1. The human mind – the immortal spirit – where did it come from? Learned doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning, but it is not so. The very idea lessens humanity in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine; I know better. Hear it, all ye ends of the world! I am going to tell of things nobler.
2. Why do so many say that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing? Because they infer from the word create that it must have been made out of nothing.
3. To create means to organize – the same as someone would organize materials and build a ship. Hence, we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos – chaotic matter, meaning the elements, in which dwells all the glory.
4. The elements co-exist eternally with God; they may be organized and reorganized, but they can never be destroyed. They have neither a beginning nor an end.
5. We say that God is a self-existing being. Who told you so? It is correct enough, but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that we do not exist in like manner upon the same principle? We do exist upon the same principle.
6. The human mind, or the intelligence that we possess, is co-equal with God.
7. Is it logical to say that one’s spirit is immortal and yet had a beginning? That which has a beginning may have an end.
8. But the human spirit had no beginning; neither will it have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits, for they are coequal with God.
9. I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the human mind – the immortal part because it has no beginning or end but continues one eternal round. So, it is with us.
10. God never had the power to create the human spirit at all. God could not create Himself.
11. Like God, intelligence is eternal and self-existent; it is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it.
12. God, finding Himself in the midst of spirits and glory, and being more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest, who were less in intelligence, could advance in knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence and be exalted with God.
13. All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement, and the relationship that we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge.
14. What kind of a being is God? If we do not comprehend the character of God, then we do not comprehend ourselves. From an eternal perspective, we cannot comprehend that which is past or that which is to come if we do not understand our relationship with God.
15. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear, all ye ends of the earth, for I am going to tell you the designs of God for the human race!
16. God himself was once as we are now and is an exalted human, enthroned in yonder heavens!
17. That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and God was made visible, you would see one who is human in form like yourselves— for Adam and Eve were formed in the very likeness and image of God.
18. Here, then, is eternal life – to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until the resurrection of the dead, when you are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.
19. Knowledge is what will save us; in the world of spirits, there is no way for us to come to understanding and be exalted but by knowledge.
20. Having a knowledge of God, we begin to know how to approach Him and how to ask so as to receive an answer.
21. When we understand the character of God and know how to come to God, God begins to unfold the heavens to us.
22. When we are ready to come to God, God is ready to come to us.
23. God judges us according to the use we make of the light which He gives us.
24. When we climb up a ladder, we must begin at the bottom and ascend step by step until we arrive at the top. So, it is with the principles of the gospel – we must begin with the first and go on until we learn all the principles of exaltation.
25. But it will be a great while after we have passed through the veil before we will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave.
26. We are each our own tormentor and condemner; we each are damned by our own mortification.
27. Hence the saying, “They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” The torment of disappointment in the mind is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone.
28. So long as we will not give consent to heed the commandments, we must abide without salvation. But when we consent to obey the Gospel, whether alive or dead, we are saved.
29. All sins shall be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for Jesus will save all except the sons of perdition.
30. What must we do to commit this unpardonable sin? We must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto us, know and then sin against God; we must say that the sun does not shine while seeing it with our eyes open.
31. These are the first principles of consolation. How consoling to the mourners when they are called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative to know that, although the earthly tabernacle is laid down and dissolved, they shall rise again to dwell in everlasting burnings in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die anymore, but they shall be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, enjoying the glory, power and exaltation of a god, the same as those who have gone before.
32. God is glorified in our salvation and exaltation.
33. A question may be asked: “Will parents have their children in eternity?” Yes! Yes! Parents, you shall have your children; they shall have eternal life, for their debt is paid. There is no damnation awaiting them, for they are in the spirit.
34. But as the child dies, so shall it rise from the dead and be forever living in the learning of God. It will never grow; it will be the child in its precise form as it was before it died out of your arms.
35. Children dwell and exercise power, throne upon throne, dominion upon dominion, in the same form just as you laid them down. Eternity is full of thrones upon which dwell thousands of children, reigning on thrones of glory, with not one cubit added to their stature.
36. Blessed are all who mourn: your loved ones are in the spirit, absent from you for only a time. When the trump blows, we shall hail our fathers, mothers, friends, and all – and, in the felicity of the resurrection, go on to Celestial Glory.