THE MEANS BY WHICH ABRAHAM WAS TAUGHT ASTRONOMY.--THE ABRAHAMIC SYSTEM OF ASTRONOMY.--FROM THE EARTH TO KOLOB.--THE SYSTEM PROVEN TRUE BY RECENT RESEARCH.--TESTIMONY OR VARIOUS AUTHORS.--ALCYONE.--MR. PETRIE'S TESTIMONY.--ADMISSIONS THAT THE ANCIENTS WERE TAUGHT SCIENTIFIC TRUTHS BY DIVINE REVELATION.
A BRAHAM tells us that there were three ways by which he received his knowledge of astronomy.
1st. Through the records handed down to him from the antediluvian patriarchs.
2d. By the use of the Urim and Thummim, which he received from the Lord in Ur of Chaldea.
3d. By direct communication with the Almighty, who, face to face, and with His own voice, explained to him the laws that govern His countless creations.
The system of astronomy revealed by God to Abraham is so vast, so grand, so comprehensive, that no uninspired man ever searched out its depths or ascended its heights. Occasionally a patient searcher after truth caught a faint glimmer of its glory, but that was all. But they none learned as Abraham learned, nor did the profoundest astronomers of forty years ago have aught but the most meagre and vain conception of the truths given to the world by Joseph Smith in his inspired translation of Abraham's record. Indeed, the truths there set forth are, today, scarcely recognized by the more conservative schools of astronomy, it is only the more daring minds that accept them, even in part.
The great truths told by Abraham regarding the starry hosts of heaven are recorded thus: "I saw the stars that they were very great, and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of God; and there were many great ones that were near it; and the Lord said unto me, These are the governing ones: and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God; I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order of that upon which thou standest. And the Lord said unto me, by the Urim and Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its times and seasons in the revolution thereof, that one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest. This is the reckoning of the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of Kolob."
In other words these great, governing planets control all others in their revolutions, or are the centres around which the others revolve. As the moon revolves around the earth, and the earth with the other primary and secondary planets belonging to this solar system revolve around the sun, so has the sun a centre around which it, with all its earths and moons, revolves, while this grand centre has a governing planet also, a sun or world around which it, with its attendant systems of suns and worlds, revolves, and so on until we come to Kolob, the "nearest to the celestial or the residence of God," which is the grand centre which governs all the suns and systems of suns "which belong to the same order" as our earth and those that move with it.
Still further than this the Book of Abraham teaches us:
1st. That Kolob is the greatest of all the stars seen by that patriarch.
That it is so because it is nearest to the celestial, or residence of God.
That it is nigh unto the throne of God.
That it governs all the planets which belong to the same order as this earth.
That it is after the reckoning of the Lord's time.
That it is after the manner of the Lord according to its times and seasons and the revolutions thereof.
That one revolution is a day unto the Lord.
That one day, in Kolob, is equal to a thousand years, according to the measurement of this earth.
That Kolob signifies first creation.
That it is the first in government, and last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time; which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit.
2d. That Oliblish stands next to Kolob.
That it is the next grand governing creation.
That it is equal to Kolob in its revolution and in its measurement of time.
That it holds the key of power as pertaining to other planets.
3d. That Enish-go-on-dosh is also a governing planet, which was said, by the ancient Egyptians, to be the sun, and to borrow (receive) its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash.
4th. That Kae-e-vanrash is the grand key, or governing power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also the moon (Floeese), the earth and the sun in their annual revolutions. That Kae-e-vanrash receives its power through Kli-flos-is-es or Hah-ko-kau-beam.
