Next in order, will be the field of prophetic science. The spirit of prophecy will be poured upon the immortal mind, till, from seeing in part, and knowing in part, man will be able to gaze upon a boundless prospective, a future of still increasing glory, knowledge, light, love, might, majesty, power and dominion, in which the sons of God-the kings and priests of heaven and earth, and of the heaven of heavens, and all their retinue of kingdoms and subjects, will find ample room for boundless increase and improvement, worlds without end. Amen.
CHAPTER XVII.
LAWS OF MARRIAGE AND PROCREATION.
Ye kindred spirits, filled with mutual love,
Pure as the dews descending from above,
All hail! for you the sacred Keys are given,
To make you one on earth, and one in heaven.
Be fruitful then, and let your race extend;
Fill Earth, the stars, and worlds that never end.
The great science of life consists in the knowledge of ourselves, the laws of our existence, the relations we sustain to each other, to things and beings around us, to our ancestry, to our posterity, to time, to eternity, to our heavenly Father, and to the universe.
To understand these laws, and regulate our actions by them, is the whole duty of intelligences. It should therefore comprise our whole study.
This science comprises the fountain of wisdom, the well-springs of life, the boundless ocean of knowledge, the infinitude of light, and truth, and love. It penetrates the depths, soars to the heights, and circumscribes the broad expanse of eternity.
Its pursuit leads to exaltation, glory, immortality, and to an eternity of life, light, purity, and unity of fellowship with kindred spirits.
To contemplate man in his true light, we must, as it were, forget that death is in his path; we must look upon him as an eternal, ever living being, possessing spirit, flesh and bones, with all the mental and physical organs, and all the affections and sympathies which characterise him in this world. Or rather, all his natural affections and sympathies will be purified, exalted, and immeasurably increased.
Let the candidate for celestial glory forget, for a moment, the groveling sphere of his present existence, and make the effort to contemplate himself in the light of eternity, in the higher spheres of his progressive existence, beyond the grave—a pure spirit, free from sin and guile, enlightened in the school of heaven, by observation and experience, and association with the highest order of intelligences, for thousands of years; and clothed with immortal flesh, in all the vigour, freshness and beauty of eternal youth; alike free from pain, disease, death, and the corroding effects of time; looking back through the vista of far distant years, and contemplating his former sojourn amid the sorrows and pains of mortal life, his passage through the dark valley of death, and his sojourn in the spirit world, as we now contemplate a transient dream, or a night of sleep, from which we have awakened, renewed and refreshed, to enter again upon the realities of life.