Chapter XVIII: Foreword (1)

The discourses which make up Part III, deal with some of the doctrines advanced in the revelations received by Joseph Smith, and in his discourses, which at the time they were brought forth subjected him to the cry of "false prophet," and even of "fallen prophet" on the part of some of his former disciples, "pagan" and "blasphemy." Slowly, however, with the passing of successive decades, and building up a new and a less offensive terminology than the Prophet knew, a change has come over the religious and philosophical thought of the world, until today many of those doctrines advanced by Joseph Smith, the "Mormon" Prophet--without any intention of doing so, and indeed without any knowledge that they were doing so--are now being taught by leading minds and in some of our very highest institutions of learning. It is to point out this startling fact that the following three discourses are presented.

I.

THE FIRST MESSAGE OF MORMONISM VINDICATED.

A discourse in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday afternoon, August 8, 1909. Reported by F. W. Otterstrom. The National Annual Encampment Of the Grand Army of the Republic was held in Salt Lake City in August, 1909, and many of the veterans of that organization were present at the Tabernacle services on the occasion of this discourse being delivered and hence the reference to them in the closing paragraphs.

I.

I presume, my brethren and sisters, that a very large portion of this magnificent audience is made up of those who are strangers within the gates of our city; and I doubt not but what, prompted by curiosity and interest, our friends are here in the hope of learning something about the faith of the Latter-day Saints whom, perhaps, many of them regard as a strange people. For my own part, if I could, I would like to respond to this curiosity or interest of our friends, by setting forth what message Mormonism has for them and for the world. I would like to speak, if I could, the choicest word that we have for them and mankind; but I stand appalled at the task that such a proposition presents to me, and I frankly confess my own inability to meet such an issue unless there shall be divine assistance rendered and God shall help by the inspiration of his Spirit. If he help, then of course we shall not fail; and if we do not fail, then to him let us accord praise and honor and glory, since success will be through his help.

In order to get this message of ours before you, my friends, it is necessary to refer to a little history connected with this movement called Mormonism. Perhaps many of you are aware of the fact--since many of you are well advanced in years--many of you are acquainted with the fact that in the early decades of the nineteenth century there was great agitation in respect of religion throughout the United States and parts of Europe; but more especially in that part of our own country known as the Western Reserve--northern Ohio; also in western New York; and the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. In these sections of our country there seemed to be a great spiritual awakening--or, at least, so it was regarded at that time--and religious excitement existed everywhere. It existed to such an extent in some localities that even the ordinary pursuits of industry were interrupted while people assembled in great camp meetings to hear noted ministers exhort and expound in respect of religion. This great religious revival extended into western New York where the family of Joseph Smith lived, near Palmyra, in that state. His family had been religiously inclined for generations before his birth; and when this religious agitation of which I am speaking reached Palmyra, the family of Joseph Smith was affected by it. This young man, then about fifteen years of age, was also influenced by it; but his mind was sore troubled because of the divisions and contentions existing among the various sects of religion. There were cries of "Lo here" and "Lo there," as to Christ and religion; and even when union revival meetings were held, and the time came for the converts made by united effort to divide off into the various sects, then much of the good feeling that had prevailed seemed to be dissipated, and contentions and jealousies predominated. This young man, Joseph Smith, observed these divisions, and it seems as if the question of Paul to the schismatically inclined Corinthians reached him, asking this stern question: "Is Christ divided?" Will God teach one group of men one set of principles and order of church government and ordinances, and then teach another principles diametrically opposed? Is God the author of confusion?" And there was borne in upon his soul the thought that all was not well with the religions world. In the midst of these reflections he came upon the Scripture which after a fashion may be regarded as one of the historical corner stones of Mormonism, namely: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him."

JOSEPH SMITH'S FIRST VISION.

Joseph Smith informs us that this Scripture became, to his soul, the very voice of God. In the light of it he reviewed the situation, and finally came to this conclusion, that if ever man was perplexed he was; if ever man lacked wisdom, he lacked it; if any man knew not what to do, he was that person. He had confidence in the Scriptures. The teachings of a sainted mother and of a Christian father had instilled that faith into his heart; and hence he decided, in child-like confidence, to go to God with this query: "Which out of all these sects is right? Which the true Church of Christ? Which shall I join?" Having concluded to put these questions to the Infinite Mind--to God--he retired to a grove not far removed from his father's house--still standing, by the way, unmarred by the hand of man. On attempting to engage in prayer, however, he found himself overcome by a spirit of darkness, and his tongue bound that he could not utter his thought. As he was about to abandon himself to seeming destruction, he beheld descending towards him a great, white pillar of light, and as it rested upon him the darkness was dispelled, and lo! in the midst of the light, which exceeded the brightness of the sun at noon-day, he beheld two personages, resembling each other; and one calling him by name, and pointing to the other, said:

"_Joseph, this is my beloved Son; hear Him_."

It speaks well for the intellectual texture of this boy's mind, that in the midst of these unusual circumstances he could still hold to the great thought that had brought him to this issue; and to the presence in which he stood. To the person to whom he was directed Joseph Smith put the question: "Which of these sects is thy church, and which shall I join?"

Now, my friends, bear, I pray you, for a moment, with the seeming harshness of the reply that was made to that great inquiry. The personage whom he addressed said to him in reply, that all the churches were wrong; that he must join none of them; that their creeds were an abomination in His sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that they drew near to him with their lips but their hearts were far from him; that they taught for doctrine the commandments of men, "having a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof." He was again expressly commanded to go not after them, at the same time receiving a promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto him.

That was a tremendous message to deliver to a world that supposed itself to be living in the full blaze of Christian glory! It was enough to appall the stoutest heart to be called upon to deliver it! But, my friends, Mormonism would have no right to existence unless such was the condition of the world. Of churches and creeds there were already enough; and unless there was some great, fundamental reason why a new message should be sent to the world, then Mormonism has no right to exist at all.

The vision closed, and the boy went with it to his friends, and out of it has grown what the world calls Mormonism. Now, let us talk about the substance of this vision a little while and see if we can not soften the seeming harshness with which this message of Mormonism begins: "The churches are wrong." But, my friends, the people then living were not responsible for those conditions. They had inherited them. Generations ago men had transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant of the gospel, and formulated creeds which failed to grasp or record truly the central truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the nature of God, the relationship of man to Deity, or the purpose of man's earth existence. The false notions and doctrines that obtained respecting these matters our generation inherited from preceding generations. It was a case of the fathers "eating sour grapes, and the children's teeth being set on edge."

"CREEDS ARE AN ABOMINATION."

"The creeds are an abomination, and the professors are all corrupt!" That is a severe arraignment of Christendom. Do we mean by it that the whole of Christendom is corrupt? That virtue was fled? Of course, in a certain sense, all men have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. There is none that doeth wholly good, no, not one. All flesh is corrupt before God, in that it has in it an inclination to evil--a concupiscence to sinful ways. But that is not the matter in question here. No, my friends, we do not mean to say that all Christendom is corrupt, or that virtue has fled from the earth. I pray you regard the language more closely: "The creeds are an abomination;" the "professors are corrupt;" they "teach for doctrine the commandments of men." It is the professors that are alluded to here as being "corrupt," not necessarily the _confessors,_ of the creeds; the "professors" the "teachers" of the creeds are corrupt. What, then, do you arraign the whole Christian ministry as being corrupt? By no means. We are ready to believe that many of them like their followers are men who strive earnestly for the truth, and desire the uplifting of humanity; but those who, in the ages gone by, could formulate such creeds as exist in Christendom, expressing such beliefs about God and about man, and the relationship of God to man; those who could formulate creeds that would eternally damn innocent infants; or that could forever close the doors of mercy against the vast majority of the children of God--as well those who have died in ignorance of revealed truth, as those who died in the knowledge of it but rejected it--in the awful dogmas of eternal punishment--men who could formulate such creeds as these certainly had minds that had gone awry, that were "corrupted," so they would not or could not see the truth. So you see the harshness of this message of ours narrows down considerably when you get to analyzing it. These creed-formulators were teaching for doctrine the commandments of men; they drew near to the Lord with their lips, but their hearts were far removed from him, they had reduced religion to forms of godliness merely. The ground had to be cleared of the theological rubbish that had accumulated through the ages, that the living rocks might appear, on which God should found his Church in very deed; and thus our message had to begin with this declaration concerning the status of Christendom.

GOD'S FIRST MESSAGE CONFIRMED.

Now something singular has happened in our time, in our day, within the past few years, and more especially within the past year. Ninety years have passed away since this first message of God though Joseph Smith was given to the world declaring the churches wrong; but, mark you, we did not sit in judgment upon the world's creeds and religions and religious teachers. We have not assumed to do that. Neither did Joseph Smith, he confessed his own inability to judge the matter, hence he went to God for wisdom. We think it would have been beyond the capacity of human wisdom to determine which of the sects or churches were acceptable to God; Or say which was his Church; but God was competent to sit in judgment, and he sat in judgment, and announced the conclusion, and made Joseph Smith and the Church of Christ, that grew out of his message--God made them the heralds of this judgment of his to the inhabitants of the earth. But, to return to what I was about to remark,--after ninety years have elapsed, something remarkable occurs, and that is a wonderful confirmation of this seemingly harsh message with which our prophet began his life's work. There is at present going on in the great Catholic church--that church which holds within her communion more than one half of all the Christians of the world--within her great organization is going on what is called the "Modernist" movement. That movement, briefly told is this: a demand is made on the part of many of her scholars and theologians for wider intellectual liberty, and that the church shall come out of the darkness of the creeds and symbols of the dark ages and live in harmony with the new truths that have been developed through the inspiration of God operating upon the minds of modern men, of our present-day scientists and philosophers. In order to be exact in the statement of the matter, permit me to read to you something of the program that is suggested by this modernist movement within the Catholic church; and let no one esteem it as a light thing, as a mere "crackling of thorns beneath the pot." Rome does not so regard it, I can tell you. We are assured by a writer in the _North American Review_ for June of this year that this revolution within the Church of Rome is one of the mightiest revolutions since that one led by Martin Luther in the sixteenth century. The Catholic church has already noted the importance that she attaches to it by issuing what is known as the "Encyclical Letter on Modernism" by the present pope of the Roman church, a document filling about one hundred printed pages, in which the errors, or supposed errors, of the modernists are detailed and reviewed from the standpoint of the orthodox within the Catholic church. In each diocese a "committee of vigilance" is appointed to keep watch that whether in pamphlet, or book, or speech, any prelate or curate of the church should presume to be in sympathy with this movement, he might be instantly reported and silenced. Some of the most gifted men within the church have been driven into retirement from official life; others have been silenced; some have been dismissed from chairs of instruction in Catholic institutions of learning; and everywhere the bishops are called upon to exercise the utmost vigilance to keep down the throbbing, intellectual life of this movement.

Newman Smyth in _Scribners_ for February of the present year gives the following account of the vatican's efforts at suppression of modernism:

"The vatican has succeeded in putting out a few scholarly
periodicals; in their places others more popular have appeared.
It has persuaded some enlightened teachers to relapse into the
obedience of silence for a season, yet without actual recantation
of their opinions; others it has forced to stand by their own
conscientious intelligence before the whole world. It has
prohibited the publication of some Italian magazines, only to
increase their circulation. It forbade the faithful to read the
'Program of the Modernists,' and a new and enlarged edition was
called for by the public. It enjoined the Bavarian bishops to see
to it that the people read the 'catechism and good books,' and it
obtained from the civil authority of Innsbruck the confiscation of
a lecture by a modernist professor of canonical law, only to cause
forty-three editions of it to be issued within a short time, and to
lead many thousand liberal German students to organize a strike in
behalf of the freedom of academic teaching. The index of prohibited
writings increases; but it cannot keep up with the modernist press.
In short, the Encyclical Pascendi, which aimed to destroy by a blow
a heresy of the schools, has succeeded in creating a literature
of it for the people. It commands the utmost vigilance in every
diocese in searching out modernist ideas; and in Rome itself, under
the very shadow of the vatican, a scientific-religious publishing
society has been established, and its issues, increasing in power
as well as in number, are now to be found scattered through many
lands.

"Besides all this, account should be taken of the number of secular
journals which are in sympathy, more or less avowed, with the
modernists. An ecclesiastical authority which in former times
could bind peoples and humble kings, has yet to show whether it is
mightier than the power of a free press in a free state."

To the Encyclical letter that was issued by Pope Pius, the modernists themselves have made a most bold and fearless answer, and have published it, in connection with the Pope's Encyclical to the world. (See "Program of Modernism," Putman's Sons, 1908.) This movement, by the way, is described as "a clear call for the rejuvenation of Roman Catholicism." The modernists believe that the church, the Roman Catholic church, can harmonize its teachings with the thought of this present age, that the most ancient church can survive by becoming the most modern. The ambitious designs of the modernists may further be learned by the following questions they propound, and answers they make to them:

"At this moment (1908) pregnant with all sorts of moral revolution,
when the intellectual world, still alienated from Christ and his
Church, progresses in a hundred ways towards some undefinable
renewal of spirit, we ask ourselves frankly, Is there in the
Catholic church, in that great organism in which the religious
spirit of the gospel has come to embody itself--is there a power
of conquest or simply a conservative instinct? Does she still
hide in the secret complexities of her wonderful organization,
capacities for winning adherents, or is her vitality threatened
by the germs of a speedy decay? Is her mission henceforth to be
limited to a suspicious vigilance over the rude and simple faith of
her rapidly-dwindling followers, or will she rouse herself to the
reacquisition of that social influence which she has lost through
long years of listless self-isolation? For ourselves we have long
since answered this critical question. We have ever watched the
aspirations of the contemporary mind with sympathetic interest; our
hearts have beaten in unison with its glowing enthusiasm for the
new ideals of universal brotherhood; and we have seen in all its
movements the symptoms of a glorious revival of religion. * * *
Speaking the language of our age and thinking its thought we have
tried to bring it into touch with the teachings of Catholicism,
that through such contact their profound mutual affinities might
be made evident. We cannot believe that the church will ultimately
reject our program as mischievous."

I only want to present these statements to you and ask this question: Why is this rejuvenation of the Catholic church demanded? Why this demand to forsake symbol and creed of the middle ages in order to come into harmony with modern truth as it has been developed by modern thought and science? Do not the questions pre-suppose that the church complained against is wrong in creed and doctrine and attitude towards progress? I may not go further into a discussion of this Catholic situation, because I want to call your attention to still more startling things in the Protestant world, especially in our own country.

REFORM IN PROTESTANTISM.

There has been running through the current numbers of the _Cosmopolitan_ magazine a series of articles by Harold Bolce on the trend of university teaching in America. Some two years ago, Mr. Bolce blocked out an itinerary for himself, having no less an object than a visit to leading universities throughout the United States, with a view to becoming acquainted with the trend of university teaching, and more especially with reference to economic, social, philosophical and religious subjects. As a result of that investigation he reports his visit through four articles of this magazine. I shall call your attention to what is said simply upon the trend of religious teaching within the universities. I read the following extracts from the August number of the _Cosmopolitan._ The article is prefaced with a note from the editor in which he says:

"It has been shown in the series of articles beginning with
'Blasting at the Rock of Ages' that our great universities
repudiate the dogma and orthodox of the established church and
proclaim a new religion divested of Biblical and church creed.
Why do the most profound scholars in our institutions of learning
undertake this revolutionary work? What do they hope to accomplish?
* * * The answer is here. The schoolmen have placed Christianity
in a scholars' crucible. They are determined upon reducing sacred
institutions to scientific tests. The college men approach the
subject with the greatest reverence. It is false to characterize
them as atheists or iconoclasts. They assert that what we need is
not less of God but more of God. They prophesy the introduction
into the world of a system of belief superior to the Christianity
of the ages."

Such is the editorial conception of the trend of teaching in our universities, on this subject, with Mr. Bolce's articles before them. And now from the article itself. I read the following:

"Instead of living in harmony with God, the church, the colleges
say, has set up a celestial czar, a conception which has been
an injury to man, because it has given him a sense of weakness,
inferiority and fear."

That is the arraignment of the colleges against the teachings of the churches as to their conceptions of God. Now mark you, "The colleges say that the church, through its fear of new truth, has at all times been an obstacle to progress." Is not that a remarkable thing to say of the church of Jesus Christ that in reality ought to be in the very vanguard in the pursuit of truth and in the conservation of it?

"Dr. Andrew D. White, formerly President of Cornell university,
says that the church in its apprehension of the progress of
learning persecuted Roger Bacon, and by so doing did more harm to
Christianity and the world than has been done as a result of all
the efforts of all the atheists who have ever lived."

"Professor Borden P. Bowne, of Boston university, Professor Frank
Sargent Hoffman of Union College, and scores of others, say that
the church is the last to come into the possession of truth;
that it often lags behind, even in the matter of the progressive
conscience of the time; that it has had to recede from its position
in every field of science; and that it is still receding and
must continue to make way for the progress of truth in spiritual
matters. For many professors assert that the church, as revealed by
the outcry over the disclosures of what the universities teach, is
still engaged in the effort to strangle thought.

"And as the opposition to truth, as it is claimed, is still the
role of religious bodies, the inescapable duty of unfettered
institutions of learning is to give the world a new revelation."

Joseph Smith proclaimed that need ninety years before these professors awoke to the realization of the need of a new revelation.

But to continue:

"The professors believe that civilization is under the domination
of many false doctrines, and that the fact that these are held
sacred is no reason why they should be preserved."

Not only do these professors--scores of them, remember--hold that the church is wrong now, but they hold that it has been wrong for ages. Listen to this:

"The present crusade of the colleges is surcharged with the
conviction that the churches and church thought are not only behind
the times but that they have, throughout the centuries, been an
obstacle to human advance, and are even now the last barrier
keeping man out of his true spiritual kingdom. They say that man
has earned the right to know the truth, the truth that it will
make him free; and that man's ignorance of his power in a world
of spirit, where he could, if he would, be master, with all the
harmony, health, happiness and abundance that that mastery implies,
is the secret of the centuries of travail, hatred, wars and crimes
that have cursed the world."

I shall trouble you to read but one more extract:

"This, then, is the announced justification of the college
arraignment of many cherished institutions. The old indictment
drawn up by irreverent critics against the church, is repeated
with a new force and a new meaning. It is pointed out that it
was religious Jerusalem, not pagan Rome, that clamored for the
crucifixion. Motley and Draper and other historians have been cited
in support of the teaching that the church in many ages murdered
more people than it saved: And these victims were burned alive,
strangled or beheaded, not for crimes committed, but in some cases
for reading the Scriptures, or looking askance at a graven image,
or smiling at an idolatrous procession as it passed. * * *

"But the college men are not blind to what the church has
accomplished. In this phase of the subject they are peculiarly
catholic. But it is taught now in practically all the departments
of philosophy in the great universities that a new revelation is
quickening this age, and that it is not only the right but the
duty of the colleges to stand, if they can, as interpreters of the
acceptable year of the Lord. Prof. R. M. Wenley of the University
of Michigan teaches that we have every reason to anticipate great
changes in Christianity. The world of thought is in progress of
such profound alteration that orthodox belief can scarcely escape
the transforming effects of the new idea of God. Hundreds of
thousands of young men and young women in America are coming under
the influence of the new university philosophy, and instead of
being apologetic for the teaching that the God of the colleges is
greater than the God of the church, the university philosophers
look forward with composure and even elation to the ultimate
surrender of what they regard as discredited beliefs."

In relation to the methods adopted by the churches for imparting religious truths, and enforcing religious living--the revival method more especially; and be it remembered that of late years many of the extravagances of this method have been eliminated since the boyhood days of Joseph Smith. Of this method of the churches, Mr. Bolce represents the universities as holding the following view:

"Professor Boris Sidis of the Pathological Institute of New York,
who recently concluded a series of psychological experiments
at Harvard, is ruthlessly arrayed against popular religion as
expressed in revivals, and his findings have been endorsed by
Prof. William James in an introduction to the former's published
report. If there is in American university teaching a more
fearless doctrine than the following as put forth by Prof. Sidis
and countenanced by Harvard's leading philosopher, I have not yet
encountered it: 'Well may President Jordan of Stanford university
exclaim: 'Whisky, cocaine and alcohol bring temporary insanity, and
so does a revival of religion--one of those religious revivals in
which men lose their reason and self-control. This is simply a form
of drunkenness no more worthy Of respect than the drunkenness that
lies in the gutter!'"

"Professor Jordan," comments the Harvard psychologist as a result of his investigations, "was too mild in his expression. Religious revivalism is a social blame; it is more dangerous to the life of society than drunkenness. As a sot, man falls below the brute; as a revivalist he sinks lower than the sot."--(_Cosmopolitan_ for July, 1909.)

Now, my friends, after that, do not complain of harshness in the message that Joseph Smith was commissioned to give to the world ninety years ago? He never said anything nearly so harsh as the American universities are now saying about the churches. It seems to me as if God had called from the high seats of learning throughout our land the most intellectual class in the world to confirm the truth of the message of His prophet.

The world despised the word of an unlearned youth upon this subject, albeit coming with a message from God--from the Highest Intelligence. What will they say now to the testimony of the learned--which confirms the message of Joseph Smith?

WHAT MORMONISM AFFIRMS.

I do not want to take all the time, however, in discussing this negative part of our message. I desire to say something affirmatively, something that will dispel the gloom that this first part of our message is likely to impress upon the minds of those who contemplate it. In the affirmative part of our message we come to you with these glad tidings: God has again spoken. He has renewed, so to speak, official relationships with the world. At that time when men supposed that God had spoken His last word in revelation; at that time, when it was supposed angels would no more visit the earth; at that time when men concluded that the volume of revelation was completed and forever closed--in the very darkest hour of these great errors, lo, the heavens open! angels visit the earth; the American volume of Scripture, the Book of Mormon, the Scripture, of the old inhabitants of America, before they fell into anarchy and barbarism, when they were learned and enlightened, when they had communion with God and Christ, and received the gospel--their record is brought forth to be a witness for God; a witness to His justice, to His mercy; it came as a protest against the dark and awful thought that God could possibly leave a hemisphere to perish in ignorance of his mind and of his will, and of the gospel of Jesus Christ! In the moment when these thoughts had crystallized into dogma, God brushed them aside, renewed revelation, gave a new dispensation of the gospel to the children of men, restored divine authority, re-established the Church of Christ, deposited with her his revealed truth, and gave her commission to make proclamation of it to all the inhabitants of the earth--"to every nation, and kindred, and tongue and people;" giving warning that the kingdom of God was at hand. Our message comes then with the announcement of these great truths; and Mormonism is this restored gospel of the Christ, this re-established Church of Christ, or nothing. It is not a new gospel, my friends, not a new religion. But the old gospel, the old religion and the Church of Christ coming forth under a new dispensation. We, equally with you of other Christian persuasions, believe there is no other name given under heaven whereby men may be saved except the name of Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ. Therefore to us there can be but the one true gospel and one true Church. Not only this, but our message goes further. It comes to you with the glad tidings that God is still in the world, not apart from it, not standing aloof in unsympathetic observation of the creation of his hands--but he is in it. What men name divine immanence. His spirit permeates all the elements. "He is in the sun, the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was created. He is in the moon, and the light of the moon, and the power thereof by which it was made." Also he is in the many blazing suns that we call fixed stars, and the power by which they were created. He is "the light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things;" which is the law by which all things are governed--even the power of God." That is, to say, God through and by his Spirit is immanent in the world--in his world--the universe. The elements--the stuffs we call matter are eternal: and element united with spirit may attain to a fulness of joy; when separated they can not attain to a fulness of glory, nor answer the end of their existence. In this view "the elements are the very tabernacle of God;" or, as some of your scientists put it, "the material universe is but the garment of God." Under that garment is the living, throbbing, sympathetic God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being.

God is in his world reconciling it unto himself, and working out his sovereign will. But chiefly God by his Spirit may be in man, if man will but have it so. Yea, man may be, and often is "the tabernacle of God, even temples." There may be such an indwelling of God in man that God is very near to him and not afar off. Your life, my friends, and mine, may touch the life of God; his rich spiritual grace and life may pour into our poor lives, making them rich in deed--who, then, shall talk of failure! But let us see clearly here.

While our message proclaims God to be immanent in the world by his Spirit, and pre-eminently so in man--yet also does our message proclaim God to be a person. God, my friends, with the Latter-day Saints, is not a mere abstraction, an empty word without objective reality; a merely spiritual essence or influence; but, on the contrary, God is a person in the sense that he is an individual. He is revealed to us through Jesus Christ. We believe in that revelation of God that is to be read in the life and character of the Nazarene--the Lord Jesus Christ. To us he is the very image and likeness of God; nay, as the Christ was and now is, so God is! The Christ you remember stood in his resurrected immortal body before his disciples, out on the Mount in Galilee, where he had appointed a meeting with them. As he stood there, in all the glory of a resurrected, immortal personage, no more subject to death, he said to them: "All power is given unto me, in earth and in heaven. Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo! I am with you always to the end of the world." As the Christ thus stood before his disciples he was God manifested in the flesh. And as the Son is, so we are assured, is the Father--a glorious mighty intelligence of tangible reality, as much so as the Christ was there on the mount in all his resurrected glory--a being whose heart throbs in sympathy with his children. For his children! Yes, friends; this Mormon message bids us proclaim that the children of men are also the children of God, essence of his essence, and nature of his nature. Our message proclaims man divine, as also it proclaims God human--God and man of one and the same race! But God relatively to man, perfect; man, fallen and imperfect in his present estate, yet an heir of salvation and a child of God destined to become like his Father and Elder Brother, the Christ. You see I was right in saying that God is no mere abstraction with us, but a real personal being with whom we sustain very definite relations--the relation of child to father, with all the sympathies that grow out of the conception of that relationship.

IMMORTALITY OF MAN.

One other thing that our message is burdened with is the immortality of man--a proper immortality, not merely and alone a continuation of conscious being after death, not merely a prolongation of life, but a pre-existence of life and intelligence before we tabernacled in the flesh. Our habitation was with God before we came to this earth. In our first, primeval childhood we lived in his presence, and have come forth from his presence merely to gain an experience in the midst of the conditions that prevail in this world of ours. We believe in and teach the immortality of man; an immortality that stretches backward before birth as well as forward after death.

Our message also proclaims the persistence of the individual. There is something in you, my friends, according to this Mormon message to the world--there is something in all of us, that was not created: and that will not die. Something that is indestructible and uncreatable; a something that must live, because it can not be destroyed--the soul, the intelligence of man. That entity, that intelligence--_you_--will not be absorbed, and lose its identity. _You,_ friend, as an intelligence, and as a man shall live through all eternities. _You,_ friend, shall accumulate experiences and grow in grace and knowledge, and power, and might and dominion, until _you_ attain unto something that is worthy to be called divine--a son of God indeed!

On the day that you, our visitors, members of the Grand Army of the Republic--on the day that you parade the streets of our city, our Zion, and we shall note you as you go by--perhaps, with feeble footsteps and bowed forms, not with the elastic step of youth as when you responded to your country's call when the great Republic was in danger!--We shall look upon you on that day and note, perhaps, in our thought, the contrast. We shall think of you, my friends, in sympathetic mood; and we shall contemplate the time when these aged forms of yours shall put on immortality--when even these bodies shall give forth in the resurrection the vital elements essential to the manifestation of your spirits, in all the eternities to come. Our message, friends, reaffirms the reality of the resurrection from the dead. We are commissioned to say that though a man die, yet shall he live, and that eternally. Christ is our warrant for the reality of the resurrection of all men. You, then shall live again--aye and in immortal youth, and possessed of all the high powers of a glorious manhood. You will meet again the comrades and the old commanders beyond the heights, to hold your camp-fires and recount the glories of your victories for the preservation of our great nation. We shall think of you in this spirit as you march by, and our sympathies will go out to you, but we shall regard you as the children of God--immortal men! not only in history, but in reality. And what may not be accomplished in eternity, friends, under these circumstances? What may we not all accomplish in such a state as our gospel gives hope to believe in, through Jesus Christ our Lord? Think of eternity in which to live, with God for your friend, with good men for your associates, and eternity in which to work out the problems of existence--eternity!--its shining plane stretching out illimitably before you--I say, what may you not hope to achieve? At least development, intellectual, spiritual; at least growth, moral growth--soul growth, until at last, citizenship in the kingdom of God, sonship to God, and brotherhood with all divine Intelligences.

You see, then, my friends, this message of Mormonism, beginning so harshly, to what music it leads us! to what harmonies! We stand here, with you, panoplied in this faith, in these hopes, in this spirit of charity for the world. Our message is optimistic; we have glad tidings for the world, not a message of dole and damnation, but of assurance, of hope, and encouragement, an uplifting message. Mormonism proclaims the coming of a brighter day for the world--the long-promised millennium with the reign of the Christ--

"The morning breaks, the shadows flee!
Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled!
The dawning of a brighter day
Majestic rises on the world.

"The clouds of error disappear
Before the rays of truth divine;
The glory, bursting from afar,
Wide o'er the nations soon will shine."

God grant it, for Christ's sake. Amen.

II.

OTHER DOCTRINES OF JOSEPH SMITH VINDICATED BY COLLEGES.

I.

Men the Avatars of God. [1]

[Footnote 1: The word avatar comes from the Sanskrit word _avatara,_ and in Hindu mythology meant an incarnation; a manifestation of Deity. This discourse was delivered in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, Nov. 21, 1909.]

Early in the month of August, of the year 1909, I had the pleasure of addressing a congregation from this stand; and when the remarks I made on that occasion were published, those who had the publication in charge entitled them, "The Message of 'Mormonism.'" In part the remarks covered a review of a series of articles published in the _Cosmopolitan Magazine_ during the early summer months, in which Mr. Harold Bolce gave the result of a two years' itinerary through the universities of the United States, pointing out the trend of religious and philosophical thought among the professors of these universities. On that occasion I called attention to the fact that the first great message that Joseph Smith delivered to the world: namely, that all the churches were wrong, and their creeds an abomination unto the Lord, received wonderful confirmation from the utterances of these professors quoted in the articles I name. That occasion in August did not warrant a complete or exhaustive review of these articles, nor did it afford the opportunity, for sheer lack of time, to indicate all or even the chief points at which modern educated thought sustained utterances of the great modern prophet. It is this theme which I desire to renew and discuss on the present occasion.

The question which I now propose to take up will prove to you, I think, that it is useless for the world to decry some of the fundamental doctrines announced by the Prophet Joseph Smith, on the ground that they were the utterances of an uneducated, obscure and ignorant youth--since, I believe, I shall be able to show you that from some of the highest seats of learning in the land there comes pronounced confirmation of many things our prophet taught; and hence that his utterances on the doctrine to be considered were not born of ignorance, but of inspiration from God.

In the _Cosmopolitan_ for July, 1909, in the editorial review of Mr. Bolce's article, is this utterance:

"Many university teachers, while subscribing to doctrines akin to
those of Christian Science, New Thought, and the Emanuel movement,
are in favor of studying the forces of the spiritual world in a
cold, scientific manner. Orthodox Christian dogma is regarded as
at variance with its own principles and is interpreted in a new
and revolutionary light. The professors' philosophy is purged of
mysticism and blind faith. By moving their young students, they
believe they will move the world, and so they are directing their
energies to the scientific interpretation of those forces which are
marvelously transforming our contemporary age."

Mr. Bolce himself, in further explanation of the attitude of many of the educators in the universities, represents Professor James C. Monaghan, recently of Notre Dame University, and formerly of the University of Wisconsin, as telling his classes, in regard to the adage "there is room at the top," that there is no top, "that progress--particularly spiritual progress--is eternal." The Latter-day Saints will readily recognize that statement as in harmony with "Mormon" doctrine. Continuing, Mr. Bolce says:

"Friends of the college philosophers insist that if there is a gulf
between them and the people, it is because the masses have not yet
crossed over into the life of progress and spiritual liberty. It is
simply that the professors from the standpoint of their followers,
are inviting mankind again into the fields to which the prophets
beckoned the world centuries ago. The choice, it is declared, is
either backward to the brute, or forward to the superman."

I think that the Latter-day Saints will also recognize in that a note of "Mormonism"--because they believe that whatever man may be today, whatever his excellence may be--even the excellence of the most highly developed men--we believe that there are heights beyond those which he has now attained, to which it is possible for him to mount.

I merely wanted to read those two paragraphs for the purpose of presenting the attitude of the professors, in a general way, in regard to the creeds of men and the existing Christian Churches. I now call your attention to some few doctrines that our prophet taught in respect of man. Of course, you who are familiar with Christian teaching of three-quarters of a century ago, will recall the fact that it was quite customary to represent man as a quite inferior, insignificant, poor worm of the dust; and the phraseology applied to him was that he was a creature "conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity." Referring to these ideas as something engrafted upon Christianity, yet foreign to its genius, Professor G. H. Howison of the University of California, in his contribution to the book _Conceptions of God_ (1902) and speaking of those who hold and taught such views, says:

"Their monotonous theme was the inevitable greatness of the Supreme
Being and the utter littleness of man. Their tradition lay like a
pall upon the human spirit--nay, it lies upon it to this day, and
it smothers now, as it smothered then, the voice that answers there
to the call of Jesus." (p. 96.)

When the prophet proceeded with the deliverance of his message to the world, he departed from this view as to the essential baseness of the nature of man, and proceeded to proclaim him to be a son of God, not only through some means of adoption, but by the very nature of him. He proclaimed him to be an eternal intelligence as to his spirit, and that after the experience of the resurrection from the dead, he would be an immortal personage, a prince of heaven, an heir to all that God possesses, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ, capable of infinite progress and of amazing possibilities. On one occasion--to be more specific, in 1844--while discoursing upon the subject of man and his spirit, he propounded this question:

"The mind of man, the immortal spirit--where did it come from?
All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it
in the beginning, but it is not so. The very idea lessens man in
my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine; I know better. Hear
it, all ye ends of the world! for God has told me so. If you don't
believe me, it will not make the truth without effect. * * * We
say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so?
It is correct enough, but who told you that man did not exist in
like manner, upon the same principle? God made a tabernacle and
put man's spirit in it, and it became a living soul. * * * * It
does not say in the Hebrew that God created the spirit of man; it
says God made man out of the earth and put in him Adam's spirit,
and so became a living soul. The mind or the intelligence which
man possesses is co-eternal with God himself. * * * God himself
does not create himself. Intelligence is eternal, and exists upon a
self-existent principle; it is a spirit from age to age, and there
is no creation about it. The spirit of man is not a created being,
it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity."

Such was the prophet's teaching upon this subject. I might, however, supplement the above statement by quoting one of the revelations that also bears upon this theme. The Christian world are ready to accord to the Christ, the Son of God, an existence co-eternal with God; and indeed would consider it unorthodox to hold any other view than the co-eternity of the Son with the Father; and they quote in support of this view the very beautiful preface to John's gospel; namely, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The same was in the beginning with God. * * * * In him was life, and the life was the light of men." And then later it is explained that this "Word" "became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory; the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth."

All orthodox Christians believe that this passage establishes the co-eternity of the Christ with the Father. Now, that is a very great doctrine; but I desire to show you that, excellent as it is, the Lord in our dispensation has added another truth to that one by what is said in the revelation from which I now read. Jesus Christ is represented as speaking:

"Verily, I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father,
and am the first-born. [Now, mark you--addressing the several
brethren who were present when this revelation was received]--Ye
were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is spirit,
even the spirit of truth."

Meaning that part of man that is spirit, that intelligence, that thing within man that is conscious of its own existence, and of other existences; that has power to will and to direct and to do things; that thing within man that reasons and reflects and has memory; that being who, most emphatically, is you, yourself, and not the house, merely, in which you live; that, too, was in the beginning with the Father. And now the revelation broadens the truth beyond those to whom the Christ directly spoke at the time the revelation was given; for in a subsequent verse it says: "Man," undoubtedly meaning the race--

"Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light
of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.

"All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed
it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also, otherwise there is
no existence.

"Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of
man, because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest
unto them, and they receive not the light.

"And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under
condemnation,

"For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and
element, inseparably connected, receiveth a fulness of joy;

"And when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.

"The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle
of God, even temples."

That is bold doctrine. When our prophet came with this splendid message to the world, he was met with the cry of "Blasphemy, blasphemy!" Three-quarters of a century have now passed away since these utterances were first given to the world; and I want to show you what men in the highest seats of learning have to say with respect to principles that are either identical with these, or closely analogous to them, though, of course, the learned men whom I quote may not be aware even of the existence of these revealed truths given to the world by Joseph Smith. They are not, of course, consciously bearing any testimony to the doctrines announced by our prophet; but they are bearing unconscious testimony to the truth; and I am glad to see the truth grow, whether by direct or indirect means. Sometimes I think that the indirect means that God is using for disseminating his truths are more potent and far-reaching, perhaps, than the direct means which we are seeking to use, and that God is using through his Church. But now to this record and what our learned men are saying on principles identical with or analogous to these. Professor Howison, whom I before quoted, says:

"Son of man, thou art the son of God. Rouse heart! put on the
garments of thy majesty, and realize thy equal, thy free, thy
immortal membership in the Eternal Order!" (Conceptions of God, p.
96.)

Professor Robert Kennedy Duncan, in the concluding pages of his _The New Knowledge,_ (1905) says: