| 919 idea that it is in consequence of any sin of your own that you are deprived of the society of friends, and are subject, yourselves, to the sting of death. This is not the case.
I said in the first of my remarks, that death was not devised by the Almighty independent of the agency of man. This you will perceive to be a correct remark, when you understand that notwithstanding Adam was an immortal being, yet he acted upon his agency, having the power, like one of us, to obey or disobey the commandments of God. That transgression subjected him to a curse, and that was a fall from a state of immortality to that of mortality; consequently you see that it was through his agency that death entered the world. The scriptures inform us in one place, that by one man death entered the world. Again it says: 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' We also read in another text that in consequence of the transgression of one man, judgment was passed upon all men unto condemnation. These passages will be sufficient to prove my statements.
Having examined briefly the origin and extent of the curse, let us now examine the extent of its duration, and see if any way has been devised by which it will ever be removed. For if there has not been a plan devised, then there is no resurrection of the dead; for the effect of the curse upon Adam and his posterity was a final and complete destruction of the body. When death ensued, the spirit took its departure from the body, never to be united with it again.-This was to be the deplorable condition of the human family, and this would have been their fate, had not an atonement been made, and a plan of redemption been devised. But, thanks be to the great Ruler of heaven and earth, an atonement has been made and a plan has been devised, by which the human family will be redeemed from the curse and be brought up from their graves in a state of immortality and eternal life. Dry up your tears, brethren and sisters; let your hearts rejoice with the assurance that we soon shall meet with those for whom we mourn, never more to be separated by death-Were it not for this atonement, it would be far better for our spirits had they never taken tabernacles. Deplorable would have been our condition to all eternity.
The spirit of the Savior, from the eternal world, looked down upon the condition of the human family, and in order that they might be redeemed he offered to come into the world, take a tabernacle and lay down his life as an atonement for the transgression of Adam. His was a pure and holy spirit, having never been sullied by the commission of sin, therefore the grave could not retain him. He came and did the will of the Father, lived without the commission of sin, laid down his life for the sins of the world; therefore was the atonement complete and the redemption universal.
What is to be understood by the term spiritual body? I am aware that this is a difficult question to answer. The sectarian would suppose that a spirit is something capable of being every where present; that it can fly away beyond the bounds of time and space,' and be present there at the same time that it is present with us here. But as for the Saints of the Most High God, we do not believe in the existence of any place or thing 'beyond the bounds of time and space,' neither do we believe in any immateriality, being connected with any of the creations of God. We believe that spirit is as much a substance as the earth on which we move, yet it is of a more refined substance and nature; -so refined that mortal eyes cannot behold; but when our sight becomes celestialized and strengthened, then can we behold spirit as distinctly as we now can behold one another.-What did Paul mean when he said it should be raised a spiritual body? Did he mean that the flesh and bone that would be raised would be spirit? No: But he meant that after bone had come together to its bone, and flesh and sinews had come upon the bones and they had been covered with skin, according to Ezekiel, that the form would be quickened to life by the spirit of God, which would constitute it a spiritual body.
Some people suppose that when a person dies his spirit enters immediately into those high degrees of glory, designed for them from before the foundation of the world. This is a mistaken idea. If you will examine the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, you will find that there is but very little recorded relative to the situation of the spirit after it leaves the body, before it again unites with the same. But it is revealed in the Book of Mormon that the spirit goes back to the Father of all spirits, and finds a place of rest, where it will remain until the resurrection, when it will again possess the body that it laid down in consequence of the curse, and thus be prepared to enter upon higher exaltations and glories in the eternal world. During the period of this separation the spirit will not be employed in ministering to beings of flesh and bone; but they will minister to their own kind; they will be ministers to the world of spirits, preaching the gospel to those who did not embrace it previous to their separation from their bodies. How do you think the spirit of the Savior spent the three days that
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