worlds that have passed away by the word of my power, and there are
many that now stand, and innumerable are they to man. * * * The
heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; * * *
and as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so
shall another come, and there is no end to my works, neither to my
words."
This passage implies constant movement in this infinite universe. The
statement, "As one earth shall pass away and the heavens thereof, even
so shall another come," corresponds somewhat to the modern scientist's
notion of "evolution and devolution." Also with his statement that
"Substance is everywhere and always in uninterrupted movement and
transformation; nowhere is there perfect repose and rigidity; yet the
infinite quantity of matter and of eternally changing force remains
constant." And now I must ask you to accept a somewhat hurriedly
stated conclusion as to the effect of these changes going on in the
universe, gathered, indeed, from the teaching of our Prophet, but
without specific quotation, namely, that the tendency of this movement
in the universe, the organization and then the disintegration of
worlds and world-systems is in the direction of the development of,
and for the increase of the power and glory of truly immortal
Intelligences. This conclusion is required by the philosophy of Joseph
Smith.
THE EXISTENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL: Respecting Good and Evil, our Prophet
taught: "There must needs be an opposition in all things. If it were
not so, righteousness could not be brought to pass; nor wickedness,
nor holiness, nor misery; neither good nor bad, therefore, all things
must needs be [in the absence of these opposite existences] a compound
in one."
It will require but little reflection to establish the truth of this
doctrine. Good implies its opposite, evil. Law, which carries with it
the idea of order, implies disorder, and takes measures against it. We
become conscious of the truth of the doctrine here announced at every
turn. In the astronomic order it is seen in the centripetal and
centrifugal forces--the holding together and the flying apart forces.
In chemistry it is manifest in the composing and decomposing forces;
in positive and negative electricity. It is seen in light and
darkness; heat, cold; movement, repose; joy, sorrow; pleasure, pain;
and so following. Our Prophet's teaching on this line runs to the
extent that existence itself is made to depend upon it, this antinomy
of things. Listen:
"And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is
no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there
is no righteousness. And if there is no righteousness there is no
happiness. And if there is no righteousness nor happiness, there
is no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not, there is
no God. And if there is no God, we are not, neither the earth; for
there could have been no creation of things; neither to act, nor
to be acted upon."
Have you ever thought what a dreadful world this would be without this
duality--the opposite existences here contended for? Imagine all
things in the world to be white! No contrasts in coloring! Universal
insanity must result. The "dread of sinking into naught" is matched by
the dread of having things resolved into a "compound of one." The
absence of this necessary "opposition in all things" is well put, by a
very recent philosophical writer, in these terms:
"Evil exists in the balance of natural forces. * * * It is also
the background of good, the incentive to good, and the trial of
good, without which good could not be. As the virtue of courage
could not exist without the evil of danger, and as the virtue of
sympathy could not exist without the evil of suffering, so no
other virtue could exist without its corresponding evil. In a
world without evil--if such a world be really conceivable, all men
would have perfect health, perfect intelligence, and perfect
morals. No one could gain or impart information, each one's cup of
knowledge being full. The temperature would stand forever at 70
degrees, both heat and cold [in excess] being evil. There could be
no progress, since progress is the overcoming of evil. A world
without evil would be as toil without exertion, as light without
darkness, as a battle with no antagonist. It would be a world
without meaning."
The German philosopher Kant put the same thought in beautiful form
when he said, in substance: The dove, as she speeds her way through
the air, may marvel at the resistance to her flight by the atmosphere,
but we know that but for that resistance she could not fly at all. So
far Kant. Applied, the conclusion would be: As the resistance of the
air to the flight of the dove, so is evil to the progress of
Intelligences.
[In the December number, 1908, of the "Cosmopolitan Magazine," I find
the following reflections, by Mr. Ambrose Bierce, on the point here
discussed; and while not accepting, without modification, every
thought expressed, I consider the passage too pertinent, and too rich
to be denied admittance into these pages:
"Let us for a moment suppose this country's reformers to have achieved
their amiable purpose--their purposes, rather, for these are as the
leaves of the forest, and no two alike. We have, then, a country in
which are no poverty, no contention, no tyranny nor oppression, no
peril to life or limb, no disease--and so forth. How delightful! What
a good and happy people! Alas, no! With poverty have vanished
benevolence, providence, and the foresight which, born of the fear of
individual want, stands guard at a thousand gates to defend the
general good. The charitable impulse is dead in every breast, and
gratitude, atrophied by disuse, has no longer a place among human
sentiments and emotions. With no more fighting among ourselves we have
lost the power of resentment and resistance: a car-load of Mexicans or
a shipful of Japanese can invade our fool's paradise and enslave us,
as the Spaniards overran Peru and the British subdued India. (Hailers
of "the dawn of the new era" will, I trust, provide that it dawns
everywhere at once or here last of all.) Having no oppression to
resist and no perils to apprehend, we no longer need the courage to
defy, nor the fortitude to endure. Heroism is a failing memory and
magnanimity a dream of the past; for not only are the virtues known by
contrast with the vices, they spring from the same seed, grow in the
same soil, ripen in the same sunshine, and perish in the same frost. A
fine race of mollycoddles we should be without our sins and
sufferings! In a world without evils there would be one supreme
evil--existence. We need not fear any such condition. Progress is
infected with the germs of reversion; on the grave of the civilization
of today will squat the barbarian of tomorrow, "with a glory in his
bosom" that will transfigure him the day after. The alternation is one
that we can neither hasten nor retard, for our success baffles us. If,
for example, we could abolish war, disease, and famine, the race would
multiply to the point of "standing room only"--a condition prophesying
war, disease, and famine. Wherefore the wisest prayer is this, "O
Lord, make thy servant strong to fight and impotent to prevail."]
"Moral evil," then, is not a created thing. It is one of the eternal
existences, just as duration is and space. It is as old as law--old as
Truth, old as this eternal universe. Intelligences must adjust
themselves to these eternal existences; this, the measure of their
duty.
THE INTELLIGENT ENTITY: Of man's spirit, called often by other
names--"mind," "intelligence," "ego," "self;" but by whatever name it
is called, and all nice distinctions set aside, here I mean that
conscious, self-determining entity, which thinks, reasons, wills,
loves, aspires--I mean the real man. Let us in our discourse call him
spirit. Of man, then, thus understood, our Prophet taught:
"The soul--the mind of man--the immortal spirit--where did it come
from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created
it in the beginning; but it is not so; the very idea lessens man
in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine. I know better. *
* * We say that God himself is a self-existent Being. Who told you
so? It is correct enough, but how did it get into your heads? Who
told you that man did not exist in like manner, upon the same
principles? * * * Is it logical to say that the intelligence of
spirits is immortal, and yet that it had a beginning? The
intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an
end. * * * There never was a time when there were not spirits; for
they are co-eternal with our Father in heaven. * * * The spirit of
man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will
exist to eternity."
Man, then, in the Prophet's philosophy, is not a created, but a
self-existent entity, one of the eternal things; not created, really
uncreatable, as also indestructible. Not of earth origin, but existing
in heavens without number, brother to all Intelligences--brother to
the Christ with the rest. "I was in the beginning with the Father,"
our Prophet represents the Christ as saying--"I was in the beginning
with the Father. * * * Ye [the brethren present when the revelation
was given] were also in the beginning with the Father, that which is
spirit. * * * Man [the race] was also in the beginning with God.
Intelligence was not created or made, neither indeed can be."
But while these spirits or intelligent entities may be equal as to
their eternity, they differ in the degree of intelligence--so our
Prophet teaches: Where two things exist, one higher than another,
there may be another thing higher yet. Where two things exist, one
superior to another, there may be another still superior, and so on.
So where two spirits exist, one being more intelligent than the other,
there may be another more intelligent than the first. Yet,
notwithstanding this difference in degree of intelligence, they are
equal as to their eternity. "They existed before," said our Prophet,
"they shall have no end; they shall exist after, for they are
_gnolaum_, or eternal." It is this difference in Intelligences that
leads to order in this universe of ours. The more advanced
Intelligences governing, controlling, devising, organizing, forming
societies, making governments--all which shall tend to increase the
glory and power and joy of Intelligences; to this end bringing into
existence what we call worlds, world-systems, guiding them through
immense cycles of time, and through processes that lead from chaos to
cosmos, from telestial to celestial, and when attaining a point beyond
which they may not be exalted in their present forms, breaking those
forms, disintegrating them, throwing them back--these baser material
things, not Intelligences--back to chaos, to be brought forth again to
reach a grander cosmos--worlds without number have thus passed away,
by the word of God's power, and many now stand, innumerable unto man;
and as one earth and its heavens shall pass away, so shall another
come, and there is no end to these works, this evolution and this
devolution. And so the eternal drama proceeds. Intelligences meanwhile
standing unhurt amidst this organization and disorganization of
worlds; these integrating and disintegrating elements, this movement
from lower to higher forms, from little to greater excellences; yet
this without attaining to "highest" or "perfect," because advancing in
the infinite, which knows no ultimates. Meanwhile Intelligences, amid
these changes, under the law of eternal progress, are ever-increasing
in power, glory, might, dominion, love, benevolence, charity, justice,
and all else that can make for the increase of their power and glory.
In which strivings and achievements eternal evil is present; makes
necessary and possible, in fact, the very strivings and achievements;
and is the "foil on which good produces itself, and becomes known."
THE RELATIONSHIP OF INTELLIGENCES: It is seen that our Prophet taught
the eternity of Intelligences; and that they are not only not created,
but uncreatable; that though they differ in degree of intelligence, of
knowledge, of love, hence differ also in power, in influence, in
glory--in all that comes from soul power. The presiding Intelligence
to that order of things and beings to which we belong, is represented
as standing among the Intelligences destined to our earth, "and among
these there were many of the noble and great ones." And the Presiding
Intelligence said: "These I will make my Rulers; for He stood among
those that were spirits, and He saw that they were good." "The noble
and great ones" are made Rulers; and doubtless the principle here
operating in respect of those Intelligences destined to our earth,
operates in all worlds and world systems. Some of the "Noble and Great
Ones" stand at the head of worlds and groups of worlds, forming Grand
Presidencies, in order and gradation based upon their power and
appointment. All which is dependent upon their intelligence, their
character, their nobility and greatness--measured by their capacity to
serve. Each one of such "Rulers"--and each Intelligence, in
fact--independent in the sphere in which he is appointed to act, yet
acting in harmony, through attainment of the knowledge of Truth, with
all other exalted and sanctified souls--these are Gods, or the Rulers
in this Universe. These make up David's "congregation of the Mighty,"
in which God, "More intelligent than them all," standeth and judgeth
"among the Gods." (Psalms 82: 1.) And to these, in their several
stations, other Intelligences owe loyalty, submission--call it worship
if you like; at any rate it must be unshaken loyalty, in order to
attain the ends proposed in all "plans of salvation," "gospels,"
"societies," "kingdoms of God," and the like, in which "plans,"
"gospels" and the rest, each spirit agreed and covenanted to accept,
as also to obey and honor those appointed to direct and bring to pass
that which was ordained in the councils of Divine Intelligences. "At
the first organization in heaven," said the Prophet, speaking with
reference to matters pertaining to our earth, and the probation of
spirits upon it in earth-life--"at the first organization in heaven we
were all present, and saw the Savior chosen and appointed, and the
plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it." This the meaning of
"man [the race] was also in the beginning with God." And as to the
"Rulers," "Presidencies"--they are not "Rulers" in the worldly sense
of those words. "Government" here, "office" in the "kingdom of God,"
means opportunity for service, not of mastery. "Ye know that the
princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are
great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you.
But whosoever would be great among you, let him be your minister; and
whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as
the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to
give His life a ransom for many." So Joseph Smith: "The powers of
heaven can only be controlled upon the principles of righteousness.
When men undertake to cover their sins or to gratify their pride or
vain ambition or exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the
souls of the children of men in any degree of unrighteousness, the
heavens withdraw themselves, the spirit of the Lord is grieved, and
when it is withdrawn, amen to the authority of that man. No power or
influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood,
only by persuasion, by long suffering, by gentleness, and meekness,
and by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall
greatly enlarge the soul, without hypocrisy, and without guile."
This, the principle of heavenly rule.
MAN'S FREEDOM: Through all that is here set forth as Joseph Smith's
doctrines, it will be seen that the free moral agency of man is
regarded as a reality. First, the recognition of man, as a spirit,
being a self-existent entity--not a created thing; "man [i.e., all
men, the race] was in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the
light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be." Then
second, "All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has
placed it, to act for itself, as all Intelligence also, otherwise
there is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is
the condemnation of man, because that which was from the beginning is
plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every
man, whose spirit receiveth not the light, is under condemnation, for
man is spirit."
The fact of free moral agency runs through all the Prophet's
revelations in similar spirit. Indeed, in one scripture he represents
the chief sin of Lucifer as being an attempt to "destroy the agency of
man;" and for which he was driven forth from heaven. The effect of
these two doctrines, the recognition of the spirit of man as an
eternal being, and his being a free moral agent, is tremendous in
accounting for things. Elsewhere, contrasting this view of things with
some modern Christian views, I have said: "As matters now stand, the
usually accepted Christian doctrine on the matter of man's origin is
that God of His free-will created men. That they are as He would have
them, since in His act of creation He could have had them different if
He had so minded. Then why should He--being infinitely wise and
infinitely powerful, and infinitely good--for so the creeds represent
Him--why should He create by mere act of volition, beings such as men
are, not only capable of, but prone to, moral Evil? Which, in the last
analysis of things, in spite of all special pleadings to the contrary,
leaves responsibility for moral Evil with God? God's creative acts
culminating thus, the next pertinent questions are: Then what of the
decreed purpose of God to punish moral Evil? And what of the
much-vaunted justice of God in that punishment? Wherein lies the just
responsibility of man if he was so created as to love Evil and to
follow it?" It is revolting to reason, as it is shocking to piety, to
think that God, of His own free will, created some men, not only
inclined to wickedness, but desperately so inclined; while others He,
of His own volition, created with dispositions naturally inclined
toward goodness. In like manner stands it with man in relation to his
inclination to faith, and to unbelief; and yet, under the orthodox
belief all are included under one law for judgment!
On the other hand, under the conception of the existence of
independent, uncreated, self-existent Intelligences, who by the
inherent nature of them are of various degrees of intelligence,
doubtless differing from each other in many ways, yet alike in their
eternity and their freedom; with God standing in the midst of them,
"more intelligent than them all," and proposing the betterment of
their condition--progress to higher levels of being, and power through
change--under this conception of things, how stand matters? Why, ever
present through all changes, through all the processes of betterment,
is the self-existent entity of the "Intelligence" with the tremendous
fact of his consciousness and his moral freedom, and his
indestructibility--he has his choice of moving upward or downward in
every estate he occupies; often defeating, for a time, at least, even
the benevolent purposes of God respecting him, through his own
perverseness; he passes through dire experiences, suffers terribly,
yet learns by what he suffers, so that his very suffering becomes a
means to his improvement; he learns swiftly or slowly, according to
the inherent nature of him, obedience to law; he learns that "that
which is governed by law is also preserved by law, and perfected and
sanctified by the same; and that which breaketh the law and abideth
not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself, and willeth to
abide in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice
nor judgment. Therefore they must remain filthy still." This
conception of things relieves God of the responsibility for the nature
and status of intelligences in all stages of their development; their
inherent nature and their volition makes them primarily what they are,
and this nature they may change, slowly, perhaps, yet change it they
may. God has put them in the way of changing it, by enlarging their
intelligence through change of environment, through experiences; the
only way God effects these self-existent beings is favorably; He
creates not their inherent nature; He is not responsible for the use
they make of their freedom; nor is He the author of their sufferings
when they fall into sin: that arises out of the violations of law, to
which the "Intelligence" subscribed, and must be endured until the
lessons of obedience to law are learned.
This conception of the order of things, as to the existence of
"Intelligences" and in the moral government of the world, discovers a
harmony in that government which at once challenges our admiration,
and bears evidence of its truth.
ETERNITY OF RELATIONSHIPS: Matching these eternal things, an eternal
universe, eternal spirit entities, eternal good, with its background
of eternal evil,--eternal law, agency and the like, is the Prophet's
doctrine of eternal relations. Intelligences are begotten spirits;
spirits are begotten men and women; these become resurrected and
exalted personages, spirit and element in them being eternally united,
whence proceeds the fulness of joy, and glory, and power. The Prophet
taught that these relations, under which such begettings proceed in
celestial worlds, are themselves eternal. The marriage covenant which
united immortal beings is eternal, hence the eternity of the marriage
covenant which Joseph Smith introduced in our dispensation, called the
"New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage," by which marriages, under
the law of God, are made in our sacred places for time and eternity.
Thus the relationships of exalted Intelligences is also a thing
regulated and sanctified by law; and from these relations come the
family, a permanent, eternal institution; whence spring, also, all
other relationships existing among the exalted Intelligences of all
worlds and world-systems; until, indeed, all are bound and united
together in bonds of relationships founded on mutual covenants and
agreements, and sanctified by love and sympathy.
We may not persue this division of our subject further now. I merely
call your attention to these doctrines of the Prophet, without making
any attempt to weave them into a system of philosophy of things, or of
sentient existences; but I am persuaded that these doctrines set forth
by the Prophet-Teacher of our dispensation, not indeed as the result
of his own, human meditation, but based upon knowledge which God
revealed to him--therefore, coming with divine sanction--I am
persuaded, I say, that these doctrines contain the elements of a
physical, moral and spiritual philosophy that will be the accepted
philosophy of the New Age now dawning upon our world; a philosophy
that will supersede all other philosophies and remain steadfast in
both the beliefs and affections of mankind. The elements, I say, are
here in these doctrines; they await only some future Spencer to weave
them into synthetic completeness, that shall be as beautiful as it
will be true, to make that philosophy acceptable to the higher
intellects of our age.
VII.
THE PROPHET'S GENERALIZATIONS.