3. The Dual Idea of "Father" and "Creator:" I said a moment since that scripture terminology justified this dual idea that goes with the use of "father" and "creator." Now to the proof: In Hebrews we find this passage: "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"[A] From this it is learned that God is the "Father" of the spirits of men—from which circumstance comes the title—"God, the Father." In the Book of Moses, the Lord, following an account of the creation, says: "I, the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. * * * And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them. * * * And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word."[B]
[Footnote A: Heb. xii:9.]
[Footnote B: Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price), ch. iii:5, c. f. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xxix:30-34; also Book of Abraham, ch. iii:23. Gen. i:26-27; c. f. Gen. ii:5-7.]
Here we have God saying that he had "created all the children of men," and yet there was not a man to till the earth; "for in heaven I created them," that is, uniting this statement with Paul's passage, he had become the "Father of spirits;" and "Father" and Creator are seen to be used synonymously. Conversely: Nothing is clearer than that God, in the Scriptures, is proclaimed the "Creator:" "Creator of heaven and earth and all things that in them are." And now comes one of our Book of Mormon writers, saying: "and they [i. e., Father and Son, see context] are one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth."[A] Which can only be understood as "creator of heaven and earth."
[Footnote A: Mosiah xv:4.]
Again: "Is the Son of God the very eternal Father? * * * Yea, he is the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them is."[A] In the quotation following the terms are used in combination. Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, was sent unto the people of a certain city, that they "might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things, from the beginning."[B] From these passages it is evident that the term "father" is made to include the idea of "Creator."
[Footnote A: Alma xi:38, 39.]
[Footnote B: Helaman xiv:12. Wherein Jesus is referred to as the Creator, the "Father of heaven and earth," it should be understood that he is so under the direction of the God, the Father; "God * * * hath * * * spoken to us by his Son, by whom also he (God the Father) made the worlds" (Hebrews i:3). "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,—and we in him: and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him" (I. Cr. viii:6) " * * * God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. iii:9). So that while Jesus was the immediate creator of things he did so under and by the Father's direction, so that the Father may still be regarded as the first mover in the creation drama, Jesus the agency through whom he acted.]
4. "Father" and "Fathering:" The chief characteristic, of the First Personage of the Godhead, then, appears to be that of "Father," "Creator." And with this goes the extended idea inseparably associated with the notion of "Father," viz., "fathering"—caring for, sustaining, upholding. We contemplate this Holy First Personage, then, not only as "Father of spirits;" but one anxious for their welfare, for their progress. And he himself has declared "this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."[A] And in the creation drama we have God, the "Father of the spirits," standing among them and planning for their advancement. God said unto those who were with him: "We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate, and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of man: Here a. I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first."[B]
[Footnote A: Book of Moses, ch. i:39.]