{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_60492/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_60492","id":"gutenberg_60492","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60492","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines","Latter Day Saints"],"text":"The Seventy's Course in Theology\n\nFifth Year\n\nDivine Immanence and the Holy Ghost\n\nBy B. H. ROBERTS\n\nOf the First Council of Seventy\n\n_\"He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all\nthings are round about him: and he is above all things, and in all\nthings, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and\nall things are by him, and of him, even God, for ever and ever.\"--Doc.\nand Cov., Sec. 88._\n\n_\"I have always declared God to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ\na separate and distinct personage from God the Father, and that the\nHoly Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit.\"--Joseph Smith, (June\n16th, 1842.)_\n\nSalt Lake City\n\n1912\n\n\n\nIntroduction.\n\nI. THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTY'S SPECIAL COURSE IN THEOLOGY.\n\n[Footnote: It is suggested that this Introduction be treated in the\nclass as a lesson.]\n\nThis Introduction is intended to serve two purposes: an Introduction\nto the treatise which follows; and a valedictory to the \"Seventy's\nCourse in Theology.\" The latter has reached a period, for the present\nat least, as arrangements are being made to have prepared one course\nof study in successive annual manuals for the three quorums of the\nMelchizedek Priesthood, the Seventies, High Priests, and Elders\nQuorums. The reasons for making this change are that the \"Gospel is\none;\" that the duty of becoming acquainted with it rests equally upon\nHigh Priests, Seventies, and Elders; that which will qualify one of\nthese quorums to preach this one gospel abroad, will qualify the others\nfor preaching it at home; and _vice versa_. Each of these quorums,\nwhere there is a sufficient number in each to form a good, strong\nclass, will still continue, as now, in their separate classes, though\nstudying the same manual. Where the quorums in the smaller wards are\nnot strong enough in numbers to assure a good class separately, they\ncan meet conjointly for class work and under such circumstances, having\nthe same text book, will be a very great advantage. The plan will also\neconomize both time and money in the matter of publishing manuals;\nfor it is patent that one text book can more readily be produced than\nthree, and at less expense.\n\nThese considerations, it is hoped, will outweigh any feeling of\ndisappointment which but for them might arise over the discontinuance\nof the Seventy's special course in Theology; and then, undoubtedly,\nwhen the new and united course shall be opened, we may reasonably\nexpect that its lines will be laid on a much larger ground plan, and\nin its development there will be employed brethren of such scholarship\nand talent as shall warrant the expectation of the very best text books\nthat can be produced on the great theme of which they will treat--the\nGospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nII. SUBJECT OF THE PRESENT YEAR BOOK.\n\nSo much for the \"valedictory\" part of this Introduction; and now as to\nthe subject of the present Year Book. We have here the consideration\nof a theme in some respects the loftiest and mightest that the mind\nof man can be led to contemplate: God Immanent in the world; and God\nin union with men through the medium of the Holy Ghost. Confessedly\nthe subject is one around which much of mystery gathers; and there are\nnot wanting those who, on that account, are in favor of leaving it so,\nwithout attempting an exposition of the nature or offices of the Spirit\nImmanent in the world, and the Spirit Witness to the soul of man. I\nthink no one can be more conscious of human limitations to understand\ndivine things than I am. And I doubt if any one can have greater\nappreciation of the need of being careful to keep within the limits of\nwhat God has revealed upon these subjects; for it is only what he has\nrevealed that can rightly instruct men in the things of God. Moreover\nin no department is the frank and honest confession \"I don't know,\"\nmore imperative than in Theology; and when it is given as an actual\nconfession of having reached the limits of our knowledge, it is worthy\nof all praise. But if it becomes tainted with the spirit of \"I don't\ncare,\" then I have no respect for it.\n\nIII. MENTAL EFFORT REQUIRED TO MASTER THE THINGS OF GOD.\n\nThere is another phase in which the same thing occurs. It requires\nstriving--intellectual and spiritual--to comprehend the things of\nGod--even the revealed things of God. In no department of human\nendeavor is the aphorism \"no excellence without labor\"--more in force\nthan in acquiring knowledge of the things of God. The Lord has placed\nno premium upon idleness or indifference here--\"seek and ye shall\nfind;\" \"knock and it shall be opened unto you;\" \"seek ye diligently and\nteach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books\nwords of wisdom; seek learning even by study and also by faith\"--such\nthe admonitions God gives in reference to our pursuit of knowledge of\ndivine things.\n\nOliver Cowdery thought the work of translating from the Nephite\nplates would be easy. He sought the privilege of translating and was\ngiven an opportunity. He, it appears, believed that all that would\nbe necessary would be for him to ask God, and without giving further\nthought the translation would be given him. His expectation in this was\ndisappointed. He failed to translate. Then the Lord said: \"You supposed\nthat I would give it [i. e., the power to translate] unto you, when\nyou took no thought save it was to ask me; but behold, I say unto you,\nthat you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it\nbe right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn\nwithin you; therefore you shall feel that it is right.\" (Doc. and Cov.\nSec. 9.)\n\nThe incident illustrates the truth here contended for--achievement in\ndivine things, progress in the knowledge of them, comes only with hard\nstriving, earnest endeavor, determined seeking.\n\nIV. THE PLEA OF \"THUS FAR, BUT NO FURTHER.\"\n\nMental laziness is the vice of men, especially with reference to divine\nthings. Men seem to think that because inspiration and revelation are\nfactors in connection with the things of God, therefore the pain and\nstress of mental effort are not required; that by some means these\nelements act somewhat as Elijah's ravens and feed us without effort on\nour part. To escape this effort, this mental stress to know the things\nthat are, men raise all too readily the ancient bar--\"Thus far shalt\nthou come, but no farther.\" Man cannot hope to understand the things of\nGod, they plead, or penetrate those things which he has left shrouded\nin mystery. \"Be thou content with the simple faith that accepts without\nquestion. To believe, and accept the ordinances, and then live the\nmoral law will doubtless bring men unto salvation; why then should\nman strive and trouble himself to understand? Much study is still a\nweariness of the flesh.\" So men reason; and just now it is much in\nfashion to laud \"the simple faith;\" which is content to believe without\nunderstanding, or even without much effort to understand. And doubtless\nmany good people regard this course as indicative of reverence--this\nplea in bar of effort--\"thus far and no farther.\" \"There is often a\ngreat deal of intellectual sin concealed under this old aphorism,\"\nremarks Henry Drummond. \"When men do not really wish to go farther they\nfind it an honorable convenience sometimes to sit down on the outmost\nedge of the 'holy ground' on the pretext of taking off their shoes.\"\n\"Yet,\" he continues, \"we must be certain that, making a virtue of\nreverence, we are not merely excusing ignorance; or under the plea of\n'mystery' evading a truth which has been stated in the New Testament a\nhundred times, in the most literal form, and with all but monotonous\nrepetition.\" (Spiritual Law, pp. 89, 90.)\n\nThis sort of \"reverence\" is easily simulated, and is of such flattering\nunction, and so pleasant to follow--\"soul take thine ease\"--that\nwithout question it is very often simulated; and falls into the same\ncategory as the simulated humility couched in \"I don't know,\" which so\noften really means \"I don't care, and do not intend to trouble myself\nto find out.\"\n\nV. THE PRAISE OF SIMPLE FAITH.\n\nI maintain that \"simple faith\"--which is so often ignorant and\nsimpering acquiescence, and not faith at all--but simple faith taken at\nits highest value, which is faith without understanding of the thing\nbelieved, is not equal to intelligent faith, the faith that is the gift\nof God, supplemented by earnest endeavor to find through prayerful\nthought and research a rational ground for faith--for acceptance of\ntruth; and hence the duty of striving for a rational faith in which\nthe intellect as well as the heart--the feeling--has a place and is a\nfactor.\n\nBut, to resume: This plea in bar of effort to find out the things\nthat are, is as convenient for the priest as it is for the people.\nThe people of \"simple faith,\" who never question, are so much easier\nled, and so much more pleasant every way--they give their teachers so\nlittle trouble. People who question because they want to know, and\nwho ask adult questions that call for adult answers, disturb the ease\nof the priests. The people who question are usually the people who\nthink--barring chronic questioners and cranks, of course--and thinkers\nare troublesome, unless the instructors who lead them are thinkers\nalso; and thought, eternal, restless thought, that keeps out upon the\nfrontiers of discovery, is as much a weariness to the slothful, as\nit is a joy to the alert and active and noble minded. Therefore one\nmust not be surprised if now and again he finds those among religious\nteachers who give encouragement to mental laziness under the pretense\nof \"reverence;\" praise \"simple faith\" because they themselves,\nforsooth, would avoid the stress of thought and investigation that\nwould be necessary in order to hold their place as leaders of a\nthinking people.\n\nVI. THE INCENTIVES TO, AND THE GLORY OF, KNOWLEDGE IN THE NEW\nDISPENSATION.\n\nAgainst all the shams of simulated humility and false reverence which\nare but pleas to promote and justify mental laziness, I launch the\nmighty exhortations and rebukes of the New Dispensations of the Gospel\nof the Christ--the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, in which God\nhas promised \"to gather together in one all things in Christ, both\nwhich are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him.\" They are as\nfollows:\n\n_\"The glory of God is Intelligence.\" (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 93.)_\n\n_\"It is impossible for a man to be saved in Ignorance.\" (Doc. and Cov.\nSec. 131.)_\n\n_\"Whatever principles of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it\nwill rise with us in the resurrection.\" (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 130.)_\n\n_\"If a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life\nthrough his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much\nthe advantage in the world to come.\" (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 130.)_\n\n_\"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not\nget knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power\nin the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and\nconsequently more power, than many men who are on the earth.\" (Joseph\nSmith--History of the Church, Vol. IV., p. 588.)_\n\n_\"Knowledge saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be\nexalted but by knowledge; so long as a man will not give heed to the\ncommandments he must abide without salvation. If a man has knowledge\nhe can be saved; although he has been guilty of great sins, he will be\npunished for them. But when he consents to obey the Gospel, whether\nhere or in the world of Spirits, he is saved.\" (Joseph Smith--Minutes\nof the General Conference of the Church, April, 1844. \"Improvement\nEra,\" Jan., 1909, p. 186.)_\n\n_\"Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek\nye out of the best books words of wisdom: seek learning even by study,\nand also by faith.\" (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 88:118.)_\n\n_\"I give unto you a commandment, that you teach one another the\ndoctrine of the Kingdom.\"_\n\n_\"Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be\ninstructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the\nlaw of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God,\nthat are expedient for you to understand;_\n\n_\"Of things both in heaven and in the earth, and under the earth;\nthings which have been, things which are, things which must shortly\ncome to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the\nwars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are\non the land, and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms,_\n\n_\"That ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to\nmagnify the calling whereunto I have called you, and the mission with\nwhich I have commissioned you.\" (Doc. and Cov. Sec. 88:79-90.)_\n\n_\"It is important that we should understand the reasons and causes of\nour exposure to the vicissitudes of life and of death, and the designs\nand purposes of God in our coming into the world, our sufferings\nhere, and our departure hence. What is the object of our coming into\nexistence, then dying and falling away, to be here no more? It is but\nreasonable to suppose that God would reveal something in reference\nto the matter, and it is a subject we ought to study more than any\nother. We ought to study it day and night, for the world is ignorant in\nreference to their true condition and relation. If we have any claim on\nour Heavenly Father for anything, it is for knowledge on this important\nsubject.\" (Joseph Smith--History of the Church, Vol. VI., p. 50.)_\n\n_\"God shall give unto you (the saints) knowledge by his Holy Spirit,\nyea by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been\nrevealed since the world was until now: which our forefathers have\nwaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times,\nwhich their minds were pointed to, by the angels, as held in reserve\nfor the fullness of their glory; a time to come in the which nothing\nshall be withheld, whether there be one God or many Gods, they shall be\nmanifest; all thrones and dominions, principalities and powers, shall\nbe revealed and set forth upon all who have endured valiantly for the\ngospel of Jesus Christ; and also if there be bounds set to the heavens,\nor to the seas; or to the dry land, or to the sun, moon, or stars;\nall the times of their revolutions; all the appointed days, months,\nand years, and all the days of their days, months, and years, and all\ntheir glories, laws, and set times, shall be revealed, in the days of\nthe dispensation of the fulness of times, according to that which was\nordained in the midst of the Council of the Eternal God of all other\nGods, before this world was, that should be reserved unto the finishing\nand the end thereof, when every man shell enter into his eternal\npresence, and into his immortal rest. How long can rolling waters\nremain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man\nstretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed\ncourse, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring\ndown knowledge from heaven, upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints\"\n(Doc. and Cov. Sec. 121, 26-33.)_\n\nVII. NECESSARY ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH IN THE MATTER OF MENTAL\nACTIVITY AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.\n\nSurely, in the presence of this array of incentives, instructions\nand commandments to seek for knowledge, taken from the revelations\nand other forms of instruction by the Prophet of the New\nDispensation--taking into account also the scope of the field of\nknowledge we are both persuaded and commanded to enter--whatever\nposition other churches and their religious teachers may take, the\nChurch of Jesus Christ in the New Dispensation can do no other than to\nstand for mental activity, and earnest effort to come to a knowledge\nof truth up to the very limit of man's capacity to find it, and the\ngoodness and wisdom of God to reveal it.\n\nThe New Dispensation having opened with such a wonderful revelation\nrespecting God, making known as the very first step in that revealed\nknowledge not only the _being_ of God but the _kind_ of\nbeings both the Father and the Son are--its representatives may not\nnow attempt to arrest the march of inquiry and plead \"mystery\" or\n\"humility\" or \"reverence\" as a bar to entrance into those very fields\nof knowledge God has commanded us to enter, and reap in, and of which\nhe gives us assurance that our harvest shall be abundant.\n\nVIII. THE LIMITS OF OUR INQUIRIES.\n\nLet me not be misunderstood. Again I say, I am aware that there are\nlimits to man's capacity to understand things that are. That God also\nin his wisdom has not yet revealed all things, especially respecting\nthe Godhead; and that where his revelations have not yet cast their\nrays of light on such subjects, it is becoming in man to wait upon the\nLord, for that \"line upon line, and precept upon precept\" method by\nwhich he, in great wisdom, unfolds in the procession of the ages the\notherwise hidden treasures of his truths. All this I agree to; but all\nthis does not prevent us from a close perusal and careful study of\nwhat God has revealed upon any subject, especially when that study is\nperused reverently, with constant remembrance of human limitations, and\nwith an open mind, which ever stands ready to correct the tentative\nconclusions of today by the increased light that may be shed upon the\nsubject on the morrow. Which holds as greater than all theories and\ncomputations the facts--the truth. These are the principles by which\nI have sought to be guided in these five Year Books of the Seventy's\nCourse in Theology, and in some more than in the one herewith presented.\n\nBut some would protest against investigation lest it threaten the\nintegrity of accepted formulas of truth--which too often they confound\nwith the truth itself, regarding the scaffolding and the building as\none and the same thing. The effective answer to that may be given in\nthe words of Sir Oliver Lodge: \"A faith dependent on blinkers and\nfetters for its maintenance is not likely in a progressive age to last\nmany generations.(Science and Immortality, p. 130.) \"From age to age,\nour knowledge is growing from more to more,\" remarks John Fiske, in\nhis \"Century of Science.\" \"By this enlarged experience our minds are\naffected from day to day and from year to year, in more ways than we\ncan detect or enumerate. It opens our minds to some notions, and makes\nthem incurably hostile to others; so that, for example, new truths\nwell nigh beyond comprehension, like some of those connected with the\nluminiferous ether are accepted, and old beliefs once universal like\nwitchcraft, are scornfully rejected. Vast changes in mental attitude\nare thus wrought before it is generally realized.\" (\"Century of\nScience,\" p. 145.) This holds good in theology as in science. Not that\nthe universal and fundamental truths in theology which God has revealed\nchange, but that men's method of viewing them and expounding them\nchanges, and, let us hope, changes for the better, for the more clear\nand perfect understanding and development of them--else there would be\nno progress in theology--while in all things else there is progress.\nBut here let me conclude Fiske's noble passage:\n\n\"In this inevitable struggle [between vanishing old ideas and incoming\nnew ones] there has always been more or less pain, and hence free\nthought has not usually been popular. It has come to our life-feast\nas a guest unbidden and unwelcome; but it has come to stay with us,\nand already proves more genial than was expected. Deadening, cramping\nfinality has lost its\" charm for him who has tasted of the ripe fruit\nof the tree of knowledge. In this broad universe of God's wisdom and\nlove, not leashes to restrain us are needed, but wings to sustain\nour flight. Let bold but reverent thought go on and probe creation's\nmysteries, till faith and knowledge \"make one music as before, but\nvaster.\"\n\nIX. THE RIGHT TO SEEK KNOWLEDGE ASIDE FROM REVEALED KNOWLEDGE.\n\nOne other thing: Such subjects as are treated in this Year Book\nnecessarily rest on what God has revealed--that is, for the data, the\nfacts involved; but that does not necessarily hold as to illustration\nand argument for development of the truth and making clear the revealed\nthings of God. Here one may do as it is said Clement of Alexandrea did\nin urging men to strive for a knowledge of Christian truth, rather than\na mere belief of it; \"such instruction was to come primarily from the\n'Divine Word'; but everything in the range of human learning was to be\nwelcomed as co-operating with him. For Clement gratefully acknowledged\ntruth wherever found, whether among heathens or heretics.\" It should be\nobserved, however, \"that while constantly confirming his propositions\nfrom his Greek writers, he ever turns for a final appeal to the\nscriptures\"--that, too, must be our course.\n\nSo much by way of presenting the spirit in which I have pursued my own\nstudies upon the high themes of these Seventy's Year Books, and this\npresent one in particular.\n\nX. JUSTIFICATION FOR USING DOUBLE TITLE.\n\nThe subject of Divine Immanence and the Holy Ghost should be considered\ntogether because there are such relations and apparent contrasts\nsubsisting between them--such a likeness and such apparent differences,\nthat they may properly be understood only when so considered--that is,\nconjointly.\n\nThe conception of God immanent in the world, not in bodily presence, of\ncourse, but by his spirit--a divine power, carrying with it everywhere\nthe influence of God--proceeding forth from the presence of God to\nfill the immensity of space; the light which lighteth every man that\ncometh into the world--to which all men have access whether following\nthe light of nature or of revelation, the light which is in all things\nand the power by which all things are sustained and in which they live\nand move and have their being--this conception, with the conception of\nthe Holy Ghost as a Spirit-personage, union with whom and companionship\nwith whom can only be secured by obedience to the laws and ordinances\nof the Gospel, is a conception that will correct some errors of\nargumentation that have here and there obtained in the literature of\nthe subject, and leads to an understanding of things at once rational\nand uplifting, because it is a development of the truth as God has\nrevealed it. This is the purpose of the treatise--The Divine Immanence,\nand the Holy Ghost.\n\nWORKS OF REFERENCE.\n\nRelative to works of reference I would remind the student that outside\nof the scriptures accepted by the Church the works that may be cited to\nassist one in studying the subject of this treatise are very scarce,\nsince the doctrine of the Church on the subject is so radically\ndifferent from that of the world. I can therefore only recommend as\nhelpful the following brief list.\n\nThe Seventy's Library, viz.:\n\n_The Bible,_\n\n_The Book of Mormon,_\n\n_The Doctrine and Covenants,_\n\n_The Pearl of Great Price,_ containing the _Book of Moses,_\nthe _Book of Abraham,_ and some of the _Writings of Joseph\nSmith._\n\nThe above books are certainly indispensable to every Seventy, and\nshould be owned by every member of our quorums. The First Council\nin their recommendations, added to the above list, _\"Richards and\nLittle's Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel,\"_ and called the\nset the \"Seventy's Indispensable Library.\"\n\nElder James E. Talmage's _Articles of Faith,_\n\nOrson Pratt's Works--_Kingdom of God._\n\n_Rays of Living Light,_ by President Charles W. Penrose.\n\n_Scientific Aspects of Mormonism,_ N. L. Nelson.\n\n_The Gospel,_ Roberts.\n\n_The Mormon Doctrine of Deity,_ Roberts.\n\nThe Seventy's Year Books, a complete set. There is constant reference\nmade in the present number to previous numbers; and the student who\nis not in possession of those numbers is by so much deprived of the\nopportunity to complete his inquiry on the division of the subject he\nmay have in hand, and as this number completes at present the set of\nSeventy's Year Books, each member of the respective quorums, we think,\nshould be anxious to obtain the complete set.\n\nAfter enumerating the above books, published by writers in the Church,\nI suggest as in a way helpful to an understanding of the trend of\nmodern thinking, somewhat along the lines of spiritual and scientific\nthought with which the Seventies of the Church ought to be acquainted,\nthe following:\n\n_Natural Law in the Spiritual World,_ Henry Drummond, 1893.\n\n_Studies in Religion,_ Fiske.\n\n_A Century of Science,_ Fiske.\n\n_Reconstruction of Religious Beliefs,_ Mallock.\n\n_The Religious Conceptions of the World,_ Rogers.\n\n_Science and Immortality,_ Sir Oliver Lodge.\n\nAll the books enumerated in the above list of works of reference may be\nobtained at the Deseret Sunday School Union Book Store, Salt Lake City.\n\n\n\nThe Seventy's Course in Theology.\n\nFIFTH YEAR\n\n\n\nPART I\n\nDivine Immanence.\n\n\n\nLESSON I.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nIMMANENCE OF GOD.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Definition of \"Immanent.\"\n\nII. Distinction Between \"Omnipresence\" and \"Immanence.\"\n\nIII. Revelation commits the Church to the Doctrine of Divine Immanence.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nAny of the standard dictionaries.\n\nThe Scripture passages cited in the \"Discussion\" of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"The Light which now shineth, which giveth you light, is\nthrough him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that\nquickeneth your understandings; which Light proceedeth forth from the\npresence of God to fill the immensity of space.\" (Doc. and Cov. Sec.\nlxxxviii:11, 12.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Definition of Immanent:_ The word \"Immanent\" means\n\"indwelling,\" \"remaining within;\" \"opposed to transient,\" or\n\"transitive.\"[A] Such the definition of the adjective. The noun,\n\"Immanence,\" is defined as \"the state of being immanent,\" \"a permanent\nabiding within\"--\"indwelling.\"[B] As applied to God it conveys the\nidea of essential and permanent Divine presence in all the universe. It\nexcludes the idea of movement or transition from one place to another\nin order for the Deity to be at a given place, since immanence conveys\nthe idea of Divine presence being already and constantly at every point\nin the universe; hence movement conceived as necessary to presence is\nnot essential, but is excluded from the conception of immanence.\n\n[Footnote A: The Standard Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls.]\n\n[Footnote B: See both Standard and Century Dictionaries.]\n\n_2. Distinction Between Omnipresence and Immanence:_ It may be\nthought that \"immanence\" is but the restatement in another form, of\nthe attribute of omnipresence in Deity--simply an affirmation of his\nevery-whereness; and it must be admitted that there is at least a\nclose resemblance if not identity between the two things for which\nthe two terms stand. And yet there is a difference between immanence\nand omnipresence. The latter means merely the every-whereness of God,\n\"present in all places and at the same time.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Century Dictionary.]\n\nImmanence means that, too; but it means more than that. It means\n_presence accompanied by power_; or presence plus power; presence\naccompanied by doing, or act, leading to manifestations of God's\npower. In modern philosophy the word is applied to the operations of a\nCreator conceived of as in organic connection with the creation;[A]\nand we shall see presently that this is as true in theology as it is in\nphilosophy.\n\n[Footnote A: Century Dictionary. Joseph Le Conte, Professor of Geology\nand Natural History in the University of California, discussing what\nbelief in God would be for rational philosophy, says: \"It is the belief\nin a God not far away beyond our reach, who once long ago enacted laws\nand created forces which continue of themselves to run the machine\nwe call nature, but a God immanent, a God resident in Nature, at all\ntimes and in all places directing every event and determining every\nphenomenon; a God in whom in the most literal sense not only we but all\nthings have their being, in whom all things consist, through whom all\nthings exist, and without whom there would be and could be nothing.\nAccording to this view the phenomena of Nature are naught else than\nobjectified modes of divine thought, the forces of Nature naught else\nthan different forms of one omnipresent, divine energy or will; the\nlaws of Nature naught else than the regular modes of operation of\nthat divine will, invariable because he is unchangeable. According\nto this view the law of gravitation is naught else than the mode of\noperation of the divine energy in sustaining the cosmos--the divine\nmethod of sustentation.\" (\"Evolution and Its Relation to Religious\nThought\"--1902--pp. 300, 301.)]\n\n_3. Does Revelation Teach Immanence of God:_ Here we may as well\nconsider the question whether or not the scriptures teach the doctrine\nof immanence as defined above. Of the doctrine of God's omnipresence\nthere can be no question at all. David states it beautifully:\n\n\"Whither shall I go from thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy\npresence? If I ascend up into heaven thou art there: if I make my bed\nin hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning\nand dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy\nhand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the\ndarkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea\nthe darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day:\nthe darkness and the light are both alike to thee.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Psalms cxxxix:7-12.]\n\nJeremiah is equally as clear in a statement of the same truth, even if\nless poetical:\n\n\"Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith\nthe Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Jeremiah xxiii:24.]\n\nSolomon said of God:\n\n\"The heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less\nthis house that I have builded?\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I Kings viii:27.]\n\nPaul declares that God is \"not far from every one of us; for in him we\nlive and move and have our being.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts xvii:26-28.]\n\n_4. Limitations of Foregoing Revelations to Omnipresence:_ These\ndeclarations go at least as far as to establish the omnipresence of\nGod, not of his bodily, but of his spiritual presence; but they do\nnot quite express the conception presented in the word immanence\nwhich I have said equals the attribute of omnipresence plus divine\npower, and act. It was left for our modern revelations to present that\nidea. This is done in the revelation which first declares that \"the\nelements\"--having reference to the elements of the material world--\"are\neternal;\" that \"spirit and element inseparably connected receive a\nfulness of joy;\" that \"the elements are the tabernacle of God.\"[A] That\nis, in some way, God is immanent, ever present and everywhere present,\nin the universe.[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xciii:33-35.]\n\n[Footnote B: The Universe: It may be well to bring before the mind of\nthe student a brief definition of this term \"universe,\" in which we are\nsaying that God is immanent, in order that we may appreciate somewhat\nat least the largeness of things with which we are dealing. I take the\ndefinition from Haeckel:\n\n\"(a) The extent of the universe is infinite and unbounded; it is empty\nin no part, but everywhere filled with substance.\n\n\"(b) The duration of the world (i. e. Universe) is equally infinite and\nunbounded; it has no end; it is eternity.\" (Riddle of the Universe, p.\n242.) And in this infinite and eternal universe, God, in some way, is\neverywhere present and potentially or actually active--immanent.]\n\n_5. God Not Only Everywhere Present, But Power and Act:_ Our\ntheology recognizes Jesus Christ as not only divine but Deity;[A] and\nthis Immanence of God in the world is in some of our modern revelations\nspoken of as the \"Light of Christ:\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Seventy's Year Book No. III, Lessons XXXIII and XXXIV.]\n\n[Footnote B: A near equivalent to this phrase, \"the light of Christ,\"\nis also used in the New Testament in connection with the idea of its\nbeing a vital as well as an intelligent principle--the life and the\nlight of the world: \"In him [the Christ, see context] was life; and\nthe life was the light of men; and the light shineth in the darkness,\nand the darkness comprehended it not.\" John was sent to bear witness\nof that light: \"That was the true light, which lighteth every man that\ncometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by\nhim, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own\nreceived him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to\nbecome the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.\" (St.\nJohn's Gospel i:1-12.) See also Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxiv:45-47.]\n\n\"He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things; in\nthat he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through\nall things, the light of truth;\n\n\"Which truth shineth. _This is the light of Christ_. As also he is in\nthe sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which It\nwas made;\n\n\"As also he is in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power\nthereof by which it was made.\n\n\"As also the light of the stars, and the power thereof by which they\nwere made.\n\n\"And the earth also, and the power thereof; even the earth upon which\nyou stand.\n\n\"And the light which now shineth, which giveth you light, is through\nhim who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth\nyour understandings;\n\n\"Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the\nimmensity of space.\n\n\"The light which is in all things; which giveth life to all things;\nwhich is the law by which all things are governed: even the power of\nGod who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who\nis in the midst of all things.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:6-13.]\n\nAnd later in the same Revelation it is said:\n\n\"Judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne\n[God], and governeth and executeth all things;\n\n\"He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all\nthings are round about him: and he is above all things, and in all\nthings, and is through all things, and is round about all things; and\nall things are by him, and of him, even God, for ever and ever.\n\n\"And again, verily I say unto you, he hath given a law unto all things\nby which they move in their times and their seasons;\n\n\"And their courses are fixed; even the courses of the heavens and the\nearth, which comprehend the earth and all the planets;\n\n\"And they give light to each other in their times and in their seasons,\nin their minutes, in their hours, in their days, in their weeks, in\ntheir months, in their years: all these are one year with God, but not\nwith man.\n\n\"The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day,\nand the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their\nlight, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of\nthe power of God.\n\n\"Unto what shall I liken these kingdoms, that ye may understand?\n\n\"Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the\nleast of these, hath seen God moving in his majesty and power.\n\n\"I say unto you, he hath seen him; nevertheless, he who came unto his\nown was not comprehended.\n\n\"The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not;\nnevertheless, the day shall come when you shall comprehend even God;\nbeing quickened in him and by him.\n\n\"Then shall ye know that ye have seen me, that I am, and that I am the\ntrue light that is in you, and that you are in me, otherwise ye could\nnot abound.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Ibid. Sec. lxxxviii:41-50.]\n\nA more complete or thorough-going statement of the ever-whereness of\nGod in the world, accompanied with the idea of power--God immanent,\ndynamic, as well as present,--I do not remember to have seen.\n\n\n\nLESSON II.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nNATURE AND POWERS OF THE DIVINE IMMANENCE.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Relationship of the Immanent Spirit to the Christ.\n\nII. Powers of the Immanent Spirit:\n\n(a) Creative power;\n\n(b) Sustaining power;\n\n(c) Vital power;\n\n(d) Intelligence-inspiring power.\n\nIII. The Relationship of the Immanent Spirit to an Eternal Race of\nDivine Beings.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe passages of scripture and other works cited in the \"Discussion\" of\nthis lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"H. that ascended up on high, as also he descended below\nall things; in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all\nand through all things, the light of truth; which truth shineth. This\nis the Light of Christ the light which is in all things; which giveth\nlife to all things: which is the law by which all things are governed:\neven the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom\nof eternity, who is in the midst of all things.\" (Doc. and Cov. sec.\nlxxxviii:6, 7, 13.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Immanent Spirit as Related to the Christ:_ It is to be\nobserved that Immanence of God as set forth in the preceding lesson is\nassociated with a personality; in the passages of scripture quoted in\nthe preceding lesson, the Immanence is directly associated with the\npersonality of the Christ. It is \"The Light of Christ\" that is immanent\nin the world.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:7.]\n\n_2. Creative Power of the Immanent God:_ It is \"The Light of\nChrist\" that is \"in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power\nthereof by which it was made.\"[A] It is \"The Light of Christ\" that is\n\"in the moon, and is the light of the moon, and the power thereof by\nwhich it was made; as also the light of the stars and the power thereof\nby which, they were made; and the earth also, and the power thereof,\neven the earth on which you stand.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Ibid.]\n\n[Footnote B: Ibid, verses 8-10.]\n\n_3. Sustaining Power of the Immanent God:_ This \"light which\nproceeded forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of\nspace,\" \"The Light of Christ,\" is also the sustaining power of the\nworld as well as the creative power--\"the light which is in all things;\nwhich giveth life to all things: which is the law [i. e. power] by\nwhich all things are governed: even the power of God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:13. \"The law and power by\nwhich all things are governed,\" is the late Elder Orson Pratt's foot\nnote on the passage. See foot note \"k\" from verse 13.]\n\n\"The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day,\nand the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their\nlight, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of\nthe power of God. * * * Behold all these are kingdoms, and any man who\nhath seen any or the least of these, has seen God moving in his majesty\nand power\"--a manifestation of God in the orderly movement of the\nplanetary systems of the world.\n\n_4. Vital Force of the Immanent God:_ This \"Light of\nChrist\"--which \"fills the immensity of space,\" is also a vital, or\nlife-giving force or spirit--\"The Light which is in all things; _which\ngiveth life to all things_.\"[A] \"I am the light of the world,\" said\nJesus, \"he that followed me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have\nthe _light of life_.\"[B] \"In him [the Christ] was life; and the life\nwas the light of men.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:3.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John viii:12.]\n\n[Footnote C: Ibid i:4.]\n\n_5. Intelligence-Inspiring Power of the Immanent God:_ Nor is\nthis \"Light of Christ,\" immanent in the world, creative, sustaining\nand vital power only; but also it has a power of giving intelligence;\nit inspires intelligence; it is the inspiration of God which gives\nto the spirit of man understanding:[A] \"The light which now shined,\"\nsaid the Lord to his servants, \"which giveth you light, is through him\n[the Christ] who enlightened your eyes, which is the same light that\nquickened your understandings; which light proceedeth forth from the\npresence of God to fill the immensity of space.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the\nAlmighty giveth them understanding; (Job xxxiii:8.)]\n\n[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:11, 12.]\n\nAgain, and this from another revelation:\n\n\"For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light,\nand whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ;\n\n\"And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the\nworld; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that\nhearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit;\n\n\"And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit, cometh unto\nGod, even the Father;\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxiv:45-47. See also St. John\ni:3-12.]\n\n_6. The Immanent Spirit's Relationship to a Race of Divine, Exalted\nIntelligences:_ We may now say from the analysis of the scriptures\nso far developed that God Immanent in the world--\"The Light of\nChrist\"--the \"Spirit of Christ\"--is the power creative; the sustaining\npower; the life-giving power; and the intelligence-inspiring power. It\nis the active principle in all these respects; and is omnipresent.\n\nAs observed in the opening paragraph of this lesson, however, God\nimmanent in the world is associated with a personality; it is directly\nassociated with the personality of Christ. It is called \"The Light of\nChrist\"--it \"proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the\nimmensity of space.\" It is not then a personality in itself, that is\nin the sense of being of individual form, but proceeds forth from a\npersonality; it is a presence rather than a person; an influence, a\nspiritual atmosphere, a power proceeding from another, and therefore\nis dependent on that other for its existence rather than being an\nindependent existence; but as that \"Other\" on which it depends is\neternal, so too this that proceeds forth from the personal presence to\nfill the immensity of space \"is likewise eternal.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: From the nature of things one has to develop his subject\ngradually, \"line upon line,\" and the writer suggests that the student,\nif he finds the statement not fully established as here made, that he\nawait its fuller statement in later pages.]\n\nAgain: This God Immanent, as we have seen, is called the \"Light of\nChrist,\" \"The Spirit of Christ.\" For which reason I have said above\nthat the God Immanent is associated with the personality of the Christ.\nBut if the God Immanent may be associated with the Christ, may it not\nalso be associated with God, the Father, as well as with God the son?\nIf God the Son has a spiritual influence, a light, an holy atmosphere\nradiating forth from him into space, in some manner analogous to\nthe manner in which rays of light radiate from luminous suns in the\nphysical world--may it not be reasonably concluded that God, the\nFather, also has such an influence, such a spiritual atmosphere\nproceeding forth from him? And if Father and Son have such a spiritual\nlight proceeding forth from their presence, may it not be that all\ndivine Intelligences have, similarly proceeding forth from their\npresence, such divine \"light\"?\n\n_7. The Spirit Atmosphere of Men:_ Our discussion may be helped\nhere by an appeal to a matter of common experience. We know that every\nman and woman has an individual influence, a personal atmosphere\nextending beyond the personal self, more or less pronounced, according\nto the strength or weakness of his individuality. So generally is\nthis conceded to be true that we designate its kind, or dominating\ncharacter; as good or bad; refined or coarse; intellectual or boorish;\nspiritual or carnal. If, then, one may argue, the intelligences we know\nas men possess this atmosphere of personal influence extending beyond\nthe personal self, how much more angels, arch-angels, and the higher\nIntelligences who have taken on, or participated in, the Divine Nature\nand entered into their exaltation and glory with other innumerable\nDivine Intelligences whom we call Gods--with how much more reason may\nwe expect that these may have such spiritual influence proceeding forth\nfrom their presence?\n\n_8. The Identity of Spirit Influence Proceeding from all Divine\nBeings:_ From the scriptures we learn of the perfect oneness\nsubsisting between God, the Father, and God, the Son. \"I and my Father\nare one,\" is the oft repeated declaration of the Christ.[A] \"I in\nthee, and thou in me,\"[B] is the emphasis he lays upon the oneness of\nhimself and the Father. Granting this moral and spiritual oneness--not\nphysical oneness, for physically our theology holds Father and Son\nto be distinct and separate individuals[C]--but granting this moral,\nintellectual and spiritual alikeness--then it must follow that the\nspiritual influence of each, the intellectual and moral atmosphere\nof each, will be the same. \"The Light of Christ\" will be the same or\nidentical with the light of the Father; and with the light of all\nIntelligences who have participated in the divine nature and become one\nwith the Father and the Son. So that it might be properly held that\nthe God Immanent is as much the \"Light of the Father\" as \"The Light of\nChrist;\" and since that light would be identical with the light of all\nperfected and holy beings, participating in the Divine nature, it could\nreceive a name that would generalize it--the \"Divine Spirit, Immanent\nin the Universe;\" or, \"God, the Spirit of the Gods,[D] Immanent\nin the Universe;\" any of these characterizations would doubtless\nbe admissible; but since it is through the Christ that the Divine\nnature and spirit is manifested in our world, it is but proper that\nthis Divine Light which lighteth every man into the world--which is\ncreative, sustaining, vital, and intelligence-inspiring power, should\nbear the name of Christ--and henceforth we shall recognize it as our\nmodern revelations do, primarily, as \"The Light of Christ.\" But there\nhas always been a race of divine beings in existence, an eternal race,\nfrom whom such a divine influence or atmosphere has proceeded forth to\n\"fill the immensity of space;\" and that is what I meant a few paragraphs\nback when I said that as the source whence the God Immanent proceeded\nis eternal, so too is the immanence eternal, has always existed, and\nwill always exist by whatsoever name it might have been or may be known.\n\n[Footnote A: St. John x:30; xvii:22, et seq.]\n\n[Footnote B: Ibid, verse 21.]\n\n[Footnote C: Seventy's Year Book III, Lesson XXXV.]\n\n[Footnote D: I have so treated it in my Mormon Doctrine of Deity, pp.\n166-169; also in the Seventy's Year Book No. III, Lesson XXXV.]\n\n_9. Being Whom We Call God:_ This is that Spirit which men call\nGod, but \"know no more;\" that \"something sacred and sublime,\" which\nmen recognize as moving \"wool-shod\" behind the worlds; this that\nSpirit that permeates all space; that makes all presence bright; all\nmotion guides; the Power \"unchanged through Time's all-devastating\nflight\"--God Immanent, the Spirit proceeding from all Divine\nIntelligences intermingled and harmonized into one Spirit. This the\ntrue light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world; the\nlight of which John the Baptist was the witness; and of which Jesus,\nto us men, was the manifestation,[A] and to which all men have\naccess--\"The Light of Christ.\"\n\n[Footnote A: St. John i:4-12.]\n\n_10. Brigham Young on Object of Existence:_ \"We are created for\nthe express purpose of increase, there is nothing within us but that\nwhich can increase, from the birth to old age; what is there that\nis not ordained after eternal law of existence, for it is the Deity\nwithin us that causes increase. Doth this idea startle you? Are you\nready to exclaim, what! the supreme in you? Yes, he is in every person\nupon the face of the earth. The elements that every individual is made\nof, and lives in, possesses a portion of the Deity, this you cannot\nnow understand, but you will hereafter. The Deity within us, is the\ngreat principle that causes men and women to increase and to grow in\ngrace and truth. The operation once begun, strict obedience to the\nrequirements of heaven is necessary to obtain the end for which we were\ncreated, but if we never commence to propagate our species, and keep\nthe commandments of God we cannot attain to the end in view.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Discourse by Pres. Brigham Young, June 13, 1852. Deseret\nNews, Vol. 4, No. 6.]\n\n\n\nLESSON III.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nMORAL AND SPIRITUAL VALUE IN THE CONCEPTION OF THE DIVINE IMMANENCE.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Of the Possibility of the Existence of all the Divine Attributes in\nthe Immanent Spirit.\n\nII. Christ the Revelation of the Immanent Spirit, as well as of God,\nthe Father.\n\nIII. Moral and Spiritual Effect in the Sense of the Nearness of God in\nthe Doctrine of Divine Immanence.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scriptures and other works cited in the text of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God\nafar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see\nhim? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord\"\n(Jeremiah xxiii:23, 24.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Possible Attributes of the Immanent Spirit:_ So far I have\nrefrained from ascribing any attributes, quality, or characteristic\nto the Immanent God not directly warranted by the phraseology of the\nmodern revelations which teach the doctrine of immanence; creative and\nsustaining power; vital force, and intelligence-inspiring power.[A]\nYet if the Immanent God is the spirit proceeding from the presence of\nDivine Beings, to fill the immensity of space, and called for us men\n\"the Light of Christ,\" it may well be regarded as true that the Spirit\ncarries with it the whole nature of God, and in some way, reflects\nall characteristics and attributes of Deity, the moral attributes of\nwisdom, holiness, truth, justice, love, and mercy as well as the four\npowers before noted.\n\n[Footnote A: See the revelations quoted in preceding lesson.]\n\n_2. The Mission of the Christ:_ Manifestation of the Immanent\nSpirit: It was part of the mission of the Christ to manifest this\nImmanent God, as well as God the Father. He came to reveal the whole\nof the divine nature. He was God manifested in the flesh;[A] in him\ndwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;[B] it pleased the Father\nthat in him should all fullness dwell;[C] he was the brightness of\nthe Father's glory and the express image of his person.[D] But he was\nalso the manifestation of, \"the true Light, which lighteth every man\nthat cometh into the world.\"[E] Light of Christ, the God Immanent; the\ninvisible made visible; the \"Unknown God\" of the Greeks made known in\nJesus Christ through the preaching of Paul unto them; for whom they\nignorantly worshiped declared he unto them by preaching Christ; saying\nthat God whom he preached was not afar off--\"not far from every one\nof us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being,\"[F] making\ndirect reference to that Spirit which fills the immensity of space, the\n\"Unknown God\" of the Greeks--the God Immanent, now manifested by the\nChrist whom Paul was preaching--from whose presence David could not\nflee; and to whom the darkness was the same as the light--to whom the\nnight shineth as the day.[G]\n\n[Footnote A: Tim iii:16 and marginal rendering of \"manifest\" in Oxford\nBible.]\n\n[Footnote B: Col. ii:9.]\n\n[Footnote C: Col. i:19.]\n\n[Footnote D: Heb. i:3.]\n\n[Footnote E: St. John i:9.]\n\n[Footnote F: Acts xvii:22-28.]\n\n[Footnote G: Psalms cxxxix.]\n\n_3. Moral Effect of the Conception of Immanence, Negatively\nExpressed:_ The conception of God as Immanent in the world is of\nutmost importance both as a religious and a philosophical truth. Its\neffect upon the mind as establishing a sense of nearness of God is most\nsalutary in its moral effects, and uplifting in its spiritual power. To\nsense that one lives in the presence of the Divine Consciousness--that\nknown unto God are all his thoughts and all his doings; to dwell with\nOne from whom the darkness and the light are both alike; from whom\nthere is no fleeing; for if one ascend into heaven, lo, He is there; if\none make his bed in hell, behold, He is there; if one would take the\nwings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth or\nof the sea--there also is this Immanent Spirit.[A] To live thus in a\nconsciousness of the Divine Presence and Power, makes for righteousness\nof life. For where may sin and wickedness hide themselves? There is\nno refuge for them--no escape. If one shall say--\"surely the darkness\nshall cover me,\" even the night shall be light about him.[B] Iniquity\nmay not hide itself, and as sin loves not the light, negatively the\nmoral force of consciously living in the presence of God is very great.\n\n[Footnote A: Psalms cxxxix.]\n\n[Footnote B: Ibid.]\n\n_4. Moral Effect of the Doctrine of Immanence, Affirmatively\nExpressed:_ Affirmatively expressed, the conception and the\nresult of it are even greater, both morally and spiritually. To live\nconsciously in the presence of God must be a source of annoyance and\nvexation to evil disposed men; and even to men inclined to virtue,\nan embarrassment, at times, when they recall their many failures to\nlive in harmony with their ideals.[A] But, on the other hand, for\nthese of the latter class, when they realize that the Divine Presence\nis sympathetic; that He knows, not only \"what's done,\" but also\n\"what's resisted;\" that He knows of the struggle for the attainment of\nvirtue--the hungering and the thirsting after righteousness; that He\nknows the strength of the temptation, and the weakness of the tempted;\nthat He knows the heart, \"each chord, its various tone; each spring,\nits various bias;\" and He will judge, not after the sight of the eyes,\nneither reprove after the hearing of the ears, but with righteousness\nshall He judge, and reprove with equity;[B] judging, \"not according to\nthe appearance, but judge righteous judgment.\"[C] Men can be assured\nof a correct registration and truthful report of their deeds, and a\njudgment upon them neither partial nor prejudiced; which, while it\nmay cause the wicked to tremble, to men conscious of the uprightness\nof their intentions, and of honest effort in right directions, as God\ngives them vision to see the right--what encouragement to earnest\nstriving this conception of living in the very presence of God must\nbring! What calmness it must bring in the midst of conflict! what\npeace! what assurance of triumph notwithstanding failures, and losses,\nand the sad exhibitions of human weakness--the outgrowth of a fallen\nhuman nature!\n\n[Footnote A: Professor Joseph Le Conte, Professor of Geology and\nNatural History in the University of California, answering a supposed\nobjection that one might not live and work effectively in the presence\nof the Immanent Deity, said: \"It may alas! be true that this view\n[Immanence of God in the world] brings us too near Him in our sense of\nspiritual nakedness and short-coming. It may, indeed, be that we can\nnot live and work in the continual realized presence of the Infinite.\nIt may, indeed, be that we must still wear the evil of a practical\nmaterialism on our hearts and minds. It may, indeed, be that in our\npractical life and scientific work we must still continue to think\nof natural forces as efficient agents. But, if so, let us at least\nremember that this attitude of mind must be regarded only as our\nordinary work-clothes--necessary work-clothes it may be of our outer\nlower life--to be put aside when we return home to our inner higher\nlife, religious and philosophical. (Evolution in Its Relation to\nReligious Thought\"--1902--pp. 302-3.)]\n\n[Footnote B: Isaiah xi:3, 4.]\n\n[Footnote C: St. John vii:24.]\n\n_5. The Helpfulness that Comes from the Sense of the Nearness of\nGod--His Immanence:_ Moreover, if the view point of this treatise be\nthe true one, and all the attributes of the Divine nature are carried\nover into the Divine Spirit that proceeds forth from the presence\nof God to fill the immensity of space--being the God Immanent--then\none may be assured that living at all times and in all places in the\npresence of the Immanent Spirit, he resides in the atmosphere, at\nleast, of the wisdom, the love, and the mercy of God; which can but add\nto his comfort, to his assurance, to his strength. Such an one with\nDavid can say--\n\n\"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts:\nand see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way\neverlasting.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Psalms, cxl:23, 24.]\n\nAnd else he may say--\n\n\"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear\nno evil; for thou are near me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort\nmc.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Psalm, xxiii:24.]\n\nUnder this sense of nearness, which springs from the doctrine of\nImmanence, one may again say with David:\n\n\"Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that\nhope in his mercy;\n\n\"To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.\n\n\"Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Psalms xxxiii:18-20.]\n\nAnd yet again:\n\n\"The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such\nas be of a contrite spirit.\n\n\"Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him\nout of them all.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Psalms xxxiv:18, 19.]\n\nAlso:\n\n\"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.\n\n\"Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though\nthe mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;\n\n\"Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains\nshake with the swelling thereof.\n\n\"There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,\nthe holy place of the tabernacles of the most high.\n\n\"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help\nher, and that right early.\n\n\"The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; he uttered his voice, the\nearth melted.\n\n\"The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Psalms xlvi:1-7.]\n\nAll which loving trust comes from that blessed sense of nearness of\nGod born of the great doctrine of Immanence--God resident in the\nworld, here and now--a dynamic power in the world--that makes for\nrighteousness, and of which the Christ was and is the manifestation,\nthe Revealer; and the Immanent Spirit is \"the Light of Christ.\"\n\n\n\nLESSON IV.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nTHE PHILOSOPHICAL VALUE OF THE DOCTRINE OF IMMANENCE.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. The Immanence Conception a Result of Modern Thinking.\n\nII. Philosophical Values in Immanence.\n\nIII. Immanence Conversely--\"The World Immanent in God.\"\n\nIV. Immanence Equal--Manifestation Unequal.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scripture passages and works cited in the lesson text.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Thou, God, seest me.\" (Gen. xvi:13.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Modern Revival of the Doctrine of Immanence:_ On the\nphilosophical side of this conception of the Immanence of God, we\nare assured that it is the result of the modern world's (i.e. _post\nKantian_) thinking.[A] Of its value to human thinking and to religion\nitself, John Fiske--after pointing out the fact that both Clement and\nAthanasius among the early Christian fathers had held somewhat to the\ndoctrine of immanence as conceived in more modern philosophy, viz--\"God\nImmanent in the universe, and eternally creative\"--says:\n\n[Footnote A: \"One can securely say that nothing of crucial import has\ncome forward in the interest of human freedom [i.e. freedom of the\nhuman will--man as a free moral agent] since Kant started the inspiring\nbut hitherto little fruitful conception of moral autonomy. Instead, as\nwe have seen, the world's thinking has been absorbed in questions that\nthus far have ended in a persuasion of the immanence of the eternal in\nall things--at best the all-pervasive presence of an immanent spirit.\"\nHowison, \"Conceptions of God,\" Introductions p. 32.]\n\n\"Once really adopt the conception of an ever-present God, without whom\nnot a sparrow falls to the ground, and it becomes self-evident that\nthe law of gravitation is but an expression of a particular mode of\ndivine action. And what is thus true of one law is true of all laws.\nThe thinker in whose mind divine action is thus identified with orderly\naction and to whom a really irregular phenomenon would seem like a\nmanifestation of sheer diabolism, forsees in every possible extension\nof knowledge a fresh confirmation of his faith in God. From his point\nof view there can be no antagonism between our duty as inquirers and\nour duty as worshipers. To him no part of the universe is godless. In\nthe swaying to and fro of molecules and the ceaseless pulsations of\nether, in the secular shiftings of planetary orbits, in the busy work\nof frost and raindrop, in the mysterious sprouting of the seed, in\nthe everlasting tale of death and life renewed, in the dawning of the\nbabe's intelligence, in the varied deeds of men from age to age, he\nfinds that which awakens the soul to reverential awe; and each act of\nscientific explanation but reveals an opening through which shines the\nglory of the Eternal Majesty.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Fiske-Studies in Religion, pp. 167-3, Works Vol. IX]\n\n_2. The World Immanent in God:_ Still one other thought from the\nphilosophical side of the conception of Immanence is that it enables\none to see not only God in nature, but as a necessary corollary, nature\nin God--\"Divine immanence in the world, and the reciprocal immanence of\nthe world in God.\"[A] That is to say, in one view, God's presence and\npower penetrates and pervades nature--the universe; in another view,\nnature is received into the all-including spiritual presence of God: as\nthe One indwells in the other; so the other dwells in the One.\n\n[Footnote A: Howison--\"The Conception of God.\" p. 96.]\n\nBefore now the student has doubtless looked into the clear depths of a\ncrystal-like spring of water; and has seen on the sandy floor of the\nspring the sunlight that tells him that the sun penetrates the water,\nin-dwells in the water, or, in poetic terms--\n\n  \"The sunshine in water lies sleeping.\"\n\nAnd as the sunlight penetrates the water so does the water receive\nand hold the sunlight. As it is in the crystal spring, so is it in\nthe ocean. And so in the universe with the immanence of God and the\nreciprocal immanence of the world in God. As saith the revelation:\n\n\"Judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne,\nand governeth and executeth all things. He comprehendeth all things,\nand all things are before him, and all things are round him; and he is\nabove all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is\nround about all things; and all things are by nim, and of him, even God\nforever and forever.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:41.]\n\nThe chief value of this statement of the case--apart from the fact of\nit as a truth--is, it helps one to understand the completeness of the\npresence of God in the world; so complete is it, that the world is also\nin God! Also it helps one to an understanding of the more restricted\nview of the same principle announced in St. John, the declaration of\nthe Christ: \"Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in\nme\"; and that he and the Father are one[A]--i.e., the divine nature\nand spirit are one. One nature participated in by both Father and Son\nand finally to be participated in by those who are the disciples of\nthe Christ; for in his prayer immediately preceding the hour of his\npassion--the most pathetic and soul-moving prayer preserved in human\nlanguage--referring to his disciples he said:\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xiv:11; also xvii.]\n\n\"Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou has given\nme, that they may be one as we are. Neither pray I for these alone, but\nfor them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they\nall may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they\nalso may be one in us, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given\nthem, that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them and thou in\nme, that they may be made perfect in one. * * * I have declared unto\nthem thy name, and will declare it; that the love wherewith thou hast\nloved me, may be in them, and I am them.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xvii. Paul doubtless refers to the same principle\nwhen he says: \"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our\nLord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is\nnamed; that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory,\nto be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man; that\nChrist may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and\ngrounded in Jove, may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is\nthe breadth and length and depth, and height; and to know the love of\nChrist which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the\nfullness of God.\" (Eph. iii:14-19.)\n\nAnd also when he said:\n\n\"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who being\nin the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.\"\n(Philippians ii:5, 6.)]\n\n_3. One Divine Nature in Many Persons:_ One divine nature, then,\nis the conclusion; but a divine nature in manifold persons, many,\nthough indeed one, because harmonized into unity of purpose, and will;\none divine spirit, rising from one divine nature--though participated\nin by many; a spirit rising from all Intelligences who have attained to\nthe divine nature and unity in all and through all, manifesting God in\nhis splendor and glory, as creating, sustaining, and guiding power in\nthe universe--both Immanent and personal.\n\nElsewhere I have said on this subject: One cannot help being profoundly\nimpressed with the great truth that creation, throughout its whole\nextent, bears evidence of being one system: that it presents at\nevery point unity of design, and harmony in its government. Nor am I\nunmindful of the force there is in the deduction usually drawn from\nthese premises, _viz._, that the Creator and Governor of the universe,\nmust necessarily be One. But I am also profoundly impressed by another\nfact that comes within the experience of man, at least to a limited\nextent, _viz._: the possibility of intelligences arriving at perfect\nagreement, so as to act in absolute unity. We see manifestations of\nthis principle in human governments, and other human associations of\nvarious kinds. And this, too, is observable, viz., that the greater\nand more perfect the individual intelligence, the more perfect can\nthe unity of purpose and of effort become for the community of\nintelligences; so that one need only conceive the existence of perfect\nintelligences to operate together in order to secure perfect oneness;\nthen shall come the one system evident in the universe, exhibiting at\nevery point unity of design, and perfect harmony in its government. In\nother words, \"oneness\" can be the result of perfect agreement among\nmany intelligences as surely as it can be the result of the existence\nof One Only Intelligence. Also, the decrees and purposes of the\nperfectly united Many can be as absolute as the decrees and purposes of\nthe One Only Intelligence. One is also confronted with the undeniable\nfact that inclines him to the latter view as the reasonable explanation\nof the \"Oneness\" that is evidently in control of the universe--the fact\nthat there are in existence many Intelligences, and, endowed as they\nare with free will, it cannot be denied that they influence, to some\nextent, the course of events and the conditions that obtain. Moreover,\nit will be found, on careful inquiry, that the explanation of the\n\"Oneness\" controlling in the universe, on the theory that it results\nfrom perfect agreement or unity of Many Intelligences, is more in\nharmony with the revelations of God on the subject than the theory that\nthere is but One Only Intelligence that enters into its government.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Mormon Doctrine of Deity, pp. 137-8.]\n\nJohn Stuart Mill, in his Essay on Theism, in speaking of the evident\nunity in nature, which suggests that nature is governed by One Being,\ncomes very near stating the exact truth in an alternative proposition\nto his first remark, viz.: \"A. least, if a plurality be supposed, it is\nnecessary to assume so complete a concert of action and unity of will\namong them, that the difference is for most purposes immaterial between\nsuch a theory and that of the absolute unity of the Godhead.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Essays on Religion; Theism p. 133.]\n\n_4. Immanence and Manifestation:_ We must believe from the\nscriptures previously considered in these lessons that God by his\nspirit is everywhere and equally present, but it does not follow\nthat the _manifestation_ of God is everywhere and equally the same.\nThere are doubtless persons, conditions, and places, that present\nmore favorable natures and conditions to the manifestation of this\nuniversal presence than others. Undoubtedly, if the assumption of\nthis treatise be the right one, _viz._, that the God Immanent, for\nus men in the kingdom of the universe we inhabit known as \"the Light\nof Christ\"--carries with it the divine attributes of truth, wisdom,\njustice, holiness, and love, with the rest, then it follows, since like\nhis affinity[A] to like, that there may be, as said above, persons,\nconditions and places more congenial to manifestation of the divine\nspirit than others. There are individual men and perhaps races of men\nmore responsive to the Divine Presence and the divine attributes of\nwhich that presence is the atmosphere, than others; and where this\nis the case there will be the larger manifestation of God. Hence the\ndifference observable among individuals and races and at variant\ntimes and places. Those who draw near to God, he draws near to them\nin manifestations of his presence and power; those who love darkness\nrather than light, because their deeds are evil, receive not the light;\nthe manifestation of God in them either in presence or power is not\npossible because the conditions which attend upon that manifestation\nare not there.\n\n[Footnote A: \"For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom\nreceiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light\ncleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy, and claimeth\nits own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the\nthrone, and governeth and executeth all things.\" (Doc. & Cov. Sec.\nlviii:37-40.)]\n\n_6. The Law of Manifestation of the Immanent Spirit:_ \"Draw nigh\nunto God, and he will draw nigh to you,\"[A] is the law of divine\nmanifestation. Christ, the Revealer of the Divine, Immanent Spirit,\nas well as of the person, character, brightness, and glory of the\nFather--the manifestation of all that is divine--\"Came unto his own,\nbut his own received him not; but unto as many as received him, to them\ngave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed\non his name.[B] He that believeth on him (i. e. the Christ) is not\ncondemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he\nhath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.\"\n\n[Footnote A: James iv:8.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John i:11, 12.]\n\n\"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and\nmen loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.\n\n\"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the\nlight, lest his deeds should be reproved.\n\n\"But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his deeds may be\nmanifest, that they are wrought in God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John iii:18-21.]\n\n\n\nLESSON V.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nDIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN THE DOCTRINE OF IMMANENCE.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Incompatibility of the Existence of Evil in the World, and the\nImmanence of God.\n\nII. Reason for the Existence of Moral Evil.[A]\n\nIII. Difficulties that Arise from a Partial View of Man's Life.\n\nIV. The Golden Age Promised--the Millennium.\n\nIV. The Lessons from Broken Harmonies--a World wherein Reigns Evils.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scripture passages and works cited in the lesson text.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Thou [God] are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and\ncanst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal\ntreacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man\nthat is more righteous than he?\" (Habakkuk i:13.)_\n\n[Footnote A: Under this subdivision of the lesson should be considered\nespecially the matter in note m, this lesson, and the lessons cited\nfrom Year Books II and IV above and a review of the lessons cited from\nformer Year Books in note.]\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Incompatibility of Immanence and Evil Stated:_ It is conceded\nthat the conception of God Immanent in the universe--everywhere\nexisting and everywhere dynamic power, though not everywhere equally\nmanifested, carries with it many and great difficulties that attend\nupon all forms of human thinking when seeking the harmony that one\nfeels must exist in the things that are--in truth.\n\nFor example: one naturally would say, as soon as the conception of\nthe Immanence of God takes firm lodgment in his mind,--\"why, then,\nif God is in his world everywhere present, and everywhere, not only\npowerful, but all-powerful; not only knowing, but all-knowing; not\nonly good but all-good, holy in fact, and cannot look upon sin with\nthe least degree of allowance[A]--why then is there evil in the world,\nphysical suffering, and moral wrong, injustice, cruelty?[B] Why is the\nsum of human misery so great?[C] Why is the sum of human happiness so\nsmall?[D] Why do the good suffer adversity? Why does prosperity so\nfrequently, in this world at least, attend upon the wicked? In the\nwords of the Hebrew prophet addressed to God: \"Wherefore lookest thou\nupon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue, when the\nwicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he\"?[E] Why do the\nsins of the wicked involve the innocent--why are the innocent made to\nsuffer with the guilty?[F] Why does truth make such tardy appearance in\nthe world, and why of so partial rather than of universal distribution?\nHow can freedom co-exist, that is, the freedom of man as a free moral\nagent, co-exist with the Sovereign will of the All-Powerful and\nImmanent God?[G]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. i:31. Also Habakkuk i:13 and Psalms\nv:4-6.]\n\n[Footnote B: \"We cry out for some explanation--for some philosophy\nwhich shall show us _how_ evil is consistent with the infinite\ngoodness.\" (_Le Conte_, \"Conceptions of God,\" p. 71.)]\n\n[Footnote C: \"How terribly large is the proportion of evil? comparing\nthe number of those who are or have been happy, with the number of\nthose who are or have been unhappy, can we say that the great pessimist\nwas very far wrong in calling this the worst possible--he did not say\nthe worst conceivable--world\". (Goldwin Smith, discussing \"Evolution,\nImmortality, and Christianity,\" in North American Review, October,\n1907, p. 196.)]\n\n[Footnote D: \"The great quest of humanity is happiness. But was the\nworld created to make us happy? I've studied people in all places and\nconditions and everywhere I've found, when you get below the surface,\nthat it's mostly the insincere individual who says, 'I am a happy man.'\"\n(Thomas A. Edison, the great American Inventor in a Vienna-Austria\nInterview on \"Success in Life,\" reported in New York World, October 25.\n1911.)]\n\n[Footnote E: Habakkuk i:13.]\n\n[Footnote F: See Seventy's Year Book II, Lessons III and IX. Also Year\nBook IV, Lessons IV and VII and VIII.]\n\n[Footnote G: In order that it may be seen that this is regarded really\nas doubtful by some powerful minds, and also as a question of grave\nimportance, I quote the following presentation of it by Professor\nHowison, and which he prints in italics in the work from which I quote\nit: \"Can the reality of human free-agency, of moral responsibility\nand universal moral aspiration, of unlimited spiritual hope for every\nsoul,--can this be made out, can it even be held, consistently with the\ntheory of an Immanent God? This, for a few awakened minds at least,\nnow becomes the 'burning question.' * * * At all events, the time has\ncome when the question whether this is not so should be raised with\nall emphasis, and examined to the end. For if our genuine freedom is\nto disappear when we accept the religion whose God is the Immanent\nSpirit, then the new religion is in truth a decline from the highest\nconceptions of the historic faith, and in this regard has no advantage\nover the religion of the 'Unknowable.'\" (\"Conceptions of God,\" p. 30.)]\n\nProfessor Le Conte has a valuable passage _apropos_ these questions\nwhich I consider too valuable to omit at this point, though it makes\nrather an extended quotation. On the great question of moral evil, its\nnature, its origin, its reason--a question inseparably connected with\nthe conception of God, he says:\n\n\"In a general way I agree with his [Professor Royce's] explanation of\nthe dark problem of evil. Evil cannot be the true meaning and real\noutcome of the universe; on the contrary, it means the necessary means\nof the highest good. * * * Our moral and religious nature is just as\nfundamental and essential as our scientific and rational nature. As\nscience is not simply passionless acquisition of knowledge, but also\nenthusiasm for truth, so morality is not passionless rules of best\nconduct, but impassioned love of righteousness. And this last is what\nwe call religion; for religion is morality touched and vivified with\nnoble emotion. Now, the necessary postulate of science, without which\nscientific activity would be impossible, is a rational order of the\nuniverse; and, similarly, the necessary postulate of religion, without\nsuch religious activity would be impossible, is a moral order of\nthe universe. As science postulates the final triumph of reason, so\nreligion must postulate the final triumph of righteousness. Science\nbelieves in the rational order, or in law, in spite of apparent\nconfusion; she knows that disorder is only apparent, only the result\nof ignorance; and her mission is, to show this by reducing all\nappearances, all phenomena, to law. So also religion is right in her\nunshakable belief in the moral order, in spite of apparent disorder or\nevil; she knows that evil is only apparent, the result of our ignorance\nand our weakness; and her mission is, to show this by helping on the\ntriumph of moral order over disorder. We may, if we like,--as many\nindeed do,--reject the faith in the Infinite Goodness, and thereby\nparalyze our religious activity; but then, to be consistent, we must\nalso reject the faith in the Infinite Reason, and thereby paralyze our\nscientific activity.\n\nSo much for a rational justification of the indestructible faith\nreligion has in the Infinite Righteousness, even in the presence of\nabounding evil. It is founded on the same ground as our indestructible\nfaith in the reign of law in the natural world, and is just as\nreasonable. Why is it, then, it may be asked, that every one is\nwilling to admit the postulate of science, while so many doubt that\nof religion? I answer: partly because of feebleness of our moral life\nin comparison with our physical life; but mainly because the steady\nadvance of science, with its progressive conquest of chaos, and its\nextension of the domain of order and law, is a continual verification\nof the postulate of science, and justification of our faith therein;\nwhile, on the contrary, the progress of morality and religion is\nuncertain and often unrecognized, the increase of righteousness and\ndecrease of evil doubtful and even denied. In the presence of such\nuncertainty, our faith is often sorely tried. We cry out for some\nexplanation--for some philosophy which shall show us how evil is\nconsistent with the Infinite Goodness. We know it is, for that is a\nnecessary postulate. But--how?\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: The Conception of God--Le Conte's paper, pp. 70-71.]\n\nThis philosophy so earnestly asked for I trust is found in the New\nDispensation of the Gospel, the light from the revelations in which, I\nbelieve, warrant the conclusions in the above paragraph of the Lesson\ntext, and also the conclusions reached in the lessons of previous\nYear Books cited in note f. Then Professor Le Conte himself gives a\nreasonably good explanation for the existence of moral evil, which\nit is only just should be given here since I have quoted him up to\nthe question of why evil exists. This is his answer: \"It is that the\nexistence or at least the possibility of a moral being like that of\nman [should exist]. There are some things which God himself cannot\ndo, viz., such things as are contrary to his essential nature, and\nsuch things as are a contradiction in terms and therefore absurd and\nunthinkable. Such a thing would be a moral being without freedom\nto choose right or wrong. God could not make man eternally and of\nnecessity sinless, for then he would not be man at all. To make him\nincapable of virtue, of righteousness, of holiness, for he must acquire\nthese for himself by free choice, by struggle and conquest.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: The Conception of God, p. 72.]\n\n_2. Things Seen and Known but in Part:_ One may not find the\ncomplete answer to all the questions of the second paragraph of this\nlesson, which make up largely the sum of difficulties for the theist,\nwho believes in God Immanent in the world; but they are somewhat\nlessened by remembering that here on our plane of human life we know\nthings but in fragments--\"We know in part:\" We see as through a glass,\ndarkly; not face to face; and will have to await the time of more\nperfect knowing and seeing before we shall comprehend things as they\nare in their entirety.\n\nA fine illustration of the mistaken conclusions men form by judging of\nthings seen only in part is to be found in the Prophet Malachi:\n\n\"Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say,\nWhat have we spoken so much against thee?\n\n\"Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we\nhave kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the\nLord of hosts?\n\n\"And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are\nset up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.\n\n\"Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the\nLord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written\nbefore him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his\nname.\n\n\"And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I\nmake up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son\nthat serveth him.\n\n\"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the\nwicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Mal. iii:13-18.]\n\nAll which tends to establish the thought that this world is the scene\nof struggle and trial for man, not the place of his full triumph and\nreward. \"In this world your joy is not full [saith the Lord], but in\nme your joy is full. Therefore care not for the body, neither the life\nof the body; but care for the soul, and for the life of the soul; and\nseek the face of the Lord, always, that in patience ye may possess your\nsouls, and ye shall have eternal life.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. ci:36-38.]\n\n_3. Amid Broken Harmonies:_ We may be helped somewhat in our\npresent earth-view of things, by holding in consciousness the fact\nthat we live at present in our world amid broken harmonies, under the\neffects of \"the fall,\" for a wise purpose in God; in a sphere of trial\nand test; in a purposely arranged department of God's great university\nfor the instruction of the spirits of men in certain all-important\nmatters,[M] involving also our union with earth elements, leading to a\nfulness of joy, and without which union men cannot receive a fulness\nof joy.[B] Therefore we may say that in our earth-life things are not\nin a normal state; but in confusion; under stress of special trial\nand development that shall ultimate in higher and better things--in\nthe golden age of the earth and of humanity, predicted by sages and\npoets--the millennium of the seers and prophets of God, and the\napostles of the Christ--these all bid us hope for higher and better\nthings than we have known on our present plane of existence--a world\nwhere we shall no longer see as through a glass darkly, \"but face to\nface;\" when we shall no longer know only in part, but know even as we\nare known; when that which is in part \"shall be done away,\" and that\n\"which is perfect is come.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote M: \"Religion accounts for the existence of evil as\nprobationary, resistence to the evil being a training of humanity to\ngood.\" (Goldwin Smith in \"North American Review,\" October, 1907. In\nconnection with this statement see Seventy's Year Book II, Lesson III;\nalso Lesson VIII, IX, X, which deal with \"The Fall,\" \"The Purpose of\nMan's Earth Life,\" and the \"Problem of Evil.\")]\n\n[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xciii:32-35.]\n\n[Footnote C: I Cor. xiii.]\n\nThere remaineth then a rest for the people of God.[A] They may look for\na city \"which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.\"[B] The\nvision of St. John, in which he saw descending out of heaven the New\nJerusalem, is yet to be realized in fact. Also what he heard proclaimed\nby \"a great voice\"--\n\n[Footnote A: Heb. iv:9.]\n\n[Footnote B: Heb. xi:10.]\n\n\"Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with\nthem, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,\nand be their God.\n\n\"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be\nno more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any\nmore pain: for the former things are passed away.\n\n\"And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.\nAnd he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Revelation xxi; also xxii.]\n\n\n\nLESSON VI.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nDOCTRINE OF DIVINE IMMANENCE IN THE NEW DISPENSATION: RECONCILIATION OF\nDIFFICULTIES.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Difficulty of Regarding the Infinite Power of the Universe as Both\nImmanent and Personal.\n\nII. Revelation Represents the Infinite Power of the Universe as\nPersonal.\n\nIII. The Nature of Man Requires the Infinite Power to be a Personal\nIntelligence.\n\nIV. Reconciliation of Difficulties in Doctrine of Immanence as taught\nin the New Dispensation.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scriptures and other works in the text of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand\nat the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms shall\ndestroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see\nfor myself and mine eyes shall behold, and not another: though my veins\nbe consumed within me.\" (Job xix:25-28.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Immanence and Personality--a Difficulty:_ The view here\npresented of the Immanence of God in the world doubtless contributes in\na helpful way to the advanced thought of the modern world in striving\nto arrive at a knowledge of things as they are, as they have been, and\nas they shall be--the truth.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xciii:24.]\n\nModern thought has forced the conclusion upon men's minds that there\nis a power immanent in the world--here and now, and always has been;\nand so far as man can see there always will be; it is eternal--\"both\nways\"--to use a phrase of Professor Le Conte's, looking forward as\nwell as backward, when using that word \"eternal.\" It is the eternal\ncause of things, variously named \"energy,\" \"force,\" \"spirit,\" or\nsimply \"power,\" used in some cases with the prefix \"mechanical\" or\n\"infinite\" or \"Divine\" or the \"Unknowable\" according to the view point\nof the speaker or writer; but by most philosophers recognized as\n\"the infinite and eternal energy from which all things proceed,\" and\n\"which is the same power that in ourselves wells up under the form of\nconsciousness;\"[A] and which by theists of all classes is recognized\nas God. But those who long to conceive and in their lives feel the\nneed of conceiving of this universal \"power\" or \"spirit\" or \"force\"\nor \"energy\"--\"the infinite and eternal energy from which all things\nproceed\"--meet with the difficulty of forming the conception of a\n\"power, infinite, and all pervasive,\" and at the same time personal,\nsince it is held by philosophers of high authority--and deservedly\nso--that \"personality and infinity are terms expressive of ideas\nwhich are mutually incompatible.\"[B] How then shall this difficulty\nbe overcome? Professor Le Conte, a most conscientious man of science,\nand also a most devout Theist, says, \"The only rational view is to\naccept both immanence and personality, even though we cannot reconcile\nthem.\"[C] This, however, from the standpoint of modern philosophers\nand orthodox theologians who identify or confound the immanent power\nabsolutely as God himself--and the only Deity with whom we have to\ndeal--is a somewhat forcing of the human understanding--a case of \"the\nheart breathing defiance to the intellect.\" \"Not that the spirit cannot\ndo this * * * but that doing it does not amount to philosophy.\"[D]\nI doubt if it amounts to religion either: for religion no less than\nphilosophy requires harmony in things; and is necessarily a concern\nof the intellect as well as of the heart. Its conceptions must appeal\nto the understanding as well as to the emotions. As remarked by Mr.\nFiske: \"Our reason demands that there shall be a reasonableness in\nthe constitution of things. This demand is a fact of our psychical\n[spiritual] nature as positive and irrepressible as our aceptance\nof geometrical axioms, and our rejection of whatever controverts\nsuch axioms. No ingenuity of argument can bring us to believe that\nthe infinite Sustainer of the Universe will put us to permanent\nintellectual confusion.\" That is in regard of spiritual or religious\nmatters; any more than in other matters. \"Our belief,\" he continues,\n\"in what we call the evidences of our senses is less strong than our\nfaith that in the orderly sequence of events there is a meaning which\nour minds could fathom were they only vast enough.\"[E]\n\n[Footnote A: Fiske, \"Studies in Religion,\" p. 104; Works, Vol. IX. The\nparts within single quotation marks are from Spencer, and quoted by\nFiske.]\n\n[Footnote B: Fiske Cosmic Philosophy, Vol. IV, p. 227. Also Professor\nLe Conte says: \"No one, we admit, can form a clear conception of how\nimmanence of Deity is consistent with personality.\" (\"Evolution and Its\nRelation to Religious Thought,\" p. 337.)]\n\n[Footnote C: \"Evolution and Its Relation to Religious Thought,\"\n1902, p. 337. The context is also worthy of being brought into view:\n\"No one, we admit, can form a clear conception of how immanence of\nDeity is consistent with personality, and yet we must accept both,\nbecause we are irresistibly led to each of these by different lines of\nthought. Science, following one line of thought, uncorrected by a wider\nphilosophy, is naturally led toward the one extreme of pantheistic\nimmanence; the devout worshiper, following the wants of his religious\nnature, is naturally led toward the other extreme of anthropomorphic\npersonality. The only rational view is to accept both immanence and\npersonality, even though we can not clearly reconcile them, i. e.,\nimmanence without pantheism, and personality without anthropomorphism.\"]\n\n[Footnote D: Professor Howison in \"Conception of God\"--Introduction, p.\n35.\n\nThe situation is well represented in the respective attitudes of Mr.\nHenry L. Mansel, a church of England minister, Dean of St. Paul's\nin fact, and author of the somewhat celebrated Brampton Lectures on\n\"Limits of Religious Thought\"--1875--; and Mr. Herbert Spencer, author\nof the Synthetic Philosophy. Mr. Mansel in his second lecture, after\ndealing with the difficulties attending upon finite minds dealing with\nquestions of the \"absolute,\" \"infinite\" and \"first cause;\" declares\nthat there is a contradiction in the conception of the infinite as\npersonal (pp. 84-85): and yet in the third lecture he says, \"It is our\nduty to think of God as personal; and it is our duty to believe that\nhe is infinite\"; notwithstanding, as Mr. Mansel admits, \"we cannot\nreconcile these two representations with each other, as our conception\nof personality involves attributes apparently contradictory to the\nnotion of infinity.\" (p. 106):\n\nCommenting upon this very passage Mr. Spencer says: \"That this is not\nthe conclusion here adopted (i.e., by himself) needs hardly be said.\nIf there be any meaning in the foregoing argument, duty requires us\nneither to affirm nor deny personality. Our duty is to submit ourselves\nwith all humility to the established limits of our intelligence: and\nnot perversely to rebel against them. Let those who can, believe\nthat there is eternal war set between our intellectual faculties and\nour moral obligations. I for one admit no such radical vice in the\nconstitution of things.\" \"First Principles\" p. 111.]\n\n[Footnote E: Studies in Religion, p. 189. Works Vol. IX.]\n\n2. Revelation Presents a Personal Deity as the Object of Man's Faith\nand Worship: The Old Testament's revelation of God presents him to\nthe world most emphatically as a personal being. \"God is referred to\nas Almighty, All-Wise, All-Holy, the Eternal Creator, Sustainer, and\nMoral Governor of the universe. He is represented as entering into\nspecial relations with his highest creature, man, who is created in his\nimage, after his likeness,[A] to be his vicegerent on earth,[B] and to\nincrease in sympathy and fellowship with himself.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote A: Gen. 1:26, 27.]\n\n[Footnote B: Gen. 1:26-28.]\n\n[Footnote C: \"Belief in God\"--Drummelow Bible Commentary, p. 49. See\nalso The Index in both the Oxford and Cambridge Teacher's Bible Helps,\nunder \"God\" and especially under the subdivision of \"Attributes\" in the\nformer.]\n\n\"When we sum up the impressions and teachings about the God of the\nancient Hebrews,\" says Professor Francis Brown, of Union Theological\nseminary, \"the general result is very definite. We find a personal\nBeing of great majesty, dignity and power, the Creator and Ruler of\nmen, a being of holiness and transcendence; a being of righteousness,\nwho promotes righteousness in others and punishes every breach of\nit; whose government is a moral government and from whose decisions\nthere is no appeal; a being of kindness, tenderness and helpfulness,\nwith gracious care for those who confide in him, whose plans are at\nlength to be worked out and his desires realized in the unity of men\nunder his benevolent sway amid the exhibition of the divine glories of\nrighteousness and universal peace.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: The passage is from \"The Christian Point of\nView\"--1902--Prof. Brown's passage represents only that view of God\nrevealed in the Old Testament that he asserts is not inconsistent\nwith the New. For he immediately adds to the above paragraph: \"With\nevery stroke of this drawing the New Testament picture is in accord.\nTo this extent the spirit and teaching of Jesus Christ indorses the\nolder revelation.\" (Ibid above). He then proceeds to show that some\nconceptions of God presented in the Old Testament, as he apprehends\nthem, are not in harmony with the New Testament. I use the passage\nfrom Professor Brown, merely to show that other believers in the Old\nand New Testament revelation of God, as well as the Latter-day Saints,\nregard those revelations as presenting God to human consciousness as a\npersonal being.]\n\nIf anything was lacking in the Old Testament revelation of God as a\npersonal being, in closest relationship to man, then assuredly it\nwould be supplied in the New Testament revelation of God through the\nperson and character of Jesus Christ. For in the New Testament, in the\nmost emphatic manner, the Christ is represented as \"God manifested\nin the flesh.\"[A] He, under the direction of the Father, is Creator\nof the world; he is the brightness of the Father's glory; \"and the\nexpress image\" of the Father's person.[B] He so completely represented\nthe Father that he declared that those who had seen him had seen the\nFather;[C] also after his resurrection he declared that all power in\nheaven and in earth had been given unto him, and in the full glory of\nthat God-Power he sent forth his disciples to teach all nations and to\nbaptize them in the name of the distinct persons of the God-head.[D]\nAll that Jesus was and is, God is; for the Christ was God manifested in\nthe flesh. Emphatically God is revealed as a personal being.\n\n[Footnote A: I Tim. iii:16.]\n\n[Footnote B: Hebrews i. See also Discourse by the writer, \"Jesus Christ\nthe Revelation of God,\" in Mormon Doctrine of Deity, Ch. IV, also\nchapter I, same work.]\n\n[Footnote C: St. John, xiv:8-11.]\n\n[Footnote D: Matt. xxviii:18-20.]\n\nTo all this may be added the account of the greatest revelation of all\ngiven to man respecting God, in which both Father and Son are revealed\nto be not only persons but each a separate and distinct individual\n--the unveiling of both God the Father and God the Son to Joseph Smith;\n\"I saw,\" said he, \"two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all\ndescription, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me,\ncalling me by name, and said, pointing to the other--\n\n_\"This my beloved son, hear him.\"_[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Writings of Joseph Smith, Pearl of Great Price, p 85.]\n\nNeedless to say these personages in form were as men. The whole\nvolume of revelation, the Old Testament, and the New, and all modern\nrevelation, both in the Book of Mormon and in the Doctrine and\nCovenants; as well also in the discourses and conversations of the\nProphet Joseph Smith, God is represented as a person--of whom Jesus\nChrist is the express image, and explicit manifestation; and hence\nbelievers in revelation are bound to regard God as a personal being, in\nwhose image man was created.\n\n_3. The Nature of Man Requires a Personal God:_ The necessity\nof conceiving the being whom men call God as personal, also arises\nfrom the nature of man. As it is inconceivable that God should \"love\ngases,\"[A] so, too, is it impossible for man to love, revere, or\nworship mere force, or energy; or regard himself as holding any moral\nrelationship whatsoever to it, though it be proclaimed infinite and\neternal. It is soul that responds to soul; like responds to like; love\nto love. Soul of man cries out for \"soul\" in the \"Infinite Power\" to\nmake rational a universe which otherwise is irrational, empty and void\nof meaning--mechanical merely, signifying nothing. The central idea of\nreligion, consists of certain relationships that exist between men and\nthe power recognized as God, involving the thought of duties and of\nrights.[B] Man knows himself as a person--an intelligence; conscious of\ncertain existences, of self-existence, and conscious of a great number\nof things not self. He is capable of many and wonderful intellectual\nand emotional experiences. He deliberates; he compares things,\ncontrasts things; he measures and weighs things, he sets values upon\nthem; he prizes one more than another. He is capable of rising from the\nparticular to the general, from the concrete to the abstract; from the\nthings of sense-perception to objects of thought, ideas; until at last\n\"I think,\" he cries, \"Therefore I am.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote A: The impressive thought is Sir Robert Ball's, see Defense\nof the Faith and the Saints, Vol. II. p. 500.]\n\n[Footnote B: See Seventy's Year Book IV, Lesson I. The central and real\nmeaning of the Christian religion, in which the self-consciousness of\nthe Wests finds its true expression, and which thus far has found no\nhome except in the West, lies exactly in the faith that the Creator and\nthe creature are reciprocally and equally real, not identical; that\nthere is Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of men; that God recognizes\nrights in the creature and acknowledges duties toward him; and that\nmen are accordingly both unreservedly and also indestructibly real,\nboth free and immortal. In that religion alone, I venture to assert,\nis the union of this triad of faiths to be found--in God, in freedom,\nin immortality--faiths that, while three, are inseparably one, since\nneither can be stated except in terms of the other two. (\"Conceptions of\nGod\"--Howison, p. 94.)]\n\n[Footnote A: Such Descartes formula, and the strength of it as a truth,\nand its value as an initial point in philosophy, has not been shaken in\nthe two and three quarters of a century since it was first published.\nSee Descartes' Meditations. In the Universal Classics Library edition\nof Descartes, there is in the Introduction by Frank Sewell, A. M.,\na very fine and exhaustive discussion of the above principle, \"The\nCogito Ergo Sum--Its Nature and Meaning.\" Subdivision III and IV of the\nIntroduction. The Meditations were first published in Paris 1641, A.D.]\n\n_4. The Wonders of Man's Mind-Power:_ But not only does man think,\nand from consciousness of the fact deduce his own existence, but he\npasses judgment upon things, determining that this is a better thing,\nor state, or condition than that. He chooses between and among things,\nstates, and conditions. He is conscious of a power within himself\nalso to will this or that, and can become a true cause of certain and\nvery many things within his experience, especially as concerns his\nindividual movements and conduct.\n\nHe is equally conscious of certain emotions that pertain to himself.\nHe fears, is awed; he experiences sorrow, hate, joy, and, best of\nall, love. And, certain abnormal individuals aside, man loves what he\nconceives to be the beautiful, the true, the good. In this, too, he is\ncapable of rising in conception from the concrete to the abstract; from\nthe relative to the absolute; from the finite to the infinite. He loves\nthe truth of his experience; but he knows it is limited, relative, and\nhe longs for the Absolute Truth. He loves the good of his experience,\nbut again he knows the good of his experience to be relative, finite,\nand he longs for and could love, and love supremely, the Infinitely\nGood. He aspires to relationship with it, to fellowship, to union, to\none-ship with it.\n\nIn order to attain to such relationship, however, it is obvious that\nthe Infinite Power, the Infinitely Beautiful and the Infinitely\nGood must be some thing more than mechanical force. It must be\neven more than an \"Unknown\"; something more than a \"Mystery,\" a\nmere \"Incomprehensible,\" an \"Inscruitable,\" if man is to stand in\nany sympathetic relationship to it: for the \"Infinite Power\" as an\nadmittedly \"Unknown,\" or as \"Inscruitable Mystery,\" leaves that power\nas incapable of reciprocal, moral and spiritual relations with man as\nthe \"Power\" conceived as mere mechanical force is.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: These remarks are made in view of what Mr. Herbert Spencer\nsays of the value of \"A Mystery ever pressing for an interpretation,\"\nas an \"ultimate religious truth of the highest possible certainty\";\nbut which, if analyzed, will be discovered to be of no more religious\nvalue than the conception of the \"Infinite Power\" as mechanical force.\nYet Mr. Spencer thus speaks of it: \"And thus the mystery which all\nreligions recognize, turns out to be far more transcendent mystery\nthan any of them suspect--not a relative, but an absolute mystery.\nHere, then, is an ultimate religious truth of the highest possible\ncertainty--a truth in which religions in general are at one with each\nother, and with a philosophy antagonistic to their special dogmas. And\nthis truth, respecting which there is a latent agreement among all\nmankind from the fetish-worshiper to the most stoical critic of human\ncreeds, must be the one we seek. If Religion and Science are to be\nreconciled, the basis of reconciliation must be this deepest, widest,\nand most certain of all facts--that the Power which the Universe\nmanifests to us Is utterly inscrutable.\" \"First Principles,\" pp. 47,\n48.]\n\n_5. The Immanence of the New Dispensation--Reconciliation of\nDifficulties:_ The Immanence of God, as we have seen, and as that\nconception is commonly held, presents a difficulty. The difficulty of\nregarding the Immanent Power as being at once immanent in the world\nand at the same time personal. But that difficulty is overcome in the\ntheology of the New Dispensation by the fact that the Immanent God is\nconceived as Spirit or Spiritual Light--\"the Light of Christ,\" for us\nmen--which \"proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the\nimmensity of space. The light which is in all things; which giveth\nlife to all things; which is the law by which all things are governed:\neven the Power of God.\"[A] And which is, according to the testimony of\nSt. John \"the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the\nworld,\"[B] and according to the word of the Lord to Joseph Smith is,\n\"the light which now shineth, which giveth you light, is through him\nwho enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth\nyour understandings.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:12,13.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John, i:9.]\n\n[Footnote C: Doc. & Cov., Sec. lxxxviii:11.]\n\nAlso, as we have seen (ante-Lesson III), not only is the Immanent\nSpirit the Divine Power, but that spirit carries with it into the\nimmensity of space which it pervades, at least certain attributes\nof the Divine Intelligence from whom it proceeds, and becomes the\ninspiration to intelligence in men, and the atmosphere of wisdom,\nholiness, truth, and of love. Also the Immanent Spirit is a means of\nunion for man, if he desires it, if he seeks to make it so by drawing\nnigh unto God, that God may draw nigh unto him--a means of union with\nthe Divine Intelligences from whom the spiritual light proceeds,\nand of whom the Christ is the type, and with whom man is destined,\nultimately, to associate, living in the physical presence of such\nIntelligences as well as in their spiritual presence, on terms of\nintimate friendship--face to face communion; personal association in\ncouncils; personal cooperation in the divine purposes, in creation,\nin sustentation; in redemptive processes, and, in a word, in all the\nDivine activities, until man shall be satisfied to the uttermost with\nhis fellowship and perfect union with God, finding in the free harmony\nof Divine Intelligences, that \"City of God,\" that moral order, that\nexpression of the \"Absolute,\" that completeness, which seems necessary\nto a rational universe for man.\n\n\n\nPART II.\n\nThe Godhead.\n\n\n\nTHE HOLY TRINITY.[A]\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise).\n\nTHE HOLY TRINITY.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Faith of the Church in God.\n\nII. Scripture Evidence of the Trinity.\n\nIII. The Early Christian Conception of the Holy Trinity. The Apostles'\nCreed.\n\nIV. Worship of the Godhead.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scripture passages and works cited in the \"Discussion\" of this\nlesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"And Jesus when he was baptized went straightway out of\nthe water; and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the\nSpirit of God, descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo,\na voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well\npleased.\" (Matt. iii:16, 17.)_\n\n[Footnote A: This subject is treated more at length in Seventy's Year\nBook No. III, also in the writer's \"Mormon Doctrine of Deity,\" Ch. IV,\nLesson XXXI, to which the student is referred. Its treatment here is\nmerely to get the idea of the relationship that the Holy Ghost sustains\nto the other two personages of the Trinity.]\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Belief in the Godhead:_ \"We believe in God the Eternal Father,\nand in his Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: \"Articles of Faith\"--Joseph Smith, from the Wentworth\nLetter 1842, Hist. of the Church, Vol. IV, p. 535 et Seq.]\n\nSuch is the authoritative declaration of the Church as to its faith in\nthe Godhead. Such is the Godhead of the New Testament Scriptures--the\nChristian Trinity.\n\n_2. Scripture Proof of the Trinity:_ In four separate ways is\nthis made apparent: (1) at the baptism of Jesus. As Jesus, who is\nGod, the Son, came forth from his baptism at the hands of John, a\nmanifestation of the presence of God the Holy Ghost, was given in the\nsign of the Dove, which rested upon Jesus; while, lo, a voice from\nheaven, the voice of God, the Father, was heard, saying---\"This is my\nbeloved Son in whom I am well pleased\";[A] (2) in the commission given\nto the apostles to teach all nations: \"and Jesus came and spake unto\nthem saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go,\ntherefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the\nFather, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe\nall things whatsoever I have commanded you.\"[B] (3) in the vision of\nStephen; the mob rushed upon Stephen--\"But he, being full of the Holy\nGhost, looked steadfastly into heaven, and saw the Glory of God, and\nJesus standing on the right hand of God.\"[C] (4) in the apostolic\nbenediction, viz., \"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of\nGod, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.\"[D]\n\n[Footnote A: Matt. iii:16, 17.]\n\n[Footnote B: Matt. xxviii:18, 19.]\n\n[Footnote C: Acts vii:55, 56.]\n\n[Footnote D: II Cor. xiii:14.]\n\nThis Godhead of three divine persons is emphatically proclaimed in the\nBook of Mormon: They shall be \"arraigned before the bar of Christ, the\nSon, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal\nGod, to be judged according to their works.\"[A] \"And after this manner\nshall ye baptize in my name [this after giving the baptismal formula--I\nbaptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy\nGhost, see context], for verily I say unto you, that the Father and the\nSon, and the Holy Ghost are one\"--Jesus.[B] \"The Father, and I and the\nHoly Ghost are one.\"--Jesus.[C]\n\n[Footnote A: Alma xi:44.]\n\n[Footnote B: II Nephi xi:24, 27.]\n\n[Footnote C: Ibid ver. 36. See also III Nephi xxxiii:10; and Mormon\nvii:7.]\n\n_3. The Doctrine of the Trinity Formulated in the Early Christian\nChurch:_ To these scriptural groupings of the three persons into\na holy trinity, may be added that earliest of post apostolic symbols\nknown commonly as the \"Apostles' Creed,\" because of the tradition that\nit was formulated by the apostles immediately before their dispersion\ninto the world to fulfill the commission given to them by the Christ to\nteach all nations; but which notion is now very generally discredited,\nand the truer notion is held to be that this noted summary of Christian\nfaith \"arose from small beginnings, and was gradually enlarged as\noccasion required in order to exclude new errors from the Church.\"[A]\nBut, however, and whoever constructed this so-called Apostles' Creed,\nthis much must be said of it, viz., that it represents the almost\nuniversal belief of the early Christian Church in a Godhead consisting\nof three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; that this is\nin harmony with the New Testament scriptures, and is the symbol[B] of\nChristian faith that grew out of efforts to express the essentials of\nChristianity. The creed, in English, follows:\n\n[Footnote A: In acknowledging that it has no claim to that venerable\ntitle (i. e., the Apostles' Creed), \"we must guard against the common\nassumption,\" says Dr. Philip Smith, \"that it is the oldest, as well\nas the simplest creed of the Catholic Church. True--as we have\nseen--it may be traced, in its most essential elements, from an early\npost-apostolic age; but, its development belongs solely to the Western\nChurch, and its formal adoption, as a written creed, is later than the\nNicene. It was the ancient baptismal creed as used in the Church of\nRome, and was known as the Symbolum Romanum, or simply Symbolum, before\nit received the epithet of Apostolorum. Its forms were different in\ndifferent churches; the earlier forms variously omitting the articles\nof the \"descent into hell,\" \"the communion of saints,\" \"the life\neverlasting,\" and the epithet \"catholic\" before \"church.\"]\n\n[Footnote B: \"These creeds obtained also the name of Symbols.\"\nStudents' Ecclesiastical History, Dr. Philip Smith, Vol I, p. 234.]\n\nTHE \"APOSTLES' CREED.\"\n\n\"I believe in God, the Father, Almighty; and in Jesus Christ, his only\nbegotten son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy\nGhost, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, buried, arose from the dead\non the third day, ascended to the heavens, and sits at the right hand\nof the Father; whence he will come to judge the living and the dead;\nand in the Holy Spirit; the holy church; the remission of sins; and the\nresurrection of the body.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Mosheim's Ecclesiastical Institutes, Vol. I, p. 80,\nMurdock's translation. The above form, is as it stood in the fourth\ncentury, a few centuries later it attained in the Romish Church its\nampler form, in which it has since been adopted by most Protestant\nchurches, as follows:\n\n\"I believe in God, the Father, almighty, maker of heaven and earth;\nand in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord; who was conceived by the\nHoly Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,\nwas crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell, the third day\nhe arose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the\nright hand of God, the Father, almighty; from thence he shall come to\njudge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy\nCatholic church, the Communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the\nresurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.\" In this form\nit is called the \"Symbolum Roman--Roman Symbol.\"]\n\n_4. Man's Allegiance to the Godhead:_ This holy Trinity of Father,\nSon, and Holy Ghost, the Godhead, constitutes for the Christian the\ncreating, sustaining, redeeming, witnessing power of the universe--the\nsupreme God. In this Godhead righteousness, and holiness, and truth,\nand knowledge, and wisdom and power, and glory, and justice, and\nmercy and love, and all that we do or can recognize as belonging to\nthe divine nature abound in their perfection. This Godhead is the\nsource of spiritual power and light and glory; to whom man owes first\nallegiance; who is the true and only object--but singularly as well as\nin unity--of man's worship; to whom man submits his mind and his will\nfor guidance--for in such submission alone is true worship.\n\n\n\nLESSON VIII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise).\n\nTHE UNITY AND THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE PERSONAGES OF THE GODHEAD.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. The Oneness of the Trinity: its Nature.\n\nII. Distinctiveness of the Father as a Personage.\n\nIII. The Distinctiveness of the Son--Divinity of the Son.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nMormon Doctrine of Deity, ch. IV; Seventy's Year Book No. III, lessons\nxxxiii, xxxiv and xxxv; and all the Scriptures cited in the body of the\n\"Discussion.\"\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,\nand the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.\" (II Cor.\nxiii:14.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Unity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost:_ While conceiving\nthese three Divine Personages, as constituting an organized unit, a\nbody or Divine Council, it should be remembered that their oneness\nconsist in moral unity, not physical unity, or identity of substance\nor essence. In other words, they are distinct and separate personages,\nin the sense of being three separate and distinct individuals, a unity\nonly in agreement of purpose, and unity of will for the accomplishment\nof certain definite ends,[A] to bring to pass the immortality and\neternal progress of man.[B]\n\n[Footnote A: The Three Personagess. \"Everlasting covenants was made\nbetween three personages before the organization of this earth, and\nrelates to their dispensation of things to men on the earth: these\npersonages, according to Abraham's record, are called God the first,\nthe Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the\nWitness or Testator.\"--Little & Richards' Compendium--Gems from the\nProphet's Teachings--p. 289.]\n\n[Footnote B: Doc. & Cov., Sec. xciii:26-35. Book of Moses, Pearl of\nGreat Price, ch. iii., II Nephi ch. ii; also New Witnesses for God, Vol\nIII, ch xl. where the matter is discussed at great length.]\n\nJesus himself taught that he and his Father were one,[A] that whosoever\nhad seen him had seen the Father also;[B] that it was part of his\nmission to reveal God, the Father, through his own personality; for as\nwas the Son, so too was the Father;[C] hence Jesus was God manifested\nin the flesh, a revelation of God to the world;[D] a revelation not\nonly of the being of God, but of the kind of being God is.\n\n[Footnote A: John x:30; xvii:11-22.]\n\n[Footnote B: John xiv:9.]\n\n[Footnote C: John xiv:1-9; John 1:8.]\n\n[Footnote D: I Tim. iii:16.]\n\n[Footnote: Eph iii:14-19.]\n\nJesus also prayed--and in so doing showed in what the oneness of\nhimself and the Father consisted--that the disciples might be one with\nhim, and also with each other, as he and the Father were one. Not one\nin person, not all merged into one individual, and all distinctions of\npersonality lost; but one in mind, in knowledge, in love, in will; one\nby reason of the indwelling in all of the one spirit, even as the mind\nand will of God, the Father, was also in Jesus Christ.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: John xiv:10, 11, 19, 20.]\n\n_2. The Separate Individual Existence of the Father:_ The\nexistence of God, the Father, both Jesus and the Apostles accepted as\na reality. Jesus nowhere attempts to prove God's existence. He assumes\nthat and proceeds from that basis with his doctrine. He declares the\nfact that God was his Father and frequently calls himself the Son of\nGod, and prays to the Father in that capacity: \"As the Father knoweth\nme, even so know I the Father. * * * Therefore doth my Father love me,\nbecause I lay down my life for the sheep. * * * This commandment have I\nreceived of my Father. * * * The works that I do in my Father's name,\nthey bear witness of me. * * * For which of those do ye stone me? The\nJews answered him. * * * Because that that thou being a man makest\nthyself God. * * * Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and\nsent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said I am the Son of\nGod? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John x.]\n\nThe statement of Jesus when instituting the Sacrament of the Lord's\nSupper: \"I will not drink hence forth of this fruit of the vine, until\nthat day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Matt xxvi:29.]\n\nThe prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane: \"O my Father if it be possible, let\nthis cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.\"\nAnd again: \"O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except\nI drink it, thy will be done.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Ibid, verses 39, 42.]\n\nJohn represents Jesus as saying in Gethsemane: \"Father, the hour is\ncome; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. * * * And\nnow, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory\nwhich I had with thee before the world was. * * * Holy Father, keep\nthrough thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be\none as we are. * * * That they all may be one: as thou, Father, art in\nme, and I in thee. * * * O righteous Father, the world hath not known\nthee; but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent\nme.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xvii.]\n\nThen, after the resurrection of Jesus, he meets Mary of Magdala\nand said to her, when she in her joy was about to lay hold of him:\n\"Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my\nbrethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father;\nand to my God and your God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xx.]\n\nThe separate and distinct individual existence of God the Father could\nnot be more emphatically represented than in these scriptures.\n\n_3. The Separate and Individual Existence of the Son:_ The\nscriptures which teach the separate existence of the Father, teach also\nthe separate and individual existence of the Son; but the question\nmay arise, Was Jesus, the Son of God, also God? The passage already\nconsidered, in which Jesus is given equal rank with the Father and with\nthe Holy Ghost, strongly implies that he is Divine, that he is Deity.\nIn the Seventy's Year Book No. III, Lesson xxxiii, in treating at\nlength upon the subject of the divinity of Jesus, the conclusion that\nJesus, as well as the Father, is God, is worked out from the fact that\nJesus is called God in the Scriptures;[A] that Jesus declares himself\nto be God--the Son of God;[B] that Jesus is to be worshiped--hence\nGod;[C] that Jesus, under the Father's direction, is the Creator, hence\nGod;[D] that Jesus Christ is declared to be equal with God the Father,\nhence God.[E] All these declarations are sustained by the scriptures\nand reasoned out in detail in the lesson of Year Book III cited\nabove, and to that work the student is referred. Here it will be only\nnecessary to cite the scriptures which sustain these several specific\ndeclarations concerning Jesus, the Christ, which I have done by giving\nthem in the margin.[F]\n\n[Footnote A: Isaiah vii:14; Matt. i:23; Isaiah ix:6.]\n\n[Footnote B: John x:33; Matt. xxvii:63, 64; Matt. xxviii:18, 19; Heb.\ni:8.]\n\n[Footnote C: Rev. xix;10 c. f; Heb. i:5, 6; Phil. ii:9, 10.]\n\n[Footnote D: St. John i:1-4; Col. i:12-17; Heb. i:2.]\n\n[Footnote E: Matt. xxviii:18, 19; Phil. iii:6; Heb. iii:3; Col. i:19:\nii:9; II. Nephi xxvi:12.]\n\n[Footnote F: The student will also find an elaborate discussion on the\nsubject in the writer's \"Mormon Doctrine of Deity,\" chapter iv. And\nalso in his \"Introduction to the History of the Church,\" Vol. I, pp.\n81-89.]\n\nJesus, then, is separate and distinct from God, the Father; but is\nnevertheless not only divine, but Deity, equally so with the Father;\nfor God so declares it, through his revelation to the world; but he is\nunited with the Father in moral union of mind and will, and purpose.\n\n\n\nLESSON IX.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nUNITY AND DISTINCTIVENESS OF THE PERSONAGES OF THE GODHEAD (Continued).\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nIV. The Distinctiveness of the Holy Ghost.\n\nV. The Divinity of the Holy Ghost.\n\nVI. Unity and Distinction.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nAll the scriptures cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Whoso believeth in me, believeth in the Father also,\nand unto him will the Father bear record of me; for he will visit him\nwith fire, and with the Holy Ghost. And thus will the Father bear\nrecord of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him of the\nFather and me: for the Father and I and the Holy Ghost are one.\" (III\nNephi xi:35, 36.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Separate and Individual Existence of the Holy Ghost:_\nThe proofs which set off the Father and Son as separate and distinct\npersonalities, which present them to us as two separate individuals,\nalso presents the Holy Ghost as a separate and distinct personality.\nFor whether we contemplate these divine personages when the three are\nrepresented together, as at the baptism of the Christ,[A] in the vision\nof St. Stephen,[B] in the baptismal formula,[C] or in the apostolic\nbenediction,[D] they are always presented in a manner that implies\ndistinctiveness as persons, however closely united in purpose.\n\n[Footnote A: Matt. iii:16, 17.]\n\n[Footnote B: Acts vii:54-56.]\n\n[Footnote C: Matt. xxviii:19.]\n\n[Footnote D: II Cor. xiii:12, 14.]\n\nJesus clearly ascribes to the Holy Ghost a distinct personality. He\nrepresents the Holy Ghost as proceeding from the Father;[A] as sent\nforth in the name of the Son;[B] as abiding;[C] as teaching and as\nbearing witness;[D] as reproving the world of sin, and of righteousness\nand of judgment;[E] as guiding into all truth, and revealing the things\nof God to men.[F]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xvi:26.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John xiv:26.]\n\n[Footnote C: St. John xiv:16.]\n\n[Footnote D: St. John xiv:26 and xv:26, 27.]\n\n[Footnote E: St. John xvi:8.]\n\n[Footnote F: Ibid, verses 13-15.]\n\nThe apostles also refer to the Holy Ghost in much the same manner:\nPeter represents the Holy Ghost as speaking by the mouth of David\nconcerning the treachery of Judas;[A] he also represents Ananias as\nhaving lied to the Holy Ghost;[B] also he represents the Holy Ghost\nas bearing witness with himself and his fellow apostle, John, to the\ndivinity of the Christ;[C] also the Holy Ghost is represented as\nsending forth men to the ministry: \"The Holy Ghost said, Separate me\nBarnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them * * * so\nthey being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia.\"[D]\n\n[Footnote A: II Acts i:16, 17; c. f. Psalms xli:9.]\n\n[Footnote B: Acts v:3.]\n\n[Footnote C: Acts v:29-32.]\n\n[Footnote D: Acts xiii:2-4.]\n\nThe Holy Ghost is represented as forbidding Paul and Timothy preaching\nin Asia, and Bithynia.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts xvi:6-8: \"After they were gone through Phrygia and\nthe region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach in\nAsia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia,\nbut the Spirit suffered them not.\"]\n\nThe fruit of the Spirit (the Holy Ghost) is said to be \"love,\njoy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,\ntemperance;\" and as these things can only proceed from a being\npossessed of attributes that produce them, we must needs think of the\nHoly Ghost as loving, as merciful, as patient, as meek, as temperate,\nas gentle. All which with the other things preceding here said of him,\nclearly established personality for the third person of the Godhead.\n\n2. The Holy Spirit Distinct from the Father and the Son, Both in\nSubstance and Personal Action: On this subject Elder Orson Pratt has\nthe following very valuable passage: \"That the substance of the Holy\nGhost is not identical with that of the Father and the Son, is evident\nfrom the whole tenor of scripture.\" Jesus says, \"When the Comforter\nis come whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of\ntruth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.\"[A]\nThis Comforter could not be the Father, because he \"proceedeth from the\nFather.\" He could not be the Son, because he is sent by the Son. Again,\nhe could not be the Father, because it is contrary to the order of\nheaven for Jesus to send the Father. And furthermore, he could not be\nthe Son, because he is represented as \"another Comforter,\" to be with\nthe disciples, in the absence of Jesus. \"If I go not away,\" says our\nSavior, \"the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will\nsend him unto you.\"[B] The persons of the Father and Son were to be in\none place while the Comforter was to be in another, and therefore, the\nComforter must necessarily be a distinct substance from the Father and\nSon.\"\n\n[Footnote A: John xv:26.]\n\n[Footnote B: John xvi:7.]\n\n\"That the Holy Spirit is something more than the mere power or\ninfluence exerted by the Father, is evident from his possessing an\nunderstanding, a will, and a power of distinct operation. Jesus says,\nconcerning the Comforter, \"Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth\nis come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak\nfor himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and\nhe will show you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall\nreceive of mine, and shall show it unto you.\"[A] Here the Holy\nSpirit is represented as a hearer--a speaker--a guide, receiving and\nshowing what is received. Now such acts can only be the acts of a\nsubstance, possessing understanding and a will. That this substance\nis distinct from the Father is evident from his not speaking of\nhimself, but only speaking what he hears, which shows, most plainly,\na separate individuality. If the Holy Spirit were the Father, would\nit be reasonable to say, that he does not speak of himself? Does not\nthe Father speak of himself? If the Holy Spirit be only a power or\ninfluence from the Father, what absurdity would run through the whole\nof the above passage! What nonsense would it be to say a power or\ninfluence hears--a power or influence speaks--a power or influence\nreceives and shows! Yet this is the absurdity embraced by the\nSocinians. We can only think of speaking, and hearing, and willing,\nas applicable to a perceptive substance, and not to a quality. Again,\nthe Spirit is represented as making intercession for the Saints.\n\"Likewise,\" says Paul, \"the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for\nwe know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself\nmaketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.\"[B]\nHow could a power or influence of the Father intercede with the Father?\nHow could a power or influence groan with groanings unutterable? Would\nthe Father intercede with himself? The absurdity of supposing the Holy\nSpirit to be a mere property or influence of the Father, instead of\nbeing an intelligent agent of himself, is so great, that we do not feel\ndisposed to bring further evidence or proof to establish the distinct\nidentity of the two.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote A: John xvi:13, 14.]\n\n[Footnote B: Rom. viii:26.]\n\n[Footnote C: Mill. Star, Vol. XII, pp. 306-7.]\n\n_3. The Divinity of the Holy Ghost:_ There remains to be\nconsidered the question, Is the Holy Ghost God? Undoubtedly. The proof\nis in the fact that he is a member of the Holy Trinity.[A] Also in the\nfact that Jesus makes blasphemy against the Holy Ghost a greater sin\nthan blasphemy against himself.[B] This could not be unless the Holy\nGhost were Deity, and in some peculiar way so related to man that makes\nthis sin of blasphemy against him especially heinous.\n\n[Footnote A: This subject is to be worked out in greater detail in a\nsubsequent lesson.]\n\n[Footnote B: \"All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto\nmen, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven\nunto men. * * * Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it\nshall be forgiven him, but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it\nshall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world\nto come.\" (Matt. xii:31; also Mark iii:28, 29.)]\n\n\"Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost,\" said\nPeter to Ananias, when the latter had dealt deceitfully in the sale of\nhis land and the gift he had made to the Church. \"Thou hast not lied\nunto men,\" said the chief Apostle, \"but to God!\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts v:1-14.]\n\nFrom which it is to be concluded that to lie to the Holy Ghost is to\nlie to God, because the Holy Ghost is God.\n\nI may not more fittingly close this and the two preceding lessons on\nthe Godhead than by quoting a passage upon the subjects of which they\ntreat from the writings of the late venerable Apostle, Orson Pratt, who\nupon both the oneness and the distinctiveness of the three personages\nof the Holy Trinity made the following observations:\n\n_4. The Persons of the Godhead One Council:_ \"The Godhead may\nbe illustrated by a council, consisting of three men--all possessing\nequal wisdom, knowledge, and truth, together with equal qualifications\nin every respect. Each person would be a separate distinct person or\nsubstance from the other two, and yet the three would form but one\ncouncil. Each alone possesses, by supposition, the same wisdom and\ntruth that the three united or the one council possesses. The union of\nthe three men in one council would not increase the knowledge or wisdom\nof either. Each man would be one part of the council when reference\nis made to his person; but the wisdom and truth of each man would be\nthe whole wisdom and truth of the council, and not a part. If it were\npossible to divide truth, and other qualities of a similar nature into\nfractions, so that the Father should have the third part of truth, the\nthird part of wisdom, the third part of knowledge, the third part of\nlove, while the Son and the Holy Spirit possessed the other two-thirds\nof these qualities or affections, then neither of these persons could\nmake 'one God, but only a part of a God.' But because the divisibility\nof wisdom, truth, or love is impossible, the whole of these qualities\ndwells in the Father--the whole dwells in the Son--the whole is\npossessed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is one part of the\nGodhead in essence; but the whole of God in wisdom, truth, and other\nsimilar qualities. * * * The oneness of the Godhead, as described in the\nscriptures, never was intended to apply to the essence, but only to the\nperfections and other attributes.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Orson Pratt's Works, \"Absurdities of Immaterialism,\" p.\n30.]\n\n\n\nLESSON X.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nSPECIAL OFFICES OF THE PERSONAGE OF THE HOLY TRINITY.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Distinctiveness Among Divine Beings.\n\nII. Special Characteristic and Office of the First Personage of the\nTrinity.\n\nIII. Father and \"Fathering\"--Creating and \"Sustaining\"--\"Directing the\nCreation to Glorious Ends.\"\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and passages cited in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"G. to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my\nFather and your Father; and to my God and your God.\" (Jesus--St. John\nxx:17.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Alikeness and Diversity in the Nature of Divine Beings:_\nWhatever may be said in the scriptures of the union in knowledge,\nmercy, love, power, and will--in a word, whatever may be said of the\nalikeness of these holy and divine Personages of the trinity, it\nshould be so understood as to allow of the thought of some difference\nin office; and of some one or more distinctions in their relations to\neach other, and in their relationship towards men; and even in their\nphysical natures when compared one with another. I feel encouraged\nto make this avowal, unusual though it may be, because in nature we\nmay observe both a unity and a diversity. Though a given species of\ngrass may have general characteristics in which all the varieties of\ngrasses are alike, yet men have not yet found two blades of grass\nprecisely alike. In all the leaves of the forest, there have not yet\nbeen found two leaves exactly alike; among all the hordes of men--the\nmillions living and the millions dead--no two have yet been found one\nof which is a precise counterpart of the other. It is so everywhere\nyou look in nature; in animal or plant life; in mountains, rivers or\nvalleys; in the sands or among the shells of the sea shore--everywhere\nunity of kind, of groups, but infinite variety of individuals. That\nbeing the general truth taught throughout nature, may it not hold in\nreference to Divine Personages as well? Without absolutely insisting\nupon it, I shall venture to say I think so; and that in some way--in\noffice, in function, in appointment, in some respects even in physical\nnature also--there are distinctive characteristics in the three divine\nPersonages of the Godhead.\n\nSetting forth, and in profoundest reverence, the Personages of the\nGodhead with reference to their chief functions as each stands related\nto man, they appear as God, the Father; God, the Son, Redeemer of man;\nGod, the Holy Ghost, Witness to man of truth, of all truth.\n\nLet us consider each in these capacities respectively.\n\n_2. God, the Father:_ With this conception of God as \"Father\"\nthere is associated the larger--but not higher--idea of \"Creator.\"\n\nThere exists, I think, a real difference between the idea of \"father\"\nand \"creator,\" and yet one feels, from our use of terms, and even from\nthe terminology of holy scripture, that each idea may include the\nother. But first as to the distinctions between \"father\" and \"creator.\"\nThe term \"father\" carries with it the notion of generation, begetting\nfrom one's own person, springing from one's own nature, and partaking\nof one's own physical and mental qualities and perhaps likeness, but\nthe term \"creator\" does not necessarily convey that notion, since a\ncreated thing may be external to the nature of the being who created\nit; as, for example, when God created the heaven and the earth.[A] In\nthis case the heaven and the earth did not bear the image of God; nor\nwas it made in his likeness, as the result was when God said, \"Let us\nmake man in our image, and after our likeness.\" So in relation to man;\nhe begets a son or a daughter by act of generation; he is a father; and\nalso, in a sense, a creator.[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Gen. i.]\n\n[Footnote B: Athanasius makes the following distinction between\n\"begotten\" and \"created,\" which I believe to be true and of great\nimportance as a truth. \"Let it be repeated,\" he says, \"that a created\nthing is external to the nature of the being who creates it; but a\ngeneration, (a begetting, as a father begets a son) is the proper\noff-spring of the nature.\" (Quoted in Shedd's Hist, of Christian\nDoctrine, Vol. I, p. 322.)]\n\nHe gathers materials and builds a house; or with various colored\npigments, brushes, and stretched canvas he paints a landscape, or from\nsome rude block of marble with mallet and chisel he hews out the image\nof a man; he is a creator. Creator of the house, the painted landscape,\nthe statue; and also, in a certain sense, after our manner of speech,\nwe could say the father of them. So that in the terms \"father\" and\n\"creator\" there is both a distinction and a sameness.\n\n_3. The Dual Idea of \"Father\" and \"Creator:\"_ I said a moment\nsince that scripture terminology justified this dual idea that\ngoes with the use of \"father\" and \"creator.\" Now to the proof: In\nHebrews we find this passage: \"We have had fathers of our flesh which\ncorrected us, and we gave them reverence: Shall we not much rather be\nin subjection to the Father of spirits and live?\"[A] From this it is\nlearned that God is the \"Father\" of the spirits of men--from which\ncircumstance comes the title--\"God, the Father.\" In the Book of Moses,\nthe Lord, following an account of the creation, says: \"I, the Lord God,\ncreated all things of which I have spoken spiritually, before they were\nnaturally upon the face of the earth. * * * And I, the Lord God, had\ncreated all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground;\nfor in heaven created I them. * * * And I, the Lord God, formed man\nfrom the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath\nof life, and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth,\nthe first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but\nspiritually were they created and made according to my word.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Heb. xii:9.]\n\n[Footnote B: Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price), ch. iii:5, c. f.\nDoc. and Cov. Sec. xxix:30-34; also Book of Abraham, ch. iii:23. Gen.\ni:26-27; c. f. Gen. ii:5-7.]\n\nHere we have God saying that he had \"created all the children of men,\"\nand yet there was not a man to till the earth; \"for in heaven I created\nthem,\" that is, uniting this statement with Paul's passage, he had\nbecome the \"Father of spirits;\" and \"Father\" and Creator are seen to be\nused synonymously. Conversely: Nothing is clearer than that God, in the\nScriptures, is proclaimed the \"Creator:\" \"Creator of heaven and earth\nand all things that in them are.\" And now comes one of our Book of\nMormon writers, saying: \"and they [i. e., Father and Son, see context]\nare one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth.\"[A]\nWhich can only be understood as \"creator of heaven and earth.\"\n\n[Footnote A: Mosiah xv:4.]\n\nAgain: \"Is the Son of God the very eternal Father? * * * Yea, he is\nthe very eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which\nin them is.\"[A] In the quotation following the terms are used in\ncombination. Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, was sent unto the people of\na certain city, that they \"might know of the coming of Jesus Christ,\nthe Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all\nthings, from the beginning.\"[B] From these passages it is evident that\nthe term \"father\" is made to include the idea of \"Creator.\"\n\n[Footnote A: Alma xi:38, 39.]\n\n[Footnote B: Helaman xiv:12. Wherein Jesus is referred to as the\nCreator, the \"Father of heaven and earth,\" it should be understood that\nhe is so under the direction of the God, the Father; \"God * * * hath\n* * * spoken to us by his Son, by whom also he (God the Father) made\nthe worlds\" (Hebrews i:3). \"To us there is but one God, the Father, of\nwhom are all things,--and we in him: and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by\nwhom are all things, and we by him\" (I. Cr. viii:6) \" * * * God, who\ncreated all things by Jesus Christ\" (Eph. iii:9). So that while Jesus\nwas the immediate creator of things he did so under and by the Father's\ndirection, so that the Father may still be regarded as the first mover\nin the creation drama, Jesus the agency through whom he acted.]\n\n_4. \"Father\" and \"Fathering:\"_ The chief characteristic, of the\nFirst Personage of the Godhead, then, appears to be that of \"Father,\"\n\"Creator.\" And with this goes the extended idea inseparably associated\nwith the notion of \"Father,\" viz., \"fathering\"--caring for, sustaining,\nupholding. We contemplate this Holy First Personage, then, not only\nas \"Father of spirits;\" but one anxious for their welfare, for their\nprogress. And he himself has declared \"this is my work and my glory--to\nbring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.\"[A] And in the\ncreation drama we have God, the \"Father of the spirits,\" standing among\nthem and planning for their advancement. God said unto those who were\nwith him: \"We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take\nof these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;\nand we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things\nwhatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep\ntheir first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their\nfirst estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who\nkeep their first estate, and they who keep their second estate shall\nhave glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. And the Lord said:\nWhom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of man: Here a.\nI, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the\nLord said: I will send the first.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Book of Moses, ch. i:39.]\n\n[Footnote B: Book of Abraham, ch. iii:24-27.]\n\nAnd so the second personage of the Godhead was chosen for his office\nof Savior of men. But the first Personage was proposing the plan for\n\"adding upon\" these spirits of heaven. He was planning for their\nincrease in honor and glory for ever and ever; and that through\ndevelopment; though increasing their intelligence, knowledge, wisdom\nand spiritual power; by experiences to be obtained in earth-life among\nbroken harmonies, when fidelity to truth and virtue and God should be\ntested, where men should find themselves. He was \"fathering\" them. Just\nas in being \"Creator\" he not only creates--causes to exist--but he\ncares for the \"creation,\" he sustains it; upholds it; guides it to some\ndefinite end, to the achievement of some beneficent purpose.\n\nSuch must be our thought of this all glorious First Personage of the\nGodhead-Father, Creator; also Sustaining, Guiding, Loving Power of the\nUniverse.\n\n\n\nLESSON XI.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nSPECIAL OFFICE OF THE PERSONAGES OF THE HOLY TRINITY (Continued).\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nIV. Special Office of the Second Personage of the Trinity--Redeemer.\n\nV. Special Office of the Third Personage of the Trinity--Witness.\n\nVI. The Three in Union.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe citations in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to\ncome * * * through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to\nGod, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.\"\n(Hebrews ix:11, 14.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. God, the Son, Redeemer:_ We have found the chief office or\nfunction of the first Personage of the Godhead, so may we find the\nchief office and function of the second, and much more briefly. More\nbriefly because one Year Book of the Seventy's course in Theology has\nalready been devoted to him and his work. He is the Redeemer of men. To\nbe such was his appointment in heaven, as incidentally, we have seen in\nLesson IX; and as it is abundantly declared in the scriptures.\n\n_2. Scripture Declaration of the Office of the Christ:_ \"And as\nMoses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of\nman be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but\nhave everlasting life.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John iii:14.]\n\n\"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for\nus.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I John iii:16.]\n\n\"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that\nwhosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting\nlife.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John iii:16.]\n\n\"For Christ hath also once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust,\nthat he might bring us to God,\" being put to death in the flesh but\nquickened by the Spirit.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I Peter iii:16.]\n\n\"When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for us. *\n* * Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath\nthrough him. * * * When we were enemies we were reconciled to God by\nthe death of his Son.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Rom. v:6-10.]\n\n\"It hath also been made known unto me, by the power of the Holy Ghost,\nwherefore I know if there should be no atonement made, all mankind must\nbe lost.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Jacob, Book of Mormon, vii:12.]\n\n\"Behold, he suffereth the pains of all men; yea, the pains of every\nliving creature both men and women and children, who belong to the\nfamily of Adam;\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: II Nephi ix:21.]\n\n\"Surely every man must repent or suffer [i. e. eternal consequence of\nsin]. . . . For behold, I God, have suffered these things for all,\nthat they might not suffer if they would repent, but if they would not\nrepent, they must suffer even as I, which suffering caused myself, even\nGod, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at\nevery pore, and to suffer both body and spirit, and would that I might\nnot drink the bitter cup.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xix:16-18.]\n\n_3. The Offering of the Christ Voluntary:_ The chief office, then,\nof the Christ is that of Savior, Redeemer. In that work is revealed the\nlove of God. \"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son\nthat whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting\nlife.\"[A] And Christ so loved men that he voluntarily made the\nsacrifice: \"As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I\nlay down my life for the sheep [i. e. for men]. . . . Therefore doth my\nFather love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.\nNo man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John iii:14-18.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John x:15-18.]\n\n\"Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall\npresently give me more than twelve legions of angels? [i. e. for his\ndeliverance from those who had taken him for the crucifix]. But how\nthen shall the scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Matt. xxvi:52-54.]\n\nThough in the shadow of the cross he could have found deliverance from\nhis voluntarily accepted mission had he so elected; but thanks be to\nGod, he endured and fulfilled his mission to menward. And in that\noffice of Savior, Redeemer, one recognizes the devotion of the brother\nand the friend of man; and in this he made manifest the love of God for\nthe world; even also as he manifested the brightness of God's glory,\nand the express image of his person, being indeed the full and complete\nrevelation of God to the world--\"God manifested in the flesh.\"\n\n_4. Christ the Mediator:_ In this second Personage of the Godhead,\nthen, one may see not only the Redeemer, the Savior, the Revealer of\nGod; but through those offices one may also see the Brother and Friend\nof man. The Mediator, the one who brings God close to man; the one who\nbrings men close to God. The one who reflects God into the world. The\none who banishes the terror which men have had of God, and reveals the\nlove of God, and the mercy and compassion of the Father--the one whom\nthe ages longed for--the need of the world as Mediator between man\nand violated law--Herald of grace--Christ the Son of God, by way of\npre-eminence; Christ, the Brother and Friend of Man.\n\n_5. God the Holy Ghost--Witness in the Godhead; Spirit of Truth\nand Revealer of Truth:_[A] \"I give you to understand, that no man\nspeaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed; and that no man\ncan say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost,\"--Paul.[B]\n\n[Footnote A: As this Divine Personage of the Holy Trinity is to be\nthe subject of several lessons, and the central thought in this\nwhole treatise here only so much is said of him as will suggest his\nrelationship to the other two personages of the Godhead, and indicate\nhis special office.]\n\n[Footnote B: I Cor. xii:3.]\n\n\"Then are ye in the straight and narrow path * * * and ye have received\nthe Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and of the Son.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: II Nephi xxxi:18.]\n\n\"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,\neven the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall\ntestify of me.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xv:26.]\n\n\"Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into\nall truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall\nhear that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.\n\n\"He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it\nunto you.\n\n\"All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he\nshall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xvi:13, 15.]\n\n\"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send\nin my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your\nremembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xiv:26.]\n\nIn these scriptures we have presented the chief office of the Third\nPerson of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Ghost by way of pre-eminence is\nthe Witness of God, and for the truth of God. The Father's witness;\nthe Son's witness; the Truth's witness; and because of this--as the\noutgrowth of it--the Guide into all truth; the Comforter, the Assurer,\nthe universal Voice to soul of man of certainty; the universal Eye to\nthe spirit of man, that can and does show him things to come. The Seer\nPower in the Souls of men. The Witness for God; who is also God, Deity;\nand the bond of union and communion between God and Souls of men.\nSpirit Personage of the Godhead; one in moral and spiritual union with\nGod, the Father, and God, the Son, and the cause and special power of\nunion between God, and those who receive the truth.\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nThe Holy Ghost.\n\n\n\nLESSON XII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nNATURE AND FORM.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. The Holy Ghost Distinctive in Physical Nature from the Father and\nthe Son.\n\nII. Spirit Substance.\n\nIII. \"Person\" and \"Personage\" Defined.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nScripture and works cited in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ\nJesus.\" (Phil. ii:5 c. f. Acts x:38.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. As Heretofore Considered:_ I have already considered the Holy\nGhost as a member of the Trinity; as a separate Personage in that\nTrinity; and have spoken to a limited extent of his special office as\na Witness of the truth. But all that has been said has been to present\na view of him in association with the other Personages of the Godhead.\nIt is now proposed to consider him by himself, alone--his nature, his\noffice, the principles upon which men may unite their lives with his\nlife, and thus attain perfect spiritual life.\n\n_2. The Spirit of the Inquiry:_ Most reverently, and rather\nreluctantly, do I address myself to this task. Certainly no one could\napproach it lightly, much less arrogantly, as knowing all about it,\nwhen really, after all, one knows and can know so little about it; and\nthat only which it has pleased God to reveal in his word, and inspired\nhis prophets to teach. Beyond what is of record in these revelations,\nthe writer may claim no knowledge of the subject. It is merely to set\nforth what may be learned from these sources, grouping the facts as\nthey may be learned by all in that manner which appeals to him as being\nmost orderly and clear, and that will make for a reverent attitude\ntowards this holy Personage of the Godhead.\n\n_3. Distinctions in Nature:_ It appears that the Holy Ghost\ndiffers from the other personages of the Godhead, in this; that while\n\"the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's, the Son\nalso;[A] * * * * the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but\nis a personage of spirit. Were it not so the Holy Ghost could not dwell\nin us.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: For collected evidence of this truth, and the doctrine\nthat as the Son is, so is the Father, see Seventy's Year Book, No. III,\nLesson xxiii, notes 7, 8, 11.]\n\n[Footnote B: Doc. and Cov., sec. 130:22.]\n\nSuch the declaration of Joseph, the Prophet, in some instruction given\nto the Church at Ramus, Illinois, April 2nd, 1843;[A] and admitted into\nthe body of the Doctrine and Covenants as doctrine of the Church.\n\n[Footnote A: Hist. of the Church--the Journal History of the\nProphet--Vol. V, p. 325.]\n\nWith this also, of course, the teaching of President Young agrees: \"The\nHoly Ghost is the Spirit of the Lord, and issues forth from himself,\nand may properly be called God's minister to execute his will in\nimmensity; being called to govern by his influence and power; but he is\nnot a person of tabernacle as we are and as our Father in heaven and\nJesus Christ are.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 50.]\n\n_4. \"Spirit,\" Its Substantive[A] Nature:_ To aid in a proper\nunderstanding of the meaning of the Prophet in the passage just quoted,\nit is necessary to ascertain what is meant by him in using the terms\n\"spirit\" and \"personage.\" At Ramus, Illinois, 17th of May, 1843, the\nProphet, \"speaking of Eternal Duration of Matter,\" said: \"There is no\nsuch thing as immaterial matter. All spirit is matter, but is more fine\nor pure, [i. e. than gross matter] and can only be discerned by purer\neyes. We can not see it, but when our bodies are purified, we shall see\nthat it is all matter.\"[B] \"In tracing the thing to foundation,\" said\nthe Prophet in an editorial of the Times and Seasons, April, 1842, \"and\nlooking at it philosophically, we shall find a very material difference\nbetween the body and the spirit; the body is supposed to be organized\nmatter, and the spirit, by many, is thought to be immaterial, without\nsubstance. With this latter statement we should beg leave to differ,\nand state that spirit is a substance; that it is a material, but that\nit is more pure, elastic and refined matter than the body; that it\nexisted before the body, can exist in the body; and will exist separate\nfrom the body, when the body will be mouldering in the dust; and will\nin the resurrection, be again united with it.\"[C]\n\n[Footnote A: Substantive (2) \"Having substance or reality.\" Example\nof use: \"The mind is a substantive existence, possessing a uniform\nstructure of character, however fundamentally different from the bodily\nstructure.\" G. T. Curtis, Creation and Evolution, p. 470.]\n\n[Footnote B: \"History of the Church,\" Vol. V, p. 393. The passage,\nexcept the introductory sentence, is admitted into the body of the\nDoctrine and Covenants (sec. cxxxi:7, 8).]\n\n[Footnote C: Hist. Ch, Vol. IV, p. 575.]\n\nFrom this, one is justified in concluding that because the Prophet\nrefers to the Holy Ghost as a \"spirit,\" he does not thereby mean an\nimmaterial being, or personage; a being not matter; but a being, a\npersonage of finer and more subtle material than flesh and bone, else\nthe Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: An important truth hinges upon this doctrine and is\nconsidered later.]\n\n_5. Substantive Existence of the Holy Ghost:_ Upon this line of\nthought, that is, as to immateriality of spirit, the late Elder Orson\nPratt has a most enlightening passage, which I here give at length:\n\n\"Some have supposed the Holy Spirit to be merely a power or influence,\nand not a substance; these are the views of Unitarians: they do not\nbelieve that there is a substantive Holy Spirit, but that the Holy\nSpirit is only a quality or attribute of the Father's substance. We\nshall first show that the Holy Spirit can have no existence as a mere\nattribute, or quality, without some substance to which such quality\nappertains. It is an admitted principle in all sound philosophy, that\nall qualities or powers must be the qualities or powers of something.\nAbstract qualities or powers are inconceivable. Motion implies a\nsubstance capable of moving or being moved. Force implies a substance\ncapable of exerting a power on itself, or on something external to\nitself. The various colors of the prism imply a substance capable\nof producing the sensations of color upon the optic nerve. Sound\nimplies a substance in a certain state or condition, affecting the\norgan of hearing. Taste implies a substance, exciting its appropriate\nsensation. As all these qualities and properties imply substance to\nwhich they belong, so do wisdom, knowledge, power, goodness, love, and\nsuch like qualities, imply substances to which they adhere. And as we\ncannot conceive of motion, force, color, or sound existing without a\nsubstrate, so we cannot conceive of wisdom, knowledge, goodness, or\nvirtue subsisting without a substantive being to which these qualities\nbelong.\n\n\"Some writers who have obtained a degree of celebrity among the\nspeculative philosophers of modern times, have advocated a theory (if\nindeed, it may be called a theory), that power, forces, etc., in the\nabstract constitute the whole universe. Boscovich and his disciples\nmaintained this idea, and contended that there was no such thing\nas substance in existence--that the universe was made up, not of\nsubstance, but of an infinitude of mathematical points, attracting,\nrepelling, and combining with each other according to certain laws.\nAccording to this theory it is assumed that repulsions of a certain\ndegree of intensity produce solidity--that those of less intensity\nproduce liquidity, and that the various degrees of rarity or density\ndepend, not upon substance, but upon the attractions and repulsions of\npoints in different degrees of proximity. A celebrated writer of our\nown day--Isaac Taylor--is inclined to this theory. After suggesting\nthe idea that substance was not necessary in the constitution of the\nuniverse, he says, 'The visible and palpable world then, according to\nthis theory, is motion, constant and uniform, emanating from infinite\ncentres, and springing, during every instant of its continuance from\nthe Creative Energy.' (Isaac Taylor's Physical Theory of Another Life,\np. 238.)\n\n\"According to this theory, attractions and repulsions must exist\nwithout anything to be attracted or rexpelled--motion must exist\nwithout anything being moved--there must be 'a springing' from\n'infinite centres' continuing 'every instant' without anything to\nbe sprung. Here are energies, forces, and motion, ascribed not to a\nsubstance, but to empty space, or nothing. The latter writer, it is\ntrue, admits a 'Creative Energy.' What he means by this is, that all\nthose varieties of motions were created. But if there is no substance,\nthere can be nothing but empty space; but space is not capable of\nmotion, therefore, 'Creative Energy' could not create a motion, until\nthere was something in space to be moved. Therefore, to speak of motion\nwhere nothing exists is an absurdity, only equaled by the absurdity of\nthe notion of a 'God without body or parts.'\n\n\"As it is impossible for motion to exist without a substance, so it\nis equally impossible and absurd for wisdom, knowledge, goodness,\nlove, power, will, or any other similar attribute or quality to exist\nseparate and apart from substance; hence the 'Creative Energy' itself\ncould not exist unless a substance existed to which it appertained. The\nmost eminent philosophers of modern times, with very few exceptions,\nhave considered substance necessary to the existence of every quality.\nThese were the views of that great master spirit--the renowned Sir\nIsaac Newton. In the Scholium, at the end of the 'Principia,' when\nspeaking of God, he says, 'He is omnipresent, not by means of his\nvirtue alone, but also by his substance, for virtue cannot subsist\nwithout substance.' The Holy Spirit, therefore, is a substance, and\nmust, like all other substances, have parts, bearing relation to space\nand duration.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Millennial Star, Vol. XII, No. 20.]\n\nThen as to \"personage:\" The Prophet used this term always in the\nsense of meaning an individual, including bodily form, with all that\nbelongs to it; never in the subtle and vague sense of the philosophers\nor school men, mediaeval or modern.[A] This is evident from use of\nthe term in describing his first vision: \"I saw two personages whose\nbrightness and glory defy all description.\"[B] These two \"personages\"\nwere the Father and the Son, of the holy Trinity, and whom in later\nyears, as already seen, the Prophet declares to possess bodies of flesh\nand bone as tangible as man's, and in form like man's. It follows,\nthen, that describing the Holy Ghost as a \"personage of Spirit,\" means\nonly that the Holy Ghost differs from the other glorious personages\nof the Godhead in the nature of the substance of which, for want of a\nbetter term, we may say he subsists, but not necessarily different in\nform; and of which we can only say--that is, of his substance--he is\nnot flesh and bone as are the tabernacles of the Father and the Son.\n\n[Footnote A: Never, for example, as Calvin uses it: \"What I denominate\na person is a subsistence of the divine essence which is related to\nthe others and yet is distinguished from them by an incommunicable\nproperty.\" Calvin's Institutes i:13; or as the philosophers use it,\nwhere consciousness, thought and will seem to be the essentials\nof \"personality,\" without any reference to form. (See Evolution in\nRelation to Religious Thought, Dr. Jos. Le Conte, p. 339.)]\n\n[Footnote B: Pearl of Great Price, Writings of Joseph Smith, ch. ii.]\n\n\n\nLESSON XIII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nNATURE AND FORM (Continued).\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nIV. A Spiritual Personage Revealed.\n\nV. The Holy Ghost in Person Revealed\n\nVI. Personality of the Holy Ghost Revealed in Described Activities.\n\nVII. The mode of Union Between the Holy Ghost and Men.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scriptures and works cited in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet,\nnevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord, and he spake\nunto me as a man speaketh with another.\" (II Nephi xi:)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. A Personage of Spirit Revealed:_ The Holy Ghost may be as the\npre-existent spirit of the Christ was, before the incarnation; and\nof which we have at least one enlightening revelation in the Book of\nMormon.\n\nThe brother of Jared having by faith come into the presence of the\nChrist, that spirit personage, said to him:\n\n\"Behold I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to\nredeem my people; * * * and never have I showed myself unto man whom I\nhave created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou\nthat ye are created after mine own image [likeness]. Yea, even all men\nwere created in the beginning after mine own image. Behold this body\nwhich ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created\nafter the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in\nthe spirit, will I appear unto my people in the flesh.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Book of Ether, ch. iii.]\n\nI do not say that the spirit-personage of this passage and the\n\"personage of spirit,\" the Holy Ghost, is declared to be by the Prophet\nJoseph Smith, of like essence or substance, or even that they are\nsimilar in the nature of their substances; they may be very different.\nBut the passage in Ether informs us what a spirit-personage may be. He\nmay be as Jesus was, a spirit in the form of a man.\n\n_2. The Holy Ghost Revealed:_ In his \"Articles of Faith,\" Elder\nJames E. Talmage says:\n\n\"That the Holy Ghost is capable of manifesting himself in the true\nform and figure of God, after which image man is shaped, is indicated\nby the wonderful interview between the Spirit and Nephi, in which he\nrevealed himself to the Prophet, questioned him concerning his desires\nand belief, instructed him in the things of God, speaking face to face\nwith the man. 'I spake unto him,' says Nephi, 'as a man speaketh; for\nI beheld that he was in form of a man, yet nevertheless I knew that it\nwas the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh to\nanother.'\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Articles of Faith, p. 164; and I Nephi xi:22. Elder Orson\nPratt refers to the same passage in 1850, and makes the following\ncomment: \"Whether this Spirit that Nephi saw 'in the form or a man'\nwas the person of the Holy Spirit, or the personal Spirit of Jesus,\nwhich, about six hundred years afterwards took upon himself flesh, is\nnot definitely stated. The brother of Jared, some two thousand years\nbefore Christ, saw the personal Spirit of Christ, which was in the form\nof a man. Nephi might have seen the same; but we are rather inclined to\nbelieve from the context, that he saw the personage of the Holy Spirit;\nif so, this establishes, beyond doubt, the personality of the Holy\nSpirit.\"]\n\nOf this evidence for the personality and even the individuality of the\nHoly Ghost, in human form, it might be said that since the pre-existent\nspirit of the Christ, and doubtless the spirits of all men, existed in\nhuman form, some one of these of sufficient excellence and holiness\ncould by appointment have ministered unto Nephi, and be called the\n\"Spirit of the Lord.\" But a close consideration of the context of the\nquoted passage will, I think, dispel that idea and leave established\nthe view of the author of the \"Articles of Faith,\" and that view to\nwhich Elder Orson Pratt more especially inclined, viz.: that on the\nabove occasion there was given to the Prophet Nephi a view of the\nspirit-personage of the Holy Trinity, known to us in the word of God as\nthe Holy Ghost. The considerations which lead me to that conclusion are\nthat in the chapter preceding the one in which it is declared that the\n\"Spirit of the Lord\" was \"in the form of a man,\" Nephi had expressed\nhis desire to see and hear, and know of these things by the power of\nthe Holy Ghost, \"which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently\nseek him.\"[A] Then in a subsequent verse he remarks: \"And the Holy\nGhost giveth authority that I should speak these things, and deny them\nnot.\"[B] Then follows the narrative in which occurs the statement that\nthe \"spirit of the Lord,\" which conversed with Nephi, was \"in the form\nof a man\" This juxtaposition of the terms \"Holy Ghost\" and the \"Spirit\nof the Lord,\" \"in the form of a man,\" is too significant to doubt of\nidentity of personage.\n\n[Footnote A: I Nephi x:17.]\n\n[Footnote B: Ibid 18.]\n\n_3. The New Testament on the Personality of the Holy Ghost:_ It\nis also clear from the New Testament scriptures that the Holy Ghost\nis a \"spiritual personage\" in the sense presented in this lesson, for\nthe reason that he is referred to as a personage, and as doing those\nthings which only a personage, in the sense of that personage being\nan individual, would do. In these scriptures the Holy Ghost is quite\ngenerally \"HE\" rather than \"IT.\" \"I will pray to the Father,\" said\nJesus, \"and he will give you another Comforter, * * * even the Spirit\nof Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth _him_ not,\nneither knoweth _him_; but ye know _him_, for _he_ dwelleth with you\nand shall be in you.\"[A] \"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,\n* * * _he_ shall teach you all things;\"[B] \"* * * _He_ shall testify\nof me.\"[C] _He_ will guide you into all truth; for _he_ shall not\nspeak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall _he_ speak,\nand _he_ will show you things to come. _He_ shall glorify me for _he_\nshall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.\"[D] \"And when _he_ is\ncome, _he_ will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of\njudgment.\"[E]\n\n[Footnote A: John xiv:16, 17.]\n\n[Footnote B: John xiv:26.]\n\n[Footnote C: John xv:26.]\n\n[Footnote D: John xvi:13, 14.]\n\n[Footnote E: John xvi:8.]\n\nMoreover, as we have seen in a previous lesson, the Holy Ghost does\nthose things, performs those offices which may be done only by a\n\"person\" in the sense here considered, viz. He is represented as\nproceeding from the Father; as sent forth in the name of the Son; as\nabiding; as teaching; as bearing witness; as reproving the world; as\nguiding; and revealing.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: See Lesson viii, this treatise where citation to scripture\nfor all these things is given.]\n\nIt is, however, proper that attention should be called to the fact that\nin some cases the Holy Ghost is represented by the neuter pronoun \"It\"\nand \"Itself.\" \"The spirit _itself_ beareth witness with our spirit.\"[A]\nJohn calls the Holy Spirit \"the anointing;\" \"But the anointing which ye\nhave received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach\nyou; but as the same anointing teach you all things, and is truth, and\nis no lie, and even as it hath taught, ye shall abide in him.\"[B] Here\nwe see that the neuter pronoun \"_it_\" is applied to the Spirit which\n\"teacheth all things.\"[C] \"That this anointing,\" says Orson Pratt,\n\"referred to the Holy Spirit is evident, not only from its 'teaching\nall things,' but the word is so applied by Peter: 'God anointed Jesus\nof Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.'\"[D] Elder Pratt also\ncites the following instances from the Book of Mormon: \"The Book of\nMormon in two places uses the neuter pronoun 'it' when speaking of\nthe Holy Ghost. Nephi says, 'Behold, there are many that harden their\nhearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them.' And\nagain, he says, 'If ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy\nGhost, it will show unto you all things what we should do.' In another\nplace the Book of Mormon represents the Spirit of the Lord as a person.\nNephi says of this spirit, 'I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I\nbeheld that he was in the form of a man; yet, nevertheless, I knew that\nit was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh\nwith another.'\"\n\n[Footnote A: Rom, viii:16.]\n\n[Footnote B: I John ii:27.]\n\n[Footnote C: Acts x:38.]\n\n[Footnote D: Mill. Star, Vol. XII, p. 307.]\n\nIt is, in his described activities, however, that one may find the best\nidea of the nature of the personal quality of the Holy Ghost, and these\nactivities can only obtain, as we hope is abundantly set forth in these\nlessons, in connection with a personality, and in the sense of that\npersonality being an individual spirit.\n\n_4. Mode of Union Between the Holy Ghost and Men:_ The question\nwill be asked, however, how the doctrine of the personality of the\nHoly Ghost, in the sense of his being a spirit-personage, in the form\nof man, is to be made compatible with the idea that the Holy Ghost\noperates simultaneously upon the minds of many persons; in fact becomes\nan indwelling influence and power in them. \"Receive ye the Holy Ghost,\"\nis said to all those who accept the ordinances of the gospel--both the\nfirst and second part of the Christian baptism; and the theory is that\nthough these become an innumerable host, such as no man can number,\nthere would still be for each a personal relationship with the Holy\nGhost. Each would receive him; each would be baptized of the Spirit;\nand that which each would receive would be his bond of fellowship with\nGod, his union with the divine life, his re-established communion with\nGod, hitherto severed by sin. To each the Holy Ghost would be his\nspecial source of knowledge, as we have seen, of God the Father, and\nJesus the Son;[A] the Holy Ghost would be the life of God in the life\nof each; the power by which he would be conformed to the very image\nand likeness of God--inducted in fact into the divine nature. How\ncan all this be if the Holy Ghost be regarded as a personage, in the\nsense of his being an individual; and necessarily limited by the laws\nof form and substance? That is to say, that as a personage, he is not\neverywhere present; as a personage, not capable of being in two places\nat the same moment of time; as a personage, limited as to the amount of\nsubstance or spiritual essence of which he subsists; as a personage,\nnot of unlimited or inexhaustible substance, extending throughout the\nuniverse. These conclusions are inevitable from the nature of beings,\nhowever refined of substance or essence, or however exalted in office\nand power, or however glorious, if to them we ascribe form; or if God\nin his word prescribes form to them, as in this case. These conclusions\nare inevitable where form is the mode of existence.\n\n[Footnote A: No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy\nGhost. I Cor. xii:3. \"I bear record of the Father, and the Father\nbeareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father\nand me.\" III Nephi xi:32.]\n\nHappily the task does not devolve upon the writer to advance a positive\ntheory with reference to this difficulty. Frankly he confesses himself\ninadequate to such a task. If the Son of God, so far the Master Teacher\nin this world, felt it necessary to say, \"The wind bloweth where it\nlisteth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence\nit cometh, and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the\nSpirit\"[A]--if the Master Teacher said this, surely it is becoming in\nthis writer not to attempt in any positive way to give an exposition\nof that which our Lord saw proper to leave in the above status. Still,\nreverently, and subject to correction that may come with the further\nunfolding of God's revealed word, one may without presumption suggest\nhow conception of the Holy Ghost as a personal spirit may not be\nincompatible with effectual, personal contact with each one that shall\nobey the commandment to be born both of the water and of the Spirit;\nand how the Holy Ghost may become an indwelling power in each of such\npersons regardless of numbers.\n\n[Footnote A: St. John iii:8.]\n\nIn Lesson II of this treatise I discussed the immanence of God in the\nworld, and developed the thought, I trust clearly, that there was\nboth with human and divine persons an influence radiating forth from\nthem. And that so far as divine persons were concerned, since they had\nattained to participation in the divine nature, which is essentially\none, their influence was one, with others likewise so developed,\nand divine; and that so blended into one spiritual atmosphere this\ninfluence or \"Spirit of God\" became the Immanent Deity, the Light which\nlighteth every man that cometh into the world, and through which God\nis everywhere present and a power in his creations, throughout the\nimmensity of space.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: It is suggested that the student refresh his mind by\nreading again Lesson II.]\n\nThe point to be made here by reference to the discussion in Lesson\nII is, that if other Divine Intelligences radiate a spiritual\ninfluence and power, is it not conformable to reason to think that\nthe Holy Ghost will also radiate a spiritual influence and power from\nhimself that will be all sufficient to bring him in personal contact\nwith the soul of every man who obeys the gospel--the conditions\nessential to fellowship with the Holy Ghost? And may it not be, and\nindeed from the nature of the revealed knowledge we have of this\nSpirit, are we not under the necessity of believing that such is his\npeculiar nature--wholly spiritual, as we have seen--that he acts more\nimmediately, and more powerfully upon the consciousness and soul of\nman than any other spiritual power whatsoever? And is not this the\nexplanation of the fact that he who sins against the testimony which\nunion with the Holy Ghost gives, is under greater condemnation than for\nany other sin whatsoever?[A]\n\n[Footnote A: \"He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never\nforgiveness.\" (St. Mark iii:28.) \"It is impossible for those who were\nonce enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made\npartakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and\nthe powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them\nagain unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God\nafresh, and put him to an open shame.\" (Hebrew vi:6).]\n\n_Illustration; Analogy:_ Let us see if analogy will not help us\nhere. We know that self-luminous bodies send forth vibrations that\nin turn produce light waves; and these acting upon the organs of\nsight render visible the objects from which the vibrations proceed.\nThe sun is such a luminous body; and though its material body is\nsome 92,000,000 of miles distant, yet to us men it is a glorious\nearth-presence, this sun, flooding the earth with light and warmth and\nlife-giving power, without which all life would languish and die. And\nit is possible, and to this writer's thought very probable, that not\nonly to the planet earth of our solar system, but to some of the other\nmajor planets of the system, though by many hundreds of millions of\nmiles more distant from the sun than our earth, the sun may perform\nthe same kindly office for them, not only in the matter of giving them\nlight, which we know to be the case, but also the warmth and vital\nenergy essential to their forms of life. But with this we need not\nconcern ourselves now.\n\nThe analogy I suggest is this, and I press it no further than\nillustration: If a physical, luminous body can send forth from its\npresence an energy into such immense space depths, as we know our sun\ndoes, and conveys its essential qualities of light and heat and vital\nforce to planets at least so distant as our earth is from the sun; may\nit not be that a spirit of such dignity and power as we have a right\nfrom what is revealed of him to believe the Holy Ghost is, cannot he,\nmore abundantly, and even to infinity, give forth spiritual energy that\nshall unite to himself all those who are born again--those who obey the\ngospel? And as one may not separate the ray of light from the luminous\nobject whence it proceeds, so one may not, or so it would seem--fail to\nbe completely united with the spirit-personage of the Holy Ghost by the\ndirect spiritual energy proceeding forth from his divine presence.\n\nThis conclusion is not given, be it remembered, as a positive dictum\nas to the mode of union of man with God through the fellowship or\npossession of the Holy Ghost. It is only a tentative suggestion as to a\npossible mode of that union, to meet the question as to how it can be\npossible to regard the Holy Ghost as a spirit-personage in the sense\nof his being an individual--a conclusion forced upon the understanding\nby the revelations of God which present him to us--and at the same\ntime accept the notion--also forced upon the understanding by what\nis revealed of the Holy Ghost--that he is in conscious union with\nunnumbered millions of minds who have been brought into fellowship with\nGod through the spiritual birth. But for the matter itself, as to any\ndogmatizing about it--\"The wind bloweth where it listeth, * * * * ye\nknow not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth: so is every one that\nis born of the Spirit.\"\n\n\n\nLESSON XIV.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nOFFICES (I. E., FUNCTIONS) OF THE HOLY GHOST.\n\nANALYSIS\n\nI. Chief Office--Witness for Father and the Son.\n\nII. Comforter.\n\nIII. Teacher.\n\nIV. Remembrancer.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe Scripture passages cited in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you\nfrom the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the\nFather, he shall testify of me.\" (St John xv.26.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Review of Former Statement:_ It has already been pointed out\nin Lesson X, when considering the Holy Ghost in association with the\nFather and the Son in the Godhead, that his chief office, in the sense\nof function, is to be a witness for the two other divine personages of\nthe Godhead, and for the truth of God--for the whole volume of it. That\ndescription of his office, however, was merely incidental, as explained\nin a footnote at the time, and followed only so far as was necessary to\nindicate merely the chief work of this divine Spirit.\n\n_2. Chief Function of the Holy Ghost--Witness for God:_ It was\nthere emphasized, however, that the chief function of the Holy Ghost\nwas to be Witness for God the Father, and for Jesus Christ:\n\n\"Ye have received the Holy Ghost, which witnesses of the Father and of\nthe Son.\"[A] \"No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy\nGhost\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: II Nephi xxxi:18.]\n\n[Footnote B: I Cor. xii.]\n\n\"But when the Comforter is come ... he shall testify of me.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John v;26.]\n\nThese passages were relied upon to emphasize that conclusion; and to\nthese the following may be added: \"I bear record of the Father,\" said\nJesus to the Nephites, \"and the Father beareth record of me, and the\nHoly Ghost beareth record of the Father and me.\" \"Whoso believeth in\nme, believeth in the Father also, and unto him will the Father bear\nrecord of me: for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost.\nAnd thus will the Father bear record of me and the Holy Ghost will bear\nrecord unto him of the Father and me; for the Father, and I and the\nHoly Ghost are one.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: III Nephi xi:32-36.]\n\nThis chief office of the Holy Ghost established, we may now proceed to\nthe consideration of other functions of this Divine Personage.\n\n_3. Comforter:_ As the time drew near for Jesus to make his\ngreat sacrifice, and then depart from the immediate presence of his\ndisciples, he manifested a great desire to comfort them, and this he\ndid by promising to send to them from the Father, the Holy Ghost, that\nhe (the Holy Ghost) might abide with them forever.\n\n\"If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and\nhe shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for\never; even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because\nit seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth\nwith you, and shall be in you.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John xiv:16, 17. It will doubtless be of interest to\nnote in this connection another promise following immediately upon\nthis one relative to the Holy Ghost as a Comforter, and very generally\noverlooked even by Christians, namely, a promise that both the Father\nand Son would also take up their abode with those who keep the\ncommandments. \"I will not leave you comfortless,\" said the Christ in\nthe verse following the one given in the text above, \"I will come unto\nyou. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me:\nbecause I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am\nin my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments,\nand keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall\nbe loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to\nhim. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt\nmanifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and\nsaid unto him. If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father\nwill love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with\nhim.\" When Orson Hyde gave a \"spiritual interpretation\" to the last\nstatement, to the effect that it is \"our privilege to have the Father\nand Son dwelling in our hearts,\" the Prophet Joseph answered: \"When the\nSavior shall appear, we shall see him as he is. We shall see that he is\na man like ourselves, and that the same sociality which exists among us\nhere will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal\nglory, which glory we do not now enjoy. The appearing of the Father\nand the Son, in that verse (John xiv:23) is a personal appearance; and\nthe idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart is an old\nsectarian notion, and is false.\" (Doc. and Cov., Sec. cxxx.)]\n\n_4. The Holy Ghost as Teacher:_ Continuing his discourse on the\nComforter, Jesus said:\n\n\"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send\nin my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your\nremembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: John xiv:26.]\n\nIn continuation of his remarks on this subject, to the disciples, he\ntold them he had many things to say unto them, but they could not bear\nthem at that time. \"Howbeit,\" said he, \"when he, the Spirit of Truth,\nis come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of\nhimself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will\nshow you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of\nmine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are\nmine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it\nunto you.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: John xvi:13-15.]\n\nFrom these passages four important things are learned respecting the\npowers of the Holy Ghost:\n\n(1) That he will teach all things; and, what is equivalent, \"guide\ninto all truth.\" (2) He will bring all things to remembrance, that is,\nwhatsoever things have been stored in the mind. (3) He will show things\nto come. (4) He will take of the things of God and reveal them unto men.\n\nOf the excellence and importance of these several powers it is scarcely\nneedful to speak, since their excellence is evident upon the mere\nenumeration of them, yet one cannot refrain from looking at them more\nin detail. How excellent a thing it is to have a teacher competent to\nteach \"all things,\" and \"guide into all truth.\" In view of the fact\nthat the saints possessed the Holy Ghost, and that the Holy Ghost has\nthese powers, one can understand the reasonableness of John's remarks\nto the saints, in which he says:\n\n\"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. * *\n* The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye\nneed not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you\nof all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught\nyou, ye shall abide in him.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: John ii;20, 27.]\n\nMoreover, to the extent that a man is guided into all truth, he is\npreserved from all error. There is no danger of his being deceived,\nor led astray by every wind of doctrine, or the cunning craftiness of\nfalse teachers, so long as he is in possession of that Spirit which\nguides into all truth. So taught Isaiah, who, in speaking of the time\nwhen the house of Israel should possess this Spirit, said:\n\n\"And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of\naffliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any\nmore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers;\n\n\"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way,\nwalk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the\nleft.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Isaiah xxx:20, 21.]\n\n_5. The Holy Ghost as Remembrancer:_ As to the second power\nenumerated, viz.: the power to bring all things to remembrance; it is\na most practical and important function, as it would be impossible\nfor man to live the law of the Gospel without some such grace being\nconferred upon him by the Lord. The law of the Gospel requires men not\nonly to do good to those who do good to them, but to do good to those\nwho despitefully use them; not only to lend to those who lend to them,\nbut to lend to those of whom they may not hope to receive anything in\nreturn; to revile not those who may revile them--in a word, the law of\nthe Gospel is summed up in this: \"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome\nevil with good.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Romans xii:21. See also Matt. v, vi.]\n\nHowever fine this may be in theory, to carry it practically into\nthe affairs of life is difficult. When reviled it seems but natural\nto answer railing with railing, blows with blows, and for injury\ninflicted, return as much in kind as is within one's power to inflict.\nAnd unless in possession of this grace bestowed by the Holy Ghost,\nviz., having brought to one's recollection the things of Christ's\nGospel, being reminded in the very moment of temptation of these\nlaws--when smarting under a sense of injustice, or suffering under\nwrongs heaped upon one--it would be difficult if not impossible to\nlive up to these heaven-given precepts. But by having the Holy Spirit\nas one's prompter in the moments of temptation, and by cultivating the\nChristian virtue of patience, this law of the Gospel, so contravening\nthe natural disposition of man, may be complied with, and the follower\nof Christ, like his Master, may be able to say for those who inflict\ninjury upon him, \"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.\"\n\n_6. President Brigham Young on the Same:_ Along this line of\nthought the late President Brigham Young left on record, in a discourse\ndelivered on the 28th of August, 1852, [Journal of Discourses, Vol. I],\na very choice deliverance, in which he urged righteousness upon the\nministry of the Church everywhere and at all times, through constant\npossession of the Holy Ghost. The passage follows:\n\n\"When I heard the brethren exhorting those who are going on missions,\nI wished them to impress one thing upon the minds of the elders, for\nit is necessary that it should be uppermost there, which may be the\nmeans of preserving them from receiving stains on their characters\nfrom which very probably they may never recover. If we get a blight\non our characters before the Lord, or in other words, lose ground and\nbackslide by transgression, or in any other way, so that we are not up\neven with the brethren, as we are now, we never can come up with them\nagain. But this principle must be carried out by the elders wherever\nthey go, whatever they do, or wherever they are. One thing must be\nobserved and be before them all the time in their meditations, and in\ntheir practice, and that is, clean hands and pure hearts, before God,\nangels, and men. If the elders cannot go with clean hands and pure\nhearts, they had better stay here, and wash a little longer; don't go\nthinking when you arrive at the Missouri river, at the Mississippi, at\nthe Ohio, or at the Atlantic, that then you will purify yourselves, but\nstart from here with clean hands and pure hearts, and be pure from the\ncrown of your heads to the soles of your feet, then live so every hour.\nGo in that manner, and in that manner labor, and return again as clean\nas a piece of pure, white paper. This is the way to go, and if you do\nnot do that, your hearts will ache.\n\n\"How can you do it? Is there a way? Yes! Do the elders understand that\nway? They do. You cannot keep your hands clean, and your hearts pure,\nwithout the help of the Lord; neither will he keep you pure without\nyour own help. Will you be liable to fall into temptation and be\novertaken in sin? Yes, unless you live so as to have the revelation of\nJesus Christ continually, not only to live in it today, or while you\nare preaching in a prayer meeting, or in a conference; but when you\nare out of the meetings. You must have the Holy Spirit all the time,\non Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and every day through the week, and from\nyear to year, from the time you leave home until you return, so that\nwhen you come back, you may not be afraid if the Lord Almighty should\ncome into the midst of the Saints and reveal all the acts and doings\nand designs of your hearts in your missions, but be found clean like a\npiece of white paper; that is the way for the elders to live in their\nministry at home and abroad.\"\n\n\n\nLESSON XV.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nOFFICE (I. E., FUNCTIONS) OF THE HOLY GHOST (Continued).\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nV. The Revealer: The Spirit of Prophecy.\n\nVI. Miscellaneous Gifts and Powers.\n\nVII. Personal Graces Imparted.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and Scripture passages cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he\nwill guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but\nwhatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you\nthings to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and\nshall shew it unto you.\" (St. John xvi:13, 14.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Holy Ghost the Spirit of Prophecy and of Revelation:_ \"He\nwill show you things to come.\" In other words, the Holy Ghost is the\nspirit of prophecy, for by it the future has been unfolded to the minds\nof the prophets; and by it the scriptures were given. In proof of this\nI quote the apostle Peter: \"Prophecy came not in old time by the will\nof man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved upon by the Holy\nGhost.\"[A] And that which they spake was written and became scripture.\n\n[Footnote A: II Peter i:21.]\n\nWhen an angel visited John on Patmos and that apostle fell at his feet\nto worship him, the angel said: \"See thou do it not. I am they fellow\nservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus [which is\nthe Holy Ghost]: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit\nof prophecy.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Rev. xix:10. These facts will exhibit the inconsistency,\nnay, I may say, the absolutely erroneous position of those who insist\nthat while the Holy Ghost has continued with men, prophecy and\nrevelation have ceased.]\n\nThe very fact, as stated in the fourth item taken from these passages\nunder consideration [Lesson XIV, subdivision 4], viz., that the Holy\nGhost will take of the things of the Lord and show them unto men, also\nproves that this Spirit is one of revelation, and is in harmony with\nthe scripture which saith:\n\n\"But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have\nentered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for\nthem that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit;\nfor the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For\nwhat man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is\nin him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of\nGod. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit\nwhich is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given\nto us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's\nwisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual\nthings with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of\nthe Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he\nknow them, because they are spiritually discerned.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I Cor. ii:9-14.]\n\n_2. Joseph Smith on the \"Spirit of Revelation:\"_ The spirit of\nrevelation is in connection with these blessings [i. e. receiving the\nHoly Ghost, see context of discourse]. A person may profit by noticing\nthe first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when\nyou feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden\nstrokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the\nsame day or soon; [i. e.] those things that were presented unto your\nminds by the Spirit of God will come to pass; and thus by learning the\nSpirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of\nrevelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Joseph Smith in a discourse to the Twelve, 27th June,\n1839, History of the Church, Vol. III, p. 381.]\n\nHe also teaches, in the same discourse, that there are two comforters:\none the Holy Ghost, whom he calls the First Comforter; the other, Jesus\nChrist, whom he calls the Second Comforter, in explanation of St. John\nxiv:12-23. (See also note e, Lesson XIV.)\n\n\"There are two comforters spoken of. One is the Holy Ghost, the same\nas given on the day of Pentecost, and that all Saints receive after\nfaith, repentance and baptism. Their First Comforter or Holy Ghost\nhas no other effect than pure intelligence. It is more powerful in\nexpanding the mind, enlightening the understanding, and storing the\nintellect with present knowledge, of a man who is of the literal seed\nof Abraham, than one that is a Gentile, though it may not have half as\nmuch visible effect upon the body; for as the Holy Ghost falls upon one\nof the literal seed of Abraham, it is calm and serene; and his whole\nsoul and body are only exercised by the pure spirit of intelligence;\nwhile the effect of the Holy Ghost upon a Gentile, is to purge out the\nold blood, and make him actually of the seed of Abraham. That man that\nhas none of the blood of Abraham [naturally] must have a new creation\nby the Holy Ghost. In such a case, there may be more of a powerful\neffect upon the body, and visible to the eye, than upon an Israelite,\nwhile the Israelite at first might be far before the Gentile in pure\nintelligence.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: The Other Comforter: This subject, in part, was treated\nin footnote e, in Lesson XIV. I quote what the Prophet said further\nupon the subject in this foot note: \"The Other Comforter spoken of is\na subject of great interest, and perhaps understood by few of this\ngeneration. After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins,\nand is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy\nGhost, by the laying on of hands, which is the first Comforter, then\nlet him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting\nafter righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord\nwill soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord\nhas thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to\nserve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his\nelection made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other\nComforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in\nthe testimony of St. John, in the 14th chapter, from the 12th to the\n27th verses. * * * Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more\nnor less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself; and this is the sum and\nsubstance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last\nComforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or\nappear unto him from time to time, and even he will manifest the Father\nunto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions\nof the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him\nface to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of\nthe Kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints\narrived at when they had such glorious visions--Isaiah, Ezekiel, John\nupon the Isle of Patmos, St. Paul in the three heavens, and all the\nSaints who held communion with the general assembly, and the Church of\nthe First Born.\" (History of the Church, Vol. III, pp. 380-1).]\n\n_3. Miscellaneous Gifts and Powers Imparted by the Holy Ghost:_\nIn addition to these special powers of the Holy Ghost, there are a\nnumber of gifts and powers enumerated, as one may say, in mass in the\nscriptures, and yet of highest importance. Paul says:\n\n\"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you\nignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb\nidols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that\nno man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and\nthat no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.\nNow there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there\nare differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are\ndiversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all\nin all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to\nprofit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to\nanother the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by\nthe same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;\nto another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another\ndiscerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another\nthe interpretation of tongues; but all these worketh that one and the\nselfsame spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as\nthe body is one, and hath many members and all the members of that one\nbody, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit\nare we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles,\nwhether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one\nSpirit.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I Cor. xii:1-13.]\n\n_4. President Young on the Effect of the Holy Ghost Upon the Mind of\nMan:_ \"The Holy Ghost takes of the Father, and of the Son, and shows\nit to the disciples. It shows them things past, present, and to come.\nIt opens the vision of the mind, unlocks the treasures of wisdom, and\nthey begin to understand the things of God; their minds are exalted\non high; their conceptions of God and His creations are dignified,\nand \"Hallelujah to God and the Lamb in the highest,\" is the constant\nlanguage of their hearts. They comprehend themselves and the great\nobject of their existence. They also comprehend the designs of the\nwicked one, and the designs of those who serve him; they comprehend the\ndesigns of the Almighty in forming the earth; and mankind upon it, and\nthe ultimate purpose of all His creations. It leads them to drink at\nthe fountain of eternal wisdom, justice, and truth; they grow in grace,\nand in the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, until they\nsee as they are seen and know as they are known.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Journal of Discourses, Vol. I, p. 241.]\n\n_5. Personal Graces Imparted by the Holy Ghost:_ In addition to\nthese several spiritual gifts enumerated by Paul, he also gives--in\nhis letter to the Galatians--in like mass, an enumeration of what I\nthink may be called \"personal graces,\" as the \"fruit of the Spirit,\"\nhaving references to the Holy Ghost, since he is directing his remarks\nto those who have accepted the Gospel of Christ.[A] The enumeration of\nthese \"graces\"--\"fruit of the Spirit\"--will gain something in beauty\nand strength if placed, as the apostle himself places it, in contrast\nwith the \"works of the flesh.\"\n\n[Footnote A: See the Epistle to the Galatians, passim.]\n\n\"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty\nfor an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all\nthe law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: Thou shalt love they\nneighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed\nthat ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the\nSpirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh\nlusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these\nare contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that\nye would. But i. ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.\nNow the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery,\nfornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,\nvariance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,\nmurders, drunkenness, revellings and such like: of the which I tell you\nbefore, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such\nthings shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.\n\n\"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,\ngentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there\nis no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the\naffections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the\nSpirit.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Gal. v:13-25.]\n\n\n\nLESSON XVI.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nTHE PROMISE OF THE HOLY GHOST.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. The Holy Ghost Promised by the Forerunner of the Christ.\n\nII. Promised by Messiah.\n\nIII. Promised by Apostolic Authority Universal.\n\nIV. The Insignia of the Holy Ghost--\"The Sign of a Dove.\"\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and Scriptures cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Wait for the Promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye\nhave heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be\nbaptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.\"--Jesus (Acts 1:4-5.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. John the Baptist's Promise of the Holy Ghost:_ When John the\nBaptist came with his message of \"Repent for the kingdom of heaven is\nat hand\"; he also said:\n\n\"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh\nafter me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he\nshall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Matt. iii:11; also Mark i:7-9.]\n\nAfterwards John bore record that Jesus of Nazareth was he of whom he\nspake. \"I saw,\" said he, \"the Spirit descending from heaven like a\ndove, and it abode upon him (Jesus). And I knew him not: but he that\nsent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou\nshalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he\nwhich baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear record that\nthis is the Son of God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: John i:32-34, in connection with verse 29-31.]\n\n_2. The Premise of the Christ:_ Jesus himself made frequent\nallusion to this baptism of the Holy Ghost; and, as we have seen in\nprevious lessons, expounded 'the functions and powers of that Spirit.\nFinally, after his death and resurrection, and just previous to his\ndeparture from among his disciples in Judea, he said to them:\n\n\"Wait for the promise of the Father, which * * * ye have heard of me.\nFor John, truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the\nHoly Ghost not many days hence.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts i:4, 5.]\n\nThe reference to the promise made through John the Baptist is obvious;\nand the disciples who had anxiously looked for its accomplishment were\nnow informed that its fulfillment was not many days hence.\n\nThe promise was fulfilled, for in about seven days[A] after the\nMessiah's ascension, on the day of Pentecost, the disciples being\nassembled with one accord, in one place, \"Suddenly there came a sound\nfrom heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house\nwhere they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues\nlike as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were filled\nwith the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the\nSpirit gave them utterance.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Pentecost came fifty days after the Passover, (reckoning\nfrom the second day of the Passover--the 16th of the Month Nisan)\non which day the Lord Jesus was crucified. Allowing that he laid\nthree days in the tomb, and was with his disciples forty days after\nhis resurrection (Acts i:3), forty-three days of the fifty between\nPassover and Pentecost was accounted for, leaving but seven between his\nascension and the day of Pentecost, when the promise of the baptism of\nthe Spirit was fulfilled.]\n\n[Footnote B: Acts ii 2-4.]\n\nPeter, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, so abundantly given\nto himself and companions on that day, preached a discourse which\nconvinced thousands that Jesus was both Lord and Christ, the Savior of\nthe world; and in answering the question of the multitude as to what\nthey should do, after telling them to repent, and to be baptized in the\nname of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins, he added: \"And ye\nshall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you,\nand to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the\nLord our God shall call.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts ii:38,39.]\n\nI call attention to the universality of this promise. It was made to\nthose who were listening to the apostles; but not to them alone, it\nextended to their children, to them also that were afar off--to those\nwho were a hundred years off, or five hundred, or five or ten thousand\nyears off; the promise was to them; and as if this was not sufficiently\nuniversal, the apostle adds, \"even to as many as the Lord our God shall\ncall\"--call to what? to as many, of course, as are called to yield\nobedience to the gospel--to all such the promise extends.\n\n_4. Special Promise of the Holy Ghost in the New Dispensation of the\nGospel:_ As the promise made by John was repeated and emphasized by\nthe Savior, so, likewise, has this general promise made by the Apostle\nPeter been repeated and emphasized by the Lord, in restoring the gospel\nto the earth in this dispensation in which we live. To the first elders\nof the Church in our day, he said:\n\nAs I said unto mine apostles, even so I say unto you, for ye are mine\napostles. * * * Therefore, * * * I say unto you again, that every soul\nwho believeth on your words, and is baptized by water for the remission\nof sins, shall receive the Holy Ghost.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Dov. and Cov. Sec. lxxxiv:65, 64.]\n\nSo to those who have faith in the revelations which the Lord has given\nthrough the Prophet Joseph Smith, the promise of the Holy Ghost is\nrepeated, and assurance is made doubly sure.\n\n_5. Sign of the Holy Ghost:_ The descent of the Holy Ghost upon\nJesus and its abiding with him, was to be John's sign that he it was\nwho would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He knew not who\nthat divine person was in Israel until this sign should be given to\nhim. Hence we have him saying, after the sign had designated Jesus as\nthe one who would baptize with the Holy Ghost--\"I knew him not; but he\nthat sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, 'Upon whom\nthou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same is\nhe which baptized with the Holy Ghost; and I saw and bear record that\nthis is the Son of God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. John i:32, 34.]\n\nIn the Holy Ghost thus designating Jesus of Nazareth, we are informed,\naccording to John's testimony, that he \"saw the Spirit descending from\nheaven like a dove, and it abode upon him\";[A] and to this the other\nevangelists agree, except that St. Luke emphasizes the account by\nadding \"in bodily form.\" \"The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape\nlike a dove upon him.\"[B] The incident has been the occasion of much\nand varied comment. Can it be that the Holy Ghost takes on varied\nand really physical forms? And is that \"spiritual personage,\" such\nas we have represented the Holy Ghost to be in these Lessons, really\na permanent, personal spirit-personage, or is he an evanescent one?\nAppearing now in this form, now in that? Now, perhaps, as \"burning\nbush\"; now as a \"dove\"; now as \"cloven tongues as of fire\"; and now\n\"in form of a man?\" It is more in keeping with the dignity of this\nDivine Personage, as I conceive the revelations describing him, to\nthink of him as a spirit-personage, permanent as to his spirit,\nindividual form; which would lead us necessarily to the conclusion\nthat these other forms of \"dove\" and \"cloven tongues as of fire,\" were\nbut manifestations of his presence only, not really he, himself; these\nother forms were but insignia of him.\n\n[Footnote A: St. John i:32.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. Luke iii:22. The International Revision Commentary\non the New Testament, says of the passage: \"This statement, in which\nall four evangelists agree, is to be understood literally. A temporary\nembodiment of the Holy Spirit occurred to inaugurate our Lord as the\nMessiah.\"\n\n\"In bodily shape;\" \"that is,\" says the Commentary of\nJamieson-Fausset-Brown, on the passage in Matthew iii:16--\"that is,\nthe blessed Spirit, assuming the corporeal form of a dove, descended\nthus upon his sacred head.\" \"And in this form because the emblem of\nchastity, purity, meekness, gentleness, beauteousness,\" Dummelow's\nCommentary says: \"As he (the Christ) rises from the baptismal waters,\nthe Holy Ghost, the living bond of love and unity in the Godhead\ndescends. The appearance of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove was a\nsymbolic vision, and, as spiritual things are spiritually discerned,\nthe vision was probably seen only by our Lord and the Baptist. The dove\nis the type of the Spirit because of its innocence, gentleness and\naffection. (Dummelow Commentary, p. 632).]\n\nTo this conclusion one is helped by the teaching of the Prophet of\nthe New Dispensation. Joseph Smith, in a discourse at the Nauvoo\nTemple, on the 29th day of January, 1843, said--and his remarks were\nespecially prepared as he was answering some doctrinal questions\nabout the mission of John, the Baptist, the greatness of it--\"He was\nentrusted with the important mission to baptize the Son of Man,\" said\nthe Prophet; \"Whoever had the honor of doing that? Whoever had so great\na privilege and glory? Whoever led the Son of God into the waters of\nbaptism, and had the privilege of beholding the Holy Ghost descend in\nthe form of a dove, or rather in the sign of the dove, in witness of\nthat administration? The sign of the dove was instituted before the\ncreation of the world, a witness for the Holy Ghost, and the devil\ncannot come in the sign of a dove. The Holy Ghost is a personage, and\nis in the form of a personage. It does not confine [conform?] itself to\nthe form of a dove, but in sign of the dove. The Holy Ghost cannot be\ntransformed into a dove; but the sign of a dove was given to John to\nsignify the truth of the deed, as the above is an emblem or token of\ntruth and innocence.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: History of the Church, Vol. V, pp. 260, 261.]\n\nThat exposition, as it excels all other attempts at exposition in\nbeauty and rationality, so does it make it possible to hold to\nthe thought of the Holy Ghost as a Spirit-Personage in form like\nman--nay, rather, like his two associates of the holy Trinity as to\nform--the most perfect in beauty and stately grandeur of all forms\nliving--although differing in substantive nature, as spirit matter\ndiffers from spirit matter united with tabernacles of flesh and bone.\n\n\n\nLESSON XVII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nWHO MAY RECEIVE THE HOLY GHOST.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Preparation for Union.\n\nII. Holy Temples for Indwelling Holy Spirit.\n\nIII. The World and Holy Spirit Incompatible.\n\nIV. The Case of Cornelius.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nWorks and the Scriptures cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the\nSpirit of God dwelleth in yon? If any man defile the temple of God, him\nshall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.\"\n(Doc. and Cov. iii:16, 17.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Preparation for Union With the Holy Ghost:_ It will be\nremembered that John the Baptist was sent to preach repentance and\nbaptism before the coming of him who was to baptize with the Holy\nGhost. It will also be observed, in the teachings of Peter on the\nday of Pentecost, after his arguments and the power of the Spirit by\nwhich he spake had aroused belief in the minds of the people, that he\nrequired them to repent and to be baptized for the remission of their\nsins before he gave them the promise of the Holy Ghost.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts ii:38.]\n\nIf we turn to the account given in the Acts of the Apostles of the\nconversion of the people of Samaria, we shall find the same order\nobserved. Philip went down to that city, taught them the word, which\nthey believed, they repented of their sins, and were baptized; then\nPeter and John came and conferred upon them the Holy Ghost.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts viii.]\n\nThen, again, when Paul found a number of men in Ephesus, who claimed to\nhave been baptized unto John's baptism, yet had not so much as heard of\nthe Holy Ghost, Paul was careful to rebaptize them--since there seemed\nto be some doubt as to the validity of their first baptism--before he\nconferred upon them the Holy Ghost.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts xix.]\n\nIt appears from these circumstances that faith, repentance, and\nbaptism, precede the reception of, or the baptism of, the Holy Ghost,\nand are, in fact, prerequisites to a reception of it. This order, in\nrespect of these principles and ordinances, is further sustained by\nother passages of scripture.\n\nThe Holy Ghost dwells not in unholy temples. Therefore man, as a\nprospective temple of the Holy Ghost, must receive preparatory\ncleansing before he can hope to become a temple of God, temple of the\nHoly Ghost.\n\nIn writing to the Corinthian Saints who had received the Holy Ghost,\nPaul says: \"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy\nGhost which is in you, which ye have of God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I. Cor. vi:19.]\n\nAnd again: \"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the\nSpirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God,\nhim shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy which temple ye\nare.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: I. Cor. iii:16, 17.]\n\nFrom these passages this much is learned: That the man who receives\nthe Holy Ghost becomes a temple thereof, even the temple of God; and\nsince it is decreed that if a man defiles the temple of God him will\nGod destroy, it may be reasonably inferred that the Holy Ghost dwells\nnot in unholy temples; hence, through faith in God, sincere repentance\nof all sins, and baptism for the remission of them, man cleanses the\nprospective temple of the Holy Ghost, his body, that it may be a fit\nplace for the indwelling of the Divine Spirit.\n\n_3. The World Cannot Receive the Holy Ghost:_ Just previous to his\ncrucifixion, Jesus said to the apostles: \"I will pray the Father, and\nhe shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for\never; even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because\nit seeth him not, neither knoweth him.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: John xiv:16, 17.]\n\nIt is evident from this that the world cannot receive the Holy Ghost.\nAnd now, who are the world? I answer, those who have not yet put\non Christ; or, in other words, those who have not yet entered into\nthe Kingdom of God, through faith in God and Christ, repentance and\nbaptism. They are the world; and, according to the word of the Master,\nthey cannot receive the Holy Ghost.\n\nAgain: When Peter and other apostles were brought before the senate of\nthe Jews, accused with intent to bring the blood of Messiah upon them,\nPeter answered: \"The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew\nand hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a\nPrince and a Savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of\nsins. And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy\nGhost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts v:30-32.]\n\nNot, mark you, to them who have not obeyed him. This is in harmony with\nthe statement that the world cannot receive the Holy Ghost, and also\nwith the other cases we cited above where the order in presenting the\ngospel to the people was faith in God and Christ, repentance, baptism\nfor the remission of sins, and then the reception of the Holy Ghost.\n\n_4. Distinction Between \"Immanent Spirit\" and the Holy Ghost:_\nAt this point we may note and justify the course followed in this\ntreatise in making a distinction between the \"Spirit\" or \"Light,\" which\n\"lighteth every man that cometh into the world,\" and the Holy Ghost.\nThe first \"Spirit,\" or \"light,\" \"lighteth every man that cometh into\nthe world.\" The Holy Ghost is given to those who obey God, that is, to\nthose who obey the Gospel. The world cannot receive the Holy Ghost;\nbut the \"Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world\"\nseems not so restricted in its contact with men and things; since\nbesides being the \"light which lighteth every man that cometh into the\nworld,\" this \"light of Christ,\"[A] is also a universal, vital spirit,\nthat \"proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity\nof space. The light which is in all things; which giveth life to all\nthings; which is the law by which all things are governed: even the\npower of God.\"[B] Which spirit or \"light is in the sun, and the light\nof the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made; as also he\nis in the moon, and is the light of the moon and the power thereof\nby which it was made\";[C] and so with reference to earth and stars.\nBut from what we learn in the Word of God, as already set forth in\nthis treatise, the Holy Ghost is a special spirit-witness for God the\nFather, and of God the Son, to those who are especially prepared to\nreceive him by faith in, and obedience to, the gospel of Jesus Christ;\nwho have repented of their sins and received baptism in water for the\nremission of them, thus giving evidence of faith in God and acceptance\nof the Atonement of the Christ by receiving the symbols thereof.[D] To\nthose thus especially prepared, and to such only, is witness and union\nwith the Holy Ghost possible; while no such especial preparation for\ncontact with and even enjoyment of the all-immanent Spirit is anywhere\ninsisted upon; although, as we have seen in a previous lesson,[E] those\nwho are most in harmony with righteousness, who hunger and thirst\nafter it, and who seek to draw near to God, will undoubtedly, by the\ngreat law of spiritual affinity, enjoy closer union with the Spirit of\nGod--the Immanent Spirit--than those who have no such longings for the\npure and the good.\n\n[Footnote A: See Lesson II.]\n\n[Footnote B: Doc. & Cov. lxxxviii:12, 13.]\n\n[Footnote C: Ibid, verses 7-10.]\n\n[Footnote D: See Seventy's Year Book IV, Lesson XXI.]\n\n[Footnote E: See Lesson IV this treatise, topic 3 Immanence and\nManifestation.]\n\n_5. Inter-Changeability of Words:_ It would be well to remember\nalso in this connection, and it may prevent some confusion in the\nminds of those who read the scriptures, that by metonymy the words\n\"Spirit,\" \"Holy Spirit,\" \"Spirit of God,\" \"Spirit of Christ,\" and even\n\"God\"-are sometimes used when the \"Holy Ghost\" is meant. In other\nwords, these terms above given are used inter-changeably. And sometimes\nthe influence of the Spirit or his powers or even his operations are\nspoken of as the Holy Ghost himself, and hence confusion in thought,\nand perhaps also in what is written in some of our books. This merely\nby way of parenthesis.\n\n_6. The Case of Cornelius:_ There is an exception, however, to\nthis order of things in the New Testament: the case of Cornelius,\nthe devout Gentile,[A] and for this exception there was a special\nreason. It seems that the apostles applied the narrow and contracted\nviews of the Jews to the Gospel. They thought it was to be confined\nto the house of Israel--to those of the circumcision. They appeared\nslow to understand that in Jesus Christ all the nations and peoples\nof the earth were to be blessed, the Gentiles as well as the Jews.\nConsequently, when the time had come to send the Gospel to the\nGentiles, the Lord opened the way by sending an angel to Cornelius\nto tell him that his prayers and alms had come up for a memorial\nbefore the Lord, and to direct him to send men to Joppa for Peter, who\nwould tell him what he ought to do.[B] He at once obeyed the heavenly\ninjunction.\n\n[Footnote A: Some also note the case of Paul as an exception to the\nrule, but I think this an error. It is true Ananias, on entering the\nhouse where Paul was, put his hands on him and said: \"The Lord, even\nJesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou earnest, hath sent\nme, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy\nGhost. And immediately,\" the historian tells us, \"there fell from his\neyes as it had been scales; and he received sight forthwith, and arose\nand was baptized.\" (Acts ix:17, 18.) But in all this I see nothing to\nwarrant the assumption that he received the Holy Ghost prior to his\nbaptism.]\n\n[Footnote B: Acts x:1-8.]\n\nMeantime the Lord prepared Peter to go to the Gentiles. In vision he\nbeheld a great net lowered down from heaven, filled with all manner\nof beasts, and a voice cried unto him, \"Rise, Peter, kill, and eat.\"\nBut Peter said, \"Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that\nis common or unclean,\" \"What God hath cleansed, that call thou not\ncommon,\" said the voice.[A] This was done thrice, and before he had\nwholly concluded what the vision could mean, the messengers from\nCornelius were at the gate--and the Spirit told him to go with them,\nfor the Lord had sent them.\n\n[Footnote A: Acts x:9-17.]\n\nThat Peter understood the import of this vision to be that the Gospel\nwas for all mankind, for all races and nations, is evident from the\nfact that when on the following day he went with the messengers to the\nhouse of Cornelius, he said to him:\n\n\"Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to\nkeep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed\nme that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore come I\nunto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts x:28.]\n\nCornelius related to him his vision and expressed himself as ready to\nreceive the commandments of God. Then Peter preached to him Christ and\nhim crucified, and that whosoever believed on him should have remission\nof sins. And \"while Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell\non all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which\nbelieved were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on\nthe Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they\nheard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. The answer Peter gave\nwas, \"Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized,\nwhich have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them\nto be baptized in the name of the Lord.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts x:44-48.]\n\nAfterwards, when they of the circumcision complained of Peter for going\nto them who were uncircumcised, he related the whole matter to them,\nand testified that as he began to speak to Cornelius and his kindred,\n\"the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. * * * Forasmuch\nthen as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on\nthe Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?\"[A] When\nthey heard this they held their peace, and the saying went abroad that\nGod had also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.\n\n[Footnote A: Acts xi:15-17.]\n\nThe object for deviating from the order in which the principles and\nordinances of the Gospel follow each other is obvious--it was that the\nJews might have a witness from God that the Gospel was for the Gentiles\nas well as for their own nation. But according to the scriptures, and,\nI may say, according to the nature and relationship of these several\nprinciples and ordinances of the Gospel to each other, the reception of\nthe Holy Ghost comes after faith, repentance, and baptism.\n\nThe Prophet Joseph, in a discourse delivered at Nauvoo, 20th of March,\n1842, refers to this case of Cornelius, and offers the suggestion that\nthere is \"a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy\nGhost.\" That is to say, judging from the whole tenor of the passage\nto be quoted--a difference between the special manifestation of the\nHoly Ghost in the case of Cornelius for a particular purpose, and the\npermanent possession of the Holy Ghost as a gift from God coupled with\na right to the manifestations of his powers following after observance\nof those laws and ordinances which make the necessary preparation for\nthe constant fellowship of the Holy Ghost with man. Resuming now the\nquotation:\n\n\"There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy\nGhost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was baptized, which\nwas the convincing power of God unto him of the truth of the Gospel,\nbut he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost until after he was\nbaptized. Had he not taken this sign or ordinance upon him, the Holy\nGhost which convinced him of the truth of God, would have left him.\nUntil he obeyed these ordinances and received the gift of the Holy\nGhost, by the laying on of hands, according to the order of God, he\ncould not have healed the sick or commanded an evil spirit to come out\nof a man, and it obey him; for the spirits might say unto him, as they\ndid to the sons of Sceva: \"Paul we know, and Jesus we know, but who are\nye?\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: History of the Church, Vol. IV, p. 555.]\n\n\n\nLESSON XVIII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nSPIRIT BAPTISM.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Birth into the Kingdom: Water and Spirit Baptism.\n\nII. The Testimony of Enoch.\n\nIII. Purification by Spirit Baptism.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and Scripture passages cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of\nheaven. * * * Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he\ncannot enter the kingdom of God.\" (St. John iii:3,5.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Birth of Water and of the Spirit:_ \"There, cometh one\nmightier than I after me,\" said John the Baptist. \"I have baptized you\nwith water,\" he continued, \"but he shall baptize you with the Holy\nGhost.\"[A] Jesus said to Nicodemus: \"Verily, verily, I say unto thee,\nexcept a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God.\" At this\nthe Pharisees marveled, and enquired, \"How can a man be born again when\nhe is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and\nbe born?\" Then answered Jesus in way of explanation--\"Except a man be\nborn of the water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom\nof God.\"[B] This in plain allusion--it is universally conceded--to\nthe baptism of water and of the Spirit essential to entrance into the\nKingdom of God--into the Church of Christ.\n\n[Footnote A: St. Mark i:7, 8.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John iii:3-5.]\n\n_2. The Testimony of Enoch to the Necessity of Water and Spirit\nBaptism:_ In the Pearl of Great Price occurs a very remarkable\ntestimony of the necessity of water and spirit baptism; and indeed, of\nthe whole Gospel plan of man's redemption, including an exposition of\nthe Atonement and the relationship of the symbols of water and spirit\nbaptism to the natural birth into the world. I quote it in extenso--the\ntestimony is that of the Prophet Enoch, the seventh from Adam:\n\n\"And he said unto them [i. e., the people to whom he was preaching],\nBecause that Adam fell, we are; and by his fall came death; and we are\nmade partakers of misery and woe.\n\n\"Behold Satan hath come among the children of men, and tempteth them to\nworship him; and men have become carnal, sensual, and devilish, and are\nshut out from the presence of God.\n\n\"But God hath made known unto our fathers that all men must repent.\n\n\"And he called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying: I am God;\nI made the world, and men before they were in the flesh.\n\n\"And he also said unto him: If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken\nunto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and\nbe baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who\nis full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which\nshall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the\nchildren of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking\nall things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given\nyou.\n\n\"And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men\nmust repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam:\nBehold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.\n\n\"Hence came the saying abroad among the people, That the Son of God\nhath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot\nbe answered upon the heads of children, for they are whole from the\nfoundation of the world.\n\n\"And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are\nconceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in\ntheir hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize\nthe good.\n\n\"And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are\nagents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and\ncommandment.\n\n\"Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must\nrepent, or they can in no wise inherit the Kingdom of God, for no\nunclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the\nlanguage of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only\nBegotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who\nshall come in the meridian of time.\n\n\"Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely\nunto your children saying:\n\n\"That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth\ndeath, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood,\nand the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul,\neven so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and\nof the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only\nBegotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words\nof eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come,\neven immortal glory;\n\n\"For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are\njustified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;\n\n\"Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the\nComforter; the peaceable things of immortal glory; the truth of all\nthings; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all\nthings; that which knoweth all things, and hath all power, according to\nwisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.\n\n\"And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto\nall men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the\nmeridian of time.\n\n\"And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created\nand made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and\nthings which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and\nthings which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and\nthings which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things\nbear record of me.\n\n\"And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father,\nthat Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of\nthe Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the\nwater, and was brought forth out of the water.\n\n\"And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him,\nand thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner\nman.\n\n\"And he heard a voice out of the heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with\nfire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and\nthe Son, from henceforth and forever.\n\n\"And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days\nor end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.\n\n\"Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my\nsons. Amen.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price), ch. vi:48-68.]\n\n_3. One Faith and One Baptism--But Two Ordinances:_ The foregoing\nscriptures at once establish the absolute necessity for both water and\nSpirit baptism--being really but two phases of one fact--one baptism,\nbut both phases essential to the one fact, the one baptism.[A] Without\nthis baptism of water and of Spirit, it is evident, first, one cannot\nenter into the kingdom of heaven; and of course, outside of the kingdom\nof heaven there can be no salvation, nor perfect happiness; second, its\nnecessity appears from the very nature of things.\n\n[Footnote A: Eph. iv:4-6. \"One Lord, one faith, one baptism.\" \"I\nfurther believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of\nhands. . . . . You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not\ndone in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost.\nBaptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without\nthe other half--that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.\" (Joseph\nSmith's Discourse at Nauvoo, July 9th, 1843, History of the Church,\nVol. V, p. 499.)]\n\nThrough water baptism is obtained a remission of past sins; but even\nafter the sins of the past are forgiven, the one so pardoned will\ndoubtless feel the force of sinful habits bearing heavily upon him.\nHe who has been guilty of habitual untruthfulness, will at times find\nhimself inclined, perhaps, to yield to that habit. He who has stolen\nmay be sorely tempted, when opportunity arises, to steal again. While\nhe who has indulged in licentious practices may again find himself\ndisposed to give way to the seductive influence of the siren. So with\ndrunkenness, malice, envy, covetousness, hatred, anger, and in short,\nall the evil dispositions that flesh is heir to.\n\nThere is an absolute necessity for some additional sanctifying grace\nthat will strengthen poor human nature, not only to enable it to resist\ntemptation, but also to root out from the heart concupiscence--the\nblind tendency or inclination to evil. The heart must be purified,\nevery passion, every propensity made submissive to the will, and the\nwill of man brought into subjection to the will of God.\n\n_4. Insufficiency of Man's Strength--Need of God's Grace:_ Man's\nnatural powers are unequal to this task; so, I believe, all will\ntestify who have made the experiment. Mankind stand in some need\nof a strength superior to any strength they possess of themselves\nto accomplish this work of rendering pure our fallen nature. Such\nstrength, such power, such a sanctifying grace is conferred on man in\nbeing born of the Spirit--in receiving the Holy Ghost. Such, among\nother things, is its office, its work.\n\nI do not draw such a conclusion directly from any one passage of\nscripture, but from the whole tenor of the teachings of the servants of\nGod, in both ancient and modern times.\n\nWe have seen that it is this spirit which reproves the world of sin, of\nrighteousness, and judgment,[A] that guides into all truth, takes of\nthe things of the Father and reveals them unto the children of men,\nand testifies that Jesus is the Christ. These things increase knowledge\nand faith; and as the foundations of knowledge and faith are broadened\nand deepened so are the powers to work righteousness increased.\n\n[Footnote A: John xvi:8-11.]\n\nWe have seen also that the fruits of the Spirit are goodness,\nrighteousness, truth, love, joy, peace, and gentleness;[A] and as\nthese things are increased in the soul, viciousness and impurity are\nrooted out, until the whole man is changed and in very deed becomes a\nnew creature in Christ Jesus--is numbered among the pure in heart, and\n\"blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see and dwell with God.\"\n\n[Footnote A: Gal. v:22.]\n\n\n\nLESSON XIX.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercises continued.)\n\nSPIRIT BAPTISM (Continued.)\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nIV. Manner of Spirit Baptism:\n\n(a) In the Apostolic Church;\n\n(b) In the Church of Post Apostolic days;\n\nV. Spirit Baptism in the New Dispensation.\n\nVI. Philosophy in the Manner of Spirit Baptism.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and Scripture cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard\nthat Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter\nand John: who, when they were come dozen, prayed for them, that they\nmight receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet he was fallen upon none of\nthem: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid\nthey their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.\" (Acts\nviii:14-17.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Manner of Spirit Baptism:_ The manner in which the saints\nunder the teachings of the apostles received the baptism of the Holy\nGhost was through the laying on of hands. In proof of this I call\nattention once more to the labors of Philip in the city of Samaria.\n\nIt is already known how he taught them the gospel, how they believed it\nand were baptized; then we are informed that \"when the apostles which\nwere at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they\nsent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed\nfor them that they might receive the Holy Ghost (for as yet he was\nfallen on none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord\nJesus). Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy\nGhost.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts viii:14-17.]\n\nPrevious to the labors of Philip among the Samaritans one Simon Magus,\na magician, had given it out that he himself was some great one, and\nhis influence among the people was considerable. But he, too, became\nconverted to the teachings of Philip, and was astonished at the power\nwhich attended his administrations, for the sick were healed, the\nlame were cured, and unclean spirits were cast out of those who were\npossessed of them. Afterwards, when the apostles Peter and John, came\nand conferred the Holy Ghost upon those whom Philip had baptized, Simon\nwas present:\n\n\"And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the\nHoly Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this\npower, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.\nBut Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast\nthought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts viii:18-20.]\n\nPaul, it will be remembered, found a number of men at Ephesus who\nclaimed to have been baptized unto John's baptism, but when Paul\nquestioned them as to the Holy Ghost, they had not heard even that\nthere was such a Spirit. So doubting the validity of their baptism\nhe rebaptized them; after which, \"when Paul had laid his hands upon\nthem, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and\nprophesied.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Acts xix:1-6.]\n\nThe same apostle, also, in writing to Timothy, exhorts him to stir up\nthe gift of God which was in him, and which he had received by putting\non of his (Paul's) hands, alluding, no doubt, to the time that Paul\nbestowed the Holy Ghost upon him by the laying on of hands.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: II Tim. i:6.]\n\nThat this practice of laying on hands for the bestowal or baptism of\nthe Holy Ghost continued in the primitive Christian Church for a long\ntime--at least for three centuries--is evident from the following\ntestimony:\n\n_6. Testimony of the Early Church to the Manner of Spirit\nBaptism:_ Of the rites and ceremonies of the third century Mosheim\nsays:\n\n\"The effect of baptism was supposed to be the remission of sins: And it\nwas believed that the bishop, by the imposition of hands and by prayer\nconferred those gifts of the Holy Spirit which were necessary for\nliving a holy life.\"\n\n[Footnote A: Mosheim's Church History (Murdock), Vol. I, p. 189.]\n\nIn a note on the foregoing question, Murdock, the most accurate\ntranslator of Dr. Mosheim's great work on church history, says:\n\nThis may be placed beyond all controversy by many passages from\nthe fathers of this century. And as it will conduce much to an\nunderstanding of the theology of the ancients, which differed in many\nrespects from ours, I will adduce a single passage from Cyprian. It\nis in his epistle. No. 73, p. 131: \"It is manifest where and by whom\nthe remission of sin conferred in baptism is administered. They who\nare presented to the rulers of the church, obtain by our prayers and\nimposition of hands the Holy Ghost.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Mosheim's Church History, Vol. I, p. 189.]\n\nIn another passage Cyprian writes:\n\n\"Our practice is that those who have been baptized into the Church\nshould be presented, that by prayer and imposition of hands they may\nreceive the Holy Ghost.\"\n\nWhile Augustine, in the fourth century, says:\n\n\"We still do what the apostles did when they laid their hands on the\nSamaritans and caled down the Holy Ghost upon them.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Laying on hands was employed in the Church for other\npurposes than imparting the Holy Ghost. It was the manner of\nadministering to the sick, (Mark xvi:18; Acts xxviii:8); and also of\nconferring authority or priesthood on men. (See Acts vi:5, 6; viii:\n17; xiii:3); but as we here are only dealing with the ordinance as\nit relates to a means of imparting the Holy Ghost, I do not stop to\ndiscuss the other purposes for which it was employed.]\n\nIn subsequent centuries, however, this part of the gospel was lost,\nor neglected by some of the sects of Christendom, and when announced\namong them today, it is not unfrequently regarded as a new doctrine.[A]\nYet it is not. We have seen that it was a doctrine practiced by the\napostles and their immediate successors. Indeed, it is named directly\nas one of the principles of the doctrine of Christ by Paul. The\nfollowing is the passage:\n\n[Footnote A: It is a mistake to suppose all Christendom to have\nneglected the practice of this ordinance. The Catholics teach that\n\"Confirmation (by the laying on of hands) is a sacrament instituted by\nour Lord, by which the faithful, who have already been made children\nof God by baptism, receive the Holy Ghost by prayer, unction (or\nanointing with holy oil called chrism), and the laying on of the\nhands of a bishop, the successor of the apostles. It is thus they are\nenriched with gifts, graces and virtues, especially with the virtue\nof fortitude, and made perfect Christians and valiant soldiers of\nJesus Christ to stand through life the whole warfare of the world, the\nflesh and the devil. The first recorded instance of confirmation being\nadministered to the faithful is in the eighth chapter of the Acts of\nthe Apostles, where St. Peter and St. John confirmed the Samaritans who\nhad been already baptized by St. Philip. 'They prayed for them that\nthey might receive the Holy Ghost. . . . Then laid they their hands on\nthem and they received the Holy Ghost.'\" (Catholic Belief, Bruno, pp.\n97, 98). The Church of England, and, of course, the Episcopal churches\nin the colonies and the United States, teach practically the same\nthing.]\n\n\"Therefore not leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us\ngo on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance\nfrom dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms,\nand of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead and of\neternal judgment.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Heb. vi:1, 2.]\n\nAnd here it may be well to call attention to the fact, that it is\nwritten that \"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine\nof Christ, hath not God.\"[A] And since a large part of the religious\nworld has lost sight of this important doctrine of the laying on of\nhands for imparting the Holy Ghost, it is one evidence, among many\nothers, that they have not God; for the absence of this part of the\ngospel proves that they have not continued in the doctrine of Christ.\n\n[Footnote A: II John 9.]\n\n_7. The Manner of Spirit Baptism in the New Dispensation:_ In\nrestoring the gospel to earth in the present dispensation, it seems,\nfrom the frequency with which it is mentioned, that particular\nprominence is given to this doctrine and ordinance through which the\nHoly Ghost is imparted. Out of the many passages in the Doctrine and\nCovenants relating to the subject I select the following:\n\nIn April, 1830, the same month and year in which the Church of Christ\nin this dispensation was organized, the Lord in explaining the office\nand calling of an apostle, said:\n\n\"An apostle is an elder, and it is his calling to baptize. * * * And\nto confirm those who are baptized into the Church, by the laying on\nof hands for the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, according to the\nscriptures.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xx:38, 41.]\n\nIn a revelation to James Covill, given in January, 1831, calling him to\nobedience to the gospel and appointing him to be God's servant, even a\nminister for Jesus Christ, the Lord said:\n\n\"And this is my gospel: repentance and baptism by water, and then\ncometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter,\nwhich showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the\nkingdom.\"\n\nAfter calling him to be his servant, the Lord said:\n\n\"And again, it shall come to pass, that on as many as ye shall baptize\nwith water, ye shall lay your hands, and they shall receive the gift of\nthe Holy Ghost.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xxxix:6, 23.]\n\nThen in a revelation given to Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt and Lemon\nCopley, through Joseph the Prophet, on the occasion of these men being\nsent with the Gospel to the Shakers, the Lord said:\n\n\"Go among this people and say unto them, like unto mine apostle of\nold, whose name was Peter; believe on the name of the Lord Jesus. * *\n* repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, according to the\nholy commandment, for the remission of sins; and whoso doeth this shall\nreceive the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of the hands of\nthe elders of this Church.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xlix:11-14.]\n\nAs this last is a general law, I do not consider it necessary to cite\nfurther passages, though the revelations of the Lord contained in the\nDoctrine and Covenants are replete with them. Sufficient has been said\nto show that the doctrine has been made prominent in this dispensation.\n\n_8. The Philosophy of Spirit Baptism by Laying on of Hands:_ To\nmy mind this ordinance is the most philosophical of any in the gospel.\nOn one occasion as Jesus passed through a throng of people, a woman\nwho had been troubled with an issue of blood for twelve years, and had\nspent all her living upon physicians, but received no benefit from\nthem, came up behind him, saying in her heart, if I can but touch the\nhem of his garment I shall be healed. And it was so, even according to\nher faith; for pressing through the crowd she laid hold of his garment\nand was immediately made whole. \"And Jesus said, who touched me?\"\nWhen all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, \"Master, the\nmultitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?\"\nAnd Jesus said, \"Somebody hath touched me; for I perceive that virtue\nis gone out of me.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Luke viii:43, 46.]\n\nNow, what had happened? And why the expression--\"Somebody hath touched\nme; for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me?\" My answer would be\nthat the person of Jesus, aye, and also the very garments he wore,\nwere so charged with that divine influence--the holy Spirit, that when\nthe woman with the issue of blood touched him, so much of that Spirit\nleft him to heal her that it was perceptible to him, and he exclaimed,\n\"Virtue is gone out of me.\"\n\nSo, when a servant of God, who has the companionship of the Holy Ghost,\nis filled with that Spirit, and possesses authority to act in the name\nof Jesus Christ, lays his hands upon one who has prepared himself\nthrough faith, repentance, and baptism, the Holy Spirit is conferred by\nthe one who administers to him upon whom he lays his hands, and he is\nbaptized of it. These are the laws by which the Holy Ghost is received;\nthese are the conditions that must exist, in order that man may walk\nwithin the circle of his influence, and in the full and free enjoyment\nof his companionship. The transmission of the influence of the Holy\nGhost from one person to another by an observance of the principles\nand ordinances of the Gospel we have now considered, is as natural and\nphilosophical in the spiritual things of the universe, as it is for\nelectricity or steam to perform the wonders which these forces are now\nmade to enact in the commercial and mechanical worlds, when the laws\nupon which the manipulation of them depend are complied with; but which\nthey will not perform unless the conditions by which their power is\nmade available are complied with.\n\nAs stated by Elder Parley P. Pratt--whose language, however I slightly\nmodify--to impart a portion of the influence of the Holy Spirit by\nthe touch or by the laying on of hands; or to impart a portion of the\nelement of life from one animal body to another by an authorized agent\nwho acts in the name of God, and who is filled therewith, is as much\nin accordance with the laws of nature as for water to seek its own\nlevel; air its equilibrium; or heat and electricity their own mediums\nof conveyance. . . . An agent possessed of this heavenly influence\ncannot impart of the same to another, unless that other is qualified,\nwashed, cleansed from all his impurities of heart, affections, habits\nor practices by the blood of the atonement, which is generally applied\nin connection with the baptism of remission. A man who continues in his\nsins, and who has no living faith in the Son of God, cannot receive\nthe gift of the Holy Spirit through the ministration of any agent,\nhowever holy he may be. The impure spirit of such a one will repulse\nthe pure influence, upon the natural laws of sympathetic affinity, or\nof attraction and repulsion.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Key to Theology, pp. 96, 97, 98.]\n\nIn other words, the Spirit of God will not dwell in unholy temples,\nhence sincere repentance and baptism for the remission of sins go\nbefore the baptism of the Spirit, that men may be cleansed from their\nsins, justified before God, and their bodies, by these means, made fit\ndwelling places for the Holy Ghost--the living temples of God.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\n\"LIFE FROM LIFE\"--SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM SPIRIT.\n\nANALYSIS\n\nI. The Gospel Regarded as the Power of God.\n\nII. Spiritual Life from Spiritual Life--\"Ye Must Be Born Again.\"\n\nIII. Parallel between the Organic and Inorganic Worlds.\n\nIV. Parallel between the Spiritual and Natural Worlds.\n\nV. The Difference Between the Spiritual and the Natural Man.\n\nREFERENCES\n\n\"Natural Law in the Spiritual World,\" Henry Drummond; and the Scripture\npassages cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the\nSpirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know\nthem, because they are spiritually discerned.\" (I Cor. ii:14.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Gospel the Power of God Unto Salvation:_ We have now\nreached the place in the development of our theme where it takes on\na strong personal interest. The gospel is the \"power of God unto\nsalvation.\"[A] It is so for us--for all men. \"Ye must be born again;\n* * * except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter\ninto the Kingdom of God.\"[B] Is this new birth possible to all? We\nmust needs think so if the Gospel is available to all; and that is\na fact so patent to both justice and revelation that it requires no\ndiscussion. \"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son\nthat whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting\nlife.\" This alone sufficiently proclaims the universal right of men\nto the hopes and to the saving powers of the Gospel. \"Ye must be born\nagain!\" \"Born of the water and of the Spirit.\" Then with that new birth\nwill there come new life? And what will that life be? \"That which is\nborn of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit,\nis Spirit,\"[C] said the Christ. Spirit birth then is the aim of the\nChristian baptism--baptism of water and of the Spirit being the two\nparts of the one thing, the first being preparatory for and leading up\nto the second, its complement. And with this there draws tremendous\nconsequences.\n\n[Footnote A: Rom. i:16.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. John iii:5.]\n\n[Footnote C: St. John iii:6.]\n\n_2. Spiritual Biogenesis: Spirit Life from Spirit Life:_ Henry\nDrummond in his \"Natural Law in the Spiritual World\" has a chapter\nentitled \"Biogenesis\"--meaning thereby that life comes from life,\nand he holds that life can come in no other way than from life, and\ncontravenes the theory that life comes of spontaneous generation. \"So\nfar as science can settle anything,\" he observes, \"this question is\nsettled. The attempt to get the living out of the dead has failed.\nSpontaneous generation has had to be given up. And it is now recognized\non every hand that Life can only come from the touch of Life. Huxley\ncategorically announces that the doctrines of Biogenesis, or life\nonly from life, is \"victorious along the whole line at the present\nday.\"[A] And even whilst confessing that he wishes the evidence were\nthe other way, Tyndall is compelled to say, \"I affirm that no shred of\ntrustworthy experimental testimony exists to prove that life i our day\nhas ever appeared independently of antecedent life.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: \"Critiques and Addresses.\" T. H. Huxley, F. R. S., p. 239.]\n\n[Footnote B: Nineteenth Century Review, 1878, p. 507.]\n\nOur author parallels this fact of \"life from life\" in the spiritual\nworld, and holds it to be as rigidly true in the one world as in the\nother. \"The Spiritual Life,\" he holds to be \"the gift of the Living\nSpirit.\"\n\nThe theory opposed to this is \"that a man may become gradually better\nand better until in the course of the process he reaches that quality\nof religious nature known as 'Spiritual Life.' This Life is not\nsomething added as extra to the natural man; it is the normal and\nappropriate development of the natural man.\" This theory parallels the\ntheory of spontaneous generation in natural life. To this Drummond\nopposes \"Biogenesis\"--the law of life from life in the spiritual\nworld. \"The spiritual man is no mere development of the natural man.\nHe is a New Creation born from above. As well expect a hay infusion to\nbecome gradually more and more living until in course of the process\nit reached vitality, as expect a man by becoming better and better to\nattain the Eternal Life.\"\n\nOur author then draws a strong parallel between the natural and\nspiritual kingdoms on this subject of biogenesis--\"life from life.\"\n\n_3. The Law of Biogenesis in the Natural World:_ \"Let us first\nplace vividly in our imagination the picture of the two great kingdoms\nof nature, the inorganic and organic, as these now stand in the light\nof the Law of Biogenesis. What essentially is involved in saying\nthat there is no Spontaneous Generation of Life? It is meant that\nthe passage from the mineral world to the plant or animal world is\nhermetically sealed on the mineral side. This inorganic world is staked\noff from the living world by barriers which have never yet been crossed\nfrom within. No change of substance, no modification of environment, no\nchemistry, no electricity, nor any form of energy, nor any evolution\ncan endow any single atom of the mineral world with the attribute of\nLife. Only by the bending down into this dead world of some living\nform can these dead atoms be gifted with the properties of vitality,\nwithout this preliminary contact with Life they remain fixed in the\ninorganic sphere for ever. It is a very mysterious Law which guards in\nthis way the portals of the living world. And if there is one thing in\nNature more worth pondering for its strangeness it is the spectacle of\nthis vast helpless world of the dead cut off from the living by the\nLaw of Biogenesis and denied for ever the possibility of resurrection\nwithin itself. So very strange a thing, indeed, is this broad line in\nNature that Science has long and urgently sought to obliterate it.\nBiogenesis stands in the way of some forms of Evolution with such stern\npersistency that the assaults upon this Law for number and thoroughness\nhave been unparalleled. But, as we have seen, it has stood the test.\nNature, to the modern eye, stands broken in two. The physical Laws may\nexplain the inorganic world: the biological Laws may account for the\ndevelopment of the organic. But of the point where they meet, of that\nstrange borderland between the dead and the living. Science is silent.\nIt is as if God had placed everything in earth and heaven in the hands\nof Nature, but reserved a point at the genesis of Life for His direct\nappearing.\n\n\"The power of the analogy, for which we are laying the foundations, to\nseize and impress the mind, will largely depend on the vividness with\nwhich one realizes the gulf which Nature places between the living and\nthe dead. But those who, in contemplating Nature, have found their\nattention arrested by this extraordinary dividing-line severing the\nvisible universe eternally into two: those who in watching the progress\nof science have seen barrier after barrier disappear--barrier between\nplant and plant, between animal and animal, and even between animal and\nplant--but this gulf yawning more hopelessly wide with every advance\nof knowledge, will be prepared to attach a significance to the Law of\nBiogenesis and its analogies more profound perhaps than to any other\nfact or law in Nature. If, as Pascal says, Nature is an image of grace;\nif the things that are seen are in any sense the images of the unseen,\nthere must lie in this great gulf fixed, this most unique and startling\nof all natural phenomena, a meaning of peculiar moment.\"\n\n_4. The Law of Biogenesis in the Spiritual World:_ \"Where now in\nthe Spiritual spheres shall we meet a companion phenomenon to this?\nWhat in the Unseen shall be likened to this deep dividing-line, or\nwhere in human experience is another barrier which never can be crossed?\n\n\"There is such a barrier. In the dim but not inadequate vision of the\nSpiritual World presented in the Word of God, the first thing that\nstrikes the eye is a great gulf fixed. The passage from the Natural\nWorld to the Spiritual World is hermetically sealed on the natural\nside. The door from the inorganic to the organic is shut, no mineral\ncan open it; so the door from the natural to the spiritual is shut,\nand no man can open it. This world of natural men is staked off from\nthe Spiritual World by barriers which have never yet been crossed from\nwithin. No organic change, no modification of environment, no mental\nenergy, no moral effort, no evolution of character, no progress of\ncivilization can endow any single human soul with the attribute of\nspiritual life. The spiritual world is guarded from the world next in\norder beneath it by a law of Biogenesis--except a man be born again * *\n* except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the\nKingdom of God.\n\n\"It is not said, in this enunciation of the Law, that if the condition\nbe not fulfilled the natural man will not enter the Kingdom of God. The\nword is cannot. For the exclusion of the spiritually inorganic from\nthe kingdom of the spiritually organic is not arbitrary. Nor is the\nnatural man refused admission on unexplained grounds. His admission is\na scientific impossibility. Except a mineral be born \"from above\"--from\nthe kingdom just above it--it cannot enter the kingdom just above it\nAnd except a man be born \"from above,\" by the same law, he cannot enter\nthe kingdom just above him. There being no passage from one kingdom to\nanother, whether from inorganic to organic, or from organic [natural]\nto spiritual, the intervention of Life is a scientific necessity if a\nstone or a plant or an animal or a man is to pass from a lower to a\nhigher sphere. The plant stretches down to the dead world beneath it,\ntouches its minerals and gases with its mystery of life, and brings\nthem up ennobled and transformed to the living sphere. The breath of\nGod, blowing where it listeth, touches with its mystery of Life the\ndead souls of men, bears them across the bridgeless gulf between the\nnatural and the spiritual, between the spiritually inorganic and the\nspiritually organic, endows them with its own high qualities, and\ndevelops within them these new and secret faculties, by which those who\nare born again are said to see the Kingdom of God.\n\n_5. Distinction Between the Natural and the Spiritual Man:_\n\"Our author next proceeds with the application of his principle by\ndrawing the distinction between the Christian and the non-Christian\nman--between one \"born of the Spirit,\" and one not \"born of the Spirit.\"\n\n\"What now, let us ask specifically, distinguishes a Christian man from\na non-Christian man? Is it that he has certain mental characteristics\nnot possessed by the other? Is it that certain faculties have\nbeen trained in him, that morality assumes special and higher\nmanifestations, and character a nobler form? Is the Christian merely\nan ordinary man who happens from birth to have been surrounded with a\npeculiar set of ideas? Is his religion merely that peculiar quality\nof the moral life defined by Mr. Matthew Arnold as \"morality touched\nby emotion?\" And does the possession of a high ideal, benevolent\nsympathies, a reverent spirit, and a favorable environment account for\nwhat men call his Spiritual Life?\n\n\"The distinction between them is the same as that between the organic\nand the inorganic, the living and the dead. What is the difference\nbetween a crystal and an organism, a stone and a plant. They have much\nin common. Both are made of the same atoms. Both display the same\nproperties of matter. Both are subject to the physical laws. Both may\nbe very beautiful. But besides possessing all that the crystal has, the\nplant possesses something more--a mysterious something called life.\nThis life is not something which existed in the crystal only in a less\ndeveloped form. There is nothing at all like it in the crystal. There\nis nothing like the first beginning of it in the crystal, not a trace\nor symptom of it. This plant is tenanted by something new, an original\nand unique possession added over and above all the properties common\nto both. When from vegetable life we rise to animal life, here again\nwe find something original and unique--unique at least as compared\nwith the mineral. From animal life we ascend again to spiritual life.\nAnd here also is something new, something still more unique. He who\nlives the spiritual life has a distinct kind of life added to all the\nother phases of life which he manifests--a kind of life infinitely\nmore distinct than is the active life of a plant from the inertia of\na stone. The spiritual man is more distinct in point of fact than\nis the plant from the stone. This is the one possible comparison in\nnature, for it is the widest distinction in nature; but compared with\nthe difference between the natural and the spiritual the gulf which\ndivides the organic from the inorganic is a hair's breadth. The natural\nman belongs essentially to this present order of things. He is endowed\nsimply with a high quality of the natural animal life. But it is life\nof so poor a quality that it is not life at all. He that hath not\nthe Son hath not life; but he that hath the Son hath life--a new and\ndistinct and supernatural endowment. He is not of this world. He is of\nthe timeless state, of eternity. It doth not yet appear what he shall\nbe.\n\n\"The difference then between the spiritual man and the natural man\nis not a difference of development, but of generation. It is a\ndistinction of quality, not of quantity. A man cannot rise by any\nnatural development from \"morality touched by emotion,\" to \"morality\ntouched by life.\" Were we to construct a scientific classification,\nscience would compel us to arrange all natural men, moral or immoral,\neducated or vulgar, as one family. One might be high in the family\ngroup, another low; yet, practically, they are marked by the same set\nof characteristics--they eat, sleep, work, think, live, die. But the\nspiritual man is removed from this family so utterly by the possession\nof an additional characteristic that a biologist, fully informed of\nthe whole circumstances, would not hesitate a moment to classify him\nelsewhere. And if he really entered into these circumstances it would\nnot be in another family but in another kingdom. It is an old fashioned\ntheology which divides the world in this way--which speaks of men as\nLiving and Dead, lost and saved--a stern theology all but fallen into\ndisuse. This difference between the living and the dead in souls is so\nunproved by casual observation, so impalpable in itself, so startling\nas a doctrine, that schools of culture have ridiculed or denied the\ngrim distinction. Nevertheless the grim distinction must be retained.\nIt is a scientific distinction. \"He that hath not the Son hath not\nLife.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: He that has not spiritually been born is not spiritually\nalive.]\n\n\"Now it is this great law which finally distinguishes Christianity from\nall other religions. It places the religion of Christ upon a footing\naltogether unique. There is no analogy between the Christian religion\nand, say, Buddhism or the Mohammedan religion. There is no true sense\nin which a man can say. He that hath Buddha hath life. Buddha has\nnothing to do with life. He may have something to do with morality.\nHe may stimulate, impress, teach, guide, but there is no distinct\nnew thing added to the souls of those who profess Buddhism. These\nreligions may be developments of the natural, mental, or moral man. But\nChristianity professes to be more. It is the mental or moral man plus\nsomething else or some One else. It is the infusion into the spiritual\nman of a new life, of a quality unlike anything else in nature. This\nconstitutes the separate Kingdom of Christ, and gives to Christianity\nalone of all the religions of mankind the strange mark of divinity.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\n\"LIFE FROM LIFE\"--SPIRITUAL LIFE FROM SPIRIT (Continued).\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nVI. Fundamental Elements in the Spiritual Man that are Absent in the\nNatural Man.\n\nVII. Terms Used to Express Elements in Spiritual Man.\n\nVIII. Process of Regeneration in the Individual Man.\n\nIX. Insignificance of the Time Element.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and Scripture cited in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not\nyet appear what we shall he: but we know that, when he shall appear, we\nshall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.\" (I John iii:2, 3.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Spiritual Man Contrasted with the Natural:_ If it shall be\nasked what it is that constitutes the difference between the natural\nman and the spiritual man, the answer, though necessarily brief, can\ntake on various forms; but in the last analysis it will be found to\nconsist in one thing: One has been \"born again\"--\"born of the Spirit;\"\nthe other has not. One has received the Holy Ghost; the other has not.\n\nOne has the power to \"know that Jesus is the Christ,\" the other has no\nsuch power.[A]\n\n[Footnote A: \"No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy\nGhost.\" I Cor. xii:3.]\n\nThe body of one is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in him, which\nhe has of God, and he is God's, in body and in Spirit;[A] the other is\nin no such relationship to God.\n\n[Footnote A: I Cor. vi:19, 20.]\n\nOne through aceptance of the atonement of the Christ has \"access by one\nSpirit unto the Father,\"[A] the other has not.\n\n[Footnote A: Ephesians ii:18, and context.]\n\nOne is \"strengthened with might by his [God's] spirit in the inner\nman,\"[A] the other is not.\n\n[Footnote A: Ibid iii:16.]\n\nOne has received the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the\ntruth;[A] the other has not.\n\n[Footnote A: II Thess. ii:13.]\n\nOne knows that he dwells in God and God in him, because God hath given\nhim of his Spirit;[A] the other has no such witness.\n\n[Footnote A: I John iv:13.]\n\nOne is under \"the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,\" is made\n\"free from the law of sin and death;\" the other is not; \"for they that\nare after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are\nafter the Spirit, the things of the Spirit; for to be carnally minded\nis death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.\"\n\nPaul runs the parallel between the spiritual man and the carnal or\nnatural man much further and beautifully: \"The carnal mind is enmity\nagainst God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed\ncan be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye\nare not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of\nGod dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is\nnone of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin;\nbut the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of\nhim that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised\nup Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his\nSpirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not\nto the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh,\nye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the\nbody, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they\nare the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage\nagain to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we\ncry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit,\nthat we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of\nGod, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him,\nthat we may be also glorified together.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Romans viii:1-17.]\n\n_2. The Terms Used to Express the Contrast:_ I have chosen to put\nthe distinction between the natural man and the spiritual man--the\nman unbaptized of the Spirit and the one born of the Spirit--in terms\nthat include direct reference to the Holy Ghost. It may be put into\nterms that refer directly to the Christ, such, for example, as \"know\nye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be\nreprobates?\" This said to those who had received the Gospel.[A] \"Your\nbodies are members of Christ.\"[B] \"At that day ye shall know that I am\nin the Father, and ye in me, and I in you.\"[C] \"I am the vine, ye are\nthe branches.\"[D] \"I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live; yet\nnot I, but Christ liveth in me.\"[E]\n\n[Footnote A: II Cor. xii:5.]\n\n[Footnote B: I Cor. vi:15.]\n\n[Footnote C: St. John xiv:10.]\n\n[Footnote D: St. John xv:4.]\n\n[Footnote E: Gal. ii:20.]\n\nAll which, however, amounts to the same thing; viz.,--those born of the\nspirit live in God, and God in them. They have received something that\nthe spiritually unborn have not received; and though they may carry\nthat precious thing in earthen vessels, yet is it there. There has come\ndown into such spirit-baptized men a spirit-life which has touched\ntheir souls, and left there a spirit life that is deathless, and will\ngrow until it conforms the man receiving it to its own image, and\nlikeness, and quality, unless sinned against to the point of blasphemy.\nOf which more later.\n\n_3. The Process of Regeneration:_ \"What can be gathered on the\nsurface as to the process of regeneration in the individual soul,\"\nasks Henry Drummond. \"From the analogies of biology,\" he continues,\n\"we should expect three things: First, that the new life should dawn\nsuddenly; second, that it should come \"without observation;\" third,\nthat it should develop gradually. On two of these points there can\nbe little controversy. The gradualness of growth is a characteristic\nwhich strikes the simplest observer. Long before the word Evolution was\ncoined Christ applied it in this very connection--\"First the blade,\nthen the ear, then the full corn in the ear.\" It is well known also to\nthose who study the parables of nature that there is an ascending scale\nof slowness as we rise in the scale of life. Growth is most gradual in\nthe highest forms. Man attains his maturity after a score of years; the\nmonad completes its humble cycle in a day. What wonder if development\nbe tardy in the Creature of Eternity? A Christian's sun has sometimes\nset, and a critical world has seen as yet no corn in the ear. As\nyet? \"As yet,\" in this long life, has not begun. Grant him the years\nproportionate to his place in the scale of life. 'The time of harvest\nis not yet!'\"\n\n\"Again, in addition to being slow, the phenomena of growth are secret.\nLife is invisible. When the New Life manifests itself it is a surprise.\nThou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. When the\nplant lives whence has the life come? When it dies whither has it gone?\nThou canst not tell; * * * so is every one that is born of the Spirit.\n\n\"Yet once more--and this is a point of strange and frivolous dispute\n--this life comes suddenly. This is the only way in which life can\ncome. Life cannot come gradually--health can, structure can, but\nnot life. A new theology has laughed at the doctrine of conversion.\nSudden conversion especially has been ridiculed as untrue to\nphilosophy and impossible to human nature. We may not be concerned\nin buttressing any theology because it is old. But we find that this\nold theology is scientific. There may be cases--they are probably in\nthe majority--where the moment of contact with the living spirit,\nthough sudden, has been obscure. But the real moment and the conscious\nmoment are two different things. Science pronounces nothing as to the\nconscious moment. If it did it would probably say that that was seldom\nthe real moment--just as in the natural life the conscious moment is\nnot the real moment. The moment of birth in the natural world is not\na conscious moment--we do not know we are born till long afterward.\nYet there are men to whom the origin of the new life in time has\nbeen no difficulty. To Paul, for instance, Christ seems to have come\nat a definite period of time, the exact moment and second of which\ncould have been known. And this is certainly, in theory at least, the\nnormal origin of life, according to the principles of biology. The\nline between the living and the dead is a sharp line. When the dead\natoms of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, are seized upon by life,\nthe organism at first is very lowly. It possesses few functions. It\nhas little beauty. Growth is the work of time. But life is not. That\ncomes in a moment. At one moment it was dead; the next it lived. This\nis conversion, the \"passing,\" as the Bible calls it, \"from death unto\nlife.\" Those who have stood by another's side at the solemn hour of\nthis dread possession have been conscious sometimes of an experience\nwhich words are not allowed to utter--a something like the sudden\nsnapping of a chain, the waking from a dream.\"[A] And as it is in\ndeath, so it is in life--life comes suddenly; as at the last moment it\ndeparts suddenly.\n\n[Footnote A: \"Natural Law in the Spiritual World,\" pp. 91-94.]\n\n_4. Conformity to Type:_ The Spiritual life of God once\nestablished in man--what then? What is to come of it? \"Beloved,\" said\none of old, \"now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear\nwhat we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be\nlike him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man who has this\nhope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.\"[A] \"But we all,\nwith open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are\nchanged into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit\nof the Lord.\"[B] \"And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is\nthe mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints\naccording to the will of God. * * * For whom he did fore know, he\nalso did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son.\" All\nwhich means that man receiving into his soul spirit-life from God,\nthat spirit-life will conform and transform the man receiving it to\nitself, until man is brought into perfect union with God.[C] If it\nwere expressed in terms of biology one would say that the spirit life\nimparted to man would conform to its type, making man's spirit conform\nto God's spirit, to the type of the Christ.\n\n[Footnote A: I John iii:2, 3.]\n\n[Footnote B: II Cor. iii:18.]\n\n[Footnote C: On this head the Prophet of the New Dispensation of the\nGospel, Joseph Smith, has a fine passage: \"If you wish to go where\nGod is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God\npossesses, for it we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are\ngoing from Him, and drawing towards the devil. . . . A man is saved no\nfaster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he\nwill be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world,\nas evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power\nthan many men who are on the earth. Hence it needs revelation to assist\nus, and give us knowledge of the things of God.\" (Minutes of April\nConference, 1842. History of the Church, Vol. IV, p. 588.)]\n\n_5. The Analogy in Natural Life:_ Speaking of this analogy between\nthe natural and spiritual worlds, in the matter of different kinds of\nlife conforming to the type, Mr. Drummond says: (But before quoting\nlet me call attention to what I have before said of using a variant\nphraseology on the part of Christian writers whose ideas, in part at\nleast, we can accept, and the phraseology we of the new dispensation\nwould use. I have said in subdivision 2 of this Lesson, that the idea\nof being born of the spirit may be put in various terms, in terms that\nhave direct reference to the Holy Ghost, or terms may be used that\nrefer to the Christ, or the Christ-life, it is in this last form that\nMr. Drummond expresses the idea of the spirit-life in man):\n\n\"What goes on then in the animal kingdom is this--the bird-life seizes\nupon the bird-germ and builds it up into a bird, the image of itself.\nThe reptile-life seizes upon another germinal speck, assimilates\nsurrounding matter, and fashions it into a reptile. The reptile-life\nthus simply makes an incarnation of itself. The visible bird is simply\nan incarnation of the invisible bird-life.\n\n\"Now we are nearing the point where the spiritual analogy appears. It\nis a very wonderful analogy, so wonderful that one almost hesitates\nto put it into words. Yet Nature is reverent; and it is her voice to\nwhich we listen. These lower phenomena of life, she says, are but\nan allegory. There is another kind of life of which science as yet\nhas taken little cognizance. It obeys the same laws. It builds up an\norganism into its own form. It is the Christ-life. As the bird-life\nbuilds up a bird, the image of itself, so the Christ-Life builds up a\nChrist, the image of Himself, in the inward nature of man. When a man\nbecomes a Christian the natural process is this: The living Christ\nenters into his soul. Development begins. The quickening life seizes\nupon the soul, assimilates surrounding elements, and begins to fashion\nit. According to the great law of conformity to type this fashioning\ntakes a specific form. It is that of the Artist who fashions. And all\nthrough life this wonderful, mystical, glorious, yet perfectly definite\nprocess, goes on \"until Christ be formed\" in it.\n\n\"The Christian life is not a vague effort after righteousness--an\nill-defined pointless struggle for an ill-defined pointless end.\nReligion is no disheveled mass of aspiration, prayer, and faith. There\nis no more mystery in Religion as to its processes than in Biology.\nThere is much mystery in Biology. We know all but nothing of life yet,\nnothing of development. There is the same mystery in the spiritual\nlife. But the great lines are the same, as decided, as luminous; and\nthe laws of natural and spiritual are the same as unerring, as simple.\nWill everything else in the natural world unfold its order, and yield\nto science more and more a vision of harmony, and religion, which\nshould complement and perfect all, remain a chaos? From the standpoint\nof revelation no truth is more obscure than conformity to type. If\nscience can furnish a companion phenomenon from an every-day process\nof the natural life, it may at least throw this most mystical doctrine\nof Christianity into thinkable form. Is there any fallacy in speaking\nof the embryology of the new life? Is the analogy invalid? Are there\nnot vital processes in the spiritual as well as in the natural world?\nThe bird being an incarnation of the bird-life, may not the Christian\nbe a spiritual incarnation of the Christ-life? And is there not a real\njustification in the processes of the new birth for such a parallel?\n\n\"Let us appeal to the record of these processes.\n\n\"In what terms does the New Testament describe them? The answer is\nsufficiently striking. It uses everywhere the language of biology. It\nis impossible that the New Testament writers should have been familiar\nwith these biological facts. It is impossible that their views of this\ngreat truth should have been as clear as science can make them now.\nBut they had no alternative. There was no other way of expressing this\ntruth. It was a biological question. So they struck out unhesitatingly\ninto the new field of words, and, with an originality which commands\nboth reverence and surprise, stated their truth with such light, or\ndarkness, as they had. They did not mean to be scientific, only to be\naccurate, and their fearless accuracy has made them scientific.\n\n\"What could be more original, for instance, than the Apostle's\nreiteration that the Christian was a new creature, a new man, a babe?\nOr that this new man was \"begotten of God,\" God's workmanship? And what\ncould be a more accurate expression of the law of conformity to type\nthan this: 'Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the\nimage of Him that created him?' Or this, 'we are changed into the same\nimage from glory to glory?' And elsewhere we are expressly told by the\nsame writer that this conformity is the end and goal of the Christian\nlife. To work this type in us is the whole purpose of God for man.\n'Whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the\nimage of his Son.'\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: \"Natural Law in the Spiritual World,\" pp. 293-6.]\n\n_6. The End of the Matter--We Shall Be Like Him--Conformed to the\nDivine Image:_ That is the end then, for the spiritually born\nman--he will be conformed into the image of God--conformed to the type\nof the Spirit-life that has taken up his abode in him. How long shall\nit take? Who knows? And what shall it matter? The important thing is\nthat it shall be done. The important thing for us men is that the\nspirit-birth takes place; that union with God be formed; the ages may\nwait upon the growth, and full fruitage of that event. It may take\naeons of time to make a man, longer to make Super-man; but the eternal\nyears are his who is born of the Spirit; and again I say the important\nthing for us men is to have that Spirit-birth, and then are we sons of\nGod; and while it doth hot appear what we shall be, for the height and\nglory of that is beyond our human vision, ultimately we shall be like\nhim, and see him as he is, and be conformed to the Christ image, that\nis to say, to the Divine nature--unless one shall sin against the Holy\nGhost.\n\n\n\nLESSON XXII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nTHE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Possibility and Enormity of the Sin.\n\nII. The Word of the Christ on the Sin--\"Hath Never Forgiveness.\"\n\nIII. \"The Sin unto Death\"--St. John.\n\nIV. Nature of the Offense--Sin Against Truth and Light--St. Paul.\n\nV. All Sin Dangerous Since it Leads Towards Spiritual Death.\n\nVI. The Punishment and the Sin--High Treason Against God--Spirit-Murder.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe works and Scriptures cited in the body of the lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"It is impossible for those who were once enlightened,\n* * * if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance.\"\n(Hebrews v:4, 6.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Possibility and Enormity of the Sin:_ It is possible to so\nsin against the Holy Ghost as to forfeit the spiritual life which his\npresence in the human soul gives, and that conformation to the Divine\ntype which his effectual working would otherwise bring to pass. That\nbeing true, the sin against the Holy Ghost must be the most appalling\nact that can enter into human experience. Perhaps the most heinous\ncrime known to human law is the crime of murder, wherein innocent blood\nis shed. But that sin which effectually kills spirit-life, which has\nfor its victim not a human being but a divine being--that overtops in\natrocity any possible physical murder. In this concluding chapter of\nour treatise let us contemplate this awful sin--this master crime. And\nfirst let us be sure from the word of God that there is such a sin.\n\n_2. The Teaching of the Christ Upon the Subject:_ According to St.\nMatthew Jesus said:\n\n\"Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be\nforgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not\nbe forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of\nMan, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy\nGhost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world neither in\nthe world to come.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: St. Matt, xii:31, 32.]\n\nSt. Mark puts it in this form: \"Verily I say unto you, all sins shall\nbe forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they\nshall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost\nhath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.\"[A] St.\nLuke's version is--\"Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man\nit shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the\nHoly Ghost it shall not be forgiven.\"[B]\n\n[Footnote A: St. Mark iii:28, 29.]\n\n[Footnote B: St. Luke xii:10.]\n\n_3. St. John on the Sin Unto Death:_ This represents practical\nunanimity in the testimony of these three evangelists upon the subject.\nAnd although St. John has nothing directly upon the subject in his\nGospel, yet in his epistle he has a passage which brings him into\nharmony with the others upon the subject: \"If a man see his brother\nsin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give\nlife for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death:[A]\nI do not say that he shall pray for that. All unrighteousness is sin\n[transgression of the law, ch. iii:4] and there is a sin not unto\ndeath;\"[B] but also, as above stated, there is a sin unto death.\n\n[Footnote A: That is, doubtless, a sin which kills the spiritual life\nin man; that breaks this union with God--the sin against the Holy Ghost\nwhich men have of God, and they become spiritually dead--and it is\nimpossible to revive them to life again. (See Heb. vi:6.)]\n\n[Footnote B: John v:16, 17.]\n\n_4. Nature of the Sin--St. Paul:_ Paul in his exposition of this\ndoctrine, throws some light on the nature of this sin: \"Let us go on\nunto perfection,\" is the Apostle's admonition. \"Not laying again the\nfoundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of\nthe doctrine of baptism and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection\nof the dead and eternal judgment. And this will we do if God permit.\nFor,\" glancing back upon some whe had received these fundamental\nprinciples and ordinances, sinned against them and would fain be\nrepeating them--\"it is impossible for those who were once enlightened,\nand have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the\nHoly Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of\nthe world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto\nrepentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,\nand put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain\nthat cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom\nit is dressed, receive the blessing from God: but that which beareth\nthorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is\nto be burned.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Hebrews vi:1-8.]\n\nFrom this it appears that the sin against the Holy Ghost is sin against\nthat enlightenment to the human soul which possession of the Holy Ghost\nbrings. Sin against knowledge of truth which knowledge was produced in\nthe very soul of man by witness of the Holy Ghost--is a sin against\nlight and truth. And \"if we sin wilfully after that we have received\nthe knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,\nbut a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,\nwhich shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law\ndied without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer\npunishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden\nunder foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,\nwherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite\nunto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, vengeance\nbelongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the\nLord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the\nhands of the living God.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Heb. x:26, 31.]\n\n_5. The Path of Danger:_ The \"wilful sin\" here condemned is, of\ncourse, the \"sin unto death,\" not every sin that one might commit,\nthough every sin that man commits, small as well as great, is along\nthe path of danger, and in the direction of, and may lead to, the sin\nunto death. The path of safety from the sin unto death lies in the\nother direction; not in the way of sinful dalliance, but in a stern\nbattle for righteousness and against sin. Headed that way, there is no\ndanger of the \"sin unto death;\" but every transgression of the law of\nrighteousness--which is sin[A]--though not a sin unto death, leads\ntowards the death of the spirit life planted in the soul by the Holy\nGhost--hence to be avoided, shunned. Man must not, even as God does\nnot, look upon sin with the least degree of allowance in himself,\nalways it must be abhorred and resisted. In that course and in that\ncourse alone lies safety.\n\n[Footnote A: I John iii:4.]\n\n_6. Joseph Smith on the Sin Against the Holy Ghost:_ The Prophet\nJoseph in a discourse at the General Conference of the Church, held at\nNauvoo in 1844, upon this subject of sinning against the Holy Ghost,\nsaid:\n\n\"What has Jesus said? All sins, and all blasphemies, and every\ntransgression, except one, that man can be guilty of, may be forgiven;\nand there is a salvation for all men, either in this world or the world\nto come, who have not committed the unpardonable sin, there being a\nprovision either in this world or the world of spirits. Hence God\nhath made a provision that every spirit in the eternal world can be\nferreted out and saved unless he has committed that unpardonable sin\nwhich cannot be remitted to him either in this world or the world of\nspirits. * * * I said, no man can commit the unpardonable sin after\nthe dissolution of the body, nor in this life, until he receives the\nHoly Ghost; but they must do it in this world. * * * All sins shall\nbe forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for Jesus will\nsave all except the sons of perdition. What must a man do to commit\nthe unpardonable sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens\nopened unto him, and know God, and then sin against him. After a man\nhas sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He\nhas got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it; he has got\nto deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been opened unto him, and\nto deny the plan of salvation with his eyes open to the truth of it;\nand from that time he begins to be an enemy. This is the case with many\napostates of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\"[A]\n\n[Footnote A: Improvement Era, Vol. XII, 1909, pp. 185-7.]\n\n_7. The Punishment and the Sin:_ This is in strict harmony with\none of the revelations of the New Dispensation, portraying the future\nestates of man in the varying degrees of glory in the Kingdom of God.\nElsewhere[A] I have presented the following digest:[B]\n\n[Footnote A: Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, pp. 419-421, 3rd\nedition.]\n\n[Footnote B: The Revelation is in Doc. and Cov., Sec. lxxvi:25-49.]\n\nThere is a class of souls with whom the justice of God must deal, which\nwill not and cannot be classified in the celestial, terrestrial, or\ntelestial glories. They are the sons of perdition. But though they will\nnot be assigned a place in either of these grand divisions of glory,\nthe revelation from which we draw our information respecting man's\nfuture state, describes the condition of these sons of perdition so far\nas it is made known unto the children of men. It also informs us as to\nthe nature of the crime which calls for such grievous punishment.\n\nThe sons of perdition are they of whom God hath said that it had been\nbetter for them never to have been born; for they are vessels of wrath,\ndoomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in\neternity. Concerning whom he hath said there is no forgiveness in this\nworld nor in the world to come. These are they who shall go away into\neverlasting punishment, with the devil and his angels, and the only\nones on whom the second death shall have any power; the only ones who\nwill not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings\nof his wrath. He saves all the works of his hands except these sons of\nperdition; but they go away to reign with the devil and his angels in\neternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,\nwhich is their torment. The end thereof, the place thereof no man\nknoweth. It has not been revealed, nor will it be revealed unto man,\nexcept to them who are made partakers thereof. It has been partially\nshown to some in vision, and may be shown again in the same partial\nmanner to others; but the end, the height, the depth, and the misery\nthereof, they understand not, nor will anyone but those who receive the\nterrible condemnation.\n\nSuch the punishment, now as to the crime that merits it. It is the\ncrime of high treason to God, which pulls down on men this fearful\ndoom. It falls upon men who know the power of God and who have been\nmade partakers of it, and then permit themselves to be so far overcome\nof the devil that they deny the truth that has been revealed to them\nand defy the power of God. They deny the Holy Ghost after having\nreceived him. They deny the Only Begotten Son of the Father after the\nFather hath revealed him, and in this crucify him unto themselves anew,\nand put him to an open shame. They commit the same act of high treason\nthat Lucifer in the rebellion of heaven did, and hence are worthy of\nthe same punishment with him.\n\nThey have crucified not the body of the Lord Jesus, but a spirit which\nunited with man's spirit which unhindered in its work, would have\nconformed man to the Divine image--now, after the sin against the Holy\nGhost, impossible. Spirit murder has been committed--a divinity slain\nand the guilty one hath no forgiveness. Thank God the number who commit\nthat fearful crime is but few. It is only those who attain to a very\ngreat knowledge of the things of God that are capable of committing\nit, and the number among such are few indeed who become so recklessly\nwicked as to rebel against and defy the power of God. But when such\ncharacters do fall, they fall like Lucifer, never to rise again; they\nget beyond the power of repentance or the hope of forgiveness.\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\nThe next two Lessons I place under the head of \"Appendix,\" because they\nopen up anew many things treated in the body of the work; and which I\nwould not again refer to only because of the associations given to them\nin the discourses of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, and the greater\nApostle of the New Dispensation. I throw the \"Appendix\" into the form\nof lessons, in the hope that the topics of the respective discourses\nwill be all the more emphasized and appreciated.\n\n\n\nLESSON XXIII.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nPAUL, THE APOSTLE, ON SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.\n\nANALYSIS\n\nI. Unity of Spirit, but Diversity of Gifts.\n\nII. The Church as an Organism Entitled to the Manifestation of All the\nGifts.\n\nIII. Pre-eminence of Charity Over All Other Gifts.\n\nIV. The Gift of Prophecy Preferable to the Gift of Tongues.\n\nV. Decency and Order to Be Observed in All Things.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThese three chapters in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians\n(Chapters xii, xiii, xiv), and the New Testament, passim, for what\nothers have said on Spiritual Gifts.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels\nand have not charity I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling\ncymbal.\" (I Cor. viii:1.)_\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. The Holy Ghost, the Source of Knowledge of the Christ:_ \"Now\nconcerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye\nknow that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as\nye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking\nby the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say\nthat Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.\n\n_2. Diversity of Manifestation, but One Spirit:_ \"Now there are\ndiversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences\nof administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of\noperations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the\nmanifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.\nFor to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another\nthe word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the\nsame Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to\nanother the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another\ndiscerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another\nthe interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh that one and the\nselfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.\"\n\n_3. The Oneness of the Church, Though Made Up of Many Members:_\n\"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members\nof that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by\none Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or\nGentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink\ninto one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the\nfoot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is\nit therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am\nnot the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If\nthe whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were\nhearing where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every\none of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all\none member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet\nbut one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need\nof thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay,\nmuch more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are\nnecessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less\nhonorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely\nparts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need:\nbut God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant\nhonor to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the\nbody; but that the members should have the same care one for another.\nAnd whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one\nmember be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body\nof Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the\nchurch, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after\nthat miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities\nof tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are\nall workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing? do all speak\nwith tongues? do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and\nyet shew I unto you a more excellent way.\"\n\n_4. The Vanity of Gifts Without Charity:_ \"Though I speak with\nthe tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as\nsounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of\nprophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I\nhave all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity,\nI am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and\nthough I give my body to be turned, and have not charity, it profiteth\nme nothing.\"\n\n_5. The Excellence and Qualities of Charity:_ \"Charity suffereth\nlong, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is\nnot puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own,\nis not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity,\nbut rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things,\nhopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but\nwhether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues,\nthey shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.\nFor we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is\nperfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When\nI was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought\nas a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For\nnow we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I\nknow in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now\nabideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is\ncharity.\"\n\n_6. The Gift of Prophecy More Excellent than the Gift of Tongues:_\n\"Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye\nmay prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not\nunto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the\nspirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men\nto edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an\nunknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the\nchurch.\"\n\n_7. The Uncertainty of Tongues:_ \"I would that ye all spake\nwith tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that\nprophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret,\nthat the church may receive edifying. Now, brethren, if I come unto you\nspeaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak\nto you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by\ndoctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or\nharp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be\nknown what is piped or harped? For if the trumpet give an uncertain\nsound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?\"\n\n_8. Paul's Choice of Gifts:_ \"So likewise ye, except ye utter by\nthe tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what\nis spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be,\nso many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without\nsignification. Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I\nshall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall\nbe a barbarian unto me. Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of\nspiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.\nWherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may\ninterpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but\nmy understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the\nspirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with\nthe spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Else when thou\nshalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of\nthe unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth\nnot what thou sayest? For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other\nis not edified. I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:\nYet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding,\nthat by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in\nan unknown tongue.\"\n\n_9. Confusion Likely to Come of the Gift of Tongues:_ \"Brethren,\nbe not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but\nin understanding be men. In the law it is written, With men of other\ntongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all\nthat will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for\na sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but\nprophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which\nbelieve. If therefore the whole church be come together into one place,\nand all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned,\nor unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy,\nand there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is\nconvinced of all, he is judged of all: And thus are the secrets of his\nheart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship\nGod, and report that God is in you of a truth.\"\n\n_10. The Things that Make for Edification:_ \"How is it then,\nbrethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath\na doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.\nLet all things be done unto edifying. If any man speak in an unknown\ntongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course;\nand let one interpret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep\nsilence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. Let\nthe prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing\nbe revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.\nFor ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be\ncomforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.\nFor God is not the author of confusion, but of peace...\"\n\n_11. Decency and Order Enjoined:_ \"If any man think himself to\nbe a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that\nI write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. But if any man be\nignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy,\nand forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently\nand in order.\"\n\n\n\nLESSON XXIV.\n\n(Scripture Reading Exercise.)\n\nTHE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST.[A]\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nI. Conflicting Opinions of Men on the Subject, Due to the Absence of\nRevelation.\n\nII. Extravagant Expectations Reproved.\n\nIII. All the Gifts Distributed Within the Church.\n\nIV. Manifestation of Spiritual Gifts Not Always Outwardly Discernable.\n\nV. Admonition as to Seeking Spiritual Gifts.\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nThe citations of Scripture in the body of this lesson.\n\n_SPECIAL TEXT: \"Follow after charity, desire spiritual gifts, but\nrather that ye prophesy.\" (Paul--I Cor. xiv:1.)_\n\n[Footnote A: The matter used in the \"Discussion\" is an editorial from\nthe Times and Seasons of the 15th of June, 1842; and if not written by\nthe Prophet was at least published with his sanction and approval. In\nhis Journal History, the Prophet introduces the article as follows:\n\"Issued an editorial on the 'Gift of the Holy Ghost,' as follows.\"\n(History of the Church, Vol. V, p. 26, et seq.) The side headings are\nnot part of the original editorial.]\n\nDISCUSSION.\n\n_1. Not Every Supernatural Manifestation of God:_ \"Various and\nconflicting are the opinions of men in regard to the gift of the Holy\nGhost. Some people have been in the habit of calling every supernatural\nmanifestation the effects of the Spirit of God, whilst there are others\nthat think there is no manifestation [i. e., of God] connected with it\nat all; and that it is nothing but a mere impulse of the mind, or an\ninward feeling, impression, or secret testimony or evidence, which men\npossess, and that there is no such a thing as an outward manifestation.\n\n\"It is not to be wondered at that men should be ignorant, in a great\nmeasure, of the principles of salvation, and more especially of the\nnature, office, power, influence, gifts, and blessings of the gift\nof the Holy Ghost; when we consider that the human family have been\nenveloped in gross darkness and ignorance for many centuries past,\nwithout revelation, or any just criterion [by which] to arrive at a\nknowledge of the things of God, which can only be known by the Spirit\nof God. Hence it not infrequently occurs, that when the Elders of this\nChurch preach to the inhabitants of the world, that if they obey the\nGospel they shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, that the people\nexpect to see some wonderful manifestation, some great display of\npower, or some extraordinary miracle performed; and it is often the\ncase that young members of this Church for want of better information,\ncarry along with them their old notions of things, and sometimes fall\ninto egregious errors. We have lately had some information concerning a\nfew members that are in this dilemma, and for their information make a\nfew remarks upon the subject.\n\n_2. Priesthood and Church Organization Ineffective without the Holy\nGhost:_ \"We believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost being enjoyed now,\nas much as it was in the Apostles' days; we believe that it [the gift\nof the Holy Ghost] is necessary to make and to organize the Priesthood,\nthat no man can be called to fill any office in the ministry without\nit;[A] we also believe in prophecy, in tongues, in visions, and in\nrevelations, in gifts, and in healings; and that these things cannot be\nenjoyed without the gift of the Holy Ghost. We believe that the holy\nmen of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and that holy\nmen in these days speak by the same principle; we believe in its being\na comforter and a witness bearer, that it brings things past to our\nremembrance, leads us into all truth, and shows us of things to come;\nwe believe that 'no man can know that Jesus is the Christ, but by the\nHoly Ghost.' We believe in it [this gift of the Holy Ghost] in all its\nfullness, and power, and greatness, and glory; but whilst we do this,\nwe believe in it rationally, consistently, and scripturally, and not\naccording to the wild vagaries, foolish notions and traditions of men.\n\n[Footnote A: See Book of Moroni chapter iii. \"And after this manner did\nthey ordain priests and teachers, according to the gifts and callings\nof God unto men; and they ordained them by the power of the Holy Ghost\nwhich was in them.\"]\n\n_3. Man's Inclination to Run to Extremes:_ \"The human family\nare very apt to run to extremes, especially in religious matters,\nand hence people in general, either want some miraculous display, or\nthey will not believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost at all. If an\nElder lays his hands upon a person, it is thought by many that the\nperson must immediately rise and speak in tongues and prophesy; this\nidea is gathered from the circumstance of Paul laying his hands upon\ncertain individuals who had been previously [as they stated] baptized\nunto John's baptism; which when he had done, they 'spake in tongues\nand prophesied.' Philip also, when he had preached the Gospel to the\ninhabitants of the city of Samaria, sent for Peter and John, who when\nthey came laid their hands upon them for the gift of the Holy Ghost;\nfor as yet he was fallen upon none of them; and when Simon Magus saw\nthat through the laying on of the Apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was\ngiven, he offered them money that he might possess the same power.\n[Acts viii.] These passages are considered by many as affording\nsufficient evidence for some miraculous, visible manifestation,\nwhenever hands are laid on for the gift of the Holy Ghost.\n\n_4. Diversity of Gifts:_ \"We believe that the Holy Ghost is\nimparted by the laying on of hands of those in authority, and that the\ngift of tongues, and also the gift of prophesy are gifts of the Spirit,\nand are obtained through that medium; but then to say that men always\nprophesied and spoke in tongues when they had the imposition of hands,\nwould be to state that which is untrue, contrary to the practice of\nthe Apostles, and at variance with holy writ; for Paul says, 'To one\nis given the gift of tongues, to another the gift of prophecy, and\nto another the gift of healing;\" and again: 'Do all prophesy? do all\nspeak with tongues? do all interpret?' evidently showing that all did\nnot possess these several gifts; but that one received one gift, and\nanother received another gift--all did not prophesy, all did not speak\nin tongues, all did not work miracles; but all did receive the gift\nof the Holy Ghost; sometimes they spake in tongues and prophesied in\nthe Apostles' days, and sometimes they did not. The same is the case\nwith us also in our administrations, while more frequently there is no\nmanifestation at all; that is visible to the surrounding multitude;\nthis will appear plain when we consult the writings of the apostles,\nand notice their proceedings in relation to this matter. Paul, in I\nCor. xii, says, 'Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would\nnot have you ignorant;' it is evident from this, that some of them\nwere ignorant in relation to these matters, or they would not need\ninstruction.\n\n_5. Spiritual Gifts to be Sought After:_ \"Again, in chapter xiv,\nhe says, 'Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather\nthat ye may prophesy.' It is very evident from these Scriptures that\nmany of them had not spiritual gifts, for if they had spiritual gifts\nwhere was the necessity of Paul telling them to follow after them,\nand it is as evident that they did not all receive those gifts by the\nimposition of the hands; for they as a Church had been baptized and\nconfirmed by the laying on of hands--and yet to a Church of this kind,\nunder the immediate inspection and superintendency of the Apostles,\nit was necessary for Paul to say, 'Follow after charity, and desire\nspiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy,' evidently showing\nthat those gifts were in the Church, but not enjoyed by all in their\noutward manifestations.\n\n\"But suppose the gifts of the Spirit were immediately, upon the\nimposition of hands, enjoyed by all, in all their fullness and power;\nthe skeptic would still be as far from receiving any testimony except\nupon a mere casualty as before, for all the gifts of the Spirit are not\nvisible to the natural vision, or understanding of man: indeed very\nfew of them are. We read that 'Christ ascended into heaven and gave\ngifts unto men; and Me gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and some\nEvangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers.' [Eph. iv.]\n\n_6. Diversity of Spiritual Gifts:_ \"The Church is a compact body\ncomposed of different members, and is strictly analogous to the human\nsystem, and Paul, after speaking of the different gifts, says, 'Now ye\nare the body of Christ and members in particular; and God hath set some\nin the Church, first Apostles, secondarily Prophets, thirdly Teachers,\nafter that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments,\ndiversities of tongues. Are all Teachers? Are all workers of miracles?\nDo all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?' It is evident that they\ndo not; yet are they all members of one body. All members of the\nnatural body are not the eye, the ear, the head or the hand--yet the\neye cannot say to the ear I have no need of thee, nor the head to the\nfoot, I have no need of thee; they are all so many component parts in\nthe perfect machine--the one body; and if one member suffer, the whole\nof the members suffer with it: and if one member rejoice, all the rest\nare honored with it.\n\n\"These, then, are all gifts; they come from God; they are of God; they\nare all the gifts of the Holy Ghost; they are what Christ ascended\ninto heaven to impart; and yet how few of them could be known by the\ngenerality of men. Peter and John were Apostles, yet the Jewish court\nscourged them as imposters. Paul was both an Apostle and Prophet, yet\nthey stoned him and put him into prison. The people knew nothing about\nit, although he had in his possession the gift of the Holy Ghost Our\nSavior was 'anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows,' yet\nso far from the people knowing Him, they said He was Beelzebub, and\ncrucified Him as an imposter. Who could point out a Pastor, a Teacher,\nor an Evangelist by their appearance, yet had they the gift of the Holy\nGhost?\n\n_7. Spiritual Gifts Not Always Outwardly Discernible:_ \"But to\ncome to the other members of the Church, and examine the gifts as\nspoken of by Paul, and we shall find that the world can in general\nknow nothing about them, and that there is but one or two that\ncould be immediately known, if they were all poured out immediately\nupon the imposition of hands. In I Cor. xii, Paul says, 'There are\ndiversities of gifts yet the same spirit, and there are differences\nof administrations but the same Lord; and there are diversities of\noperations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the\nmanifestations of the Spirit is given unto every man to profit withal.\nFor to one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom, to another,\nthe word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith, by the\nsame Spirit; to another the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; to\nanother the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another the\ndiscerning of spirits; to another divers kind of tongues; to another\nthe interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the\nself same spirit, dividing to each man severally as he will.'\n\n\"There are several gifts mentioned here, yet which of them all could\nbe known by an observer at the imposition of hands? The word of\nwisdom, and the word of knowledge, are as much gifts as any other, yet\nif a person possessed both of these gifts, or received them by the\nimposition of hands, who would know it? Another might receive the gift\nof faith, and they would be as ignorant of it. Or suppose a man had\nthe gift of healing or power to work miracles, that would not then be\nknown; it would require time and circumstances to call these gifts into\noperation. Suppose a man had the discerning of spirits, who would be\nthe wiser for it? Or if he had the interpretation of tongues, unless\nsomeone spoke in an unknown tongue, he of course would have to be\nsilent; there are only two gifts that could be made visible--the gift\nof tongues and the gift of prophecy. These are things that are the most\ntalked about, and yet if a person spoke in an unknown tongue, according\nto Paul's testimony, he would be a barbarian to those present. They\nwould say that it was gibberish; and if he prophesied they would call\nit nonsense. The gift of tongues is the smallest gift perhaps of the\nwhole, and yet it is one that is the most sought after.\n\n\"So that according to the testimony of Scripture and the manifestations\nof the Spirit in ancient days, very little could be known about it by\nthe surrounding multitude, except on some extraordinary occasion, as on\nthe day of Pentecost.\n\n\"The greatest, the best, and the most useful gifts would be known\nnothing about by an observer. It is true that a man might prophesy,\nwhich is a great gift, and one that Paul told the people--the\nChurch--to seek after and to covet, rather than to speak in tongues;\nbut what does the world know about prophesying? Paul says that it\n'serveth only to those that believe.' But does not the Scriptures\nsay that they spake in tongues and prophesied? Yes; but who is it\nthat writes these Scriptures? Not the men of the world or mere casual\nobservers, but the Apostles--men who knew one gift from another, and\nof course were capable of writing about it; if we had the testimony of\nthe Scribes and Pharisees concerning the outpouring of the Spirit on\nthe day of Pentecost, they would have told us that it was no gift, but\nthat the people were 'drunken with new wine,' and we shall finally have\nto come to the same conclusion that Paul did--'No man knows the things\nof God but by the Spirit of God;' for with the great revelations of\nPaul when he was caught up into the third heaven and saw things that\nwere not lawful to utter, no man was apprised of it until he mentioned\nit himself fourteen years after: and when John had the curtains of\nheaven withdrawn, and by vision looked through the dark vista of future\nages, and contemplated events that should transpire throughout every\nsubsequent period of time, until the final winding up scene--while he\ngazed upon the glories of the eternal world, saw an innumerable company\nof angels and heard the voice of God--it was in the Spirit, on the\nLord's day, unnoticed and unobserved by the world.\n\n\"The manifestations of the gift of the Holy Ghost, the ministering of\nangels, or the development of the power, majesty or glory of God were\nvery seldom manifested publicly, and that generally to the people of\nGod, as to the Israelites; but most generally when angels have come,\nor God has revealed Himself, it has been to individuals in private, in\ntheir chamber; in the wilderness or fields, and that generally without\nnoise or tumult. The angel delivered Peter out of prison in the dead\nof night; came to Paul unobserved by the rest of the crew; appeared to\nMary and Elizabeth without the knowledge of others; spoke to John the\nBaptist whilst the people around were ignorant of it.\n\n\"When Elisha saw the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof,\nit was unknown to others. When the Lord appeared to Abraham it was\nat his tent door; when the angels went to Lot, no person knew them\nbut himself, which was the case probably with Abraham and his wife;\nwhen the Lord appeared to Moses, it was in the burning bush, in the\ntabernacle, or in the mountain top; when Elijah was taken in a chariot\nof fire, it was unobserved by the world; and when he was in a cleft\nof rock, there was loud thunder, but the Lord was not in the thunder;\nthere was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and\nthen there was a still small voice, which was the voice of the Lord,\nsaying, 'What doest thou hear, Elijah?'\n\n_8. An Admonition to Righteousness:_ \"The Lord cannot always be\nknown by the thunder of His voice, by the display of His glory or by\nthe manifestation of His power; and those that are the most anxious to\nsee these things, are the least prepared to meet them, and were the\nLord to manifest His power as He did to the children of Israel, such\ncharacters would be the first to say, 'Let not the Lord speak any more,\nlest we His people die.'\n\n\"We would say to the brethren, seek to know God in your closets, call\nupon him in the fields. Follow the directions of the Book of Mormon,\nand pray over, and for your families, your cattle, your flocks, your\nherds, your corn, and all things that you possess; ask the blessing\nof God upon all your labors, and everything that you engage in. Be\nvirtuous and pure; be men of integrity and truth; keep the commandments\nof God; and then you will be able more perfectly to understand the\ndifference between right and wrong--between the things of God and the\nthings of men; and your path will be like that of the just, which\nshineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.\n\n\"Be not so curious about tongues, do not speak in tongues except\nthere be an interpreter present; the ultimate design of tongues is to\nspeak to foreigners, and if persons are very anxious to display their\nintelligence, let them speak to such in their own tongues. The gifts of\nGod are all useful in their place, but when they are applied to that\nwhich God does not intend, they prove an injury, a snare and a curse\ninstead of a blessing.\"","title":"The Seventy's Course in Theology, Fifth Year: Divine Immanence and the Holy Ghost","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":57282}