The Essential Brigham Young (CLASSICS IN MORMON THOUGHT SERIES) - Hardcover

 Eugene E. Campbell was a professor of history at Brigham Young University until his death in 1986. He was the author of Establishing Zion: The Mormon Church in the American West, 1847-1869, co-author of three works—Fort Bridger: Island in the Wilderness, Fort Supply: Brigham Young’s Green River Experiment, and Hugh B. Brown: His Life and Thought—and the co-editor of Utah’s History, contributor to The New Mormon History: Revisionist Essays on the Past, as well as author of the foreword to The Essential Brigham Young. He was a founding member and early president of the Mormon History Association.

 Chapter 17

“Personality of God—His Attributes—Eternal Life, Etc.”

 A Sermon Delivered on 18 June 1865
(from Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [Liverpool: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1855-86], 11:119-28)

I wish the strict attention of the congregation, which is so large and widely spread under this low bowery that I fear it will be with difficulty that I can make myself heard by all. To persons who wish to understand and improve upon what they hear, it must be very annoying to only hear the sound of the speaker’s voice and not be able to comprehend its signification.

The gospel of life and salvation has again been committed to the children of men, and we are made the happy partakers of its blessings, and my sincere desire is that all may improve upon the words of life which have been revealed from the heavens in our day. It is written, “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.” All nations, tribes and communities of men worship something, it may be a stump, a stock, a tree, a stone, a figure moulded in brass, iron, silver, or gold, or some living creature, or the sun, the moon, the stars, or the god of the wind and other elements, and while worship[p]ing gods which they can see and handle, there dwells within them a crude and undefined impression of a great Supreme and universal Ruler whom they seek to represent and worship in gods made with their own hands; but where he is located, what his shape and dimensions and what his qualifications are they know not. The Apostle Paul found the city of the Athenians wholly given to idolatry; and they called him a “babbler,” because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. He disputed in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them who met with him; and standing, in the midst of Mars-hill, he said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, ‘To the Unknown God.’ Whom, therefore, ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you.”

The Athenians knew not what to worship, and it seems they were willing to worship a god unknown to them, very likely under the impression that he might be the true God, whom they had tried to represent no doubt in various ways.

Wherever the human family dwell upon the face of the earth, whether they are savage or civilized, there is a desire implanted within them to worship a great, Supreme Ruler, and not knowing Him, they suppose that through offering worship and sacrifice to their idols they can conciliate his anger which they think they see manifested in the thunder, in the lightning, in the storm, in the floods, in the reverses of war, in the hand of death, etc., etc.; thus they try to woo his protection and his blessing for victory over their enemies, and at the termination of this life for a place in the heaven their imaginations have created, or tradition has handed down to them. I have much charity for this portion of the human family called heathens or idolators; they have made images to present to their eyes a power which they cannot see, and desire to worship a Supreme Being through the figure which they have made.

There is a Power that has organised all things from the crude matter that floats in the immensity of space. He has given form, motion and life to this material world; has made the great and small lights that bespangle the firmament above; has allotted to them their times and their seasons, and has marked out their spheres. He has caused the air and the waters to teem with life, and covered the hills and plains with creeping things, and has made man to be a ruler over His creations. All these wonders are the works of the Almighty ruler of the universe, in whom we believe and whom we worship. “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 giveth 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.”

All people are conscious of the existence of a Supreme Being: they see Him or His power in the sun, in the moon and in the stars, in the storm, in the thunder and in the lightning, in the mighty cataract, in the bursting volcano, or in the powerful and disgusting reptile, etc. He is also described by some as having no form, attributes, or power, or in other words, “without body, parts or passions,” and, consequently, without power or principle; and there are persons who suppose that He consists entirely of attributes universally diffused. Not knowing God they worship His works that manifest His power and His majesty, or His attributes which manifest His goodness, justice, mercy and truth. According to all that the world has ever learned by the researches of philosophers and wise men, according to all the truths now revealed by science, philosophy and religion, qualities and attributes depend entirely upon their connection with organised matter for their development and visible manifestation.

Mr. Abner Kneeland, who was a citizen of Boston, and who was put into prison for his belief, in an essay which he wrote, made this broad assertion: “Instead of believing there is no God, I believe that all is God.”

We believe in a Deity who is incorporated—who is a Being of tabernacle, through which the great attributes of His nature are made manifest. It is supposed by a certain celebrated philosopher that the most minute particles of matter which float in space, in the waters, or that exist in the solid earth, particles which defy the most powerful glasses to reveal them to the vision of finite man, possess a portion of divinity, a portion of infinite power, knowledge, goodness and truth, and that these qualities are God, and should be worshipped wherever found. I am an infidel to this doctrine. I know the God in whom I believe, and am willing to acknowledge Him before all men. We have persons in this church who have preached and published doctrines on the subject of the Deity which are not true. Elder Orson Pratt has written extensively on the doctrines of this church, and upon this particular doctrine. When he writes and speaks upon subjects with which he is acquainted and understands, he is a very sound reasoner; but when he has written upon matters of which he knows nothing—his own philosophy, which I call vain philosophy—he is wild, uncertain, and contradictory. In all my public administration as a minister of truth, I have never yet been under the necessity of preaching, believing or practising doctrines that are not fully and clearly set forth in the Old and New Testaments, Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon, which we firmly believe to be the word of God to nations that flourished upon this continent many centuries ago, corroborates the testimonies of the writers of the Old and New Testaments, and proves these books to be true. They were given to us in weakness, darkness and ignorance; I will, however, give the translators of King James’s version of the Bible the credit of performing their labor according to the best of their ability, and I believe they understood the languages in which the Scriptures were originally found as well as any men who now live. I have in my life-time met with persons who would persist in giving different renderings, and make quotations from the dead languages to show their scholarship, and to confuse and darken still more the minds of the people. To all such I have always felt like...