Joseph Smith the Prophet-Teacher Part 3

A word in relation to the manner of the Prophet's teaching. It was unique in its way. He may scarcely be said to have made any attempt at creating a system of philosophy however much may be said for his system of religion and of ecclesiastical government. His philosophical principles were flung off in utterances without reference to any arrangement or orderly sequence; and in the main were taught in independent aphorisms, which is a remarkably effective way of teaching, for an aphorism resembles the proverb, and is a form in which Truth is bound to live. It is the American philosopher Emerson, I think, who describes a proverb to be the language of absolute Truth--the statement of Truth without qualification. It is the literature of power. Fortunate, indeed, is the man who gives a people or nation a proverb; and so, too, is the nation or people fortunate who receive it. Like mercy, it is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Usually proverbs are produced by a race's experience. Proverbs come up out of the tribulations of a people. They are produced slowly and represent the hived wisdom of the ages. Books of proverbs are not written by men, to whom they are sometimes ascribed, they represent a collection slowly produced through centuries. Such are the proverbs of our Bible; proverbs of the Chinese cla.s.sics; and the proverbs of the Hindoo literature. Joseph Smith gave to his age many of these generalized truths, more, I think, than has fallen to the lot of any other teacher, save Jesus, the Christ. I can but repeat a few of these as examples:

"The glory of G.o.d is intelligence."

"It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance."

"A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge."

"Knowledge saves a man, and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge."

"Whatsoever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life will rise with us in the resurrection."

"If one man, by his diligence, obtains more knowledge than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."

"There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from G.o.d, it is by obedience to that law on which it is predicated."

"Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy."

"This is the glory of G.o.d--to bring to pa.s.s the immortality and the eternal life of man."

"The elements are eternal, yea, the elements are the tabernacle of G.o.d. Man is the tabernacle of G.o.d, even temples."

"The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably united, receive a fulness of joy [Hence the importance of man's earth life in which spirit is united to earthly elements.]

"If men do not comprehend the character of G.o.d, they do not comprehend themselves."

"G.o.d Himself was once as we are now; and is an exalted Man; for Adam was created in the very fas.h.i.+on, image and likeness of G.o.d."

"The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal."

"The spirit and the body is the soul of man; and the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul."

"It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the character of G.o.d, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another."

"Jesus was in the beginning with the Father. * * * Man was also in the beginning with G.o.d. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be."

"Jesus treads in the footsteps of His Father, and inherits what G.o.d did before; and G.o.d is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all His children."

"The things of G.o.d are of deep import; and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out.

Thy mind, O man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss and the broad expanse of eternity--_thou must commune with G.o.d_!"

The Prophet represents G.o.d as saying: "I give unto men weaknesses that they might be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all those who humble themselves before me."

To one who inquired how he governed men so well, he said: "I do not govern them: I teach men correct principles, and they govern themselves."

These sayings, with many others of like character, in the future literature of America, philosophical and religious, will make its pages blaze with glory. They are destined to become generally accepted principles of truth. They will become household aphorisms. They are words spoken by inspiration of G.o.d. They come from what Carlyle calls, "the inner Fact of things." They will live to influence the future generations of America, and of men everywhere.

VIII.

AN AMERICAN PROPHET.

AMERICA THE "OLD WORLD:" There is one more thought I would like to present to you respecting this Prophet, Joseph Smith. He is pre-eminently the American Prophet. He is not the "boy prophet;" I dislike that term. He is not the "Prophet of Palmyra;" he is the Prophet of the dispensation of the fulness of times; if localized at all he must be known as the "American Prophet."

Never was greater mistake made than to suppose that the disciples of Joseph Smith could be unpatriotic Americans. They must be ardently patriotic Americans. That this is true, let me a little show it. A line in one of our hymns runs:

"For in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Zion rose where Eden was."

What is the meaning of this? It means that the Prophet taught that the American continents are not the New World, but the Old; Teacher that Eden was here in America. Adam-ondi-Ahman, the place where Adam dwelt after being driven from Eden, the Prophet declared to be in Missouri, in the valley of the Grand River. He represents a gathering together there of the patriarchs of the antediluvian age: and tells how they blessed Adam, or "Michael," the "Ancient of Days;" and Adam rose among them and blessed the patriarchs, his posterity, and told what should befall them to their latest generations.

Among the Patriarchs Enoch was pre-eminent for righteousness. He, in this western hemisphere, founded a city, sanctified it, and called it "Zion," the abode of the pure in heart; "for this is Zion"--wherein that word relates to a people--"the pure in heart." Hence "Zion rose where Eden was," here in America. But in the course of time "Enoch walked with G.o.d: and he was not; for G.o.d took him." That is, according to Paul, G.o.d translated him, that he should not see death (Gen. v; Heb. xi); and according to Joseph Smith, this happened to his city also; hence the saying, "Zion's fled."

Then after the Flood, the Lord led to these Western continents the Jaredite colony from the Euphrates valley; and sixteen centuries later the Nephite colony from Jerusalem. In each case the Lord declared to the peoples so led to the Western world that it was "a choice land above all other lands." The Savior, in the most glorious manner, after His resurrection from the dead, visited these blessed Western Continents and declared that here should be built a Holy City by the united efforts of the house of Israel, chiefly the descendants of the Patriarch Joseph, of Egyptian fame, and the Gentile races who have right to an inheritance in the land; and the City should be called "Zion," a "New Jerusalem." The "Zion" from which "the law should go forth," as the word of the Lord should go forth from Old Jerusalem.

Because of the future establishment of this city, of Zion, upon these western continents, as also on account of Enoch's Zion, they are called the "Land of Zion."

THE CONSt.i.tUTION OF THE UNITED STATES INSPIRED OF G.o.d: Joseph Smith also taught that the Const.i.tution of the United States was a G.o.d-inspired instrument. "It is not right," he represents the Lord as saying, "that one man should be in bondage to another;" and hence the Const.i.tution should be maintained for the preservation of the rights, and the protection of all flesh, "according to just and holy principles, that every man may act in doctrine and principle, pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I [the Lord] have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. And for this purpose have I established the Const.i.tution of this land by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose."

So Joseph Smith's disciples hold the Const.i.tution of the United States to be inspired of G.o.d. I think sometimes, however, that we do not realize all that this truth means. We are apt to think of things in ma.s.s, and do not take the time to a.n.a.lyze them. What does it mean to say that the Const.i.tution of the United States is an inspired instrument? Undoubtedly, it means primarily that G.o.d recognizes the right of the people, in their political capacity, to govern themselves. It expresses the divine belief, so to speak, in the capacity of man for self-government. It means that the people in their political affairs are sovereign; for this is the chief thing which distinguishes the American government from other political systems of government. We are not always happy in our forms of expression. We do not make our terminology always meet our ideas. In spite of the fact just alluded to--viz., the people are sovereign, we talk of, and pray for, "those who rule over us," meaning presidents, cabinets, senators, governors, and the like; but these are not "rulers," they are the people's servants, elected for a limited time to administer government according to law, under the provisions of our Const.i.tution; but they serve, they do not rule. The people are sovereign, and the people alone are rulers, and they appoint or elect their servants. Moreover, this Const.i.tution provides for the freedom of the press; for freedom of speech; for freedom and independence of the individual. It guarantees religious liberty, hence a free church, as well as a free state, each independent of and separate from the other. The government is an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States. To hold that the Const.i.tution which provides for these things, is inspired of G.o.d, is to hold that each of these separate things, as well as the thing in ma.s.s, is ordained of G.o.d by the hands of wise men whom He raised up to establish this system of government; and to deny to the people the enjoyment of these several rights, to undertake, by any means whatsoever, to thwart the realization of government by the people, to attempt to defeat the expression of their will, or make it result different from what their untrammeled judgment would have it, is to make an infraction upon the things that have been ordained of G.o.d.

In the above quotation concerning the system of Government established by the Const.i.tution of the United States being inspired of G.o.d, we may discern the purpose of G.o.d in the establishment of such a government.

That purpose is that every man may become directly and personally responsible to G.o.d for his actions in matters relating to civil government--"that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment." The principle is, however, more fully developed in the Book of Mormon than in the quotation here considered. The incident which develops the principle occurs in the reign of the first Mosiah, and at a period that corresponds with the latter half of the second century B.C. The old king proposed to his people a revolution in the form of government by which monarchy should be abandoned and a republican form of government established in its place. In urging this revolutionary measure the good king said:

"It is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe, and make it your law, to do your business by the voice of the people. And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of G.o.d will come upon you, yea, then is the time He will visit you with great destruction, even as He has. .h.i.therto visited this land. * * * And I command you to do these things in the fear of the Lord; and I command you to do these things, and that ye have no king; that if these people commit sins and iniquities, they shall be answered upon their own heads. For behold, I say unto you, the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their kings; therefore their iniquities are answered upon the heads of their kings. And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my people; but I desire that this be a land of liberty, that every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land; yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land."

But in order that this element of moral responsibility may be brought into civil government, it stands to reason that every individual must be free and untrammeled in the exercise of his political duties, including the casting of his vote. Each individual must have an equal voice in the government. Every man must be a sovereign in the civil inst.i.tution, and his vote must represent the voice and judgment of a free man. A vote unawed by influence, and uncoerced by any power whatsoever. Less than this would convert the whole scheme of government by the voice of the people into mockery. Under a system of government by the people, in order to retain the element of moral responsibility of the people in civil affairs, there must be no appeal but to the intelligent judgment of the individual. Each man's act must be the act of a free man; and those who would corrupt the electorate of a government where the people rule, or sway it by any other force than by an appeal to reason, would destroy this element of personal, moral responsibility in civil government, and in the case of those of us who accept this book from which I am quoting--if we would appeal to any other force than to that of reason or resort to any species of coercion, _we would be setting ourselves against an order of things that G.o.d has ordained_.

Adherence to these principles is pure Americanism. This is const.i.tutional morality. This is both the principle and the policy that will most inure to the perpetuation of our free inst.i.tutions.

This is the sheet-anchor of our safety as a nation--our surest guarantee of G.o.d's favor. The man who promulgated this doctrine of individual, personal responsibility to G.o.d in the affairs of civil government, where the people rule, is worthy to be numbered among the greatest of American statesmen, American teachers, American prophets!

It means a great deal, this idea that the Const.i.tution of the United States is inspired of G.o.d!

AMERICA FORTIFIED OF G.o.d AGAINST OTHER NATIONS: Not only did the Prophet teach the doctrine that the United States Const.i.tution was inspired of G.o.d, but he tells us through the Book of Mormon that G.o.d has fortified this land against all other nations. I will read you the pa.s.sage. The Lord said to Lehi:

"Behold, this land shall be the land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. This land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land who shall raise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this land against all other nations, and he that fighteth against Zion [these continents of the western world] shall perish, saith G.o.d; for he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the King of Heaven, will be their King, and I will be a light unto them forever that hear my words."

This guarantee, however, this fortifying this land against all other nations, is upon a certain condition: the condition that the "G.o.d of the land, who is Jesus Christ," shall be honored by them. On this head I want to read to you a pa.s.sage from a certain American statesman, that I can easily believe was one of the G.o.d-inspired men appointed to a.s.sist in the maintenance of true const.i.tutional principles, as others were inspired to found the Const.i.tution. I refer to the great statesman of nationalism, Daniel Webster, who, before the New York Historical society, in 1852, in his last public address, said:

"Unborn ages and visions of glory crowd upon my soul, the realization of all which, however, is in the hands and good pleasure of Almighty G.o.d; but, under His divine blessing, it will be dependent on the character and the virtues of ourselves, and of our posterity. If cla.s.sical history has been found to be, is now, and shall continue to be, the concomitant of free inst.i.tutions, and of popular eloquence, what a field is opening to us for another Herodotus, another Thucydides, and another Livy!

"And let me say, gentlemen, that if we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion--if we and they shall live always in the fear of G.o.d, and shall respect His commandments--if we and they shall maintain just, moral sentiments, and such conscientious convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life--we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country, and if we maintain those inst.i.tutions of government and that political union, exceeding all praise as much as it exceeds all former examples of political a.s.sociations, we may be sure of one thing--that, while our country furnishes materials for a thousand masters of the historic art, it will afford no topic for a Gibbon.

It will have no decline and fall. It will go on prospering and to prosper.

"But if we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political Const.i.tution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity. Should that catastrophe happen, let it have no history! Let the horrible narrative never be written! Let its fate be like that of the lost books of Livy, which no human eye shall ever read; or the missing Pleiad, of which no man can ever know more, than that it is lost, and lost forever!"

Such were the sentiments of this patriotic statesman; but the beautiful and flowing periods in which he expresses his thought, are in no respects better or stronger, or more patriotic than the rugged utterances of Joseph Smith, in whose utterances throughout our sacred books, there is a wealth of pure American sentiment that is the basis of a patriotism that shall yet exceed all praise.