| Show DELIVERED BY ELDER liis lill v W mm NROSE in the tabernacle salt lake city 9 sunday afternoon nov 16 1 G 1884 REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER the personality of god va vagueness ceness of the common ideas of delty deity who and what god is the spirits of men the offspring of god spirit not immaterial the trinity creed of christendom man may become like god in his glory tim THE remarks which have been made to us this afternoon by bishop preston are of a practical nature and calculated to lead our minds to reflection upon our duties as latter day saints the religion mon don of god is a practical religion h ion and god is a real and practical ibeling I being its it has been stated by one ono of our leading leading men that god is a business god I 1 and many remarks have been made mabe concerning that expression by persons opposed to us with the desire of curnin turning it to ridicule it has not been stated ty by any of our brethren that god Is only a business god but the remark was made with reference to some of ills his attributes and of his works the people of the present day who profess to believe in god generally speaking have very little idea in regard to what he is they consider that ile he is incomprehensible their ideas concerning him are very vague and the attempts which have been made to explain god to the children of men by persons who claim to be teachers of religion and to h have ave authority to speak in in the name of the lord are of such a character that no one can understand them the reason of this is because those persons who have attempted to make an explanation have not understood the subject themselves and when a person does not understand a thing it is very difficult for him to try and make some body else understand it now I 1 do not pretend to say that theres there is anybody b I 1 living iving who fully and entirely comprehends p reli rell ends god but there are many P people eople living who have some definite ideas deas concerning 11 him concerning his attributes concerning his lits ways concerning his will and what they understand der stand they are at liberty to declare and to try and make other people un if they are called upon by tile the lord and authorized by him so to do people very frequently refer to that passage of scripture which says god is a spirit and as their notions concerning what spirit is are not very clear that passage of of scripture does not abot make very plain to their understanding what god goals is people generally speaking have an idea that spirit is something intangible something that cannot be comprehended nor seen nor handled that it is far different in every respect from anything an that is material in fact t the e philosophers and theolo theologians lans ians call s spirit immaterial substance now this is for want of knowing better men blen in these times like men in former days have tried to find out god and the things of god by human wisdom and learning and they have failed for man by searching the scripture says cannot find out god bup but god can manifest himself to man and if god chooses to make himself manifest to his children they can measurably comprehend him but in their mortal state in this state of probation in which we live mankind cannot fully grasp a p deity to comprehend him as he nr Is in his ill majesty ma lesty and might and power and glory but as I 1 said they can measurably comprehend he manifests himself to them and they can understand him to the extent that he manifests himself to them according to the book called the bible god the eternal father has manifested himself at different ta times m es to individuals living upon the face of this earth and acco according iding to the testimony of the latter day saints god has manifested himself in this age of the world in a similar way 0 o men whom ile he called and appointed to act in ills his name and from what we read of gods revelations in former days as well as in latter days we learn that ile he is a person an individual that he is not a myth not an imaginary being but a dealt reality and that tle tie he is in tre the form and audit leness of man or in other words that man is made in the image of god in the opening book of the bible in tery very first chapter of that book we read and god said let letus lotus us make man iii in our image after our li kenes so god created man in his own image in the image of god created he him male and female created he them god is a spirit but it does not follow that because god is a spirit he has no form no shape no extent no limit or that he can be as an individual in every place everl evert at the same time as man many deop people e imagine we are told ti that voi vol god dwells in heaven and when jesus christ was upon tle tie the earth he always taught his d uton disciples sciples that their father was in heaven he said that as he came from the father so he was going back to the father this individual then has a location a place of res residence rence Mence he occupies a certain position lie he dwells in the heavens and he made man in his image in his ris likeness jesus we are told was in the express image of his fathers person when lie he was upon the earth lie he came to represent his father eather andee and we are told concerning him who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with god and the apostle paul makes this thia declaration advised his brethren to have tile the same mind in them that was in christ jesus let this mind be in you which was also 1 in christ jesus who being in the form of god thou though tit not robbery to be equal with god but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men anen and being found in fashion as a man lie ile humbled himself and become obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore god also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the tile earth and that every tongue should confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father Phillip Philli pili 11 v 2 now jesus who was in the form of god was only one of the sons of god he called his disciples ills his brethren and he impressed upon them the great fact that his eather father was their father that his god was their god that lie he was one of them when lie he returned or was about to to the father with ills his resurrected body ild he told mary to tell his disciples that he lie was going to ascend to ills his father and their father to ills his god aud their god in the old testament which g ches gives accounts of gods occasional manifee eions of ills his presence to men upon the earth we find that they all saw him as a person with the form of a man moses talked with him face to face nadae and abihu and seventy elders of moses and aaron went up in the mount T and they theyan saw the god of israel and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone and as it were the body of heaven in ills his clearness also upon the children of israel lie ile laid not his llis hand also they saw god and did eat cat and drink ex odus 10 1011 loll li ii I 1 might refer to a number of passages of scripture in the old testament showing that whenever god appeared to mad man manifesting himself to man he appeared in the form of a man we are told repeatedly in the scriptures that the children of men are the sons of god ile he is the father and god of the spirits of all ali flesh the spirit of man which inhabits his body and which i is the life of the body in addition to the blood blood being liking the life of the flesh but the spirit animating ngai all ali omes comes from god and is the offspring s rin of god because of this we un understand e stand what is said in I 1 john ili iii iiii 2 beloved now are we the sons of 0 god and it doth not yet et ap appear ar what we shall be but we know that wr when lie shall appear we M e shallie shall shail like ilke him for fore we debill see him as he is god then the god of the bible who is 13 called jehovah tile the person who manifested himself to israel as jehovah is an individual a personality and he made man in ills his image emage and ills his likeness now if we are the tiie children of god ad and if jesus christ Is the hebon beson son of god we can upon that reasoning understand something about what god goa is like for there is an eternal principle in heaven and on earth that every seed begets of its kind every seed brings forth in its own likeness and character the seed of an apple when it is reproduced brings brines forth an apple una nna so with a pear and so with a plum and so with all the varieties of the vegetable kingdom it is the same with all the varieties vane lane ties of the animal kingdom the doctrine of evolution as it is called is true in some respects that is that species can be improved exalted made better but it remains of the same species the advancement is in the same line it is we do not find any radical change from ono one species to another it is an eternal principle that every e ery seed produces its own kind not another kind and as we are the children of god we can follow out the idea and perceive what god our eather father is the being who is the progenitor pro editor of our spiritual spir tuai existence the being from whom we have sprung sprang we being the seed of god that being is a personality an individual a being in some respects like Us or rather w we e are made in his image dlan dian alan also is spirit spirits s we are told in the revelations of god to the latter day saints man the real man is a spirit an individual that dwells dwelis d ells elis in a body earty a s spiritual ritual person clothed upon with earth a being who will live in e when the earth goes back to mother dust mans s spirit then is an individual ferdona personality it Y and t the e spirit is in the likeness eikenes and na shape of the body which it inhabits when the spirit goes out of the body there is a person a perfectly formed individual india bidual looking like the body which we now see with our natural eyes eves spirits living in the flesh unless operated oper atea upon abnormally by some spiritual influence cannot see spiritual beings A spirit can see spirit spirit ministers to spirit and when the spirit goes out ont of the body that spirit can see other spirits beings of the same character anci and nature and we shall find when we have emerged from this body that we will be in the company of a great many persons like ourselves and if we should have the thu experience that the prophet joseph had when me th mob took him and tore tora his flesh with their nails nalls and tried to poison him with a vial of some corrosive substance if our spirits should be separated from our bodies as his was wa i we like him could look at our bodi bodies es and see that they are inform in form like our living spiritual realities the body without the spirit is dead the spirit without the body la is not dead that is a real personality a livin elvins individual and the body of flesh is ot but a house to dwell in n or a covering forit for it to wear not essential to its existence but essential to its progress essential to its experience on the earth and ultimately in its glorified condition essential io 10 its eternal happiness and progress and power in the presence of the father while our father then Is a person an individual it may be asked now how illow can ile he be here there and everywhere at the same samo time well ile he is not in his personality but ile he can be omnipresent in ni in a certain dense sense there is a spirit an influence that proceeds from god that fills flits the immensity of space the holy spirit the light of truth As the sun itself a planet or heavenly body is not present in any other place except that which it actually occupies so the individual father occupies a certain locality and as the light that proceeds from the sun spreads abroad upon all the face of tile the earth and lights up other planets as well as this earth penetrating to the circumference of an extended circle circie C I 1 in n the midst of gods great universe so the light of god the spirit of god proceeding forta from the presence of god 9 fills the immensity of space hody body it t 1 is the I 1 ight and the life of all things it is the light and the life of man it is the life of the animal creation it is the life of the vegetable creation it is in the earth on which we vve stand it is in athe the stars that shine in the firmament it is in the moon that reflects th the e light of the sun it is in the sun and is the light of the sun and th power by geich teich which it was made mafe and these grosser particles particles of light that illuminate the heavens eavens and enable us to behold the works of nature are from that same which enlightens our minas minds and unfolds the things of god As that light comes forth from the sun so the light 0 of god comes to us that natural light is the grosser substance or particles of the same spirit spirit is a substance it is not immaterial it may have some properties that are different from that which we see and handle which we call cail matter but it is a reality a substantial reality and spirit can understand spirit and aud and aud grasp spirit A spiritual person can take the hand of another spiritual person and it is substantial A person in a bod body could aull n not at rasp grasp a spirit for that 1 spirit I 1 l t n has a s cli cil different rond rend properties to those 0 of f 0 our u r bodi bodies e s and it is governed by different laws to those that govern us in this sphere of mortality A X spiritual substance organized into form occupies room and space just as much in its sphere as these natural particles occupy space in this sphere god our father then is a person an individual and he really is our father actually and literally we sprang from him ile he is the father of our spirits and not only the father of the spirits of the latter day saints but the father af pf of the spirits of latter day sinners ile he is is the god and the father of the spirits of all flesh not only those that now dwell on tho the earth but all people who dwelt aforetime all people who whoever ever eyer lived upon the face ot of this planet are the children of goa god and so with people who dwell upon other planets they are the offspring of god and our father and our god is an individual a personality lie he is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth but ile he dwells in a tabernacle in a body though that body is different from our bodies it being a spiritual body it is quickened edby by spirit our bodies are quickened by that corruptible substance which we call blood but our heavenly fathers body Is quickened by spirit it 1 it t is not governed by the same laws w s a as s those by which eart earthly lily ialy bodies are governed it is a body something similar to that which jesus had after ills his resurrection jesus christ when he rose from the dead had the same body that ile he had upon the earth but a change had been wrought upon it he had shed ills his blood for the remission of sins this body was quickened by bv spirit lle ile lie he was put to death tin lin in the thie flesh but quickened by the spirits spirit so we are told in the scriptures and he was raised up from the dead by that spirit paul says in his epistle io to the romans komans ItOn lans vill vili chap 11 v but it if the spirit of him that raised up jesus from the dead dwell in you yon ile he that raised up christ from the dead shall also mortal bodies by ills his spirit that at dwell eth in you jesus christs body was put in the sepulchre a natural body it was raised a spiritual body it was placed there in weakness it was raised in strength it was a mortal body when placed in |
