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--CONCLUDED.
We are to turn now from the contemplation of the universe to consider
man's place in it, and the doctrine in relation to the Gods as taught
by Joseph Smith.
Whether man be viewed from the standpoint of his relationship to
other animals, the beauty and majesty of his physical organism, the
superiority of his intellectual endowments, or the sublimity of his
spiritual aspirations, something will be found in each that argues for
him a special place in the universe. It is true that many animals in
their physical organism are stronger than man; some are swifter; others
keener of sight or smell, and still others are of more acute hearing;
but in none is there found that combination which renders man superior
to them all. Which of the animals, however strong, or fierce, has he
not subdued? Some yield their strength, and others their speed to serve
him; others still please him with their beauty, or yield a useful
product for his comfort; while all pay him homage by yielding to his
sway.
Nor has man been content with obtaining dominion over the animal
creation alone. Gradually he is mastering the elements and extending
his dominion over all the earth. The winds and ocean currents have
long been his servants; the lightning bears his messages; the element
of fire is made to serve him in a thousand ways; steam propels his
chariot; distance he well nigh annihilates; he weighs the earth in
his balances; measures the distances of the sun and the stars, tells
the substances of which they are composed and the mathematical laws
by which they are governed. As one thus even partially reviews man's
achievements and considers the mastery he has obtained alike over the
animal creation and the forces of nature--with the poet he exclaims:
"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in
faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action, how
like an angel! in apprehension, how like a God! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals!"
Well might the Psalmist say--addressing himself to God: "What is man
that thou art mindful of him? And the Son of man that thou visitest
him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast
crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over
the works of thy hands, thou hast put all things under his feet." [1]
These favors granted to man by the Creator, no less than his
superiority to all other creatures of earth, proclaim for him a special
place in the universe; and according to the teachings of Joseph Smith,
both the superiority of his endowments and the special favors that he
enjoys, arise out of his relationship to the Deity.
The prophet taught that the spirits of men before they tabernacled in
bodies of flesh and bone on this earth had an existence with God in
another world; that God is the Father of their spirits, Jesus Christ
being the firstborn. [2] That existence was a tangible one; it involved
the realities of life in the heavenly kingdom or family. Each spirit
there was as much an entity as each man is in this present life.
Each spirit there had its agency as each man has it here; and was at
liberty to take that course it elected to pursue. [3] "At the first
organization in heaven," says the prophet, "we were all present, and
saw the Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and
we sanctioned it."
Some spirits went so far in the exercise of their agency as to rebell
against God. Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, did so, and drew away
with him one-third of the hosts of heaven, and they became the devil
and his angels. [4] This is not only the teaching of Joseph Smith, but
also of the Bible. [5]
One thing, however, Joseph Smith taught which, as far as I know, the
Bible does not teach, viz, that these spirits in their pre-existent
estate attained unto a variety of degrees of intelligence and nobility
of character. In the Book of Abraham, quoted in my last chapter, it is
written: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences
that were organized before the world was: and among all these there
were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that
they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said, These
I will make my rulers, for he stood among those that were spirits, and
he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before
thou wast born." [6]
How beautiful is this doctrine! how reasonable! how many problems it
explains! What light it throws upon the life and character of man!
Notwithstanding the great influence of parentage and environment upon
character, we may understand now how it is that in spite of indifferent
parentage and vicious environments some characters arise that are
truly virtuous and great, and that purely by the strength of that
intelligence and nobility to which their spirits had attained in the
heavenly kingdom before they took bodies upon earth. Their grandeur of
soul could not all be suppressed by environment in this life, however
inauspicious for their development. As the sun struggles through clouds
and mists that at times obscure his brightness, so these spirits,
stirred by their innate nobility, breaking through all disadvantages
attendant upon ignoble birth and iron fortune, rise to their native
heights of true greatness.
If a wider survey be taken of mankind, and those advantages and
disadvantages under which whole generations, nations and races of men
have lived be taken into account; if the fact of their pre-existence
be considered in connection with that other fact that the spirits of
men before coming to this earth were of unequal intelligence and of
every degree of nobility; if it be remembered that in that pre-existent
state all spirits had a free agency, and that they there manifested
all degrees of fidelity to truth and righteousness, from those who
were valiant for the right to those who were utterly untrue to it
and rebelled against God; if it be further remembered that doubtless
in this earth-life these spirits are rewarded for their faithfulness
and diligence in that pre-existent state--if all this, I say, be
considered, much that has perplexed many noble minds in their effort to
reconcile the varied circumstances under which men have lived with the
justice and mercy of God, will disappear.
The doctrine of the pre-existence of spirits, as also their
relationship to Deity, is beyond all doubt a scriptural doctrine; but
it seems to have been reserved for the Prophet Joseph Smith to give
clearness and force to it. The fatherhood of God, and its necessary
corollary, the brotherhood of man, are trite phrases much in fashion in
these modern days; but it is questionable if they have conveyed to the
minds of men any definite ideas of the actual relationship of father
and son existing between man and Deity. In the mouths of sectarians
the phrases under discussion have always been employed to express some
mystic or indefinite relationship not clearly explained or explainable.
It was reserved, I repeat, for the great modern prophet to give these
phrases reality. He declared the relationship to be as real as that
existing between any father and son on earth; that man's spirit was
actually the offspring of Deity--"A spark struck from his own eternal
blaze." With him the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man were
not mere abstractions more or less beautiful, but a reality. The words
taught by the Savior of men to his disciples as the proper mode of
address to Deity--"Our Father, who art in heaven"--are not meaningless
verbiage, but express the true relationship of man and God.
Inspired by these teachings a disciple at Nauvoo, fifty years ago,
composed and the Saints still sing the following invocation to the
Heavenly Father and Mother:
O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place!
When shall I regain thy presence,
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside:
In my first primeval childhood,
Was I nurtured near thy side.
For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth,
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet oft-times a secret something
Whispered, "You're a stranger here;"
And I felt that had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.
I had learned to call thee Father,
Through thy Spirit from on high;
But, until the Key of Knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single?
No; the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me, I've a mother there.
When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you
In your royal court on high?
Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you. [7]
The pre-existence of man's spirit and its relationship to Deity having
been disposed of, I must now refer to the prophet's teaching on the
subject of man's future existence and the possibilities which lie
before him in the course of the eternities.
Joseph Smith taught the literal resurrection of the body, and its
immortality. He declared that the same sociability which exists
among us here will exist among us in that future life, only it will
be coupled with eternal glory which now we do not enjoy. [8] On one
occasion he said: "I will tell you what I want. If tomorrow I shall be
called to lie in yonder tomb, in the morning of the resurrection let
me strike hands with my father and cry, 'My father,' and he will say,
'My son, my son!' * * * Would you think it strange if I related what I
have seen in vision in relation to this interesting theme? Those who
have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of
joy, when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here. So
plain was the vision that I actually saw men before they had ascended
from the tomb, as though they were getting up slowly. They took each
other by the hand, and said to each other: 'My father, my son, my
mother, my daughter, my brother, my sister.' And when the voice calls
for the dead to arise, suppose I am laid by the side of my father, what
would be the first joy of my heart? To meet my father, my mother, my
brother, my sister; and when they are by my side, I embrace them and
they me. * * * The expectation of seeing my friends in the morning of
the resurrection cheers my soul and makes me bear up against the evils
of life. It is like their taking a long journey, and on their return we
meet them with increased joy." [9]
The prophet also taught that the relationships formed in this life were
intended to be eternal, not excluding that of husband and wife, with
all its enduring affections. He taught that the marriage covenant which
binds man and woman as husband and wife should be made for eternity,
and not until "death doth them part." To be made for eternity, however,
the marriage covenant must be entered into with that object in view,
and sealed and ratified by God's authority on earth--even by the holy
priesthood, that authority which binds on earth and in heaven, in time
and in eternity; which also looses on earth and in heaven--in time and
in eternity. Otherwise such covenants are of no efficacy, virtue or
force in and after the resurrection from the dead. The house of God
is a house of order, and it is useless to hope that covenants made
until death shall overtake the contracting parties will endure in
eternity; or that covenants entered into for eternity, unless sealed
by the authority of God, will be of binding force in and after the
resurrection from the dead.
I wish to be perfectly understood here. Let it be remembered that the
Prophet Joseph Smith taught that man, that is, his spirit, is the
offspring of Deity; not in any mystical sense, but actually; that man
has not only a Father in heaven, but a Mother also. And when I say
that the prophet taught that the resurrection is a reality, that the
relationship of husband and wife is intended to be eternal, together
with all its endearing affections, I mean all that in its most literal
sense. I mean that in the life to come man will build and inhabit, eat
drink, associate and be happy with his friends; and that the power of
endless increase will contribute to the power and dominion of those who
attain by their righteousness unto these privileges.
What a revelation is here! As I have remarked elsewhere, [10] instead
of the God-given power of pro-creation being one of the chief things
that is to pass away, it is one of the chief means of man's exaltation
and glory in that great eternity, which like an endless vista stretches
out before him! Through it man attains to the glory of the endless
increase of eternal lives, and the right of presiding as priest and
patriarch, king and lord over his ever increasing posterity. Instead of
the commandment, "Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth,"
being an unrighteous law, it is one by means of which the race of
the Gods is perpetuated, and is as holy and pure as the commandment,
"Repent and be baptized." Through that law, in connection with an
observance of all the other laws of the gospel, man will yet attain
unto the power of the Godhead, and like his Father--God--his chief
glory will be to bring to pass the eternal life and happiness of his
posterity.
If anyone shall say that such views of the life to come are too
materialistic; that they smack too much of earth and its enjoyments, my
answer is, that if it be inquired what thing has contributed most to
man's civilization and refinement, to his happiness and dignity, his
true importance, elevation and honor in life, it will be found that the
domestic relations in marriage, the ties of family, of parentage, with
its joys, responsibilities, and affections will be selected as the one
thing before all others. And those relations and associations which
have contributed so much to man's true progress and refinement in this
world may be trusted not to degrade him in the life that is to come. On
the contrary, with all the affections chastened, with all the qualities
of the mind improved, and the attributes of the soul strengthened, we
may reasonably hope that what has done so much for man in this life
will contribute still more abundantly to his happiness, his exaltation
and glory in the life which is to come.
One other point I must not omit to mention. I know how like sacrilege
it sounds in modern ears to speak of man becoming a God. Yet why should
it be so considered? Man is the offspring of Deity, he is of the same
race and has within him--undeveloped, it is true--the faculties and
attributes of his Father. He has also before him an eternity of time
in which to develop both the faculties of the mind and the attributes
of the soul--why should it be accounted a strange thing that at last
the child shall arrive at the same exaltation and partake of the same
intelligence and glory with his Father? If Jesus Christ, "being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God," [11] why
should it be considered blasphemous to teach that man by faith and
righteousness in following the counsels of God, shall at last become
like him, and share his power and glory, being a God, even a son of God?
I grant you the height from our present position looks tremendous;
yet it is not impossible of attainment, since we have eternity in
which to work. Stand by the cradle of a new-born babe and contemplate
it. Within that little body of organized pulp--with eyes incapable
of distinguishing objects; legs unable to bear the weight of its
body--without the power of locomotion; hands over whose movements it
has no control; ears that hear but cannot distinguish sounds; a tongue
that cannot speak--yet within that helpless little tabernacle, what
powers lie dormant! Within that germ in the cradle are latent powers
which only require time for their unfolding to astonish the world. From
it may come the man of profound learning who shall add something by
his own wisdom to the sum-total of human knowledge. Perhaps from that
germ will come a profound historian, a poet or eloquent orator to sway
the reason and passions of men, and guide them to better and purer
things than they have yet known. Or a statesman may be there in embryo;
a man whose wisdom shall guide the destiny of the state or perhaps
with God-like power rule the world! If from such a germ as this in the
cradle may come such an unfolding of power as we see in the highest and
noblest manhood, may it not be, that taking that highest and noblest
manhood as the germ, that from it may come, under the guiding hand
of our Father in heaven, a still more wonderful unfolding, until the
germ of the highest and noblest manhood shall develop into a God? The
distance between the noblest man and the position of God is greater,
perhaps, than that between the infant in the cradle and the highest
development of manhood; but if so, there is a longer time--eternity--in
which to arrive at the result; and God and heavenly influences instead
of human parents and earthly means to bring to pass the necessary
development.
This doctrine makes very clear some of the sayings of the scripture,
"Now are we the sons of God," said the Apostle John, "and it doth not
yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he [Christ] shall
appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is; and every
man who hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure."
[12] We can see now some meaning in the exhortation of Jesus--"Be ye
therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
[13] "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
[14]
All these sayings give us reason to believe that man may become as
Christ and God are; that he may walk in their footsteps, become like
them and inherit the same glory with them. The Prophet Joseph Smith
corrected the idea that God that now is was always God: "We have
imagined," said he, "and supposed that God was God from all eternity,
I will refute that idea, and will take away the vail so that you can
see. * * * It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a
certainty the character of God and to know that we may converse with
him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like
us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the
same as Jesus Christ himself did. * * * The scriptures inform us that
Jesus said: 'As the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son
power'--to do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious--in
a manner, to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are
you going to do? To lay down my life, as my Father did, and take it up
again. Do you believe it? If you do not believe it, you do not believe
the Bible." [15] * * * God himself was once as we are now, and is an
exalted Man and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. That is the great
secret. If the vail was rent today and the great God who holds the
world in its orbit, and upholds all worlds and all things by his power,
was to make himself visible--I say were you to see him today, you would
see him like a man in form--like yourselves, in all the person, image
and very form as a man, for Adam was created in the very fashion,
image and likeness of God, and received instruction from and walked
and talked, and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with
another."
"* * * Here, then, is eternal life--to know that only wise and true
God and you have got to learn how to become Gods yourselves, and to
be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before
you--namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a
small capacity to a great one, from grace to grace, from exaltation to
exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are
able to dwell in everlasting burnings and to sit in glory, as do those
who sit enthroned in everlasting power." [16]
But if God the Father was not always God, but came to his present
exalted position by degrees of progress as indicated in the teachings
of the prophet, how has there been a God from all eternity? The answer
is that there has been and there now exists an endless line of Gods,
stretching back into the eternities, that had no beginning and will
have no end. Their existence runs parallel with endless duration, and
their dominions are as limitless as boundless space. These truths led
one of the disciples of the prophet to write:
If you could hie to Kolob,
In th' twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward,
With that some speed to fly,
D'ye think that you could ever,
Through all eternity,
Find out the generation
Where Gods began to be?
Or see the grand beginning,
Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation,
Where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers--
"No man has found 'pure space,'
Nor seen the outside curtains
Where nothing has a place.
"The works of God continue,
And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression
Have one eternal round."
These conceptions of man's origin and future development and glory
involve the idea of a plurality of Gods--a doctrine somewhat startling,
perhaps, to modern ears, since men in our times have been taught to
look upon it as sacrilege to speak or think of more than one God. But
since modern Christianity finds itself so far separated from other
truths of the gospel, may it not find itself wrong in this? What means
that expression in Genesis where, speaking of the creation of man, God
is represented as saying: "Let _us_ make man in _our_ image, after
_our_ likeness?" [17] Is it not a fair inference that he addressed
himself to other Gods who were present? In the account of the creation
given in the Book of Abraham the plural is used throughout--"And the
Gods prepared the earth to bring forth the living creatures." "And the
Gods took counsel among themselves and said, 'Let us go down and form
man in our image, after our likeness,'" etc.
Passing by many other expressions in the Old Testament that convey the
idea of the existence of a plurality of Gods, I take up the preface
to the gospel according to St. John: "In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the
beginning with God." It is generally conceded that the "Word" here
spoken of as being with God in the beginning is Jesus Christ. If any
doubt existed that Jesus is referred to, it would be dispelled by the
fourteenth verse of the same chapter, in which the preface occurs: "And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and
truth."
Here, then, at least is an account of two Gods--one of which dwelt
with the other in the beginning, and one--the Word--afterwards came to
the earth, was made flesh and dwelt on earth with men and was known as
Jesus of Nazareth.
When Jesus--the Word--was baptized in Jordan, as he came out of the
water, the heavens opened, the Spirit of God descended upon him, and
lo, a voice from heaven said: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased." [18] Here there appears on the scene again two Gods--the
"Word" and doubtless the God with whom the "Word" had dwelt in the
beginning. In other words here was God the Father, and God the Son,
both present, yet both distinct and separate--two Gods. [19]
In the greeting to the seven churches of Asia, which John embodies
in his preface to the Apocalypse he says: "Grace be unto you * * *
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness. * * * Unto him that
loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests _unto God and his Father;_ to him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen." [20] I call special attention to the
words written above in _italics--"unto God and his Father,"_ which can
only mean God and the Father of God, which certainly conveys the idea
of a plurality of Gods. [21]
I have not space here to consider such expressions--with which the
scriptures abound--as "The Lord God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords;"
[22] "The Lord, God of Gods, the Lord, God of Gods, he knoweth, and
Israel he shall know if it be in rebellion," etc. [23] "O give thanks
to the God of Gods * * * O give thanks to the Lord of Lords." [24] "And
shall speak marvelous things against the God of Gods." [25] "The Lamb
shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords and king of kings." [26]
Such expressions I know would be worthless as evidence in the matter
under discussion if found in the mouths of heathen kings and prophets
who are sometimes represented as speaking in the Bible; but the
expressions here carefully selected are found on the lips of Moses, of
the children of Israel, David, Daniel, and the Apostle John; and coming
as they do from recognized and divinely authorized servants of God,
they are important as not only upholding but proclaiming the idea of a
plurality of Gods.
"I and my Father are one," said Jesus on one occasion. "Then the Jews
took up stones again to stone him."
_Jesus_--"Many good works have I showed you from my Father, for which
of those works do ye stone me?"
_The Jews_--"For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and
because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God."
_Jesus_--"Is it not written in your law, I said ye are Gods? If he
[that is, God who gave the law] called them Gods unto whom the word of
God came, _and the scripture cannot be broken;_ say ye of him, whom
the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemest;
because I said I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father
believe me not." [27]
Let it be observed that in the above conversation when Jesus was
accused of making himself God, he did not deny the charge; but on the
contrary, called their attention to the fact that God in the law he had
given to Israel had said to some of them--"ye are Gods." And further,
Jesus argued, if those unto whom the word of God came were called Gods
in the Jewish law, and the scripture wherein the fact was declared
could not be broken, that is, the truth denied or gainsaid--why should
the Jews complain when he, too, that is Christ, who had been especially
sanctified by God the Father, called himself the Son of God?
On another occasion Jesus said to the Pharisees: "What think ye of
Christ? whose son is he?"
_Pharisees_--"The son of David."
_Jesus_--"How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying--The Lord
said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thy foes thy
footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?" [28]
The Pharisees could make him no answer, nor dared they question him
further. All that concerns me in the passage is to note that one God is
represented as saying to another--"Sit thou upon my right hand until I
make thy foes thy footstool--and that clearly proves the existence of
more than one God."
No higher authority than this can be cited in support of any
theological doctrine. These conversations of Jesus with the Jews so
completely prove that Jesus himself taught the existence of a plurality
of Gods, that there can be no questioning it.
I shall be told, however, that Paul expressly says: "There is none
other God but one." That statement taken alone would seem conclusive;
but considered in connection with its context, which explains it, it
will be found in harmony with all the passages here produced to prove
a plurality of Gods. The single statement quoted above is immediately
followed by these words: "For though there be that are called Gods,
whether in heaven or in earth (as there be Gods many, and Lords many);
but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
we in him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
by him." [29]
From this it appears that there be many that are called Gods both in
heaven and in earth. Had the reference to many Gods and many Lords
been confined to these that are called such in the earth, the force of
the passage might have been broken somewhat by the probability that
reference was made to the false gods of the heathens; but when we
are told that "there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in
earth," by which I understand that there are those that are called Gods
both in heaven and in earth, Christians will not claim that the many
Gods spoken of as being in heaven are false Gods.
But still the apostle teaches that to us there is but one God, the
Father; and one Lord, Jesus Christ. So also taught the prophet Joseph.
[30] He taught that there was but one God to whom it was proper for us
to pay divine honors in worship--God, the Father--the Father of Jesus
Christ, and of whom the Holy Ghost is the witness. And these three, in
the teachings of the great modern prophet, as in the teachings of the
Jewish scriptures, constitute one Godhead, or Grand Presidency to whom
alone man owes allegiance to be expressed in divine worship. But this
does not strike out of existence the many other Gods and Lords that
live and have dominion in other universes and worlds, any more than it
strikes out of existence other kings and emperors of this world, when
we say that to the British subject there is but one sovereign to whom
he owes allegiance.
If the phrase "Grand Presidency" be substituted for Godhead; and
"President" for God, we shall have a nomenclature that will better
convey correct ideas to the mind respecting the Gods than that now
in common use. How, then, would the teaching of the Prophet Joseph
respecting the Gods rise to meet the conceptions of the extent and
grandeur of the universe, both as now known to our scientists and
as revealed through the prophet himself! An infinitude of worlds
and systems of worlds rising one above the other in ever-increasing
splendor in limitless space and eternal duration, would have, as a
concomitant, an endless line of exalted men, to preside over and within
them as Priests, Kings, Patriarchs, Gods! Nor is there confusion,
disorder, or strife in their vast dominions; for they all govern upon
the same righteous principle that characterizes the government of God
the Father. The Gods have attained unto the excellence that Jesus
prayed for in behalf of his apostles and those who might believe on
their word, when he said: "Holy Father, keep through thine own name
those whom thou hast given me, _that they may be one as we are._ * * *
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us; * * * and
the glory which thou givest me, I have given them; that they may be one
even as we are one." [31]
If that prayer does not contemplate the apostles and those who believe
on their words becoming like God the Father and Jesus Christ; sharing
their glory and their power; becoming one with them as they are now one
with each other, hence becoming as they are--Gods!--then the language
is without meaning, and is hollow mockery, the meaningless verbiage of
one who knew not what he was saying. But Jesus knew for what he was
praying; and he knew that he was not asking in behalf of his apostles
and those who would believe on their words the unattainable. He was but
asking for them that glory and excellence and exaltation to which many
had already attained in other worlds.
I say the Gods had attained unto that excellence of oneness that Jesus
prayed his disciples might possess, and since the Gods have attained
unto it, and all govern their worlds and systems of worlds by the
same spirit and upon the same principles, there is a unity in their
government that makes it one even as they are one. Let worlds and
systems of worlds, galaxies of systems and universes extend as they may
throughout limitless space, Joseph Smith has revealed the existence of
a government which while characterized by unity is still co-extensive
with them. Let duration, as to the past, be without beginning--yet
Joseph Smith has revealed the great truth that in the beginningless
duration there has existed always an endless succession of exalted
men, called Gods. Let duration, as to the future be without end,--let
the end of time be as remote as the beginning of time, which it is,
for neither exists--yet Joseph Smith has revealed the great truth that
in that endless future, new worlds, systems of worlds and universes
will be created from the exhaustless store of eternal matter, and
made the habitation of the ever increasing posterity of the Gods. Let
no one fear--there is room for all this multiplying and increasing
in limitless space. Let no one fear--there is material for all these
worlds and systems of worlds in the exhaustless store of eternal matter
distributed throughout limitless space. Let no one fear--there is time
enough in endless duration to accomplish all that God has decreed
through his prophet pertaining to the perfecting and exalting of our
race.
Nor will this exaltation of man detract from the majesty and exaltation
of the Gods. Joseph Smith's doctrine does not degrade Deity, it merely
points out the future exaltation of man. The glory of God does not
consist in his being alone in his greatness, but in sharing that
greatness and his intelligence and glory with others. It is a case
where the more is given the richer he becomes who gives, because he
is constantly widening the circle of his own power and dominion.
As the glory of earthly parents is increased by having beautiful,
intelligent children, capable of attaining to the same intelligence,
development and standing as the parents, so the glory of the heavenly
parent--God--is added unto by having sons who shall attain unto the
same honor and exaltation as himself, and who shall be worthy of
sharing his power and glory and everlasting dominion.
What glory is here! What honor! What exaltation! What thrones,
principalities, kingdoms, dominions, powers! What incentive to right
living! What encouragement to struggle against weaknesses and make war
for righteousness against the flesh, the world and the devil! Well may
the Apostle say--when speaking of this doctrine--"_And every man that
hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure_."
[32]
This is the doctrine of the great modern prophet Joseph Smith--the
testimony of the New Witness for God. And in the sublimity of
the doctrine; in the grandeur of it; in the noble aspirations a
contemplation of it inspires in the soul of man, may be seen the
evidence of divine inspiration in him who re-announced it to the world.
Footnotes
1. Psalm viii.
2. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xciii.
3. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xciii: 29-31.
4. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xxix: 36-38, also Pearl of Great Price p. 14.
(1888 Edition.)
5. See Rev. xii: 7-12. II. Peter ii: 4. Jude vi.
6. Pearl of Great Price p. 62.
7. The hymn was composed by Eliza R. Snow Smith, wife of the prophet.
8. Doc. and Cov. sec. lxxxviii. 26-34; see also sec. lxxvi. and cxxx.
9. History of Joseph Smith, _Millennial Star,_ vol. xxi., p. 6.
10. Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, p. 435.
11. Phillippians ii. 6.
12. I. Epist. John iii. 2, 3.
13. Matt. v. 48.
14. Rev. iii. 21.
15. The argument here made by the prophet is very much strengthened by
the following passage: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what
he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he (the Father) doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise." St. John v. 19.
16. From a discourse preached by Joseph Smith at Nauvoo, April 7th,
1844. _Millennial Star,_ vol xxiii, pp. 245-248.
17. Gen. i. 26.
18. Matt. iii. 16, 17.
19. The prophet Joseph, referring to this matter, says: "I wish to
declare I have always, and in all congregations when I have preached
on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods. It
has been preached by the elders for fifteen years. I have always
declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and
distinct personage from God the Father, and that the Holy Ghost was
a distinct personage and a spirit; and these three constitute three
distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in accordance with the
New Testament, lo, and behold! We have three Gods anyhow, and they are
plural; and who can contradict it?" _Millennial Star,_ vol. xxiv. p.
108.
20. Rev. i. 1-6.
21. Commenting on this text the prophet said: "If Jesus Christ was the
Son of God, and John discovered that God, the Father of Jesus Christ,
had a Father, you may suppose that _he_ had a Father also. Where was
there ever a son without a father? And where was there ever a father
without first being a son? Whenever did a tree or anything spring into
existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in this way. Paul
says that that which is earthly is in the likeness of that which is
heavenly. Hence, if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that _he_
had a Father also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such
a doctrine, for the Bible is full of it." _Millennial Star,_ vol xxiv.,
p. 109.
22. Deut, x. 17.
23. Josh. xxii. 22.
24. Psalms cxxxvi. 2, 3.
25. Dan. xi. 36.
26. Rev. xvii. 14.
27. John x. 30-37.
28. Matt. xxii. 41, 45. Also Psalms cx. I.
29. I. Cor. viii. 4, 6.
30. On the passage under consideration the prophet remarked: "Paul
says there are Gods many and Lords many--I want to set it forth in
a plain and simple manner--but to us there is but one God--that is,
_pertaining_ to us; and he is in all and through all. But if Joseph
Smith says there are Gods many and Lords many, they cry, 'Away with him!
Crucify him! Crucify him!' * * * Paul, if Joseph Smith is a blasphemer,
you are. I say there are Gods many, and Lords many, but to us only one;
and we are to be in subjection to that one." _Millennial Star,_ vol.
xxiv. p. 108.
31. St. John, xvii.
32. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the Sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the Sons of God; and
it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every
man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure."
First Epistle of John, iii: 1-4.