REPLY TO ELDER ROBERTS' MORMON VIEWS OF DEITY,[A] BY REV. C. VAN DER
DONCKT, OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, POCATELLO, IDAHO.
[Footnote A: The following note preceded Rev. Van Der Donckt's reply,
when published in the _Improvement Era_: "In the first two numbers of
the present volume of the _Era_, an article on the Characteristics
of the Deity from a 'Mormon' View Point, appeared from the pen of
Elder B. H. Roberts. It was natural that ministers of the Christian
denominations should differ from the views there expressed. Shortly
after its appearance, a communication was received from Reverend Van
Der Donckt, of the Catholic church, of Pocatello, Idaho, asking that a
reply which he had written might be printed in the _Era_. His article
is a splendid exposition of the generally accepted Christian views of
God, well written and to the point, and which we think will be read
with pleasure by all who are interested in the subject. We must, of
course, dissent from many of the deductions with which we cannot at all
agree, but we think the presentation of the argument from the other
side will be of value to the Elders who go forth to preach the Gospel,
as showing them what they must meet on this subject. It is therefore
presented in full; the _Era_, of course, reserving the right to print
any reply that may be deemed necessary.--Editors."]
I.
I am very grateful for the privilege of being allowed space in your
magazine to reply to Mr. B. H. Roberts' defense of the "Mormon Views of
the Deity."
1. First, Mr. Roberts asserts: "Jesus came with no abstract definition
of God." He certainly gave a partial definition of God when declaring:
"God is a spirit" (John 4:24). Now, although we must believe whatever
God reveals to us upon one single word of his, just as firmly as upon
a thousand, nevertheless, I will add that St. Paul, who solemnly
testifies that he _received of the Lord that which he delivered unto
the Christians,_ (I Cor. 11:23) also states: "The Lord is a spirit" (II
Cor. 3:17).
I am well aware that the Latter-day Saints interpret those texts as
meaning a spirit clothed with a body, but what nearly the whole of
mankind, Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans, have believed for ages
cannot be upset by gratuitous assertions of a religious innovator of
this last century. Again, the context of the Bible admits of no such
interpretation. And if anyone should still hesitate to accept the
universally received meaning of the word _spirit_, our risen Savior
settles the matter. As his disciples, upon first seeing him after his
resurrection, were troubled and frightened, supposing they beheld a
spirit, Jesus reassured them, saying, "_A spirit hath not flesh and
bones_ as you see me to have" (Luke 24:37-39).
2. Another very strong and explicit statement is: "Blessed art thou,
Simon Bar-Jona [son of John] because _flesh and blood_ hath not
revealed it to thee, but my _Father_ who is in heaven" (Matt. 16:17).
As Christ has asked, "What do men say the Son of Man is" (Matt. 16:13).
There is an evident antithesis and contrast between the opinion of
men and the profession of Peter, which is based upon revelation. The
striking opposition between _men, flesh and blood,_ and the Father,
evidently conveys the sense that God hath not flesh and blood like man,
but is a spirit.
3. That God is a spirit is proved moreover by the fact that he is
called invisible in the Bible. All material beings are visible.
Absolutely invisible beings are immaterial or bodiless: God is
absolutely invisible, therefore God is immaterial or bodiless.
Moses' unshaken faith is thus described by St. Paul: "He was strong _as
seeing him that is invisible_" (Heb. 11:27).
"No man hath seen God at any time" (1 John 4:12).
"The King of kings--whom no man hath seen nor can see." (I Tim. 15:16).
In the light of these clear, revealed statements, how shall we explain
the various apparitions of God mentioned in the Bible? Tertullian, (A.
D. 160-245), Ambrose (330-397), Augustine (354-430) and other Fathers,
whose deep scholarship is acknowledged by Protestants and Catholics
alike, informs us that God the Father is called invisible because he
never appeared to bodily eyes; whereas the Son manifested himself as
an angel, or through an angel, and as man after his incarnation. He
is the eternal revelation of the Father. It is necessary to remark
that whenever the eternal Son of God, or angels at God's behest,
showed themselves to man, they became visible only through a body
or a material garb assumed for the occasion (see Cardinal Newman's
"Development of Christian Doctrine," 9th edition, pp. 136 and 138).
I am well aware of St. Paul's, "We now see as through a glass darkly,
but then face to face." (I Cor. 12:13.) "In thy light we shall see
light." (Ps. 35:10.)
The first and chief element of the happiness of heaven will consist
in the beatific vision; that is, in seeing God face to face, unveiled
as he really is. The "face to face" however is, literally true only
of our blessed Savior who ascended into heaven with his sacred body.
Otherwise, as God is a spirit, he has no body and consequently no face.
In paradise, spirits (angels and our souls) see spirits. We shall see
God and angels, not with the eye of the body, nor by the vibrations of
cosmic light, but with the spiritual eye, with the soul's intellectual
perception, elevated by a supernatural influx from God. As in ordinary
vision, the image of an object is impressed on the retina, so in the
beatific vision, the perfect image of God will be reflected on the
soul, impressing on it a vivid representation of him. We shall thus
enjoy an intellectual possession of him, very different from our
possession of earthly things.
4. That angels as well as God are bodiless beings, is also clearly
proved by Holy Writ. To which of the angels said he at any time: "Sit
on my right hand till I make thy enemies thy footstool? Are they not
all ministering _spirits_ sent to minister for them who shall receive
the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb. 1:13, 14.) Again, "_Our_ wrestling
_is not against flesh and blood_, but against the rulers of the world
of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness" (Eph. 6:12).
Could plainer words be found to teach that angels, both good and bad,
are spirits, devoid of bodies? Now, the Creator is certainly more
perfect than his creatures, and pure minds are more perfect than minds
united to bodies (men). ["The corruptible body is a load upon the soul,
and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind" (Wis. 9:15.) "Who
shall deliver me from this body of death?" (St. Paul).] Therefore, the
Creator is a pure spirit.
5. It is a well known fact that all men, after the example of
the inspired Writings, make frequent use of the figure called
anthropomorphism, attributing to the Deity a human body, human members,
human passions, etc.; and that is done, not to imply that God is
possessed of form, limbs, etc., but simply to make spiritual things or
certain truths more intelligible to man, who, while he tarries in this
world, can perceive things and even ideas only through his senses or
through bodily organs.
That even the Latter-day Saints thus understand such expressions is
evident from their catechism (chapter 5: Q. 9). Yet it is from certain
expressions of the same inspired Book that they conclude that God has
a body. Now I contend that, if we must understand the Bible literally
in those passages God created man in his own image, (Genesis 1:27, and
Genesis 32:24, etc., and Exodus 24:9, etc.) from which they attempt
to prove that God has a body, we must interpret it literally in other
similar passages: so that if Moses, etc., really saw the feet of God
(Exodus 24:10), then we must hold that the _real hand_ of God is
meant by David in (Psalm 138) (Hebrew Bible Ps. 139; 13:9; 9; 10):
"If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost
part of the sea, even there shall _thy hand_ lead me, and _thy right
hand_ shall hold me." And as the Psalmist says also: "Whither shall
I flee from _thy face_? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if
I descend into hell, thou art there" (Psalm 139:7, 8). Have we then
according to "Mormon" standards, not the right to infer that God has
such a long hand as to extend to the uttermost parts of the sea, and
such an extremely long face, reaching from heaven to hell? To this,
I am sure, even the gloomiest Protestants would object. By the way,
should we not also conclude that David had wings? ("If I take my wings
early in the morning, and fly," etc.) unless we admit that the royal
Prophet anticipated our modern scientists, the Brazilian Santos-Dumont,
Professor Zahm of Notre Dame, Ind., etc., in experimenting with flying
machines.
6. A sixth proof of the truth that God has not a body, and therefore
is not an exalted man, is the fact of the incarnation of the Son of
God. The "Mormons" admit that Jesus Christ is the Great I Am, (from
all eternity to all eternity) therefore, God (Doctrine and Covenants
section 39). By the by, I see no mention of this fundamental Christian
truth of the incarnation, in the sacred books of the Latter-day Saints,
not even in their catechism. Yet what is more capable of winning cold
hearted, careless people to the love of God than the exposition of this
mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations, but now is
made manifest to his saints: (Col. 1:26) "God so loved the world as to
give us his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him may not
perish but may have everlasting life" (John 3:16.)
So the "Mormons" admit that Jesus Christ is God for all eternity. The
Bible teaches that Jesus Christ became a man at a specified time;
therefore, Jesus Christ, or God was not man before that specified time.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the
Word was God. _And the Word was made flesh_ and dwelt among us" (John
1:1-14). It is plain that the Son of God became flesh only at the
time of his sojourn on earth. Now, had he been flesh, or man, before,
as "Mormons" hold, how could he become what he was already from all
eternity? No; not from the beginning of the world, but only now once,
at the end of ages, he (Jesus) hath appeared for the destruction of
sin, by the sacrifice of himself. When he came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldst not, _but a body thou hast fitted
to me._" Then said I: "Behold I come" (Heb. 9:26 and 10:5, 7). "Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, _who being in the
form_ (nature, glory, majesty) _of God_, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God (deemed it not fitting to assume to his human nature
the glory and majesty due him without labor and suffering) but emptied
(stripped) himself, _taking the form of a servant, being made in the
likeness of men and in habit_ (in his whole exterior) _found as a man_"
(Philip. 2:5), etc. Again: "_In him_ (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead _corporeally_" (Col. 2:9). Had God a body (_Latin
corpus_) what sense would there be in St. Paul's corporally or bodily?
All save "Mormons," understand St. Paul to mean that in Christ the true
God manifested himself in the flesh, or as man.
"Because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
in like manner hath been partaker of the same, that through death he
might destroy him who hath the empire of death. For nowhere doth he
take hold of the angels, but the seed of Abraham, he taketh hold,
wherefore, it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his
brethren" (Heb. 2:14-16). "Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God" (I John 4:2). "Many seducers
are gone out into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh" (II John 1:7). Why do the New Testament writers lay so
much stress upon the taking of flesh by Jesus Christ? Evidently we must
see in those expressions (the Word was made flesh, etc.) more than
a Hebraism, for "He became man" (Gen. 6:12; Is. 40:5). The inspired
authors want to teach us humility by impressing upon our minds the
excessive abasement of the Eternal Son of God in uniting his Divinity,
not to the nature of an angel, but to that of an inferior creature, as
man is. They have still the further aim of impuning the heretics, of
the early days of the Church the Docetae, Cerinthus, Ebion, etc., who,
attributing the flesh to an evil principle, and therefore holding it as
utterly polluted, maintained that Christ had not a real body of flesh
but only an apparent body. This we learn from SS. Irenaeus, Jerome,
Clem. of Alex., etc.
7. Another proof that God is not an exalted man; that is, that he was
not what we are now, and became perfected into God, is the direct
statement of the Bible: "God is not as a man that he should lie, _nor
as the Son of man that he should be changed_" (Num. 23:19). "I will not
execute the fierceness of my wrath because I am God and not man" (Psalm
11:19).
8. Another most striking proof is to be found in God's immutability.
The Latter day Saints teach that God was once imperfect, as man is;
the Bible teaches the very opposite: "_Thou art always the self-same_"
(Psalm 101:26). "_I am the Lord and I change not_" (Mal. 3:6).
"_The Father of lights with whom there is no change nor shadow of
alteration._" (The Latin _alter_ means other. So the Lord is never
other from all eternity.) (James 1:17.)
9. Finally, the Latter-day Saints' theory of the Man-God supposes a
past and present with God. The Bible excludes that succession of time,
and speaks of God as the Everlasting Present "I Am Who Am." "Before
Abraham was, I am." "From eternity and to eternity thou art God" (Psalm
89:2). "His power is an everlasting power" (Daniel 7:14).
PHILOSOPHICAL PROOFS OF GOD'S SIMPLICITY OR SPIRITUALITY.
The "Mormons" admit that God existed from all eternity; consequently,
there was no time at which God did not exist. Therefore, the Eternal
Being, or God, must be simple.
A compound is, at least by nature, posterior to its component parts. If
God is a compound, he is posterior to his component parts. Therefore,
he would not be eternal; therefore, not God.
Illustration. The Latter-day Saints believe that God creates the souls
of men, long before their conception. Man is a composite being, spirit
and flesh being the component parts. Man is evidently posterior to his
elements; in other words, before a human being can exist, there must
first be a spirit, a soul; and in the second place there must be the
embryo (or foetus); and, thirdly, both of these existing elements must
be united before a human being comes into existence. No need of more
illustration. Fancy a clock, an engine, a shoe, or any composite being.
The parts must exist before the whole. Then to have the compound, some
one or something must do the compounding, or put the ingredients or
elements together. Who then did compound the Eternal? Not himself, as
no one can work before he exists: not another being, as no other being
existed before it was created by God. God is the necessary Being; _i.
e._ who could not not exist. Something exists; therefore, there exists
the Necessary Being. Everything that exists is produced or unproduced.
Now all things cannot be produced; for _whatever is produced or made
is produced by another,_ (otherwise it would have made itself, which
is impossible, as nothing can act before it exists). _This other_
(the producer) _is either a necessary being or a produced being._ If
produced, it must have been produced by another. Thus we must finally
come to a being that was not produced, or a necessary being. That
necessary being (who was not made and who always existed) is God.
If God were an aggregate of parts, these parts would be either
necessary beings or contingent (that do not necessarily exist); or some
would be necessary and some contingent. None of these suppositions are
tenable, therefore, God is not an aggregate of parts.
First supposition: If the parts of God were necessary beings there
would be several independent beings, which the infinity of God
precludes. God would not be infinite, if there were even one other
being independent of him, as his power, etc., would not reach that
being.
Second supposition: The Necessary Being would be the aggregate of
several contingent beings. An unreasonable supposition: contingent
beings cannot by their addition or collection lose their essential
predicate of contingency; in other words, the nature of the parts
clings to the whole.
The third supposition is equally absurd, for if some part exit
necessarily, it must be infinite in every perfection; therefore, it
would of itself be sufficient to constitute God, and could not be
improved by the addition of other parts.
_The Necessary Being must be infinite,_ or illimitable. Nothing is done
without a cause. No cause of limitation to the Necessary Being can be
found.
If finite, or limited, he must be limited by his own essence, or by
another, or by himself.
a. He cannot be limited by his own essence, for his essence, is actual
Being or existence: _I Am Who Am._ No perfection is repugnant to that
essence; for every perfection is some existence, something that _is._
No defect necessarily flows from that essence, for defect is in a thing
only in as much as that thing is not in some sense or regard; now in
the notion or in the concept of him who is Being itself (I Am Who
Am) is not contained the concept that he is not in some regard; for
something is limited not because it is, but because it is this or that,
for instance, a stone, a plant, a man.
b. He cannot be limited by another, because he depends on no other, and
has not received his being from another.
c. He could not be limited by himself as he is not the cause of his
existence, but the sufficient reason thereof.
_The Infinite Being is most simple, or not compound._ Were he compound,
his parts would be either all finite, or infinite, or one infinite and
the others finite. None of these suppositions are possible, therefore,
he is not compound.
1. Several finite things cannot produce an infinite or an illimitable,
as there would always be a first and a last.
2. Many infinite beings are inconceivable; for, if there were several,
they would have to differ from each other by some perfection. Now from
the moment one would have a perfection, the other one lacks, the latter
would not be infinite. Therefore, God cannot be a compound of infinite
parts.
3. If one is infinite, nothing can be added to it. Finite parts could
not belong to the infinite essence, else they would communicate their
limitations to God.
Therefore, the Infinite Being is not composite, but simple or
spiritual. Therefore, he is not, nor ever was, a man, who is a
composite being.
II.
Above, I proved God's _immutability_ from the Bible; now I prove it
from philosophy, or the light of reason.
Mutation or change is the passing from one state into another.
The Infinite Being is not liable to change, as change implies an
imperfection in the being susceptible of it, as that being had not in
the previous state what it has in the subsequent, or _vice versa_. God
having all perfections must be unchangeable. Therefore, he is not a man
grown into a God.
The Necessary Being is such that he could not exist, nor exist
otherwise. He cannot receive his existence, nor lose it. So he cannot
change with regard to his existence; nor can he change with regard to
his mode of existence. His perfections being infinite cannot increase;
nor can they wane or decrease, else there would be an imperfection in
him, and he would no longer be infinite, or God. Therefore, God is
unchangeable. Therefore, he never was what we are.
God is pure essence (I Am Who I Am), pure actuality or act.
Change implies potentiality, liability to become what it is not.
As God is infinitely perfect, all potentiality is excluded from him;
in other words, there is no room for growth or more perfection.
Consequently, no possibility of change. Therefore, God was never
without the fullness of the Godhead, consequently, never a man.
NOR CAN MAN EVER BECOME A GOD.
Man is finite or limited in everything, ever changeable and changing,
ever susceptible of improvement. What is finite can never become
infinite. Supposing man grown or improved for billions of years; after
that immense period, he could begin over again improving for billions
of years, and yet ever remain short of infinite perfection, as no
number of finite things can make the infinite. There is and always
shall be a first and a last, to which could be added more and more.
"When a man hath done, then he shall begin, and when he leaveth off, he
shall be at a loss" (Ecclesiasticus 18:2).
A being cannot be at the same time infinite and finite, necessary and
contingent, compound and simple, unchangeable and changeable, eternal
and temporary, omnipotent and weak, actual being and potentiality,
etc., etc.
Now if God were an exalted man, he would have all those contradictory
attributes at the same time, which is absurd. Therefore, it is an utter
impossibility that God should be an exalted man.
As to man becoming God, the idea is absurd. With far more reason
might we contend that the gnat will develop into a lion, and the
animalcules which we swallow in a sip of water will grow into gigantic
giraffes and colossal elephants, as there is infinitely less distance
or difference between those respective animals than between the most
perfect creature and the Creator, the finite and the infinite. Bring
all the scientists of the world together, the Darwins, the Huxleys,
the Tyndalls, the Pasteurs, the Kochs, the Teslas, the Edisons, etc.,
etc., supply them with the most ingenious machinery, and the most
complicated instruments, and with unlimited material, let them make,
I will not say an imitation sun or moon, but simply a little worm as
we often unconsciously crush under our feet, or let them produce not
the magnificent lily or rose, but a tiny blade of grass. Before such
a task, apparently so insignificant, those profound mathematicians,
naturalists and chemists, will throw up their hands in utter impotence.
Expert mixers can indeed make wines in their laboratories, but will
President Roosevelt or Emperor William, or other sovereigns, ever give
them an order to manufacture a little bunch of grapes or a few of the
commonest berries?
What frequent accidents are there on our railroads, despite most
careful and most attentive trainmen! Yet a collision never occurred
between the millions of suns, stars and planets that whirl, rush,
tear and bound wildly along their prescribed pathways for thousands
or millions of years, at the rate of over one thousand miles a minute
(our earth), and three thousand miles a minute (the planet Arcturus).
Notwithstanding the bewildering speed of their movements, the stars
and planets float through space with such regularity and precision,
and along such well defined paths, deviating neither to the right nor
to the left, that astronomers can foretell to a nicety--to within
a minute--at what point in the heavens they may be found at any
future time, say, next month, next year, or even next century. They
can indeed predict transits and eclipses; but suppose astronomers
from New Zealand on their way to America to observe this fall's moon
eclipse, meet with an accident in mid-ocean, would they at once send
this wireless telegram to the United States' star-gazers assembled
say at Lick Observatory: "Belated by leak. Please retard eclipse two
hours that we may not miss it." As well might all the telescopemen in
the world combined, attempt to fetch down the rings of Saturn for the
construction of a royal-race track as pretend to control movements of
the heavenly bodies.
The helpless babe of yesterday may indeed rival Mozart, Hayden and
Paderewski, but tomorrow he may rise with lame hands and pierced
ear-drums; and millions of worshipers of the shattered idol are
powerless to restore it to the musical world. Still Jesus healed the
blind, the deaf and the palsied, by a mere act of his will, even
without speaking a word.
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (II Cor. 4:7).
"Seeing I have once begun, I will speak to my Lord whereas I am dust
and ashes" (Genesis 18:27). "In the morning man shall grow up like
grass and flourish, in the evening he shall fall, grow dry and wither"
(Psalm 89:6). "_Can man be compared with God_, even though he were
of perfect knowledge" (Job 22:2). "None is good but God alone" (Luke
18:19). "Of his greatness there is no end" (Psalm 144: 3). "All nations
are before him as if they had no being at all, and are counted to him
as nothing and vanity. To whom then have you likened God, or what image
will you make for him? It is he that sitteth upon the globe of the
earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts: he that stretcheth
out the heavens as nothing, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell
in. All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of
the field. The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen because
the wind of the Lord had blown upon it. Indeed, the people is grass"
(Isaiah 40:17, 18, 22, 6, 7). "He that bringeth the searches of secrets
to nothing, that hath made the judges of the earth as vanity--hath
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and weighed the heavens
with his palm? Who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the
earth, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance"
(Isaiah 40:23-12).
An Ingersoll might sneer and cry out: Surely Isaias had no idea of
the size of the earth. Even though he did not know that the globe is
such an immense ball, and that the volume of the sun is one million
two hundred thousand times greater than the earth, and three hundred
thousand times its weight, God who inspired the prophet knew infinitely
more about it than our conceited astronomers.
I fear Mr. B. H. Roberts will be inclined to think God jealous because
he gives man no show for comparison with him. This would certainly be
a less blunder of the Utah man ("I will not give my glory to another")
(Isaiah 42:8) than his contention, which is a mere echo of Satan's
promise in Paradise; "You shall be as gods." (Genesis 3:5.)
Man is indeed capable of progress, but his forward movement is slow,
and in some matters his attainments remain stationary; for instance,
nothing has been added to philosophy since the days of Aristotle,
and nothing to geometry since Euclid. Both of these geniuses lived
over three hundred years before Christ. Conclude we, then, with the
Psalmist: "All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee?" (Psalm
34:10).
THE UNITY OF GOD.
1. The first chapter of the Bible reveals the supreme fact that there
is One Only and Living God, the Creator and moral Governor of the
universe. As Moses opened the sacred Writings by proclaiming him,
so the Jew in all subsequent generations, has continued to witness
for him, till from the household of Abraham, faith in the one only
living and true God has spread through Jerusalem, Christianity and
Mahometanism well-nigh over the earth.[A]
[Footnote A: "Hours with the Bible," by Geikie, vol. 1, chapters 1, 2.]
Primeval revelations of God had everywhere become corrupted in the
days of Moses, save among the chosen people. Therefore, the first leaf
of the Mosaic record, as Jean Paul says, has more weight than all the
folios of men of science and philosophers.
While all nations over the earth have developed a religious tendency
which acknowledged a higher than human power in the universe, Israel is
the only one which has risen to the grandeur of conceiving this power
as the One Only Living God. If we are asked how it was that Abraham
possessed not only the primitive conception of the Divinity, as he had
revealed himself to all mankind, but passed through the denial of all
other gods, to the knowledge of the One God, we are content to answer,
that it was by a special _divine revelation_.[A]
[Footnote A: "Chips from a German Workshop," by Max Muller, vol. 1, pp.
345-372.]
The record of this divine revelation is to be found in the Bible:
"Hear, Israel: Our God is one Lord." "I alone am, and there is no other
God besides me" (Deut. 6:4 and 32:39). "I am the first and I am the
last, and after me there shall be none" (Isaiah 44:6; 43:10.) "I will
not give my glory to another" (Isaiah 42:8; 45:5, etc., etc.).
And as Mr. Roberts admits that our conception of God must be in harmony
with the New Testament, it as well as the Old witnesses continually
to One True God. Suffice it to quote: "_One_ is good, _God_" (Matthew
19:17;) "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God" (Luke 10:27); "My Father of
whom you say that he is your God" (John 8:54). Here Christ testified
that the Jews believed in only one God.
"_The Lord is a God of all Knowledge_" (I Kings 2). ("Mormon" Catechism
v. Q. 10 and Q. 11.)
"Of that day and hour _no one knoweth_, no not the angels of heaven,
but _the Father alone_" (Matthew 24:36).
_No one knoweth_ who the Son is _but the Father_ (Luke 10:22).
_Therefore, no one is God but one, the Heavenly Father._
In another form: The All-knowing alone is God. The Father alone is
all-knowing. Therefore the Father alone is God.[A]
[Footnote A: To the exclusion of another or separate divine being, but
not to the denial of the distinct Divine Personalities of the Son and
the Holy Ghost in the One Divine Being.]
From these clear statements of the Divine Book it is evident that all
the texts quoted by Mr. Roberts do not bear the inference he draws from
them; on the contrary, they directly make against him, plainly proving
the unity of God.
First, then, if God so emphatically declares, both in the Old and in
the New Testament, that there is but one God, has anyone the right to
contradict him and to say that there are several or many Gods? But Mr.
Roberts insists that the Bible contradicts the Bible; in other words,
that God, the author of the Bible, contradicts himself. To say such a
thing is downright blasphemy.
The liability to self-contradiction is characteristic of human frailty.
It is incompatible with God's infinite perfections. Therefore, I most
emphatically protest that there is no _real_ contradiction in the
Bible, though here and there may exist an _apparent_ one.
Let me premise that the name God, Elohim, is applied (1) to the one
true God; (2) to false gods and idols; (3) to representatives of God,
such as angels, judges, kings; (4) to the devil, at least in this
phrase: the god of this world.
I beg to observe, first, that whenever the plural _gods_ occurs in
Holy Writ, it is in sense (2) or (3); i. e., it is meant of false gods
or representatives of God; secondly, that plural is generally put
in opposition to the singular Jehovah or Lord, who is emphatically
mentioned as the sovereign of the gods in every instance, alleged or
allegable.[A]
[Footnote A: "There is none like thee among the gods, O Lord" (Psalm
85:8). "Our God is not like their gods" (Deut. 32:31). "Who is God
besides the Lord" (Psalm 17:32). "Their gods have no sense" (Baruch
6:41). "The Lord is terrible over all the Gods: because all the gods
of the gentiles are devils; but the Lord hath made the heavens" (Psalm
95:4, 5). "Neither is there any nation so great that hath gods so nigh
them as our God is present to all our petitions" (Deut. 4:7).]
Now, all these Bible expressions point to the clear inference that this
Sovereign or Supreme God is the only true God. Consequently, these very
texts, instead of proving Mr. Roberts' contention, plainly disprove it,
demonstrating that there is but one God. "Thou alone art God" (Psalm
85:11).
Two of these texts, for instance, have the significant qualification:
Being _called_ gods. A man must not be a lawyer to know that the fact
that not a few quacks and clowns are _called_ doctors does not make
them such. "Although there be that are called gods either in heaven
or on earth (for there be gods many and lords many); yet to us there
is but one God" (I Corinthians 8:5, 6). Jesus answered, referring to
Psalm 82:6, "Is it not written in your law: I said you are Gods? If
he _called_ them gods to whom the word of God was spoken" * * * (John
10:34, 35). Neither Christ nor Paul say that they _are_ or _were gods_,
but simply that they are called gods. Bear with me for further quoting:
"I have said you are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High.
_But you shall die like men_," etc. (Psalm 82:6, 7). How unlike the
true God, the _Immortal_ King of ages.
Wherever Elohim occurs in the Bible in sense 1, (meaning the True God)
it is employed with singular verbs and singular adjectives.
Had the "Mormon" Church leaders known Hebrew, the original language
of the Book of Moses, and nearly the whole of the Old Testament, they
would not have been guilty of the outrageous blunders perpetrated
by the writers of the Pearl of Great Price and of the Catechism, as
appears on pages 24, 25, 26, 27, of the latter book: "They organized
and formed (that is, the Gods,) the heavens and the earth * * * and the
Spirit of the Gods was brooding upon * * * What did the _Gods_ do on
the second day? etc. The Gods said, Let there be light * * * _and they
[the Gods] comprehended the light, for it was bright_." (Whoever heard
of a dark light? But even had the light lacked brightness, would the
gods have been powerless to comprehend it?) The original had singular
verbs in all these sentences and, unlike our imperfect English, which
has the same form in the singular and in the plural, the Hebrew, the
Greek, the Latin, the Syriac, etc., have different terminations in the
plural from the singular.
Had Joseph Smith and his partners not been ignorant of those ancient
languages in which were written the original text and the oldest
versions of the Bible, their revelations would, at least in reference
to the Creator have tallied with the revelations of Moses.
One of the strongest and clearest proofs of the unity of God, is God's
solemn revelation of himself as Jehovah, prefaced by the emphatic
statement: "_I am_ Who Am. Thou shalt say to the sons of Israel: I Am
sent me to you, (that is: The one who said, I Am Who Am, sent me to
you)" (Exodus 3:14). "Jehovah, the God of your fathers--I am Jehovah"
(Exodus 6:2).
If there ever was an occasion on which God should have disclosed his
unity or his plurality, it was certainly then when Moses ventured to
demand the credentials of his mission. God used singular verbs whenever
referring to himself. He said: _I am_, not _we are_. He calls himself
by the singular noun _Jehovah_, which, unlike the plural _Elohim_, is
applied only to the one true God. This name Jehovah occurs one hundred
and sixty times in Genesis alone.[A]
[Footnote A: J. Corluy S. J. "_Spicilegium_," Volume 1. Com. 2. See
also Smith's Bible Dictionary, word God.]
II. _The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are one and the same
identical Divine Essence or Being_.
A. "I and the Father are one" (John 10-30). Christ asserts his
physical, not merely moral, unity with the Father.
"My sheep hear my voice * * * and I give them everlasting life; and
they shall not perish forever, and _no man shall pluck them out of my
hand_."
The following argument by which Christ proves that no man shall pluck
his sheep from his hand, proves his consubstantiality, or the unity of
his nature or essence with his Father's:
_My Father who gave me the sheep is greater than all men_ or creatures,
(v. 29) and therefore no one can snatch the sheep or aught else from
his hand. (Supreme or almighty power is here predicated of the Father.)
Now, I and the Father are one (thing, one being) v. 30. (_Therefore, no
one can snatch the sheep or aught else from my hand_.)
To perceive the full meaning and strength of Jesus' argument, one must
read and understand the original text of St. John's Gospel, that is,
the Greek; or the _Latin_ translation: _Ego et Pater unum sumus_.
If Christ had meant _one_ in mind or _one morally_ and not
_substantially_, he would have used the masculine gender, Greek _eis_,
(_unus_)--and not the neuter _en_, (_unum_)--as he did. No better
interpreters of our Lord's meaning can be found than his own hearers.
Had he simply declared his moral union with the Father, the Jews would
not have taken up stones in protest against his making himself God,
and asserting his identity with the Father. Far from retracting his
statement or correcting the Jews' impression, Jesus insists that as he
is the Son of God, he has far more right to declare himself God than
the Scripture had to call mere human judges gods, and he corroborates
his affirmation of his _physical_ unity with his Father by saying: "The
Father is in me, and I am in the Father," which evidently signifies
the same as verse 30: I and the Father are one and the same individual
being, the One God.
The preceding argument is reinforced by John 14, 8-11: "Philip saith to
him: Lord, show us the Father, * * * Jesus saith: So long a time have
I been with you and thou hast not known me. Philip, _he that seeth me
seeth the Father also_. How sayest thou: Show us the Father. Do you not
believe that _I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I
speak I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth
the works._ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.
What things soever the Father doth, these the Son also doth likewise"
(John 5:19).
These words are a clear assertion of the _physical_ unity of the Son
and the Father. It is plain from the context that Christ means more
than a physical _resemblance_, no matter how complete, between him and
his Father. Of mere resemblance and moral union could never be said
that one is the other, and that the words uttered by one are actually
spoken by the other.
To see the Son and the Father at the same time in the Son, the Son
and the Father must be numerically one Being. Now Christ says: "He
that seeth me seeth the Father." Therefore, he and the Father are
numerically one Being.
Again, if the speech and the acts of the Son are physically the words
and the works of the Father, the Son and the Father are physically
one; indivisible, inseparably one principle of action, therefore, one
Being. Now Christ tells us that his words and works are physically
the words and works of his Father. Therefore, the Son and the Father
are one indivisible, inseparable principle, and therefore identical
Being: Let no one object: Is not the word and the deed of the agent,
the word and the deed of his master or employer? Christ is more than
his Father's agent. An agent could indeed say that his utterances
and his actions are dictated or prompted by his master, but he could
never say what Christ said: The words I utter are actually, physically
spoken by my Father while I speak them; and the works I perform are
actually, physically, performed by my Father. Is the Son, then, like
the phonograph or the machine, the instrument of the Father? Nay, he
is more than that. Being together with his Father, the one equally
intelligent and equally efficient principle of action, the words and
works are simultaneously both the Son's and the Father's.
There remains to prove that the Holy Ghost is inseparably one with the
Father and the Son. _There are three who give testimony in heaven, and
these three are one_ (1 John 5:8).
As Christ proved his identity and unity with the Father by texts
quoted: "_The words that I speak I speak not of myself. But the Father
who abideth in me he doth the works_," so he now shows his unity with
the Holy Ghost by almost the selfsame sentences: "When the Spirit of
Truth will have come, he will teach you all truth; for _he will not
speak or himself, but he will speak whatever he will hear_, and will
announce to you the things to come. He will glorify me, because _he
will receive_ of mine and announce to you: _whatever the Father hath
are mine_.[A] Therefore I said: because he will receive of mine and
announce it to you" (John 16:13-15).
[Footnote A: In the Old Testament, the foreknowledge of future events
was ever spoken of as an incommunicable attribute of Jehovah (Isaiah
41:22, 23; 44:7; 45:11; Daniel 2:22, 47; 13; 42, etc.) As whatever the
Father hath is the Son's, therefore, also, the knowledge of the future.]
That the Holy Ghost is one with the Son, or Jesus, is proved also by
the fact that the Christian baptism is indiscriminately called the
_Baptism of the Holy Ghost, the Baptism in or with the Holy Ghost and
the Baptism of or in Jesus_: "He [Christ] shall baptize _in the Holy
Ghost and fire_" (that is the Holy Ghost acting as purifying fire)
(Matthew 3:11); "have you received the Holy Ghost? _We have not so much
as heard whether there be a Holy Ghost_." He said: "_In what then _[in
whose name then] _were you baptized_?" Who said: "In John's baptism *
* * Having heard these things _they were baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus_" (Acts 9:2, 5). "All we who are _baptized in Christ Jesus_"
(Romans 6:3).
B. Although the systematic doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, that is,
of three Divine Persons (not three Gods) in one God, is a gradual
development in the Church, nevertheless the distinction of the human
and divine natures in Christ is found in the writings of St. Ignatius,
disciple of the Apostle St. John, and Bishop of Antioch, who, because
of his faith, was devoured by lions by order of Trajan, A. D. 107.
Fifty and sixty years later, different Fathers, among whom Tertullian
("Adv. Marc" IV. 25, and "Adv. Wax." 2), Athenagoras ("Leg" 10: 24,
44), and Clement of Alexandria ("Strom" III: 12) are the most famous,
taught there are three Divine Persons in one God; that these three, the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, are equal to each other and are one
in substance.[A]
[Footnote A: The manifestation of the three Divine Persons at our
Lord's baptism could be interpreted as if there were three distinct
beings in God, or three Gods, if such interpretation were not precluded
by God's emphatic revelation of his Divine Unity. There was, on that
memorable occasion, a twofold divine witnessing to Christ as Son of God
come in the flesh to redeem mankind. In order to find in that event
anything in support of the "Mormon" tenets, there should have appeared
above the Son two glorious exalted men both pointing to him; whereas,
only a voice was heard, and a dove was seen. Nor can we argue from the
voice that the Father must have a mouth, and therefore a body; with
greater reason might we maintain that the Holy Ghost is a pigeon, as a
dove was visible; whereas, the organ of the voice was not.]
III. _Pagan Witness to the Unity of the Christian's God_.
As the Roman historian Tacitus, in his account of the Jews, wrote: "The
Jews have no notion of any more than one Divine Being, and that known
only to the mind." Other pagans bore similar testimony concerning the
unity of God. In his letter to the Emperor Trajan, (A. D. 98-117) Pliny
governor of Pontus, said among other things: "They [the Christians]
assemble on certain days before sunrise to sing hymns of praise to
Christ, their God. * * They submit to torture and death rather than
invoke the gods."
And Celsus, the forerunner of our modern infidels, thus slandered the
early Christians: "Confessing that these are worthy of _their God_,
they desire to convert but fools, and vulgar and stupid and slavish
women and boys."
One more. Caecilius wrote: "What monstrous notions * * * they [the
Christians] fabricate that that _God_ of theirs, whom they can neither
show nor see, should be inquiring diligently into the characters, the
acts, nay the words and secret thoughts of all men! * * * Most of you
are in want, cold, toil, hunger, and _your God_ suffers it."