authority: also his Wisdom, Goodness, Justice and Mercy--angels and
arch-angels, both in heaven and on earth; and in the earth prophets,
apostles, teachers--all that make for up-lift, for righteousness; all
that catch some ray of the Divine Spirit in poem, music, painting,
sculpture, state-craft or mechanical arts--all these but reflect God
and are a means of multiplying and expressing him, the Divine. And in a
special way, as witness for God, and under very special conditions, the
Holy Ghost, that Being accounted the Third Person of the Godhead--he
reflects and stands for God, his Power, and Wisdom; his Justice, Truth
and Mercy--for all that can be, or is, called God, or is God. All these
means, direct and indirect, convey God into the universe, and keep him
everywhere present in all his essentials of Wisdom, Power and Goodness,
while his bodily presence remains at the center of it all.
LESSON XIII.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD RELATED TO THE ATONEMENT (Continued).
ANALYSIS.
III. Attributes Ascribed to God--Second Group.
1. Wisdom:
2. Holiness;
3. Truth;
4. Justice;
5. Mercy;
6. Love.
IV. The Attributes of God Constitute a Harmony--This Relates Them to
the Atonement.
REFERENCES.
References same as in Lesson XII. Also Scriptures quoted and cited in
the body of this lesson.
_SPECIAL TEXT: "God does not walk in crooked paths, neither does he
turn to the right hand nor to the left, or vary from that which he has
said; therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal
round." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 2:2.)_
DISCUSSION.
There is yet to be considered the attributes of Wisdom, Holiness,
Truth, Justice, Mercy, Love; and these are the attributes referred to
which are more immediately involved in the doctrine of Atonement.
_1. Wisdom:_ Wisdom that arises from knowledge seems essentially
an attribute of Deity; as well from the nature of the attribute as
from the declaration of scripture. God as un-wise is unthinkable;
unpossessed of this attribute, he could not appeal to the consciousness
of man as God at all. Therefore it is agreeable to think with Elihu in
Job, that God "is mighty in strength and wisdom."[A] Also with David:
"O Lord, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom thou hast made them
all: the earth is full of thy riches."[B] And again David: "Great is
our Lord, and great of power; his understanding is infinite."[C] So
Paul: "To God, only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever;"[D]
"The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God;"[E] He says, so high
above the wisdom of men does he esteem the wisdom of God; and even
"the foolishness of God is wiser than men."[F] We may fittingly close
his testimony with his prayer: "Now, unto the King Eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever, and ever.
Amen."[G]
[Footnote A: Job xxvi:5.]
[Footnote B: Psalms cxv:24.]
[Footnote C: Psalms cxvii:5.]
[Footnote D: Rom. xvi:27.]
[Footnote E: I Cor. i:25.]
[Footnote F: I Cor. i:26.]
[Footnote G: I Tim. i:17.]
Worthy to go with this testimony is that of Joseph Smith, in which is
found the same spiritual music: "The Lord is God, and beside him there
is no Savior; great is his Wisdom, marvelous are his ways, and the
extent of his doings none can find out; his purposes fail not, neither
are there any who can stay his hand."[A]
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 76:1-3.]
_2. Holiness:_ "Holiness," as an attribute of God, is equally
indispensable as Wisdom. Equally unthinkable is it that Deity should
not possess it. No marvel that Moses sang, "Who is like unto thee, O
Lord, among the gods, glorious in holiness?"[A] "I am the Lord your
God; * * * ye shall be holy: for I am holy,"[B] was God's word to
ancient Israel. Throughout the scriptures God is spoken of as the
"Holy One of Israel." "Thou art Holy, O thou that inhabitest the
praises in Israel."[C] "Sing unto the Lord * * * at the remembrance
of his Holiness."[D] "God that is Holy shall be sanctified in
righteousness."[E] "And one cried unto another, and said: Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."
Such Isaiah's vision.[F] Both the Old and the New Testaments are
replete with the doctrine. In one of the prophets it is written: "O
Lord, * * * thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
look on iniquity."[G] And again in the scripture: "I the Lord cannot
look upon sin with the least degree of allowance;"[H] which perhaps
more than any other utterance of holy writ, asserts the Holiness of God.
[Footnote A: Ex. xv:11.]
[Footnote B: Lev. xi:44.]
[Footnote C: Psalms xxii:3.]
[Footnote D: Psalms xxx:4.]
[Footnote E: Isaiah v:16.]
[Footnote F: Isaiah vi:3.]
[Footnote G: Hab. i:12,-13.]
[Footnote H: Doc. & Cov., Sec. i:31: "Nevertheless," continues the
passage, "he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall
be forgiven." Showing that while God may not compromise with sin by
looking upon it with any degree of allowance, yet he has compassion
upon the sinner who repents.]
_3. Truth:_ The attribute of "Truth" is ascribed to God; and
here we again come in touch with the absolute, as when speaking of
God's Eternity. God can be no other than absolute in this quality. An
untruthful God! the thought is blasphemy. "God is not a man that he
should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent."[A] "Mercy
and Truth shall go before thy face."[B] "A God of truth and without
iniquity, just and right is he."[C] "Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of Truth."[D] "Abundant in goodness and Truth."[E] So our modern
scriptures: "God does not walk in crooked paths, neither does he
turn to the right hand nor the left, or vary from that which he has
said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal
round."[F] It cannot be emphasized too strongly--God is a God of Truth;
and does not, and cannot lie without ceasing to be God. It would wreck
the moral universe for God to lie. He must _be_, he is TRUTH! "A God of
truth, without iniquity, just and right is he."[G]
[Footnote A: Numbers xxiii:19.]
[Footnote B: Psalms lxxxix:14.]
[Footnote C: Deut. xxxii:4.]
[Footnote D: Psalms xxxi:5.]
[Footnote E: Ex. xxxiv:6.]
[Footnote F: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 3:2.]
[Footnote G: Deut. xxxii:4.]
_4. Justice:_ "Justice," as an attribute, is of the same quality
as the attribute of Truth--it must be conceived as absolute in Deity.
God not just! The thought would be blasphemous. Of course we have
scripture warrant for the doctrine: "Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne."[A] "There is no God beside me: a Just God
and a Savior."[B] "The Just God is in the midst thereof."[C] "Behold
thy King cometh unto thee: he is Just and having salvation."[D]
[Footnote A: Psalms lxxxix:14.]
[Footnote B: Isaiah xv:21.]
[Footnote C: Zech. iii:5.]
[Footnote D: Zech. ix:9.]
_5. Mercy:_ "Mercy" as an attribute of God is in a class with
Truth and Justice and Holiness. A God without compassion--only another
name for mercy--would be a monstrosity. No, God must be Merciful! Else
what shall become of man? God not merciful! It is unthinkable, that is
all. The quality of Mercy as an attribute of God is not strained;
"It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest;
It blesses him that gives, and him that takes;
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
* * * It is an attribute to God himself!"
"Mercy and truth shall go before his face," is the testimony of the
Psalmist.[A] "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The
Lord, the Lord God, Merciful and gracious."[B] "But thou art a God
ready to pardon, gracious and merciful."[C]
[Footnote A: Psalms lxxxix:14.]
[Footnote B: Ex. xxxiv:6.]
[Footnote C: Neh. ix:17.]
_6. Love:_ Love! the crowning glory of all the attributes of
God! We may revel in this attribute. "He that loveth not, knoweth not
God; for God is Love!"[A] "God is Love, and he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him."[B] "Every one that loveth is born of
God."[C] "In this was manifested the Love of God towards us, because
that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live
through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved
us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins."[D]
[Footnote A: I John iv:8.]
[Footnote B: I John iv:16.]
[Footnote C: St. John iii:16.]
[Footnote D: I John iv:9,10.]
"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life."[A] More perfect evidence than this of love, even God cannot give.
[Footnote A: St. John iii:16.]
_7. The Harmony of God's Attributes:_ These attributes as well as
those considered in lesson XII, must be thought upon as constituting a
harmony; those with the existences as real and eternal as themselves;
these with reference to harmony within or among themselves. Thus
Justice may not deny the claims of Mercy. Mercy may not rob Justice.
Even Love may not allow God to intrude upon Justice, or Wisdom or
Truth. At the same time it must be remembered that Mercy and Love, no
less than Justice, are attributes of God and somehow and somewhere must
find entrance into the divine economy, must get themselves expressed
and that worthily; worthy of their intrinsic nature, and worthy of God
in whom they inhere. And while "all must be law" or at least in harmony
with law; all "must be love," in harmony with love--for God, from first
to last, is Love.
The attributes of God must be preserved in perfect accord if the moral
harmony of the universe is to be maintained. It is these considerations
which unite the attributes of God with the subject of Atonement.
If God's moral government of the universe is, like his physical
government, one of law, then Law, not personal, arbitrary, capricious
Will must rule.
LESSON XIV.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE REIGN OF LAW.[A]
ANALYSIS.
I. The Government of the Universe--Two Methods Conceived of:
1. By Unvarying Law;
2. By Special Providence.
II. Harmonization of Government by Unvarying Law, and the Existence of
Special Providence.
1. Misconception of Unvarying Law; Laws Have Their Limitations.
2. Misconception of "Miracles."
III. The New Dispensation--Its Prophet and Doctrine Committed to the
Reign of Law in Both the Physical and the Spiritual World.
REFERENCES.
Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88; also Sec. 130.
A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology (White); Conflict
Between Religion and Science (Draper); Natural Law in the Spiritual
World (Drummond).
Joseph Smith, the Prophet-Teacher (Roberts), pp. 42-49.
Studies in Religion (Fiske), pp. 158-169, 337, 338.
_SPECIAL TEXT: "There are many kingdoms, and to every kingdom is given
a law; and to every law there are certain bounds also, and conditions.
All beings who abide not in those conditions [i. e., laws] are not
justified." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88:37-39.)_
DISCUSSION.
_1. Government of the Universe--(A) By Unvarying Law:_ "Two
interpretations may be given of the mode of government of the world,"
says Professor John W. Draper.
[Footnote A: "The fundamental conception of law is an ascertained
working sequence or constant order among the phenomena of nature.
* * "The laws of nature are simply statements of the orderly condition
of things in nature, what is found in nature by a sufficient number of
competent observers.
"And despite the limitations of its sphere on every side, Law is still
the largest, richest, and surest source of human knowledge." (Henry
Drummond: Natural Law in the Spiritual World, Introduction, pp. 4, 5.)]
"It may be by incessant, divine interventions, or by the operation of
unvarying law." The former view is held by Draper to be the view of
the Roman religion (pre-Christian); and later of the Roman Christian
religion. A priesthood, he holds, will always incline to the theory
of "divine interventions," "since it must desire to be considered as
standing between the prayer of the votary and the providential act."
"Not without reason, therefore," he continues, "did they [the priests]
look upon the doctrine of government by 'unvarying law' with disfavor."
And then continues in the following manner:
_2. Draper's View--Unvarying Law:_ "The orderly movement of
the heavens could not fail in all ages to make a deep impression on
thoughtful observers--the rising and setting of the sun; the increasing
or diminishing light of the day; the waxing and waning of the moon; the
return of the seasons in their proper course; the measured march of the
wandering planets in the sky--what are all these and a thousand such,
but manifestations of an orderly and unchanging procession of events?
The faith of early observers in this interpretation may perhaps have
been shaken by the occurrence of such a phenomenon as an eclipse, a
sudden and mysterious breach of the ordinary course of events; but it
would be resumed in tenfold strength as soon as the discovery was made
that eclipses themselves recur, and may be predicted.
"Astronomical predictions of all kinds depend upon the admission of
this fact--that there never has been and never will be any intervention
in the operation of natural laws. The scientific philosopher affirms
that the condition of the world at any given moment is the direct
result of its condition in the preceding moment, and the direct cause
of its condition in the subsequent moment."[A]
[Footnote A: Conflict Between Religion and Science, p. 229.]
In the remainder of the chapter here quoted, Draper traces the struggle
between the idea of government by special Providence and government
by "unvarying law." until the latter triumphs in modern thought and
science.
_3. White's View--Unvarying Law:_ To the same purpose, Andrew D.
White, once professor of History at Cornell University, and President
of the University for twenty-five years, published his great work, "A
History of the Warfare of Science with Theology,"[A] The title of a few
of the chapters will show the drift of the thought: "From Creation to
Evolution," "From 'Signs and Wonders' to Law in Heaven," "From Genesis
to Geology," "From Magic to Chemistry and Physics," "From Miracles to
Medicine," and so following.
[Footnote A: The Work is in Two Volumes, Appleton and Co., 1903.]
_4. John Fiske's View--Unvarying Law:_ Of course John Fiske (and
the same may be said practically of all our modern scientists and
philosophers) inclines to the same view--government of the universe by
"unvarying law." Fiske describes the effect of the modern intellectual
movement to be "to discredit more than ever before the Latin idea
of God as a power outside of the course of nature and occasionally
interfering with it. In all directions the process of evolution has
been discovered, working after similar methods, and this has forced
upon us the belief in the Unity of Nature. We are thus driven to the
Greek conception of God as the power working in and through nature,
without interference or infraction of law. We have so far spelled out
the history of creation as to see that all has been done in strict
accordance with law. * * * So beautiful is all this orderly coherence, so
satisfying to some of our intellectual needs, that many minds are
inclined to doubt if anything more can be said of the universe than
that it is a Reign of Law, an endless aggregate of coexistences and
sequences."[A]
[Footnote A: Studies in Religion, pp. 337-8.]
_5. Henry Drummond's View--Unvarying Law:_ Drummond, in 1893,
published his "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," with a view, as
the title suggests, of bringing the phenomena of the spirit-world into
harmony with the modern scientific conceptions that obtain respecting
the natural world. His self-imposed task was to "demonstrate the
naturalness of the supernatural;" that the natural and the spiritual
world are one. Drummond's conception was a noble one, and resulted in
the production of a very notable and convincing work, though meeting in
some quarters with the impatience that attaches to works of its class,
viz., the class that attempts to work out harmony between science and
religion; or between the natural and the spiritual world.[A]
[Footnote A: Thus Andrew D. White, in his "Warfare of Science
with Theology," speaking of the phases of theological attack upon
science, represents the third and the last--as "an attempt" at
compromise--"compromise by means of far-fetched reconciliations of
textual statements with ascertained fact" (Warfare, Vol. I, p. 218).
That Drummond himself was aware that these "attempts at compromise"
of the differences between science and religion, or the "natural and
spiritual world," is evident from his preface, where he says: "No class
of works is received with more suspicion, I had almost said derision,
than those which deal with Science and Religion. Science is tired
of reconciliations between two things which never should have been
contrasted. Religion is offended by the patronage of an ally which it
professes not to need; and the critics have rightly discovered that,
in most cases where Science is either pitted against Religion or fused
with it, there is some fatal misconception to begin with as to the
scope and province of either."]
_6. Difficulties in the Way of Government by Unvarying Law; (1)
Limitations of Laws:_ The difficulties between the conception of
government of the world by "unvarying law," and the facts of man's
spiritual or religious experiences, which seems at times to be in
contravention of law, answers to prayer, healing the sick through
faith, foreknowledge of coming events, and the like, would disappear
if only men would recognize the fact that laws have their limitations;
and that laws in nature known to us may have their force broken or
counteracted by the operation of other forces. For example: the power
of ocean currents and the winds to carry objects with them in the
direction of their movement is overcome by another force, though no
less operating under law, viz., the force found in steam; the force
of gravitation by the levitating power of gas; the natural tendency
of water to seek its level by evaporation and the absorbing power of
the atmosphere, are examples. This principle of "law being governed
by law," was taught by Joseph Smith as early as 1832, in a revelation
received in that year, and in which it was said: "Unto every kingdom
is given a law; _and unto every law there are certain bounds also and
conditions_." The context of the passage makes it clear that "kingdoms"
here are not groups of men or nations over which a monarch reigns; but
substances, matter; worlds and world-systems, and their inhabitants
under the dominion of law; the universe considered in its divisions
and subdivisions. "Verily I say unto you," continues the revelation,
"he [God] hath given a law unto all things by which they move in their
times and their seasons; and their courses are fixed; even the courses
of the heavens and the earth, which comprehend the earth and all the
planets."[A] And yet these laws have their metes and bounds, their
limitations; fixed, however, by the operation of other laws, not by the
arbitrary will of an absolute monarch.
[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. 88:42, 43.]
_(2) "Miracles" Part of the Divine Economy:_ The criticism of
religionists on the conception of the government of the universe by
the operation of "unvarying law," is that it bars out of the economy
of things any place for the special providences of God; destroys all
value in prayer; and eliminates miracles. To which the answer is "Not
at all!" The whole seeming difficulty arises from a misconception of
the means by which the providences of God are wrought; and the means
by which socalled "miracles" are brought to pass. This subdivision
of the subject may be treated under a brief discussion of "Miracles"
usually defined to be an "event in derogation of the laws of nature."
What I have said elsewhere upon this subject will answer my purpose
here.[A] There is a general misapprehension of the term miracle.
It is usually understood as "an event or effect contrary to the
established constitution and course of things, or a deviation from
the known laws of nature." Renan defines a miracle to be, "not simply
the inexplicable, it is a formal derogation from recognized laws in
the name of a particular desire." What is especially faulty in these
definitions is this: Miracles are held to be events outside or contrary
to the laws of nature. Let us examine this:
[Footnote A: "New Witnesses for God," Vol. I, p. 252.]
Two hundred years ago the only motive powers known to ocean navigators
were wind and the ocean currents. Suppose at that time those old
mariners had seen one of our modern ocean steamers running against
both ocean currents and the wind, and, withal, making better speed, in
spite of both wind and tide than the old sailing vessel could match
even when running before the wind and the ocean currents in her favor.
What would have been the effect on the mind of the old-time sailor? "It
is a miracle!" he would have exclaimed; that is, it would have been an
"effect contrary to the established constitution and course of things,"
"a derogation from recognized laws." But is such an effect to us who
know something of the force of steam contrary to the laws of nature?
No; it is simply the employment of forces in nature of which the
old-time mariner was ignorant; and while it would have been a miracle
to him, to us it is merely the application of a newly-discovered force
of nature, and it is now so common that we cease to look upon it with
wonder. So with the things that we in our ignorance call miracles--such
as healing the sick, restoring the blind to sight, making the lame
to walk, through exercise of faith; and the resurrection of the
dead--instead of these things being in "derogation from recognized
laws, we shall yet learn that they are done simply by the application
of laws of which we are as yet in ignorance."[A] With man's limited
knowledge of the laws of nature, how presumptuous it is in him to say
that the healing of the sick or even the resurrection of the dead are
in "derogation of the laws of nature," or that deviation from those
few laws of nature with which he is acquainted will never happen, or
is impossible! Better reasoners are they who, like George Rawlinson,
say: "Miraculous interpositions on fitting occasions may be as much a
regular, fixed, and established rule of his [God's] government, as the
working ordinarily by what are called natural laws." In other words,
what we in our ignorance call miracles, are to God merely the results
of the application of higher laws or forces of nature not yet learned
by man. Miracles are to be viewed as a part of the divine economy.
[Footnote A: "In the progress of science, all phenomena have been
shown, by indisputable evidence, to be amenable to law, and even in the
cases in which those laws have not yet been exactly ascertained, delay
in ascertaining them is fully accounted for by the special difficulties
of the subject; the defenders of miracles have adapted their argument
to this altered state of things, by maintaining that a miracle need
not necessarily be a violation of law. It may, they say, take place in
fulfilment of a more recondite law, to us unknown.
"If by this it be only meant that the Divine Being, in the exercise
of his power of interfering with and suspending his own laws, guides
himself by some general principle or rule of action, this, of course,
cannot be disproved, and is in itself the most probable supposition."
("Theism," in "Three Essays on Religion"--Mill,--pp. 223-4.)
Shedd treats upon the same theme and much in the same spirit; "The
miracle is not contrary to all nature but only to nature as known to
us," he represents the Apologists of early Christianity as saying, and
then quotes a long and admirable passage from Augustine. ("History of
Christian Doctrine," Vol. I, pp. 167-169.)]
_3. The New Dispensation Committed to the Reign of Law:_ The
Prophet of the New Dispensation, as we have seen, taught the doctrine
of the reign of law in God's universe; and not alone in the physical or
natural universe, but as well in the spiritual and moral phases of that
universe.