LESSON I.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
INTELLIGENCES AND SPIRITS.
| ANALYSIS. | REFERENCES. |
| I. Intelligences—Existence and Character of. | Pearl of Great Price ch. iii. St. John i:1-14 Compared with Doc. and Cov. sec. xciii 6-31. See the Prophet Joseph's "King Follett Sermon" Apl. 7, 1844, Mill. Star Vol. xxiii, pp. 245-280 and notes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. |
| II. Distinction Between "Intelligences" and "Spirits." | Book of Ether ch. iii:13-16, and the foregoing references of the lesson and notes 1, 7. Also Article in the "Improvement Era," April 1907, on the "Immortality of Man."[A] |
[Footnote A: The following appears as a note preceding the article in question, from which article most of the notes in this and in lessons following in Part I are taken: "Elder Roberts submitted the following paper to the First Presidency and a number of the Twelve Apostles, none of whom found anything objectionable in it, or contrary to the revealed word of God, and therefore favor its publication.—Editors.">[
NOTES.
1. Intelligencies-Co-Eternal: "If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them. * * * * * If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist, for they are gnolaum, or eternal." (Book of Abraham ch. 3, 16, 18.)
2. Intelligencies, Eternal, Self-existent: "The soul—the mind of man—the immortal spirit—where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning; but it is not so: the very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine. I know better. Hear it, all ye ends of the world, for God has told me so, if you don't believe me, it will not make the truth without effect. * * * We say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so? It is correct enough, but how did it get into your head? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner, upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. * * * * * The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal, [co-eternal[A]], with God himself. I know my testimony is true."—Joseph Smith, (Mill. Star, Vol. XXIII, p. 262.)
[Footnote A: It must be remembered that these sermons of the prophet were reported in long hand, and by several persons (See History of the Church, Vol. IV, p. 556-note); and hence verbal inaccuracies may exist, of which the above is doubtless one. The Prophet could not have meant to have taught that the "intelligence" in man was "co-equal with God", except as to being co-equal in eternity with God, since the Book of Abraham teaches that God is more intelligent than all other intelligencies (ch. iii:19) and the Prophet himself, as will be seen in subsequent quotations, teaches the same truth. Hence the insertion of word above in brackets.]
3. The Nature of Intelligencies: There is in that complex thing we call man, an intelligent entity, uncreated, self existent, indestructible, He—for that entity is a person; because, as we shall see, he is possessed of powers that go with personality only, hence that entity is "he," not "it,"—he is eternal as God is; co-existent, in fact, with God; of the same kind of substance or essence with deity, though confessedly inferior in degree of intelligence and power to God. One must needs think that the name of this eternal entity—what God calls him—conveys to the mind some idea of his nature. He is called an "intelligence;" and this I believe is descriptive of him. That is, intelligence is the entity's chief characteristic. If this be a true deduction, then the entity must be self-conscious, and "others—conscious," that is, he must have the power to distinguish himself from other things—the "me" from the "not me." He must have the power of deliberation, by which he sets over one thing against another; with power also to form a judgment that this or that is a better thing or state than this or that. Also there goes with this idea of intelligence a power of choosing one thing instead of another, one state rather than another. These powers are inseparably connected with any idea that may be formed of an intelligence. One cannot conceive of intelligence existing without these qualities any more than he can conceive of an object existing in space without dimensions. The phrase "the light of truth" [Doc. & Cov., Sec. xciii.] is given in one of the revelations as the equivalent for an "intelligence" here discussed; by which is meant to be understood, as I think, that intelligent entities perceive the truth, are conscious of the truth, they know that which is, hence "the light of truth," "intelligence." Let it be observed that I say nothing as to the mode of the existence of these intelligences, beyond the fact of their eternity. But of their form, or the manner of their subsistence nothing, so far as I know, has been revealed, and hence we are without means of knowing anything about the modes of their existence beyond the fact of it, and the essential qualities they possess, which already have been pointed out.