Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Part I A Prepared People
- Part II Hermetic Purity and Hermetic Danger
- Part III The Mormon Dispensation
- 7 Secret Combinations and Slippery Treasures in the Land of Zarahemla
- 8 The Mysteries Defined
- 9 Temples, Wives, Bogus-Making, and War
- 10 The Keys to the Kingdom
- 11 A Tangle of Strings and the Kingdom of God
- 12 Let Mysteries Alone
- Appendix The Sectarian and Hermetic Circumstances of Mormon Origins in Vermont and New York
- Abbreviations Used in Notes
- Notes
- Index
12 - Let Mysteries Alone
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- List of Maps
- Preface
- Part I A Prepared People
- Part II Hermetic Purity and Hermetic Danger
- Part III The Mormon Dispensation
- 7 Secret Combinations and Slippery Treasures in the Land of Zarahemla
- 8 The Mysteries Defined
- 9 Temples, Wives, Bogus-Making, and War
- 10 The Keys to the Kingdom
- 11 A Tangle of Strings and the Kingdom of God
- 12 Let Mysteries Alone
- Appendix The Sectarian and Hermetic Circumstances of Mormon Origins in Vermont and New York
- Abbreviations Used in Notes
- Notes
- Index
Summary
Where are the true riches – the pearl of great price? They are here. How can we secure them? By being obedient, for the willing and obedient will eat the good of the land by and by. … What is a mystery? We do not know, it is beyond our comprehension. When we talk about mystery, we talk about eternal obscurity; for that which is known ceases to be a mystery.
Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, August 14, 1853Some will come with great zeal and anxiety, saying “I want my endowments, I want my washings and anointings; I want my blessings; I wish to be sealed up to eternal lives. …” What good will all this do you, if you do not live up to your profession and practice your profession?
Heber C. Kimball, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1855[I]t stands immutable, that all men shall be rewarded according to their works.
Jedediah M. Grant, Salt Lake City, October 6, 1855Why say “We want to hear from the stand concerning the mysteries – the eternal mysteries of the kingdom of God. …” Allow me to inform you that you are in the midst of it all now.
Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, June 15, 1856These are the mysteries of the kingdom of God upon the earth, to know how to purify and sanctify our affections, the earth upon which we stand, the air we breathe, the water we drink, the houses in which we dwell and the cities that we build, that when strangers come into our country they may feel a hallowed influence and acknowledge a power to which they are strangers.
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- Information
- The Refiner's FireThe Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844, pp. 278 - 305Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994