Read Ebook: Outlines of Mormon Philosophy Or the Answers Given by the Gospel as Revealed Through the Prophet Joseph Smith to the Questions of Life by Wilson Lycurgus A Lycurgus Arnold

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re eternal." The Prophet Joseph Smith adds to this nugget of truth another beautiful thought, when he says:

From which we may be assured that in the Gospel scheme of organization, this life's drama in the large, matter plays no unimportant part.

We, therefore, may conclude:

That all the matter now existing always existed and always will exist.

That there never was any more matter than there is at present and there never will be any more than there is now.

AS TO INTELLIGENCES.

Notwithstanding the desire for knowledge, the simplicity of truth has ever entailed upon it an unfriendly reception at the hands of men. It seems to be almost a law of the human mind that our preconceived notions, whether true or false, stand in the way of new ideas, and usually our principal effort is put forth in trying to reconcile a new thought with the old theory, rather than in an endeavor to give to each its proper valuation. And this is preeminently the case in relation to our ideas on the eternal existence of personal, individual intelligences. We can easily conceive of eternally existing matter, but not so of spirits.

Perhaps an excuse is afforded us in the fact that God is our Father; but no earthly father who understands the Gospel thinks for a moment that his children had no existence until they were begotten by him. He knows they have existed in the spirit world co-equally with himself. He is their father by reason of having given them a tabernacle in which to dwell, and in the same way did God become our Father.

Man has a spiritual body as well as a body of flesh and bones, or, as Paul has it, "There is natural body and there is a spiritual body." This explains the teachings as to the body, the astral body, and the aura, of the Yogis, of India, and is explained by the Lord as follows:

"For I, the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth; neither in the water; neither in the air ... And I, the lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but, spiritually, were they created and made according to my word."

But the whole scheme of the progress of the spirit is detailed in another revelation from the Lord. This, however, is in the Doctrine and Covenants:

"For by the power of my Spirit created I them; yea, all things, both spiritual and temporal.

"Firstly, spiritual--secondly, temporal, which is the beginning of my work; and again, firstly, temporal--and secondly spiritual, which is the last of my work."

That is to say: first, the spirit is clothed upon with a spiritual body, and afterwards with a temporal, or mortal body; secondly the spirit, at the time of the resurrection, is again clothed upon with the same body, just as it is laid down; and afterwards, the body, at the time of the restoration, undergoes a change by which it is not only restored to its proper form in case of malformation, but is rendered immune to the disabilities of mortality, as was the case with the Savior when He passed into the room where the Twelve were assembled, though the door was locked, or with the Angel Moroni when he passed up through the ceiling of the room at the close of his first interview with the Prophet Joseph Smith, or made himself visible or invisible at will.

Another cause of misconception is the meaning we attach to the word Creator, in describing our relationship to the Lord. We usually take the expression, "He is our Creator," to mean that we had no existence as individuals until He called us into being, and this in the face of His own declaration to the contrary. He says to Abraham, as hereinbefore quoted:

The construction of this statement seems purposely designed to negative the doctrine that spirits owe their origin to God, for, in that case, one might well question the justice of the Creator in giving one spirit so much more intelligence than another.

But the fact is, as the Prophet Joseph Smith has said:

"God never had the power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself."

As if determined so to state the fact that his meaning could not be misunderstood, the Prophet Joseph further says:

"I have another subject to dwell upon, which is calculated to exalt man. But it is impossible for me to say much on this subject. I shall, therefore, just touch upon it; for time will not permit me to say all. It is associated with the subject of the resurrection from the dead, the mind of man, the immortal spirit. Where did it come from? All learned men and doctors of divinity say that God created it in the beginning. But it is not so. The very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine. I know better."

Continuing, he adds:

"We say that God himself is a self-existent being. Who told you so? It is correct enough; but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? Man does exist upon the same principles. The mind or the intelligence which man possesses, is co-equal with God himself."

And again:

"There never was a time when there were not spirits, for they are co-equal with our Father in Heaven."

From all of which we may conclude:

That all the spirits now existing always did and always will exist.

That the spirits now existing are all that ever did, or that ever will exist.

SUMMARY OF CONDITIONS PRECEDENT.

Summarizing conditions precedent, we, therefore, find:

Abroad in boundless space, therefore, with unlimited time in which to learn, and labor, are intelligences surrounded by matter.

THE GOSPEL.

INCEPTION.

PURPOSE.

PLAN.

COVENANTS.

PERPETUITY.

INCEPTION OF THE GOSPEL.

Perhaps our best conception of chaos, in miniature, may be had by observing the floating, restless, erratic particles of matter to be seen in the path of a ray of sunshine, when admitted into a dark room. One's uppermost longing at such a time is to introduce order into this jarring, discordant sphere. And that condition and that sentiment have no doubt met before. The psychologist would trace the desire back to a time before the formation of Kolob, when myriads of eternal, self-existent spirits lived in the midst of boundless space, surrounded by unlimited, indestructible, unorganized matter, in a universal chaos. It may be asked if there ever was such a chaotic condition. So far as the creations of God are concerned, it would appear that there was, for we are informed that Kolob is the "first creation."

Turn now from this chaos in the streak of sunshine, chaos in the small, and let the mind contemplate that chaos at large, before any of the vast concourse of worlds that roll in space were formed, when the matter composing Kolob was yet unorganized; and the first desire that presents itself to the mind is to know how all this beautiful system by which we are not surrounded was evolved from that riot of matter, where this order had its inception, how God came to be God.

In what is without doubt the most wonderful revelation ever given to mankind, in that it reaches the farthest back and states some of the most important truths, the Prophet Joseph Smith, speaking at the funeral of Elder King Follett, at Nauvoo, explains in the simplest terms the sublime conception.

First, however, let him state his purpose:

"In order to understand the subject of the dead, for the consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary that we should understand the character and being of God, and how He came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea, and will take away and do away the vail, so that you may see."

The mind is here carried back to a time antedating anything of which we have an account anywhere else in the world, and that there may be no doubt as to the time and the personage referred to, the Prophet is very explicit.

With reference to the time he says:

"You ask the learned doctors why they say the world was made out of nothing; and they will answer, 'Doesn't the Bible say He created the world?' And they infer from the word create, that it must have been made out of nothing. Now, the word create came from the word baurau, which does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize-- the same as a man would organize materials and build a ship. Hence we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos-- chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. Elements had an existence from the time He had. The pure principles of element are principles which can never be destroyed. They may be organized and reorganized but not destroyed. They had no beginning, and can have no end."

As to the personage meant, one may say, There are many Gods, an almost endless chain of creators; to which one does the Prophet refer? We are not left in doubt, for he explains:

"If the vail were rent today, and the great God, who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by His power, were to make Himself visible,--I say, if you were to see Him today, you would see Him like a man in form."

And further:

"My object is to find out the character of the only wise and true God, and what kind of a being He is."

With these prefatory remarks, the Prophet Joseph proceeds to tell how God came to be God, in what must appeal to one as among the divinest words ever uttered. He says:

"God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory and intelligence which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits."

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