Apr 16 1843

President J. Smith Addressed the assembly of the saints ... He Considered Nauvoo would be a burying place of the saints & should he die he Considered it would be a great Blessing to be buried with the saints & esspecially to be buried with his father.



Yes he wanted to lie by the side of his father that when the trump of God should sound & the voice of God should say ye Saints arise that when the tomb should birst he could arise from the grave & first salute his father & say O my father; & his father say O my Son!! as they took each other by the hand. He wished next to salute his brothers & sisters & then the saints & he said it was upon this principle that the ancients were so particular to have an honorable burial with their fathers as in the case of Joseph.



.... It is true that in the resurrrection the bodies will be caught up to meet the Lord & the Saints will all be brought together though they were scattered upon the face of the whole earth. Yet they would not as readily Salute each other as though they lay down & rose up together from the same bed. To bring it to the understanding it would be upon the same principle as though two who were vary friends indeed should lie down upon the same bed at night locked in each other embrace talking of their love & should awake in the morning together. They could immediately renew their conversation of love even while rising from their bed. But if they were alone & in seperate apartments they could not as readily salute each other as though they were together.



...In speaking of the resurrection I would say that God hath shown unto me a vission of the resurrection of the dead & I saw the graves open & the saints as they arose took each other by the hand even before they got up or while getting up & great Joy & glory rested upon them.

[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993]

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