_"As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this
inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD."--St. Paul at Athens_.
It is a painful and confusing thing to the Christian investigator
to be convinced, as he must be, by the fact that millions of
conventionally good people in our land, as in all civilized
countries, are kneeling "To the Unknown God."
One cannot say how many professed Christians really have a
conscious knowledge of the God whom they reverence and whose Son
they believe Jesus, the Christ, to be. But one may know without
much inquiry that very few of our Christian churchmen have what
we may be allowed to call "a working knowledge of God." In other
words, they have no definite mental or spiritual conception of the
Personality of God. They attribute to Him in a somewhat nebulous
way certain characteristics in perfection, such as eternity,
holiness, truth, love, mercy, patience, wisdom and power. But
why and how these things constitute Personality and obtain
manifestation in human affairs, is a riddle more profound that a
Delphian oracle or a shadow interrogation point on the face of the
Sphinx.
They have simply apprehended that "there must be a God," somewhat
as the French cynic said, if none had ever been revealed Man would
have invented one from necessity. They have been trained from
infancy to think of an awful God and finally, by the religious
impulse that always comes to a man strongly at some point in his
sentient career, they have professed a binding faith in that
God--but still He remains practically and consciously "The Unknown
God."
It is one of the most strenuous tasks of modern preaching to secure
the serious, studious attention of men and women to the plain {537}
correspondence between the Scriptural revelations of God the Father
with the known attributes and actions of Christ the Son.
Preachers themselves preach "The Unknown God" because they have
not acquired the spiritual discernment to be satisfied that if
Christ was "the express image of the Father," then, logically
and indisputably "God was in Christ revealing Himself to the
world." All through the labors of the apostles in the first age
of the church runs the ceaseless insistence that men should not
differentiate between the characters of God and Christ, but believe
in Christ as an absolute manifestation of God in the flesh. If
modern preachers would dwell upon that mighty truth with the same
persistence the earth would soon be aflame with the knowledge and
the love of God, and Christ would become the true Lord of millions
who now do Him only lip service and of millions more who would
suddenly see in Him "the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
It is scarcely to be wondered over that gold, society, pleasure,
pride and gilded sin in myriad forms can so easily persuade and
pervert so many in the modern Christian world, when we realize that
they live in so great a fog of ignorance concerning the God whom
they perfunctorily profess to believe in and acknowledge they ought
to obey in all truth, righteousness and holy conversation.
_We need in Atlanta--we need in Georgia--we need in America--the
old time faith in a personal and known God, who is our Father in
heaven, who has given us His Son for a Savior. A revival of the
knowledge of God in Christ Jesus will level forever, in and out of
the churches, countless thousands of altars "To the Unknown God_."
Your appeal for the restoration of "the old time faith in a personal
and known God" impels us to respond to your editorial by offering you
the very faith for which you so earnestly contend. Your exposition of
the personalities, character and attributes of God is true, and your
evidence is conclusive and invulnerable. There is no argument to offer
in rebuttal, and preachers of so-called Christendom will look in vain
for one iota of proof to support the contrary. Their inconsistent, not
to say ridiculous, doctrine that God is "incomprehensible without body,
parts or passions," in the light of all sound reason and prophetic
testimony, must stand alone a self-evident fact of the uninspired
source from which it sprang. The "unknown God" whom modern Christians
do ignorantly worship, in times past revealed His mind and will to
His children upon the earth. And, not only did He manifest Himself in
revelation, but in actual person did He converse face to face with
certain of His chosen representatives. Between Heaven and earth the
channel of communication was constantly open, excepting only, when,
through disobedience and transgression men cut themselves off from this
privilege of divine favor. God's people expected these manifestations
of His kindness. To be led by an inspired man--a prophet of the
Almighty--and to receive through him counsel and law, with the seal of
{538} divine authority "Thus saith the Lord" attached thereto, was as
natural to them as it was to live, because to them, their Father in
Heaven was a living, active, comprehensive personal Being. This was a
part of the "old time" Faith.
In the meridian of time, Jesus Christ the Son of God, established His
Church among men; and when His labors were ended and He returned unto
His Father, He left His disciples in possession of the Holy Ghost
which was "to guide them into all truth," "bring things past to their
remembrance," and to reveal unto them the things of the future; in
fact, this messenger was, in the absence of Christ in person, the
medium through which God made known His will unto His children upon the
earth. No argument is needed to convince any one of the fact that the
disciples did enjoy the operations of that Spirit, for the whole New
Testament is, in and of itself, proof positive and conclusive, of the
literal fulfillment of that promise. One of the "gifts" of the Holy
Ghost is prophecy, and upon whomsoever the Lord desired, He conferred
this gift, and hence prophets were found in His church. And especially
did those at the head enjoy this manifestation because they were God's
mouthpieces, and it belonged particularly to their office and calling.
The enjoyment of the actual companionship of the Holy Ghost then,
together with its perceptible workings, were also parts of that "old
time" Faith.
Again: At the head of His Church, Jesus placed a quorum of Twelve
Apostles, Peter, James and John standing chief among them. "Ye have
not chosen me," said He, "but I have chosen you and ordained you." He
called and ordained also, Seventies, Elders, Priests, Teachers, and
Deacons to fill certain positions in His Church, all of whom Paul says
God himself placed therein in order that He, through them, might edify
and perfect the Saints and also to protect them from being tossed to
and fro by every wind of doctrine taught by man; and further, that He
might accomplish the work of the ministry. These officers, according
to the same author's authoritative testimony were to remain in the
Church until the world should come to a unity of the Faith and to a
perfect knowledge of God. To have in their midsts these divinely called
and inspired men bearing authority direct from God, was another part
of the "old time" Faith of the Saints. No word from God has ever been
recorded that these offices and callings were unnecessary and useless
creations in His Church organization, or that they were in time to
be done away and destroyed. All Scripture proves the contrary most
clearly {539} and most emphatically. Furthermore, such a contention
simply reduces the solemn and deliberate acts of Jehovah to mere folly
and idle child's play, and destroys the confidence and faith of man
in Him as a Being possessed of that infinite intelligence and wisdom
attributed to Him. God placed these officers in the Church, and no one
but God can legally remove them. But they have been removed. Their
offices have been destroyed. Yes, but unauthorized man and not God is
responsible! The modern Christian doctrine advocating the uselessness
and nonessentiality of the Apostles and Prophets and other inspired men
of God as were formerly set in the Church of Christ, is a companion
inconsistency with that of a bodiless, passionless God, and also owes
its existence to modern unauthorized and uninspired man. Certainly it
was not a part of the "old time" Faith.
Another thing: The men whom Jesus called into His ministry, were sent
out "two by two" to preach the Gospel, "without purse or scrip." Taxed
pews, contribution boxes, and salaried preachers were unknown among
them. These things belong to the modern "profession" of the popular
Christian ministry and had nothing whatever to do with the "old time"
"calling" of God unto His work. To be sure, the Church had a system of
revenue by which the poor were supported and the necessary expenses
of maintaining the organization were met, but this was known as the
"law of tithing," of which not one penny went to pay a preacher. This
custom and practice is another invention of man, ingeniously applied in
merchandising a man-made gospel by a self-called clergy, and that, too,
in bold contradiction of Holy Writ, which unmistakably declares it to
be entirely foreign to the "old time" Faith.
Furthermore: The Gospel, as Jesus and His disciples taught it, embraced
four fundamental principles, namely: faith, repentance, baptism by
immersion "for the remission of sins," and "the laying on of hands"
for the "gift of the Holy Ghost." The faith here spoken of constituted
more than a dormant or passive belief. It went further than mere mental
assent, and embodied deeds of righteousness. He that had faith was
stirred to repentance from his evil ways. That is, he ceased to commit
forbidden practices, and instead performed such acts of righteousness
as the Gospel required. One of these requirements was to be baptized
in water for the remission of sin. The claim that this ordinance was
not essential is disproved, not only by the teachings of the Savior and
His disciples, but also by their practices. Jesus Himself {540} set the
example, and afterwards commanded His disciples to preach in all the
world the Gospel, "baptizing them (who believed) in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost," and also declaring that those
who would not believe and be baptized "should be dammed." This is not
strange at all, when we fully realize that baptism is "the counsel of
God," and that it was the preceding step requisite to the companionship
of the Holy Ghost which was given "by the laying on of hands."
Paul declared to the Hebrew Saints that these four principles and
ordinances were "the doctrine of Christ," and John writes that
"whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the
Father and the Son." To the consistent mind there should be not the
least shadow of doubt as to the fact that the doctrines here laid down
belonged to and were an essential part of the "old time" Faith.
But this is not all. There was a power, an active perceptible force
of divine origin, which, through the faith of the Saints, manifested
itself in speaking in and interpretation of tongues, prophecy, and
healing of the sick. These manifestations were the "gifts of the Holy
Ghost." Jesus called them "signs," and promised that they should
"follow them that believe," the literal fulfillment of which is
attested by one continuous stream of examples running all through
the New Testament times. God placed them in the Church anciently;
the Saints then enjoyed them; and nowhere has He ordered them to be
withdrawn or announced that they should cease. However, they are not to
be found in so-called Christian churches today, and what more, without
one word of Scriptural support, the preachers of modern times maintain
that they are superfluous and are no longer needed. Superfluous? Why?
No longer needed? Why? Simply because they are not manifest among them,
and that this kind of doctrine in a measure explains away the reason
for their absence; besides, it conforms best to their man-conceived
idea of a god without body, parts or passions. They get from their
god exactly what he is capable of giving them--absolutely nothing. To
be sure such a being could not speak. He has no mouth. He could not
hear, for he has no ears. He could not hate or love, because he has no
passions. Summed right down to the actual thing which the definition
conveys, the only conclusion is that such a god is no god at all.
And since this is the subject of their worship, it isn't unnatural
or unreasonable that he or it, or {541} whatever name by which the
nonentity might be designated, bestows no signs or gifts upon its
worshipers because it is manifestly powerless to act. But one thing
sure and certain, these very "gifts" and "signs" were a part of the
"old time" Faith. They were the blessings of a Heavenly Father poured
out upon those of His children who obeyed the Gospel of His Son Jesus
Christ. They came from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the same
who conversed with our father Adam in the Garden of Eden; the same
whose voice at sundry times was heard, and whose person--but not in
His mortal consuming glory--on many occasions was seen by nearly all
of the prophets spoken of in Holy Writ; the same whose express image,
character and personality were duplicated in the person of His Only
Begotten Son in the flesh--Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!
This, kind sir, sets forth in brief, the component parts of the "old
time" Faith of the ancients, only one principle of which was contended
for in your able editorial copied above. This very faith, we are
pleased to declare unto you, is now upon the earth. That same "personal
and known God who is our Father in Heaven," in company with His Son
Jesus Christ, together in person, visited this earth and conversed face
to face with one whom they chose to represent them among men. They gave
him authority to act in their names; revealed unto him every principle
of the Gospel necessary to man's salvation, and instructed him how
to re-establish their Church in the world; and as a startling and
invincible testimony of the truth of these things, that Church stands
today just as complete in structure, in doctrine and in practice as was
the Church organized on the same principle--revelation--in Jerusalem
nearly two thousand years ago. That Church is the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, and that man, whom the courts of heaven
honored by making him the instrument of restoration, was Joseph Smith,
the latter day prophet of the true and the living God!
Atlanta, your honor, has not been totally lacking in information upon
these matters, because both upon her streets and within several of
her humble halls, modern Elders and Seventies, clothed with that same
authority possessed by their brethren anciently, have defended the
personality of our Father. And this also have they done throughout the
whole civilized world. But like their companion missionaries of former
times, they have been hated and despised, persecuted and mobbed; and
in several instances have they, too, been {542} murdered in cold blood
for the Truth, the name of your own fair state sharing this unholy
record in common with others in this nation. Modern sanctimonious "High
Priests," under the appellation of Christian ministers, like men of
their own stripe in olden times, have been the ring leaders in creating
this prejudice in the minds of the people, and they are responsible
for the war of persecution that has raged and which does now rage
relentlessly against the work of God; and should the Master Himself
visit the earth today He, beyond all question, would rebuke these
modern Scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites in the same language reported
by Matthew in his twenty-third chapter.
The religious Jews, in the days of Jesus, ridiculed and hated the
religion of God brought unto them, and the so-called religious
Christian world of today stands exactly in the same position. It took
a brave heart, an independent spirit and a firm reliance in Jehovah to
embrace an unpopular truth then and become united with the despised
Nazarene, and it requires the same characteristics today to become
associated with the Church of God established in this day through the
instrumentality of the latter day prophet who received his authority
from that same Nazarene.
In conclusion: We offer you the "old time" Faith which has been
restored to the earth, with all the principles, gifts, powers and
authority of ancient times. It holds out to you the opportunity to be
established upon a firm and complete understanding of that "personal
and known God who is our Father in Heaven and who has given us His Son
for a Savior." And what more, we ask you candidly, and earnestly, to
aid us in this revival of the "old time" Faith, that throughout all
the universe may be restored a perfect knowledge of God and of His Son
Jesus Christ, that henceforth and forever may be lowered, both in and
out of the churches, the countless thousands of altars erected to the
"unknown God."
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