Man as Man--His Excellency and His Limitations--Salvation and
Eternal Progression Impossible without the Atonement--In Christ
_only_ can All be made Alive.
Man, as man, can only make use of the powers which are possessed by
man. Made, indeed, as represented in the Scriptures, in the image of
God, as monarch of the universe he stands erect on the earth in the
likeness of his Great Creator; beautifully constructed in all his
parts, with a body possessing all the functions necessary for the
wants of humanity; standing, not only by right, but by adaptability,
beauty, symmetry and glory, at the head of all creation; possessing
also mental powers and the capacity of reflecting upon the past, with
capabilities to reason upon cause and effect, and by the inductive
powers of his mind, through the inspiration of the Almighty, to
comprehend the magnificent laws of nature as exhibited in the works of
creation; with the capacity also of using the elements and forces of
nature, and of adapting them to his own special benefit; and by his
powers penetrating into the deep, ascending into the heavens, rushing
with mighty velocity across the earth, making use of the separate or
combined forces of nature with which he is surrounded and subjugating
them to his will; as, likewise, by his intelligence, he has dominion
over the fishes of the sea, over the fowls of the air, and over the
cattle. He can girdle the earth with the electric fluid and convey his
thoughts to any land or zone; by the same subtle influence he can talk
with his fellows, and be heard when hundreds of miles apart. He can
apply the forces of earth, air, fire and water to make them
subservient to his will, and stands proudly erect as the head of all
creation and the representative of God upon the earth. But while he
occupies this exalted position, and is in the image of God, yet he
possesses simply, as a man, only the powers which belong to man; and
is subject to weakness, infirmity, disease and death. And when he
dies, without some superior aid pertaining to the future, that noble
structure lies silent and helpless, its organs, that heretofore were
active, lively and energetic, are now dormant, inactive and powerless.
And what of the mind, that before went back into eternity and reached
forward into eternity? And what of its powers? Or what of that spirit,
which, with its Godlike energies, its prescience and power, could
grasp infinity? What of it, and where is it? The Scriptures say that
the body returns to the dust and the spirit returns to God who gave
it. But what of its powers as made known to us, what of the hereafter?
The philosophy of the world tells us that the spirit dies with the
body, and like it is dissipated in surrounding nature, but as an
entirety no longer exists; and all the power the being ever had was to
propagate its own species and to impart the powers of the body and the
mind to its posterity. Such philosophers can comprehend nothing
pertaining to the future--no glory, no exaltation, no eternal
progression, only as developed by a succession of manhood. If, then,
there is a spirit in man which reaches into futurity, that would grasp
eternal progress, eternal enjoyments, and eternal exaltations; then
those glories, those exaltations, those capabilities and those powers
must be the gift of some superior being, power, or authority to that
which exists in man; for the foregoing is a brief exhibition of the
powers and capabilities of humanity. It is of this gift that we now
speak. It is of a principle that emanates from God, that originates
with a superior intelligence, whose plans, and powers, and
capabilities are exalted above those of mortal man, as the heavens are
above the earth, or as the majestic works of the Great Creator
throughout the infinitude of space are superior to the puny efforts of
the children of mortality. It is for the exaltation of man to this
state of superior intelligence and Godhead that the mediation and
atonement of Jesus Christ is instituted; and that noble being, man,
made in the image of God, is rendered capable not only of being a son
of man, but also a son of God, through adoption, and is rendered
capable of becoming a God, possessing the power, the majesty, the
exaltation and the position of a God, As it is written, "Beloved, now
are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is."
As a man through the powers of his body he could attain to the dignity
and completeness of manhood, but could go no further; as a man he is
born, as a man he lives, and as a man he dies; but through the essence
and power of the Godhead, which is in him, which descended to him as
the gift of God from his heavenly Father, he is capable of rising from
the contracted limits of manhood to the dignity of a God, and thus
through the atonement of Jesus Christ and the adoption he is capable
of eternal exaltation, eternal lives and eternal progression. But this
transition from his manhood to the Godhead can alone be made through a
power which is superior to man--an infinite power, an eternal power,
even the power of the Godhead: for as in Adam all die, so in Christ
_only_ can all be made alive. Through Him mankind are brought into
communion and communication with God; through His atonement they are
enabled, as He was, to vanquish death; through that atonement and the
power of the Priesthood associated therewith, they become heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and inheritors of thrones, powers,
principalities and dominions in the eternal worlds. And instead of
being subject to death, when that last enemy shall be destroyed, and
death be swallowed up in victory, through that atonement they can
become the fathers and mothers of lives, and be capable of perpetual
and eternal progression.