We believe that angels have appeared, that the heavens have been opened. We believe in the eternal principles, in an eternal Gospel, an eternal Priesthood, in eternal communications and associations. Everything associated with the Gospel that we believe in is eternal.
If hell is a place of misery, and heaven a place of happiness, I want to know how to escape the one, and obtain the other. If I cannot know something about these things which are to come in the eternal world, I have no religion, I would not have any, I would not give a straw for it. It would be too low and groveling a consideration for a man of intelligence, in the absence of this knowledge. If there is a God, I want a religion that supplies some means of certain tangible communication with Him. If there is a heaven, I want to know what sort of a place it is. If there are angels, I want to know their nature, and their occupation, and of what they are composed. If I am an eternal being, I want to know what I am to do when I get through with time; whether I shall plant corn and hoe it, or be engaged in some other employment. I do not want any person to tell me about a heaven that is "beyond the bounds of time and space," a place that no person can possibly know anything about, or ever reach, if they did. I do not wish any person to frighten me nearly to death, by telling me about a hell where sinners are roasted upon gridirons, and tossed up by devils upon pitchforks, and other sharp-pointed instruments. These notions are traditionary, and have come from the old mother church.
I love to view the things around me; to gaze upon the sun, moon and stars; to study the planetary system, and the world we inhabit; to behold their beauty, order, harmony, and the operations of existence around me. I can see something more than that mean jargon, those childish quibbles, this heaven beyond the bounds of time and space, where they have nothing to do but sit and sing themselves away to everlasting bliss, or go and roast on gridirons. There is nothing like that to be found in nature—everything is beautifully harmonious, and perfectly adapted to the position it occupies in the world. Whether you look at birds, beasts, or the human system, you see something exquisitely beautiful and harmonious, and worthy of the contemplation of all intelligence. What is man's wisdom in comparison to it? I could not help but believe there was a God, if there was no such thing as religion in the world.
If the Kingdoms of God were governed by the same confused order of things that are characteristic of the governments of this world, we would have had planet dashing against planet in wild confusion, and millions of their inhabitants sent to desolation in a moment.
Man is an intelligent being, but how far does his intelligence fall short of that which regulates the world! He cannot even govern himself, he never was able to do it, and never will be able until he receives that wisdom and intelligence which comes from God. If every man can obtain intelligence of that kind, and from that source, which governs the world, and supplies all its wants; if he can receive it from God, as his instructor, he is then able to govern himself, possessing intelligence which he now knows nothing about; and intelligence which indeed is worthy of God and man. If I cannot have a portion of that intelligence and that wisdom, if the great Eloheim cannot impart a portion of that spirit to me, and teach me the same lessons that He understands, I want nothing to do with a system of theology at all.
I believe in every true principle that is imbibed by any person or sect, and reject the false. If there is any truth in heaven, earth, or hell, I want to embrace it, I care not what shape it comes in to me, who brings it or who believes in it, whether it is popular or unpopular. Truth, eternal truth, I wish to float in and enjoy.
If any man under the heavens can show me one principle of error that I have entertained, I will lay it aside forthwith, and be thankful for the information. On the other hand, if any man has got any principle of truth, whether moral, religious, philosophical, or of any other kind, that is calculated to benefit mankind, I will promise him I will embrace it, but I will not partake of his errors along with it.
If you have got a thing that nobody can overturn, but can be sustained everywhere; that bids defiance to the wisdom and intelligence of the world to find one fault in it, you must say it is right, until it is proven to be wrong.
If I have got principles which are out of the power of man to prove false, I consider they are right, and I stand upon them as a sure foundation.
The world is confused, it is in darkness and ignorance, and knows nothing about God, His purposes, designs, or the object of His creations. God knows how to touch my understanding, and how to touch theirs; and if they live and die without a knowledge of God, and His law, we are told that they will be judged according to the light they have, and not according to that they have not. Those that have lived without law, will be judged without law.