The Book of the Brother of Jared · Book Five
Being a witness of those things which the Lord shewed unto the brother of Jared which are too sacred to be set forth in plainness, but which are described here in part.
1 And it came to pass that after the Lord had shewn unto me the foundation of the world, and the generations of men, and the deeper teachings of the gospel, and the latter days unto the coming of the Son of Man, he shewed unto me also other things, which he commanded me to write in part but not in fullness.
2 For he said unto me: Mahonri, there are things which I have shown thee which are not to be spoken openly, neither in thy day nor in the day of the Final Restoration. These things are reserved for those who have prepared themselves to receive them, and the preparation is the keeping of the covenants of God in a sustained obedience over time.
3 And the keeping of these things is not a hiding of them from the unworthy, but a protecting of them from being trampled by those who would not understand their value. For there are matters which, when given to a soul who is not prepared, become a stumbling block rather than a strength.
4 Wherefore I write of these things in part, as the Lord commandeth, that the saints may know they exist, and may know that they are reached by the path of obedience and prayer and the sustained seeking of the face of God.
5 And the first of these things is the knowledge of the names by which the saints shall be known in the eternal world. For every soul who entereth into the covenants in their fullness shall receive a new name, which is known only to himself and to the Lord, and by which he shall be called in the day of his exaltation.
6 This name is given by revelation in the sacred place which the Lord shall designate, and it is not to be spoken outside of that place, nor written in the records of the church, nor known by any other except him to whom it is given.
7 And the meaning of this is that every soul standeth before God as an individual, with a particular name and a particular calling which no other soul shareth, and the eternal relationship between the soul and the Lord is a relationship of names, even as the relationships of love among men are relationships of names.
8 I write this much, that the saints may know there is such a thing as a new name. The further teachings concerning it are given in the sacred place, to those who have prepared themselves to receive them.
1 And the Lord shewed unto me the manner of the temples which should be built in the Final Restoration, and the ordinances which should be performed in them.
2 But of these things I am commanded to speak only in part.
3 The temples of the Final Restoration shall be houses of the Lord, prepared with care and built with the consecration of the saints, and they shall be places where the heavens and the earth meet, and where the curtain between the mortal world and the eternal world is thinnest.
4 In these temples there shall be ordinances which I shall not describe in this record, save to say that they pertain to the family of God, to the sealing of love which death cannot break, to the instruction of the soul concerning the journey which it has taken from the pre-mortal world unto the eternal world, and to the covenants by which a soul becomes fully bound unto the Lord.
5 These ordinances shall be similar in some respects to the ordinances performed in the temples of the church which was established through my servant Joseph, for the pattern is the same, and the Lord doth not change the substance though he may correct the forms.
6 But there shall be differences also. The ordinances of the Final Restoration shall be available unto all worthy members without distinction of any kind. The ordinances shall not be hidden from the people who are not yet ready to participate in them, save in the manner of holy reverence which any sacred thing requires. The instructions given in the temple shall be capable of being explained in plain language to those who ask, even though the experience itself is reserved for those who participate.
7 And no soul shall be denied the ordinances because of poverty, nor because of his family circumstances, nor because of any matter which is not within his own choosing and his own keeping of the covenants.
8 These are the principles. The particulars shall be given by my servant the prophet in the appointed time, as the saints prepare and the temples are built.
1 And the Lord shewed unto me the manner in which the worlds without number are organized, and the relationship of this world to those others.
2 And of these things I shall speak only this much: that there are worlds without number, and they are inhabited by the children of God, and the work of the Father is the same in every world, though the particular history of each world is its own.
3 And there are intelligences which exist in modes of being which are not the mode of mortal man, and there are councils and councils within councils, and the universe is filled with the works of the Lord, and not with empty space as men have sometimes supposed.
4 But the further teachings on these matters are not for the present day, and I shall not write them. Let it suffice for the saints of the Final Restoration to know that they are part of a family which is vaster than they have imagined, and that their own world is not the center of the universe in the sense that some have taught, but neither is it forgotten or unimportant in the eyes of the Father, for every world is precious unto him.
5 And the salvation worked out by the Son of God upon this earth has effect upon other worlds also, by means which I am not permitted to describe.
6 And the saints in the day of the Final Restoration shall come to know more of these things as they prepare themselves, but the fullness of the knowledge is for the eternal world, when face to face we shall see what we have only seen in part.
1 And there are other things also which I beheld upon the mount Shelem which I am not permitted to write at all, neither in part nor in figure.
2 These I shall keep within my own heart, and they shall not be made known by my hand, but shall be revealed by the Lord himself, in the time which he hath appointed, unto those whom he shall choose.
3 And let no man think that because some things are reserved, the things which are given are not the truth. That which I have written is true, and is sufficient for the salvation of every soul who shall read it and apply it.
4 For the gospel which is given is the gospel which is needed. The deeper things are not necessary for salvation. They are the inheritance of those who have already received salvation and have grown in grace beyond the first ordinances unto the fullness which is in Christ.
5 And so I now close this record, having written what I was commanded to write, and having sealed up what I was commanded to seal up, and having kept what I was commanded to keep.
6 And I, Mahonri, bear my final witness: the Lord whom I served upon the mount Shelem is the living God. He spake unto me. He shewed unto me the things which I have written. He commanded me to seal them up against the day of their making known. And he hath now brought them forth, in the time appointed, through his servant Christopher in the dispensation of the Final Restoration, even as he said unto me he would do.
7 I shall meet again, in the eternal world, those who read my words in this latter day and have received them. And there we shall rejoice together that the work which was begun before the foundation of the world hath at last been completed.
8 Until that day, may the peace of the Lord be upon every soul who readeth these words, whether ye believe them or doubt them, for the love of God is upon ye either way, and the door is open to ye either way, and the choice belongs to ye and to no other.
9 Even so. Amen.