The Seventy's Course in Theology

THIRD YEAR

The Doctrine of Deity

Compiled and Edited by

B. H. ROBERTS

Of the First Council of The Seventy

"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the Only True God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent."—Jesus.

"It is the First Principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God."—Joseph Smith.

Salt Lake City

1910

SEVENTY'S YEAR BOOK NO. III.

INTRODUCTION.

The Seventy's Course in Theology, Third Year, treats directly of the Doctrine of Deity. In structure and treatment of the theme, it follows the general plan of the First and Second Year Books. Therefore what was said in the Introduction to the First Year Book to "Class Teachers;" and on the "Manner of Lesson Treatment;" "Home Reading and Preparation;" "Scripture Reading and Special Texts;" and on "Lectures," will be available here. As quite a number of the Quorum members will not have First and Second Year Books, it is recommended that the Presidents or Class Teachers bring the suggestions under the above headings to the attention of the classes, and read them in class. An entire class session indeed, could be well spent in consideration of methods of work.

One modification only is suggested in methods of work. Where the Seventies meet in classes that are only fragments of quorums, in instances where the number of meetings does not average more than from three to six or eight, it is thought that better results would be obtained if such a class would convert the occasion into a lesson-study meeting, for three lessons in the month, and instead of trying to deliver the lesson statement in lecture form, remain seated around the table and read the lesson, hunt up the citations given, and discuss the notes—in a word study the lesson together and profit by each other's assistance. Then, on the fourth lesson of the month—when the Seventies are supposed to meet in quorum capacity, the usual quorum methods could be followed.

The importance of the Subject, "The Doctrine of Deity:" Of the importance of the subject treated in this present Year Book, but little need be said, as its importance is largely self-evident; but to minds that do not so conceive it, perhaps its importance will be made apparent by such expressions as these:

"This is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."—Jesus, the Christ.

"It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God; and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another."—Joseph Smith, the Prophet.

Far be it from me to hold that faith in God, and participation in salvation, depends upon a scientific knowledge of the being, and the kind of being, God is. The Soul of man, self-conscious of the being of God, and enlightened, if only in a general way—in a way far from what would be regarded as well-arranged knowledge—may yet have faith in God. So that I am not holding that the very definite knowledge we are seeking through this treatise, is necessary to first steps in what must always be a progressive faith. I do not address the men for whom these Lessons are prepared from the standpoint that I would have them understand in order that they may believe; but rather that they may understand—as clearly as I can help them to understand—that which they already believe. Also that they may more distinctly teach that which they believe, for surely well-ordered knowledge can have no other effect upon faith than to increase it, to strengthen it.

In any event it would be neglect of duty in men if, after coming to belief, they did not study to understand what they believe. It would be doubly a neglect of duty on the part of men who are consecrated by solemn ordination to teach the true doctrine about God, and stand as Witness for him, if they should be indifferent to an understanding of the nature and character of God. The pleas that are sometimes made on the ground of incomprehensibility of the subject, resulting in recommendations that the nature and attributes of Deity had best be left hidden in the mystery supposed to enshroud them; and that God be held as an object of faith rather than of understanding—analyzed, you shall find such views bottomed rather on indifference than in grace or true modesty. What has been revealed about God may be known; beyond that our treatise does not seek to go, except where the treatise deals historically with the doctrines and speculations of theologians and philosophers. If this part of the treatise deals at times with "Thin Thought" and difficult abstractions, two things at least can be said for it, namely: (1) It will furnish good mental exercise; and (2) It will have the effect of making more clear by contrast the simple and beautiful doctrine of Deity as revealed in the person and character of Jesus, the Christ.

SPECIAL LESSONS.

There are five special lessons in the course, viz., Lessons V, X, XV, XXIV and XXXI, designed to be given in the form of discourses or lectures, by one or more speakers to each subject as shall be determined upon by the Presidents and Class Teachers. As suggested in previous Year Books these Lessons should be made special occasions by the Quorums; and in order that the work shall be well done, plenty of time should be allowed for preparation by making the assignment for the discourse or lecture, several weeks in advance. For example, at the second session of the classes assignments should be made for Lesson V., and so for each special Lesson, allowing from two to three weeks for preparation, having it understood that something like thorough and intelligent handling of the subject will be expected.

It is further suggested that not more than forty-five or at the outside sixty minutes be devoted to the main question, and then that fifteen or twenty minutes be allowed for criticism and the asking of questions, to be answered by the principal speaker or speakers who have had the subject in hand.

In these special Lessons, and quite aside from the main theme of which they treat are parts of two other lessons, to which the whole class should be required to give attention. These two lessons are first, Delivering a Discourse; and second, On Strength of Expression. The first subject runs through the five special lessons, the second through but four. It has been the aim of the writer to give one lesson on each of these subjects in the five and four parts respectively, into which the lessons are divided; and he entertains the hope that they will be helpful, at least to those just beginning their efforts at public speech.

SUGGESTIONS AS TO PART III.

In Lessons under Part III, "Conceptions of God," it is suggested that the effort of the classes be, simply to master the information contained in the lessons. It will not be found feasible to undertake a discussion of the various conceptions of God presented with any view to reconciliation with each other or with the scripture. Strive only for an understanding of what these conceptions are as presented by the advocates of them.

DIVISION OF LESSONS.

Where the Lessons are thought to contain too much matter for one session of the class it is quite within the province of the Presidents or Class Teachers to divide them; and it is especially recommended that they do so in Lessons xxxii, xxxiii, xxxiv.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

The books of reference used in the following lessons would make an extended list, and in some cases the volumes named could only be found in reference libraries, as they are now out of print; it would therefore be of no advantage to give a complete enumeration of them here. I have given copious and extended notes upon many subdivisions of the lessons, especially where the books quoted would be difficult to obtain. The following named works, however, can be obtained and some of them are indispensable:

The Seventy's Indispensable Library, consisting of the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, Richards and Little Compendium—this set of books in special and uniform bindings can be obtained; and we suggest that it would be a good thing for prospective missionaries among the Seventies to get these books in convenient form and durable bindings, so that when going upon missions they can take books with them with which they are familiar through frequent handling and reading.

Some Standard Dictionary of the English Language, such as is used in high schools and academies, where unabridged Standard Dictionaries cannot be obtained.

A Dictionary of the Bible. (Dr. Wm. Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible," the four-volume edition by Prof. H. B. Hackett, contains, it is said, "the fruit of the ripest biblical scholarship of England").

Smith's Smaller Dictionary of the Bible (one volume) is the same work condensed. In somewhat the same line, owing to its very valuable introductory articles (thirty in number, one of which, "Belief in God," we were permitted by the publishers to reproduce in the January and February numbers of the Era) is Dummelow's "One-Volume Bible Commentary," published by the MacMillan Company, New York.

Some Standard Ecclesiastical or Church History, such as Mosheim's or Dr. Neander's. The former can be had both in one or three volumes. The latter is in six volumes. In this line, and in preference to any other Church histories—after Mosheim's and Neander's—that have fallen under my notice, I recommend for the period it covers—the first ten centuries—Dr. Philip Smith's "History of the Christian Church," two volumes. The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, covering the first three and one half—nearly—Christian centuries; and the Early Christian Literature Primers, four books, covering the first seven and a half centuries.

The History of Christianity. This is a collection from the writings of Gibbon, chiefly selected chapters from the author's celebrated "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," edited and annotated by Peter Eckler. It is published in one volume, and as a history of Christianity's struggle with Pagan philosophy, and of the paganization of Christianity in the Early Christian Centuries, it is a valuable work.

"A History of Christian Doctrine," by Wm. G. T. Shedd (two volumes), is a valuable work. Written from a sympathetic view-point of orthodox Christianity, but valuable for its history of the development of the orthodox doctrine.

The Nicene Creed, by J. J. Lias, gives detailed analysis of that somewhat famous "symbol of the Christian faith," as it is sometimes called (one volume).

"Story of the World's Worship," by Frank S. Dobbins—1901—(one volume).

"Ten Great Religions," by James Freeman Clarke (two volumes). This work on the general subject, Conceptions of God, would be the best here enumerated.

"History of the Warfare of Science with Theology," by Andrew Dixon White (two volumes).

"Conflict Between Religion and Science," John William Draper (one volume). By the same Author, "Intellectual Development of Europe" (two volumes).

"Science of Religion," by Max Muller (one volume). By the same Author, "Chips from a German Workshop" (two volumes).

The Philosophers: To name the works of the philosophers from Plato to modern times would be to uselessly enumerate a library. The following works, however, could perhaps be obtained by the quorums if not by individuals:

Outlines of Lectures on the History of Philosophy, by Elmendorf (one volume). It is in the nature of an amplified index to the subject, and presupposes some general knowledge of it.

Maurice's "Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy" (two volumes, 1395 pages), a noble work.

"Typical Modern Conceptions of God," Leighton (one volume), 1901.

Cicero's "Tusculan Disputations," (one volume), translated by Yonge.

Spencer's "First Principles," (one volume).

John Fiske's "Studies in Religion" (one volume).

"The Truth of Thought," Poland, (one volume).

"Scientific Aspects of Mormonism," Prof. N. L. Nelson, of Brigham Young University (one volume). A work not yet fully appreciated.

Orson Pratt's Works, "The Kingdom of God."

"Mormon Doctrine of Deity" (Roberts).

Joseph Smith, The Prophet-Teacher. (Roberts).

The Seventy's Course in Theology, Numbers I and II. They can be obtained bound together in cloth, 75c. General Seventy's office.

The Current Volume of the Improvement Era. The organ of the Priesthood Quorums.

The Seventy's Course in Theology.

THIRD YEAR.

The Doctrine of Deity.

PART I.

The Sources of Man's Knowledge of God.

LESSON I.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

I.—TRADITION.

SPECIAL TEXT: "Can'st thou by searching find out God? Can'st thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" Job xi: 7.

NOTES.

1. Tradition as a Source of the Knowledge of God: The first evidence men have of the existence of God comes from tradition, from the testimony of their fathers; and this has been the case from that event known in history as the Fall, until the present. Nor is this evidence unworthy of serious attention; it rests upon a surer foundation than is usually accorded it. Suppose we go back to its beginning, to its first introduction into the world, and observe how well founded it is.

According to the account given by Moses in Genesis, previous to the Fall. Adam associated with God; conversed with Him respecting the works of creation, and gave names to the cattle and all living things upon the earth. How long continued, or how intimate this association was, we are not informed in Genesis; but at all events, it was long enough continued, and sufficiently intimate to fix definitely in the minds of Adam the fact of God's existence. Then when Adam and his wife transgressed God's law, their recollection of his existence did not vanish, but they tried to hide from his presence; and were afterwards visited by the Lord, who reproved them for their sin and pronounced the penalty which would overtake them for their transgression. All I wish to call attention to in this is the fact that they knew positively of the Lord's existence before their transgression, and they did not forget his existence after that event; but, on the contrary, had a lively recollection of what they had seen and heard before they fell. This they related, undoubtedly, to their children, who, in turn, transmitted the knowledge to their children, and so from generation to generation the tradition of God's existence has been handed down until the present time.

2. Antediluvian Tradition of God: It will be remembered that Adam and all the patriarchs previous to the Flood lived to a very great age. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years, and during that time Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, and Lamech, the father of Noah, were born. Indeed, the last named patriarch was fifty-six years old when Adam died; so that for a number of years he must have had the pleasure of Adam's acquaintance; while the patriarchs between Adam and Lamech all associated with him for hundreds of years, and would learn well the story that the grand Patriarch of our race would have to tell respecting Eden before the Fall.

3. Postdiluvian Tradition of God: We are told in Genesis that when Lamech was one hundred and eighty-two years old he begat Noah; and since Lamech was fifty-six years old when Adam died, Adam had been dead but one hundred and twenty-six years when Noah was born. After the birth of Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, so that Noah associated with his father, who had seen Adam, for more than five hundred years; and also with a number of the other patriarchs—with Enos, the grandson of Adam, and son of Seth—with Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared and Methuselah. Then, the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, all of whom were born before the Flood, would likewise be acquainted with a number of these worthies who had lived with Adam and heard his testimony of God's existence.

Again, Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood; that would give him ample time and opportunity to teach his posterity for several generations the tradition respecting God, which he had received from a number of patriarchs, who lived previous to the Flood, and thus the said tradition became firmly fixed in the minds of men. The chronology here followed is that of the authorized version of the English Bible as summarized in the Second Lecture on Faith. Doctrine and Covenants.

4. The Bible Here Regarded as a Body of Tradition: It may be thought that in the foregoing notes, dealing with tradition, we have been really appealing to Revelation, the Bible—the product of a divine inspiration resting upon men, hence Revelation—not tradition as men commonly understand tradition, viz: something handed down from age to age by oral communication without the aid of written memorials. But the Bible is sometimes regarded in more than one aspect. Commonly it is held to be a volume of inspired writings, revelation indeed; but it is also regarded as a body of traditions crystalized into writing. As such it has been used in preparing the foregoing notes.

5. Reversed Order of Tradition: By this title I ask you to reverse the order of considering tradition. Instead of beginning with Adam and coming down through the generations to our own times, begin with the child of today and go up through the generations of men to Adam. How do children of our generation get their first idea of God? Ordinarily from their fathers. In Christian lands they obtain the "God idea" in childhood at their mothers' knee. And these mothers and fathers from the preceding generation of fathers and mothers; and these again from a preceding generation of fathers and mothers, and so following until the stream of tradition is traced to its source, which the Bible, considered as a body of tradition, now of long standing, represents to be Adam, who was "the first man." It is interesting to note, in passing, that the Bible tradition—when we consider the Bible at no higher value than a volume of tradition—is confirmed in many respects by the tradition of other people than the Hebrews; namely, the Chaldeans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians and Egyptians. (See the Seventy's First Year Book, note 2 pp. 24, 25.^[4])

6. How True Traditions Degenerated Into Mythology: Traces of that tradition, (of the existence of God) and of these patriarchs connected with it, may be found in nearly all, and so far as I know, in all the mythologies of the world, as well in ancient as in modern times; as well in the mythology of the civilized Greeks and Romans, as in that of India, China, Egypt, and that of the American Indians. The tradition has evidently been corrupted, added to and twisted into fantastic shapes by the idle fancies of corrupt minds, but despite all the changes made in it, traces of this tradition are discoverable in the mythology of all lands. I believe, too, with Crabb, "That the fictions of mythology were not invented, (always) in ignorance of divine truth, but with a wilful intention to pervert it; not made only by men of profligate lives and daring impiety, who preferred darkness to light, because their deeds were evil, but by men of refinement and cultivation, from the opposition of science, falsely so-called; not made, as some are pleased to think, by priests only, for interested purposes, but by poets and philosophers among the laity, who, careless of truth of falsehood, were pleased with nothing but their own corrupt imaginations and vain conceits."

Thus the tradition of the patriarchs was, in time, degraded, by some branches of their posterity, to mythology—a muddy, troubled pool, which like a mirror shattered into a thousand fragments, reflects while it distorts into fantastic shapes the objects on its banks. Still, under all the rubbish of human invention may be found the leading idea—God's existence; and that fact alone, however mis-shapen it may be, proves how firmly fixed in the human mind is the tradition of the fathers; while the universality of that tradition goes very far towards proving its truth. Scriptural evidences that traditions are sometimes made to distort truth, revealed or received from the fathers, may be learned from the following passages: Matt. XV:2; Mark VII:5, 9, 13; Col. 11:8; II Thes. III:6; I Peter 1:18.

Footnotes

[1]. The abbreviations stand for Doctrine and Covenants throughout. It is expected that the whole lecture will be read as a preparation for the lesson.

[2]. What is the meaning of Antediluvian?

[3]. What of Postdiluvian?

[4]. References to past Year Books will occasionally be made throughout our course, and it should be the desire of every Seventy to have a complete set of these Year Books. Numbers One and Two bound together, in strong cloth, can now be had by application to the General Secretary of the Seventies, price 75c, post paid.

LESSON II.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

II.—CREATION—THE WORKS OF GOD.

SPECIAL TEXT: "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it...Marvelous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well." Ps. cxxxix.

NOTES.

1. The Testimony of the Creation to the Existence of God: When once the idea of the existence of God is suggested to the mind of man by the testimony of the fathers, and represented as he is by that tradition, as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and also as the great governing and guiding power throughout the universe—very much is discovered in the marvelous works of nature to strengthen and confirm, almost to a certainty, the truth of that tradition.

Man is conscious of his own existence, and that existence is a stupendous miracle of itself; he is conscious, too, of other facts. He looks out into space in the stillness of night, and sees the deep vault of heaven inlaid with suns, the centers, doubtless of planetary systems, all moving in exact order and harmony, in such regularity that he cannot doubt that Intelligence brought them into being, and now sustains and directs the forces that preserve them. Thus the heavens declare the existence of God as well as His glory. This thought is in harmony with the tradition of his fathers, and he recognizes the identity between the Intelligence that he knows must control the universe, and the God of whom his fathers testify.

Nor is this all: but in the mysterious changes which take place on our own planet, in the gentle Spring, luxuriant Summer, fruitful Autumn and nature-resting Winter, with its storms and frosts—the "mysterious round" which brings us our seed time and harvest, and clothes the earth with vegetation and flowers, perpetuating that wonderful power we call life,—the strangest fact in all the works of nature—in these mighty changes so essential and beneficent, man recognizes the wisdom and power of God of whom his fathers bear record.

As the heavens declare God's existence and glory, so, likewise, do these changes and a thousand other things, connected without earth, until lost in wonder and admiration, one exclaims with Paul,

"The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and godhead." (Rom. 1:20.)

Or else He calls to mind another Scripture, still more sublime—

"The earth rolls upon her wings, and the sun giveth his light by day, and the moon giveth her light by night, and the stars also give their light, as they roll upon their wings in their glory, in the midst of the power of God. * * * Behold, all these are kingdoms, and any man who hath seen any or the least of these, hath seen God moving in his majesty and power." (Doc. & Cov. Sec. 88.)

"But wandering oft, with brute unconscious gaze,
Man marks not thee; marks not The Mighty hand,
That, ever busy, wheels the silent speres!"—Thompson.

This much we may say, in conclusion, tradition confirmed by the works of creation, lays a broad foundation for an intelligent belief in God's existence, intelligence, power, and glory.

2. The Law of Substance and the Universe. "Through all eternity the infinite universe has been, and is, subject to the law of substance: * * * * *

1. "The extent of the universe is infinite and unbounded; it is empty in no part, but everywhere filled with substance."

2. "The Duration of the world (i. e. universe) is equally infinite and unbounded; it has no beginning and no end; it is eternity."

3. "Substance is everywhere and always in uninterrupted movement and transformation; nowhere is there perfect repose and rigidity; yet the infinite quantity of matter and of eternally changing force remains constant." ("Riddle of the Universe." Ernest Haeckel p. 242. Harper & Brothers, 1900. See his whole chapter xii, on the "Law of Substance." Also Seventy's Second Year Book, Lesson V.)

2. Extent and Greatness of the Universe—The Solar System: The heavenly bodies belong to two classes, the one comprising a vast multitude of stars, which always preserved their relative positions, as if they were set in a sphere of crystal, while the others moved, each in its own orbit, according to laws which have been described. We now know that these moving bodies, or planets, form a sort of family by themselves, known as the Solar System. This system consists of the sun as its center, with a number of primary planets revolving around it, and satellites, or secondary planets, revolving around them. Before the invention of the telescope but six primary planets were known, including the earth, and one satellite, the moon. By the aid of that instrument, two great primary planets, outside the orbit of Saturn, and an immense swarm of smaller ones between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, have been discovered; while the four outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune—are each the center of motion of one or more satellites. The sun is distinguished from the planets, not only by his immense mass, which is several hundred times that of all the other bodies of his system combined, but by the fact that he shines by his own light, while the planets and satellites are dark bodies, shining only by reflecting the light of the sun.

"A remarkable symmetry of structure is seen in this system, in that all the large planets and all the satellites revolve in orbits which are nearly circular, and, the satellites of the two outer planets excepted, nearly in the same plane. This family of planets are all bound together, and kept each in its respective orbit, by the law of gravitation, the action of which is of such a nature that each planet may make countless revolutions without the structure of the system undergoing any change." (Newcomb's Popular Astronomy, School Edition, pp. 103-4. Part III of Newcomb's work which deals at length with the Solar System could also be considered with profit.)

3. Number and Distances of the Fixed Stars: "Turning our attention from this system to the thousands of fixed stars which stud the heavens, the first thing to be considered is their enormous distance asunder, compared with the dimensions of the Solar System, though the latter are themselves inconceivably great. To give an idea of the relative distances, suppose a voyager through the celestial spaces could travel from the sun to the outermost planet of our system in twenty-four hours. So enormous would be his velocity, that it would carry him across the Atlantic ocean, from New York to Liverpool, in less than a tenth of a second of the clock. Starting from the sun with this velocity, he would cross the orbits of the inner planets in rapid succession, and the other ones more slowly, until, at the end of a single day, he would reach the confines of our system, crossing the orbit of Neptune. But, though he passed eight planets the first day, he would pass none the next, for he would have to journey eighteen or twenty years, without diminution of speed, before he would reach the nearest star, and would then have to continue his journey as far again before he could reach another. All the planets of our system would have vanished in the distance, in the course of the first three days, and the sun would be but an insignificant star in the firmament. The conclusion is, that our sun is one of an enormous number of self-luminous bodies scattered at such distances that years would be required to traverse the space between them, even when the voyager went at the rate we have supposed." (Newcomb's Astronomy p. 104.) * * * * *

"The total number of stars in the celestial sphere visible with the average naked eye may be estimated, in round numbers, as 5000. The number varies so much with the perfection and training of the eye, and with the atmospheric conditions, that it cannot be stated very definitely. When the telescope is pointed at the heavens, it is found that for every star visible to the naked eye there are hundreds, or even thousands, too minute to be seen without artificial aid. From the counts of stars made by Herschel, Struve has estimated that the total number of stars visible with Herschel's twenty-foot telescope was about 20,000,000. The great telescopes of modern times would, no doubt, show a yet larger number; but a reliable estimate has not been made. The number is probably somewhere between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000." (Ibid. p. 422.)

4. The Design Argument: "The Design Argument is wholly grounded on experience. Certain qualities, it is alleged, are found to be characteristic of such things as are made by an intelligent mind for a purpose. The order of Nature, or some considerable parts of it, exhibit these qualities in a remarkable degree. We are entitled, from this great similarity in the effects, to infer similarity in the cause, and to believe that things which it is beyond the power of man to make, but which resemble the works of man in all but power, must also have been made by intelligence, armed with a power greater than human." (John Stuart Mill. Essay on "Theism," see "Three Essays on Religion," p. 167. The whole essay, if possible, should be read.)

5. The Evidence of a Designer: "The consideration of the external world around him, even in its broadest aspect, leads man up to the thought of an Eternal Cause; the study of its phenomena in detail with its marvelous intricacy of harmonious interaction produces the impression of design, and leads to the thought of a Designer—i. e., of an Eternal Cause that is intelligent and free. * * * * *

"The Design Argument is perhaps the most ancient and the most popular of all. It is never actually formulated in the Bible, for the Bible, as we have seen, never treats God's existence as the subject of argument. But its basis, the marvelous harmony of the created world, is the theme of more than one of the Psalms (cf. e. g. Pss. 19, 104, 147, 148); and St. Paul comes very near to stating the argument in so many words, when he says (Rom. 1, 20) in depreciation of pagan superstitions and immortality, that the 'everlasting power and divinity' of the Creator are clearly discernible from His works.

"Granted that the very existence of the world implies an Eternal Cause, what can we learn about that Cause? The nearest thing to a true first Cause of which I have experience, is my own personality; hence there is a presumption that the world's first Cause will be at least what we know as personal. But that presumption is not all we have to go upon. There are definite indications in nature, when more closely observed, that make it impossible to regard the Eternal Cause as a merely mechanical originator of the world-process, that stamp it—or rather Him—as intelligent and free, a nature like my own rational nature, only far above and beyond it.

"Everywhere in nature we see the teleological principle (as it is called) at work, i. e., we see means adapted to ends, and the present subordinated to the future. This adaptation of means to ends manifests itself in a bewilderingly complex way—in each individual member of the great organism, in the lesser and greater groups, and in the whole. Everywhere, in fact, I see traces of purpose and design—for such adaptation speaks to me irresistibly of these. My only direct experience of like phenomena is in my own personality, and so I am led to infer a Designer." ("Commentary on the Holy Bible." Dummelow, 1909, Art. Belief in God, pp. ci, cii.)

6. Incompleteness of the Evidences from Creation: Some extol the evidences for the existence of God found in creation, out of all proportion to their merit. "The wonderful structure of the universe," said Thomas Paine, "and everything that we behold in the system of the creation prove to us far better than books can do, the existence of God and at the same time proclaim his attributes. It is by exercise of our reason that we are enabled to contemplate God in his works and imitate him in his ways. When we see his care and kindness extended over all his creatures it teaches us our duty towards each other, while it calls forth our gratitude to Him." And again, "the Almighty Lecturer (Deity) by displaying the principles of science in the structure of the universe, has invited man to study and to imitation. It is as if he had said to the inhabitants of this globe we call ours, I have made an earth for man to dwell upon, and I have rendered the starry heavens visible to teach him science and the arts. He can now provide for his comfort, and learn from my munificence to all, to be kind to each other." Far be it from me to say any word that would detract from any class of evidence for the truth of God's existence; and for the evidence to be found in the works of creation, I have the profoundest esteem. They do indeed testify of the existence of intelligence higher than of man and these creations do convey to the mind not only the idea of the existence of these higher intelligences but to some extent they reveal their greatness and majesty and power; and also to some extent the munificence and beneficence of their nature. But the evidences of the works of nature are defective in that they scarcely indicate the relationship of these divine intelligences to man, or man's relationship to them, or the purpose and destiny of the creation. Standing alone on these evidences of the creation one asks in vain for a complete manifestation of God to man. Not so much as to his being—bare existence—but as to the kind of being he is. Is He personal or impersonal? Merely "a power outside ourselves"? or, Is He not only a power outside ourselves, but a power outside ourselves that makes for righteousness? and does He hold personal relations to man, and men definite and personal relations to Him? Why should man obey God? And what is man that God is mindful of him? On these questions the revelations from the works of nature are unsatisfactory, and certainly need the supplemental knowledge that comes from the direct revelations of God to man. Both John Stuart Mill and Dummelow state the weakness or incompleteness of this Design Argument. The former in his "Theism"—"Three Essays" pp. 167 et. seq., and the latter in his "Belief in God." Nearly all our modern writers on the subject of the "design argument" depreciate the treatment of it by Paley in his "Natural Theology."

Footnotes.

[1]. Cf. Abbreviation of the latin Confere, i. e. "Compare."

[2]. John Stuart Mill, the above title is a subdivision in his "Three Essays on Religion." (1874 Edition.)

[3]. This Commentary is a fine one-volume work, and gives the very latest results of Modern Scholarship in reference to Bible interpretation. Its article on "Belief in God," cited above, will be published in the Era for January.

[4]. See foot note from note 5, Lesson I of this Year Book.

LESSON III.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

III.—MISCELLANEOUS EVIDENCES AND ARGUMENTS FOR THE DIVINE EXISTENCE.

Special Text: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Job xix:25.

NOTES.

1. Patristic Arguments: "The Patristic arguments for the Divine Existence rest mainly upon the innate consciousness of the human mind. They magnify the internal evidence for this doctrine. * * * * God was conceived as directly manifesting himself to the moral sense, through that Divine Word or Reason who, in their phraseology, was the manifested Deity. In their view, God proved his existence by his presence to the mind. In the Western Church, particularly, this immediate manifestation and consequent proof of the Divine Existence was much insisted upon. Augustine in his Confessions implies that the Deity evinces His being and attributes by a direct operation—an impinging, as it were, of Himself, upon the rational soul of His creatures." (History of Christian Doctrine (Shedd) Vol. I, pp. 229-30.)

2. The "Heart" Knowledge of God: "This heart knowledge is, after all, to each individual who has it, the most direct form of evidence for the existence of God—the personal intercourse with Him of our personal spirit—the communion in virtue of which we can say, 'I know that there is a God because I know him. I experience in prayer and sacrament and meditation a conviction of His reality and His presence which is quite as real to me as is the conviction that those things exist which I can touch and see. This conviction is clearest and strongest when I am at my best, and I attribute all that is best and highest in my character to such communion, as thousands have done before me.'

"This is the kind of Knowledge of God that cries aloud to us from the Psalms and Prophecies, and underlies the other writings of the Old Testament. And the perfection of this communion is to be found in Jesus Christ as portrayed for us in the Synoptic Gospels (Lk. 10:22; cf. Mk. 13:32), but especially in St. John (5:19 cf. 10:15, 30; cf. 14:11, etc.) and reaches its climax in the great high-priestly prayer of Jn. 17. After our Lord's Ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit, it takes the form, for Christ's members, of a fellowship with the blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. (2 Cor. 13:14; cf. 1 Jn. 1:3.)

"Being, however, in one sense, a purely personal and individual matter, this sense of communion is commonly thought to be too subjective to be adduced as an argument for the existence of God. It is always open to an objector to say, 'You assert that you have this feeling; I am willing to admit your sincerity, but you may be the victim of illusion. All I can say is that I have no such feeling myself.' To such an assertion it seems perhaps inadequate to reply, 'If you will but assume first provisionally (as we have to assume many things in practical life,) that existence which you cannot demonstrate, and then act upon the assumption, conviction will come with experience.' Yet such a reply may be enforced and corroborated with all the weight of more than nineteen centuries of personal experience. Generation after generation of martyrs and saints have testified in the strongest possible manner to their conviction that God is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' (Heb. 11:6); and have been ready to seal the conviction with their life's blood. ("Belief in God," Dummelow's Commentary, p. c.)

The General Sense of the Divine Existence Deepened by Christianity: "The consciousness of the God in whom we live, move and have our being. This, too, [by reason of Christianity] became, in believers, a more living, a more profound sentiment. They [the Christians] felt more strongly and vividly the all-pervading presence of that God who made himself to be felt by them in nature, and whose existence to the spirit is undeniable. It was to this undeniable fact of consciousness, indeed, they appealed, in endeavoring to lead the pagans away from the gods which they themselves had made to the acknowledgment of the only true God. This appears to us as the one common feature in the mode of expressing themselves on this subject, which prevailed among the church fathers, amid all the differences of form between those whose education had led them through the Platonic philosophy, and such men as Tertullian, who—a stranger and an enemy to philosophical culture—witnessed, in an original manner, of that which had penetrated deeply into the vigorous but stern individuality of his character." (History of the Christian Religion (Neander), Vol. I, pp. 55-66.)

2. The Spirit of Man Intuitively Conscious of Truth: Somewhat akin to this "Heart Knowledge" of God is the following very remarkable passage in one of the revelations of God through Joseph Smith: "Intelligence or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence also, otherwise here is no existence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man, because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation, for man is spirit." (Doc. & Cov., Sec. xciii.) As if the Lord would say: Truth is native to the spirit of man, when unrestrained by man's perverse will—when he has not reached the point where he chooses darkness rather than light because his deeds are evil—then Truth is native to the spirit of man and will, when unrestrained, intuitively rise to meet it as flame leaps toward its kindred flame and unites with it. And it is because the spirit of man refuses to live true to this quality of his spirit that he comes under condemnation when rejecting the truth.

The Prophet Joseph emphasized this doctrine in his public teachings. On one occasion he said: "Every word that proceedeth from the mouth of Jehovah has such an influence over the human mind—the logical mind—that it is convincing without other testimony. Faith cometh by hearing." (Hist. of the Ch. Vol. V, p. 526.)

3. Defect of "Soul Consciousness" Argument: "They [who accept the soul conscious argument] labor under the common infirmity that one man cannot by proclaiming with ever so much confidence that he perceives an object, convince other people that they see it too. If, indeed, he laid claim to a divine faculty of vision, vouchsafed to him alone, and making him cognizant of things which men, not thus assisted, have not the capacity to see, the case might be different. Men have been able to get such claims admitted; and other people can only require of them to show their credentials. But when no claim is set up to any peculiar gift, but we are told that all of us are as capable as the prophet of seeing what he sees, feeling what he feels, nay, that we actually do so, and when the utmost effort of which we are capable fails to make us aware of what we are told we perceive, this supposed universal faculty of intuition is but

'The dark lantern of the spirit
Which none see by but those who bear it;'

and the bearers may fairly be asked to consider whether it is not more likely that they are mistaken as to the origin of an impression in their minds, than that others are ignorant of the very existence of an impression in theirs." "Theism" (Mill, p. 162.)

The proper answer to this argument is found in Note 2, this lesson.

4. The Consent of Mankind: "As far back as Cicero in the first century B. C. or even earlier, pagan thinkers had observed that religion in some form or other is a universal trait in human nature. And though in modern days apparent exceptions of 'atheistical tribes' have been adduced to prove the contrary, the trend of anthropological science may be said on the whole to support the judgment of antiquity. There may indeed be savages (though the point has not been proved) among whom no definite trace of religious observance can be discerned; but are they normal representatives even of undeveloped humanity? Is there no such thing as degradation? And have not even these poor savages some vestige at least of the religious faculty? For that is all our argument really requires. The world-wide progress of Christian missions to the heathen seems to testify quite triumphantly that no race or tribe of men, however degraded and apparently atheistic, lacks that spark of religious capacity which may be fanned and fed into a mighty flame.

"Granted, then, that the religious faculty is practically universal among mankind, what is the significance of this fact? From ancient times it has been regarded as an argument—often (wrongly) as a proof that God exists. It is called the argument 'from the general consent of mankind.'" (Belief in God, Dummelow's Commentary, p. ci.)

5. Existence of Gods by Universal Consent: "In the question now before us, the greater part of mankind have united to acknowledge that which is most probable, namely, that there are Gods. * * * * * * Here, then, you see the foundation of this question clearly laid; for since it is the constant and universal opinion of mankind, independent of education, custom, or law, that there are Gods, it must necessarily follow that this knowledge is implanted in our minds, or, rather, innate in us. That opinion respecting which there is a general agreement in universal nature must infallibly be true; therefore it must be allowed that there are Gods; for in this we have the concurrence, not only of almost all philosophers, but likewise of the ignorant and illiterate. It must be also confessed that the point is established that we have naturally this idea, and as I said before, or prenotion, of the existence of the Gods." (Tusculan Disputations (Cicero) Yonge's Translation, pp. 225-6.)

6. Cotta's Comment: On the matter of the foregoing note Cicero represents "Cotta" the Academician, as commenting as follows:

"You have said that the general assent of men of all nations and all degrees is an argument strong enough to induce us to acknowledge the being of Gods. This is not only a weak, but a false, argument; for, first of all, how do you know the opinions of all nations? I really believe there are many people so savage that they have no thoughts of a Deity." (Ibid. p. 231.)

7. Spencer's Comment on Universality of Religious Ideas: "Religious ideas of one kind or other are almost universal. Admitting that in many places there are tribes who have no theory of creation, no word for a deity, no propitiatory acts, no ideas of another life—admitting that only when a certain phase of intelligence is reached do the most rudimentary of such theories make their appearance; the implication is practically the same. Grant that among all races who have passed a certain stage of intellectual development there are found vague notions concerning the origin and hidden nature of surrounding things; and there arises the inference that such notions are necessary products of progressing intelligence. Their endless variety serves but to strengthen this conclusion; showing as it does a more or less independent genesis—showing how, in different places and times, like conditions have led to similar trains of thought, ending in analogous results. That these countless different, and yet allied, phenomena presented by all religions are accidental or factitious, is an untenable supposition. A candid examination of the evidence quite negatives the doctrine maintained by some that creeds are priestly inventions." ("First Principles," Appleton & Co.'s Edition of 1896, pp. 13, 14.)

Footnotes

[1]. As these works of reference may be somewhat difficult to obtain, copious notes are made for this lesson.

LESSON IV.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

III. MISCELLANEOUS EVIDENCES AND ARGUMENTS FOR THE DIVINE EXISTENCE. (Continued.)

I. THE ARGUMENT FROM "A FIRST CAUSE."

SPECIAL TEXT: Intelligence, or the Light of Truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. (Doc. & Cov., Section cxiii, 30)

NOTES.

1. Definition of Cause: "The power or efficient agent producing anything or event; agent or agency; as gravitation is the cause of the stone's falling; malice is a cause of crime. * * * In a comprehensive sense, all the circumstances, (powers, occasions, actions, and conditions) necessary for an event and necessarily followed by it; the entire antecedent of an event. Efficient Cause, the power or agency producing anything or event; Material Cause, the material out of which by the efficient causes anything is made; Formal Cause, the pattern, place, or form according to which anything is produced by the operation of efficient causes; Final Cause,—God as uncaused and as the original source of all power, change, motion, and life. Styled by Plato and Aristotle the "Prime Mover." (Standard Dictionary, Funk and Wagnall.) The four last forms of the definition are known as "Aristotelian Causes."

2. Evidence of Causation in the External World: "The consideration of the external world around him, even in its broadest aspect, leads man up to the thought of an Eternal Cause; the study of its phenomena in detail with its marvelous intricacy of harmonious interaction produces the impression of design, and leads to the thought of a Designer—i. e., of an Eternal Cause that is intelligent and free.

"Man finds in himself a principle of causality in the light of which he interprets the external world. He cannot help regarding the succession of phenomena which he observes as effects—attributing each to some cause, When he examines that again he discovers it to be no true or absolute cause, but itself the effect of something further back, and so on. He finds in himself the nearest approach to a vera causa. Yet he would recognize the absurdity of calling himself self-caused. And the mind cannot rest in an endless chain of cause-effects. There must be, he feels, if you go far enough back, a real cause, akin, in some way, to man's own power of origination, yet transcending it—a cause that owns no cause—no source of being—but itself." (Belief in God, Dummelow's Commentary, p. ci.)

3. The Mind and the Necessity of Causation: "The mind is compelled to believe in the necessity of causation, and that the cultivated mind, which can realize all the essential conditions of the cause, is compelled to believe in its universality. For what is the belief in the necessity and universality of causation? It is the belief that every event must be determined by some preceding event and must itself determine some succeeding event. And what is an event? It is a manifestation of force. The falling of a stone, the union of two gases, the blowing of a wind, the breaking of wood or glass, the vibration of a cord, the expansion of a heated body, the sprouting of a seed, the circulation of blood, the development of inflammation, the contracting of a muscle, the thinking of a thought, the excitement of an emotion,—all these are manifestations of force. To speak of an event which is not a manifestation of force, is to use language which is empty of significance. Therefore, our belief is that necessity and universality of causation is the belief that every manifestation of force must be preceded and succeeded by some equivalent manifestation. Or, in an ultimate analysis, it is the belief that force, as manifested to our consciousness, can neither arise out of nothing nor lapse into nothing—can neither be created nor annihilated. And the negation of this belief is unthinkable; since to think it would be to perform the impossible task of establishing in thought an equation between something and nothing."

4. The "Eternal Cause": "The argument for a First Cause admits of being (existence), and is, presented as a conclusion from the whole of human experience. Everything that we know (it is argued) had a cause, and owed its existence to that cause. How, then, can it be but that the world, which is but a name for the aggregate of all that we know, has a cause to which it is indebted for its existence?

"The fact of experience, however, when correctly expressed, turns out to be, not that everything which we know derives its existence from a cause, but only every event or change. There is in nature a permanent element, and also a changeable; the changes are always the effects of previous changes; the permanent existences, so far as we know, are not effects at all.^[1] It is true we are accustomed to say not only of events, but of objects, that they are produced by causes, as water by the union of hydrogen and oxygen. But by this we only mean that when they begin to exist, their beginning is the effect of a cause. But their beginning to exist is not an object, it is an event, i. e., the uniting of the elements that make the water. If it be objected that the cause of a thing's beginning to exist may be said with propriety to be the cause of the thing itself, I shall not quarrel with the expression. But that which in an object begins to exist, is that in it which belongs to the changeable element in nature; and the outward form and the properties depending on mechanical or chemical combinations of its component parts. There is in every object another and a permanent element, viz., the specific elementary substance or substances of which it consists and their inherent properties. These are not known to us as beginning to exist; within the range of human knowledge they had no beginning, consequently no cause; though they themselves are causes or con-causes of everything that takes place. Experience, therefore, affords no evidences, not even analogies, to justify our extending to the apparently unmutable, a generalization grounded only on our observation of the changeable.

"As a fact of experience, then, causation cannot legitimately be extended to the material universe itself, but only to its changeable phenomena; of these, indeed, causes may be affirmed without any exception. But what causes? The cause of every change is a prior change, and such it cannot but be; for if there were no new antecedent, there would not be a new consequent. If the state of facts which brings the phenomenon into existence, had existed always or for an indefinite duration, the effect also would have existed always or been produced an indefinite time ago. It is thus a necessary part of the fact of causation, within the sphere of our experience, that the causes as well as the effects had a beginning in time, and were themselves caused. It would seem, therefore, that our experience, instead of furnishing an argument for a first cause, is repugnant to it; and that the very essence of causation as it exists within the limits of our knowledge, is incompatible with a First Cause.

"But it is necessary to look more particularly into the matter, and analyze more closely the nature of the causes of which mankind have experience. For if it should turn out that though all causes have a beginning, there is in all of them a permanent element which had no beginning, this permanent element may, with some justice, be termed a first or universal cause, inasmuch as though not sufficient of itself to cause anything, it enters as a con-cause into all causation. Now it happens that the last result of physical inquiry, derived from the converging evidences of all branches of physical science, does, if it holds good, land us, so far as the material world is concerned, in a result of this sort. Whenever a physical phenomenon is traced to its cause, that cause when analyzed, is found to be a certain quantum of Force, combined with certain collocations. And the last great generalization of science, the 'Conservation of Force,' teaches us that the variety in the effects depends partly upon the amount of the force, and partly upon the diversity of the collocations. The force itself is essentially one and the same; and there exists of it in nature a fixed quantity, which, (if the theory be true), is never increased or diminished. Here, then, we find, even in the changes of material nature, a permanent element; to all appearances the very one of which we were in quest. This it is apparently to which, if to anything, we must assign the character of First Cause, the cause of the material universe. For all effects may be traced up to it, while it cannot be traced up, by our experience, to anything beyond; its transformations alone can be so traced, and of them the cause always includes the force itself; the same quantity of force, in some previous form. It would seem, then, that in the only sense in which experience supports in any shape the doctrine of a First Cause, viz, as the primaeval and universal element in all causes, the First Cause can be no other than Force." ("Theism" Mill. "Three Essays on Religion," pp. 142-145.)

5. Of Mind as Originating Force: Mr. Mill in his treatise on Theism, from which the foregoing note is quoted, recognizes the fact that the conclusion with which our quotation ends, is not the last word on the subject. On the contrary, he recognizes the fact that the greatest stress of the argument comes forward at that point. "For," Mr. Mill goes on to say, "it is maintained that mind is the only possible cause of Force; or rather, perhaps, that Mind is a force, and that all other forces must be derived from it inasmuch as mind is the only thing which is capable of originating change. This is said to be the lesson of human experience. In the phenomena of inanimate nature the force which works is always a pre-existing force, not originated, but transferred. One physical object moves another by giving out to it the force by which it has first been itself moved. The wind communicates to the waves, or to a windmill, or a ship, part of the motion which has been given to itself by some other agent. In voluntary action alone we see a commencement, an origination of motion; since all other causes appear incapable of this origination, experience is in favor of the conclusion that all the motion in existence owed its beginning to this one cause, viz, voluntary agency, if not that of man, then of a more powerful Being." ("Theism" (Mill) p. 146.) The fact is, however, that mind, spirit, intelligence (representing one thing) is eternal, not first, since there can be no first. (See Notes 8 and 9.)

6. Mind not the Sole Originator of Force: "This argument," our author suggests, "is a very old one, going back at least as far as Plato, and is still a favorite argument with certain metaphysical defenders of natural theology." But Mr. Mill holds that "if there be truth in the doctrine that the total amount of force in the universe remains constant, i. e., is not diminished nor increased, but remains always the same (the fact is usually called the conservation of force)—then "This doctrine does not change from true to false when it reaches the field of voluntary agency." "The will," he goes on to say, "does not any more than any other causes, create force; granting that it originates motion, it has no means of doing so but by converting into that particular manifestation a portion of force which already existed in other forms. It is known that the source from which this portion of force is derived, is chiefly, or entirely, the force evolved in the processes of chemical composition and decomposition which constitute the body of nutrition; the force so liberated becomes a fund upon which every muscular and even every merely nervous action, as of the brain in thought, is a draft. It is in this sense only, that according to the best lights of science, volition is an originating cause. Volition, therefore, does not answer to the idea of a 'First Cause,' since Force must in every instance be assumed as prior to it; and there is not the slightest color, derived from experience, for supposing force itself to have been created by a volition. As far as anything can be concluded from human experience force has all the attributes of a thing eternal and uncreated.

7. Volition Does Not Answer the Idea of a First Cause: Observe the statement in the above note (6), "Volition, therefore, does not answer to the idea of a First Cause; since force must in every instance be assumed as prior to it." But why must Force "in every instance be assumed as prior" to volition? May not eternal things exist together as the two eternal things, matter and force, co-exist; as duration and space co-exist? Indeed Mr. Mill in a tentative way suggests the co-eternity of will and force as a possibility. "Whatever verdict experience can give in the case," he remarks, "is against the possibility that will ever originates force; yet if we can be assured that neither does force originate will, will must be held to be an agency, if not prior to force yet co-eternal with it; and if it be true that will can originate, not indeed force but the transformation of force from some other of its manifestations into that of mechanical motion, and that there is within human experience no other agency capable of doing so, the argument for a will as the originator, though not of the universe, yet of the cosmos, or order of the universe, remains unanswered." (Theism p. 148.)

8. The "Eternal Cause." In the passage quoted in the above note, Mr. Mill is very near the truth; and if only his term "will" could be dropped for the term "Intelligence," which represents a larger fact than volition merely, then Mr. Mill would be exactly right. Intelligence stands for consciousness, self-consciousness and consciousness of not-self; for reason; for judgment, the power that after ratiocination determines that this state or thing is better than that state or thing; and granting also that volition is a factor of Intelligence, (and one sees not how it can be otherwise), grant this, and also that intelligence is as eternal as force and matter, and you have if not every element of a first cause, at least every element of the "Eternal cause," which stands for the same thing—God!

But Mr. Mill insists, and very truly, that the statement last quoted from him, in so far at least as it holds that "there is within human experience no other agent capable of transforming force from some other of its manifestations into that of mechanical motion," is not conformable to fact. "Whatever volition can do," he says, "in the way of creating motion out of other forms of force, and generally of evolving force from a latent into a visible state, can be done by many other causes. Chemical action, for instance, electricity, heat, the mere presence of a gravitating body; all these are causes of mechanical motion on a far larger scale than any volitions which experience presents to us; and in most of the effects thus produced the motion given by one body to another, is not, as in the ordinary cases of mechanical action, motion that has first been given to that other by some third body. The phenomenon is not a mere passing on of mechanical motion, but a creation of it out of a force previously latent or manifesting itself in some other form. Volition, therefore, regarded as an agent in the material universe, has no exclusive privilege of origination."

So let it be. But this does not diminish the value of that transformation (and in a sense origination) of force by intelligence, by reason of which order is brought forth from disorder—cosmos from chaos. What matters it if great spaces of matter are "without form and void," and "darkness is upon the face of the deep," if only intelligence is there brooding over the mass to give purposive direction to the forces there latent or blindly tumbling in chaotic confusion, until light and orderly development shall bring forth worlds to answer noble ends. And that the 'Eternal Cause' does thus operate upon co-eternal force and eternal matter is witnessed by the orderly universe, everywhere giving evidence of the reign of law. It is this fact of an orderly universe, whose phenomena run backward through a chain of causes that suggest a purposive Eternal Cause, back of it. This necessity for an Eternal Cause makes that cause one of the sources of man's knowledge of God.

9. On the Use of the Phrase "Eternal Cause." It will be observed that in the quotation made from the article "Belief in God," in this lesson, (Note 2) that the term "Eternal Cause" is used instead of "First Cause." It is used by the author of that Article without explanation. Mr. Mill uses the term "First Cause" and "Eternal Cause" interchangeably. The reason for our use of "Eternal Cause," instead of "First Cause" will appear in part from the quotation made from Mill in note 2, where the difficulty of arriving at a cause that is not itself an effect to some preceding cause is pointed out; and where also it is shown that "though all causes have a beginning, there is in all of them a permanent element which had no beginning;" and "this permanent element may with some justice be termed a first or universal cause." In both Mormon Theism and Mormon philosophy, matter is eternal force, the permanent element in all causation, according to the suggestion of Mr. Mill, is eternal; and intelligence, with its power to direct force to purposive ends, is eternal. "Intelligence, * * * was not created or made, neither indeed can be." (Doc. and Cov. Sec. XCIII.) To talk of "beginnings," then, or "firsts," in any absolute sense, in the midst of these eternal things, is to talk nonsense.

As Mr. Herbert Spencer remarks, "We are no more able to form a circumscribed idea of cause, than of space or time; and we are consequently obliged to think of the cause which transcends the limits of our thought as positive though indefinite. Just in the same manner that on conceiving any bounded space there arrives a nascent consciousness of space outside the bounds; so, when we think of any definite cause, there arises a nascent consciousness of a cause behind it; and in the one case as in the other, this nascent consciousness is in substance like that which suggests it, though without form." (First Principles, p. 95-6.)

It may be difficult, then, especially within the range of human experience or even within human power of conception, to posit a cause that is not itself an effect of some antecedent cause, in other words, a "first cause;" but it is not difficult to apprehend an eternal cause, co-existing with eternal matter and force; and by the interaction of these eternal things an orderly universe under the reign of law is the outcome. I say it is not difficult to apprehend an eternal cause. I mean, of course, it is no more difficult to apprehend an eternal cause than it is to apprehend any other eternal thing—matter or force or extension.

Footnotes

[1]. Such as space, duration, matter, force. See Seventy's Second Year Book, all the notes of Lesson V, pp. 28-32.

LESSON V.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

SPECIAL LESSON.

ARE THE SOURCES OF MAN'S KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, APART FROM REVELATION, SUFFICIENT FOR AN INTELLIGENT FAITH IN GOD?

NOTES.

1. The Reason For No Analysis: As in all these special lessons, no analysis of the subject is given in this one, the design being, that helped by the analysis of other lessons, the student will exercise his own ingenuity in planning his treatment of the subject here presented.

2. Suggestions to the Class Teacher: This subject may with profit be allotted to two or even more speakers. Permission should be given members of the class to ask questions which the speakers in these special lessons rather than the teacher should be required to answer. Answering questions will be found to be a most excellent mental exercise.

3. Treatment of the Subject: From the nature of the subject its treatment must be argumentative. See the suggestions as to argumentative discourse, Seventy's Year Book No. II, pp. 68-72.

4. Introduction, Discussion, Conclusion: Each speaker to the above important, and rich-with-opportunity question, should remember our old formula of the First and Second Year Book in relation to speeches, lectures and discourses—viz: In what you say be sure to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. That is to say, an introduction, a discussion and a conclusion. See Seventy's Year Book No. 1, pp. 59-60 and also pp. 86-87.

5. Suggestions to the Speakers: In both the First and the Second Seventy's Year Book, frequent use of suggestions is made from the work of Mr. Pittinger on "Extempore Speech," referring therein to the formation of discourses, methods of preparation, gathering materials, thought-gatherings, and the like. In these special lessons occasion will arise to quote him again on other phases of the art of expressing thought; and I know of nothing now that could be of more benefit to the young student than what he says in relation to the—

6. First Moment of Speech: "Having completed all your preparations, you now anxiously await the commencement of the intellectual battle. This period is often a severe trial. Men who are physically brave sometimes tremble in anticipation of speedily standing before an audience. The shame of failure then may appear worse than death itself. As the soldier feels more of cold and shrinking terror when listening for the peal of the first gun, than afterward, when the conflict deepens into blood around him, so the speaker usually suffers more in this moment of expectancy than in any that follows. You behold the danger in its full magnitude, without the inspiration that attends it. Yet whatever effort it may cost, you must remain calm and collected, for if not master of yourself, you cannot expect to rule others. Your material must be kept well in hand, ready to be used at the proper time, though it is not well to be continually conning over your preparation. That would destroy the freshness of your matter and bring you to the decisive test weary and jaded. You only need such an occasional glance as will assure you that all your material remains within reach. It is seldom possible by any means to banish all fear, and it is to the speaker's advantage that he cannot. His timidity arises from several causes, which differ widely in the effects they produce. A conscious want of preparation, expecially when this arises from any neglect or indolence, is one of the most distressing sources of fear. A species of remorse then mingles with the embarrassment natural to the moment. If the speaker has no other motive than to win reputation—to minister to his own vanity—he will feel terrified, as he realizes that shame instead of honor may be the result of his rashness. That man is fortunate who can say, "I only speak because I feel it to be a duty which I dare not refuse—a work that I must perform whether well or ill. The lawyer who must defend his client, the minister who feels that the hour of service has arrived, the teacher in the presence of his class, are examples of those who speak under the same kind of compulsion that calls a field laborer out into the burning heat of a July noon whether he feels like it or not." (Extempore Speech, pp. 187-8.)

LESSON VI.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

IV. REVELATION.

SPECIAL TEXT: "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him." Matt. xi:27.

NOTES.

1. Revelation By Divers Means: "Revelation is the name of that act by which God makes communication to men. Inspiration is the name of that influence, that divine influence which operates upon the minds of men under which they may be said to receive divine guidance." (Cambridge Bible Helps). The inspiration may be strong or it may be weak. It may be so over-powering in its character that the person for the time being loses largely his own individuality and becomes the mouthpiece of God, the organ through which the Divine speaks to the children of men. There exist all degrees of inspiration, from human intelligence and wisdom slightly influenced, up to that fulness of inspiration of which I have spoken. Revelations may be made from God to man in various ways. They may be made by God in his own proper person, speaking for himself. On such occasions I take it that the revelation would be most perfect. I know of no more beautiful or complete illustration of such a perfect revelation than that great revelation with which the dispensation of the fulness of times began, when God the Father and Jesus the Christ, stood revealed in the presence of Joseph Smith, when every veil was removed, and the glory of God extended throughout the forest in which the Prophet had prayed; when he heard the Father speak to him as one friend speaks to another, saying:

"Joseph, this is My beloved Son; hear him."

Then followed a conversation with this second Divine personage, to whom he was thus so perfectly introduced, and from whom he received the light and knowledge that laid the foundations of the great latter-day work—Mormonism. There was no imperfection whatsoever in that revelation; it was complete, overwhelming, and one of the most remarkable revelations that God has deigned to give to the children of men. Revelations may be made, and have been made, by the visitation of angels, such as when Moroni came and revealed the existence of the Nephite record, the American volume of scripture, the Book of Mormon; and who afterwards from time to time, met with the Prophet of the last dispensation and gave him knowledge and information as to the manner in which the Church should be organized, and how its affairs should be conducted. Then again, revelations may come through the operations of the Holy Spirit upon the mind of man, as when the Prophet Joseph took Urim and Thummim and with them and by their aid, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, translated the Book of Mormon into the English language. In a similar manner the Lord influences the minds of his servants when preaching the gospel, and thus delivers his word to the Church and to the world.

Through all these various means God speaks, and it is our good fortune to be his witnesses, that he speaks in these various ways as well in modern days as in ancient times.

2. The Bible Revelation of God: "The knowledge of God with which the Bible provides us is of a progressive character. It was revealed 'in many parts and in many modes' as men were able to receive it. We therefore find a fuller knowledge in the New Testament than in the Old, and among the Prophets than among the Patriarchs. Throughout the Bible the existence of God is taken for granted; we are not supplied with arguments to prove it. In earlier days men sometimes had doubts as to whether God felt any interest or took any part in the affairs of men, but they never doubted that He exists. The Bible teaches that the knowledge of God is possible for us, not because he makes himself known unto us; i. e. we are taught that there is such a thing as Revelation, God has come forth, out of the "thick darkness" (I K 8:12) in which he dwells, and has declared himself to His servants in such a way that we may get a true knowledge of His character and of his purposes and of his purposes for the world." (Cambridge Teachers Bible Dictionary.) ("Seventy's Bible," pp. 64-65).

3. The Presence of God in the Bible: "The statements about God in Holy Scripture are uttered with an air of authority, dogmatically; not as the result of a long chain of reasoning: 'The Lord said' this—did that—or more emphatically, in the form of a message, 'Thus saith the Lord,' the teaching of the Bible is not the result of deductive or inductive reasoning. No direct arguments are adduced to prove the existence of God—that is assumed throughout. His attributes may be the subject of argument; His existence, never. His justice, His wisdom, His power may be momentarily obscured by the mystery of evil in the world—as in the book of Job. Incidentally we may get arguments dealing with the nature of the Deity, as e. g. the interesting a fortiori argument from creature to Creator in Ps. 94. 'He that made the eye, shall he not see?' etc., which logically carried out becomes in inference of personality in God from man's personality—there are arguments such as these either stated or suggested in Holy Scripture, but the existence of God never comes within their scope. It lies behind all else; it is the fundamental conception in the light of which all else is viewed. Not only in the Pentateuch and the Prophets and the Psalms, but in the historical narratives—in the brief and apparently barren records of the accession, regnal years, and death of the various kings, it is made clear that God's hand is at work throughout the course of events, and that He is the ever-present Judge by whom the actions of kind and subject alike are weighed. Even in the Book of Esther, in which the divine name never once occurs, no doubt is left upon the mind as to the providential over-rulings of events both great and small. Nay, in those books which are least formally theological—Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, the works of the 'wise man,' the humanists or philosophers of Israel—the thought of God is present from first to last. They do not grope and search after Him like the great pagan thinkers. They set out, not to discover, but to recognize Him; to learn from His dealings with nature and human nature more about that divine personality who is the primary presupposition of all their system, and with whom their heart holds sacred communion even while the intellect stands baffled before the insoluble problems involved in His permission of evil in the world He rules." "Belief in God." Dummelow's Commentary, R. C.

4. The Bible "A Picture of the World With God at Work In It:" The Bible, as we have said, does not offer arguments to prove the existence of the Deity, but it offers something which is far more valuable to most of us than any abstract proof. It gives us a concrete, experimental, descriptive theology. It shows us a picture of the world with God at work in it, which the devout, appreciative soul instinctively recognizes as truth. It offers us, largely in the concrete form of narrative and history, a theory of the universe which, rightly understood, is found to meet the demands of hearts and minds alike; revealing a God whose character is such and whose relation to man is such that in Him both our needs and our aspirations find satisfaction. At the same time it incidentally provides a theory of human nature (see especially Gen. 1-3) that affords the only satisfactory key to the raison d'etre of those needs and aspirations—the explanation of man's actual littleness and his potential greatness."—Ibid. D. C.

5. The Relations of the Testimony of Nature and Revelation: "In the first place, then, the indications of a Creator and of his attributes which we have been able to find in nature, though so much slighter and less conclusive even as to his existence than the pious mind would wish to consider them, and still more unsatisfactory in the formation they afford as to his attributes, are yet sufficient to give to the supposition of a revelation a standing point which it would not otherwise have had. The alleged Revelation is not obliged to build up its case from the foundation; it has not to prove the very existence of the being from whom it professes to come. It claims to be a message from a being whose existence, whose power, and to a certain extent whose wisdom and goodness, are, if not proved, at least indicated with more or less of probability by the phenomena of nature. The sender of the alleged message is not a sheer invention; there are grounds independent of the message itself in his reality; grounds which, though insufficient for proof, are sufficient to take away all antecedent improbability from the supposition that a message may really have been received from him. It is, moreover, much to the purpose to take notice, that the very imperfection of the evidences which Natural Theology can produce of the Divine attributes, removes some of the chief stumbling blocks to the belief of a revelation; since the objections grounded on imperfections in the revelation itself, however conclusive against it if it is considered as a record of the acts or an expression of the wisdom of a being of infinite power combined with infinite wisdom and goodness, are no reason whatever against its having come from a being such as the course of nature points to, whose wisdom is possibly, his power certainly, limited, and whose goodness, though real, is not likely to have been the only motive which actuated him in the work of Creation." "Theism" (Mill). From "Three Essays on Religion." (1874).

The whole work can be studied with great profit as confirmation of many revealed truths of our day to be found in Mr. Mill's deductions; also upon the same line of thought may profitably be consulted, Book III of Shedd's "History of Christian Doctrine," the chapter on "Evidence of the Divine Existence."

6. The Revelation of God in the Pearl of Great Price: The Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price^[[1]] follow the Bible in the peculiarity of making no argument for the existence of God. That existence is assumed. The opening paragraphs of the Book of Moses plunge one immediately into the very presence of God. Thus: "The words of God, which he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was caught up into an exceeding high mountain, and he saw God, face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses, therefore Moses could endure his presence. And God spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and endless is my name; for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this endless? And, behold, thou art my son; wherefore look, and I will show thee the workmanship of mine hands; but not all, for my works are without end, and also my words, for they never cease. Wherefore, no man can behold all my works, except he behold all my glory; and no man can behold all my glory, and afterwards remain in the flesh on the earth." (Chapter 1.)

The Book of Abraham with equal force assumes the existence of God, and its opening paragraphs deal with Abraham seeking his rights to the Priesthood of God, and announcing himself as one who was a "follower of righteousness," * * * "and desiring to receive instruction, and to keep the commandments of God;" and so following. The existence of God is a settled question; and the books here considered are chiefly of value because, like the revelations of the Bible, they unfold the nature of God, and his relationship to man, rather than argue for his existence.

7. The Book of Mormon on the Existence of God: The Book of Mormon, like the Bible, takes the existence of God as a thing granted; and only in one remembered instance is the question of God's existence argued. This is in the case of the controversy between Alma, the High Priest, and the desperate Anti-Christ, Korihor. The latter denied the existence of God; Alma affirmed it. Korihor demanded a sign in attestation of the Divine existence. Alma appealed to the consciousness of God in the soul of man as manifest in his own knowledge and the experience of others that were present; to the testimony of the prophets, to the scriptures, and to the creation, as being a witness to the existence of a Creator—"all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it; yea, and its motion; yea, and also the planets which move in their regular form, (order)—* * * * * witness that there is a supreme Creator." And from this basis of testimony he affirms the existence of God, and justifies the Priesthood of God, and the Church, in the course that is pursued in teaching faith in and obedience to God; (Alma XXX: 37-44) and the hope of salvation through the atonement of the Messiah.

Footnotes

[1]. For the origin, contents, and character of this collection of revelations see Seventy's First Year Book, Part V, Lessons V, VI and VII.

LESSON VII.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

IV. REVELATION.—(Continued.)

SPECIAL TEXT: I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other: "Joseph, this is My beloved Son, hear Him." Joseph Smith, Pearl of Great Price, p. 85. (Edition of 1902.)

NOTES.

1. The Doctrine and Covenants on the Existence of God: The Doctrine and Covenants in the main is a collection of Revelations given through Joseph Smith. The revelations are not a formal treatise on theology. In all the revelations the existence of God, as would naturally be expected, is assumed. "There is a God in heaven who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, the same unchangeable God, the framer of heaven and earth, and all things that are in them." (Doc. & Cov. Sec. XX; 17). This declaration is made in the revelation which directed the organization of the Church to be made, on the 6th day of April, 1830. So all through the revelations, God's existence is proclaimed, but never argued: "Hear, O Ye Heavens, and give ear O Earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for the Lord is God, and beside Him there is no Savior. Great is His wisdom, marvelous are His ways, and the extent of His doings none can find out. His purposes fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand; from eternity to eternity he is the same and his years never fail. * * * And now after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony last of all, which we give of him, that he lives; for we saw Him, even on the right hand of God, and we heard the voice bearing record that He is the Only Begotten of the Father—that by Him, and through Him, and of Him the worlds are and were created and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God." Doc. & Cov., Sec. LXXVI. This kind of proclamation recurs at times in other revelations.

2. The Lectures on Faith: In the fore part of the Doctrine and Covenants there is a series of six lectures on faith. The lectures, of course, are not on the same level of authority with the revelations. They constitute a treatise on the subject of their title drawn up by a committee appointed from among the Elders of the Church by the High Council at Kirtland, on the 24th of September, 1834. The committee consisted of Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams. (History of the Church, Vol. II, p. 165.) The lectures were first delivered to a class of elders at Kirtland during the winter of 1834-5, under the title of "Lectures on Theology." The Prophet alludes to the circumstance in his journal as follows, under date of December 1st, 1834: "Our school for the Elders was now well attended, and with the lectures on theology, which were regularly delivered absorbed for the time being, everything else of a temporal nature." (Hist. of the Church, Vol. II, pp. 175-6.) On the first of January following he refers to the same subject as follows: "During the month of January I was engaged in the school of the Elders and in preparing the lectures on theology for publication in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants which the committee [above named] appointed last September were now compiling."

The following is a foot note from page 176 of the History of the Church, Volume II: These "Lectures on Theology" here referred to were afterwards prepared by the Prophet, (See p. 180), and published in the Doctrine and Covenants under the title "Lectures on Faith." They are seven in number, and occupy the first seventy-five pages in the current editions of the Doctrine and Covenants. They are not to be regarded as of equal authority in matters of doctrine with the revelations of God in the Doctrine and Covenants, but as stated by Elder John Smith, who, when the book of Doctrine and Covenants was submitted to the several quorums of the Priesthood for acceptance, (August 17, 1835,) speaking in behalf of the Kirtland High Council, "bore record that the revelations in said book were true, and that the lectures were judicially written and compiled, and were profitable for doctrine." The distinction which Elder John Smith here makes should be observed as marking the difference between the Lectures on Faith and the revelations of God in the Doctrine and Covenants. (See also Seventy's First Year Book, Part V, Lesson I, pp. 135-138.)

3. The Objective Reality of Joseph Smith Vision: Did the visions of Joseph Smith have objective reality, or were they purely subjective, mere creations of the mind? This question has been extensively debated. Of course, from the Mormon point of view, the visions had objective reality. That is to say, the Divine personages of the first vision were tangible, bodily persons. One of them, in fact, was the risen Christ, who, when he arose from the dead left a tomb empty; who, to some of his doubting disciples, on appearing to a number of them after his resurrection, said "handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bone as ye see me have." And who in further attestation of the reality of his bodily existence ate of a fish and honey-comb in the presence of these same disciples. And we have warrant even of the Athanasian Greed that "such as the Father is, such is the son;" and conversely it follows of necessity that as the Son is, so is the Father! Hence the Father a tangible reality, a personage of flesh and bone as indeed was and is the Christ.

The Singularity of Joseph Smith's Vision of God: Joseph Smith's vision of God is the most singular of any given to mortal man. The only other vision that approaches it is that of Stephen described in Acts VII. "He being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly unto heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." Then the Jews cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears that they might not hear his supposed blasphemy, and ran upon him with one accord, and stoned him to death. Stephens's vision of God, however, is not equal to Joseph Smith's vision for distinctiveness of view, and definiteness of revelation of the Father's person. Hitherto it could be said—"And no man knoweth * * * * the Father save the Son, and He to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him (Matt. xi:27); also "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John i:18.) The Father according to these sayings—except for the vision of Stephen—had kept in the background of revelation; for the Jehovah of the Jews—God—was but the pre-existent spirit of the Christ of the New Testament. (See also revelation of Moriancumer, the brother of Jared, Ether III.) But when the "dispensation of the Fulness of Times" was being ushered in, it was fitting that a fulness of knowledge of God should be revealed to the first great witness and prophet of that dispensation. Fitting, too, that the Father should introduce the son to that witness and prophet. Nowhere else is there a vision of God so perfect, and glorious as in that vision with which the dispensation of the fulness of times opens—the dispensation in which it is promised that all things shall be gathered together in one—"all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, even to him. (Eph. I:10).

LESSON VIII.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR REVELATIONS.

SPECIAL TEXT: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Gen. i:1, 2.^[1]

NOTES.

1. View of the Universe, (a) Mediaeval: In past ages what was called the geocentric theory, that is, earth-center theory, respecting the universe prevailed. It was believed that the earth was in shape flat, and the immovable center 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 supposed 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." (Draper.)

2. Views of the Universe, (b) Modern: The views expressed in note 1, however, by our modern knowledge is changed. The modern view enforced by absolute knowledge respecting the universe is thus stated by John W. Draper: "As there are other globes like our earth, so, too, there are other worlds like our solar system. There are self-luminous suns exceeding in number all computation. The dimensions of the earth pass into nothingness in comparison with the dimensions of the solar system, and that system, in its turn, is only an invisible point if placed in relation with the countless hosts of other systems which form, with it, clusters of stars. Our solar system, far from being alone in the universe, is only one of an extensive brotherhood, bound by common laws and subject to like influences. Even on the very verge of creation, where imagination might lay the beginning of the realms of chaos, we see unbounded proofs of order, a regularity in the arrangement of inanimate things, suggesting to us that there are other intellectual creatures like us, the tenants of those islands in the abysses of space. "Though it may take a beam of light a million years to bring to our view those distant worlds, the end is not yet. Far away in the depths of space we catch the faint gleams of other groups of stars like our own. The finger of a man can hide them in their remoteness. Their vast distances from one another have dwindled into nothing. They and their movements have lost all individuality; the innumerable suns of which they are composed blend all their collected light into one pale milky glow."

"Thus extending our view from the earth to the solar system, from the solar system to the expanse of the group of stars to which we belong, we behold a series of gigantic nebula creations rising up one after another, and forming greater and greater colonies of worlds. No numbers can express them, for they make the firmament a haze of stars. Uniformity, even though it be the uniformity of magnificence, tires at last, and we abandon the survey, for our eyes can only behold a boundless prospect, and conscience tells us our own unspeakable insignificance." Draper's Intellectual Development of Europe, Vol. II, p. 299. New Witnesses for God, Vol. I (Treatise on Joseph Smith) Chapter XXVIII.

3. Larger Worlds and Larger World-Systems than Ours: "These distant suns are, many of them, much larger than our sun. Sirius, the beautiful Dog-star, is (so far as can be judged by its amount of light) nearly 3,000 times larger, and therefore its system of dependent worlds must be so much more important than those which form our solar system. Its planets may far exceed ours in size and revolve at far greater distances; for such a sun would throw its beams of light and heat very much beyond a distance equal to that of our Neptune."—Samuel Kinns, Ph. D., F. R. A. A. S., in "Harmony of the Bible with Science," second edition, p. 238.

"Man when he looks upon the countless multitudes of stars—when he reflects that all he sees is only a small portion of those which exist, yet that each is a light and life-giving sun to multitudes of opaque, and therefore invisible worlds—when he considers the enormous size of these various bodies and their immeasurable distance from one another, may form an estimate of the scale on which the world (universe) is constructed." "Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II, p. 279.

4. The Argument Based Upon the Data of Notes One, Two and Three: The argument to be based upon the preceding notes is this: Since our earth, and even our solar system, as presented to us by our modern knowledge, is so insignificantly small and doubtless inferior to the more splendid worlds and world-systems of the universe, it would be ridiculous to suppose that the revelations granted to us in our written scriptures were intended to cover all things pertaining to the limitless universe and its equally limitless sentient inhabitants. It is more reasonable to suppose that the revelations vouch-safed to us through our seers are revelations pertaining to our earth and associate spheres—(its heavens); our God, and those intelligences that pertain to our earth and that order of things with which it is associated.

5. The Vision of Moses: "And it came to pass, as the voice (of God) was still speaking, Moses cast his eyes and beheld the earth, yea, even all of it; and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold, discerning it by the Spirit of God. And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even numberless as the sands upon the sea shore. And he beheld many lands; and each land was called earth, and there were inhabitants on the face thereof. And it came to pass that Moses called upon God, saying: Tell me, I pray thee, why these things are so, and by what thou madest them? And behold, the glory of the Lord was upon Moses, so that Moses stood in the presence of God, and talked with him face to face. And the Lord God said unto Moses: "For mine own purpose have I made these things. Here is wisdom, and it remaineth in me. And by the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth. And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. And the first man of all men have I called Adam, which is many." (Book of Moses—Pearl of Great Price—Ch. I).

6. The Limits of Moses' Special Revelation: "But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power, and there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them. And it came to pass that Moses spake unto the Lord, saying: 'Be merciful unto thy servant, O God, and tell me concerning this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, and also the heavens, and then thy servant will be content.' And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: "The heavens, they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine. And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof, even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words. For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. And now, Moses, my son, I will speak unto thee concerning this earth upon which thou standest; and thou shalt write the things which I shall speak." (Book of Moses—Pearl of Great Price—Ch. I:35-40.)

"And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Behold, I reveal unto you concerning this Heaven, and this Earth; write the words which I speak. I am the Beginning and the End, the Almighty God; by mine Only Begotten I created these things; yea, in the beginning I created the heaven, and the earth upon which thou standest. And the earth was without form, and void; and I caused darkness to come up upon the face of the deep; and my Spirit moved upon the face of the water; for I am God. And I, God, said: Let there be light; and there was light."—Thence the revelation proceeds much as in Genesis, chapters one and two. (See Book of Moses—Pearl of Great Price—Ch. II:1-3.)

Footnotes

[1]. "In the Beginning:" When the Bible says, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"; and "thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them," it has reference not to any "absolute beginning," or "absolute finishing," but only to the "beginning" and "finishing" as pertaining to our earth and the order of creation with which it is connected, and the "hosts" that pertain to our order of existence, not absolutely to all existences.

LESSON IX.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

THE LIMITATIONS OF OUR REVELATIONS—(Continued.)

SPECIAL TEXT: "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be Gods many and Lords many), but 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." I Cor. viii:4-6.

NOTES.

[Transcriber's Note: start of this paragraph appears to be missing due to a printer's error in the original.] the passage from Paul, "We know an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called Gods whether in heaven or in earth (as there be Gods many and Lords many) but to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him." (I Cor. VIII, 5, 6.) Commenting, I say, upon this, the Prophet said: Paul says there are Gods many, and Lords many, * * * * but to us there is but one God—that is, pertaining to us; and he is in all and through all, [i. e., His influence or spirit permeates his dominions.] But if Joseph Smith says there are Gods many, and Lords many, they cry:—"Away with him, crucify him, crucify him! * * * Paul, if Joseph Smith is a blasphemer, you are. I say there are Gods many, and Lords many, but to us only one; and we are to be in subjection to that one. * * * * * * Some say I do not interpret the Scriptures the same as they do. They say it means the heathen's gods. Paul says there are Gods many, and Lords many, and that makes a plurality of Gods, in spite of the whims of all men. You know, and I testify, that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods. I have it from God. * * * I have a witness of the Holy Ghost, and a testimony that Paul had no allusion to the heathen gods in the text." (Discourse at Nauvoo, July 16, 1844. Mill. Star, Vol. 24, p. 108, et seq.)

2. The Argument Based on the Data of Note One: The argument to be based upon the data of note one, and the whole subject of Lessons VIII and IX is this: If "pertaining to us" there is only one God to whom we are subject, then the revelations received are concerning him and his relations to our race; and our race's relations to him; they concern themselves with our race's past and future, and its salvation. Those revelations relate to our earth and its heavens or associated spheres. And while in a far off way we may dimly know that other mighty Divine Intelligences exist and preside over and guide the destinies of other worlds, still directly associated with our world, and our race is One Mighty Intelligence whom we recognize as the Father; another whom we recognize as the Son; another intelligence, unbodied in tabernacle of flesh and bone, a personage of spirit, whom we recognize as the Holy Spirit; and these three constitute one presiding council or God-head of our earth and its heavens. It is no more a marvel that we should have a God-head or great Presiding Council for our earth than that we should have a sun for it; and our having a great Presiding Council or God-head for our earth or our world-system would no more be in conflict with like grand councils for other worlds and world-systems than our sun would conflict, disrupt or injure other suns of other world-systems, since all are of the same nature, and act under the universal reign of law that preserves the harmony and nicely balanced forces and processes of the universe. So, too, the divine Intelligences of the universe are of "one nature in manifold persons;" "a system of self-acting beings forming a unity"—a free harmony of individual Divine Intelligences governing their world and world-systems under the universal reign of moral and spiritual laws.

3. The Three Personages of Our God-Head: "Everlasting covenant was made between three personages before the organization of this earth, and relates to their dispensation of things to men on the earth; these personages, according to Abraham's record, are called God the first, the Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the witness or Testator." (Gems, Richard and Little Compendium.)

I have not been able to find this passage in any of our Church annals, except in the "Gems" of the "Richard & Little Compendium." It stands there on the authority of the late Elder Franklin D. Richards, of the Council of the Twelve, and Historian of the Church. It is also in harmony with the whole tenor of the Prophet's teaching on the subject of the God-Head, in the last year of his life.

4. The Pros and Cons of Psalms 82:6 and I Corinthians 8:5, 6:

Mr. Van Der Donckt: "Two of these texts, for instance, have the significant qualification: 'Being called gods.' A man must not be a lawyer to know that the fact that not a few quacks and clowns are called doctors does not make them such. "Although there be that are called gods either in heaven or on earth (for there be gods many and lords many); yet to us there is but one God" (1 Corinthians 8:5, 6). Jesus answered, referring to Psalm 82:6, "Is it not written in your law: I said ye are Gods? If he called them gods to whom the word of God was spoken" * * * (John 10:34, 35). Neither Christ nor Paul say that they are or were gods, but simply that they are called gods.

Mr. Roberts' Answer: One wonders at this argument when he takes into account the evident carefulness of Mr. V. as a writer. Jesus, whom he quotes as saying, the beings referred to as Gods are but called Gods, not that they are so, really fails to give due weight to the Psalm which Jesus quotes: "I have said ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the Most High" (Psalm 82: 6). Of this scripture, Jesus says: "Is it not written in your law, I said, ye are Gods," and he quotes with evident approval these inspired words of David, for he adds—"the scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:33); that is, the scripture of David saying, "ye are Gods," is true, it cannot be gain-said. Nor is this indorsement of David's utterance weakened by the subsequent remark of Jesus, "If he called them Gods unto whom the word of God came," etc.; for, when considered in the light of all the Psalmist said, and all that Jesus said, the "called them Gods" by no manner of means signifies that they were not Gods. David said, "ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the Most High" (Psalm 82:6). The Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy, because he had said he was the son of God (John 10:36); in defense, Jesus quoted the passage from the Psalms where it is said of men, "ye are Gods; and all of you are children of the Most High"—as showing that he was but claiming for himself the relationship that in the law of the Jews was accorded to men—sons of God, children of the Most High, and hence, he was not a blasphemer. In other words, if the Psalmist could say to those he addressed, "all of you are children of the Most High," why should he, the Christ, be considered a blasphemer because he called himself the Son of God?

Surely, also, the gentleman has overlooked Paul's very emphatic declaration in the parenthetical part of the sentence he quotes from him, viz., "There be Gods many and Lords many; yet to us there is but one God." * * * * No wonder that Moses sent ringing down through the centuries that clarion sentence: "Hear, O Israel, Our God is one Lord;" that the Hebrew race stood as the witness of that one God, and fashioned their nomenclature accordingly; or that Paul said, "Though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in earth—as there be Gods many, and Lords many—but to us there is but one God;" or that Joseph Smith, in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, should take up the same refrain as these ancient servants of God, and say, "Pertaining to us, there is but one God." ("Mormon Doctrine of Deity," Roberts-Van Der Donckt discussion.)

Footnotes

[1]. This reference may carry the student beyond the immediate point of the subject in hand, but it will be well for him to read the pages of the work indicated, and then extract from them what is there said which bears immediately upon the point in the lesson.

LESSON X.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

(SPECIAL LESSON.)

THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' SUPERIOR GROUNDS FOR FAITH IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

(A DISCOURSE)

NOTES.

1. Suggestion to the Speaker: (a) Suggestions for constructing a discourse or lecture will be found in the Seventy's Year Book, No. I, pp. 59, 60; also 86, 87; and Year Book No. II, pp. 113-115; also 149-150.

(b) The theme of this lesson will call for both expository and argumentative treatment. Of argumentative treatment of a subject something, and doubtless enough, has been said in Seventy's Year Book, No. II, pp. 68-71, and it only remains to say a word on exposition. "Exposition consists merely in explaining the meaning of a proposition or subject, and giving proof and reasons for the explanations made. It consists in defining terms and setting forth a subject in its various relations, or "presenting principles or rules for the purpose of instructing others." A treatise on grammar, for instance, consists principally of exposition. This Year Book is an exposition of the "Doctrine of Deity." "Clearness being the chief object (of exposition), and the nature of the subject excluding ornament, this kind of matter should be presented in a neat, concise style." (Quackenbos Rhetoric.)

2. The First Moment of Speech: In our last special lesson a word was said in relation to the "first moment" of speech. Further suggestions from the same authority then quoted may not be amiss here. "The most formidable and common foe of the speaker's, in these preliminary moments, is a general dread that can neither be analyzed nor accounted for. Persons who have never felt its power sometimes make light of it, but experience will change their views. The soldier who has never witnessed a battle, or felt the air throb with the explosion of cannon, or heard the awful cries of the wounded, is often a great braggart; while "the scarred veteran of a hundred fights" never speaks of the carnival of blood without shuddering, and would be the last, but for the call of duty, to brave the danger he knows so well. There may be a few speakers who do not feel such fear, but it is because they do not know what true speaking is; they have never known the full tide of inspiration which sometimes lifts the orator far above his conceptions, but which first struggles in his own bosom like the pent fires of a volcano. They only come forward to relieve themselves of the interminable stream of twaddle that wells spontaneously to their lips, and can well be spared the pangs preceding the birth of a powerful and living discourse.

"This kind of fear belongs to every kind of speaking, but is most intense on those great occasions, in presence of large audiences, when men's passions run high. In mere instructive address, where the ground has been repeatedly gone over and where the effort is mainly of an intellectual character, it is less noticeable. It resembles the awe felt on the eve of all great enterprises, and when excessive, as it is in some highly gifted minds, it constitutes an absolute bar to public speech. But in most cases it is a source of inspiration rather than of repression." ("Extempore Speech," Pittenger, pp. 188-9.)

The lesson in the above passage is that the young speaker should not be discouraged because he experiences this fear—"man-fearing spirit," it is sometimes called—at the beginning of a discourse. The more frightened he is the more hope is there that, ultimately, he will succeed; for his very fright, or dread, is a sure token that he has the necessary nervous temperament, the sensitiveness, essential to his success in this most wonderful accomplishment of instructive speaking.

3. Strength, Force, Emphasis: In the special lessons in Year Book No. II, the subject of "clearness" in speech was dwelt upon repeatedly. In this and the remaining special lessons in this Year Book, something will be said of "strength or force" in speech, and a few suggestions made as to the things essential to acquire this, after clearness, most desirable quality of expression.

The three terms at the head of this note are used because they are employed by various text books; they mean, however, the same thing.

Strength, as the property of a good style in speaking or writing, consists in such a use and arrangement of words as will make a deep impression on the mind of the reader or hearer.

"The first requisite of strength is the rejection of all superfluous words, which constitutes one of the elements of precision also. Whatever adds nothing to the meaning of a sentence takes from its strength; and, whether it be simply a word, a clause, or a member, should be rejected. In the following passage, the words in black type convey no additional meaning, and, consequently, a regard for strength requires their omission."

Examples: 1. "Being satisfied with what he has achieved, he attempts nothing further."

2. "If I had not been absent, if I had been here, this would not have happened."

3. "The very first discovery of it strikes the mind with inward joy, and spreads delight through all its faculties."

Observe the difference in strength when the unnecessary words are eliminated:

1. Satisfied with what he has achieved, he attempts nothing further.

2. If I had been there, this would not have happened.

3. The very first discovery of it strikes the mind with inward joy.

PART II.

Conceptions of God.

LESSON XI.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.

SPECIAL TEXT: "This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him; male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created." (Gen. v:12.)

NOTES.

1. Sources of Information: The sources of information in this lesson are so completely within the reach of all that notes upon the various subdivisions are not considered necessary.

2. Lecture II On Faith: Too much cannot be said of the value of the Second Lecture on Faith in the Doctrine and Covenants. Nowhere else is the manner in which faith in God was brought into the world and preserved among men, so well worked out as in that lecture. It is a very instructive bit of literature, and should be highly prized by the ministry of the Church.

3. Parallel Between Adam and Noah: Each of these great patriarchs occupies a singular relationship to the question of faith in God. Each stood at the head of a great dispensation of the Gospel. Each received the commandment—"Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth," (Gen. I:28, and Gen. IX:1); and as Adam brought with him the knowledge of God for men from beyond the "Fall"—from Eden to this side Eden, so Noah brought the knowledge of God for men from beyond the flood to this side the flood, and is a great witness for God to men. Adam is Michael. (Doc. & Cov. Sec. cvii:54.) Noah is Gabriel. (Hist. of the Church, Vol. III, p. 386); and each was the "Father of all living" in his day.

4. Importance of the Period Covered in this Lesson: To be well versed in the history of the period covered by this lesson, is important. Especially in relation to the knowledge of God that then existed among men; for the knowledge then revealed became the foundation of that belief in God found in subsequent generations of men in the nations of antiquity. Also in this period will be found the roots of those myths and fables in relation to gods, with which some nations and races of men were pleased to amuse, and at last deceive themselves. Believe me, it is not a waste of time to study the historic period from Adam to Noah; and from Noah to Abraham.

5. Testimony of Moriancumer: Let the student also give more than a passing thought to Moriancumer, the Brother of Jared, of the Book of Mormon. He brought the knowledge of God to the Western hemisphere; and the revelation of God to him (Ether: III), was most important, since it was the source of the knowledge of God to that great Jaredite empire which endured for sixteen hundred years in the Western hemisphere, and which was one of the greatest nations of antiquity. (Ether i:42, 43, and xv:2).

LESSON XII.

(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

ANCIENT CONCEPTIONS OF GOD.—(Continued.)

SPECIAL TEXT: "And I will sanctify My great name, which was profaned among the heathen which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." Ezekiel xxxvi:23.

NOTES.

1. Early Corruption of the Doctrine of Deity: Believing that the knowledge of God in this world, started with the information which Adam brought with him through the fall, from Eden (See Lesson I, this Book), and with the revelations given in his day, it is believed by the writer that all traditions and conceptions of God which afterwards obtained in very ancient nations were influenced more or less by that knowledge; and that in so far as confusion, mystery and idolatry respecting the being and character of God existed among those nations, it resulted from the early apostasy of men in ancient times from God. On this head the late President John Taylor held the following strong views:

"It is an important fact, holding good of other ancient civilizations as well as that of Egypt, that the farther we trace back their religious beliefs and mythologies, the purer does the creed become, the nearer it approaches to heavenly truth, and the stronger and more evident are the traces of gospel teachings. This fact alone is sufficient to prove that paganism had its origin in the revelations of heaven, from which, in its various diverse branches, it had turned and strayed, and by gradual growth, had become the vile, inconsistent, degrading and loathsome system which is abhorred by all pure-minded, honorable and intelligent people. Had the various forms of ancient, dominant, pagan worship been radically and entirely different, with only those features in common that could reasonably be attributed to accident or the inter-communication of races, the inference would be strong that they had different origins; but when, as is the case, there is a strong family likeness, and that likeness grows stronger the further it is traced back, and continually points to a common parentage, and that parentage is the truth as taught by the early patriarchs and inspired servants of heaven, our conclusions must necessarily be that these correct and God-given teachings were the source from whence the whole sprang, and the differences in development arose from the varied incidents in the history, and the peculiar surroundings of the various races that gave a local hue and tinge to their forms of belief." (Mediation and Atonement, pp. 196-7).

2. On the Great Diversity of Beliefs in God: "A great diversity of religious opinions has prevailed in the world, and different forms of ceremonies have been and still are observed. The religious notions and practices of mankind early diverged from one another,—the 'sons of men' were soon distinguished from 'the sons of God,' the impious from the holy,—and notwithstanding the purgation of the world by a flood, and the subsequent re-establishment of one common faith no sooner did the earth begin to be peopled again, than a diversity of religions took place, each nation and tribe embracing some peculiarity of its own. Such has been the fact, through all the intervening periods of history, to the present day. Each distinct portion of the human family, especially its larger divisions, has had its separate religious dogmas and practices, ranging from pure theism to the grossest idolatry." (Burder's History of All Religions, Introduction, p. 9).

3. On The Cause of Departure From True Conceptions of God: After determining, by extended discussion, that the great diversity in men's beliefs respecting God does not arise from chance, nor external circumstances, nor from any necessity arising from the nature of man's mind, nor from the want of revelation, William Burder, in his great work on the "History of All Religions," finds the true cause of man's departure from the knowledge of God in the radical depravity of the human heart. "Is not that the true cause?" he inquiries. "It seems to us that it can be resolved into no other. Of the depravity of the human heart we are not permitted to doubt, in view of the decisions of the Bible and the results of observation. This, existing and reigning in all men, by nature, would readily dispose them to a diversity of religious views and practices, or rather irreligion under various names. It would readily dispose them to depart from the true belief, and to cast off the restraints of the divine authority. They would be prone to invent many schemes and devices with a view to appease an upbraiding conscience, and to gratify that ceaseless love of novelty, which characterizes the human mind. Except in those in whom the effects of depravity are counteracted by divine grace, there would exist a continual propensity to depart from God and his institutions—to lose sight of religious truth, and become involved in gross darkness and superstition. In such a state, the mind is prepared for every absurdity—

'Nations ignorant of God, contrive
A wooden one.'

"Hence have arisen the altars and demons of heathen antiquity, their extravagant fictions, and abominable orgies. Hence we find among the Babylonians and Arabians the adoration of the heavenly bodies, the earliest form of idolatry; among the Canaanites and Syrians, the worship of Baal, Tammuz, Magog and Astarte; among the Phoenicians, the immolation of children to Moloch; among the Egyptians divine honors bestowed on animals, birds, insects, leeks, and onions; among the Persians, religious reverence offered to fire; and among the polished Greeks, the recognition in their system of faith of thirty thousand Gods." (Burder's History of All Religions, p. 12).

4. Babylonia and Assyria: "These were the two great Eastern empires before which all the old states of Syria and Palestine fell. We learn their history partly from the Bible narrative, and also from contemporary monuments written in cuneiform characters and recently deciphered.

"Babylonia or Shinar (Gen. 10:10) is the alluvial country on the lower course of the Euphrates and Tigris, of which Babel or Babylon [the same] was the chief city. Assyria, or Asshur, occupied the Tigris valley to the north of Babylonia. Its center lay on the left bank of the Tigris, where the great city of Nineveh stood, opposite Mosul. Babylon and Nineveh were long rivals, but they had a common civilization, of which the southern alluvium was the original home. Their language was Semitic, but in the southern country the Semites seem to have been preceded by another race from whom they acquired many things in their culture and religion, and to whom the origin of their peculiar cuneiform system of writing is generally ascribed. In process of time Assyria became the stronger power, and after the Egyptians retired from Mesopotamia, it began to push forth beyond its original limits." (Cambridge Bible Dictionary—70's Bible—p. 14).

5. The Second Babylonian Kingdom—Or Chaldea: The supremacy of the Assyrian Empire over the old, or first, Babylonian Monarchy, lasted but little more than a century. It began 728 B. C. and was overthrown 625 B. C. (Myers' General History, cf. pp. 33, 47.)

"Nabopolassar (625-605 B. C.) was the founder of what is known as the Chaldean or New Babylonian Empire. At first a vassal king, when troubles began to thicken about the Assyrian court, he revolted and became independent. Later he entered into an alliance with the Median king against his former suzerain. Through the overthrow of Nineveh and the break-up of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian kingdom received large accessions of territory. For a short time thereafter Babylon filled a great place in history. Nabopolassar was followed by his son Nebuchadnezzar, whose renown filled the ancient world. One important event of his reign was the taking of the rebellious city of Jerusalem. The temple was stripped of its sacred vessels of silver and gold, which were carried away to Babylon, and the building itself was given to the flames; a part of the people were also carried away into the "Great Captivity, 586 B. C." (Myers' General History, p. 47.)

6. The fall of the Chaldean, or Second Babylonian Empire. (538 B. C.): "The glory of the New Babylonian Empire passed away with Nebuchadnezzar. To the east of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates there had been growing up an Aryan kingdom, the Medo-Persian, which, at the time now reached by us [558-529 B. C.] had become a great imperial power. At the head of this new empire was Cyrus, a strong, energetic, and ambitious sovereign. Coming into collision with the Babylonian king Nabonidus, he defeated his army in the open field, and the gates of the strongly fortified capital, Babylon, were without further resistance thrown open to the Persians." (Myers' General History, p. 48).

With the fall of Babylon the scepter of dominion, borne so long by Semitic princes, was given into the hands of the Aryan peoples, who were destined from this time forward to shape the main course of events and control the affairs of civilization.

7. The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria: "The religion of the country was a combination of the Shamanistic belief^[[1]] (i. e., a belief that each force of nature had its "spirit," good or bad) of the original Accadian population, along with the nature-worship of the Semitic conquerors. Inscriptions which have been recently deciphered, show that the Babylonians had accounts of the creation and deluge, in many ways similar to those given in the book of Genesis." (Cambridge Bible Dictionary—70's Bible—p. 17).

8. Underlying Principles of Assyrian-Babylonian Beliefs: "The religion of Assyria and Babylonia, was, in its essential principles, and in the general spirit of its conceptions, of the same character of the religion of Egypt, and in general as all pagan religions. When we penetrate beneath the surface which gross Polytheism has acquired from popular superstition, and revert to its original and higher conceptions, we shall find the whole based on the idea of the unity of the Deity, the last relic of the primitive revelation, disfigured indeed and all but lost in the monstrous ideas of pantheism; confounding the creature with the Creator; and transforming the Deity into a god-world, whose manifestations are to be found in all the phenomena of nature. Beneath this supreme and sole God, this great ALL, in whom all things are lost and absorbed, are ranked in an order of emanation corresponding to their importance, a whole race of secondary deities who are emanations from His very substance, who are mere personifications of His attributes and manifestations. The differences between the various pagan religions, is chiefly marked by the differences between these secondary divine beings. * * * * The Chaldea-Assyrian, especially devoted to astronomy, saw in the astral, and especially in the planetary system, a manifestation of the divine being. They considered the stars as His true external manifestation, and in their religious system made them the visible evidence of the subordinate divine emanations from the substance of the infinite being, whom they identified with the world, his work." (The World's Worship—Dobbins—pp. 126, 127).

9. The Supreme God of the Assyrians—Ilu: "The supreme god, the first and sole principle from whom all other deities were derived, was Ilu, whose name signified God par excellence. Their idea of him was too comprehensive, too vast, to have any determined external form, or consequently to receive in general the adoration of the people. * * * * In Chaldea it does not seem that any temple was ever specially dedicated to him; but at Nineveh, and generally throughout Assyria, he seems to have received the peculiarly national name of 'Asshur' (whence was derived the name of the country, Mat Asshur), and this itself seems related to the Aryan name of the deity Asura. With this title he was great god of the land, the especial protector of the Assyrians, he who gave victory to their arms. The inscriptions designate him as "Master, or Chief of the Gods." He it is, perhaps, who is to be recognized in the figure occasionally found on the Assyrian monuments (but probably adopted in later times by the Persians to represent their Ormuzd), representing a human bust, wearing the royal tiara in the middle of a circle borne by two large eagle wings, and with an eagle's tail." (World's Worship,—Dobbins—pp. 126, 127).

10. Doubts of a Supreme God: Myers doubts of there being a conception of a supreme God in the religion of the Bablyon-Assyrian peoples. "At the earliest period made known to us by the native records, we find the pantheon to embrace many local deities (the patron gods of the different cities and nature gods); but at no period do we find a Supreme God. The most prominent feature from first to last of the popular religion was the belief in spirits, particularly in wicked spirits, and the practice of magic rites and incantations to avert the malign influence of these demons. A second important feature of the religion was what is known as astrology, or the foretelling of events by the aspect of the stars. This side of the religious system was most elaborately and ingeniously developed until the fame of the Chaldean astrologers was spread throughout the ancient world." Yet this Historian admits that, "alongside these low beliefs and superstitious practices, there existed, however, higher and purer elements. This is best illustrated by the so-called penitential psalms, dating, some of them, from the second millennium B. C., which breathe a spirit like that which pervades the penitential psalms of the Old Testament." In confirmation of this statement, he quotes one of these psalms, translated by Jastro:

"O, my god, who art angry with me, accept my prayer!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

May my sins be forgiven, my transgressions be wiped out.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(May) flowing waters of the stream wash me clean!
Let me be pure, like the sheen of gold."
(Myers' General History, p. 38.)

"The cuneiform writings on the tablets," says James Freeman Clarke, author of 'Ten Great Religions,' "show us that the Assyrians also prayed." "On an unpublished tablet in the British Museum, is this prayer of King Asshur-da-ni-pal, B. C. 650: