loth chapter we find these the se word worm fa t and AM t a ffrost white throne and him that sat savon on it from whose face the earth and tho the heaven beaven nned med fled away and there was wag found round no do place for them iland and I 1 saw the ahe dead small and andy groat great stand before god and alid the books were opened and another book was livas opened which is the thu book of life and the dead judged out of those things which ivere written i an fn A the book boote 4 accord ki us to their borits 99 and anti the ibe aea ara gave geive un tle tie lead tead which in it nud and death and hell heil delivered up the tho dead which were in thein Tand taud they were judged omry emry oi every ery erv man according tw foi their imm 11 and death and hell were case casc ca into tho lake ot of fla ore thia this is the second death and whomsoever was not sound found I 1 in 11 t the he hook book of ute life were cast cut into the tho lake lako of ore in the chapter commencing with the verse we read these words and I 1 saw a new now heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more 1 I bea sea and I 1 john saw tho holy boly city new ecru salem salemi coming down from Q 4 out of heaven pre prepared p as a bridel bride adorned for tor her husband and I 1 heard a great voice oui out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of god la 13 with men and ho he will wiil dwell with them and f they bey shall shail be his bis people and god himself bhail shall bo be with rith them and bo be their ged god I 1 it and god shall wl wlm away all tear mearl from fro their eyes esea and there shall 11 bo no more deat death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for toe the former things are passed away 91 and bo lyd mat that sat tim trw the thie throne said eald behold I 1 make all ail things new now and he faid said aldun unto tome me write writer for these words are true and faithful aa and he said baid unto me it is dono done I 1 am alpha and omega omegas the beginning and the tho end I 1 will give unto him that is 19 athirst of the fountain of tho the water of ilfe life freely at he ire that over cometh shau shah shai inherit ali ail all ali things and I 1 will vill be his god and he shall be my r son oh it 1 iq 1 q a great and important undertaking tonise torise ze up before a congregation of the children of men and endeavor to declare the words of eternal life to them no man living can do this acce acceptably tably bably in the sight of god unless md god ls is is 19 with him by the power of his spirit and by the inspiration thereof I 1 often feel my own weakness and imperfection as a man mati when endeavoring to do a work af pf of this nature I 1 often ofton times feel to asam ask myself y self seif the question what am ain 1 I and how can 1 I perform the work which the Lord rord requires at my hand harld unless he assists me sometimes Sometime sl I 1 almost feel to shrink but then than I 1 know from past pasi experience thau that god has asil assisted sted me andi and andl I 1 have every reason to believe that be will iii continue so to do inn Ind inasmuch as I 1 am humble and exer exercise bise faith in him and strive to do hi his will swill these words written in the ond pud of the revelations given to st john on the isle mos mos 0 occurred to my mind a few momen moments ts before I 1 rose to my feet fon for forbis itis the practice of utmost anost of the elders of this church to take m no 0 thought t before hand band what they shall say and it is very seldom that the officers of the church endeavor to plan their own minds any particular from of or discourse but sometimes the spirit of the lord nord L ard may way suggest certain bertain passages of scripture and then that same spirit may dictate and direct in in regard to the form of words that shall be used uselin in delineating the ideas contained in these texts we are told in jn the words which I 1 have read that there is a period of time yet in the future wherein this earth upon which we stand where we have our being and from which we derive our sustenance will pass away and the heavens that are over our beadi beads heads will also pass away at the time this great event shall happen we are informed that a great white throne shall appear that a certain personage will sit thereon and that so great will be his glory and so great the power attending him that the earth itself will flee away from before his presence and the heavens the literal heavens beavens that are over our h eads probably meaning the heavens that pertain to this creation will pass away the atmosphere and und those things included in the atmosphere mo sphere and the earth itself the solid portions thereof and the liquid portions will all pass away before the face of him that sits upon this throne this is bell beil believed eved not only by the latter day saints but by all christian denominations with very few exceptions they believe that the heaven and the tho earth will at some future period have a great change wrought upon them they expect that they will pass away but I 1 believe that most of them consider that the earth will become annihilated that the very materials of which it is composed will be reduced to nothing I 1 think that used to be cheni was a boy a tenet of the sectarian world it used to be their idea that the earth was in the begin beginning made out of nothing by the word of god and nud that it would be reduced to nothing when it passed away but I 1 have not time to dwell upon the idea of the christian world and their views concerning this matter I 1 shall toua touch u upon on those things according cordin to the lieas ideas and the faith af pf f the p people called latter day sainta saints wedo ve do not believe that eliat the earth was made out of nothing like the modern christian idea we weli have havo aveno no such sueh belief for we do not findan nind find any y such declaration conLa contained ined anywhere in fhe scripture wo do not take it for granted because they have incorporated thee tiie e things in their modern theology in their doctrines in their disciplines in their church articles in their creeds we do not receive it on this testimony but we search to see what the scriptures scripture of truth have said upon this subject and when we have searched them we find th there thene e re js no indications whatever er that the he earth was almade made out of nothing or that it sprang into existence where there was waa nothing on which to vib wib work vork ak we read in the first chapter of G genesis easis that god created the heaven and the earth and the earth barth was wag without for form in aud void bu but t there I 1 s nothing in this passage that informs us ug that lie he made the earth out of nothing thin thih 9 our dew yiew i is that thi elements out of which thi sandall other othen worlds were weep made existed from all eternity they neve rhad shad any flegm ning hero here there thero are a few individuals the earth jakeno no pro session of religion some call cau them th enok enck material elsts who believe ahls this same principle and in doing ajo apo fio so they havo have got one truth incorporated among their ideas though they do not believe in gad the of this prea creation tion according to fo our view vieland vie vio wand ad ahat that which god has reve revealed alid tot u us in this last dispensation have hav e existed bromall from nil all eternity trul ty these materials have been from all eternity subject to tho the command of the great jehovah they are aro ar rinder tinder und aud er his juris jurls he be has haa power powen r to control them he gaio gave gave the tho them laws they ahey act according to these laws aad they have bave been en governed V by edw laws so fana fada far as we w eb have ave avo any knowledge aud and so far a as s our creation 1 is concerned for indefinite ages past and we have every reason to td believe that they ii have ave been under the dominion afla of law W so long as there has been a supreme being and you might ask how bow long is that we wd answer that he as s coeternal eternal co bo in his existence with the materials of creation one existed a as I 1 long iong 0 ng as the other an and other dother of them had any beginning there where may have been an endless cycle of organizations and among the materials of nature governed for a certain period of c a wise purpose sd according to wise and just and holy noly oy laws adapted to their condition bind band and to bring aboul about the great purposes of the great jehovah we find that everything at present ko feo far farns faras as we e have hav pany any knowledge and understanding to discern the workings offia of nature ture seems to be under the dominion of law the earth rolls in its destined orbit according to laws the force by which it is supposed to have been projected is according to a certain law the great central force by which it is governed or to use a modern word attracted tr 11 is according to a certain law the projectile force so called is adapted to the central force and it has rolled in its destined pat hever heger sin since i ce its present organization or for some years and how much longer it has idlett mahat in that path or orbit we do not know it had a beginning in its present organization as moses clearly gives g I 1 ves us an idea but in organizing this world the tile lord call it into existence from not nothing bing hing but called the eternal elements that were spread abroad in space and commanded them to come together according to certain laws and the earth was formed and placed in its proper position in the midst of many other creations which roll around the great central orb the sun it was no small work it required creator aired the power of an almighty creator to organize a world like thi thil i to adapt it in its organization to the principle of life which more or 01 less pervades all of its materials causing them to fulfill fulfil verlous venious laws ordained in a relation to their action obeying what are called chemical lawsin laws in forming the numerous compounds of which our earth is composed the solid portions the liquid portions and the aerial positions were all formed chemically by the power of the alme aime almighty gaty 1 1 mean the compounds which constitute these thele portions and when we come to reduce these compounds to their elements we find upwards of sixty elementary principles from which being joined together according to chemical laws all the numerous compounds are formed now these laws in all their operations are laws g given 1 yen by the divine being he it is is that causes them to operate Ugh t theat electricity and every substance s u bs tance combined with the materials of our globe areail are all ali under the dominion of num numerous e ro us laws law and the results that are brought about or the good that 19 ls is bestowed upon the inhabitants of the earth upon the animal creation giving them life happiness antl anti and peace ix ace have all been brought about by the ise iso ordination of or these laws exhibited through all nil the tho elements of tilis tills creation atlon isay I 1 say it required an almighty power to so wisely widely organize these elements and when they were organ organized izea it required great wis dom doin and judgment Judg to the orbital motion of the earth the ascertained certa ined velocity that the earth has in its orbit as it flies hies in its destined course around the sun is between eighteen and nineteen miles per second it not only requires great power to organize the elements into infinite wisdom to organize the elb eib elements ments into flesh as at present in the animal cre ere atlon including man to give gile life to the beings which dwell in th these esel tabernacles r v this however is not now as etwas in the beginning thatis that is when I 1 speak of the beginning I 1 have reference to the tiie beginning of op the earth in its present organization I 1 donot have reference to the beginning of duration for it had bad h ad no begin ning I 1 do dd not have reference to the beginning of an endless past bouti touti have reference ceto to the beginning relative to our little globe in the be 1 inning of our creation the earth was very fair quite d different g erent from what it at is now there were no children of mortality up upon onit t no an mals mais that were mortal upon it no birds nothing wherein we observe life in this creation existed in j its mortal state but everything that had life was immortal every bird fish fowl insect creeping thing cattle and man all ali were immortal the earth had no curse resting nesting apon upon uron it the earth itself was immor immortal thian and would have continued continue in all ill its ts glory as it issued from aiom the hand of the creator to the present ent cut time without any curse had pie pre it not been foi for ahe fhe he transgression of our first parents tb that at was the ther in introduction of mortel mortality of pain and aud sorrow ml misery r y agn and d wretch aaness not only upon man but upon all creation that aken existed isted aed everything wasl was rought under the dominion of the curse burse the curse came upon man that being who could stand in the presence of god and converse with him jilin face to facette sace face ethe etho the tho seeds of mortality mor bality adre we re sown in his immortal body 7 a change tame and his whole 16 system was affected thereby there bj the seeds of death were placed within the tabernacle z of man within the ta tabernacle bernable of the lion of the exand every beast of the field and every fish of the tb e sea and every fowl of the them air A very velry great change then this creation first it wasl was spiritual Api ritual in all its blessings and falness of life and glory then it i t was reduced to a i t temporal condition wherein misery and wretchedness wretch edne existed e MI sted another great change happened happeney nearly two thousand years after the fh e earth was made it was baptized by water A great flow of water came the great deep jy jyh was yaa m I 1 broken up the windows of heaven were opened from on high and the waters aters ii prevailed upon pon the face of the earth sweeping away all wickedness and transgression a similitude i of baptism for fon the remission of sins go god A roqui requires res thi the children of men to be baptized 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