Origen repeatedly quoted from writers of the early Church. “This is not my opinion; this is what the elders used to teach,” he would say. “There will be another world after this one. And in the same way, there were other worlds before this one. We thus share a common nature with other worlds.” Or as Methodius, the last man to organize this material and bring it together, in the eighteenth volume of the Patrologiae Graecae wrote, “Christ came down from his vast rule and kingdoms and other worlds to save one percent of those on this evil earth, and to enroll the human race in the heavenly register.” For this work goes on in a vast scale, and it involves many other worlds. But what does this do to the oneness of God, and so forth? It does no harm at all, because all is going according to the same system, and before anyone can be entrusted to take charge of a world, he must be trusted.
We are here for the purpose of being saved, and we must also be safe. Exaltation is something more. All will be saved in the kingdom of God, but who is safe? Who can be trusted? With reference to man’s responsibilities, we are here to be tested whether we can be trusted to take charge on our own, because if you can be trusted completely, you’d do the very same thing God would do. You’d represent him completely. So there is only one God, only one ruling mind, and only one pattern after all. The oneness of God is never jeopardized here. The Askew Manuscript says, “There are many mansions, many regions, degrees, worlds, spaces, and heavens, but all have but one law. If you keep that law, you, too, can become creators of worlds,” an astonishing statement.
The Gospel of Truth says, “It is the perfect Father who produced the all, in whom the all is, in whom all are in need always.” We are never free from needing him. He is still in charge. Others are put in charge in whom he can trust, but always it goes back to him. “Out of the one come the countless multitudes, but yet they remain in the One.” “All the other worlds look to the same God as to a common sun.” The crucifixion is effective in worlds other than this one. Another says, “All the cosmoses follow the pattern of a single world, which is called the type, the archetype.
The Upper Room Discourse
The last long teaching before the garden: a place prepared in the Father’s kingdom, the way and the truth and the life, the vine and its branches, the world’s hatred, the Spirit of truth, and, at the end, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Note. John 14:15–27, the promise of the two Comforters, is given its own section. The Joseph Smith Translation leaves the whole of John 15 untouched.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house kingdom are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, when I go, I will prepare a place for you, and come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And to where I go you know, and the way you know.
5Thomas says unto him, Lord, we know not to where you go. And how can we know the way? 6Jesus says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. 7If you had known me, you should have known my Father also, and from henceforth you know him and have seen him. 8Philip says unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us. 9Jesus says unto him, Have I been so long time with you and yet you have not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how can you then say, Show us the Father? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells in me. He does the works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12Truly, truly I say unto you, he that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. 13And whatever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
28You have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, I go unto the Father — for my Father is greater than I. 29And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it has come to pass, you might believe. 30Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me. But that the world may know darkness (who is of this world) comes, but has no power over me, but he has power over you. 31And I tell you these things that you may know that I love the Father. And as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
1I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that bears not fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. 6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire and it shall be done unto you. 8Herein is my Father glorified: that you bear much fruit — so shall you be my disciples. 9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full.
12This is my commandment: That you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. 15Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17These things I command you, that you love one another.
18If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said unto you: The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also; 21but all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake because they know not him that sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have had sin; but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23He that hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works which no other man did, they would not have had sin. But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But this comes to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law: They hated me without a cause.
26But when the Comforter has come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me. 27And you also shall bear witness because you have been with me from the beginning. 1These things have I spoken unto you that you should not be offended. 2They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he does God service. 3And these things will they do unto you because they have not known the Father nor me. 4But these things have I told you that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning because I was with you. 5But now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asks me, Where do you go? — 6but because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8And when he has come, he will reprove remind the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9of sin because they believe not on me; 10of righteousness because I go to my Father and ye they see me no more; 11of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.
12I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now. 13Nevertheless, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. 14He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. 15All things that the Father has are mine, therefore said I that he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. 16A little while and you shall not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me because I go to the Father.
17Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he says unto us: A little while and you shall not see me; and again a little while and you shall see me; and, because I go to the Father? 18They said, therefore, What is this that he says: A little while? We cannot tell what he says.
19Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do you inquire among yourselves of that I said — A little while and you shall not see me, and again a little while and you shall see me? 20Truly, truly I say unto you that you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice. And you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. 21A woman when she is in travail has sorrow because her hour has come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. 22And you now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you. 23And in that day, you shall ask me nothing but it shall be done unto you. Truly, truly I say unto you, whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name. Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs, but the time comes when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. 26At that day, you shall ask in my name and I say not unto you that I will ask the Father for you, 27for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came out from God. 28I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.
29His disciples said unto him, Behold, now speak you plainly and speak no proverb. 30Now are we sure that you know all things and need not that any man should ask you. By this we believe that you came forth from God. 31Jesus answered them, Do you now believe? 32Behold, the hour comes, yea, has now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone — and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33These things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
A Kingdom of Kingdoms: And Two Words He Said Were Wrongly Translated
He That Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father
The Lectures on Faith were given to the elders’ school in Kirtland in the winter of 1834–35 and printed in 1835 as the first part of the Doctrine and Covenants, whose preface Joseph Smith signed with the rest of the committee that compiled it. The fifth lecture’s catechism does not expound this discourse; it uses two of its sayings as proofs. Jesus’s answer to Philip, who asked to see the Father (vv. 9–11), proves that the Son is a personage of tabernacle in the likeness of the Father, and the promise of the Comforter who testifies of the Son (15:26) proves that the mind the Father and the Son share is the Holy Spirit. It is shown for that overlap of subject, not as a commentary on the verses.
Lectures on Faith, Lecture Fifth, questions 7–8 and 13–14, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), pp. 56–58 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 5:12 (question 8); question 14 of the same lecture; page 57 of the 1835 printing, where the question on the mind stands.
Q. What is the Son? A. First, he is a personage of tabernacle. [§5. ¶2.] Q. How do you prove it? A. John 14:9, 10, 11, Jesus says unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; and how do you say then, Show us the Father? Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. … Thirdly, he is also in the likeness of the personage of the Father. [§5. ¶2.] …
… Q. Do the Father and the Son possess the same mind? A. They do. … Q. What is this mind? A. The Holy Spirit. John 15:26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me. [Christ.]
Greater Works Than These, Because I Go unto the Father
The seventh lecture takes up verse 12 and asks what the greater works are. It answers from the prayer of John 17: the believers are to be one with the Father and the Son and behold the Son’s glory, so the greater works “were to be done in eternity.” That is not how Joseph read the verse in a sermon at Commerce in 1839, as Willard Richards reported it: there he took it as the believer’s privilege now, asking, receiving, the heavens open, and said such gifts are “done away because of unbelief.” The Lecture says plainly, “He does not say that they should do these works in time.” Both readings are given as their sources have them. (The 1835 printing cites the verse as John 4:12; it is John 14:12.)
Lectures on Faith, Lecture Seventh, ¶¶11–12 and 15, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), pp. 67–70 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 7:11; Lecture 7:12; Lecture 7:15.
This clearly sets forth the propriety of the Savior’s saying, recorded in John’s testimony, 4:12: Verily, verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these, because I go unto the Father.— This taken in connection with some of the sayings in the Savior’s prayer, recorded in the 17th chapter, gives great clearness to his expressions: He says, in the 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24: Neither pray I for these alone; but for them also who shall believe on me through their words; that they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am: that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedest me before the foundation of the world.
All these sayings put together, give as clear an account of the state of the glorified saints as language could give—The works that Jesus done they were to do, and greater works than those which he done among them should they do, and that because he went to the Father. He does not say that they should do these works in time; but they should do greater works because he went to the Father. He says, in the 24th verse: Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory. These sayings, taken in connection, make it very plain, that the greater works, which those that believed on his name, were to do, were to be done in eternity, where he is going, and where they should behold his glory. …
… It is scarcely necessary here to observe what we have previously noticed: That the glory which the Father and the Son have, is because they are just and holy beings; and that if they were lacking in one attribute or perfection which they have, the glory which they have, never could be enjoyed by them; for it requires them to be precisely what they are in order to enjoy it: and if the Savior gives this glory to any others, he must do it in the very way set forth in his prayer to his Father: by making them one with him, as he and the Father are one.— In so doing he would give them the glory which the Father has given him; and when his disciples are made one with the Father and the Son, as the Father and the Son are one, who cannot see the propriety of the Savior’s saying, The works which I do, shall they do; and greater works than these shall they do, because I go to the Father?
The Privilege of the Children of God
The earliest surviving report of Joseph preaching this chapter walks it verse by verse. He read the promise of a prepared place as an inheritance the ordinary disciple may claim, the same inheritance the Apostles received, and read the whole chapter as an argument that revelation is the birthright of the children of God.
Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839, Commerce, Illinois (Willard Richards, “W. Richards Pocket Companion Written in England”; Words of Joseph Smith, pp. 14–15) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗It is the privilige of the children of God to come to God & get Revelation. XIV John Let not your heart be troubled &c, There are a great many Mansions in my Father’s house. I am going to prepare one for you rather Better than common. It is the privilege of the sons of God to inherit the same Mansion &c. When any person receives a vision of Heaven, he Sees things that he never thought of before. if we should tell of different glories as Paul did. in my fathers house are many Mansions. every man that receives the Gospel receives that inheritance that the Apostles did.
Every one that hath seen me hath Seen the Father. He that believeth, any person that believs the works that I do shall he do also & greater works. The Father could not be glorified in the Son on any other principle than we coming to God. asking. receiving. heavens open visions &c.— they are done away because of unbelief—
“He Shall Remind the World of Sin”
At a meeting of the Nauvoo lyceum in March 1841, Ebenezer Robinson spoke on “the other Comforter” in John 14 and 16. Joseph Smith answered that he would correct the translation of John 16:8: the Comforter shall not reprove but remind the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, and the other Comforter is Jesus himself. William McIntire took it down at the meeting. It is the earliest record of the reading the Covenant Christian Edition prints, three years before George Laub heard Joseph make the same correction.
Account of meeting, circa 30 March 1841, Nauvoo lyceum · William P. McIntire Notebook, pp. [18]–[19] (Words of Joseph Smith, 30 March 1841) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗E[benezer] Robinson spoke on the other Co[m]forter in the 14 & 16 of John & that to all man kind for he shall prove the world of sin & Righteou[s] & of Judgment &c Joseph said he would corect in the translation it ought to Read thus & he shall Remind the world of sin & of Righteous & of Judgmen[t] & this Comforter Reminds of the these things through the servents of the Lord— But the other Comforter spoken of By John is Jesus himself that is to come & take up his aboad with them
The Parable of the Vine and Its Branches
On a Sunday in December 1841 Joseph Smith read the fifteenth chapter to the congregation and explained it. Wilford Woodruff’s journal gives what he drew from it (keep the commandments, bring forth fruit, be the friends of God), the chastening he gave them next, and a closing word on verse 13. The whole entry is given.
Discourse, 19 December 1841, Nauvoo · Wilford Woodruff, Journal (Words of Joseph Smith, 19 December 1841) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Joseph the Seer arose & read a chapter in the New Testiment containing the parable of the vine & its branches & explained it much to our edification & said “if we kept the commandments of God we should bring forth fruit & be the friends of God & know what our Lord did, “Some say Joseph is a fallen Prophet because he does not bring forth more of the word of the Lord” “Why does he not do it” are we able to receive it No (says he) not one in this room, He then chastized us for our wickedness & unbelief knowing that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth & scourgeth evry son & daughter whom He receiveth & if we do not receive chastizements then are we Bastards & not Sons. On Revelation He said “A man would command his son to dig potatoes, saddle his horse but before he had done either tell him to do somthing els, this is all consider[ed] right “But as soon as the Lord gives a commandment & revokes that decree & commands somthing els then the prophet is considerd fallen &c” Because we will not receive chastizment at the hand of the Prophet & Apostles the Lord chastizeth us with sickness & death “Let not any man publish his own righteousness for others can do that for him.” sooner let him confess his sins & then he will be forgiven & he will bring forth more fruit when A man is chastized he gets angry & will not endure it. The reason we do not have the secrets of the Lord revealed unto us is because we do not keep them but reveal them, we do not keep our own secrets but reveal our difficulties to the world even to our enemies then how would we keep the secrets of the Lord Joseph says I can keep a secret till dooms day He spoke of love what greater love hath any man than that he lay down his life for his friend then why not fight for our friend untill we die & many other things of interest was spoken.
A Comforter and a Witness Bearer
An editorial on the gift of the Holy Ghost in the Times and Seasons, which Joseph Smith then edited, describes the Spirit in the words of this discourse: a comforter and a witness bearer that brings things past to remembrance, leads into all truth, and shows things to come (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13).
Editorial, “Gift of the Holy Ghost,” Times and Seasons, 15 June 1842 (3:823–825), p. 823; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 243 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗We believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost being enjoyed now, as much as it was in the apostles days;—we believe that it is necessary to make and to organize the priesthood; that no man can be called to fill any office in the ministry without it; we also believe in prophesy, in tongues, in visions, and in revelations, in gifts, and in healings; and that these things cannot be enjoyed without the gift of the Holy Ghost; we believe that holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that holy men in these days speak by the same principle; we believe in its being a comforter and a witness bearer, “that it brings things past to our remembrance, leads us into all truth, and shews us of things to come:” we believe that “no man can know that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost.” We believe in it in all its fullness, and power, and greatness, and glory: but whilst we do this we believe in it rationally, reasonably, consistently, and scripturally, and not according to the wild vagaries, foolish, notions and traditions of men.
Many Mansions in My Father’s Kingdom
Preaching at the temple stand in June 1843, seven months before the Mammoth Hotel sermon, Joseph Smith quoted the second verse against the notion of one heaven where all are alike. Wilford Woodruff wrote it down as “many mansions in my Fathers Kingdom,” the reading the Covenant Christian Edition prints, and the Manuscript History keeps both words, “my father’s kingdom (house).” It is the earliest witness to the reading. Switch to “Scribal accounts” for Woodruff’s and Willard Richards’s notes.
Discourse, 11 June 1843, Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, vol. D-1, p. 1574 (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 311); reported by Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards · Joseph Smith Papers ↗but says one I believe in one universal heaven and hell where all go and are all alike and equally miserable or equally happy. What? where all are huddled together, the honorable, virtuous, and murderers and whoremongers, when it is written that they shall be judged according to the deeds done in the body? But saint Paul informs us of three glories and three heavens, he knew a man that was caught up to the third heaven, now if the doctrine of the Sectarian world, that there is but one heaven Paul what do you tell that lie for and say there are three? Jesus said unto his disciples there are many mansions in my father’s kingdom (house) if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come and receive you to myself that where I am ye may be also.
“House Here Named Should Have Been Translated Kingdom”
Preaching in the open air in front of Robert D. Foster’s Mammoth Hotel, five months before his death, Joseph answered the question whether the ordinances can be dispensed with, and in answering it corrected the second verse of this chapter. The Covenant Christian Edition prints the correction: “In my Father’s kingdom are many mansions.”
Discourse, 21 January 1844, in front of Robert D. Foster’s Mammoth Hotel, Nauvoo, Illinois (Wilford Woodruff Diary; History of the Church 6:183–185; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 331) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Wilford Woodruff’s journal.
The question is frequently asked, Can we not be saved without going through with all those ordinances? I would answer, No, not the fulness of salvation. Jesus said, There are many mansions in my Father’s house, and I will go and prepare a place for you. House here named should have been translated kingdom; and any person who is exalted to the highest mansion has to abide a celestial law, and the whole law too.
But there has been a great difficulty in getting anything into the heads of this generation. It has been like splitting hemlock knots with a corn-dodger for a wedge, and a pumpkin for a beetle. Even the Saints are slow to understand.
I have tried for a number of years to get the minds of the Saints prepared to receive the things of God; but we frequently see some of them, after suffering all they have for the work of God, will fly to pieces like glass as soon as anything comes that is contrary to their traditions: they cannot stand the fire at all. How many will be able to abide a celestial law, and go through and receive their exaltation, I am unable to say, as many are called, but few are chosen.
Many Mansions in My Father’s Kingdom, Again
At the funeral sermon for King Follett in April 1844, Joseph Smith came to this verse again while comforting the mourners. Wilford Woodruff again wrote “Kingdom”; Thomas Bullock, reporting the same sentence, wrote “In my Fars. mansion there are many mansions.” Switch to “Scribal accounts” to compare them.
Discourse, 7 April 1844, Grove east of the Temple, Nauvoo (the King Follett discourse) · Wilford Woodruff, Journal; Thomas Bullock Report · Joseph Smith Papers ↗I could go back and trace evry subject of interest concerning the relationship of man to God if i had time, their is many mansions in my fathers Kingdom, what have we to console us in relation to our dead, we have the greatest hope in relation to our dead of any people on earth we have seen them walk worthy on earth and those who have died in the faith are now in the selestial kingdom of God, they have gone to await the resurrection of the dead to go to the celestial glory, while their is many who die who will have to wait many years, But I am authorized to say to you my friends in the name of the Lord that you may wait for your friends to come forth to meet you in Eternity in the morn of the celestial world,
In My Father’s Kingdom Are Many Kingdoms
Six weeks before his death Joseph returned to the same verse at the temple stand and pressed the correction further: not one kingdom with many rooms, but a kingdom containing kingdoms. Samuel W. Richards recorded him carrying the correction into the second half of the verse, “I go to prepare a Kingdom for you,” a reading neither the Joseph Smith Translation nor the Covenant Christian Edition prints. In the same sermon, George Laub recorded him correcting a second word in this discourse: where the King James has the Comforter “reprove” the world, Joseph said the right word is “remind.” The Covenant Christian Edition prints that reading too.
Discourse, 12 May 1844, Temple Stand, Nauvoo, Illinois · History, 1838–1856, vol. F-1, p. 19 (History of the Church 6:363–367; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 366); reported by Thomas Bullock, George Laub and Samuel W. Richards · Joseph Smith Papers ↗My text is on the resurrection of the dead, which you will find in the 14th ch. of John. “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” It should be, “in my Father’s Kingdom are many Kingdoms”, in order that ye may be heirs of God and joint heirs with me. I do not believe the Methodist doctrine of sending honest men, and noble minded men to hell, along with the murderer and adulterer; they may hurl all their hell and fiery billows upon me, for they will roll off me as fast as they come on. But I have an order of things to save the poor fellows at any rate, and get them saved; for I will send men to preach to them in prison, and save them if I can. There are mansions for those who obey a celestial law, and there are other mansions for those who come short of that law; every man in his own order.
Many Regions, Degrees, Worlds, Spaces: But One Law
Nibley found the “many mansions” of this verse everywhere in the earliest Christian writings, where they are not figures of speech but real places in a real cosmos; and he read the whole upper-room discourse as one continuous argument, a single order of love binding the Father, the Son, and the disciples together against a world on the far side of a great gulf.
The steps are summed up in a single verse: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained [set apart] you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16 [John 9:11])
All have a piece of the action, and all engaged in this activity form a single community in which the binding and motivating force from top to bottom is love: If ye love me, keep my commandments. (John 14:15 [John 9:8])
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him. (John 14:21 [John 9:8])
If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode [remain] with him. (John 14:23 [John 9:8])
Equality and humility are what the law of consecration requires and what it begets. “In order to receive the Endowment,” said the Prophet in 1835, the brethren should “prepare the[i]r hearts in all humility for an endowment with power from on high.” 52 Indeed, what later held up the giving of the endowment “concerning the Twelve” was that “they are under condemnation, because they have not been sufficiently humble in my sight, and in consequence of their covetous desires, in that they have not dealt equally with each other in the division of the moneys which came into their hands.” 53 It had been a “grievous sin” that they should consider themselves unequal,54 and they were told that there would be no endowment for those who make invidious comparison or “watch for iniquity.” 55 Jewish authorities, contemplating today the return of a temple to Jerusalem, are particularly worried that the old elitism of the priesthood will cause mischief and jealousy.
But under the present order, there is no rank whatever in the temple. “Under the Levitical order,” Joseph Smith explained, “only the High Priest can enter the veil, but through the Melchizedek order, all men who prove worthy may be admitted into the presence of the Lord.” 56 The difference is an enormous one; it is the magnanimous principle behind our work for the dead: “In my Father’s kingdom are many kingdoms in order that ye may be heirs of God and joint heirs with me. I do not believe the Methodist doctrine of sending honest men, and noble minded men to hell, . . . but I have an order of things to save the poor fellows at any rate, and get them saved for I will send men to preach to them in prison and save them if I can.” 57 It is all in the spirit of God’s own work; his infinite work and glory is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man,” to share everything he can with others (Moses 1:39 [Gen. 1:7]).
“For I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in these things” (D&C 104:6 [T&C 105:1])
The I Am Sayings Are Wisdom’s Own
Barker reads the “I am” sayings of the fourth gospel (the way, the truth, the life, the vine) as the language of Wisdom and the temple tree. The vine is not a rural simile but the tree of life, and the branches on it are what the kings of Jerusalem, the divine sons, had been.
Most of the “I am” sayings of the Fourth Gospel are Wisdom imagery: the Bread of Life (John 6.35 [John 5:14]); the Light of the World, which, given the temple context of the saying, must have meant the menorah (John 8.12 [John 6:11-12]); the Resurrection and the Life (John 11.25 [John 7:3]); the Way (cf. Prov. 8.22 [Prov. 1:37]), the Truth and the Life (John 14.6 [John 9:7]); and the Vine, bearing in mind that the tree of life was said to have fruit like grapes, and that the kings, the divine sons, had been branches of the tree (John 15.5 [John 9:10]).
The Great High Priest is one of the scanned volumes; the quotation has been read against the page.