| OCR Text |
Show IMPRfJVEMENT -~, Volume .l5. 1912. 11Editor' s Table, 11 11Who and Vfuat are the .Angels?" pp. 949-50, 952. T~l.c ·e, for example, the quotation in the foregoing letter of inquiry, from section 129 , verse 1, of the Doctrine and C~venants; ref'·erence to the text cited will show that it is not there stated that nall11 angels ar€ resurrected beings, a notion that our inquirer, like some other per sons, seems t~ entertain and which forms the origin of his trouble. 'l'he theme discoursed upon is the presence in heaven of two kinds or classes o.f beings, .namely first, resurr ected beings and, SBCond, spirits who are not resurrected. It is not asserted that th ere are no other kinds of persons in heaven than they, but th·e su bj ect treated is of th·e t wo class·es mentioned. Comparison with oth·er texts of scripture, ancient and modern, makes clear the fact that there are other grades or classes of heavenly beings than the two spoken of in section 129. It is understood by ordinary students of modern religion that there are perfected beings called gods, who are higher than the angels (see section 152:16-20) , and to whom the angels are servants. .And even among th.e gods there are ~residing Personages, the Holy Trinity standing at the head. Th•ere are angels o£ various appointments and stations. Michael is call~ed an 11archangel 11 (Doc. & Gov. 29:26; Dan . 10:15). Some are resurrected beings like the angel that t-vas s·ent to John the Revelator (Rev. 20:8 , 9) and those already r~erred to in Doc. & Cov. sec. 15~, while others are mi nistering spirits sent forth to minister unto th€m who shall be heirs of salvation" H·eb. 1:14). Some of' these angels are des cribed as uthe spirits of just men made perfectn and ar.e 11not resurrected," and others were made ministeri ng spirits before entering into mortality, S€rving . among their iellows i n their pre-existent stat·e. Gbrist was a ministeri.ilg spirit before his birth into this world. He was nanointed above his f'el1ows.n The angel Gabriel wa s a ministering spirit a fter he had been a mortal men (Noah), and befor.e his resurrection, f'or Jesu s of Na ~areth wa s , as quoted by "Subs criber," "the f'irst-fruits of them that slept." (See Luke 1:11-50; Dan .8; 16; 9 :21.) Angels are God' s messengers, TJvheth er used in that capacity as unembodi ·ed spirits , selected according to their capaciti-es for the work required, or as disembodied spirits, or as translated men , or as resur-rected beings. They a.re agents of Deity of dif.ferent degr·ees of intelligence, power and authority, under the direction o£ higher dignitaries, and supject to law and order in their respective spheres. Mijah, who appeared with Moses on the mount of transfiguration, was a translated man; Mos-es at that time was either a translated man or a spirit ministering to the Savior; both acted in the capacity of angels (Luke 9 :~8-50) . :bnoch' s band of translated beings doubtless appear,ed as angels in mani.fe<tations to the patriarchs recorded in the book of' Genesi s . Now as to the "sons of Levi, n spoken of· by John the Baptist in his ordination of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (Doc. & Cov . 13). They are, or will be, descendants of Levi, holding the Priestho·:>d of' Aaron, who will make the off·erings predicted by the prophets to be present·ed to the Lord in latter days in ~ion and in .Jerusalem. (See Malachi 5:2-4; Doc. & Cov. 1~4:39 and 128: 24} . In :0ion, :nen chosen o£ the Lor d for the special work mentioned will be persons sancti.fi·ed by the spirit unto "the renewing of their bodi·es'* (poe . & Cov •· 84: 32-34). At J 'eru salem they will be Levites by lineal descent, offering the sacrif'iees that will be required after the restoration spoken of in Zechariah 14:16-21 and many others of the prophets ~ f ol d ce>ncerning "the r e stitution of all things." |
