CELESTIAL FAMILY ORGANIZATION.
By Parley P. Pratt in His Publication, "The Prophet," Published in New York City, 1845.
Man is an eternal being, both in regard to his material organization and his mind and affections. The resurrection from the dead restores him to life with all his bodily and mental powers and faculties, and (if quickened by the celestial glory) consequently associates him with his family, friends and kindred, as one of the necessary links of the chain which connects the great and royal family of heaven and earth in one eternal bond of kindred affection and association. The order of God's government, both in time and in eternity, is patriarchal; that is, it is a fatherly government. Each father who is raised from the dead and made a partaker of the celestial glory in its fullness, will hold lawful jurisdiction over his own children and over all the families which spring of them to all generations, forever and ever.
We talk, in this ignorant age, of children becoming of age, as it is called; and we consider when they are of age they are free from the authority of their father. But no such rule is known in the celestial law and organization, either here or hereafter. By that law a son is subject to his father forever and ever, worlds without end. Again, we have a rule now established in the earth by which a woman becomes the wife of a man, and is bound by law to him till death shall separate. But in the celestial order it is not so, for the plainest of all reasons, viz., the celestial order, is an order of eternal life; it knows no death and consequently makes no provision for any. Therefore all its covenants and contracts are eternal in their duration, and calculated to bind the several members of a family in one eternal union. In order to illustrate this subject and make it perfectly plain to the most simple capacity we must leave death entirely out of the consideration, and look at men and families just as we would look at them if there was no death. This we can do with the greatest propriety because the time was when there was no death, and the time will be again in which there will be no death.
Our venerable father Adam took our mother Eve for a wife when the human family and the world in which they lived was as free from death as God and His throne. We would now inquire what kind of contract was made between them, and also how long was it to endure? Was it after the power and union of an endless life? or was it made to serve a momentary purpose, till death shall separate? The answer is obvious. This marriage contract must have been eternal, or else it must have admitted the sinful as well as cruel idea of a divorce and final separation during their lives; for let it be borne in mind they had no death in view and no idea of ever being subject to death, even for a moment, at the time the contract was made.
Again, Paul opens a mystery, viz., that we shall not all sleep in the dust; but those who live at a certain time will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and will be caught up to meet the Lord and so ever be with Him. Now as some of these will doubtless be husbands and wives, we would inquire when their marriage contract will be fulfilled and come to an end? They agreed to be each others till death should separate (that is, if they were married by the usual ceremonies which now exist). And behold, death cannot separate them; for the change from mortal to immortal will be instantaneous.
Again, "Christ came to deliver those who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage." Therefore, after the resurrection men live, and live forever, as though death had never been. In view of this, God declares himself to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who have once died; and yet he claims not to be the God of the dead, but of the living.
Again, Paul speaks of another great mystery, viz., "that every man should love his wife even as Christ loves the Church." Now we would inquire whether the love and consequent union of Christ and His Church is to come to an end by death, and a final separation take place in the world to come? or whether, on the other hand, the union is more perfect and complete in the other life than it is in this? All agree that the love and union of Christ and the Church is eternal, and that it not only continues in the other world, but it is made perfect there. This being the case, it leads us to the irresistible conclusion that the love and union of a man and his wife should extend into, and even be more perfect in eternity, or else Paul was very wrong in telling every man to love his wife even as Christ loves the Church. Having established the fact or principle of eternal union between a man and his wife, we will now proceed to establish the eternal relationship and authority on one hand and obedience on the other, that will exist between parents and children.
To illustrate this principle we have a beautiful and plain precedent. Jesus Christ and His Father continue to be one in their affection and union since He rose from the dead; and He still yields obedience to the commands of His Father, and has also revealed that He will continue to do so, when He has put down death, and all rule and authority and power. "Then shall the Son also be subjected to the Father." We hear nothing in all this subject about Jesus Christ ever being of age so as to be free from all further obligation to obey His Father; but on the contrary it is clearly revealed that He will always be subjected to Him. Now this same Jesus prayed to His Father, as testified by the Apostle John, that His disciples and those who believed on their words might be one even as Christ and His Father are one; not only one with God and Christ, but also one with each other in the same manner and in the same sense that they are one. Now suppose, in fulfillment of this prayer, a man and his children were His disciples; and finally in the eternal world, they became one with each other in precisely the same sense that Christ and His Father are one, would not these children be subject to their father in the same manner as Christ is subject to His Father? Certainly they would.
We have also a most beautiful practical illustration of the principles of continued authority on the part of the father and obedience on the part of the children in this life, in the family of Jacob. His sons were, many of them, advanced in years so far as to become heads of families at the time of going to Egypt for corn. And yet they all set an example of obedience to their father, insomuch that they would not take Benjamin with them without his consent, even if they starved to death. It appears, too, that Abraham had the entire control of his son Isaac's matrimonial affairs, although Isaac was forty years of age at the time of his marriage with Rebecca.
Having now established the fact that the celestial order is designed not only to give eternal life, but also to establish an eternal order of family government, founded upon the most pure and holy principles of union and affection, we will take a review of the celestial family of man as it will exist in the restoration of all things spoken of by the Holy Prophets.
First: His most gracious and venerable majesty, King Adam, with his royal consort, Queen Eve, will appear at the head of the whole great family of the redeemed, and will be crowned in their midst as a king and priest forever after the Son of God. They will then be arrayed in garments white as snow and will take their seats on the throne, in the midst of the paradise of God on the earth, to reign forever and ever. While thousands of thousands stand before him, and ten thousand times ten thousand minister unto him. And if you will receive it, this is the order of the Ancient of days—the kingdom prepared and organized to meet Jesus when He comes.
This venerable patriarch and sovereign will hold lawful jurisdiction over Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, the prophets, apostles, Saints of all ages and dispensations, who will all reverence and obey him as their venerable father and lawful sovereign. They will then be organized, each over his own department of the government, according to their birthright and office, in their families, generations and nations. Each one will obey and be obeyed according to the connection which he sustains as a member of the great celestial family. Thus the gradation will descend in regular degrees from the throne of the Ancient of days with his innumerable subjects, down to the least and last Saint of the last days who may be counted worthy of a throne and sceptre, although his kingdom may, perhaps, only consist of a wife and single child. Such the order and organization of the celestial family, and such the natures of the thrones, principalities and powers, which are the rewards of diligence. This kingdom, organized and established upon the earth in its beauty and order, will be ready for the Son of man. He will then come in the clouds of heaven and receive it to himself. Adam and all the patriarchs, kings and prophets will still be subject unto Christ, because He was in the eternal world, the first born of every creature, and the beginning of the creation of God. Hence in the patriarchal order, He rules by right of birth.
"If I tell you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?" I might enlarge on the subject by connecting the family of Adam with other branches of Christ's kingdom, and of the celestial family in other planets and worlds, many of which are older and much larger than our earth, but peopled by branches of the celestial family, who are of the same kindred and race that we are, viz., the sons and daughters of God. I might also tell you of the continued exertions of creative power by which millions of new worlds will yet be formed and peopled by King Adam and his descendants, in the name, and by the authority of Jesus Christ, and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood which is after the power of the endless life, without beginning of days or end of years, and thus go on enlarging and multiplying, conquering and to conquer, till Abraham's seed becomes numerous as the sand; and till the Saint of the last days possess a kingdom and dominion of his own posterity, vastly more numerous than King Adam will possess in the great restoration of all things pertaining to this little earth. But you are not able to receive heavenly things as yet, and therefore forbear, and let the things of the earth suffice at least for the present, and till the Saints should be counted worthy of endowment and of an entrance into the sanctuary of our God. For there shall the greater things be made manifest to those who are not overcome and are counted worthy.
I now wish to say a few words on the subject of matrimony and also on the subject of raising and educating children.
Who that has had one glimpse of the order of the celestial family and of the eternal connections and relationships which should be formed here in order to be enjoyed there; who that has felt one thrill of the energy and power of eternal life and love which flows from the divine spirit of revelation, can ever be contented with the corrupt pleasures of a moment which arise from the unlawful connections and desires? Or what Saint who has any degree of faith in the power of the resurrection and of eternal life, can be contented to throw themselves away by matrimonial connection with sectarians or other worldlings who are so blind that they can never secure an eternal union by the authority of the Holy Priesthood which has power to bind that which shall be bound in heaven? By such a union, or by corrupt, unlawful and unvirtuous connections and indulgences they not only lose their own celestial crown and throne, but also plunge their children into ruin and darkness, which will probably cause them to neglect so great salvation for the sake of the love and the praise of the world and the traditions of men.
O my friends—my brethren and sisters, and especially the younger class of our community! I beseech you in the fear and love of God and entreat you in view of eternal glory and exaltation in this kingdom, to deny yourselves all the corrupt and abominable practices and desires of the world and the flesh, and seek to be pure and virtuous in all your ways and thoughts, and not only so, but make no matrimonial connections or engagements till you have asked counsel of the Spirit of God in humble prayer before Him; till you know and understand the principles of eternal life and union sufficiently to act wisely and prudently, and in that way that will eventually secure yourself and companion and your children in the great family circle of the celestial organization.
I would now say to parents that their own salvation, as well as that of their children, depends to a certain extent on the bringing up of their children, and educating them in the truth, that their traditions and early impressions may be correct. No parent who continues to neglect this after they themselves have come to the knowledge of the truth, can be saved in the celestial kingdom. I would earnestly recommend that all sectarian books, tracts, pictures, paintings, etc., which are not according to the truth, be removed from the family circle of the Saints, and that their children be not suffered to read them, at least till the truth has taken hold of their minds sufficiently that they may be able to contrast the one with the other; and to perceive the difference. Sectarian sermons and their manner of worship and their Sunday schools, are also a great damage to children, being well calculated to rivet upon their young and tender minds the most vague, mysterious and erroneous notions and principles which may prevent their ever being open to the conviction of the truth. And even if they should embrace the truth afterwards, and they find their perceptive faculties so blunted and beclouded by early impressions and traditions, that it will continue to retard their progress in the comprehension of the truth, insomuch that many of its plainest and simplest principles will either remain entirely unperceived by them or else be seen through a glass darkly, as it were, and thus lose much of their force and beauty. * * *
In regard to matrimony, I suppose some will tell me that in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage. That is true, for the best of all reasons—because they do it here; and thus bind on earth that which shall be bound in heaven, and that too by God's own authority; and this being the world of preparation and that the world of enjoyment. Therefore there is no need of doing it in that world. Those who do not understand and attend to the ordinances and authority of God in this world, neither by themselves nor by proxy, are not counted worthy to enjoy the celestial glory in the world to come; therefore, they must remain as they are, and never enjoy that sweet union and exaltation which is prepared for the Saints of the Most High. Thus are all judged according to the deeds done in the body; and that which they sow they shall also reap. If they choose in this world to follow the wicked lusts and pleasures of the moment by unlawful connections; or if they choose to be united after the manner of this world by being joined with a companion who is not worthy of an eternal covenant and of the "seal of the living God," why then, the consequence is, that they enjoy the things of this world and the pleasures and passions thereof; but death closes the scene and eternity finds them poor wanderers and outcasts from the commonwealth of the celestial family and strangers to the covenant of promise. Their former covenants come to an end with their life, and in that world they can neither marry nor be given in marriage; consequently they must remain unassociated in family capacity, and, therefore, have no kingdom over which to reign, nor any possible means of increasing their own glory. There will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth indeed; for who can endure eternal disappointment? Who can endure to be forever banished and separated from father, mother, wife, children, and every kindred affection, and from every family tie? For none of our relationships will be recognized by the authorities in this world, unless secured to us here in an everlasting covenant which cannot be broken, and sealed by the constituted authorities of the living God. Well did the Lord promise by the mouth of the Prophet Malachi that He would send Elijah the Prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and that he should turn, seal, or bind the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth should be smitten with a curse. And if you will receive it, Elijah the prophet has been sent in these last days to man on the earth, and has conferred the keys of the sealing power that others might go forth in His Spirit, power and Priesthood, and seal both on earth and in heaven. But they have done unto some of them whatever they listed, and even so many others perhaps suffer under their cruel hand. But the keys are on the earth and shall not be taken from it till the sealing is accomplished. Therefore, O ye Saints of the Most High! build the Temple and sanctuary of our God, and gather together thereunto. For there, saith the Lord, will I reveal unto you the fullness of mine ordinances pertaining to the Holy Priesthood and preparation, by which the living and the dead may be redeemed and associated in the exalted principles of eternal life and joy. Amen.