Not only will the earth be restored, but also man; and those promises which, long ago, were the hope of the saints, will be realised. The faithful servants of God who have lived in every age, will then come forth and experience the full fruition of that joy, for which they lived, and hoped, and suffered, and died. The tombs will deliver up their captives, and re-united with the spirits which once animated, vivified, cheered, and sustained them while in this vale of tears, these bodies will be like unto Christ's glorious body. They will then rejoice in that resurrection for which they lived, while they sojourned below. Adam, Seth, Enoch, and the faithful who lived before the flood, will possess their proper inheritance. Noah and Melchisedek will stand in their proper places. Abraham, with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise, will come forward at the head of innumerable multitudes, and possess that land which God gave unto them for an everlasting inheritance. The faithful, on the continent of America, will also stand in their proper place; but, as this will be the time of the restitution of all things, and all things will not be fully restored at once; there will be a distinction between the resurrected bodies, and those that have not been resurrected; and as the Scriptures say that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption; and although the world will enjoy just laws—an equitable administration, and universal peace and happiness prevail as the result of this righteousness; yet, there will be a peculiar habitation for the resurrected bodies. This habitation may be compared to Paradise, from whence man, in the beginning, was driven.
When Adam was driven from the Garden, an angel was placed with a naming sword to guard the way of the tree of life, lest man should eat of it, and become immortal in his degenerate state, and thus be incapable of obtaining that exaltation, which he would be capable of enjoying through the redemption of Jesus Christ, and the power of the resurrection, with his renewed and glorified body. Having tasted of the nature of the fall, and having grappled with sin and misery, knowing like the gods both good and evil, having like Jesus overcome the evil, and through the power of the atonement, having conquered death, hell, and the grave, he regains that Paradise, from which he was banished, not in the capacity of ignorant man, unacquinted with evil, but like unto a god. He can now stretch forth, and partake of the tree of life, and eat of its fruits, and live and flourish eternally in possession of that immortality which Jesus long ago promised to the faithful: "To him that overcomes, will I grant to sit with me in my throne; and eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."
Production Credits
This electronic edition was produced by the Mormon Texts Project. Volunteers who helped with this book include: Tanya Ross, Meridith Crowder, Tod Robbins, Ben Crowder, Bryce Beattie, Stephen Cranney, Tyler Thorsted, Eric Heaps, Jason Barron, Jean-Michel Carter, David Willde, and Tom Nysetvold. Special thanks to Trevor Nysetvold for his complete proof of the final version.
It was produced using scans generously made available by Archive.org.
Email Tom Nysetvold (tomnysetvold@gmail.com) to report errors or to participate in proofreading similar early books of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.