| 1099 and who Gabriel? They were those who had existed in this world, these persons, having the Everlasting Priesthood, and who now exist, in the eternal world to administer in offices pertaining to man on earth.
Who was it that came to our Savior, to administer unto him when he was on the mount with Peter, James and John? We read that Moses and Elias was seen with him.-What were they doing there: if they were dead long ago? They had long existed in the eternal world. Who was with John on the Isle of Patmos? he was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and had the heavens opened unto him and the glories of the eternal world unvailed [unveiled] to his astonished vision. He gazed upon the future purposes of God, and wrapt [wrapped] in prophetie [prophetic] vision described the designs of Jehovah down to the latest age. A glorious personage stood before him, who unfolded to him many great events. John fell down to worship him; but he said, see thou do it not, for "I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, that have the testimony of Jesus, worship God." John might have said, You were dead long ago. No, but says Jesus, I am the resurrection and the life, he that beleiveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Michael, Gabriel, Moses, Elias, and thousands of men who had the everlasting priesthood on the earth and officiated in it here, existed or lived still to perform the work they had commenced upon the earth. They had the everlasting priesthood, while upon earth and officiated in it, according to the eternal purposes of God, and the laws that govern the eternal world, while they were upon this earth and then they left this earth they still lived, in another sphere; their names were not blotted out of existence, they had the everlasting priesthood that administers in time and eternity. This was the situation of these individuals, as far as the other world is concerned.
There is a curious expression made use of by one of the Apostles. He says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light." The fact of the matter is, the whole world lies in the arms of the wicked one. The whole world with all their religion, honors, pride, and philosophy, are ignorant of God and his purposes. They know nothing of God, nor of the laws which govern his kingdom. They know not how to save themselves, or their friends; they are unacquainted with the principles of the eternal plan of salvation, for "darkness has covered the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people." But let those who are ignorant of the eternal principles of heaven, and the laws that govern the eternal world, and the kingdom of Jehovah, have their understandings once enlightened by the spirit of God, let the intelligence of heaven once beam upon their hearts, and their capacities be expanded by the power of eternal truth, and by the word of salvation, and they will awake out of slumber, exclaiming what have I been doing all my life long? I have been searching for intelligence, for honor, and glory. I have been searching after truth: but find that I know nothing of God, of spirits, of angels, of Heaven, of Hell, or of eternal life, I have been in a sleep, which is worse than the sleep of death. Let such individuals be once awakened, and understand by the teachings of the spirit of Jehovah, the knowledge which he imparts to those who begin to awake to the knowledge of his kingdom; the spirit of God beams upon their minds with resplendant [resplendent] glory, and life at once springs up. Yea, they are born again, not of flesh, or of the word of man but of God; they are born again of the spirit, and are made new creatures in Christ Jesus;-thus being born again of the spirit of God they can rejoice with joy unspeakable, and fall of glory.
We do not expect that our bodies are going to live to all eternity, for we know the scriptures say, that "it is appointed for man once to die." And another scripture says, "he that liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die."-Does the scripture contradict itself? What are we to understand by these sayings? One scripture says, it is appointed for man once to die, and yet Jesus says, "he that liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. A man that liveth and believeth in Jesus Christ, has the principles of everlasting life within him, and hence says Jesus, 'if any man thirst let him come to me and drink," and says he, "I will be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life, and the water that I shall give him, shall be in him, a well that shall spring up unto everlasting life," do you believe it? So said Jesus, and the principles that he taught, were the eternal truths of Heaven, they were true before he uttered them, they existed in eternity; they were true after he uttered them, and they are true now. It has the principle of life in itself, and is so true that all those, who participate in the fulness [fullness] of the gospel, will receive eternal life, or in other words, shall have in them, 'a well of water, springing up unto eternal life,' hence it is, that the gospel embraces eternal covenants, eternal principles, and eternal laws that will hold in eternal bonds, things back, and things to come, and as Judge Phelps says, in one of his hymns, it is "eternity now and eternity then."
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