VII.
THE PROPHET'S GENERALIZATIONS.
A word in relation to the manner of the Prophet's teaching. It was unique in its way. He may scarcely be said to have made any attempt at creating a system of philosophy however much may be said for his system of religion and of ecclesiastical government. His philosophical principles were flung off in utterances without reference to any arrangement or orderly sequence; and in the main were taught in independent aphorisms, which is a remarkably effective way of teaching, for an aphorism resembles the proverb, and is a form in which Truth is bound to live. It is the American philosopher Emerson, I think, who describes a proverb to be the language of absolute Truth—the statement of Truth without qualification. It is the literature of power. Fortunate, indeed, is the man who gives a people or nation a proverb; and so, too, is the nation or people fortunate who receive it. Like mercy, it is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Usually proverbs are produced by a race's experience. Proverbs come up out of the tribulations of a people. They are produced slowly and represent the hived wisdom of the ages. Books of proverbs are not written by men, to whom they are sometimes ascribed, they represent a collection slowly produced through centuries. Such are the proverbs of our Bible; proverbs of the Chinese classics; and the proverbs of the Hindoo literature. Joseph Smith gave to his age many of these generalized truths, more, I think, than has fallen to the lot of any other teacher, save Jesus, the Christ. I can but repeat a few of these as examples:
"The glory of God is intelligence."
"It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance."
"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge."
"Knowledge saves a man, and in the world of spirits no man can be
exalted but by knowledge."
"Whatsoever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life
will rise with us in the resurrection."
"If one man, by his diligence, obtains more knowledge than
another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."
"There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law on which it is predicated."
"Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have
joy."
"This is the glory of God—to bring to pass the immortality and
the eternal life of man."
"The elements are eternal, yea, the elements are the tabernacle of
God. Man is the tabernacle of God, even temples."
"The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably united, receive a fulness of joy [Hence the importance of man's earth life in which spirit is united to earthly elements.]
"If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not
comprehend themselves."
"God Himself was once as we are now; and is an exalted Man; for
Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God."
"The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal."
"The spirit and the body is the soul of man; and the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul."
"It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another."
"Jesus was in the beginning with the Father. * * * Man was also in
the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was
not created or made, neither indeed can be."
"Jesus treads in the footsteps of His Father, and inherits what
God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the
salvation and exaltation of all His children."
"The things of God are of deep import; and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss and the broad expanse of eternity—thou must commune with God!"
The Prophet represents God as saying: "I give unto men weaknesses that they might be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all those who humble themselves before me."
To one who inquired how he governed men so well, he said: "I do not govern them: I teach men correct principles, and they govern themselves."
These sayings, with many others of like character, in the future literature of America, philosophical and religious, will make its pages blaze with glory. They are destined to become generally accepted principles of truth. They will become household aphorisms. They are words spoken by inspiration of God. They come from what Carlyle calls, "the inner Fact of things." They will live to influence the future generations of America, and of men everywhere.