What Jesus Taught

by Osborne J. P. Widtsoe

The conviction of an English philosopher.

Other great men, too, have been as profoundly impressed by the divinity of Jesus as was Napoleon. The great English philosopher, John Locke, expressed his convictions in these words: "Before our Savior's time, the doctrine of a future state, though it were not wholly hid, yet it was not clearly known in the world? He brought life and immortality to light. And that not only in the clear revelation of it and in instances shown of men raised from the dead; but He has given an unquestionable assurance and pledge of it, in His own resurrection and ascension into heaven. How has this one truth changed the nature of things? The philosophers, indeed show the beauty of nature, but leaving her unendowed, very few are willing to espouse her. It has another relish and efficiency to persuade men that if they live well here, they shall be happy hereafter. Upon this foundation, and upon this only, morality stands firm; and this is the gospel Jesus Christ has delivered to us."

Declarations of Emerson and Webster.

Two notable Americans may be here cited also to show the influence of the work of Jesus upon men of great intellect. Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher and poet, wrote, "Jesus is the most perfect of all men that have yet appeared. The unique impressions of Jesus upon mankind are not so much written as ploughed into the history of this world. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Alone in all history, He estimated the greatness of man." And Daniel Webster declared in his argument in the Girard Will Case, "I believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. The miracles which He wrought establish in my mind His personal authority and render it proper for me to believe what He asserts."

Additional testimony.

Testimonies of this kind might be added upon without limit. Of course, there may be found also many men who reject the testimony of Jesus. But the interesting fact about the influence of Jesus is that the farther we become removed from the time of His earth-ministry, the more strongly is His influence felt, and the closer does the world really come to Him. In spite of the war that Satan has waged in the world against Him, Jesus is dearer to men today than He has ever been before. Even the great world war now raging is turning the hearts of men to Jesus; and many more men of learning and leadership are expressing their faith in the teachings of Jesus the Christ. It is to be hoped that all men will soon come to the conviction of the great German philosopher, Kant: "In the life and the divine doctrine of Christ, example and precept conspire to call men to the regular discharge of every moral duty for its own sake. Christ is the founder of the first true Church; that is, that Church which exhibits the moral kingdom of God upon earth."

Reasons for strong testimonies in the Church.

Now, if the men of the world can get such testimonies and can feel so strongly that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, surely the children of the Latter-day Saints ought easily to learn to know this sublime truth. Jesus came to earth, as He Himself declared, when He was twelve years old, to attend to His Father's business. That business, we learned, is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And we have learned also that it is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Jesus devoted His life to expounding the principles of eternal life. He showed in His own person what kind of being God is. He explained His own relationship to God the Father. He revealed the nature and the office of the Holy Ghost. He taught the essential principles of the Gospel, which Paul called the power of God unto salvation. He emphasized the necessity of divine authority in order to act officially in the things of God. He explained by parable and by teaching the duties that man owes to God. He made perfectly clear, too, the duties that man owes to his fellowmen. He established by His wonderful life and work His own divinity as the Son of God. He overcame death, the barrier between God and man, by laying down His own life. He proved the actuality of the resurrection and the life after death by arising Himself from the tomb. He continues as the Living Christ, interceding with the Father for us. All this the children of the Latter-day Saints have had taught to them as clearly as it has been taught to the children of the world. In addition, the children of the Latter-day Saints have membership in the true Church of Jesus Christ. The Holy Priesthood is here established. The Gospel in its fulness has been restored. The Church believes in continual revelation, and is favored with the living word of God. These are the marks of the Church of Christ. The inspiration of the Holy Ghost ought, therefore, to cause the testimony of Jesus to burn brightly in the bosom of every Latterday Saint. To us also Jesus has revealed the means of salvation, by His teaching, by His personal example and influence, by His death and resurrection. And to us He has delivered the keys of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.

Evidences of testimony in the Church.

The members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. They recognize the fact that the object of Christ's life-work was to reveal God, to teach men to know God as their Father, to persuade them to live lives of righteousness, and to redeem them from the sin of the garden of Eden. And as intellectual, men of the world have avowed their conviction that Jesus is the Christ, so also have the leaders of "Mormon" thought and life. Almost every meeting held in the Church is a meeting of declaration of faith in Jesus. The monthly testimony meetings, particularly, are filled with assurances of faith in Him. The Presidency of the Church, the twelve apostles, and all the members of the quorums of general authority, devote their lives as special witnesses of Jesus to the testifying to His divine Sonship. And of all the testimonies of Jesus as the true and living Christ, the ever present and ever active advocate with the Father, there is no other so strong and effective as that of the Prophet, Joseph Smith, and his associate Sidney Rigdon.