=4. I. History and Tradition.=--History as written by man, and
tradition as transmitted from generation to generation prior to the
date of any written record now extant, give evidence of the actuality
of Deity, and of close and personal dealings between God and man in
the first epochs of human existence. One of the most ancient records
known, the Bible, names God as the Creator of all things,[49] and
moreover, declares that He revealed Himself to our first earthly
parents and to many other holy personages in the early days of the
world. Adam and Eve heard His voice[50] in the Garden, and even after
their transgression they continued to call upon God and to sacrifice
to Him. It is plain, therefore, that they carried with them from the
Garden a knowledge of God. After their expulsion they heard "the voice
of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden," though they saw
Him not; and He gave unto them commandments, which they obeyed. Then
came to Adam an angelic messenger, and the Holy Ghost inspired the man
and bare record of the Father and the Son.[51]
[49] Genesis i; see also Pearl of Great Price, Moses ii, 1.
[50] Genesis iii, 8; and Pearl of Great Price, Moses iv, 14.
[51] Pearl of Great Price, Moses v, 6-9.
=5.= Cain and Abel learned of God from the teachings of their parents,
as well as from personal ministrations. After the acceptance of Abel's
offering, and the rejection of that of Cain followed by Cain's
terrible crime of fratricide, the Lord talked with Cain, and Cain
answered the Lord.[52] Cain must, therefore, have taken a personal
knowledge of God from Eden into the land where he went to dwell.[53]
Adam lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old and many children
were born unto him. Them he instructed in the fear of God, and many of
them received direct ministrations. Of Adam's descendants, Seth, Enos,
Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech the father of
Noah, each representing a distinct generation, were all living during
Adam's lifetime. Noah was born but a hundred and twenty-six years
after the time of Adam's death, and moreover lived nearly six hundred
years with his father Lamech, by whom he was doubtless instructed in
the traditions concerning God's personal manifestations, which Lamech
had learned from the lips of Adam. Through the medium of Noah and his
family, a knowledge of God by direct tradition was carried beyond the
flood; and Noah held direct communication with God,[54] and lived to
instruct ten generations of his descendants. Then followed Abraham,
who also enjoyed direct communion with the Creator,[55] and after him
Isaac, and Jacob or Israel, among whose descendants the Lord wrought
such wonders through the instrumentality of Moses. Thus, had there
been no written records, tradition would have preserved and
transmitted a knowledge of God.
[52] Genesis iv, 9-16; Pearl of Great Price, Moses v, 22, 34-40.
[53] Genesis iv, 16; Pearl of Great Price, Moses v, 41.
[54] Genesis vi, 13, and succeeding chapter.
[55] Genesis xii, and succeeding chapters.
=6.= But even if the accounts of the earliest of man's personal
communion with God had become dimmed with time, and therefore weakened
in effect, they could but give place to other traditions founded on
later manifestations of the Divine personality. Unto Moses the Lord
made Himself known, not alone from behind the curtain of fire and the
screen of clouds,[56] but by direct face to face communication,
whereby the chosen high-priest beheld even "the similitude" of his
God.[57] This account of direct communion between Moses and God, in
part of which the people were permitted to share,[58] as far as their
faith and purity permitted, has been preserved by Israel through all
the generations of the past. And from Israel the traditions of God's
existence have spread throughout the world; so that we find traces of
this ancient knowledge even in the most fanciful and perverted
mythologies of heathen nations.
[56] Exo. iii, 4; xix, 18; Numb. xii, 5.
[57] Numb. xii, 8; see also Pearl of Great Price, Moses i, 1-2.
[58] Exo. xix, 9, 11, 17-20.
=7. II. Human Reason=, operating upon observations of the things of
nature, strongly declares the existence of God. The mind, already
imbued with the historical truths of the Divine existence and its
close relationship with man, will find confirmatory evidence in nature
on every side; and even to him who rejects the testimony of the past,
and assumes to set up his own judgment as superior to the common
belief of ages, the multifarious evidences of design in nature appeal.
Every observer must be impressed by the proofs of order and system
among created things, and by the absence of superfluities in nature.
He notes the regular succession of day and night providing alternate
periods of work and rest for man, animals, and vegetables; the
sequence of the seasons, each with its longer periods of labor and
recuperation, the mutual dependence of animals and plants, the
circulation of water from sea to cloud, from cloud to earth again,
sustaining the fertility of the soil. As man proceeds to the closer
examination of things, he finds that by study and scientific
investigation these proofs are multiplied many fold. He may learn of
the laws by which earth and its associated worlds are governed in
their orbits; by which satellites are held subordinate to planets, and
planets to suns; he may behold the marvels of vegetable and animal
anatomy, and the surpassing mechanism of his own body; and with such
appeals to his reason increasing at every step, his wonder as to who
made all this gives place to inexpressible admiration for the Creator
whose presence and power are thus so forcibly proclaimed; and the
observer becomes a worshiper.
=8.= Everywhere in nature is the evidence of cause and effect; on
every side is the demonstration of means adapted to end. But such
adaptations, says a thoughtful writer, "indicate contrivance for a
given purpose, and contrivance is the evidence of intelligence, and
intelligence is the attribute of mind, and the intelligent mind that
built the stupendous universe is God."[59] To admit the existence of
a designer in the evidence of design, to say there must be a contriver
in a world of intelligent contrivance, to believe in an adapter when
man's life is directly dependent upon the most perfect adaptations
conceivable, is but to accept self-evident truths. These axioms of
nature ought to require no demonstration; the burden of proof as to
the non-existence of a God ought to be placed upon him who questions
the solemn truth. "Every house is builded by some man, but he that
built all things is God." So spake the Apostle of old,[60] and plain
as is the truth expressed in these simple words, there are among men a
few who profess to doubt the evidence of reason, and who deny the
Author of their own being. Strange, is it not, that here and there
one, who finds in the contrivance exhibited by the ant in building her
house, in the architecture of the honey-comb, and in the myriad
instances of orderly instinct among the least of living things, a
proof of intelligence from which man may learn and be wise, will yet
question the operation of intelligence in the creation of worlds and
in the constitution of the universe?[61]
[59] Cassell's Bible Dictionary, p. 481.
[60] Paul in Heb. iii, 4.
[61] See Note 4.
=9.= Man's inborn consciousness tells him of his own existence; his
ordinary powers of observation prove the existence of others of his
kind, and of uncounted orders of organized beings; from this he
concludes that something must have existed always, for had there been
a time of no existence, a period of nothingness, existence could never
have begun, for from nothing, nothing can be derived. The eternal
existence of something, then, is a fact beyond dispute; and the
question requiring answer is, what is that eternal something--that
existence which is without beginning and without end? The skeptic may
answer, "Nature; matter has always existed, and the universe is but a
manifestation of matter organized by forces operating upon it;
however, Nature is not God." But matter is neither vital nor active,
nor is force intelligent; yet vitality and ceaseless activity are
characteristic of created things, and the effects of intelligence are
universally present. True, nature is not God; and to mistake the one
for the other is to call the edifice the architect, the fabric the
designer, the marble the sculptor, and the thing the power that made
it. The system of nature is the manifestation of that order which
argues a directing intelligence; and that intelligence is of an
eternal character, coeval with existence itself. Nature herself is a
declaration of a superior Being, whose will and purpose she portrays
in all her varied aspects. Beyond and above nature, stands nature's
God.
=10.= While existence is eternal, and therefore to being there never
was a beginning, never shall be an end, in a relative sense each stage
of organization must have had a beginning, and to every phase of
existence as manifested in each of the countless orders and classes of
created things, there was a first, as there will be a last; though
every ending or consummation in nature is but the beginning of another
stage of advancement. Thus, man's ingenuity has invented theories to
illustrate, if not to explain, a possible sequence of events by which
the earth has been brought from a state of chaos to its present
habitable condition; but by those hypotheses, this globe was once a
barren ball, on which none of the innumerable forms of life that now
tenant it could have existed. The theorist therefore must admit a
beginning to earthly life, and such a beginning is explicable only on
the assumption of some creative act, or a contribution from outside
the earth. If he admit the introduction of life upon the earth from
some other and older sphere, he does but extend the limits of his
inquiry as to the beginning of vital existence; for to explain the
origin of a rose-bush in our own garden by saying that it was
transplanted as an offshoot from a rose-tree growing elsewhere, is no
answer to the question concerning the origin of roses. Science of
necessity assumes a beginning to vital phenomena on this planet, and
admits a finite duration of the earth in its current course of
progressive change; and in this respect, the earth is a representative
of the heavenly bodies in general. The eternity of existence, then, is
no more positive as an indication of an eternal Ruler than is the
endless sequence of change, each stage of which has both beginning and
end. The origination of created things, the beginning of an organized
universe, is utterly inexplicable on any assumption of spontaneous
change in matter, or of fortuitous and accidental operation of its
properties.
=11.= Human reason, so liable to err in dealing with subjects of
lesser import even, may not of itself lead its possessor to a full
knowledge of God; yet its exercise will aid him in his search,
strengthening and confirming his inherited instinct toward his
Maker.[62] "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."[63] In
the scriptures, the word fool[64] is used to designate a wicked man,
one who has forfeited his wisdom by a long course of wrongdoing,
bringing darkness over his mind in place of light, and ignorance
instead of knowledge. By such a course, the mind becomes depraved and
incapable of appreciating the finer arguments in nature. A wilful
sinner grows deaf to the voice of reason in holy things, and loses the
privilege of communing with his Creator, thus forfeiting the strongest
means of attaining a knowledge of God.
[62] See Note 5.
[63] Psalms xiv, 1.
[64] Proverbs i, 7; x, 21; xiv, 9.
=12. III. Revelation= gives to man his fullest knowledge of God. We
are not left wholly to the exercise of fallible reasoning powers, nor
to the testimony of others for a knowledge of the Divine Creator; we
may know Him for ourselves. Instances of God manifesting Himself to
His prophets in olden as in later times are so numerous as to render
impossible any detailed consideration here; moreover, we will have
opportunity of examining many examples in connection with our study of
the ninth of the Articles of Faith; for the present, therefore, brief
mention must suffice. We have already noted, as the foundation of many
traditions relating to the existence and personality of God, His
revelations of Himself to Adam and other ante-diluvian patriarchs;
then to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. An example but briefly
mentioned in the Jewish scriptures is that of Enoch, the father of
Methuselah; of him we read that he walked with God.[65] From the
"Writings of Moses" we learn that the Lord manifested Himself with
special favor to this chosen seer,[66] revealing unto him the course
of events until the time of Christ's appointed ministry in the flesh,
the plan of salvation through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten, and
the scenes that were to follow until the final judgment.
[65] Gen. v, 18-24; see also Jude 14.
[66] Pearl of Great Price, Moses vi, vii.
=13.= Of Moses we read that he received a manifestation from God, who
spoke to him from the midst of the burning bush in Mount Horeb,
saying: "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid
to look upon God."[67] Unto Moses and assembled Israel God appeared in
a cloud, with the terrifying accompaniment of thunders and lightnings,
on Sinai: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the
children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from
heaven."[68] Of a later manifestation we are told:--"Then went up
Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of
Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet
as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body
of heaven in his clearness."[69]
[67] Exodus iii, 6.
[68] Ex. xx, 18-22.
[69] Ex. xxiv, 9-10.
=14.= On through the time of Joshua and the judges to the kings and
the prophets, the Lord declared His presence and His power. Isaiah saw
the Lord enthroned in the midst of a glorious company, and cried out,
"Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts."[70]
[70] Isa. vi, 1-5.
=15.= At a subsequent period, when Christ emerged from the waters of
baptism, the voice of the Father was heard declaring "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."[71] And on the occasion of
our Lord's transfiguration, the same voice repeated this solemn and
glorious acknowledgment.[72] While Stephen was suffering martyrdom at
the hands of his cruel and bigoted countrymen, the heavens were
opened, and he "saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right
hand of God."[73]
[71] Matt. iii, 16-17; Mark i, 11.
[72] Matt. xvii, 1-5; Luke ix, 35.
[73] Acts vii, 54-60.
=16.= The Book of Mormon is replete with instances of communication
between God and His people, mostly through vision and by the
ministration of angels, but also through direct manifestation of the
Divine presence. Thus, we read of a colony of people leaving the Tower
of Babel and journeying to the western hemisphere, under the
leadership of one who is known in the record as the brother of Jared.
In preparing for the voyage across the great deep, the leader prayed
that the Lord would touch with His finger, and thereby make luminous,
certain stones, that the voyagers might have light in the ships. In
answer to this petition, the Lord stretched forth His hand and touched
the stones, revealing His finger, which the man was surprised to see
resembled the finger of a human being. Then the Lord, pleased with the
man's faith, made Himself visible to the brother of Jared, and
demonstrated to him that man was formed literally after the image of
the Creator.[74] To the Nephites who inhabited the western continent,
Christ revealed Himself after His resurrection and ascension. To these
sheep of the western fold, He testified of His commission received
from the Father; showed the wounds in His hands, feet, and side, and
ministered unto the believing multitudes in many ways.[75]
[74] Book of Mormon, Ether iii.
[75] Book of Mormon, III Nephi xi-xxviii.
=17.= In the present dispensation, God has revealed, and does still
reveal himself to His people. We have seen how by faith and sincerity
of purpose Joseph Smith, while yet a youth, won for himself a
manifestation of God's presence, being privileged to behold both the
Father and Christ the Son.[76] His testimony of the existence of God
is not dependent upon tradition or studied deduction; he declares to
the world that both the Father and Christ the Son live, for he has
beheld their persons, and has heard their voices. In addition to the
manifestation cited, Joseph Smith and his fellow servant, Sidney
Rigdon, state that on the 16th of February, 1832, they saw the Son of
God, and conversed with Him in heavenly vision. In describing this
manifestation they say: "And while we meditated upon these things,
the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings, and they were
opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about; and we beheld the
glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, and received of His
fulness; and saw the holy angels, and they who are sanctified before
His throne, worshiping God and the Lamb, who worship Him forever and
ever. And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of
Him, this is the testimony last of all which we give of Him, that He
lives, for we saw Him."[77]
[76] See page 9.
[77] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 11-24.
=18.= Again, on the 3rd of April, 1836, in the temple at Kirtland,
Ohio, the Lord manifested Himself to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery,
who say of the occasion:--"We saw the Lord standing upon the
breastwork of the pulpit before us, and under His feet was a paved
work of pure gold in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of
fire, the hair of His head was white like the pure snow, His
countenance shone above the brightness of the sun, and His voice was
as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of
Jehovah, saying,--I am the first and the last; I am He who liveth; I
am He who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father."[78]
[78] Doc. and Cov. cx, 1-4.
=19.= These are a few of the testimonies establishing the fact of
direct revelation from God unto men in ancient and modern times. The
privilege of communing with our Maker is restricted to none; true
faith, sincerity of purpose, and purity of soul will win, for every
one who seeks the boon, the blessing of God's favor and the light of
His presence.
=20. The Godhead: The Trinity.=--Three personages composing the great
presiding council of the universe have revealed themselves to man: (1)
God the Eternal Father; (2) His Son, Jesus Christ; and (3) the Holy
Ghost. That these three are separate individuals, physically distinct
from each other, is very plainly proved by the accepted records of
the divine dealings with man. On the occasion of the Savior's baptism
before cited, John recognized the sign of the Holy Ghost; he saw
before him in a tabernacle of flesh the Christ, upon whom he had
performed the holy ordinance; and he heard the voice of the
Father.[79] The three personages of the Godhead were present,
manifesting themselves each in a different way, and each distinct from
the others. The Savior promised His disciples that the Comforter,[80]
which is the Holy Ghost, should be sent unto them by His Father; here
again are the three members of the Godhead distinctly referred to.
Stephen, at the time of his martyrdom, was blessed with the power of
heavenly vision, and he saw Jesus standing on the right hand of
God.[81] Joseph Smith, while calling upon the Lord in fervent prayer
for wisdom to guide him in his religious professions, saw the Father
and the Son, standing in the midst of light which shamed the
brightness of the sun; one of these declared of the other, "This is my
beloved Son, hear Him."[82] Each of the members of the Trinity is
called God,[83] together they constitute the Godhead.
[79] Matt. iii, 16-17; Mark i, 9-11; Luke iii, 21-22.
[80] John xiv, 26; xv, 26.
[81] Acts vii, 55-56.
[82] See page 9.
[83] I Cor. viii, 6; John i, 1-14; Matthew iv, 10; I Tim. iii, 16;
I John v, 7; Mosiah xv, 1, 2.
=21. Unity of the Godhead.=[84]--The Godhead is a type of unity in the
attributes, powers, and purposes of its members. Jesus, while on
earth[85] and in manifesting Himself to His Nephite servants,[86] has
repeatedly testified of the unity existing between Himself and the
Father, and between them both and the Holy Ghost. By some this has
been construed to mean that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
are one in substance and in person, that the names in reality
represent the same individual under different aspects. A single
reference to prove the error of this view may suffice:--Immediately
before His betrayal, Christ prayed for His disciples, the Twelve, and
other converts, that they should be preserved in unity,[87] "that they
all may be one" as the Father and the Son are one. It is absurd to
think that Christ desired His followers to lose their individuality
and become one person, even if a change so directly opposed to the
laws of nature were possible. Christ desired that all should be united
in heart, and spirit, and purpose; for such is the unity between His
Father and Himself, and between themselves and the Holy Ghost.
[84] See Note 11.
[85] John x, 30, 38; xvii, 11, 22.
[86] III Nephi xi, 27, 36; xxviii, 10; see also Alma xi, 44.
[87] John xvii, 11-21.
=22.= This unity is a type of completeness; the mind of any one member
of the Trinity is the mind of the others; seeing as each of them does
with the eye of purity and perfection, they see and understand alike;
under similar conditions and circumstances each would act in the same
way, guided by the same principles of unerring justice and equity. The
one-ness of the Godhead, to which the scriptures so abundantly
testify, implies no mystical union of substance, nor any unnatural and
therefore impossible blending of personality; Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost are as distinct in their persons and individualities as are any
three personages in the flesh. Yet their unity of purpose and
operation is such as to make their edicts one, and their will the will
of God. To see one is to see all; therefore said Christ when
importuned by Philip to show them the Father: "Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the
Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in
me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the
Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me."[88]
[88] John xiv, 9-11.
=23. Personality of Each Member of the Godhead.=--From the evidence
already presented, it is clear that the Father is a personal Being,
possessing a definite form, with bodily parts, and spiritual passions.
Jesus Christ, who was with the Father[89] in spirit before coming to
dwell in the flesh, and through whom the worlds were made,[90] lived
among men as a man, with all the physical characteristics of a human
being; after His resurrection He appeared in the same form;[91] in
that form He ascended into heaven;[92] and in that form He has
manifested Himself to the Nephites, and to modern prophets. Now we are
assured that Christ was in the express image of His Father,[93] after
which image man also has been created.[94] Therefore we know that both
the Father and the Son are in form and stature perfect men; each of
them possesses a tangible body, infinitely pure and perfect, and
attended by transcendent glory, yet a body of flesh and bones.[95]
[89] John xvii, 5.
[90] John i, 3; Heb. i, 2; Eph. iii, 9; Col. i, 16.
[91] John xx, 14-15, 19-20, 26-27; xxi, 1-14; Matt, xxviii, 9;
Luke xxiv, 15-31, 36-44.
[92] Acts i, 9-11.
[93] Heb. i, 3; Col. i, 15; II Cor. iv, 4.
[94] Genesis i, 26-27; James iii, 8-9.
[95] Doc. and Cov. cxxx, 22.
=24.= The Holy Ghost, called also Spirit, and Spirit of the Lord,[96]
Spirit of God,[97] Comforter,[98] and Spirit of Truth,[99] is not
tabernacled in a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of
spirit;[100] yet we know that the Spirit has manifested Himself in
the form of a man.[101] It is by the ministrations of the Spirit that
the Father and the Son operate in their dealings with mankind;[102]
through Him knowledge is communicated,[103] and by Him the purposes of
the Godhead are achieved.[104] The Holy Ghost is the witness of the
Father and the Son,[105] declaring to man their attributes, bearing
record of the other personages of the Godhead.[106]
[96] I Nephi iv, 6; xi, 8; Mos. xiii, 5. Acts ii, 4; viii, 29; x,
19; Rom. viii, 10, 26; I Thess. v, 19.
[97] Matt, iii, 16; xii, 28; I Nephi xiii, 12.
[98] John xiv, 16.
[99] John xv, 26; xvi, 13.
[100] Doc. and Cov. cxxx, 22.
[101] I Nephi xi, 11.
[102] Neh. ix, 30; Isa. xlii, 1; Acts x, 19; Alma xii, 3; Doc. and
Cov. cv, 36; xcvii, 1.
[103] John xvi, 13; I Nephi x, 19; Doc. and Cov. xxxv, 13; 1, 10.
[104] Gen. i, 2; Job xxvi, 13; Psalms civ, 30; Doc. and Cov. xxix,
31.
[105] John xv, 26; Acts v, 32; xx, 23; I Cor. ii, 11; xii, 3; III
Nephi xi, 32.
[106] For a fuller treatment of the Holy Ghost, His personality
and attributes, see Lecture viii, p. 162.
=25. Some of the Divine Attributes.=--_God is Omnipresent_: There is
no part of creation, however remote, into which He cannot penetrate;
through the medium of the Spirit the Godhead is in direct
communication with all things at all times. It has been said,
therefore, that God is everywhere present at the same time; but it is
unreasonable to suppose that the actual person of any one member of
the Godhead can be in more than one place at one time. The senses of
God are of infinite power, His mind of unlimited capacity; His eye can
penetrate all space, His ear can comprehend every sound; His powers of
transferring Himself from place to place are not limited; plainly,
however, His person cannot be in more than one place at any one time.
Admitting the personality of God, we are compelled to accept the fact
of His materiality; indeed, an "immaterial being," under which
meaningless name some have sought to designate the condition of God,
cannot exist, for the very expression is a contradiction in terms. If
God possesses a form, that form is of necessity of definite
proportions and therefore of limited extension in space. It is
therefore impossible for Him to occupy at one time more than one space
of such limits; and it is not surprising therefore to learn from the
scriptures that He moves from place to place. Thus we read in
connection with the account of the Tower of Babel, "And the Lord came
down to see the city and the tower."[107] Again, God appeared to
Abraham, and having declared Himself to be "the Almighty God," He
talked with the patriarch, and established a covenant with him; then
we read "And He left off talking with him, and God went up from
Abraham."[108]
[107] Gen. xi, 5.
[108] Gen. xvii, 1, 22.
=26.= _God is Omniscient._--By Him matter has been organized and
energy directed. He is therefore the Creator of all things that are
created; and "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of
the world."[109] His power and His wisdom are alike incomprehensible
to man, for they are infinite. Being Himself eternal and perfect, His
knowledge cannot be otherwise than infinite. To comprehend Himself, an
infinite Being, He must possess an infinite mind. Through the agency
of angels and ministering servants, He is in continuous communication
with all parts of creation, and may personally visit as He may
determine.
[109] Acts xv, 18; see also Pearl of Great Price: Moses i, 6, 35;
I Nephi ix, 6.
=27.= _God is Omnipotent._--He is properly called the Almighty. Man
can discern proofs of the Divine omnipotence on every side, in the
forces that control the elements of earth, and that guide the orbs of
heaven in their prescribed courses; all are working together for the
common good. There can be no limits to the powers of God; whatever His
wisdom indicates as fit to be done He can and will do. The means
through which He operates may not be of infinite capacity in
themselves; but they are directed by an infinite power. A rational
conception of His omnipotence is power to do all that He may will to
do.
=28.= _God is kind_, _benevolent_, _and loving_, tender, considerate,
and long-suffering, bearing patiently with the frailties of His
wayward children. He is just, yet merciful in judgment,[110] showing
favor to all alike, and yet combining with these gentler qualities a
firmness, almost amounting to fierceness, in avenging wrongs.[111] He
is jealous[112] of His own power and the reverence paid to Him by His
children; that is to say, He is zealous for the principles of truth
and purity, which are nowhere exemplified in a higher degree than in
His personal attributes. This Being is the Author of our existence,
Him we are permitted to approach as Father. Our faith will increase in
Him as we learn of Him.[113]
[110] Deut. iv, 31; II Chron. xxx, 9; Exo. xxxiv, 6; Neh. ix, 17,
31; Psalms cxvi, 5; ciii, 8; lxxxvi, 15; Jer. xxxii, 18; Exo. xx,
6.
[111] Exo. xx, 5; Deut. vii, 21; x, 17; Psa. vii, 11.
[112] Exo. xx, 5; xxxiv, 14; Deut. iv, 24; vi, 14, 15; Josh. xxiv,
19, 20.
[113] See Note 12.
=29. Idolatry and Atheism.=--From the abundant evidence of the
existence of Deity, the idea of which is so generally held by the
human family, there would seem to be little ground on which man could
rationally assert and maintain a disbelief in God; and in view of the
many proofs of the benignant nature of the Divine attributes and
disposition, there ought to be little tendency to turn aside after
false and unworthy objects of worship. Yet the history of the race
shows that theism, which is the doctrine of belief in and acceptance
of, God as the rightful Ruler, is opposed by many varieties of
atheism;[114] and that man is prone to belie his boast as a creature
of reason, and to render his worship at idolatrous shrines. Atheism is
probably a development of later times, whilst idolatry asserted itself
as one of the early sins of the race. Even at the time of Israel's
exodus from Egypt, God deemed it proper to command by statute, "Thou
shalt have no other gods before me;"[115] yet even while He wrote
those words on the stony tablets, His people were bowing before the
golden calf which they had fashioned after the pattern of the Egyptian
idol.
[114] See Note 6.
[115] Exo. xx, 3.
=30.= It has been stated that man possesses an instinct for worship,
that he craves and will find some object of adoration. When man fell
into the darkness of continued transgression, and forgot the Author of
his being, and the God of his fathers, he sought for other deities.
Some among men came to regard the sun as the type of the supreme, and
before that luminary they prostrated themselves in supplication.
Others selected for adoration earthly phenomena; they marvelled over
the mystery of fire, and, recognizing the beneficent effects of that
phenomenon, they worshiped the flame. Some saw, or thought they saw,
in water the emblem of the pure and the good, and they rendered their
devotions by running streams. Others, awed into reverence by the
grandeur of towering mountains, repaired to these natural temples, and
worshiped the altar instead of Him in whose honor and by whose power
it had been raised. Another class, more strongly imbued with a
reverence for the emblematic, sought to create for themselves
artificial objects of adoration. They made images and worshiped them;
they hewed uncouth figures from tree trunks, and chiseled strange
forms in stone, and to these they bowed.[116]
"Nations, ignorant of God,
Contrive a wooden one."
=31.= Idolatrous practices in some of their phases came to be
associated with rites of horrible cruelties, as in the custom of
sacrificing children to Moloch, and, among the Hindoos, to the Ganges;
as also in the wholesale slaughtering of human beings, under Druidical
tyranny. The gods that human-kind have set up for themselves are
heartless, pitiless, cruel.[117]
[116] See Note 7.
[117] See Note 8.
=32.= Atheism, as before stated, is the denial of the existence of
God; in a milder form it may consist in the mere ignoring of Deity.
But the professed atheist, in common with his believing
fellow-mortals, is subject to man's universal passion for worship;
though he refuse to acknowledge the true and the living God, he
consciously or unconsciously deifies some law, some principle, some
passion of the human soul, or perchance some material creation; and to
this he turns, to seek, in contemplation of the unworthy object, a
semblance of the comfort which the believer finds in rich abundance
before the throne of his Father and God. I doubt the existence of a
thorough atheist,--one who with the sincerity of a settled conviction
denies in his heart the existence of an intelligent Supreme Power. The
idea of God is an essential characteristic of the human soul. The
philosopher recognizes the necessity of such an element in his
theories of being. He may shrink from the open acknowledgment of a
personal Deity, yet he assumes the existence of a "governing power,"
of a "great unknown," of the "unknowable," the "illimitable," the
"unconscious." Oh, man of learning though not of wisdom! why reject
the privileges extended to you by the omnipotent, omniscient Being to
whom you owe your life, yet whose name you will not acknowledge? No
mortal can approach Him while contemplating His perfections and might
with aught but awe and speechless reverence; regarding Him only as
Creator and God, we are abashed in thought of Him; but He has given us
the right to approach Him as His children, to call upon Him by the
endearing name of Father! And even the atheist feels, in the more
solemn moments of his life, a yearning of the soul toward a spiritual
Parent, as naturally as his human affections turn toward the father
who gave him mortal life. The atheism of to-day is but a species of
idolatry after all.
=33. Sectarian View of the Godhead.=--The consistent, simple, and
authentic doctrine respecting the character and attributes of God,
such as was taught by Christ and the apostles, gave way as revelation
ceased, and as the darkness incident to the absence of authority fell
upon the world, after the apostles and their priesthood had been
driven from the earth; and in its place there appeared numerous
theories and dogmas of men, many of which are utterly incomprehensible
in their mysticism and inconsistency. In the year 325 A.D., the
Council of Nice was convened by the emperor Constantine, who sought
through this body to secure a declaration of Christian belief which
would be received as authoritative, and be the means of arresting the
increasing dissension incident to the general disagreement regarding
the nature of the Godhead, and other theological subjects. The Council
condemned some of the theories then current; among them that of Arius,
which asserted a separate individuality for each member of the
Trinity; and promulgated a new code of belief known as the Nicene
Creed. A statement of this doctrine, supposedly as announced by
Athanasius, is as follows:--"We worship one God in trinity, and
trinity in unity; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the
substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son,
and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. Such
as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The
Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate. The
Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost
incomprehensible. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy
Ghost eternal. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated;
but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible. So likewise the Father
is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Ghost almighty, and yet
there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. So the Father is
God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not
three Gods, but one God." It would be difficult to conceive of a
greater number of inconsistencies and contradictions, expressed in
words as few.
=34.= The Church of England teaches the present orthodox view of God
as follows:--"There is but one living and true God, everlasting,
without body, parts, or passions; of infinite power, wisdom, and
goodness." The immateriality of God as asserted in these declarations
of sectarian faith is entirely at variance with the scriptures, and
absolutely contradicted by the revelations of God's person and
attributes, as shown by the citations already made.
=35.= We affirm that to deny the materiality of God's person is to
deny God; for a thing without parts has no whole, and an immaterial
body cannot exist.[118] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints proclaims against the incomprehensible God, devoid of "body,
parts, and passions," as a thing impossible of existence, and asserts
its belief in and allegiance to the true and living God of scripture
and revelation.
[118] See Note 9.