unique in its way. He may scarcely be said to have made any attempt at
creating a system of philosophy however much may be said for his
system of religion and of ecclesiastical government. His philosophical
principles were flung off in utterances without reference to any
arrangement or orderly sequence; and in the main were taught in
independent aphorisms, which is a remarkably effective way of
teaching, for an aphorism resembles the proverb, and is a form in
which Truth is bound to live. It is the American philosopher Emerson,
I think, who describes a proverb to be the language of absolute
Truth--the statement of Truth without qualification. It is the
literature of power. Fortunate, indeed, is the man who gives a people
or nation a proverb; and so, too, is the nation or people fortunate
who receive it. Like mercy, it is twice blessed, it blesseth him that
gives and him that takes. Usually proverbs are produced by a race's
experience. Proverbs come up out of the tribulations of a people. They
are produced slowly and represent the hived wisdom of the ages. Books
of proverbs are not written by men, to whom they are sometimes
ascribed, they represent a collection slowly produced through
centuries. Such are the proverbs of our Bible; proverbs of the Chinese
classics; and the proverbs of the Hindoo literature. Joseph Smith gave
to his age many of these generalized truths, more, I think, than has
fallen to the lot of any other teacher, save Jesus, the Christ. I can
but repeat a few of these as examples:
"The glory of God is intelligence."
"It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance."
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge."
"Knowledge saves a man, and in the world of spirits no man can be
exalted but by knowledge."
"Whatsoever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life
will rise with us in the resurrection."
"If one man, by his diligence, obtains more knowledge than
another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."
"There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the
foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are
predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by
obedience to that law on which it is predicated."
"Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have
joy."
"This is the glory of God--to bring to pass the immortality and
the eternal life of man."
"The elements are eternal, yea, the elements are the tabernacle of
God. Man is the tabernacle of God, even temples."
"The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably
united, receive a fulness of joy [Hence the importance of man's
earth life in which spirit is united to earthly elements.]
"If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not
comprehend themselves."
"God Himself was once as we are now; and is an exalted Man; for
Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God."
"The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from
eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be
eternal."
"The spirit and the body is the soul of man; and the resurrection
from the dead is the redemption of the soul."
"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."
"Jesus was in the beginning with the Father. * * * Man was also in
the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was
not created or made, neither indeed can be."
"Jesus treads in the footsteps of His Father, and inherits what
God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the
salvation and exaltation of all His children."
"The things of God are of deep import; and time and experience and
careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.
Thy mind, O man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must
stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and
contemplate the darkest abyss and the broad expanse of
eternity--_thou must commune with God_!"
The Prophet represents God as saying: "I give unto men weaknesses that
they might be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all those who
humble themselves before me."
To one who inquired how he governed men so well, he said: "I do not
govern them: I teach men correct principles, and they govern
themselves."
These sayings, with many others of like character, in the future
literature of America, philosophical and religious, will make its
pages blaze with glory. They are destined to become generally accepted
principles of truth. They will become household aphorisms. They are
words spoken by inspiration of God. They come from what Carlyle calls,
"the inner Fact of things." They will live to influence the future
generations of America, and of men everywhere.
VIII.
AN AMERICAN PROPHET.
AMERICA THE "OLD WORLD:" There is one more thought I would like to
present to you respecting this Prophet, Joseph Smith. He is
pre-eminently the American Prophet. He is not the "boy prophet;" I
dislike that term. He is not the "Prophet of Palmyra;" he is the
Prophet of the dispensation of the fulness of times; if localized at
all he must be known as the "American Prophet."
Never was greater mistake made than to suppose that the disciples of
Joseph Smith could be unpatriotic Americans. They must be ardently
patriotic Americans. That this is true, let me a little show it. A
line in one of our hymns runs:
"For in Adam-ondi-Ahman,
Zion rose where Eden was."
What is the meaning of this? It means that the Prophet taught that the
American continents are not the New World, but the Old; Teacher that
Eden was here in America. Adam-ondi-Ahman, the place where Adam dwelt
after being driven from Eden, the Prophet declared to be in Missouri,
in the valley of the Grand River. He represents a gathering together
there of the patriarchs of the antediluvian age: and tells how they
blessed Adam, or "Michael," the "Ancient of Days;" and Adam rose among
them and blessed the patriarchs, his posterity, and told what should
befall them to their latest generations.
Among the Patriarchs Enoch was pre-eminent for righteousness. He, in
this western hemisphere, founded a city, sanctified it, and called it
"Zion," the abode of the pure in heart; "for this is Zion"--wherein
that word relates to a people--"the pure in heart." Hence "Zion rose
where Eden was," here in America. But in the course of time "Enoch
walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." That is, according
to Paul, God translated him, that he should not see death (Gen. v;
Heb. xi); and according to Joseph Smith, this happened to his city
also; hence the saying, "Zion's fled."
Then after the Flood, the Lord led to these Western continents the
Jaredite colony from the Euphrates valley; and sixteen centuries later
the Nephite colony from Jerusalem. In each case the Lord declared to
the peoples so led to the Western world that it was "a choice land
above all other lands." The Savior, in the most glorious manner, after
His resurrection from the dead, visited these blessed Western
Continents and declared that here should be built a Holy City by the
united efforts of the house of Israel, chiefly the descendants of the
Patriarch Joseph, of Egyptian fame, and the Gentile races who have
right to an inheritance in the land; and the City should be called
"Zion," a "New Jerusalem." The "Zion" from which "the law should go
forth," as the word of the Lord should go forth from Old Jerusalem.
Because of the future establishment of this city, of Zion, upon these
western continents, as also on account of Enoch's Zion, they are
called the "Land of Zion."
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES INSPIRED OF GOD: Joseph Smith
also taught that the Constitution of the United States was a
God-inspired instrument. "It is not right," he represents the Lord as
saying, "that one man should be in bondage to another;" and hence the
Constitution should be maintained for the preservation of the rights,
and the protection of all flesh, "according to just and holy
principles, that every man may act in doctrine and principle,
pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I [the
Lord] have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his
own sins in the day of judgment. And for this purpose have I
established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men
whom I raised up unto this very purpose."
So Joseph Smith's disciples hold the Constitution of the United States
to be inspired of God. I think sometimes, however, that we do not
realize all that this truth means. We are apt to think of things in
mass, and do not take the time to analyze them. What does it mean to
say that the Constitution of the United States is an inspired
instrument? Undoubtedly, it means primarily that God recognizes the
right of the people, in their political capacity, to govern
themselves. It expresses the divine belief, so to speak, in the
capacity of man for self-government. It means that the people in their
political affairs are sovereign; for this is the chief thing which
distinguishes the American government from other political systems of
government. We are not always happy in our forms of expression. We do
not make our terminology always meet our ideas. In spite of the fact
just alluded to--viz., the people are sovereign, we talk of, and pray
for, "those who rule over us," meaning presidents, cabinets, senators,
governors, and the like; but these are not "rulers," they are the
people's servants, elected for a limited time to administer government
according to law, under the provisions of our Constitution; but they
serve, they do not rule. The people are sovereign, and the people
alone are rulers, and they appoint or elect their servants. Moreover,
this Constitution provides for the freedom of the press; for freedom
of speech; for freedom and independence of the individual. It
guarantees religious liberty, hence a free church, as well as a free
state, each independent of and separate from the other. The government
is an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States. To hold
that the Constitution which provides for these things, is inspired of
God, is to hold that each of these separate things, as well as the
thing in mass, is ordained of God by the hands of wise men whom He
raised up to establish this system of government; and to deny to the
people the enjoyment of these several rights, to undertake, by any
means whatsoever, to thwart the realization of government by the
people, to attempt to defeat the expression of their will, or make it
result different from what their untrammeled judgment would have it,
is to make an infraction upon the things that have been ordained of
God.
In the above quotation concerning the system of Government established
by the Constitution of the United States being inspired of God, we may
discern the purpose of God in the establishment of such a government.
That purpose is that every man may become directly and personally
responsible to God for his actions in matters relating to civil
government--"that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the
day of judgment." The principle is, however, more fully developed in
the Book of Mormon than in the quotation here considered. The
incident which develops the principle occurs in the reign of the first
Mosiah, and at a period that corresponds with the latter half of the
second century B.C. The old king proposed to his people a revolution
in the form of government by which monarchy should be abandoned and a
republican form of government established in its place. In urging this
revolutionary measure the good king said:
"It is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything
contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser
part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore
this shall ye observe, and make it your law, to do your business
by the voice of the people. And if the time comes that the voice
of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the
judgments of God will come upon you, yea, then is the time He will
visit you with great destruction, even as He has hitherto visited
this land. * * * And I command you to do these things in the fear
of the Lord; and I command you to do these things, and that ye
have no king; that if these people commit sins and iniquities,
they shall be answered upon their own heads. For behold, I say
unto you, the sins of many people have been caused by the
iniquities of their kings; therefore their iniquities are answered
upon the heads of their kings. And now I desire that this
inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this
my people; but I desire that this be a land of liberty, that every
man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord
sees fit that we may live and inherit the land; yea, even as long
as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land."
But in order that this element of moral responsibility may be brought
into civil government, it stands to reason that every individual must
be free and untrammeled in the exercise of his political duties,
including the casting of his vote. Each individual must have an equal
voice in the government. Every man must be a sovereign in the civil
institution, and his vote must represent the voice and judgment of a
free man. A vote unawed by influence, and uncoerced by any power
whatsoever. Less than this would convert the whole scheme of
government by the voice of the people into mockery. Under a system of
government by the people, in order to retain the element of moral
responsibility of the people in civil affairs, there must be no appeal
but to the intelligent judgment of the individual. Each man's act must
be the act of a free man; and those who would corrupt the electorate
of a government where the people rule, or sway it by any other force
than by an appeal to reason, would destroy this element of personal,
moral responsibility in civil government, and in the case of those of
us who accept this book from which I am quoting--if we would appeal to
any other force than to that of reason or resort to any species of
coercion, _we would be setting ourselves against an order of things
that God has ordained_.
Adherence to these principles is pure Americanism. This is
constitutional morality. This is both the principle and the policy
that will most inure to the perpetuation of our free institutions.
This is the sheet-anchor of our safety as a nation--our surest
guarantee of God's favor. The man who promulgated this doctrine of
individual, personal responsibility to God in the affairs of civil
government, where the people rule, is worthy to be numbered among the
greatest of American statesmen, American teachers, American prophets!
It means a great deal, this idea that the Constitution of the United
States is inspired of God!
AMERICA FORTIFIED OF GOD AGAINST OTHER NATIONS: Not only did the
Prophet teach the doctrine that the United States Constitution was
inspired of God, but he tells us through the Book of Mormon that God
has fortified this land against all other nations. I will read you the
passage. The Lord said to Lehi:
"Behold, this land shall be the land of thine inheritance, and the
Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. This land shall be a land
of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the
land who shall raise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this
land against all other nations, and he that fighteth against Zion
[these continents of the western world] shall perish, saith God;
for he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the
Lord, the King of Heaven, will be their King, and I will be a
light unto them forever that hear my words."
This guarantee, however, this fortifying this land against all other
nations, is upon a certain condition: the condition that the "God of
the land, who is Jesus Christ," shall be honored by them. On this head
I want to read to you a passage from a certain American statesman,
that I can easily believe was one of the God-inspired men appointed to
assist in the maintenance of true constitutional principles, as others
were inspired to found the Constitution. I refer to the great
statesman of nationalism, Daniel Webster, who, before the New York
Historical society, in 1852, in his last public address, said:
"Unborn ages and visions of glory crowd upon my soul, the
realization of all which, however, is in the hands and good
pleasure of Almighty God; but, under His divine blessing, it will
be dependent on the character and the virtues of ourselves, and of
our posterity. If classical history has been found to be, is now,
and shall continue to be, the concomitant of free institutions,
and of popular eloquence, what a field is opening to us for
another Herodotus, another Thucydides, and another Livy!
"And let me say, gentlemen, that if we and our posterity shall be
true to the Christian religion--if we and they shall live always
in the fear of God, and shall respect His commandments--if we and
they shall maintain just, moral sentiments, and such conscientious
convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life--we may
have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country, and
if we maintain those institutions of government and that political
union, exceeding all praise as much as it exceeds all former
examples of political associations, we may be sure of one
thing--that, while our country furnishes materials for a thousand
masters of the historic art, it will afford no topic for a Gibbon.
It will have no decline and fall. It will go on prospering and to
prosper.
"But if we and our posterity reject religious instruction and
authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the
injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political
Constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a
catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in
profound obscurity. Should that catastrophe happen, let it have no
history! Let the horrible narrative never be written! Let its fate
be like that of the lost books of Livy, which no human eye shall
ever read; or the missing Pleiad, of which no man can ever know
more, than that it is lost, and lost forever!"
Such were the sentiments of this patriotic statesman; but the
beautiful and flowing periods in which he expresses his thought, are
in no respects better or stronger, or more patriotic than the rugged
utterances of Joseph Smith, in whose utterances throughout our sacred
books, there is a wealth of pure American sentiment that is the basis
of a patriotism that shall yet exceed all praise.
In view of all that is here set forth, I submit that Joseph Smith was
pre-eminently the American Prophet.
Standing in the midst of these ideas to which we have ascended in
thought about this man and his life's work, all which tend to
establish his claims as a Prophet--"a Teacher sent of God"--how
unworthy indeed seem the attempts of men to stay his work, or defame
his character by their silly misrepresentations! We hear a babel of
confused voices coming up from the past, "pelting his memory with
their unsavory epithets," but all is vain; he may not be disposed of
in such manner.
Meanwhile, the truths he taught will live to instruct mankind, and of
Joseph Smith it will yet be said--as Josiah Quincy half predicted
sixty-three years ago--He influenced his countrymen more than any
other historical American of his time.
End of Project Gutenberg's Joseph Smith the Prophet-Teacher, by B. H. Roberts