V.
THE PROPHET'S CORRECTION OF SECTARIAN ERRORS.
THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION: Against the sectarian dogma of the cessation of revelation, Joseph Smith proclaimed the reopening of the heavens. Against the doctrine that angels would no more visit the earth, he asserted the visitation of angels to him, revealing the existence of the Book of Mormon, a new volume of Scripture. Other angels brought to the Prophet the keys of authority and power held by them in former dispensations. So came John the Baptist with the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood; Peter, James and John, with the keys of the Melchisedek Priesthood; Moses, with the keys of the gathering of Israel, and so following. Against the doctrine of a closed volume of Scripture, Joseph Smith asserted the existence of, and the truth of the American volume of Scripture, the Book of Mormon. Against this whole narrow, bigoted idea of revelation held by the Christian world, he proclaimed a larger view. Instead of holding that a few prophets among the Hebrews had been visited of God and received divine inspiration he represented God as saying:
"Thou fool, that shall say, A Bible, a Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible! Have ye obtained a Bible, save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one; know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men; yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? For I command all men, both in the east and in the west * * * and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them. * * * Behold, I will speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and I will also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it; and I will also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I will also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it."
Joseph Smith also represents one of the Nephite prophets as saying:
"Behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true."
This doctrine unites in one splendid brotherhood all the Seekers after God, all those who received inspiration from the Most High and were sent forth from the Divine Presence to instruct their fellow men. Joseph Smith, I say, unites their hands in a splendid brotherhood of the God-inspired men of this world. Not that all the prophets among the various races of men were equally inspired; not that all came with a fulness of truth; not that all had the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if they brought not with their message the effulgent brightness of an all-glorious day, they brought something of twilight which dispelled some of the murkiness of the night in which the men of their respective races had walked; and those who have groped in the density of darkness know how grateful is the twilight, how much better it is than darkness. How noble is this view of God's hand-dealings with the children of men in respect of revelation, as compared with that narrow, bigoted view prevailing at the beginning of the nineteenth century, which held that the Hebrew Scriptures contained all the word of God delivered to the inhabitants of the earth!
THE BEING AND KIND OF BEING GOD IS: Against the dogma that God was an incorporeal, immaterial, passionless being, the Prophet announced the splendid doctrine of anthropomorphism—God in the human form, and possessed of human qualities, but sanctified and perfected. In the first great revelation which opened this last dispensation our Prophet beheld Father and Son as separate persons, distinct from each other; persons in the form of men, but more glorious and more splendid, of course, than words could describe them to be. All through the revelations received, and all through his discourses, the Prophet reaffirms the old doctrine of the Scriptures, the doctrine of all the prophets, asserting that man indeed was created in the image of God, and that God possessed human qualities, consciousness, will, love, mercy, justice; together with power and glory—in a word, a Man "exalted and perfected."
CREATION—THE LAW OF SUBSTANCE: In opposition to the doctrine that God had created the universe of nothing, the Prophet asserted the doctrine of the eternity of substance and energy and law, and their infinite extension throughout all space; that creation is but the wisely wrought changes made in the modes of existences, which are themselves—in their essence—eternal, the changes constantly tending to higher developments, from good to better, or else ministering to that end.
OF MAN'S ORIGIN: Against the doctrine which ascribed a merely earthly origin for man, body and spirit; that taught that the intelligent entity in man—the mind—was a created thing—against this, I say, our Prophet taught that "Intelligence is not created or made, neither, indeed, can be." He taught that the intelligent entity in man, which men call "spirit" and sometimes "soul," is a self-existing entity, uncreated and eternal as God is, placed in the way by Higher Intelligences,—and guided by their love and counsels,—of increasing his own intelligence and power and glory and joy. Such he represented man to be, and once more crowned him with the dignity belonging to his Divine and eternal nature.
ELECTION AND REPROBATION: In regard to that monstrous doctrine that God, by the exercise of His sovereign will, had predestined some men and angels unto everlasting life, while others He ordained to everlasting death; and that, not because of the good or the evil they had done or might do, but because he had so willed it by his sovereign will; that "the number of such men and angels thus predestined are so peculiarly and unchangeably known, and their number so certain and definite that it can not be either increased or diminished"—against this monstrous view of the doctrine of salvation for the race of men, our Prophet declared salvation to be free, and every soul of man capable of participating therein, if happily he should seek salvation; and that man could be assured of the help and grace of God to aid him in the attainment of salvation. Commenting on a passage of Scripture supposed to teach the sectarian doctrine of Election and Reprobation, the Prophet said: "Unconditional election of individuals to eternal life was not taught by the Apostles. God did elect, or predestinate, that all those who would be saved should be saved in Christ Jesus, and through obedience to the Gospel"—other than this there was no predestination or election relating to the salvation of individuals.
On the subject of the fate of the uninstructed heathen, as also upon the matter of children dying in infancy, or before arriving at the years of accountability, the doctrine of Joseph Smith held that where no law is given men will be judged without law, but will stand within the circle of the mercy of God, and there is hope, nay, assurance, of ultimate salvation for the heathen. "The heathen nations shall be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them," are the words of the Lord through the Prophet.
And as for infants dying in infancy, or before arriving at years of accountability, the Prophet taught, the mercy of God claims them wholly. They are redeemed from the consequences of Adam's transgression by the atonement of Christ, and being without sin themselves, the law against sin has no claim upon them, and they are saved to the uttermost without baptism or anything else whatsoever, by the pure mercy and justice of God. "Little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world," is a doctrine of the Prophet's.
THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT: Against the dogma of the attainment of heaven or the assignment to hell, involving, as it did, the equality of the glory in the one, and equal severity of punishment in the other, our Prophet reasserted the justice of God in providing a graded state of existence for men in the future life, grades that correspond to the state of mental, moral and spiritual development of every soul of man.
Upon this subject Joseph Smith taught that there are many kingdoms of the Father in which men may live, each in a sphere suitable to his nature, disposition and the degree of his development: moderns would say, "Suitable to the state of his evolution." He taught that as there is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and another of the stars, so in future men will exist in varying degrees of glory; that as the stars of heaven differ in infinite degrees of brightness, so also will men in the future exist in places and states of infinite variety, corresponding to the infinite variations of their intelligence, knowledge, tastes, acquirements, inclinations, and aspirations. In other words, environment will correspond to nature, with always the possibility present of improving both the environment and the nature, until a fulness of joy is attained by each intelligent entity—by each man.
Thus Joseph Smith promulgated a system of positive doctrine respecting the future of man that is at once in harmony with the relative claims of justice and mercy; with human reason and divine law. He made known the fact that
"Eternal punishment is God's punishment."
"Endless punishment is God's punishment."
That is to say, the punishment for sin-which is only another way of saying the "penalty" for wrong-doing—takes the title of Him in whose name it is administered, that is, it is "God's" punishment, or "Eternal's" punishment, "Endless' punishment." The punishment takes on it the name of Him in whose authority it is administered. Moreover, penalty will always follow violation of the law, in eternity as in what we call time. So long as law exists, penalties must also exist. They are the necessary concomitants of law, without which laws are mere nullities. But because punishments, so-called, take on the name of Him in whose authority they are administered, and because law is necessarily paralleled by penalty—therefore punishment will always exist for offenders against law; in other words is endless—it does not follow that each transgressor of the law will suffer its penalties eternally. Such a conception is revolting to reason and derogatory to the justice and mercy of God. While one must needs believe that penalty follows violation of law, the violator only partakes of that penalty to the extent that is necessary to vindicate the law and correct the transgressor's own disposition: whereupon mercy has her claims, that may not be denied: and the one time violator of law, instructed by his experience in suffering, goes forth to walk, let us hope, in harmony with law, and hence in peace.
Thus, all down the line of religious error, as well as in the things here pointed out, Joseph Smith asserted the truth of God, and maintained it before the world. Had he done no more than this, if this had been the sole achievement in the world's realm of thought by our Prophet—he would stand in fair way of being regarded as the historical American who had exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen. But instead of this being the end of his achievements it is merely the commencement of his life's work; a mere clearing of the ground for the new temple of religion and philosophy to be erected; the dismissal of the absurdities of old systems to make way for the incoming of the new system of thought which shall be in harmony with the new knowledge of a new and glorious age—the incoming millennium.
I wonder if I may venture here to draw in outline the suggestion of that system? By your leave, then: In the beginning it is necessary to say to you that I shall use all ideas, doctrines, philosophies, science principles, interpretations that I find brought to the knowledge of the world through Joseph Smith, directly or indirectly. For while doctrines here used are found in the Book of Mormon and properly should be referred to the prophets among ancient American peoples for their origin, still the world today owe their knowledge of these things to the translation of the Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith. So also in relation to the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham. So also as to the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants; such philosophy and religious principles as are there found are given of God, but Joseph Smith received and published them, and for the purposes of what is here to be set forth shall stand as his doctrines and philosophy, as well also as those utterances that make up the subject-matter of his discourses.