and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." He meant
baptism, which symbolizes birth or begetting. The priest when baptizing
performs in a mystical or spiritual way the function of fatherhood.
Motherhood is symbolized by the baptismal font. "Children of my
begetting", is a phrase used by the ancient apostles to characterize
their converts, who are also referred to as "babes in Christ", fed upon
"the milk of the word". Paul says, concerning baptism: "We are buried
with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in
newness of life". (Romans 6:4.) This shows that baptism, when properly
administered, is a symbol of burial and resurrection--rebirth. But
the symbolism must be perfect or the ordinance is void. To sprinkle
or pour water upon the candidate for baptism, destroys the symbolism,
or the poetry of the ordinance. It does not represent a birth--a
burial and a resurrection. When the body is immersed, however,--and
that is the meaning of the Greek term to baptize--descent into the
grave is typified; and when the body is brought up out of the water,
birth or coming forth from the grave is symbolized. To be baptized or
resurrected is equivalent to being "born again." The soul, cleansed
from sin, is typical of the soul raised to immortality. Such is the
poetry of baptism and the resurrection.
Jesus Christ, the greatest of all prophets, was likewise the greatest
of all poets. He comprehended the universe and its symbolism as no one
else ever did, and he taught in poetic parables, taking simple things
as types, and teaching lessons that lead the mind upward and onward
toward the ideal, toward perfection. We must not despise poetry; it
is indispensable, even in practical affairs. The Gospel of Christ is
replete with poetry. None but the ignorant pass it by as a thing of
naught.
What of Philosophy?
Philosophy is "the account which the human mind gives to itself of the
constitution of the world". So says that great modern philosopher,
Ralph Waldo Emerson. Here is a passage from Plato the Greek, as
translated by Emerson the American: "Let us declare the cause which led
the Supreme Ordainer to produce and compose the universe. He was good;
and he who is good has no kind of envy. Exempt from envy, he wished
that all things should be as much as possible like himself. Whosoever,
taught by wise men, shall admit this as the prime cause of the origin
and foundation of the world, will be in the truth."--Representative
Men, Lecture II.
Very similar to this, is that utterance of Joseph Smith's giving the
origin and purpose of the Gospel. (See paragraph "Path to Perfection";
also "The Book of Abraham" 3:22-26.) But Joseph did not get his
philosophy from Plato; he had it directly from God, the source of
Plato's inspiration. There is no plagiarism in this semi-paralleling
of a sublime thought. Confucius taught, in a negative way, the Golden
Rule, afterwards taught affirmatively and more fully by Jesus of
Nazareth.
"Truth is truth, where'er 'tis found,
On Christian or on heathen ground;"
And whether uttered by an ancient sage or by a modern seer, it is
worthy of all acceptance. I have mentioned Emerson. Here is a sample of
that great writer's wisdom:
"Our strength grows out of our weakness. Not until we are pricked and
stung and sorely shot at, awakens the indignation which arms itself
with secret forces. A great man is always willing to be little. While
he sits on the cushion of advantages he goes to sleep. When he is
pushed, tormented, defeated, he has a chance to learn something; he
has been put on his wits, on his manhood; he has gained facts; learns
his ignorance; is cured of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation
and real skill. Blame is safer than praise. I hate to be defended
in a newspaper. As long as all that is said is said against me, I
feel a certain assurance of success, but as soon as honeyed words of
praise are spoken for me I feel as one that lies unprotected before
his enemies. In general, every evil to which we do not succumb, is a
benefactor.
"The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature,
to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand. The martyr cannot
be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of flame; every prison
a more illustrious abode; every burned book or house enlightens the
world; every suppressed or expunged word reverberates through the earth
from side to side. The minds of men are at last aroused; reason looks
out and justifies her own, and malice finds all her work vain. It is
the whipper who is whipped and the tyrant who is undone.
"Such, also, is the natural history of calamity. The changes which
break up at short intervals the prosperity of men, are advertisements
of a nature whose law is growth. Evermore it is the order of nature to
grow ... We cannot part with our friends. We cannot let our angels go.
We do not see that they only go out, that archangels may come in. We
are idolaters of the old ... We do not believe there is any force in
to-day to rival or recreate that beautiful yesterday ...
"And yet the compensations of calamity are made apparent to the
understanding also, after long intervals of time. A fever, a
mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends
seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable. But the sure years
reveal the deep remedial force that underlies all facts. The death
of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover, which seemed nothing but
privation, somewhat later assumes the aspect of a guide or genius; for
it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an
epoch of infancy or of youth which was waiting to be closed, breaks up
a wonted occupation, or a household, or style of living, and allows
the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character.
It permits or constrains the formation of new acquaintances and the
reception of new influences that prove of the first importance to
the next years; and the man or woman who would have remained a sunny
garden flower, with no room for its roots and too much sunshine for
its head, by the falling of the walls and the neglect of the gardener,
is made the banyan of the forest, yielding shade and fruit to wide
neighborhoods of men."--Essay III. Compensation.
Poetry and philosophy appeal to some, when the Gospel in its fulness
might offend; "the meat of the word" being too strong for them. The
plain blunt message of the man of God, who comes proclaiming, "Thus
saith the Lord," antagonizes many. They turn from it; but will listen
to the philosopher, with his clear, delightful reasoning, or to the
poet, with his apt and appealing illustrations. All kinds of teachers
go before the prophet, preparing his way, or come after him, confirming
his testimony. And the sum of it all will be the betterment and
eventual salvation of the race.
The Power of Music--Seeing for One's Self.
Music softens the heart, and helps men and women to receive the Gospel.
Tourists come in a constant stream, to listen to the wonderful tones
of the great organ and the singing of the splendid choir in the Salt
lake Tabernacle. The Gospel is not always preached to them; they do not
always want the Gospel; but they are mellowed by the music, and they go
away with kinder feelings toward, and a better understanding of, the
people who build such instruments, who organize such choirs, and rear
such structures. Their works speak for them. Grapes are not gathered
from thorns, nor figs from thistles. Depraved wretches, such as the
"Mormons" are falsely represented to be, do not love music, poetry and
philosophy, do not cultivate the arts and sciences, do not turn deserts
into gardens, nor rear Tabernacles and Temples unto God.
I well remember when President Grant came to Utah--the first President
of the United States to set foot within the Territory, now a State. It
was at a time when, all over this broad land, the bitterest prejudice
prevailed against the Latter-day Saints; and it was freely asserted
that the man who had finished with the South, would "make short work
of Utah and the Mormons." Among the places visited by the President
and his party while in Salt Lake City, was the Tabernacle, where they
heard the great organ. I do not know what he thought of it, but Mrs.
Grant, her face streaming with tears, turned to Captain Hooper, who had
been Utah's delegate in Congress, and said with deep feeling: "I wish I
could do something for these good Mormon people." The music had touched
her heart, and perhaps the heart of her noble husband; for General
Grant was noble, though yielding at times to strong prejudice.
Before reaching the Tabernacle, he had passed up South Temple Street,
lined on both sides with Sunday School children, neatly and tastefully
attired, waving banners and mottoes of welcome to the Nation's Chief.
Riding in an open carriage, and running the gauntlet of applause and
cheers, the honored guest turned to Governor Emery, who sat at his
side, and inquired concerning the juvenile host: "What children are
these?" "Mormon children," replied Emery. Grant was silent for a
moment, and then was heard to murmur, "I have been deceived."
But he never was deceived again--not in the same way. He could trust
his eyes when he looked upon those beautiful children: they were not
the product of crime and depravity, not the offspring of savages and
criminals. He could trust his ears, too, when he heard that choir and
organ. No one could make him believe, after that, that the "Mormons"
were as black as they had been painted.
No Substitute for the Gospel.
There is more than one way to reach the human heart, and God has
legitimate use for everything good, wise, virtuous and praiseworthy.
Let it not be supposed, however, that music, poetry, painting,
sculpture, philosophy, science, or anything else, can take the place
of the Divine Plan whereby He proposes to save this world, as He has
saved millions of worlds like it. He will use everything good and true
and beautiful to melt the hearts of his children and prepare them for
salvation; but salvation itself comes only by one route--the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the Great Ideal, and it must be honored as such. In
dealing with it, no Procrustean process is permissible. It must not be
chopped off because men think it too long, nor stretched out because
they deem it too short. God did not send his Truth into the world to
be mutilated. Men's theories, however plausible, cannot supersede
divine revelation. The gifts of God, however precious, are no standard
by which to judge the Giver. The Truth as Heaven reveals it is the
Standard, and the opinions and theories of men must give way. There is
no substitute for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Propositions to be Reconciled.
Referring now to a passage previously quoted, concerning the days of
Adam, when a decree went forth that the Gospel should be in the world
"until the end thereof." I was once asked to reconcile that passage
with the idea of a new dispensation, the question coming in this form:
"If the Gospel was to be in the world from the days of Adam 'until the
end', what was the need of restoring it--bringing it back again?"
There are two ways of reconciling these propositions. They do not
really contradict each other. The Gospel has been in the world from the
beginning by a series of dispensations, reaching through the entire
range of human history. Our finite minds are prone to tangle themselves
up in little details that cause endless quibbles and often give us
a great deal of trouble; but God sweeps the whole universe with his
infinite gaze, and what seem mountains to men are less than molehills
in his sight. The gaps between the Gospel dispensations are not so
wide to Deity as they are to us. The Lord has found it necessary at
different times to temporarily withdraw the Gospel and the Priesthood
from the midst of men; and yet, by repeated restorations, forming a
continuous chain of dispensations, he has kept them in the world from
the beginning down to the present, thus making good his ancient decree.
A Twofold Creation.
But there is more to this argument. God's works are two-fold, firstly
spiritual, secondly temporal; and the most important part of creation
is the spiritual part. Man and woman were made first as spirits, and
the same is true of earth and all that it contains--beasts, birds,
fishes, trees, plants and flowers; in short, all created things. (Moses
3:4-9.) Given bodies, they become souls--not all human souls, but
souls nevertheless; for the spirit and the body constitute the soul.
It is the soul that is redeemed and glorified. The spirit alone cannot
advance that far; it can live without the body, but the body without
the spirit is dead. Evidently, therefore, the spirit is the more
important. What wonder? God created the spirit; but when it came to
creating the body--bodies in general--He delegated to man that portion
of His work. Man can make the body of man, and can destroy it, but
cannot destroy the spirit; it is beyond his power.
Now the planet upon which we dwell has a spirit. Hence there is a
Spirit World; and there the Gospel has been preached for ages, so that
the dead, or the departed--for they are no more dead than we are--might
have opportunity to embrace it and be "judged according to men in
the flesh". (1 Peter 4:6.) And the withdrawal of the Gospel from the
temporal world would not necessarily involve its withdrawal from the
spiritual world. Thus the divine decree, that the Gospel should be in
the world "until the end thereof," receives additional vindication.
God's word cannot fail.
The World of Spirits.
"The Spirit World," says Parley P. Pratt, "is not the heaven where
Jesus Christ, His Father, and other beings dwell, who have, by
resurrection or translation, ascended to eternal mansions and been
crowned and seated on thrones of power; but it is an intermediate
state, a probation, a place of preparation, improvement, instruction,
or education, where spirits are chastened or improved, and where,
if found worthy, they may be taught a knowledge of the Gospel. In
short, it is a place where the Gospel is preached, and where faith,
repentance, hope and charity may be exercised, a place of waiting for
the resurrection or redemption of the body; while, to those who deserve
it, it is a place of punishment, or purgatory or hell, where spirits
are buffeted till the day of redemption. As to its location, it is here
on the very planet where we were born" (Key to Theology, Chapter 14.
Compare Alma 40:11-14).
Joseph Smith tells us that our departed friends are very near to us. We
need not sail off into space to be in the spirit world. We have only to
pass out of the body; for the spirit world is right around us. Parley
continues:
"The earth and other planets of a like order have their inward or
spirit spheres, as well as their outward or temporal. The one is
peopled by temporal tabernacles, and the other by spirits. In this
spirit world there are all the varieties and grades of intellectual
beings which exist in the present world. For instance, Jesus Christ
and the thief on the cross both went to the same place, and found
themselves associated in the spirit world."
Jesus, it will be borne in mind, had been crucified between two
thieves, one of whom derided him, insulting his dying agonies. The
other, being penitent, prayed: "Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom." To him the Savior said: "To-day thou shalt be
with me in Paradise." Because of this utterance, well meaning though
uninspired minds have jumped to the conclusion that the penitent
thief was promised immediate heavenly exaltation, for repenting at
the last moment and professing faith in the Redeemer. And this notion
is still entertained. The criminal who has forfeited his life and is
under sentence of death because unfit to dwell among his fallen fellow
creatures, is made to believe that by confessing Christ even upon the
scaffold, he is fitted at once for the society of Gods and Angels, and
will be wafted to eternal bliss. Jesus never taught such a doctrine,
nor did any authorized servant of God. It is a man-made theory, based
upon faulty inference and misinterpretation. The Bible plainly teaches
that men will be judged according to their works. (Rev. 20:12-13.)
It was best for the thief, of course, to repent even at the eleventh
hour; but he could not be exalted until prepared for it, if it took a
thousand years. Jesus Christ and the thief both went to the world of
spirits, a place of rest for the righteous, a place of correction for
the wicked. Parley goes on to say:
"But the One was there in all the intelligence, happiness, benevolence
and charity which characterized a teacher, a messenger anointed to
preach glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to
comfort those who mourned, to preach deliverance to the captive,
and open the prison to those who were bound; or, in other words, to
preach the Gospel to the spirits in prison, that they might be judged
according to men in the flesh; while the other was there as a thief,
who had expired on the cross for crime, and who was guilty, ignorant,
uncultivated, and unprepared for resurrection, having need of remission
of sins and to be instructed in the science of salvation.
"In the world of spirits there are Apostles, Prophets, Elders, and
members of the Church of the Saints, holding keys of priesthood, and
power to teach, comfort, instruct and proclaim the Gospel to their
fellow spirits, after the pattern of Jesus Christ.
"In the same world there are also the spirits of Catholics, and
Protestants of every sect, who have all need to be taught and to
come to the knowledge of the true unchangeable gospel in its fulness
and simplicity, that they may be judged the same as if they had been
privileged with the same in the flesh.
"There is also the Jew, the Mahometan, the infidel, who did not believe
in Christ while in the flesh. All these must be taught, must come to
the knowledge of the crucified and risen Redeemer, and hear the glad
tidings of the Gospel.
"There are also all the varieties of the heathen spirits; the noble and
refined philosopher, poet, patriot, or statesman of Rome or Greece, the
enlightened Socrates and Plato, and their like, together with every
grade of spirits, down to the most uncultivated of the savage world.
"All these must be taught, enlightened, and must bow the knee to the
eternal King, for the decree hath gone forth, that unto Him every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess.
"Oh, what a field of labor, of benevolence, of missionary enterprise
now opens to the apostles and elders of the Church of the Saints! As
this field opens they will begin to realize more fully the extent of
their divine mission, and the meaning of the great command to 'preach
the gospel to every creature'."
Parley P. Pratt, a modern Apostle, was a friend and follower of Joseph
Smith. He sat at the feet of Joseph, as Paul at the feet of Gamaliel.
These are Joseph's doctrines, the doctrines of "Mormonism", which
stands for the Gospel in all the ages, and for the salvation of the
living and the dead. God will judge no man for an opportunity that he
never possessed. Faith and repentance are just as possible and just
as effectual in the spirit world as they are in this sphere. But the
ordinance of baptism--immersion in water for the remission of sins,
and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost--with other
sacred ceremonies, must be done here, in places dedicated for the
purpose. This vicarious work is absolutely essential, in order that the
departed may be duly admitted into the Church of Christ and share in
all its blessings.
The Hell of Dante.
In the Thirteenth Century a great Italian poet, the immortal Dante,
produced a wonderful work, "La Divina Comedia" ("The Divine Comedy").
In one part of the poem, the author represents himself as passing
through Hades or Hell. In the first circle of the infernal depths--a
region called "Limbo", which a footnote in my copy of the poem
describes as a place "containing the souls of unbaptized children and
of those virtuous men and women who lived before the birth of our
Savior"--he meets some of the noble characters whom the Apostle Parley
mentions as inhabiting the Spirit World, and the guide says to him:
--"Inquirest thou not what spirits
Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass
Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin
Were blameless; and if aught they merited,
It profits not, since baptism was not theirs,
The portal to thy faith. If they before
The Gospel lived, they served not God aright;
And among such am I. For these defects
And for no other evil, we are lost;
Only so far afflicted, that we live
Desiring without hope."--Hell, Canto IV, Lines 29-39.
And this was all that Thirteenth Century theology could say for such
men as Homer, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle and others, the best and
brightest spirits of their times!
According to Their Works.
Was it not imperative that the Heavens should again open and God's Word
go forth once more upon its mission of justice and mercy? The Gospel
of Christ is consistent and reasonable. It does not pre-judge men,
nor save nor damn them regardless of merit or demerit. Rewarding all
according to their works, it gives to every creature, living or dead, a
chance to accept or reject it, before final judgment. Is it not evident
that Joseph Smith and "Mormonism" were indeed a necessity at the dawn
of the Nineteenth Century, when even the Christian world had lost the
knowledge of the true God, proclaiming him either a nonentity incapable
of act or utterance, or a monster unmerciful and unjust?
Sons of Perdition.
God is not trying to damn the world, but to save it. All will be saved
except "the sons of perdition", those who have had every opportunity
to be saved--yes, saved and exalted. They who have known God, and have
"tasted of the powers of the world to come", and then have thrown it
all away, trampling upon the Truth as a thing of naught, denying the
Holy Ghost, and "crucifying the Lord afresh";--these cannot be saved,
for salvation is predicated upon repentance, and such have sinned
away the power to repent. This is what makes their case hopeless.
But comparatively few go that far. All the rest will be saved, and
eventually glorified.
Different Degrees of Glory.
There are different degrees of glory--a glory of the sun, a glory of
the moon, and a glory of the stars. So Paul taught (1 Cor. 15:40-42);
and Joseph Smith taught it even more plainly. (Doc. & Cov. 76.) They
who inherit celestial glory, of which the sun in the firmament is
typical, are they who receive the Gospel in this life, and are valiant
for it and endure to the end, giving to God the fulness of their
obedience. They who inherit terrestrial glory, which differs from the
celestial as the moon differs from the sun, are they who receive not
the Gospel here, but afterwards receive it; souls not valiant, and
who therefore "win not the crown". The inheritors of telestial glory,
typified by the stars, "are they who are thrust down to hell", where
they pay their debt to Justice, after which Mercy claims its own, and
they are ushered into a light and freedom greater than the finite mind
can comprehend.
Such is "Mormonism's" astounding declaration--the only religion on
earth that dares to say THE DAMNED CAN BE SAVED! Yes, anyone can be
saved who will repent, even in the depths of hell. But why go there to
repent? Why not make Peace with Heaven here?
A Nautical Illustration.