Discourse, 5 January 1841, as Reported by William Clayton
Source Note
JS, Discourse, , Hancock Co., IL, 5 Jan. 1841. Featured version from report copied [1880] in L. John Nuttall, Notebook, pp. 4–8; handwriting of L. John Nuttall; L. John Nuttall, Papers, BYU. For more complete source information, see the source note for Discourse, Dec. 1840, as Reported by William Clayton.
That which is without body or parts is nothing. There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bones. John 5— 26, “As the father hath life in himself, even so hath he given the son to have life in himself.” God the father took life unto himself precisely as Jesus did. The first step in the salvation of men is the laws of eternal and self-existent principles. Spirits are eternal. At the first organization in heaven we were all present and saw the Savior chosen and appointed, and the plan of salvation made and we sanctioned it. We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the Celestial Kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having [p. 7]
The 1646 Westminster Assembly’s widely cited Confession of Faith stated that “there is but one only, living, and true God: who is infinite in Being and Perfection, a most pure Spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions.” (Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, Now by Authority of Parliament Sitting at Westminster, concerning a Confession of Faith, 5.)
The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, Now by Authority of Parliament Sitting at Westminster, concerning a Confession of Faith: With the Quotations and Texts of Scripture Annexed. Presented by Them Lately to Both Houses of Parliament. Edinburgh: Evan Tyler, 1647.