THE ETERXAL GOD.
again, is declared to be the "god" of Jesus Christ; Jesus Christ the god of Joseph Smith; and Joseph Smith is now the god of this generation : but the whole affair is a mass too wild and mystical to be explained in- telligently. The human intellect probably never sank into more abysmal nonsense ; all that can be definitely set before the mind is that Mormons believe that by faith, obedience, holiness, any man may rise into a deity, and acquire the power of making, peopling, and ruling a "world" forever ! (See Stenhouse, p. 486.)
The third article, which teaches universal salvation, is strangely elucidated regarding the future state. Thus, according to Mormon teaching, not only will the body, but all the habits, occupations, and necessities of life, be the same in the future world as in the present. One of their chief pillars tells us that " the future residence of the Saints is not an ideal thing. They will need houses for their persons and for their families as much in their resui-rected condition as in their present state. In this identical world, where they have been robbed of houses and lands, and wife and children, they shall have a hundredfold" (Spencer, p. 174). Another " apostle" cal- culates the exact amount of landed property which may be expected by the ^'resurrected Saints :" " Suppose that, out of the population of the earth, one in a hundred should be entitled to an inheritance upon the new earth, how much land would each receive? We an- swer, they Avould receive over a hundred and fifty acres, which would be quite enough to raise manna, and to build some splendid man- sions. It would be large enough to have our flower gardens, and everything the agriculturist and the botanist want" (P. '?Ta.tt,\i\Millen.Star, xiv,663). They also venture directly to contradict the words of Christ himself, by affirming that, in the resurrection,men both marry and are given in marriage. Thus the author above quoted tells us that "Abraham and Sarah Orson Hyde's Diagram of the Celestial Kingdom.— [From Stenhouse.] ^jjj goj^ti„ye ^^ ^^\.
Christ is the offspring of the "material" union, on the plains of Palestine, of God and the Virgin Marj' — the latter being duly married after betrothal by the angel Gabriel. Yet he is believed to have had a pre- vious existence, to have even made the universe out of " unformed chaotic matter as old as God," and his wor- ship is enjoined as Lord of all {Doct. and Cor. Lect. v, 2, p. 45, 47). The Paraclete is vaguely described. He is also a member of the Godhead, being the mind of the Father and the Son ; but while the other two persons have bodies of flesh and bones, the Holy Ghost has not, but is a personage of Spirit (Compend. p. 154). Yet his substance is material, and subject to the necessary laws which govern matter. He has therefore parts which are infinite and spread through all space, and so is he virtually omnipresent. The Father and the Son, as persons, are not omnipresent, but only through the Spir- it {Compend. p. 140-148). He may properly be called God's minister, to execute his will in immensity. He is therefore the worker of miracles, the source of grace, and even the cause of increase, being in every person upon the face of the earth; for the "elements that every individual is made of and lives in possess the God- head" (Young, in Comj^end. p. 148). It would appear, however, that there is an older Trinity, that of " Elo- him, Jehovah, and Michael, which is Adam." Adam,
tiply, not only in this world, but in all worlds to come. . . . Will the resurrection return you a mere female ac- quaintance, that is not to be the wife of your bosom in eternity? Xo; liod forbid. But it will restore you the Avife of your bosom immortalized, who shall bear children from your own loins in all worlds to come" (see Spencer, p. 6; and compare Stenhouse, p. 480).
We desire to call special attention also to the jMor- mon doctrine regarding miraculous gifts, as embodied in the seventh article of their Confession. This doctrine of the discerning of spirits led Smith into a variety of curious speculations. He teaches that the soul of man was not created, but " coexisted" equal with God. " God," he says in one of his sermons in 1853 (p. 62), "never did have power to create the spirit of man at all. The very idea lessens man in my estimation. I knmv bet- ter!" He also holds to the transmigration of souls. Rebellious spirits descend into brute tabernacles till they yield to " the law of the everlasting gospel." The eighth article may be declared decidedly liberal ; it ex- presses a belief that the Word of God is recorded, not only in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, but in "aU other good books." As for the contradictions that ex- ist in the first. Smith admits them, but alleges that they are "corruptions," and that they can be removed by his or any other prophet's inspired explanations. It
MORMONS
638
MORMOXS
i3 saiil that he has left an " inspired translation" of the whole Bible in SIS.; but as it has never been published, we can judge it only by the occasional extracts which have been made by prophets and elders, and from these we have quoted in approijriate ]ilaces.