The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo

by B. H. Roberts

When the Savior shall appear, we shall see Him as He is. We shall see that He is a man like ourselves, and the same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy.

OF THE RESURRECTION.

No less interesting were the Prophet's teaching on the subject of the resurrection of the dead. To a remark of Elder Orson Pratt's to the effect that a man's body changes every seven years, the Prophet replied:

There is no fundamental principle belonging to a human system that ever goes into another in this world or in the world to come. I care not what the theories of men are. We have the testimony that God will raise us up, and He has the power to do it. If any one supposes that any part of our bodies, that is, the fundamental parts thereof, ever goes into another body he is mistaken.

Speaking of the desirability of an honorable burial, and of living and dying among friends in connection with the resurrection, the Prophet said at the funeral services held in honor of Lorenzo D. Barnes, who had died while on a mission to England:

I believe those who have buried their dead here, their condition is enviable. Look at Jacob and Joseph in Egypt, how they required their friends to bury them in the tomb of their fathers. See the expense which attended the embalming and the going up of the great company to the burial. It has always been considered a great calamity not to obtain an honorable burial; and one of the greatest curses the ancient prophets could put on any man was that he should go without a burial. * * * * * *

* * * I would esteem it one of the greatest blessings if I am going to be afflicted in this world, to have my lot cast, where I can find brothers and friends all around me. But this is not the thing I referred to: it is to have the privilege of having our dead buried on the land where God has appointed to gather His Saints together, and where there will be none but Saints, where they may have the privilege of laying their bodies where the Son of Man will make His appearance, and where they may hear the sound of the trump that shall call them forth to behold Him, that in the morn of the resurrection they may come forth in a body, and come up out of their graves and strike hands immediately in eternal glory and felicity, rather than be scattered thousands of miles apart. There is something good and sacred to me in this thing. The place where a man is buried is sacred to me. This subject is made mention of in the Book of Mormon and the Scriptures. Even to the aborigines of this land, the burying places of their fathers are more sacred than anything else. When I heard of the death of our beloved Brother Barnes, it would not have affected me so much if I had the opportunity of burying him in the land of Zion. * * * I have said, Father, I desire to die here among the Saints. But if this is not Thy will, and I go hence and die, wilt Thou find some kind friend and bring my body back, and gather my friends who have fallen in foreign lands, and bring them up hither, that we may all lie together. * * * * * * * *

* * * If tomorrow I shall be called to lie in yonder tomb, in the morning of the resurrection let me strike hands with my father, and cry, "My father, father!" and he will say, "My son, my son!" as soon as the rocks rend and before we come out of our graves. And may we contemplate these things so? Yes, if we learn how to live and how to die. When we lie down we contemplate how we may rise up in the morning: and it is pleasing for friends to lie down together, locked in the arms of love, to sleep and wake in each others' embrace and renew their conversation. * * *

* * * Would you think it strange if I relate what I have seen in vision in relation to this interesting theme? Those who have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of joy, when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here. So plain was the vision, that I actually saw men, before they had ascended from the tomb, as though they were getting up slowly. They took each other by the hand, and said to each other, "My father, my son, my mother, my daughter, my brother, my sister." And when the voice calls for the dead to rise, suppose I am laid by the side of my father, what would be the first joy of my heart? To meet my father, my mother, my brother, my sister and when they are by my side, I embrace them, and they me. It is my meditation all the day, and more than my meat and drink, to know how I shall make the Saints of God comprehend the visions that roll like an overflowing surge before my mind. * * * Lay hold of these things, and let not your knees or joints tremble, nor your heart faint; and then what can earthquakes, wars and tornadoes do? Nothing. All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful, by the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.

* * * More painful to me are the thoughts of annihilation than death. If I had no expectation of seeing my father, mother, brothers, sisters and friends again, my heart would burst in a moment, and I should go down to my grave. The expectation of seeing my friends in the morning of the resurrection cheers my soul and makes me bear up against the evils of life. It is like their taking a long journey, and on their return we meet them with increased joy. God has revealed His Son from the heavens, and the doctrine of the resurrection also, and we have a knowledge that those we bring here God will bring up again clothed upon and quickened by the Spirit of the Great God, and what mattereth it, whether we lay them down, or we lay down with them, when we can keep them no longer? Then let them sink down like a ship in a storm—the mighty anchor holds her safe. So let these truths sink down in our hearts, that we may even here begin to enjoy that which shall be in full hereafter. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna to Almighty God, that rays of light begin to burst forth upon us even now!

GOD'S AND ANGELS' TIME.

In answer to the question, "Is not the reckoning of God's time, angels' time, prophets' time and man's time according to the planet on which they reside?" I answer, yes. But there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who belong or have belonged to it. The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth; but they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest—past, present and future, and are continually before the Lord.

THE EARTH IN ITS SANCTIFIED STATE.

The following is an entry in his journal: