A DISCOURSE BY PROFESSOR ORSON PRATT.
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The earth was formed to be inhabited-it was designed to be the abodeof animated existence-the dwelling place of beings capable of enjoying lifeand happiness.
At the time of its creation, it was pronounced by its Author to be "verygood." The term "very good" could have no meaning, unlessspoken with reference to beings who should be capable of experiencing somebenefit from its construction. However beautifully formed-however grandand magnificent its motions-however skilfully its elements are combined,or its parts proportioned to each other, yet, if not designed to be connectedwith perceptive beings, the earth could not be pronounced good.
A mass of inanimate elements cannot be organized in any possible formor proportion so as to benefit or injure itself, and therefore cannot begood nor bad with reference to itself. Goodness and its opposite quality,when applied to unconscious matter, always have reference to conscious beingscapable of deriving happiness or misery from these qualities. This was themeaning of the Creator when he ascribed the quality of goodness to the earth;it contained every necessary ingredient to render happiness to the beingswho were designed to occupy it.
After having made every necessary preparation, countless species ofliving, moving beings came from the spirit world to inhabit earthly bodies,and take up their abode upon this magnificent creation. Among the rest,man-the offspring of deity-left his ancient home-his brother and sisterspirits, and came to a world most beautifully adapted to his future wants.Here he entered a tabernacle of flesh and bones, and received dominion andauthority over all the lower orders of existence.
Here immortality reigned, and death had no dominion. The elements wereso wisely arranged and proportioned, that life was derived from all thingsordained for the use of man or beast, fowl or fish. The nourishing elementof life was diffused through the earth, the ocean and the air. Life pervadedevery vegetable and fruit not forbidden to man. Life reigned triumphantlythroughout this vast creation. Death was unknown; it had not been seen,heard of nor experienced in all the varied ranks of earthly beings.
Here, then, was a creation "very good," inhabited by beingscapable of eternal existence, both body and spirit. Here was a creationadapted to the wants of all its inhabitants, calculated to preserve unchangedthat immortality with which they were endowed. Here, then, was a creationworth possessing as an eternal abode.
Such was the inheritance given to man, with its vast treasures and sumptuousluxuries-such was the gift of heaven under certain restrictions. These restrictionswere not complied with-man fell-a great change came over the fair face ofcreation-the earth was cursed-sickness, pain, and misery ensued-immortalityyielded to mortality-death reigned triumphantly throughout the animal kingdom-theeverlasting inheritance on the newly-formed earth was forfeited-all seemedto be lost-forever lost! While all creation groaned in utter despair anddeath, a voice was heard; not a voice of wrath and indignation, but thevoice of mercy and compassion-the voice of the Creator, proclaiming himselfthe Redeemer; love flowed through every sentence-man listened with eagerness-thedoor of hope was opened-despair fled away-all things again assumed a newaspect. The earth, though cursed, was to be redeemed-the body, though corruptible,was again to put on incorruption-all things lost by the first transgressionwere to be restored again in their primitive excellence and beauty. Thoughthis great redemption was to be universal, yet the change was to be gradualor progressive, not immediate; the effects of the fall were to continuefor a season, until all the inhabitants of the spirit world, designed forthis creation, should learn by bitter experience, the unhappy consequencesof sin. Hence, the whole world still groans under the sad effects of theoriginal transgression. Sorrow, mourning, and death, still prevail-the aged,middle-aged, and infant still feel the force of these evils-all are madepartakers in a greater or less degree of the wretchedness and miseries ofthe fall-none escape-none can proclaim themselves immortal, or free fromthese direful effects.
The universal redemption of the posterity of Adam from the fall willbe fully accomplished after the earth has been filled with its measure ofinhabitants, and all men have been redeemed from the grave to immortality,and the earth itself has been changed and made entirely new.
But a universal redemption from the effects of original sin, has nothingto do with redemption from our personal sins; for the original sin of Adam,and the personal sins of his children, are two different things. The firstwas committed by man in his immortal state; the second was committed, byman in a mortal state; the former was committed in a state of ignoranceof good or evil; the latter was committed by man, having a knowledge ofboth good and evil. As the sins are different, and committed entirely underdifferent circumstances, so the penalties are different also. The penaltyof the first transgression was an eternal separation of body and spirit;and eternal banishment from the presence of Jehovah; while the penalty ofour own transgressions does not involve a disunion of body and spirit, butonly eternal banishment. The first penalty not only shut man out from thepresence of God, but deprived him eternally of a body; the second penaltypermits him to retain his body, though in a banished condition. As the penaltiesare different, so also is the redemption. Redemption from the first penaltyis unconditional on the part of man; redemption from the second penaltyis conditional. Unconditional redemption is universal; it takes within itsscope all mankind; it is as unlimited as the fall; it redeems men from allits effects; it restores to them their bodies; it restores them to the presenceof God.
The children of Adam had no agency in the transgression of their firstparents, and therefore they are not required to exercise any agency in theirredemption from its penalty. They are redeemed from it without faith, repentance,baptism, or any other act, either of the mind or body.
Conditional redemption is also universal in its nature; it is offeredto all, but not received by all; it is a universal gift, though not universallyaccepted; its benefits can be obtained only through faith, repentance, baptism,the laying on of the hands, and obedience to all other requirements of theGospel.
Unconditional redemption is a gift forced upon mankind, which they cannotreject, though they were disposed. Not so with conditional redemption; itcan be received or rejected according to the will of the creature.
Redemption from the original sin is without faith or works; redemptionfrom our own sins is given through faith and works. Both are the gifts offree grace; but while one is a gift forced upon us unconditionally, theother is a gift merely offered to us conditionally. The reception of theone is compulsory; the reception of the other is voluntary. Man cannot byany possible act, prevent his redemption from the fall; but he can utterlyrefuse and prevent his redemption from the penalty of his own sins.
The earth, like the posterity of Adam; was cursed because of the originalsin, and like them, it will be redeemed unconditionally, and restored againinto the presence of God. So far as the original sin is concerned, mankindand the earth keep pace with each other. When one falls the other fallsalso. When one is redeemed, the other is redeemed also.
Had there been no other sin but that of Adam's, the redeemed earth wouldhave become the eternal abode of all the posterity of Adam, without oneexception. But both man and the earth have been still further corruptedby other sins. The posterity of Adam have transgressed the code of lawsgiven since the fall, and subjected themselves to its penalty. This penaltydoes not interfere with the first penalty. Man will be redeemed from thefirst before the second will be fully inflicted. When his redemption fromthe first death is completed, them comes the judgement, when his own sinswill be inquired into, and not Adam's. As he stands before the judgement-seat,he will find himself entirely innocent of Adam's transgression, and entirelyredeemed from the effects of it, but he still finds himself guilty of hisown individual sins, the penalty of which is a second death, not a dissolutionof body and spirit like that of the first death, but a banishment from thepresence of God, and from the glory of his power.
Redemption from the second death, as we have already observed, is conditional.Man having voluntarily committed sin, must voluntarily comply with the conditionsof redemption; otherwise, he must suffer the penalty. If any should feeldisposed to doubt whether the second penalty will be inflicted, let themlook at the infliction of the first, during the last 6,000 years. The firstdeath, with all its attendant evils, has extended its ravages among allnations and generations since the first law was broken. If God, then, hasfulfilled His word in the first provocation, to the very letter, why shouldany one suppose that He will not inflict the second death as a penalty ofthe second provocation?
All generations bear witness to the faithfulness of His word spokenin the garden of Eden. Why then, should we suppose that justice shall befrustrated, and His word become null and void in regard to any future penaltywith which the sinner is threatened? If the sin of one man brought the firstdeath upon unnumbered millions, why not the sin of each man bring the seconddeath upon himself? There is no escape for the sinner from the second death,only through the conditions of the Gospel. All who will believe in Christ,and repent of their sins, and be baptized by immersion for the remissionof them and receive the Holy Ghost through the ordinance of the laying onof hands, and continue faithful unto the end, shall escape the penalty ofthe second death. All who reject these conditions must suffer it, for theword of God cannot become void, and justice be thwarted from his stern decrees.
Though all mankind are to be fully redeemed from the effects of theoriginal sin, yet we have great reason to fear that but few will be redeemedfrom their own sins. Those few who are redeemed will receive the earth foran eternal inheritance; for the earth, as we have already observed, willbe unconditionally redeemed from the curse of the original sin, and so faras that sin is concerned, it will be no obstacle to the earth's enteringinto the presence of God. But as the earth has been corrupted by other sinsthan the original, it must partake of the curses of the second death, afterit is redeemed from the curses of the first, unless God has provided a wayfor its sanctification and redemption therefrom. It has seemed good untothe great Redeemer to institute ordinances for the cleansing, sanctification,and eternal redemption of the earth, not from the original sin, but fromthe sins of the posterity of Adam.
The first ordinance instituted for the cleansing of the earth, was thatof immersion in water; it was buried in the liquid element, and all thingssinful upon the face of it were washed away. As it came forth from the oceanflood, like the new-born child, it was innocent, it arose to newness oflife; it was its second birth from the womb of mighty waters-a new worldissuing from the ruins of the old, clothed with all the innocency of itsfirst creation. As man cannot be born again of water, without an administrator,so the earth required an agency independent of itself, to administer thisgrand cleansing ordinance, and restore it to its infant purity. That administratorwas the Redeemer himself.
The second ordinance instituted for the sanctification of the earth,is that of fire and the Holy Ghost. The day will come when it shall burnas an oven, and all the proud, and all that do wickedly shall be as stubble;after which, the glory of God shall cover the earth, as the waters coverthe deep. Here then is a baptism of fire first, then of the Holy Spirit.As man receives the baptism of fire and the Holy spirit through the layingon of the hands of a legal administrator, so the earth receives the same,not through its own agency, but through the agencies ordained of God. Asman becomes a new earth by being born again, first of water, then of thespirit, in the same manner the earth becomes a new earth by being born againof these cleansing and purifying elements. As man becomes a righteous manby the new birth, so the earth becomes a righteous earth through the sameprocess.
Righteousness will abide upon its face, during a thousand years, andthe Saviour will bless it with his personal presence: after which the endsoon comes, and the earth itself will die, and its elements be dissolvedthrough the agency of a fire. This death, or dissolution of the earth isa penalty of the original sin. Infants and righteous men die, not as a penaltyof their own sins, but, because Adam sinned; so the earth, dies, or undergoesa similar change, not because of the transgressions of the children of Adam,but because of the original transgression. But all mankind are made alivefrom the first death through the resurrection, so the earth will again berenewed, its elements will again be collected, they will be recombined andreorganized as when it first issued from the womb of chaos. As the bodiesof the righteous are made immortal, eternal, unchangeable, and glorious,so the earth itself will be so constructed as to be capable of everlastingendurance. Immortality will be indelibly stamped upon every department ofthis creation. It will be crowned with the presence of God the Father, andshine forth in all the splendours of celestial glory. But who will be itsinhabitants? Those who have passed through the same process of purification,and none else. As all who partake of the second death must be banished fromthe presence of God, it necessarily follows, that they must be banishedfrom the glorified earth; for that is redeemed into the presence of God,and enjoys the glory of His power; and no beings can inhabit it but thosewho are sanctified by the same ordinances and law.
As the earth passes through its great last change, two of its principalcities-the Old Jerusalem of the eastern continent, and the new Jerusalemof the western continent, will be preserved from the general conflagration,being caught up into heaven. These two cities, with all their glorifiedthrong, will descend upon the redeemed earth, being the grand capitals ofthe new creation. "Without" (or exterior to these holy cities,and upon other creations of an inferior order, far separated from the glorifiedearth) "will be dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. (Rev. xxii. 15.) Theseare they who are banished from the presence of God, and from the glory ofa celestial earth.
It is the meek only who shall receive the promised inheritance-theyare the lawful heirs. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inheritthe earth," was the promise of the great Redeemer.
But who are the meek? By what peculiarities are they distinguished fromother men? There must be some qualities about them far superior to the generalityof mankind, or they would not become the exclusive heirs of the new earth.The law of meekness includes all the laws of the Gospel, with its ordinancesand blessings, Priesthood and powers, through obedience to which mankindbecome justified, sanctified, purified, and glorified. Such are the meekof the earth, and none others. And as the Gospel has not been preached noradministered by authority on the eastern hemisphere for the last seventeencenturies, consequently, during that time, there have been none possessedof the requisite qualities of meekness sufficient to entitle them to thepromised inheritance upon the new earth. A few only will be saved-a fewonly will receive the law of meekness and continue therein.
Different portions of the earth have been pointed out by the Almighty,from time to time, to His children, as their everlasting inheritance. Asinstances-Abraham and his posterity, that were worthy, were promised Palestine.Moab and Ammon-the children of righteous Lot-were promised a portion notfar from the boundaries of the twelve tribes. The meek among the Jaredites,together with a remnant of the tribe of Joseph, were promised the greatwestern continent. The righteous of all nations who shall in this dispensationbe gathered to that land, will receive their inheritance in common withthe meek who formerly sojourned upon the land. In the resurrection, themeek of all ages and nations will be restored to that portion of the earthpreviously promised to them. And thus, all the different portions of theearth have been and will be disposed of to the lawful heirs; while thosewho cannot prove their heirship to be legal, of who cannot prove that theyhave received any portion of the earth by promise, will be cast out intosome other kingdom or world, where, if they ever get an inheritance, theywill have to earn it by keeping the law of meekness during another probation.
How great will be the disappointment to the rich, the high and the noble,who have rejected the messages of eternal truth, sent forth in differentages for the redemption of men, when they find that there is not a footof the new earth that they can call their own; the whole of it having beenlawfully disposed of to the poor and the meek.
Howl, then, ye rich men, who reject the message of the servants of God;for your portion is in this life, and you have no claim upon the everlastinginheritance. God will rescue the earth from under your dominion, and giveit to those unto whom it is promised. Howl, for the miseries that shallcome upon you!
It has been conjectured by some, that the earth will not be sufficientlycapacious to accommodate the nations of the righteous. But such a conjecturewill appear erroneous to any one who will exercise his reasoning powerssufficient to calculate the superficial contents of our globe, and comparethe same with the probable number of inhabitants who are destined for thiscreation.
In round numbers, the surface of our terrestrial spheroid, contains197,000,000 of square miles, or over one hundred and twenty-six thousandmillions of acres. Now, if from the creation of the earth to its final glorification,there should elapse a period of eight thousand years, or eighty centuries,and if we should suppose the population to average one thousand millionsper century, (which is probably an average far too great,) yet there wouldbe an abundance of room upon the new earth for all this vast multitude.There would be over one acre and a-half for every soul.
But when we reflect how few will be saved-how few have received theplan of redemption, even when it has been proclaimed by authority in theirears, and how many generations have passed away unto whom the Almighty hassent no message, we are compelled to believe that not one out of a hundredwill receive an inheritance upon the new earth. But even though we supposeone per cent of all this immensity of population shall, through obedienceto the Gospel, become lawful heirs to the new earth, then there will beover one hundred and fifty acres for every soul. If the new earth containsonly the same proportion of land as the old, there would still be aboutforty acres for every redeemed soul. But the new earth is represented bythe Apostle John, as being without any sea, which increases its capacityfor inhabitants above the old four fold. The farmer who is looking forwardto to the new earth for his everlasting inheritance, need have no fearsof of being too much limited in his possessions. There will be ample room,for the delightful pursuits of the agriculturist. He can have his pleasure-grounds;his orchards of the most delicious fruits; his gardens decorated with theloveliest flowers; and still have land enough for the raising of the morestaple articles, such as manna to eat, and flax for the making of fine robes,&c.
Who, in looking upon the earth as it ascends in the scale of the universe,does not desire to keep pace with it, that when it shall be classed in itsturn, among the dazzling orbs of the blue vault of heaven, shining forthin, all the splendours of celestial glory, he may find himself proportionablyadvanced in the scale of intellectual and moral excellence? Who, but themost abandoned, does not desire to be counted worthy to associate with thosehigher orders of beings who have been redeemed, exalted, and glorified,together with the worlds they inhabit, ages before the foundations of ourearth were laid? O man, remember the future destiny and glory of the earth,and secure thine everlasting inheritance upon the same, that when it shallbe glorious, thou shalt be glorious also.