=1. Natural to Believe in a God.=--"The great and primary truth
'that there is a God' has obtained among men almost universally
and in all ages; so that the holy scriptures, which speak of God
in every page, and which advert to the sentiments of mankind for
the period of about four thousand years, always assume this truth
as admitted. In the early ages of the world, indeed, there is no
positive evidence that speculative theism had any advocates; and
if, at a subsequent period, the 'fool said in his heart, There is
no God,' the sentiment appears more prominent in his affections
than in his judgment; and, withal, had so feeble an influence
over the minds of men, that the sacred writers never deemed it
necessary to combat the error, either by formal arguments, or by
an appeal to miraculous operations. Polytheism, not atheism, was
the prevailing sin; and therefore the aim of inspired men was not
so much to prove the existence of one God, as the non-existence
of others,--to maintain His authority, to enforce His laws, to
the exclusion of all rival pretenders."...
"So clear, full, and overpowering is the evidence of God's
existence, that it has commanded general belief in all ages and
countries,--the only exceptions being a few savage tribes of a
most degraded type, among whom the idea of God has faded and
disappeared with every vestige of civilization; and a few
eccentric would-be philosophers who affect to doubt everything
which others believe, and question the truth of their own
intuitions, so that the general assent to the being of a God
might be added as a testimony of no small weight in this
argument."--_Cassell's Bible Dictionary; article "God."_
=2. Importance of Belief in God.=--"The existence of a Supreme
Being is, without doubt, the sublimest conception that can enter
the human mind, and, even as a scientific question, can have no
equal, for it assumes to furnish the cause of causes, the great
ultimate fact in philosophy, the last and sublimest
generalization of scientific truth. Yet this is the lowest demand
it presents for our study; for it lies at the very foundation of
morality, virtue, and religion; it supports the social fabric,
and gives cohesion to all its parts; it involves the momentous
question of man's immortality and responsibility to supreme
authority, and is inseparably connected with his brightest hopes
and highest enjoyments. It is, indeed, not only a fundamental
truth, but the grand central truth of all other truths. All other
truths in science, ethics, and religion radiate from this. It is
the source from which they all flow, the center to which they all
converge, and the one sublime proposition to which they all bear
witness. It has, therefore, no parallel in its solemn grandeur
and momentous issues."--_The same._
=3. Belief in God, Natural and Necessary.=--Dr. Joseph Le Conte,
Professor of Geology and Natural History in the University of
California, and a scientist of world-wide renown, has spoken as
follows:--"_Theism_, or a belief in God or in gods, or in a
supernatural agency of some kind, controlling the phenomena
around us, is the fundamental basis and condition of all
religion, and is therefore universal, necessary, and intuitive. I
will not, therefore, attempt to bring forward any proof of that
which lies back of all proof, and is already more certain than
anything can be made by any process of reasoning. The ground of
this belief lies in the very nature of man; it is the very
foundation and groundwork of reason. It is this and this only
which gives significance to Nature; without it, neither religion
nor science, nor indeed human life, would be possible. For,
observe what is the characteristic of man in his relation to
external Nature. To the brute, the phenomena of Nature are
nothing but sensuous phenomena; but man, just in proportion as he
uses his human faculties, instinctively ascends from the
phenomena to their cause. This is inevitable by a law of our
nature, but the process of ascent is different for the cultured
and uncultured races. The uncultured man, when a phenomenon
occurs, the cause of which is not immediately perceived, passes
by one step from the sensuous phenomenon to the first cause;
while the cultured, and especially the scientific man, passes
from the sensuous phenomena through a chain of secondary causes
to the first cause. The region of second causes, and this only,
is the domain of science. Science may, in fact, be defined, as
the _study of the modes of operation of the first cause_. It is
evident, therefore, that the recognition of second causes cannot
preclude the idea of the existence of God.... Thus, Theism is
necessary, intuitive, and therefore universal. We cannot get rid
of it if we would. Push it out, as many do, at the front door,
and it comes in again, perhaps unrecognized, at the back door.
Turn it out in its _nobler forms_ as revealed in Scripture, and
it comes in again in its _ignoble forms_, it may be as magnetism,
electricity, or gravity, or some other supposed efficient agent
controlling Nature. In some form, noble or ignoble, it will
become a guest in the human heart. I therefore repeat, _Theism
neither requires nor admits of proof_. But in these latter times,
there is a strong tendency for Theism to take the form of
_Pantheism_, and thereby religious belief is robbed of all its
power over the human heart. It becomes necessary, therefore, for
me to attempt to show, not the existence indeed, but the
_personality of Deity_.... Among a certain class of cultivated
minds, and especially among scientific men, there is a growing
sentiment, sometimes openly expressed, sometimes only vaguely
felt, that what we call God is only a universal, all-pervading
principle animating Nature,--a general principle of evolution--an
unconscious, impersonal life-force under which the whole cosmos
slowly develops. Now, this form of Theism may possibly satisfy
the demands of a purely speculative philosophy, but cannot
satisfy the cravings of the human heart.... The argument for the
personality of Deity is derived from the evidences of intelligent
contrivance and design in Nature, or in the adjustment of parts
for a definite, and an intelligent purpose. It is usually called
'_the argument from design_.' The force of this argument is felt
at once intuitively by all minds, and its effect is irresistible
and overwhelming to every plain, honest mind, unplagued by
metaphysical subtleties."--Prof. Joseph Le Conte: in _Religion
and Science_, pp. 12-14.
=4. God in Nature.=--Sir Isaac Newton, one of the most critical
of scientific workers, in writing to his friend Dr. Bentley in
1692, said in reference to the natural universe: "To make such a
system, with all its motions, required a Cause which understood
and compared together the quantities of matter in the several
bodies of the sun and planets, and the gravitating powers
resulting from them, the several distances of the primary planets
from the sun, and of the secondary ones from Saturn, Jupiter, and
the earth; and the velocities with which these planets could
revolve about those quantities of matter in the central bodies;
and to compare and adjust all these things together in so great a
variety of bodies argues the Cause to be not blind and
fortuitous, but very well skilled in mechanics and geometry."
=5. Natural Indications of God's Existence.=--"It may not be, it
is not likely, that God can be found with microscope and scalpel,
with test-tube or flask, with goniometer or telescope; but with
such tools, the student earnestly working, cannot fail to
recognize a power beyond his vision, yet a power of which the
pulses and the motions are unmistakable. The extent of our solar
system once seemed to man more limited than it does at present;
and the discovery of the most distant of the planetary family was
due to a recognition of an attractive force inexplicable except
on the supposition of the existence of another planet. The
astronomer, tracing known bodies along their orbital paths, could
feel the pull, could see the wire that drew them from a narrower
course; he saw not Neptune as he piled calculations sheet on
sheet; but the existence of that orb was clearly indicated, and
by heeding such indications he sought for it, and it was found.
Theory alone could never have revealed it, though theory was
incomplete, unsatisfactory without it; but the practical search,
instigated by theory, led to the great demonstration. And what is
all science but theory compared to the practical influence of
prayerful reliance on the assistance of an omnipotent, omniscient
power? Disregard not the indications of your science work,--the
trembling of the needle that reveals the magnetic influence; the
instinct within that speaks of a life and a Life-Giver, far
beyond human power of explanation or comprehension. As you sit
beneath the canopied vault, pondering in the silence of night
over the perturbations, the yearnings which the soul cannot
ignore, turn in the direction indicated by those impulses, and
with the penetrating, space-annihilating, time-annulling glass of
prayer and faith, seek the source of that pervading force."--The
Author in _Baccalaureate Sermon_, Utah University Quarterly,
Sept., 1895.
=6. Theism; Atheism, etc.=--According to current usage, _Theism_
signifies a belief in God,--the acceptance of one living and
eternal Being who has revealed Himself to man. _Deism_ implies a
professed belief in God, but denies to Deity the power to reveal
Himself, and asserts a disbelief in Christianity; the term is
used in different senses, prominent among which are:--(1) belief
in God as an intelligent and eternal Being, with a denial of all
providential care: (2) belief in God, with denial of a future
state of the soul: (3) as advocated by Kant, denial of a personal
God, while asserting belief in an infinite force, inseparably
associated with matter, and operating as the first great cause.
_Pantheism_ regards matter and mind as one, embracing everything
finite and infinite, and calls this universal existence God. In
its philosophical aspect, pantheism "has three generic forms with
variations: (1) _one-substance pantheism_ which ascribes to the
universal being the attributes of both mind and matter, thought
and extension, as in Spinoza's system: (2) _materialistic
pantheism_ which ascribes to it only the attributes of matter, as
in the system of Strauss: (3) _idealistic pantheism_ which
ascribes to it only the existence of mind as in Hegel's system."
In its doctrinal aspect, pantheism comprises "the worship of
nature and humanity founded on the doctrine that the entire
phenomenal universe, including man and nature, is the
ever-changing manifestation of God." _Polytheism_ is the doctrine
of a plurality of gods, who are usually regarded as
personifications of forces or phenomena of nature. _Monotheism_
is the doctrine that there is but one God. _Atheism_ signifies
disbelief in God, or the denial of God's existence; _dogmatic
atheism_ denies, while _negative atheism_ ignores, the existence
of a God. _Infidelity_ is sometimes used as synonymous with
atheism, though specifically the term signifies a milder form of
unbelief, manifesting itself in scepticism on matters religious,
a disbelief in the religion of the Bible, and of course a
rejection of the doctrines of Christianity. _Agnosticism_ holds
that God is unknown and unknowable; that His existence can
neither be proved nor disproved; it neither affirms nor denies
the existence of a personal God; it is the doctrine of "We do not
know."--_See Standard Dictionary._
=7. Idolatrous Practices in General.=--The soul of man, once
abandoned to depravity, is strongly prone to depart from God and
his institutions. "Hence," says Burder, "have arisen the altars
and demons of heathen antiquity, their extravagant fictions, and
abominable orgies. Hence we find among the Babylonians and
Arabians, the adoration of the heavenly bodies, the earliest
forms of idolatry; among the Canaanites and Syrians, the worship
of Baal, Tammuz, Magog, and Astarte; among the Phoenicians, the
immolation of children to Moloch; among the Egyptians, divine
honors bestowed on animals, birds, insects, leeks, and onions;
among the Persians, religious reverence offered to fire; and
among the polished Greeks, the recognition in their system of
faith of thirty thousand gods. Hence, moreover, we find at the
present time, among most Pagan tribes, the deadliest
superstitions, the most cruel and bloody rites, and the most
shocking licentiousness and vice, practiced under the name of
religion."--_History of all Religions_, p. 12.
=8. Examples of Atrocious Idolatry.=--The worship of Moloch is
generally cited as an example of the cruelest and most abhorrent
idolatry known to man. Moloch, called also Molech, Malcham,
Milcom, Baal-melech, etc., was an Ammonite idol: it is mentioned
in scripture in connection with its cruel rites (Lev. xviii, 21;
xx, 2-5; see also I Kings xi, 5, 7, 33; II Kings xxiii, 10, 13;
Amos v, 26; Zephaniah i, 5; Jeremiah xxxii, 35). Keil and
Delitzsch describe the idol as being "represented by a brazen
statue which was hollow, and capable of being heated, and formed
with a bull's head, and with arms stretched out to receive the
children to be sacrificed." While the worship of this idol did
not invariably include human sacrifice, it is certain that such
hideous rites were characteristic of this abominable shrine. The
authors last quoted say: "From the time of Ahaz, children were
slain at Jerusalem in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and then
sacrificed by being laid in the heated arms and burned." (II Kings
xxiii, 10; xvi, 3; xvii, 17; xxi, 6; Jer. xxxii, 35; Ezek. xvi,
20, 21; xx, 31; compare Psalms cvi, 37, 38.) Many authorities
state that the sacrifice of children to this hideous monster long
ante-dated the time of Ahaz. "The offering of living victims was
probably the climax of enormity in connection with this system,
and it is said that Tophet, where it was to be witnessed, was so
named from the beating of drums to drown the shrieks and groans
of those who were burned to death. The same place was called the
Valley of Hinnom, and the horrible associations connected with it
led to both Tophet and Gehenna ('valley of Hinnom') being adopted
as names and symbols of future torment." For foregoing facts, and
others, _see "The Pentateuch" by Keil and Delitzsch, and
Cassell's Bible Dictionary_.
Scarcely less horrible were the practices of voluntary suicide
under the car of the idol Juggernaut, and the drowning of
children in the sacred Ganges as found among the Hindoos.
According to Burder ("History of all Religions"), the ponderous
and hideous image Juggernaut, was, on festival days, usually
placed on a movable tower resting on wheels; and, thus mounted,
was drawn through the streets by enthusiastic worshipers. As the
car moved along, some of the most zealous of the devotees threw
themselves under the wheels and were crushed to death; and such
acts were "hailed with the acclamations of the multitude as the
most acceptable sacrifices." The same author thus describes the
rite of child-sacrifice to the sacred river, as formerly
practiced in India:--"People in some parts of India, particularly
the inhabitants of Orissa, and of the eastern parts of Bengal,
frequently offer their children to the goddess Gunga. The
following reason is assigned for this practice: When a woman has
been long married, and has no children, it is common for the man,
or his wife, or both of them, to make a vow to the goddess Gunga,
that if she will bestow the blessing of children upon them, they
will devote the firstborn to her. If, after this vow, they have
children, the eldest is nourished till a proper age, which may be
three, four, or more years, according to circumstances when, on a
particular day, appointed for bathing in any part of the river,
they take the child with them and offer it to the goddess: the
child is encouraged to go farther and farther into the water,
till it is carried away by the stream, or is pushed off by its
inhuman parents."--_History of all Religions_, pp. 745-746.
The practices of Druidism among the ancient Britons furnish
another example of degradation in religion through the absence of
authoritative guidance and the light of revelation. The Druids
professed a veneration for the oak, and performed most of their
distinctive ceremonies in sacred groves. Human sacrifices were
offered as a feature of their system. Of their temples, some,
e.g. Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, and others in
Kent, still remain. These circular enclosures, which were open to
the sky, were called _doom-rings_: near the center of each was an
altar (_dolmen_) on which victims were sacrificed. The horrible
ceremonies included on special occasions the burning alive of
large numbers of human beings, enclosed in immense cages of
wicker-work.
=9. Immaterialists are Atheists.=--"There are two classes of
atheists in the world. One class denies the existence of God in
the most positive language; the other denies his existence in
duration or space. One says 'There is no God;' the other says
'God is not _here_ or _there_, any more than he exists _now_ and
_then_.' The infidel says 'God does not exist anywhere.' The
immaterialist says 'He exists _nowhere_.' The infidel says 'There
is no such substance as God.' The immaterialist says 'There is
such a substance as God, but it is _without parts_.' The atheist
says 'There is no such substance as _spirit_.' The immaterialist
says 'A spirit, though he lives and acts, occupies no room, and
fills no space in the same way and in the same manner as matter,
not even so much as does the minutest grain of sand.' The atheist
does not seek to hide his infidelity; but the immaterialist,
whose declared belief amounts to the same thing as the atheist's,
endeavors to hide his infidelity under the shallow covering of a
few words.... The immaterialist is a religious atheist; he only
differs from the other class of atheists by clothing an
indivisible unextended _nothing_ with the powers of a God. One
class believes in no God; the other believes that _Nothing_ is
god and worships it as such."--Orson Pratt, in pamphlet
_Absurdities of Immaterialism_, p. 11.
=10. Atheism, a Fatal Belief.=--"During the Reign of Terror, the
French were declared by the National Assembly to be a nation of
atheists; but a brief experience convinced them that a nation of
atheists could not long exist. Robespierre then 'proclaimed in
the convention, that belief in the existence of God was necessary
to those principles of virtue and morality upon which the
republic was founded; and on the 7th of May, the national
representatives, who had so lately prostrated themselves before
the Goddess of Reason, voted by acclamation that the French
people acknowledged the existence of the Supreme Being, and the
immortality of the soul.'"--_Students' France, xxvii, 6_; quoted
by Rev. Charles E. Little, in _Historical Lights_, pp. 280-281.
=11. The Trinity.=--"'Mormonism' affirms its unqualified belief
in the Godhead as the Holy Trinity, comprising Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost; each of the three a separate and individual
personage; the Father and the Son each a personage of spirit and
of immortalized body; the Holy Ghost a personage of spirit. The
unity of the Godhead is accepted in the literal fulness of
scriptural declaration--that the Three are one in purpose, plan,
and method; alike in all their Godly attributes; one in their
Divine omniscience and omnipotence; yet as separate and distinct
in their personality as are any three inhabitants of earth.
'Mormonism' claims that scripture passages declaring the oneness
of the Trinity admit of this interpretation; that such indeed is
the natural interpretation, and that the conception is in accord
with reason."--_The Philosophy of "Mormonism_," by The Author:
Improvement Era, vol. iv, p. 463.
=12. The Father and the Son.=--In the treatment of the
"Personality of Each Member of the Godhead" (p. 41) and "Divine
Attributes" (p. 42) no attempt has been made to segregate the
references made to The Father and to The Son. It is to be
remembered that the Personage most generally designated in the
Old Testament as God or the LORD, is He who in the mortal state
was known as Jesus Christ, and in the antemortal state as
Jehovah. See the author's work, "Jesus the Christ," chap. iv.
That Jesus Christ or Jehovah is designated in certain scriptures
as the Father in no wise justifies an assumption of identity
between Him and His Father, Elohim. This matter has been
explained in a publication dated June 30, 1916, entitled "The
Father and The Son; a Doctrinal Exposition by the First
Presidency and the Twelve." This appeared in _Improvement Era_,
August, 1916, and in a pamphlet of earlier issue. Excerpts
therefrom follow: "The term 'Father' as applied to Deity occurs
in sacred writ with plainly different meanings. Each of the four
significations specified in the following treatment should be
carefully segregated.
"1. _'Father' as Literal Parent._... Jesus Christ is the Son of
Elohim both as spiritual and bodily offspring; that is to say,
Elohim is literally the Father of the spirit of Jesus Christ and
also of the body in which Jesus Christ performed His mission in
the flesh....
"2. _'Father' as Creator._ A second scriptural meaning of
'Father' is that of Creator, e.g. in passages referring to any
one of the Godhead as 'The Father of the heavens and of the
earth.'... With this meaning, as the context shows in every case,
Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ the Son of Elohim, is called 'the
Father.'...
"3. _Jesus Christ the 'Father' of those who abide in His
Gospel"._ See Doc. and Cov. xxxiv, 1-3; xxxv, 1, 2; xxxix, 1-4;
Mosiah xv, 10-13.
"4. _Jesus Christ the 'Father' by Divine Investiture of
Authority"._ See John x. 30; xvii, 11, 22; compare xiv. 28; see
further v, 43; x, 26; III Nephi xx, 35; xxviii, 10; and Doc. and
Cov. 1, 43.