Parley P. Pratt

“ Thus creation felt the blow to its utmost verge, and has groaned in pain for deliverance until now. From all these declarations of holy writ, and from many other proofs which might easily be adduced, we feel ourselves safe in saying that Sin is the sole cause of decay, or death. If there had been no sin, there would have been no death, no dissolution, no disorganization, no decay, no sorrow and groaning, tears or weeping; neither would there have been any pain, but creation would have continued in the same state to an endless duration. O sin, what hast thou done! ”

“ A feeling of pity this bosom inspiring—
Sing this lamentation and think upon me.
How often at evening your halls have resounded
With th' pure testimony of Jesus, so free;
While the meek were rejoicing, the proud were confounded,
The poor had the gospel;—they'll think upon me.
When Empires shall tremble at Israel returning,
And earth shall be cleans'd by the Spirit of burning;
When proud men shall perish, and Priests with their learning,—
Sing this lamentation, and think upon me. ”

“ The noble and majestic features of manhood have often been transformed by these vices into the frightful and disgusting image of demoniac furies,—the angelic beauties of earth's fairest daughters as often transformed by vice into objects of mingled pity and contempt: but cease my soul, no longer dwell on these awful scenes; my heart is faint, my soul is sick, my spirit grieves within me; and mine eyes are suffused with tears while contemplating upon the scenes of wretchedness and misery which sin has produced in our world. O misery, how hast thou triumphed! O death, how many are thy victories! ”

“ The truth, revived in its primitive simplicity and purity, like the day star of the horizon, lights up the dawn of that effulgent morn when the knowledge of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. With what propriety then, may the rising generation look forward with a well grounded hope, that they or their children may be of that unspeakably happy number who will live to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and like Enoch and Elijah, escape the pangs of dissolution, and the long imprisonment of the grave. ”

“ No wonder then, that such should cling to life, and shrink from death with terror and dismay; no wonder that such should feel insupportable and overwhelming grief at the loss of friends; for who can bear the thoughts of eternal separation from those lovely scenes with which they have been accustomed to associate from early infancy? Who can endure to be torn from those they love dearer than life, and to have all the tender cords of affection which twine around the heart with mutual endearment, severed and destroyed for ever? ”

“ The Pagan too, in turn, when bowed down with grief and sorrow, finds some relief in anticipation of a future existence—some shady forest filled with game—some delightful prairie of blooming flowers—some humble heaven behind the cloud-topped hill, where he hopes to join his wife, his children, his brothers, his fathers; and in their society to spend a peaceful eternity in all the enjoyments of domestic life, while his faithful horse and dog shall bear him company. ”

“ What almighty conqueror shall lead thee captive—shall burst thy chains—throw open the doors of thy gloomy cells, and set the unnumbered millions of thy prisoners free?—who shall bind up the broken hearted—comfort the mourners—dry the tears of sorrow—open the prison to them that are bound—set the captives free—make an end of sin and oppression—bring in everlasting righteousness—swallow up death in victory—restore creation to its primitive beauty, glory, excellence, and perfection ”

“ O reader, contemplate with me the beauty, the glory, the excellence, the perfection of the works of creation as they rolled from the hand of omnipotent power and wisdom, and were pronounced good—very good, by him whose hand had formed them, and whose eye surveyed them at a single glance. Tell me, O man, which of all these works was formed for decay? and which in themselves possessed the seeds of mortality, the principles of dissolution and destruction? Tell me, was there any curse, or poison, or death inherent in or appertaining to any department of existing matter? ”

“ While pining famine wastes their strength by day,
And pestilence oft seizes on its prey;
Earthquakes in turn in bellowing fury roar,
And ocean's waves roll frightful to the shore.
See through the heavens the sun in sackcloth mourn,
The moon to blood in frowning anger turns,
The stars affrighted from their spheres are hurled,
System on system wreck'd and world on world,
Earth's whole foundation to the centre nods.
And nature trembling feels the power of God.
While Michael sounds the trumpet loud and long,
See from their graves the saints unnumbered throng ”

“ The fulness of the Gospel long since lost.
See earth obedient from its bosom yield!
The sacred truth it faithfully conceal'd,
The wise confounded startle at the sight,
The proud and haughty tremble with affright;
The hireling priests against the truth engage,
While hell beneath stands trembling filled with rage.
False are their hopes and all their struggles vain,
Their craft must fall and with it all their gain;
The deaf must hear, the meek their joy increase,
The poor be glad and their oppression cease. ”

“ Streams of life, and odors of healthful sweets came floating on every breeze. Thus earth, so lately a vast scene of emptiness and desolation, burst from its solitude arrayed in its robes of splendor; and where silence had reigned through the vast expanse, innumerable sounds now reverberated on the air, and melting strains of music re-echoing in the distant groves, stole upon the ears of admiring angels, and proclaimed the gladsome news of a new world of animated life and joy. ”

“ Wouldst thou live in the flesh, and have part in it? wouldst thou again enjoy the society of thy friends who were so near and dear to thy heart in this life? wouldst thou inherit the earth, and be free forever from the grave? Remember—remember, that meekness and holiness of life are the conditions. That it is the meek only who then inherit the earth. That it is the saints only who then possess the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven. ”

“ By thy power the once mighty empires of Greece and Rome have been shaken to the centre, and have fallen to rise no more; and before thy desolating blast, almost innumerable provinces lay in ruin. The waste deserts of burning sand—the sunken and stagnant lakes and miry swamps—the innumerable rockey barrens and mountainous steeps—the desolate and dreary wastes of the polar regions—these all present but so many monuments to thy memory—they speak in language not to be misunderstood, that sin has been there, with its dreadful train of curses, under which they groan in pain to be delivered. ”

“ Thou hast converted a garden of delicious fruits and blooming flowers into a gloomy forest of thorns and thistles. Thou hast transformed a world of life, joy and happiness into the abodes of wretchedness and misery, where sighing, groaning, tears and weeping are mingled in almost every cup. By thee the earth has been filled with violence and oppression ”

“ That generation should be blessed,
And with him in his kingdom rest;
But, O! what scenes of sorrow rolled
When he the future did unfold!
PART THIRD.
Four generations should not pass
Until they'd turn from righteousness,
The Nephite nation be destroyed!
The Lamanites reject his word,
The gospel taken from their midst,
The record of their fathers hid,
They dwindle long in unbelief,
And ages pass without relief,
Until the Gentiles from afar,
Should smite them in a dreadful war,
And take possession of their land,
And they should have no power to stand. ”

“ Here the youthful mind may expand its utmost energies, and revel, uncontrolled by remorse, unchecked by time or decay, in the never-fading sweets of eternity, and bask forever in the boundless ocean of delight.
This course of instruction followed out in demonstration of the spirit and of power, would serve to check the allurements of vice, and would greatly tend to lead and encourage the mind in the practise of virtue and religion, and would cheer and stimulate the saint in all the laborious duties of life. It would remove the fear and dread of death. ”

“ The air swarmed with an almost infinite variety of animal life, from the lofty and aspiring eagle which soars on high, and seems to dip his wing in ether blue, to the humming bird which darts from flower to flower, and hides itself amid the blooming sweets of spring, or descending still, to the puny nations of insects which swarm in clouds of blue on the summer breath of morn: all, all the air seemed life and happiness. ”

“ The modern Christian when called upon to endure the pangs of grief and sorrow, in following to the grave his nearest friends, is comforted with the hope of a spiritual existence, in a world far distant from his native earth; and far beyond the bounds of time and space, where spirits mingle in eternal joy and everlasting song; and although the body should rise from the dead, yet they suppose that the whole will become spirit unconnected with matter, and soar away to worlds on high, free from all the elements of which their nature was composed in this life ”

“ Hence we conclude that matter as well as spirit is eternal, uncreated, self-existing. However infinite the variety of its changes, forms and shapes;—however vast and varying the parts it has to act in the great theatre of the universe;—whatever sphere its several parts may be destined to fill in the boundless organization of infinite wisdom, yet it is there, durable as the throne of Jehovah. And Eternity is inscribed in indelible characters on every particle. ”

“ I have made the above remarks in order to impress deeply upon the minds of our modern teachers and learners the importance of arousing from the slumber of ages on this subject, and of ceasing to teach and impress upon the youthful mind the gloomy thoughts of death, and the melancholy forebodings of a long slumber in the grave, in order to inspire them with solemn fear and dread, and thus move them to the duties of religion and morality. ”

“ All these revolutions and convulsions of nature will only serve to refine, purify, and finally restore and renew the elements upon which they act. And like the sunshine after a storm, or like gold seven times tried in the fire, they will shine forth with additional lustre as they roll in their eternal spheres, in their glory, in the midst of the power of God. ”

“ If I would heap up gold as dust I cannot bribe thee. If I would fortify my habitation with the munitions of rocks, thine arrows would pierce them as the spider's web, and find their way to my heart. If I would soar on high as the eagle, or fly to the most secret haunts of the desert, or hide myself in the gloomy thicket with the solitary bird of night ”

“ The sacred volume opens with a paradise on earth, and closes with a paradise on earth. Moses introduces us to a world of beauty, glory, excellence and perfection in the beginning. And John closes the volume by leaving man in possession of an eternal habitation in his immortal body, in the holy city ”

“ And chariots and slaves, and the souls of mankind.
Rejoice, O thou Heaven! ye holy apostles,
And prophets for God hath avenged you withal,
For like a great millstone doth sink in the ocean,
E'en so on a sudden shall Babylon fall;
The voice of musicians, the harp and the pipers,
And trumpets and organs no longer shall sound,
No craftsmen, mechanic or workman whatever,
Within thy dominion shall ever be found ”

“ This is the land which Moses blessed,
To Joseph and his seed;
These are the everlasting hills,
'T was for his bounds decreed.
CHARITY AND TRUE PATRIOTISM.
Behold the man whose tender heart
Expanded with a Saviour's love,
Wide as eternity expands,
His bowels with compassion move. ”

“ Thus all will be raised from the dead, and the body and the spirit will be reunited; the whole will become immortal, no more to be separated, or to undergo dissolution. This salvation being universal, I am a universalist in this respect,—this salvation being a universal restoration from the fall, I am a restorationer,—this salvation being without works, or without any conditions except the atonement of Jesus Christ, I am in this respect a believer in free grace alone, without works ”

“ By thee the world has been deluged with a flood of waters, and unnumbered millions swept at once from the stage of action and mingled in the common ruin, unwept and unlamented save by the tears of heaven, or by the eight solitary inhabitants of the ark who alone escaped to tell the news. ”

“ Thou hast hurled man from his blissful domain, and hast reduced him from a throne of power and dominion to a state of servitude, where sunk in sorrow and misery, he groans out a wretched existence, which terminates in painful dissolution, and he mingles with his mother earth and is forgotten and lost amid the general ruin. ”

“ In this delightful sabbath of creation, earth and its inhabitants will rest one thousand years from all the pains, and woes, and sorrows they have undergone during the six thousand years of labor, toil and suffering. ”

“ In the mean time the earth will be terribly convulsed; the mountains will sink, the valleys rise, the rough places become smooth; while a fire will pass over the surface of the earth, and consume the proud and all that do wickedly, as the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed in the days of Abraham: and thus after the earth is cleansed by fire, from all its wicked inhabitants, as it once was by water, and after its mighty convulsions have restored it to its former shape and surface, it becomes a fit residence for Jesus Christ and his saints. ”

“ With this glorious body he ascended to the Father, and with this glorious body he will come again to earth to reign with his people. This view of the resurrection is clearly exemplified in the persons of Enoch and Elijah, who never tasted death, but were changed instantaneously from mortal to immortal, and were caught up into the heavens, both body and spirit. This change upon their physical systems was equivalent to death and the resurrection. It was the same as if they had slept in the grave for thousands of years, and then been raised and restored to eternal life. ”