A Royal Planter now descends from yonder world of older date, and bearing in his hand the choice seeds of the older Paradise, he plants them in the virgin soil of our new born earth. They grow and flourish there, and, bearing seed, replant themselves, and thus clothe the naked earth with scenes of beauty, and the air with fragrant incense.

Ripening fruits and herbs at length abound. When, lo! from yonder world is transferred every species of animal life. Male and female, they come, with blessings on their heads; and a voice is heard again, "_Be fruitful and multiply_."

Earth--its mineral, vegetable and animal wealth--its Paradise, prepared, down comes from yonder world on high, a son of G.o.d, with his beloved spouse. And thus a colony from heaven, it may be from the sun, is transplanted on our soil. The blessings of their Father are upon them, and the first great law of heaven and earth is again repeated, "_Be fruitful and multiply_."

Hence, the nations which have swarmed our earth.

In after years, when Paradise was lost by sin; when man was driven from the face of his heavenly Father, to toil, and droop, and die; when heaven was veiled from view; and, with few exceptions, man was no longer counted worthy to retain the knowledge of his heavenly origin; then, darkness veiled the past and future from the heathen mind; man neither knew himself, from whence he came, nor whither he was bound.

At length a Moses came, who knew his G.o.d, and would fain have led mankind to know Him too, and see Him face to face. But they could not receive His heavenly laws, or bide His presence.

Thus the holy man was forced again to veil the past in mystery, and, in the beginning of his history, a.s.sign to man an earthly origin.

Man, moulded from the earth, as a brick!

A Woman, manufactured from a rib!

Thus, parents still would fain conceal from budding manhood, the mysteries of procreation, or the sources of life's ever flowing river, by relating some childish tale of new born life, engendered in the hollow trunk of some old tree, or springing with spontaneous growth, like mushrooms, from out the heaps of rubbish. O man! When wilt thou cease to be a child in knowledge?

Man, as we have said, is the offspring of Deity. The entire mystery of the past and future, with regard to his existence, is not yet solved by mortals.

We first recognise him, as an organized individual or intelligence, dwelling with his Father in the eternal mansions. This organized spirit we call a body, because, although composed of the spiritual elements, it possesses every organ after the pattern, and in the likeness or similitude of the outward or fleshly tabernacle it is destined eventually to inhabit. Its organs of thought, speech, sight, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling, &c., all exist in their order, as in the physical body; the one being the exact similitude of the other.

This individual, spiritual body, was begotten by the heavenly Father, in His own likeness and image, and by the laws of procreation.

It was born and matured in the heavenly mansions, trained in the school of love in the family circle, and amid the most tender embraces of parental and fraternal affection.

In this primeval probation, in its heavenly home, it lived and moved as a free and rational intelligence, acting upon its own agency, and, like all intelligence, independent in its own sphere. It was placed under certain laws, and was responsible to its great Patriarchal Head.

This has been called a "First Estate." And it is intimated that, of the spirits thus placed upon their agency, one-third failed to keep their first estate, and were thrust down, and reserved in chains of darkness, for future judgment. As these are not permitted to multiply their species, or to move forward in the scale of progressive being, while in this state of bondage and condemnation, we will trace them no further, as their final destiny is not revealed to mortals.

The spirits which kept their first estate, were permitted to descend below, and to obtain a tabernacle of flesh in the rudimental existence in which we find them in our present world, and which we will call a second estate.

In pa.s.sing the veil which separates between the first and second estates, man becomes unconscious, and, on awakening in his second estate, a veil is wisely thrown over all the past.

In his mortal tabernacle he remembers not the scenes, the endearing a.s.sociations, of his first, primeval childhood in the heavenly mansions. He therefore commences anew in the lessons of experience, in order to start on a level with the new born tabernacle, and to re-develope his intellectual faculties in a progressive series, which keep pace with the development of the organs and faculties of the outward tabernacle.

During his progress in the flesh, the Holy Spirit may gradually awaken his faculties; and in a dream, or vision, or by the spirit of prophecy, reveal, or rather awaken the memory to, a partial vision, or to a dim and half defined recollection of the intelligence of the past. He sees in part, and he knows in part; but never while tabernacled in mortal flesh will he fully awake to the intelligence of his former estate. It surpa.s.ses his comprehension, is unspeakable, and even unlawful to be uttered.

Having kept his second estate, and filled the measure of his responsibilities in the flesh, he pa.s.ses the veil of death, and enters a third estate, or probationary sphere. This is called the world of spirits, and will be treated on more fully under its appropriate head.

Filling the measure of his responsibilities in the world of spirits, he pa.s.ses, by means of the resurrection of the body, into his fourth estate, or sphere of human existence. In this sphere he finds himself clothed upon with an eternal body of flesh and bones, with every sense, and every organ, restored and adapted to their proper use.

He is thus prepared with organs and faculties adapted to the possession and enjoyment of every element of the physical or spiritual worlds, which can gratify the senses, or conduce to the happiness of intelligences. He a.s.sociates, converses, loves, thinks, acts, moves, sees, hears, tastes, smells, eats, drinks and possesses.

In short, all the elements necessary to his happiness being purified, exalted, and adapted to the sphere in which he exists, are placed within his lawful reach, and made subservient to his use.

CHAPTER VII.

DESTINY OF THE UNIVERSE.

The mystic future, with its depths profound, For ages counted as forbidden ground, Now lifts its veil, that man may penetrate The secret springs, the mysteries of fate; Know whence he is, and whither he is bound, And why the spheres perform their ample round.

The Grand Council having developed the vast structure of the heavens and the earth, with all their fulness, with the evident design of utility and adaptation to certain definite uses, it well becomes us to watch their progress, and to study with diligence their future and final destiny.

From a general traditional belief in an immaterial hereafter, many have concluded that the earth and all material things would be annihilated as mere temporary structures; that the material body, and the planets it occupies, make no part of eternal life and being; in short, that G.o.d, angels, and men, become at last so lost, dissolved, or merged in spirituality, or immateriality, as to lose all adaptation to the uses of the physical elements; that they will absolutely need no footstool, habitation, possession, mansion, home, furniture, food, or clothing; that the whole vast works and beautiful designs of the visible creation are a kind of necessary evil or clog on the spiritual life, and are of no possible use except to serve for the time being, for the home and sustenance of beings in their grosser, or rudimental state.

What a doleful picture! With what gloom and melancholy must intelligences contemplate the vast structure, as viewed in this light!

What a vastness of design!

What a display of wisdom!

What a field of labour in execution, do the works of creation present to the contemplative mind!

Yet all this wisdom of design, all this labour of execution, after serving a momentary purpose, to be thrown away as an inc.u.mbrance to real existence and happiness.

All these "spiritual," "immaterial" vagaries have no foundation in truth.

The earth and other systems are to undergo a variety of changes, in their progress towards perfection. Water, fire, and other elements are the agents of these changes. But it is an eternal, unchangeable fact, a fixed law of nature, easily demonstrated and ill.u.s.trated by chemical experiment, that neither fire nor any other element can annihilate a particle of matter, to say nothing of a whole globe.

_A new heaven and a new earth_ are promised by the sacred writers. Or, in other words, the planetary systems are to be changed, purified, refined, exalted and glorified, in the similitude of the resurrection, by which means all physical evil or imperfection will be done away.

In their present state they are adapted to the rudimental state of man. They are, as it were, the nurseries for man's physical embryo formation. Their elements afford the means of nourishing and sustaining the tabernacle, and of engendering and strengthening the organ of thought and mind, wherein are conceived and generated thoughts and affections which can only be matured and consummated in a higher sphere--thoughts pregnant with eternal life and love.

As the mind enlarges, the aspirations of an eternal being, once enn.o.bled and honoured in the councils of heaven, among the sons of G.o.d, reach forth too high, and broad, and deep, to be longer adapted to the narrow sphere of mortal life. His body is imprisoned, chained to the earth, while his mind would soar aloft, and grasp the intelligence, wisdom and riches of the boundless infinite.

His rudimental body must therefore pa.s.s away, and be changed, so as to be adapted to a wider and more glorious sphere of locomotion, research, action and enjoyment.

When the planet on which he dwells has conceived, brought forth, and nourished the number of tabernacles a.s.signed to it in its rudimental state, by infinite wisdom, it must needs be acted upon by a chemical process. The purifying elements; for instance, fire, must needs be employed to bring it through an ordeal, a refinement, a purification, a change commensurate with that which had before taken place in the physical tabernacle of its inhabitants. Thus renovated, it is adapted to resurrected man.

When man, and the planet on which he lives, with all its fulness, shall have completed all their series of progressive changes, so as to be adapted to the highest glories of which their several characters and species are capable, then, the whole will be annexed to, or numbered with the eternal heavens, and will there fulfil their eternal rounds, being another acquisition to the mansions, or eternally increasing dominions of the great Creator and Redeemer.

Worlds are mansions for the home of intelligences.

Intelligences exist in order to enjoy.

Joy, in its fulness, depends on certain principles, viz.--

Life Eternal. Love Eternal. Peace Eternal. Wealth Eternal. &c.

Without the first, enjoyment lacks durability.

Without the second, it can hardly be said to exist.

Without the third, it would not be secure.