All these subsequent events, of such a glorious character, show how distinctly the Lord's hand was manifest in the mission and labors of Sidney Rigdon before he embraced the Gospel. Such instances serve as pointed lessons to the youth of Israel, teaching us to be broad and generous in viewing the labors of those not of us, so that if the hand of Providence is manifest we shall not be oblivious thereto, nor be found in the ranks of those who have not charity.
THE RESURRECTION.
The skeptical doubt the resurrection of the dead. Some scientific men have denied the possibility of the actual redemption of the body from the grave. One would think, as time goes on, with the wonderful developments of science which reveal things that were classed among the impossibilities of a century ago, that it is not reasonable to doubt the possibility of anything, however remarkable, which is within the scope of blessings to mankind. The date, in the past, is not remote when it would have been deemed almost an indication of insanity for a man to say that such an instrument as the X-ray would be invented, by which a photograph of the interior of the human body could be taken. Astounding as it may appear, such is now an accomplished fact, and this is but one of the many remarkable and grand achievements of modern times. If such things are possible by the intelligence given to mortal man, is it not equally probable that the elements which enter into the composition of the human body can be brought together and resuscitated by an Omniscient Being? Is the resurrection any more unaccountable from a natural and scientific view than the organization of the human body before its birth into the world? Many things are admitted in nature to be a fact, but why they are such, the most learned and scientific have been unable to explain. The elements in any substance do not become annihilated; they change from one form of organization to another. Wheat, by a grinding and separating process, is made into flour, bran and shorts; from flour, by another process, into bread. Each change produces an article very different in appearance from the one preceding it, but the same elements are there. They are eternal and indestructible. This being true of all forms of life in the vegetable kingdom, it must also be true of human life.
Even Christians dispute with respect to the character of the resurrection of the body, some believing in an actual resurrection thereof, and others denying the immortality of the body of flesh and bones. It is our aim simply to present the statement of the Scriptures, which, the Latter-day Saints claim, are clear in declaring the actual resurrection of the body.
Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection and the pattern of what is an eternal principle, applicable to all mankind. As He took up the same body which was laid in the tomb, so will all the human family receive a renewal, each of his own body. The change is, that the blood, which is the life of the mortal body, will not occupy the immortal one. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." (I. Cor. xv:50.) It is evident, however, that flesh and bones can inherit, occupied by immortal spirit; for Jesus was the type.
After His resurrection He appeared unto many. He said to His disciples, when they were affrighted and supposed they had seen a spirit: "Behold, my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke xxiv:39.) He then showed them His hands and feet, which had been pierced with spikes in the terrible hour of His crucifixion. While He was with them He called for food, and they gave Him broiled fish and honeycomb, which He ate in their presence.
What could be more real, more tangible than this? When He was resurrected, many others received the same glorious blessing and came bodily out of their graves. "And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city and appeared unto many." (Matt. xxvii:52, 53.) These undoubtedly were the bodies of the righteous who had embraced the Gospel in the various dispensations prior to the coming and atonement of our Lord and Savior. The antediluvians who rejected Noah were not among this number, for Peter informs us that the Messiah, when put to death in the flesh, was "quickened by the spirit; by which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." (I. Peter iii:18-20.)
Is this not a beautiful yet terrible lesson to all, that those who hear the Gospel in the flesh and reject it shall not come forth in the first resurrection, but remain, their bodies mingling with the dust, while their spirits are gathered as prisoners in the pit, awaiting with awful anxiety the judgment of the great day.
The Savior Himself said to His disciples: "Verily, verily, I say unto you: The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." (St. John v: 25.) Continuing His remarks, it would appear that He spoke of the two resurrections, for in the first, which took place when He came forth from the tomb, the saints were resurrected, while in the following verses, twenty-eight and twenty-nine, He says: "Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."