The vision of heavenly glory

The Vision A vision of Joseph & Sidney [Rigdon] February 16th. 1832 given in Portage County Hiram Township State of Ohio in North Ame[r]ica which they saw concerning the church of the first born and concerning the economy of God and his vast creation througout all eternity Here O ye heavens & give ere [ear] O earth and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof for the lord he is God and beside him there is none else for great is his wisdom, marvilous are his ways and the extent of his doings none can find out[.] his purposes fail not neither are there any who can stay his hand, from eternity to eternity, he is the same and his years never fail I the Lord am merciful and gracious unto them who fear me and delight to honor them who serve me in righteousness and in truth great shall be their reward and Eternal Shall be their glory and unto them will I reveal all misteries yea all the hiden misteries of my Kingdom from days of old and for ages to come will I make Known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things to come yea even the wonders of eternity shall they know and things to come will I shew them even the things of many generations there wisdom shall be great and there understanding reach to heaven and before them the wisdom of the wise shall perish and the understanding of the prudent shall come to naught for by my spirit will I enlighten them and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will yea even those things which eye has not seen nor ear heard nor yet entered into the heart of man We Joseph & Sidney being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of February in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and— thirty two and through the power of the spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlarged so as to see and understand the things of God even the things which were from the begining before the world was which was ordained of the Father through his only begoten son who was in the bosom of the father even from the begining of whom be [we] bear reccord and the reccord which we bear is the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ who is the son whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision for as we sat doing the work of translation which the lord had appointed unto us we came to the twenty ninth verse of in the fifth chapter of John which was given unto us thus speak[i]ng of the reserection of the dead who should hear the voice of the son of man and shall come forth they who have done good in the resurection of the just and they who have done evil in the resurection of the unjust now this caused us to marvel for it was given <unto> us of the spirit and while we meditated upon these thing◊ the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened and the glory of the lord shone round about and we beheld the glory of the son on the right of the Father and received of his fulness and saw the holy Angels and they who are sanctified before his throne worshiping God and the lamb for ever and ever and now after the many testamonies which have been given of him this is the testamony last of all which we give of him that he lives for we saw him, even on the right hand of God & we heard the voice bearing reccord that he is the only begotten of the Father that by him and through him and of him the worlds are made and were created and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God and this we saw also and bear reccord that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God who rebelled against the only begotten son whom the father loved who was in the bosom with the father and was thrust down from the presence of ⟦the⟧ ⟦father⟧ God and the son and was called perdition for the heavens wept over him for he was Lucifer even the son of the morning and we beheld and lo he is fallen is fallen even the son of the morning, and while we were yet in the spirit the Lord commanded that we should write the vision for we beheld satan that old serpent even the devel who who rebelled against God and saught to take the kingdom of our God and his christ wherefore he maketh war with the saints of God and encompasseth them round about, and we saw a vision of the eternal sufferings of those with whom he made war and overcame for thus came the voice of the Lord unto us thus saith the lord concerning all those who who know my power and have been made partakers thereof and have suffered themselves through the power of the devel to be overcome unto the denying of the truth and the defying of my power they are they who are the sons of perdition of whom I say it had been better for them to have never been born for they are vessels of wrath doomed to suffer the wrath of God with the Devel and his angels throughout all eternity concerning whom I have said there is no forgivness for them in this world nor in the world to come having denied the holy ghost after having received it and having denied the only begoten son of the fathe[r] crucifying him unto themselves and putting him to an open shame these are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone with the devel and his andels [angels] and the only ones on whom the seccond death shall have any power yea verely the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord after the sufferings of his wrath who shall be brought forth by the resurection of the dead through the triumph and glory of the lamb who was slain who was in the bosom of the father before the worlds were made and this is the gospel the glad tidings which the voice out of the heavens bore reccord unto us that he came in to the world even Jesus to be crucified for the world and to bear the sins of the world and to sanctify the world and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness that through him all might be saved whom the father had put into his power and made by him who glorifyeth the fathe[r] and saveth all the works of his hands except those sons of perdition who denieth thee [the] son after the father hath revealed him wherefore he saveth all save them, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment which is eternal punishment to reign with the devel and his angels throughout all eternity where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched which is there torment and the end thereof neither the place thereof and there torment no man knoweth neither was reve[a]led neither is neither will be reveiled unto none save to them to who are made partakers thereof never[the]less I the Lord sheweth it by vision unto many but straight way shutteth it up again wherefore the end the width the hight the depth and the misery thereof he understandeth not neithe[r] any man save them who are ordained unto this condemnation and we heard the voice saying write the vision for lo this is the end of the vision of the eternal sufferings of the undodly [ungodly] and again we bear reccord for we saw and heard and this is the ⟦gospel⟧ testamony of the gospel of Jesus Christ concerning them who come forth in the resurection of the just they were they who received the testamony of Jesus and believed on his name were baptized after the manner of his buriel being buried in the water in his name and this according to the commandment which he hath given that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all there sins and receive the holy ghost by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power and who overcome by faith and are sealed by that holy spirit of promise which the father shedeth forth upon all those who who are just and true they are they who are the church of the first born they are they into whose hands the father hath given all things they are they who are priests and kings who having [received?] of his fulniss and of his glory and are priests of the most high after the order of Melchesadeck which was after the order of Enoch which was after the order of of the only begotten son wherefore as it is writen they are Gods even the sons of God wherefore all things are theres whethe[r] life or death or things present or things to come, all are thers and they ar[e] christs and christ is Gods and they shall overcome all things wherefore let no man glory in man but rather let them glory in god who shall subdue all enimies under his feet these shall dwell in the presence of God and his christ for ever and ever these are they whom he shall bring with him when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to reign on the earth over his people these are they who shall have part in the first resurection these are they who shall come forth in the resurection of the just these are they who are come unto mount Zion and unto the city of the Living God the heavenly place the holiest of all these are they who are come to an innumerable company of Angels to the general assembly and church of Enoch and of the first born these are they whose names are writen in heaven where God and Christ is judge of all[.] these are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenent who wrought out this perfect attonement through the shedding of his own blood these are they whose bodies are celestial whose glory is that of the sun even God the highest of all whose glory the ⟦son⟧ <sun> of the firmament is writen of as being typical and again we saw the terestrial world and lo these are they who are of the Terestrial whose glory differeth from that of the church of the first born who have received the fulnes of the father even as that of the moon differeth from the sun of the firmament behold these are they who died with out Law and also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison whom the son visited and preached the gospel unto them that they might be judged according to men in the flesh who received not the testamony of Jesus in the flesh but afterwards received it these are they who are honorable men of the earth who were blinded by the craftiness of men these are they who receive of this glory but not of the fulness these are they who receive of the presence of the son but not <of> the fulness of the father wherefore they are bodies Terestrial and not bodies Celestial and differeth in glory as the moon differeth from the sun these are they who are not valient in the testamony of Jesus wherefore they obtained not the crown over the kingdoms of our God, and now this is the end of the vision which we saw of the Terestrial that the lord commanded us to write while we were yet in the spirit, and again we saw the glory of the Telestial which glory is that of the lesser even as the glory of the stars differeth from that of the <glory> [of the] moon in the firmament these are they who receive not the gospel of christ neithe[r] the testamony of Jesus these are they who deny not the holy ghost, these are they who are thrust down to hell these are they who shall not be redeemed from the devel untill the last reserection untill the lord even christ the Lamb shall have finished his work these are they who receive not of his fullness in the eternal world, but of the holy ghost through the ministration of the Terestrial and the Terestrial through the administration of the Celestial and also the Telestial receive it of the administring of angels who are appointed to minister for them or who are appointed to be ministering spirits for them for they shall be heirs of salvation and this we saw in the heavenly vision the glory of the Telestial which surpasseth all understanding and no man knoweth it except him to whom God hath reveiled it and this we saw the glory of the Terestrial which excelleth in all things the glory of the Telestial even in glory and in power and might and in dominion and thus we saw the glory of the Celestial which excelleth in all things where God even the father reigneth upon his throne forever and ever before his throne all things bow in humble reverence and giveth glory forever and ever, they who dwell in his presence are the church of the first born and they see as they are seen and know as they are known having received of his fulness and of his grace and he maketh them equal in power and in might and in dominion, and the glory of the celestial is one even as the glory of the son is one, and the glory of the Terestrial is one even as the glory of the of the moon is one, and the glory of the Telestial is one even as the glory of the stars is one for as one star differeth from another star in glory even so differeth one from an other in glory in the Telestial world for these are they who are of Paul, and of Apolus and of cephus these are they who say they are some of one and some of another some of Christ & some of John and some of Moses and some of Elius [Elias] and some of Esaises [Esaias] and some of Isaiah some of Enoch but received not the gospel neither the testamony of Jesus neither the prophets neither the everlasting covenants last of all these <all> are they who will not be gathered with the saints to be caught up unto the church of the first born and received into into the cloud these are they who are liars and sorseres [sorcerers] and adulterers and whoremongers and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie these are they who suffer the wrath of God on the earth these are they who suffer the vengence of eternal fire these are they who are cast down to hill [hell] and suffer the wrath of Almighty God untill the fulness of times when christ shall have subdued all enemies under his feet and shall have perfected his work when he shall deliver up the Kingdom and present it unto the father spotless saying I have overcome and have troden the winepress alone even the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God then shall he be crowned with the crown of his glory to sit on the throne of his power to reign for ever and ever, but behold and lo we saw the glory of the Telestial world that they were in number as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the sea shore and herd the voice of the Lord saying these all shall bow the knee and evry tongue shall confess to him who sitteth upon the throne for ever and ever for they shall be judged according to there works and every man shall receive according to his own works and his own dominion in the mansions which are prepared, they shall be servants of the most high but where God and christ dwels they cannot come worlds without end this is the end of the vision which we saw which we were commanded to write while we were yet in the spirit, But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord and the mistries of his kingdom which he shewed unto us which surpasseth all understanding in glory and <in> might and in dominion which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the spirit and are not lawful for men to utter neither is man capable to make them known for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the holy ghost which God bestows on those who love him and purifies themselves before him to whom he grants the privalege of seeing and knowing for themselves that through the power and manifestation of the spirit while in the fless [flesh] they may be able to bear his presence in the world of glory and to God and the Lamb be glory and honor and dominion for ever and ever Amen Sidney Rigdon Joseph Smith Jr