The Strength of the "Mormon" Position
By
Elder Orson F. Whitney
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
Of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Upon
the pinnacle of the Temple in Salt Lake City, there stands the gilded statue of
an Angel, in the act of sounding a trumpet, symbolizing the restoration and
proclamation of the Everlasting Gospel, in fulfillment of the Scripture which
says:
"And
I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel
to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred,
and tongue, and people,
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come."—Revelation 14:6-7.
History,
tinged with tradition, affirms these to be the circumstances under which those
words were uttered: The Savior had chosen Twelve Apostles, and had commissioned
them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. Obedient
to the divine mandate, they had gone fortH, and within fifty years had lifted
the Gospel standard in every considerable city of the Roman Empire, which then
had sway over the known world. One by one the Apostles had been taken: James
was slain with the sword at Jerusalem; Peter was crucified, and Paul beheaded,
at Rome; all had suffered martyrdom for the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus—all save one, concerning whom Peter had inquired: "Lord, what shall
this man do?" And the Savior, answering, had said: "If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (St. John 21:21-22.)
Modern
revelation confirms the ancient tradition that John, the beloved disciple, did
not die, but obtained a promise from the Lord that he should remain upon earth,
not subject to death, and bring souls to Him. He was to "prophesy before
nations, kindreds, tongues and peoples," and continue till the Lord came
in His glory. (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 7.) An attempt was made upon
John's life, but it proved ineffectual. He was thrown into a cauldron of
boiling oil, but escaped miraculously.
In the
ninety-sixth year of the Christian era, this man was on the Isle of Patmos, in
the Aegean Sea. Patmos was the Roman Siberia. To that desolate place the Empire
banished its criminals, compelling them to work in the mines. John was an exile
for the Truth's sake. But the Lord had not forgotten His servant, though men
had rejected him and cast him out. The Heavens were opened, and he was shown
many things pertaining to the future. He foresaw the apostasy of the Christian
world, its departure from "the faith once delivered to the saints,"
the "falling away" foretold by the Apostle Paul. (2 Thes. 2:3.) But
John also looked forward to a time when that faith would be restored, and when
the hour of God's judgment would come. The dead, small and great, would stand
before the Great White Throne, and be "judged out of the things written in
the books," every man according to his works. (Rev. 20:11-13.)
Joseph
Smith
To the
Latter-day Saints, these are the days of that predicted restoration, and Joseph
Smith was the divinely appointed agent for bringing back the Everlasting
Gospel. Who was this Joseph Smith? He was a farmer's boy, born among the
mountains of Vermont, December 23, 1805, but living with his parents in the
backwoods of western New York, when his career as a prophet began. He had been
much exercised upon the subject of his soul's salvation, a religious revival
having recently occurred in his neighborhood. The ministers of the various
sects united in calling upon the people to repent; each one urging them to join
his particular congregation, and disputing among themselves upon points of
doctrine and authority. The situation bewildered the boy, who was an honest
seeker after light, anxious to know the true Church, in order that he might
join it. One day while reading the Scriptures, he chanced upon the following
passage:
"If
any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5.)
Profoundly impressed by these sacred words, he resolved to test the
promise by asking from God the wisdom of which he stood in need. With that
object in view, he retired to the woods near his father's home, and knelt in
prayer. No sooner had he begun to pray, than he was seized upon by a power
which filled his soul with horror and paralyzed his tongue so that he could no
longer speak. So terrible was the visitation, that he almost gave way to
despair. But he continued praying; for there are two ways of offering
prayer—"orally and in secret." He had been praying orally, but could
not now supplicate in that manner, being unable to move his lips. Yet he
continued to pray—with "the soul's sincere desire"; and just at the
moment when he feared that he must abandon himself to destruction, he saw,
directly over his head, a light more brilliant than noonday. In the midst of a
pillar of glory he beheld two beings in human form, One of whom, pointing to
the Other, said: "This is my beloved Son, hear Him."
As
soon as the Light appeared, the boy found himself delivered from the fettering
power of the Evil One. When he could again command utterance, he inquired of
his glorious visitants right—which one was the true Church of Christ? To his astonishment
he was told that none of them was right; that they had all gone out of the way,
and were teaching for doctrine the commandments of men. The Lord did not
recognize any of them, but was about to restore the Gospel and the Priesthood
and establish his Church once more in the midst of mankind.
This
was Joseph Smith's first vision and revelation. It came in the spring of 1820,
when he was a few months over fourteen years of age. The greater part of this
wonderful manifestation was the part that did not speak, the silent revealing
of God as a personage; a truth plainly taught in the Scriptures (Gen. 1:26, 27;
Phil. 2:5-8; Col. 1:13-15; Heb. 1-3), but ignored or denied by modern Christianity.
Three
years later the youth received a visitation from an Angel, who gave his name as
Moroni, the same who is represented by the statue on the Salt Lake Temple. This
Angel announced himself as the last of a line of prophets who had ministered to
an ancient people called Nephites, a branch of the house of Israel—not the Lost
Tribes, as if often asserted, but a portion of the tribe of Joseph. They had
crossed over from Jerusalem about the year 600 B.C., and, with a remnant of the
tribe of Judah, which joined them later, had inhabited the Americas down to
about the beginning of the fourth Christian century. At that time the civilized
though degenerate nation was destroyed by a savage faction known as Lamanites,
ancestors of the American Indians.
The
Angel showed to Joseph where a record of the Nephites had been deposited, and
subsequently delivered it into his hands, with interpreters, Urim and Thummim,
by means of which the youth translated the record into English and gave to the
world the Book of Mormon. It was so named for its compiler, the Nephite prophet
Mormon, whose son and survivor, Moroni, had buried the metallic plates
containing it in a hill, where they were found September 22nd, 1823. The Hill
Cummorah, called "Mormon Hill" by the present day inhabitants of that
region, is between Palmyra and Manchester, in the State of New York. For their
belief in the Book of Mormon, the Latter-day Saints are termed
"Mormons," and their religion, "Mormonism."
This
book tells how the Savior, after his resurrection, made himself known to the
Nephites—the "other sheep" referred to in John 10:16—and organized
his Church among them, after the pattern of his Church at Jerusalem. Choosing
twelve special witnesses, he gave to three of them the same promise that he had
given to the Apostle John—that they should remain upon earth, superior to
death, and bring souls to Him. He prophesied concerning America, the Land of
Zion, the place for the New Jerusalem, a holy city to be built by a gathering
of scattered Israel prior to His second coming. The Nephite record, containing
the fulness of the Gospel as delivered to that ancient people, is a history of
this chosen land and a prophecy of its future. It predicts the great work
introduced by the Latter-day Prophet, a work so marvelous in some of its phases
that most men reject it, deeming it a fable.
But the Christian world, with the Bible in
its hands, should have been prepared for something of this kind. The Hebrew
seers prophesied concerning it. Isaiah foretold "a marvelous work and a
wonder," declaring at the same time that the wisdom of the wise should
perish, and the understanding of the prudent be hid; meaning, evidently, that
human sagacity and Worldly knowledge would stand confounded before it. That
prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, gave as the reason for such in
innovation: "This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their
lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear
toward me is taught by the precept of men." (Isaiah 29:13, 14.) A brief
yet comprehensive description of the state of the religious world at the time
of the advent of "Mormonism."
Divine
Authority
While
the Book of Mormon was in course of translation, John the Baptist, as an angel
from God, conferred upon Joseph Smith and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, the
Aaronic Priesthood, which holds the keys of outward ordinances and ministers in
temporal things. Subsequently the Melchizedek Priesthood, holding the keys of
spiritual mysteries, and including the Aaronic as the greater includes the
less, was conferred upon them by three other heavenly messengers—the Apostles
Peter, James and John. Thus empowered, the two young men, with four associates,
organized on the sixth of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. This event took place in Fayette, Seneca County, New York.
Thus
was restored the Ancient Faith, with the powers of the Eternal Priesthood, the
delegated divine authority that enables men to act as God's representatives, and
without which no man can lawfully administer the sacred ordinances of the
Gospel. "No man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of
God, as was Aaron." (Heb. 5:4.) Thus was re-established the true Church of
Christ, and the prophetic Ensign lifted for the gathering of scattered Israel
(Isaiah 11: 12); an event preparatory to the Savior's second coming.
Many
years ago a learned man, a member of the Roman Catholic Church, came to Utah
and spoke from the stand of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I became well acquainted
with him, and we conversed freely and frankly. A great scholar, with perhaps a
dozen languages at his tongue's end, he seemed to know all about theology, law,
literature, science, and philosophy. One day he said to me: "You Mormons
are all ignoramuses. You don't even know the strength of your own position. It
is so strong that there is only one other tenable in the whole Christian world,
and that is the position of the Catholic Church. The issue is between Catholicism
and Mormonism. If we are right, you are wrong; if you are right, we are wrong;
and that's all there is to it. The Protestants haven't a leg to stand on. For
if we are wrong, they are wrong with us, since they were a part of us and went
out from us; while if we are right, they are apostates whom we cut off long
ago. If we have the apostolic succession from St. Peter, as we claim, there was
no need of Joseph Smith and Mormonism; but if we have not that succession, then
such a man as Joseph Smith was necessary, and Mormonism's attitude is the only
consistent one. It is either the perpetuation of the Gospel from ancient times,
or the restoration of the Gospel in latter days."
My
reply was substantially as follows: "I agree with you, Doctor, in nearly
all that you have said. But don't deceive yourself with the notion that we
'Mormons' are not aware of the strength of our position. We are better aware of
it than anyone else. We have not all been to college; we cannot all speak the
dead languages; we may be 'ignoramuses,' as you say; but we know that we are
right, and we know that you are wrong." I was just as frank with him as he
had been with me.
At a
later period I conversed with another man of culture, a bishop of the Episcopal
Church. He affirmed that if Joseph Smith, at the outset of his career, had
become acquainted with the Episcopalians, he would have been content and would
have looked no further for spiritual light. "The trouble is," said
the Bishop, "Joseph encountered the Methodists, the Baptists, the
Presbyterians and others, with their conflicting creeds and claims. These
failing to satisfy him, he sought elsewhere. Now the Episcopalians have an
unbroken succession of authority all down the centuries, and if Joseph Smith
had become informed as to them, he would never have taken the trouble to
organize another church."
And
these are some of the views that learned men take of "Mormonism."
With all their learning, they are not able to come to a knowledge of the truth.
They do not begin to dream of the greatness of God's work, the grandeur of
Christ's cause. They have no idea of the real strength of its position. They
assume that Joseph Smith stumbled upon something of which he did not know the
true value, and that it was sheer luck which gave to "Mormonism" its
vantage ground, its recognized strength of position. Never was there a grosser
error. There are concepts as much higher than these, as the heavens are higher
than the earth. The "Mormons" are not the "ignoramuses"
when it comes to a consideration of the Gospel's mighty themes.
Yet it
is not because of human "smartness"—not because the followers of
Joseph Smith are brainier than other people, that they have a greater knowledge
of God and are capable of loftier ideals in religion. It is because they have
received, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, a perceptive power, a spiritual
illumination which the world, with all its culture, does not possess, and
without which no man can know God or comprehend His purposes. It cannot be had
from books and schools. Colleges and universities cannot impart it. It can come
only in one way—God's way, not man's. The Latter-day Saints have it, not
because of any greater natural ability than other men and women possess, but
because they have bowed in obedience to the divine will, thus making themselves
worthy to receive this inestimable boon. All mankind may have it upon precisely
the same conditions.
Another
Objection
The
Episcopal Bishop whom I have mentioned remarked to me on another occasion, that
his main objection to "Mormonism" was that we "Mormons"
were not interested in anything going on outside of our own community. He
declared that we gave no credit to other peoples or to other systems for the
good they were accomplishing. "For instance," said he, "we
retranslate the Scriptures, making them more plain, more intelligible, with a
view to enlightening mankind thereon; but you give us no credit for that. We uncover
ancient cities, buried civilizations, here in America and elsewhere; we
decipher old-time inscriptions on obelisks, in documents, etc., seeking to
acquaint the present with the past; but you put no value on such work. We found
hospitals and infirmaries, maintain missions, carry the name of Christ to the
heathen, publish the Bible by millions of copies, and are endeavoring to place
one in every home. But you take no account of these things; you are not
interested in our efforts; you think them all vain and of no worth."
The
remark surprised me. I was astonished that any well-informed person could
entertain such an opinion respecting us and our religion. There may be such a
thing as a narrow "Mormon"; there may be such a thing as a narrow
notion in the mind of some "Mormon"; but there never has been and
there never will be such a thing as a narrow "Mormonism." Far from
ignoring what other peoples and other systems are doing, it takes account of
everything, and assigns it to its proper place in the universal scheme.
"If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or
praiseworthy, we seek after these things." So says the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, in one of its Articles of Faith.
"Mormonism"
is a much bigger thing than Catholic scholars or Episcopal bishops imagine. It
is the greatest system of philosophy that the world has ever known, the
grandest poem that Divine Genius ever created, the mightiest melody ever struck
from the vibrant harps of Eternity. It is the sublime drama of all the ages,
and the last act is now on, the final scene about to unfold.
"Mormonism"
stands for the restoration of the Gospel in this dispensation; but that is not
all. It stands for the Gospel itself in all the dispensations, as those periods
are termed during which God has spoken to man and dispensed from heaven these
saving principles and powers. This is but one of a number of such periods,
reaching from the days of Adam down to the present time. The Gospel preached by
the ancient Twelve was a restored Gospel, just as much as it is today. It had
been upon Earth before the age of the Apostles. "Christianity," the
faith of the once despised "Christians," is now
"Mormonism," the religion of the unpopular "Mormons." What
matter the names bestowed upon it by men? Truth is not to be disposed of by
pelting it with epithets. The character of a jewel is not changed by covering
it with rubbish and dirt. A diamond is a diamond, whether it sparkle in the
dust at your feet, or glitter in the diadem of a queen.
"Mormonism"
is not a product of the Nineteenth Century. Joseph Smith did not originate it,
nor did any other man. What is called "Mormonism" is the Everlasting
Gospel, the religion of all the ages, God's great plan for the salvation of the
human family; and not only their salvation, but their exaltation if they obey
it in fulness. The Gospel has a three fold power; it redeems, saves, and
glorifies. Redemption is resurrection, but that is not sufficient; it is not
enough that man be brought forth from the grave. All men, good and bad, will be
resurrected; but resurrection is not salvation, any more than salvation is
exaltation. Many redeemed from the grave will be condemned at the final
judgment, for evil deeds done in the body; and many will be saved, yet come
short of the glory that constitutes exaltation.
God's
greatest gift, eternal life, has been offered to man again and again, in a
series of dispensations of which this is the greatest and the last. The
"winding up scene," the final act of the play—such is the
dispensation now opened, wherein will be brought to a glorious finale the whole
of God's mighty work pertaining to this planet; a work begun at the very dawn
of creation, and continued down to this day. "That in the dispensation of
the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." (Eph. 1:10 .)
What
is generally termed "The Gospel" relates to "the laws and
ordinances of the Gospel." (See L.D.S. Articles of Faith.) But the term in
its broadest sense means far more. The English word "Gospel" comes
from the Anglo-Saxon "Godspell" or God-Story. Hence we have "the
four gospels"—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—all narratives of the Christ,
but in reality only parts of the complete God Story, which comprises the
heavenly as well as the earthly career of our Redeemer. Three personages
compose the Godhead—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and it was the second of
these who became the Savior, "The Word" who was "made
flesh," as mentioned by St. John. (1:1-4.) The Gospel in its fulness
signifies everything connected with Jesus Christ, past or present—the Son's
entire career, from the time he left his celestial throne, to the time he
returned thither, glorified with that glory which he had with the Father before
the world was. The Son is one with the Father—not in person, but in power,
will, wisdom, and authority. He is God, but is called the Son of God because he
came forth from the Father to manifest in the flesh the "fulness of the
Godhead bodily."
The
Gospel had its origin before the foundation of the world. God, "finding he
was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw
proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance
like himself." (Joseph Smith, "Times and Seasons," August 15,
1844.) The Gospel, therefore, is not a mere fire-escape—a way out of a perilous
situation. It is a divine plan for human progress, the Path to Perfection, and
was instituted as such before man was in a position to be redeemed or saved,
before any such exigency had arisen. It was established before Adam's fall, and
in the prospect of that fall, which was a step in the onward march to the
eternal goal. "Adam fell that men might be"—that is, mortal men; for
by the fall those spirits in the midst of which God found himself were to
secure bodies and become souls, capable of endless increase and advancement.
Adam did that for the race; he gave us one of the most precious boons that man
can possess—a body, without which the spirit would be imperfect and could not
be exalted.
But
Adam could do no more, and a still greater boon had to be given, in order that
the fall might be effectual, and the Gospel plan be made operative for the ends
in view. The machinery was ready, but the Power had to be turned on. The fall
had a twofold direction—downward, yet forward; and though designed as a
blessing, there was a penalty attached. Death came into the world—spiritual and
temporal death, eternal banishment from the Divine Presence; and man's progress
would have halted then and there, would have utterly and permanently ceased,
had not something been done to lift him from his fallen state, and open the way
that he might go on to perfection. Adam gave us earthly life; but the greater
boon—eternal life—is the gift of the Redeemer and Savior. Descending from his
glorious throne, he became mortal for man's sake, and by dying burst the bands
of death, thus making eternal progression possible.
Fall
and Redemption
Adam's
transgression was malum prohibitum, or wrong because forbidden; not malum in
se, or wrong in itself. It had a beneficent purpose, but it put the world in
pawn, and Death was the pawnbroker, with a twofold claim upon all creation.
Adam could not redeem himself, and the human race, which sprang from him, was
likewise powerless. No part of what had been pledged could be used as the means
of redemption. Something not subject to death was the required ransom. The life
of a God was the price of the world's freedom; and that price was paid by the
sinless One, the Lamb "without spot or blemish," who made himself a
redemptive sacrifice, to mend the broken law, pay the debt to justice, repoise
the unbalanced scale, and restore the equilibrium of right. Christ, the
World-Deliverer, was as a greater Moses, leading an enslaved universe out from
the Egypt of sin, but from the bondage of death.
In
return for this mighty deliverance, and in order to perfect his work—to save
and glorify what he died to redeem, our Lord requires from us obedience, the
great fundamental principle upon which all blessings are predicated, and upon
which alone they can be obtained. (Doc. and Cov. 130:20, 21.) This principle
redeemed Adam from the Fall. It is the only way whereby man can be redeemed.
There is but one path to God, and it is open to the peasant as well as to the
king. All secure salvation upon the same terms. There is no royal road to
heaven—no favoritism. There is nothing so absolutely democratic as the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. Every man may share it, but he must help to save himself. He
is in a pit and must come up out of it. A ladder has been provided and let down
to him, and he must climb that ladder, or he will never rise above his fallen
state, never re-enter the presence of God.
The
first round of salvation's ladder is faith in Jesus Christ; the second,
repentance, or turning away from sin; third, baptism by immersion for the
remission of sins; and fourth, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of
hands of men having divine authority. But there are other rounds to the ladder,
other principles to be obeyed by those who would attain the fulness of God's
glory. These principles have been revealed to man many times. But there is a
proneness in human nature to depart from the truth and "turn to
fables"; the "natural man" being "an enemy to God."
And this has rendered necessary the various restorations of the Gospel.
In
order to understand "Mormonism" aright, one must grasp the idea of a
series of Gospel dispensations, interrelated and connected like the links of a
mighty chain, extending through the whole course of time. The Dispensation of
the Fulness of Times proposes to bring together and weld into one the broken
links of the Gospel chain. This was the dominant thought in the mind of the
Prophet Joseph Smith as his last day on earth drew near. He expressed it in
these words:
"It
is necessary, in the ushering in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, *
* * that a whole and complete and perfect union and welding together of
dispensations, and keys, and powers, and glories should take place and be
revealed from the days of Adam even to the present time; and not only this, but
things which never have been revealed from the foundation of the world, but
have been kept hid from the wise and prudent, shall be revealed unto babes and
sucklings in this the dispensation of the fulness of times." (Doc.&
Cov. 128: 18.)
"Mormonism"
is all-comprehensive. It claims the past and lays its hand upon the future. The
past is necessary to explain the present and the future. What Is cannot be
clearly understood without some knowledge of What Has Been and What Will Be.
Accordingly, the Spirit of Truth, manifesting the things of God, "brings
things past to remembrance," and "shows things to come."
"Mormonism"
signifies the restitution of all things. It stands for law and order—a place
for everything, and everything in its place. This is the significance of the
mission of Elijah—the turning of the hearts of the children to the fathers,
lest earth be cursed and smitten at the Savior's coming. (Malachi 4:5, 6.) Past
and present are related; it is the relationship of parent and child; and they
must be joined, in order that perfection may reign. We cannot be made perfect
without our ancestors, nor can they be made perfect without us. Consequently
temples are built by God's people, and work done in them—vicarious work, for
and in behalf of the departed. Baptisms, endowments, marriages for eternity, in
person or by proxy, are prominent features of this sacred labor. Joseph Smith
received the keys of Elijah (Doc. & Cov. 110: 14-16), and ministered for
the sealing of the present to the past, the union of the living and the dead.
It was the beginning of the restitution of all things.
"Mormonism"
is the religion that saved Adam. Adam, therefore, was the original
"Mormon." His religion was also that of Enoch, of Noah, of Abraham,
of Moses and Aaron, and of the Apostles upon both hemispheres. And it has come
back, in this final dispensation, to bring together all things that are
Christ's.
In the
Pearl of Great Price, one of four doctrinal standards with the Latter-day
Saints—the other three being the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine
and Covenants—we are informed that Adam, after his fall, was divinely commanded
to build an altar and offer a lamb thereon, typical of the Lamb of God who was
to take away the sin of the world. Already slain theoretically in the heavens,
where he had been chosen for his earthly mission, he was yet to be slain
literally upon this planet; and Adam was told to look forward to that
sacrificial event, and in the light of it to practice the principles of
salvation.
"And
thus the Gospel began to be preached from the beginning, being declared by holy
angels, sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the
gift of the Holy Ghost. And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam by a holy
ordinance, and the gospel preached, and a decree sent forth that it should be
in the world until the end thereof. And thus it was, Amen." (Moses 5:58, 59.)
Joseph
Smith "saw Adam in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman." (Doc. &Cov.
116.) That is, he beheld him in vision, retrospectively. Bowed with age, the
great Patriarch blessed his posterity, foretelling what should befall them to
the latest generation. It was the mightiest patriarchal blessing ever given.
Joseph affirms that Adam will come again, will come as the Ancient of Days, and
call his children together at that very place, Adam-ondi-Ahman, and hold a
council to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. Thus is indicated the
relationship between the First and the Final Dispensations. Adam presides over
all the dispensations (Church History, Vol 4, pp. 207-209), and all must be
bound together in the great day of unity and restoration.
In
Enoch's day the Gospel was preached with such power and success, that his City
became sanctified and was translated or taken into Heaven: a symbol, a
foreshadowing of the greater Zion of the last days, which is to prepare the way
for the Lord's glorious advent. As part of the universal restitution, that
ancient city will return; Zion from above will meet and blend with Zion from
below, and a social order prevail similar to that which characterized Enoch's
commonwealth, concerning which it is written: "And the Lord called his people
Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness;
and there was no poor among them." (Moses 7: 18.) Such a condition must
again be realized before the Lord comes. "This is Zion—the pure in
heart"; "every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing
all things with an eye single to the glory of God." (Doc& Cov. 97:21;
82:19.)
Next
we reckon with the dispensation of Noah. He preached the Gospel for a hundred
and twenty years, but saved only eight souls, including his own. All the rest
were swept away by the Deluge, their disembodied spirits being shut up in the
prison house to await the due time of their deliverance. (Moses 8:24.) The
Savior said regarding that dispensation: "As the days of Noe were, so
shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." (Matt. 24:37-39.) In the days
of Noah this planet was baptized with water; in a day to come it will be
baptized with cleansing fire. Its elements will melt with fervent heat; it will
die and be resurrected, or converted into a celestial sphere, an abode of the
righteous forever. Such is the destiny of Mother Earth. "Mormonism"
will not have accomplished its mission until it has made of earth a Heaven, and
of man a God.
Abraham
held the keys of a dispensation, and Elias delivered those keys to Joseph the
Prophet (Doc.& Cov. 110:12.) Abraham is "the father of the
faithful." Through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, those great progenitors of
the House of Israel, the world had been sprinkled with believing blood, and spirits
answering to that blood have been sent through their lineage to minister for
the salvation of mankind. This is the reason—the main reason why Israel was
dispersed among the nations, and why he still suffers persecution. Through that
chosen seed comes salvation, and it comes by no other route. It is the lineage
of the one and only Savior. They who have scattered Israel, and trampled him in
the dust, are dependent upon him for their eternal welfare. Christ himself is
the model. He died that the human race might live. "Greater love than this
hath no man, that he will lay down his life for his friends." More than
man is he who lays down his life for his enemies. The Son of God died not only
for his friends, but for his foes, that salvation might come to all. In a
lesser degree the House of Israel has been martyred for a similar purpose—that
the whole world might be blessed.
The
Latter-day Saints are numbered among Abraham's descendants. The first to
embrace the restored Gospel were called out from the nations because the had
his blood in their veins. Joseph Smith lifted the Ensign for the gathering of
scattered Israel, but lived only long enough to assemble a portion of the half
tribe of Ephraim, to which he belonged. The work that he commenced, however, will
go on until all the tribes of Israel are gathered and the way prepared before
the coming of the Son of God.
Ephraim,
in ancient times, "mixed himself among the people." (Hosea 7:8.)
Consequently the Latter-day Saints, who are mostly of Ephraim, also have
"Gentile" blood in their veins. "Gentile" is not a term of
reproach with us. It springs from "gentilis," meaning "of a
nation," and was used anciently to designate those nations that were not
of Israel. Japheth, son of Noah, is the sire of the "Gentile" race,
while Abraham and his seed are descended from Japheth's brother Shem. We
"Mormons" have no quarrel with the "Gentiles." They are
virtually our colaborers in this great work of preparation. We cannot do it
alone. It is too vast, too arduous. We need the help of the
"Gentiles," their wealth, their power, their wonderful insight into
and command over material things, their intelligence and skill in manipulating
temporalities. We need their means of rapid transit and communication. We could
not gather God's people without the aid of the "Gentiles." "They
shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the West." So wrote
Isaiah concerning Israel, with prophetic eye upon this very period. "The
shoulders of the Philistines" are the ships and railroads of the
"Gentiles."
Our
friends on the outside—our fellow "Gentiles" shall I call them?—have
not always understood us, nor have we always understood them. There has been
much bitterness and estrangement between the two classes. I am convinced that
if the "Gentiles" knew us better, and we more fully realized our
relationship to them, all would feel kinder and more charitable. We would
recognize that we are engaged in the same great cause—for so we are, in a general
way—and that we have no right to hate each other, no right to work against each
other—that is, when in the line of our duty, doing what God has given us to do.
The
"Gentiles" have not the fulness of the Gospel, nor the powers of the
Priesthood; they are not the oracles of God, nor the ministers of salvation.
These are prerogatives of the House of Israel. But the children of Japheth
doubtless have their special mission, and it is a part of the divine plan for
human progression. This is God's work, and he is doing it in his own way. He
has instruments outside as well as inside the Church. Whether men know it or
not, they are working out the ends he has in view. He may not always notify
them of their appointment to serve him, nor does he ask permission to use them;
but he uses them just the same. We are here not only to act, but to be acted
upon. The Lord put his spirit upon Columbus and impelled him across the great
waters to discover the Land of Zion. He nerved the arm and fired the soul of
Washington, when he and his ragged regiments were fighting for freedom, for
independence, for the founding of a government—though they knew it not—under
which God's work could come forth and not be crushed out by the tyranny of man.
The God of Israel was with those "Gentiles," the founders of the
American Republic, who were probably of a mixed lineage, having much of the
blood of Israel in their veins. And He is with all good and great men whose
hearts are set to do right and to uplift humanity. He is with them, whether
they recognize it or not. Their strength is a part of his omnipotence.
Moses
and the Gathering
Moses,
who led Israel out of Egypt, held the keys for the gathering of God's people;
and those keys had to be restored, that there might be a greater gathering, of
which the Egyptian exodus was typical. Moses, as a ministering angel, delivered
to Joseph Smith the keys of the Gathering. (Doc.& Cov. 110:11.) But for
this, the children of Ephraim, such as are now Latter-day Saints, would still
be in Babylon, many of them in distant lands, from which they have come like
sheep at the call of the Shepherd. Moses had a dispensation of the Gospel, and
sought to sanctify his people that they might look upon the face of God, as he
had done. But they were not prepared for it; and so Moses was taken, with the
Melchizedeck Priesthood and the fulness of the Gospel (Doc.& Cov. 84:
19-28), and Israel was left for fifteen centuries under the Aaronic Priesthood
and the Lesser Law, which Paul likened unto a schoolmaster, to bring them to
Christ.
In due
time came the Savior and the Meridian Dispensation. Twelve Apostles were chosen
upon the Eastern Hemisphere, and Twelve upon the Western, and sent forth to
preach the Gospel as a witness before the end. And the end came—the end decreed
at that time—the downfall of the Jewish commonwealth, and later the destruction
of the Nephite nation. Those terrible calamities were typical of one more
terrible still—the downfall of all wickedness, the approaching End of the
World.
And
now, after the lapse of nearly two thousand years, the Gospel and the
Priesthood have come back again. Once more, the pure word of God is going
forth, this time as the immediate forerunner of the decreed Consummation.
"Mormonism"
means far more than the restoration of the Gospel at the beginning of the
Nineteenth Century. Such a definition, such a presentation of the subject would
be manifestly imperfect. Ignorant indeed would be that "Mormon" who
confined his thinking to so narrow a field. "Mormonism" is not a mere
sect among sects, one more broken off fragment of a degenerate and crumbling
Christianity. It is the pure, primitive Christianity restored—the original
faith, the root of all religion; and it was not accident, but design, that gave
it the strength of its position.
Let me
now quote a passage from the Book of Mormon, the words of the Nephite prophet
Alma, who lived about seventy-five years before the birth of the Savior:
"O
that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go
forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry
repentance unto every people!
"Yea,
I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance, the
plan of redemption, that they should repent and come tmto our God, that there
might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.
"But
behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the
things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.
"I
ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know
that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death
or unto life; yea, I know that he alloweth unto men according to their wills,
whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.
"Yea,
and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not
good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is
given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or
death, joy or remorse of conscience.
"Now,
seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the
work to which I have been called?
"Why
should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of
the earth?
"For
behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue,
to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have;
therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which
is just and true.
"I
know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory
of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this
is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God, to bring
some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." (Alma 29:1-9.)
Does
that sound as if "Mormonism" took no cognizance of what is going on
in the outside world? How can any intelligent reader arise from a study of the
"Mormon" religion, honestly convinced that the Latter-day Saints are
interested in nothing beyond the bounds of their own system? That one passage
from the Book of Mormon suffices to refute the false notion.
God's
truth has been taught all down the ages by men bearing the Priesthood, the
authority to represent Deity. But other men, not bearing that authority, wise
and worthy teachers, have been raised up in various nations to give them that
measure of truth which they were able to receive. Hence, such men as Confucius,
the Chinese sage; Zoroaster, the Persian; and Guatama of the Hindus; men not
wielding divine authority, not empowered to present the Gospel nor to officiate
in its ordinances; but nevertheless endowed with wisdom, with profundity of
thought and learning, to deliver, each to his own people, that portion of truth
which the all-wise Dispenser sees fit that they should have; people who, if
given a fulness of the truth, might trample it under foot to their
condemnation. Therefore they "die without law" (Doc. & Cov. 76:72);
that is, without the higher law, the Gospel, which, however, will reach after
them in a future life.
The
world's poets and philosophers, artists and musicians, scientists, discoverers,
warriors and statesmen, good and great characters in general—all have their
work and mission under and over-ruling Providence. If some of God's children
are not worthy of the fulness of Truth, and would not make a wise use of it
were it sent to them, that is no reason why they should not be given as much
truth as they can wisely use?
Carlyle,
in splendid phrasing, presents this view most strikingly, in his vivid
portrayal the coming of Mahomet to the Arabs, who were thus converted from
idolatry, the worship of "sticks and stones," to the worship of one
god—Allah, with Mahomet as his prophet:
"To
the Arab Nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia first became
alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people roaming unnoticed in its deserts
since the creation of the world: A Hero-Prophet was sent down to them with a
word they could believe: see, the unnoticed becomes world-notable, the small
has grown world great; within one century afterwards, Arabia is at Grenada on
this hand, at Delhi on that—glancing in valor and splendor and the light of
genius, Arabia shines through long ages over a great section of the world.
Belief is great, life-giving. The history of a Nation becomes fruitful,
soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man Mohomet,
and that one century—is it not as if a spark had fallen, one spark, on a world
of what seemed black unnoticeable sand; but lo, the sand proves explosive
powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Grenada! I said, the Great Man was
always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of men waited for him like fuel,
and then they too would flame."—Heroes and Hero Worship—Lecture II, p.
306.
President
Joseph F. Smith, until recently the head of God's Church on earth, touched in a
discourse the general theme here under consideration. Said he:
"Knowledge
is increasing throughout the world, with reference to material things; and all
this knowledge that has been restored to the world through science has been
inspired of God….The men who are led to wonderful discoveries are inspired by
the spirit of understanding that cometh from God, that giveth them light and
knowledge…. So, Latter-day Saints acknowledge those men who discovered how to
control the lightning, how to control and utilize the power of steam that
prevails so universally among men today, and all those who have discovered all
the other secrets of nature, like the telegraph, the telephone, and all other
means of communication—all these discoveries are by the promptings of the
Spirit of God that giveth to the mind and spirit of men understanding."
(Improvement Era, July, 1917.)
President
Smith, however, drew a distinction, as do all orthodox preachers of
"Mormonism," between the light that illumines, in greater or less
degree, every soul that comes into the world, and the Holy Ghost as a
personage, the third in the Godhead. He also differentiated the universal
divine spirit, enjoyed to some extent by all men, from the gift of the Holy
Ghost, a special endowment reserved for the members of the Church of Christ.
An
American poet, Doctor J. G. Holland, has this to say of the poet and his
mission: "The poets of the world are the prophets of humanity. They
forever reach after and foresee the ultimate good. They are evermore building
the Paradise that it is to be, painting the Millennium that is to come. When
the world shall reach the poet's ideal, it will arrive at perfection, and much
good will it do the world to measure itself by this ideal and struggle to lift
the real to its lofty level."
In the
light of such a noble utterance, how paltry the ordinary concept of the poet as
a mere verse builder. His true mission is to lift up the ideal and encourage
the real to advance towards it and eventually attain perfection. The poet, in
this age of money worship, is often ridiculed as a "dreamer"; but the
ridicule, when applied to a genuine son of song, is pointless. The poet is a
dreamer; but so is the architect, and the projector of railroads. If there were
no dreamers, there would be no builders; if there were no poets, there would be
no progress. Poets are prophets of a lesser degree, and the prophets are the
mightiest of the poets. They hold the key to the symbolism of the universe, and
they alone are qualified to interpret it. There are plenty of rhymesters who
are neither poets nor prophets, and there are poets and prophets who never
build a verse, nor make a rhyme.
Rhyme
is no essential element of poetry. Versification is an art employed by the poet
to make his thought more attractive. The rhyme helps the sentiment to reach the
heart. A musical instrument, say a piano or an organ is painted and gilded, not
to improve its musical powers, but to make it beautiful to the eye, poetry as
paint or gold leaf to the organ or piano, and no more.
The
essence of poetry is in its idealism. God has built his universe upon symbols,
the lesser suggesting and leading up to the greater; and the poetic faculty,
possessed by the prophet in fulness, recognizes and interprets it. All
creations testify of their creator. They point to something above and beyond.
That is why poetry of the highest order is always prophetic, or infinitely
suggestive; and that is why the poet is a prophet, and why there is such a
thing as poetic prose.
A
thing is poetic when it suggests something greater than itself. Man, fashioned
in the divine image, suggests God, and is therefore "a symbol of
God," as Carlyle affirms. But Joseph Smith goes further. He declares God
to be "an exalted Man." To narrow minds this is blasphemy; but to the
broad-minded it is poetry—poetry of the sublimest type.
In the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper, what is there of sacred efficacy in the bread
and water, taken alone? There is not water enough in the ocean, nor bread
enough in all the bakeries of the world, to constitute the Lord's Supper. All
that makes it effective as a sacrament is the blessing pronounced upon it by
the priesthood, and the symbolism whereby those elements are made to represent
something greater than themselves, namely, the body and blood of the Savior.
What is done then becomes a holy ordinance, full of force and effect, a poem in
action.
The
same is true of baptism. Jesus said: "Except a man be born of water 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.
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 defeated 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 today 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.
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.
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.
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." (I 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
tradition, 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 spiritual 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: "Today 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.
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!
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 (I 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?
I was
crossing the Atlantic on an ocean liner. I was a first cabin passenger; and
besides myself there were upwards of a hundred others in that part of the
vessel. The second cabin had about twice as many passengers, and in the
steerage were several hundred more. The first cabin berths were not only the
best furnished, but the most favorably situated for comfort, convenience, and
safety. Every courtesy was shown to the passengers; the captain and other
officers were their associates; their food was of the choicest, and they had
the full freedom of the ship. They might go down into the second cabin, or
lower down, into the steerage, and return, without hindrance or question. They
had paid for these privileges and were therefore entitled to them. But it was
different in the second cabin. There the food was not so good, the berths were
less comfortable, and the privileges fewer. Passengers might descend into the
steerage, but were not permitted upon the upper deck. In the steerage,
conditions were even less favorable. The food was still poorer, and the
restrictions were more rigid. The occupants of that section were not allowed
even in the second cabin. Having paid only for steerage accommodations, these
were all that they could consistently claim. Viewing the situation, I said to
myself: What a striking analogy to the final destiny of the human race, as set
forth in the revelations of God! All men rewarded according to their
works—saved according to their works, according to the desire of their Father!
And I resolved anew that I would be a first cabin passenger over the ocean of
life into the haven of Celestial glory.
Joseph
the Seer, after gazing upon the glories of eternity, outlining the ultimate
destiny of the human race, had another vision in which he "beheld that all
children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability, are saved
in the Celestial Kingdom." He also saw his father, his mother, and his
brother Alvin in that Kingdom. His parents had received the Gospel; but Alvin
died before it came. He was in good man, however, and had faith in what the
Prophet told him. He simply had not been baptized. Nevertheless, Joseph beheld
him in celestial glory, the highest glory of all, and it caused him to marvel.
Then fell this word from Heaven:
"All
who have died without a knowledge of this Gospel, who would have received it if
they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the Celestial Kingdom of
God; also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would
have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that Kingdom, for I,
the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire
of their hearts. And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive
at the years of accountability, are saved in the Celestial Kingdom of
Heaven." (D.H.C. 2:380-381.)
Could
justice, mercy, magnanimity, go further? And yet there are people who imagine
"Mormonism" to be something small, narrow and illiberal. By the
contrary, it is broad, generous and charitable, as all its teachings testify.
The
Source of Its Strength
"Mormonism's"
strength is not in the number of its adherents, who are comparatively few; nor
in the sagacity of its leading men, who are only mortals. Rather does it reside
in the fact that every worthy man and woman connected with it is entitled to
and receives a personal, direct testimony of its truth. The Church of Christ is
founded upon this rock—the Rock of Revelation—against which the waves of
sophistry, the billows of bigotry, the breakers of persecution, beat and dash
in vain. All who fight the truth are foredoomed to defeat. The Gates of Hell
cannot prevail against it. "Mormonism" is strong because God is its
Author—the Engineer directing its course; and all the might of Omnipotence is
behind it, impelling it on to its destiny. It is the Everlasting Gospel, the
saving, glorifying power of God, the power by which He carries on His mighty
and marvelous work, bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.