Winter of 1859
5. Did Lucifer come forth into a second estate and receive a body? Yes, and those who fell with him received bodies also, and many of them came into the Church, received their ordinations to the holy priesthood, and also their endowments. Why was Lucifer and his band permitted to come forth into a second estate and receive bodies? In order that they might come into the Church of Christ, receive their ordinations and the two priesthoods, and thereby obtain their outfit; for they never had an ordination and thereby obtain their outfit; for they never had an ordination to any authority in their first estate. They were then conquered, cast out of the Church, and their bodies destroyed by Michael who was at that time a seventh angel; this was their first death.
6. Lucifer then became, in the spirit, the reigning devil to this earth. How long will he reign? Until this earth is perfected, when he and his hand will be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone; this will be their second death.
7. Every world has its devil whose history is similar to that of Lucifer’s.
8. Do devils try spirits in their first estate? No, they do not. The firstborn son rules in that estate, and the devils are subject to him. But there is an eternal law of the Gods, according to which, the devil, being the second born son, claims the right to lead off in the second estate. His Father enters into a covenant with him when he falls, which is this: “Now, my second born son, seeing that you have revolted form under my government, and have set up a government of your own, in opposition to mine—as my firstborn son rules in the first estate, so you shall lead off in the second estate. And it shall come to pass, that if you conquer me and my prophets, you shall hold the world in your grasp, and I will lose all; but if I conquer you, you shall endure the first and second deaths.”
. . .
14. Where and by whom did Abel receive his ordination to the lesser priesthood? In the Garden of Eden (so called), under the hands of his father, Adam. By whom do the younger sons of Adam receive their ordinations to the lesser priesthood? By Abel.
15. By whom did the fallen angels receive their ordinations to the priesthood as pertaining to this earth? By Cain; and Cain by Lucifer. Cain claims the right to enter into the Church, and blind the eyes of all the servants of the Lord until he has obtained his outfit; he then becomes a reigning devil.
16. By whom did the holy priesthood come to this earth? By Seth, who received his ordination from Adam, and whose seed are the chosen of the Lord. He claims the ruling power over this planet, having all things placed under his feet. (The Spirit Prevails: Containing the Revelations, Articles and Letters Written by Joseph Morris, ed. George S. Dove [San Francisco: J. A. Dove and Co., Printers, 1886], 11-12, 13)
June 4, 1862
5. The devil himself is dependent upon us for his present existence. He would have destroyed himself more than a million year ago, had it not been for our government which preserved him and kept him alive. (The Spirit Prevails: Containing the Revelations, Articles and Letters Written by Joseph Morris, ed. George S. Dove [San Francisco: J. A. Dove and Co., Printers, 1886], 602)