EVIDENCE OF DIVINE INSPIRATION IN JOSEPH SMITH DERIVED FROM THE
PROPHET'S TEACHING IN REGARD TO THE EXTENT OF THE UNIVERSE, MAN'S PLACE
IN IT, AND HIS DOCTRINE RESPECTING THE GODS--CONTINUED.
Before entering into an exposition of those doctrines taught by Joseph
Smith in respect to the construction of the universe, man's place in it
and the Gods, it is necessary to remind the reader that the prophet was
reared and spent his life in the midst of environments which utterly
separated him from all possible connection with the scientific thought
of the age in which he lived. The western wilds of the state of New
York in the eighteen-twenties and thirties, the wilderness of Ohio,
the frontiers of Missouri and Illinois were not the centres of thought
on astronomy and other scientific subjects; nor was a man engaged in
the great affairs of a new and struggling religious society, hunted by
his enemies, often betrayed by men whom he trusted, and constantly on
the move, in any condition to give his attention to scientific thought
had he lived in the very centres of its agitation. Moreover, some of
the things that the prophet announced as revelation concerning the
universe, the movements of planetary systems and their habitability are
not even yet commonly accepted by scientists. Only the most advanced of
astronomers admit the possibility of these things, and that with great
caution. [1]
I. Joseph Smith taught that space is infinite, and that there are no
outside curtains to it--no limits--no place beyond its bounds. As it
was at creation's dawn so it is now and ever will remain, incapable
of extension or contraction--a limitless vastness to which nothing
can be added by way of extension. It is without a centre, without a
circumference. Let reason, aided by the imagination, do all it can,
no other conception regarding space can be formed. Astronomers tell
us that between our earth and the sun there are ninety-two millions
of miles of space. What is beyond the sun in a straight line from us?
Space. Ninety-two million miles of it? Aye, and if ninety-two millions
of miles be multiplied by ninety-two millions, the space in a direct
line from us beyond the sun would not begin to be measured!
But I am weary of measuring distances by such a paltry unit as a mile,
let us pluck a ray of light from the sun to aid us in our measurements.
Scientists tell us that in one beat of the pendulum a ray of light
would pass eight times round the circumference of the earth, or
198,000 miles! Yet from _Alpha Centauri,_ the brightest star in the
constellation of the _Centaur_ and of the fixed stars the nearest to
the earth--it would take its light about three and a half years to
reach us. "It has also been estimated that it would take light over
sixteen years to reach us from _Sirius,_ about eighteen years to reach
us from _Vega,_ about twenty-five years from _Arcturus_ and over forty
years from the _Pole-Star_." [2]
These are stars whose distances from the earth have been carefully
ascertained. But if these stars nearest to the earth are at such an
immense distance from us that figures fail to convey to the mind any
adequate idea of its immensity, what of those clusters of stars of
which astronomers speak as only being visible through the most powerful
telescopes, and that are at such immeasurable distances that it would
require a million of years for a ray of light to reach us from them!
[3] So much space is between us and them--what is beyond those distant
groups of stars in a direct line from us? Space; and as much of it
on the other side of them as on this side; just as there is as much
beyond our earth in a straight line from them as there is between our
earth and those distant groups of stars. But why attempt to describe
the infinite? It is a hopeless task; and as space is infinite, it is
useless to attempt to describe it. Let imagination fancy it as vast
as it can, but it is still vaster than that. There are heights in it
to which even in thought the mind cannot ascend; there are depths in
it which imagination even cannot fathom. What is here set down is not
written with the hope of describing space, but only to aid minds not
accustomed to think upon such themes to mentally grasp the self-evident
truth that space is limitless. That to some minds may be a difficult
thought, but it is more difficult to conceive bounds to space; and the
effort to do so will result in bringing a consciousness of the truth
that space is absolutely without limits.
II. In this limitless space Joseph Smith taught that there are
inexhaustible quantities of matter; that matter is eternal; it always
existed, it always will exist in some form or other--some of it as
suns, earths and their satellites, and immeasurable quantities of it
in unorganized masses, or thinly distributed throughout the immensity
of space. As space cannot be extended or contracted, so the sum-total
of matter cannot be increased by so much as an atom, nor can one
atom of it be destroyed. It may be put through innumerable changes,
organized into worlds and systems of worlds, and then resolved again
into unorganized elements, but these changes neither increase the sum
total of matter nor annihilate a single atom of it. He who asserts the
eternity of matter, at the same time asserts the impossibility of its
creation from nothing, and also its indestructibility.
The discovery of the immense quantity of matter in space by astronomers
goes far towards establishing the truth of its infinitude and eternity;
just as their measurements of immense distances go far towards
establishing in the mind the conception that space is limitless.
When the geocentric theory prevailed, men had only a very narrow
conception of the amount of matter that really existed, just as they
had but a meagre conception of the extent of space. But when through
the successive speculation and discoveries of Cusa, Copernicus, Bruno
and Galileo, the conception that the earth is the immovable centre
of the universe to attend upon which the sun and all the stars were
created, was displaced by the truth that the earth is but one of the
smaller of a number of planets that revolve around the sun; that the
sun with its retinue of planets is but one of the stars that make up
the galaxy that spans the heavens--each of which is a sun and doubtless
the centre of a planetary system; [4] when the telescope increased to
man's vision the number of such suns from five thousand visible to the
naked eye, to thirty or fifty millions, he began to be aware of the
vast amount of matter distributed in space which makes up the visible
universe.
But beyond the faintest stars that can be discerned, the telescope
reveals the existence of masses of soft, diffused light of greater or
less extent, to which astronomers have given the name of nebulae. Many
nebulae which once were set down as masses of unorganized matter, when
more powerful telescopes were turned upon them, were resolved into star
clusters, and for a time it was thought that all that was needed to
discover that all nebulae were star clusters was still more powerful
telescopes. This opinion is now, however, abandoned, since another
means of determining the character of these hazy patches of light
exists, viz., the spectroscope. In 1846 it was discovered by Dr. John
William Draper, that the spectrum of an ignited solid is continuous,
and as it was already known through the careful experiments of
Fraunhofer that the spectrum of ignited gases is discontinuous, a means
was furnished by the discovery of Dr. Draper for "determining whether
light emitted by a given nebulae comes from an incandescent gas, or
from a congeries of ignited solids, stars, or suns. If the spectrum be
discontinuous, it is a true nebulae or gas; if continuous a congeries
of stars." [5]
Observations of nebulae by means of the spectroscope since this
discovery have resulted in some of them giving discontinuous or
gaseous spectre, others continuous ones; and accordingly the nebulae
of the former class have been set down as true nebulae or gas, and
the latter as star clusters, too distant to be resolved by our most
powerful telescopes into separate stars to the vision. The revelations
of the spectroscope in this particular are accepted by scientists as
"demonstrating the existence of vast masses of matter in a gaseous
condition, and at a temperature of incandescence;" and it is suggested
by Draper that in some of those gleaming apparitions we see the
genesis, and in others the melting away of universes. However that
may be, the extended view of the amount and diversity of matter in
space afforded us by means of the discoveries of scientists through
the instrumentality of telescopes and spectroscopes, helps the mind to
comprehend the infinitude and eternity of it; and prepares the way for
the acceptance of the great truth announced in one of God's revelations
to Joseph Smith--"_There are many kingdoms; for there is no space where
there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no
space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom_." [6]
While on this subject of "matter" it may be as well to state that the
prophet taught that "There is no such thing as immaterial matter. All
spirit is matter," said he, "but it is more fine or pure, and can only
be discerned by purer eyes. We cannot see it; but when our bodies are
purified, we shall see that it is all matter." [7]
That there is no such thing as "immaterial matter" is a self-evident
truth; and either we must affirm the materiality of spirit, or deny
its existence; for what would an immaterial spirit be? the same as
immaterial fire or water or atmosphere. To say that any one of the
substances named is immaterial is to deny its existence. If it shall be
said that intelligence or love is immaterial, the answer would be that
neither intelligence nor love is matter, but a property of matter--an
attribute of spirits, just as motion or weight is a property of matter.
Running parallel with boundless space and limitless and eternal matter
is eternal duration, according to the teaching of the prophet. Eternal
duration of time is of that class of truths called "necessary truths,"
because it is impossible to conceive the contrary; that is, we cannot
conceive of duration having a beginning. Starting with today for a
unit, I ask, what preceded it? Yesterday, I am answered. And what will
follow it? Tomorrow. What preceded this present year? Last year. And
what will follow it? Next year. What preceded this present century?
Last century. What preceded the present millennium? Last millennium.
And what will follow it? Another millennium. So I might continue to
go on questioning and answering, constantly enlarging the periods,
yet getting no nearer to the beginning of the past, nor to the end of
future time. As in starting from any given point in space, and going
with the velocity of light or thought in opposite directions, would
never take us to the point where space is not extended, so starting
from any given point in duration, and going in opposite directions,
though our mental strides be a million years each we should never
arrive at the beginning nor the end of time. It has neither, it is
eternal.
Of course there is relative duration, which has a beginning and an end,
such as the period between that moment, when the chaotic mass of matter
out of which a solar system was made began to break up into rings and
condense into a sun and its planets and their satellites, and that
moment when it may be resolved again into such a mass. Such a period
may have a beginning and an end. There is also relative space which may
have a point where it begins and another where it ends, such as space
between our earth and the sun. But I have been speaking of absolute
space and duration, not of relative, and the one is as limitless as the
other is eternal.
I shall be told that in all this there is nothing new; that the
philosophers, at least of the materialistic school, believe and teach
all this. Be it so, they thus far teach the truth, at which they have
arrived by the slow and painful pathway of experiment and discovery.
Wholly separated from them and independent of them, the youthful
prophet Joseph Smith learned the same truths by the inspiration of
God, and taught them to his followers fifty and sixty years ago in the
wilderness of New York and Ohio. But he went beyond the philosophers as
I am now to prove.
First, Lambert and Madler, as we have seen, conjectured that the
so-called fixed stars of our galaxy were each the centre of groups of
planets and with their retinue revolved about some greater centre,
somewhere in the universe. Lambert's conjectures provided opaque
centres, while Madler selected _Alcyone_ of the constellation Pleiades
as the centre of the steller universe. Astronomers regard these
conjectures as baseless speculation, but cannot deny the possibility
of them. They say that such may be the plan on which the universe
is constructed, but they have no proof of it. They admit that their
discoveries prove a movement of the stars, but they are unable to
determine its character. But what the speculative philosophers
advanced as conjecture and the working astronomers of today admit
only as possible, more than half a century ago Joseph Smith taught as
revelation from God. That is, he taught that among the stars commonly
called fixed stars there are certain great ones which govern the
smaller ones in their times and revolutions, or are the centres about
which they revolve; that there is pre-eminently one great central
body around which even these great ones with their attendant systems
revolve, and that this governs all the planetary systems of the order
to which our earth belongs.
To put the statement in another form, for the sake of clearness, as
the eight planets with their attendant satellites which form our solar
system revolve around the sun, so the sun with all his attendant
planets is one of a number of such systems which revolve around a still
greater centre; and that centre with its attendant systems is but one
of a number of such systems which revolve around the pre-eminently
great central body--to which reference has been made--that God has set
to govern all those planetary systems that belong to the same order as
our own.
Second, Joseph Smith taught that all these worlds and systems of worlds
are under the dominion of law, by which they move in their times and
their seasons; "that their courses are fixed, even the courses of the
heavens and the earth--which comprehend the earth and all the planets.
And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons,
in their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in
their months, in their years: all these are one year with God, but not
with man." [8] But while the prophet proclaimed the universal dominion
of law, he also proclaimed that "unto every law there are certain
bounds also and conditions;" [9] by which I understand that even law
is governed by law. That as systems upon systems of universes rise one
above another, so also do the laws by which they are governed, so that
which to us often seems a violation of law, is but the application of
higher laws of which we are wholly or in part ignorant.
Third, the prophet taught that these worlds and systems of worlds, of
which I have spoken, were inhabited. [10] The learned scientists of
today in dealing with the question, "are the innumerable worlds in the
universe revealed to you by your powerful telescopes inhabited?" can
only give as an answer a doubtful "perhaps." One of the scientists,
a leading astronomer, thus gives his conclusions after a long review
of the question: "It seems, therefore, so far as we can reason from
analogy, that the probabilities are in favor of only a very small
fraction of the planets being peopled with intelligent beings. But
when we reflect that the possible number of the planets is counted by
hundreds of millions, this small fraction may be really a large number,
and among this number many may be peopled by beings much higher than
ourselves in the intellectual scale. Here we may give free rein to our
imagination with the moral certainty that science will supply nothing
tending either to prove or disprove any of its fancies." [11] This
is the best that science can do. The habitability of other worlds to
science is a proposition more or less doubtful; but the teachings of
the Prophet Joseph are clear and positive upon the subject as far back
as 1832. [12]
Fourth, the prophet taught that all these inhabitants had their own
times and seasons, days and years, etc., according to the revolutions
of the planets on which they reside. [13]
Fifth, that the Creator of all these worlds and systems of worlds will
visit them each in turn. The revelation which teaches this doctrine
refers to those worlds or planets that constitute the universe as
"kingdoms" which the Lord likens unto a man having a field, "and he
sent forth his servants into the field to dig in the field; and he said
unto the first, go ye and labor in the field, and in the first hour
I will come unto you, and ye shall behold the joy of my countenance.
And he said unto the second, go ye also into the field, and in the
second hour I will visit you with the joy of my countenance; and also
unto the third, saying, I will visit you; and unto the fourth; and so
on unto the twelfth. And the Lord of the field went unto the first
in the first hour, and tarried with him all that hour, and he was
made glad with the light of the countenance of his Lord. And then he
withdrew from the first that he might visit the second also, and the
third and the fourth, and so on unto the twelfth; and thus they all
received the light of the countenance of their Lord; every man in his
hour, and in his time, and in his season, beginning at the first and
so on unto the last, and from the last unto the first, and from the
first to the last--every man in his order, until his hour was finished
even according as his Lord had commanded him, that his Lord might be
glorified in him, and he [the servant] in him [the Lord], that they all
might be glorified. Therefore unto this parable will I liken all these
kingdoms [worlds] and the inhabitants thereof; every kingdom in its
hour and in its time and in its season; even according to the decree
which God hath made." [14]
Sixth, the prophet taught that the earth and the heavens at least as
they are now constituted, will pass away; that afterwards the earth
will be re-created and made an immortal or celestial world; and the
righteous inhabit it as an eternal abode. This is the language of
the revelation which teaches the doctrine--"Verily I say unto you,
the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the
measure of its creation and transgresseth not the law. Wherefore it
shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be
quickened, again and the righteous shall inherit it. [15]
"And the earth shall pass away so as by fire. * * * * And every
corruptible thing, both of man or the beasts of the field, or the fowls
of the heavens, or the fish of the sea, that dwell upon all the face
of the earth, shall be consumed; and also the elements shall melt with
fervent heat; and all things shall become new, that my [the Lord's]
knowledge and glory may dwell upon all the earth." [16] In a revelation
given to Joseph Smith making known to him more fully the visions which
the Lord gave to Moses in the mount, and from which Moses wrote his
account of creation in the book of Genesis, the Lord is represented as
saying: "And worlds without number have I created. * * * But only an
account of this earth and the inhabitants thereof give I unto you. For
behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my
power. * * * And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying, the heavens
they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man, but they are
numbered unto me, for they are mine, and as one earth shall pass away,
and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come; and there is no
end to my work." [17]
Seventh, the prophet taught that the "earth in its sanctified and
immortal state will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and
Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things
pertaining to an inferior kingdom [world], or all kingdoms [worlds]
of a lower order will be manifest to those who dwell on it;" and that
through the means of Urim and Thummim these inhabitants of the earth in
its celestial state will learn of things pertaining to the higher order
of kingdoms or universes. [18]
These doctrines concerning the earth and the universe will be found
scattered through the revelations received by the prophet as quoted
in the margin of the respective pages of this book devoted to their
consideration, except the first, which, from the importance of the
matter with which it deals, viz.: the movements of planetary systems
around great centres, and these great centres with their attendant
systems around some pre-eminently great centre--as well as from the
peculiar manner by which he came into possession of the information,
requires special consideration.
The construction and movements of the planetary systems herein
described as the teaching of the prophet Joseph Smith makes no
pretension to being new doctrine. The prophet rather proclaims that
the ancients were familiar with it. Such was the construction of
the universe as taught to the Egyptians by Abraham; and Joseph
Smith learned it from the "Book of Abraham," a record written by
that patriarch, and which came into the hands of the prophet in the
following manner:
The records were obtained from one of the catacombs in Egypt, near
the place where once stood the renowned city of Thebes, by a French
traveler named Antonio Sebolo, in the year 1831. He procured license
from Mehemet Ali, the viceroy of Egypt, under the protection of
Chevalier Drovetti, the French Consul, in the year 1828. He employed
four hundred and thirty-three men; and after four months and two days'
hard work, entered the catacomb June 7th, 1831, and obtained eleven
mummies. There were several hundred mummies in the same catacomb; about
one hundred embalmed after the first order, and placed in niches,
and two or three hundred after the second and third orders, and laid
upon the floor or bottom of the ground cavity. The last two orders of
embalmed were so decayed, that they could not be handled, and only
eleven of the first order found in niches were well enough preserved to
be removed.
On his way from Alexandria to Paris, Sebolo put in at Trieste, and,
after ten days' illness, died. This was in the year 1832. Previous to
his decease, he made a will of his whole collection of mummies to Mr.
Michael H. Chandler (then in Philadelphia, Pa.), his nephew, whom he
supposed to be in Ireland. Accordingly the mummies were sent to Dublin,
and Mr. Chandler's friends ordered them to New York, where they were
received at the custom house in the winter or spring of 1833. In April
of the same year, Mr. Chandler paid the duties, and took possession of
his treasures. [19] Up to this time they had not been taken out of the
coffins, nor the coffins opened. On opening the coffins, Mr. Chandler
discovered that in connection with two of the bodies, was something
rolled up with the same kind of linen, saturated with the same bitumen,
which when examined, proved to be two rolls of papyrus, filled with
hieroglyphics and characters or letters somewhat like the present form
of the Hebrew. All the hieroglyphics were beautifully written with
black and a small part with red ink or paint. Two or three other small
pieces of papyrus with astronomical calculations, epitaphs, etc., were
found with the other mummies. Mr. Chandler traveled with his mummies
exhibiting them and the rolls of papyrus in the principal cities of
the eastern states, and in July, 1835, arrived at Kirtland, where the
ability of Joseph Smith to translate ancient languages by a divine gift
being known, Mr. Chandler submitted to him some of the characters,
which the prophet translated.
A few days later some of the Saints in Kirtland purchased the mummies
and rolls of papyrus of Mr. Chandler; and the Prophet Joseph with W. W.
Phelps and Oliver Cowdery acting as scribes commenced the translation
of the rolls, when to their joy they found that one of them contained
the writings of Abraham, and the other of Joseph, who was sold into
Egypt by his brethren. [20]
As soon as it was announced that the prophet had come into possession
of another ancient record in the manner above described, it was rumored
about that he pretended to be in possession of the bodies of Abraham,
Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, Joseph who was sold into
Egypt, etc. These false rumors the prophet corrected by saying of the
mummies which had so strangely come into his possession--"Who these
ancient inhabitants of Egypt were, I do not at present say. Abraham was
buried on his own possession in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of
Ephron, the son of Zohah, the Hittite, which is before Mamre, which he
purchased of the sons of Heth. Abimelech lived in the same country,
and for aught we know died there; and the children of Israel carried
Joseph's bones from Egypt, when they went out under Moses; consequently
they could not have been found in Egypt in the nineteenth century."
[21] Then follows the account of the finding of the record as already
recited in preceding paragraphs.
Some parts of the "Book of Abraham" the prophet translated and
published, but if he translated the writings of Joseph they have not
been published. From the fragments of the writings of Abraham thus
brought to light the prophet learned the construction of the universe
that I have set down in these pages. Abraham received his knowledge of
the wonderful works of God as seen in the planetary and stellar worlds
by revelation from God through the Urim and Thummim, an instrument by
means of which God revealed knowledge to the ancient patriarchs and
prophets. [22] One of the principal passages in the writings of Abraham
which teaches the principles of astronomy is as follows:
"And I, Abraham, had the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord my God had
given unto me, in Ur of the Chaldees; and I saw the stars that they
were very great, _and that one of them was nearest unto the throne of
God; and the Lord said unto me, these are the governing ones; and the
name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me. * * * I
have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order
of that upon thou standest._ And the Lord said unto me, by Urim and
Thummim, that Kolob was after the manner of the Lord, according to its
times and seasons in the revolutions thereof, that one revolution was a
day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand
years according to the time appointed unto that whereon thou standest.
This is the reckoning of the Lord's time, according to the reckoning of
Kolob." [23]
In this passage will be found the germ of that system of the
construction and movement of planetary systems that make up the
universe, set forth in the teachings of Joseph Smith. Here it may
be seen that there are many great stars--the "governing ones,"
near together, and from among them rises one pre-eminent in
greatness--Kolob--which governs all the rest that are of the same order
as that to which our solar system belongs.
From other fragments translated from the writings of Abraham on the
roll of papyrus we learn that a star called by the Egyptians "Oliblish"
stands next to Kolob--that it is the next grand, governing creation;
that it is equal to Kolob in its revolutions and in the measurement of
time; that it holds the keys of power as pertaining to other planets.
[24]
Another governing star in this Abrahamic system is Enish-go-on-dosh,
"said by the ancient Egyptians to be the sun, and to borrow [receive]
its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash. * * *
Kae-e-vanrash is the grand key or governing power which governs fifteen
other fixed planets or stars, as also the moon (Floeese), the earth
and the sun in their annual revolutions. * * * Kae-e-vanrash receives
its power through Kli-flos-is-es or Hah-ko-kau-beam. Kli-flos-is-es
and Hah-ko-kau-beam receive their light from the revolutions of
Kolob." [25] From the foregoing it appears that our solar system, the
governing planet of which--the sun--is known in this Abrahamic system
as Enish-go-on-dosh, is governed by, or has for a centre around which
it revolves a star known as Kae-e-vanrash. Kae-e-vanrash is governed
by or has for a centre around which it revolves, together with its
attendant systems of worlds, Kli-flos-is-es or Hah-ko-kau-beam; and
these two stars with their attendant systems are governed by or revolve
around Kolob, the great centre of that part of the universe to which
our planetary system belongs.
Of course these names of governing stars are of but little importance
to us at present because of our inability to identify them with those
"fixed" stars known to us under other names; but this Abrahamic system
of the construction of the universe and movement of planetary systems,
revealed to the world by Joseph Smith certainly presents the grandest
ideas of the scale on which the universe is constructed, and the power
and majesty of the laws by which it is governed. It is true that Kant,
Lambert and Madler somewhat approached the Abrahamic system in their
speculations, but what they advanced as conjecture, the Prophet Joseph
Smith taught as divine truth, as revelation.
It is over half a century since the Abrahamic system was first
announced by the prophet; and it is interesting to note the fact
that though the heavens have been constantly searched by powerful
telescopes during that time, nothing has yet been discovered which
at all conflicts with it. On the contrary, as we have seen, much has
been learned which tends to confirm it. What God has revealed on this
most important and interesting branch of knowledge far outstrips what
scientists have learned or speculative philosophers have conjectured;
and with confidence those who accept that revelation may watch the slow
but important discoveries of astronomers which will yet demonstrate the
truth of that system which God has revealed.
It represents the universe as planned on a scale so magnificent that
it is worthy of the intelligence of a God as its Creator. Such ideas
of the construction of the universe are worthy of revelation, they
carry with them by the very force of their grandeur the evidence of
their truth; and when it is remembered that they were brought forth by
a young man wholly separated from the centres of scientific thought,
unacquainted with the speculations of philosophers, and without any
previous knowledge of astronomy, it is not difficult to believe that
he received his knowledge of them from the writings of one inspired
or taught of God; and that he himself was gifted with divine power to
translate those ancient writings, and hence himself a prophet and seer
inspired of God.
Another matter of interest to note is, as already observed, that this
Abrahamic system of astronomy is not held up as a new idea of the
construction of the universe, but is simply bringing to light again
the knowledge had among the ancients. In a preceding chapter I called
attention to the fact that Copernicus in the preface of his work on the
movement of the heavenly bodies, complains against the imperfections
of the geocentric theory and states that he _sought among ancient
writers for a better way, and so had learned the heliocentric doctrine
[26]_--that is, that the sun was the center around which the earth
moved.
As another evidence that the idea of Copernicus concerning the
structure of the universe was known to the ancients and that he learned
it from their writings, it is only necessary to say that when the
"Holy Inquisition" on the 5th of March, 1616 A. D., issued its decrees
against Galileo, it also condemned and denounced the whole Copernican
system as "_that false Pythagoran doctrine, utterly contrary to the
Holy Scriptures_." [27]
Pythagoras was born about 540 B. C., most probably at Samosa, an island
in the Aegean Sea. Despite the efforts of some eminent scholars to
prove that the doctrines of Pythagoras were not of Egyptian origin,
it is now quite generally conceded that they were. "If it were not
explicitly stated by the ancients," says Draper, "that Pythagoras lived
for twenty-two years in Egypt, there is sufficient internal evidence in
his story to prove that he had been there a long time. As a connoisseur
can detect the hand of a master by the style of a picture, so one who
has devoted attention to the old system of thought sees, at a glance,
the Egyptian in the philosophy of Pythagoras." [28]
The only thing, however, that now concerns me in his doctrines is
that part which relates to astronomy. However touched with fancy his
theory may have been, he did teach that the sun was the centre of
the planetary system, around which the earth with four other planets
revolved; [29] and in that one may see substantially the heliocentric
theory subsequently taught by Copernicus. It is clear from his own
statement that Copernicus learned the heliocentric doctrine from the
ancients, among whom doubtless was Pythagoras, who learned it from
the Egyptians, among whom he spent twenty-two years of his life. It
only now remains to prove that the Egyptians received their knowledge
of astronomy from Abraham, in order to prove that indirectly the
heliocentric theory, which has led to our modern notions of the
construction of the universe, as well as the Abrahamic system of
astronomy revealed to the world through Joseph Smith has one and the
same source--the revelations which the Lord gave to the Patriarch
Abraham.
That Abraham was in Egypt is clear both from the Bible [30] and the
writings of Josephus. The latter after relating all that the Bible
does, only in greater detail, adds to the account that the Egyptian
king made Abraham a large present in money; "and gave him leave to
enter into conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians;
from which conversation, his virtue and his reputation became more
conspicuous than they had been before. For whereas the Egyptians were
formerly addicted to different customs, and despised one another's
sacred and accustomed rites, and were very angry one with another
on that account, Abraham conferred with each of them, and confuted
the reasonings they made use of, every one for their own practices,
he demonstrated that such reasonings were vain, and void of truth;
whereupon he was admired by them, in those conferences, as a very wise
man, and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any subject he
undertook; and this was not only in understanding it, but in persuading
other men also to assent to him. He communicated to them arithmetic,
and delivered to them the science of astronomy; for before Abraham came
into Egypt, they were unacquainted with those parts of learning; for
that science came from the Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence to the
Greeks also." [31]
Josephus does not give his authority for this remarkable addition to
the Bible account of Abraham's sojourn in Egypt, but there can be
no doubt of the correctness of his statement or of his sufficiency
as authority for the fact. For, as remarked by Mr. William Osburn,
author of the "Monumental History of Egypt," "Not only were the temple
records of Egypt in existence at the time [when Josephus wrote his
Antiquities], but the work of Josephus was itself specially addressed
to the Greek and Egyptian philosophers of Alexandria as an apology
for his own nation. So that to have ventured upon a falsification of
the history of Egypt, thus disparaging to its ancient fame, and thus
to the credit of his own hero, to antagonists perfectly competent to
expose it, and deeply interested in the exposure, would have been
sheer insanity. It would hardly, therefore, be possible to produce a
statement better authenticated. We assume it, then, for an historical
fact, that Abraham arrived in Egypt at a time when the monarchy
was convulsed by a fierce civil broil, arising out of religious
differences, which was appeased during his sojourn there." [32] And
on the same authority, supported by the same reasoning, I also accept
it as an historical fact that the patriarch taught the Egyptians
arithmetic and astronomy, from whence afterwards the Greeks learned
some fragments of the patriarch's teaching on the latter subject. [33]
From the Book of Abraham we learn that the patriarch went into Egypt
because he was commanded of God to go, and that for the express purpose
of teaching the things he had learned concerning the heavens and the
earth. [34]
The agreement of the statement of Joseph Smith that he learned what he
knew of the construction of the universe from the writings of Abraham,
found as already described, in Egpyt--the agreement of this claim with
the historical fact that Abraham did, for a time, live in Egypt and
teach the Egyptians a system of astronomy, is very strong presumptive
evidence of its truth. It will appear the more so when Joseph Smith's
lack of historical information at the time he first announced these
doctrines--as early as 1835--is taken into account. Still more will it
appear when it is remembered that the fragments of astronomy learned
by Pythagoras in Egypt is the foundation of the Copernican system,
the nucleus from which has been developed through the researches of
our latter-day astronomers, our modern knowledge of the solar system
and the plan of the construction of the universe. And when it is also
remembered that those fragments as well as the system developed from
them are in accord with that fuller information that has come through
the medium of revelation to Joseph Smith. All this--these undesigned
coincidences--give direct evidence that in this man Joseph Smith
there was an excellent spirit of understanding, so extra-ordinary in
its character that it can be referred to no other origin than the
revelations of God to him.
Footnotes
1. See a recent article in the American press by Sir Robert Ball on
the "Possibility of Life on Other Worlds," in which Sir Robert views
the present state of the question from a scientific standpoint, and
only conservatively admits the possibility of life on other worlds.
He concludes, however, thus: "No reasonable person will, I think,
doubt that the tendency of modern research has been in favor of the
supposition that there may be life on some of the other globes."
2. Gillet and Rolf's Astronomy pp. 364-5. "In many instances it is
believed that it would take the light of stars hundreds of years to
make the journey to our earth, and in some instances even thousands of
years."--_Ibid_.
3. Draper's Intellectual Development Vol. II., p. 292. Also Newcomb's
Astronomy p. 455-6.
4. "These distant suns are, many of them, much larger than our sun.
Sirus, the beautiful Dog-star, is (so far as can be judged by its
amount of light) nearly 3,000 times larger, and therefore its system
of dependent worlds must be so much more important than those which
form our solar system. Its planets may far exceed ours in size and
revolve at far greater distances; for such a sun would throw its beams
of light and heat very much beyond a distance equal to that of our
Neptune."--_Samuel Kinns,_ P. H. D, F. R. A. A. S., in "Harmony of the
Bible with Science," second edition, p. 238.
"Man when he looks upon the countless multitudes of stars--when he
reflects that all he sees is only a small portion of those which exist,
yet that each is a light and life-giving sun to multitudes of opaque,
and therefore invisible worlds--when he considers the enormous size of
these various bodies and their immeasurable distance from one another,
may form an estimate of the scale on which the world [universe] is
constructed."--"Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II., p. 279.
5. "Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II., p. 283.
6. Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxxxviii: 37.
7. Doc. and Cov. Sec. cxxxi. See also an article on the absurdities of
Immaterialism, by Elder Orson Pratt; and Doc. and Cov. Sec. xciii: 29,
33-35.
8. Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii: 36, 42-44.
9. _Ibid,_ verse 38.
10. Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxxxviii: 45-6.
11. Newcomb's Astronomy, p. 531.
12. Doc and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii: 45-61. The revelation was given
December, 1832. See also Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxx: 4, 8.
13. Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxx: 4, 5.
14. Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii: 51-61.
15. _Ibid,_ verses 25, 26.
16. Doc. and Cov., Sec. ci: 24, 25.
17. Pearl of Great Price, p. 5, 6, 1888 edition. A noted author and
scientist states essentially the same truth in the following manner:
"The multiplicity of worlds in infinite space leads to the conception
of a succession of worlds in infinite time. This existing universe,
with all its splendors, had a beginning, and will have an end; it had
its predecessors, and will have its successors; but its march through
all its transformations is under the control of laws as unchangeable
as destiny. As a cloud which is composed of myriads of separate
and isolated spherules of water so minute as to be invisible, on a
summer's afternoon changes its aspect and form, disappearing from
the sky, and being replaced in succeeding hours by other clouds of a
different aspect and shape, so the universe, which is a cloud of suns
and worlds, changes in the immensity of time its form and fashion,
and that which is temporary with us is only an example of countless
combinations of a like kind, which in ancient times have, one after
another, vanished away. In periods yet to come the endless succession
of metamorphoses will still go on, a series of universes to which there
is no end."--"Intellectual development of Europe," Vol. II., p. 336.
18. Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxx: 9, 10.
19. This account of how Mr. Chandler came into possession of the
mummies is of course given by himself; and for its accuracy the Prophet
Joseph is in no way responsible.
20. History of Joseph, _Millennial Star,_ Vol. xv., p. 296.
21. History Joseph Smith, _Millennial Star,_ Vol. xv., p. 550.
22. See Exodus xxviii: 30; Lev. viii: 8; Num. xxvii: 21; Deut, xxxiii:
8; I. Sam. xxviii: 6; Ezra ii: 63; Neh. vii: 65.
23. Pearl of Great Price, p. 58, 59. 1888 Edition.
24. Reynolds' "Book of Abraham, a Divine and Ancient Record," p. 30.
25. Book of Abraham, circular disc, plate 2. See also Elder George
Reynolds' "Book of Abraham, a Divine and Ancient Record," p. 30.
26. Intellectual Development, Vol. II. p. 255.
27. Intellectual Development, Vol. II. p. 263.
28. Intellectual Development, Vol. I. p. III.
29. Intellectual Development, Vol. I. p. 116-117.
30. Genesis xii.
31. Antiquities of the Jews, Bk. I. ch. viii.
32. Monumental History of Egypt, Vol. I. p. 37.
33. Josephus in another place repeats his assertion that the Greeks
learned their knowledge of celestial things of the Egyptians by
saying: "But then for those that first introduced philosophy, and the
consideration of things celestial and divine among them [the Greeks]
such as Pherecydes, the Syrian, and Pythagoras and Thales, all with one
consent agree, that they learned what they knew of the Egyptians and
Chaldeans, and wrote but little." Josephus against Apion, Bk. I.
34. "Book of Abraham," Pearl of Great Price, p. 61.