[1]. Doc and Cov. sec. xlii: 30-32.
[2]. Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxviii: 30.
[3]. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xlii: 42.
[4]. Doc. and Cov. Sec. lxxv: 29.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
EVIDENCE OF DIVINE INSPIRATION IN JOSEPH SMITH DERIVED FROM THE PROPHET'S TEACHING IN REGARD TO THE EXTENT OF THE UNIVERSE, MAN'S PLACE IN IT, AND HIS DOCTRINE RESPECTING THE GODS.
If the church Joseph Smith organized is a monument to his divine inspiration; if the comprehensiveness of the work he introduced gives evidence that more than human wisdom was necessary to conceive it; if his proposed reconstruction of society as to its industrial aspects proclaims for him a divine wisdom—a still greater evidence of inspiration is to be seen in the prophet's teaching on the extent of the universe, man's place in it, and his doctrine respecting the Gods.
To make this appear it will be necessary to state briefly the opinions entertained on these subjects by those accepting orthodox Christianity before the introduction of the New Dispensation. Indeed, I may go as far back as the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in this statement, in order that the reader may see what the real orthodox faith on all these subjects was before modern discoveries forced upon it some modification of its views.
In the centuries named the geocentric theory respecting the universe prevailed. That is, it was believed that the earth was in shape flat, and the immovable centre of the universe; that about it circled sun, moon and stars in regular order. Indeed it was supposed that the specific and only purpose for which the sun was formed was to give light and heat to the earth; and the moon and stars were formed to give light by night in the absence of the sun. Above the earth was bent the vast dome of the blue sky, its edges apparently resting on the circumfluous waters. Above the blue sky was heaven, the abode of God and the blest; and under the earth was the dark region of hell, into which was thrust the wicked—the damned. It was believed that God, about six thousand years ago, created by a word, out of nothing, all this universe—earth, sun, moon, stars, and all things in the earth. That man and all living creatures were moulded from the dust, and then had breathed into them the spirit of life, and so became living creatures. This was the view "authoritatively asserted by the church,"[[1]] in the centuries I have designated.