I say the world is waking up to the consciousness of their need of having in concrete form a conception of God that appeals to the understanding of men, and that is to be found in the revelations of God. Paul was right when he said
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest ["manifested" is the marginal reading] in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."
This in plain allusion to the Christ, of course.
5. God Revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ: "This completes the survey I intended to make of this field. [Reference is made to a review of prevailing ideas about God in the world at the advent of Jesus.] Nowhere have we found a knowledge of the true and living God. Nowhere a teacher who comes with definite knowledge of this subject of all subjects;—a subject so closely related to eternal life, that to know God is said in the scriptures to be life eternal; and of course, the cor-life. We can form no other conclusion from the survey we have taken of the world's ideas respecting the existence and nature of God, than that forced upon us—the world stood in sore need of a revelation of God. He whom the Egyptians and Indians sought for in their Pantheism, must be made known. God, whom Confucius would have men respect, but keep at a distance, must draw near. The "Alfader" of the Goths, undefined, incomprehensible to them, must be brought out of the northern darkness into glorious light. The God-idea that prevailed among the Greek philosophers must be brought from the mists of their idle speculations and made to stand before the world. He whom the Jews were seeking to deny and forsake must be revealed again to the children of men. And lo! when the vail falls from the revelation that God gives of himself—what form is that which steps forth from the background of the world's ignorance and mystery? A Man, as God lives! Jesus of Nazareth—the great Peasant Teacher of Judea. He is God revealed henceforth to the world. They who thought God impersonal, without form must know him henceforth as a person in the form of man. They who have held him to be without quality, must henceforth know him as possessed of the qualities of Jesus of Nazareth. They who have regarded him as infinitely terrible, must henceforth know him also as infinitely gentle. Those who would hold him at a distance, will now permit him to draw near. This is the world's mystery revealed. This is God manifested in the flesh. This is the Son of God, who comes to reveal the Father, for he is the express image and likeness of that Father's person, and the reflection of that Father's mind. Henceforth when men shall say, Show us the Father, he shall point to himself as the complete revelation of the Father, and say, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father also." Henceforth, when men shall dispute about the "being" and "nature" of God, it shall be a perfect answer to uphold Jesus Christ as the complete, perfect revelation and manifestation of God, and through all the ages it shall be so; there shall be no excuse for men saying they know not God, for all may know him, from the least to the greatest, so tangible, so real a revelation has God given of himself in the person and character of Jesus Christ. He lived his life on earth—a life of sorrow and of gentleness, it's pathway strewn with actions fraught with mercy, kindness, and love. A man he was, approved of God among men, by miracles, and wonders and signs which God did by him. Being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, men took and by wicked hands crucified and slew him, but God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it; and exalted him on high at the right hand of God, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." (Mormon Doctrine of Deity; pp. 185-6.)
LESSON XXIV.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE CHRISTIAN INSTITUTIONS.
| ANALYSIS. | REFERENCES. |
| I. Ordinances: 1. Baptism. 2. Confirmation. 3. Eucharist.[A] | Heb. vi:1[B]; Acts ii:37-38. Acts viii:4-20. Note 1 and 2. Matt, xxviii:19. Mark xvi:16. John iii:3-5. Heb. vi:2; II Cor. iii:6 cf. Acts xix:6; II Tim. i:6; Acts viii:15-20. Notes 3, 4. Matt, xxvi:26-28. Mark xvi:22-24. Luke xxii:19, 20. John xiii. I Cor. xi. 23-25. Note 5, 6. |
[Footnote A: Eucharist. The Lord's Supper, a solemn rite commemorating the dying of Christ for the salvation of men; the holy sacrament; the communion of the body and blood of Christ. (Funk & Wagnall Diet.)]
[Footnote B: On all the above subdivisions the Bible Dictionaries, Kitto's Biblical Literature, Smith's New Testament History, etc., can be consulted to advantage, though it should always be remembered that the utterances of these authorities are to be carefully weighed.]