In The Spirit Of That Beautiful Hymn...

In the spirit of that beautiful hymn which has been something of a dedication to this glorious session, I seek for the spirit which has actuated this conference thus far. ¶

Today, I would take as something of a text the words of our Savior and Redeemer just prior to his betrayal, as recorded in the Gospel of John. ¶

"These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said . . . glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: ¶

"As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. ¶

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:1-3.) ¶

Questions Recall Scriptures

Some questions being asked today have recalled these and other scriptures. ¶

One man asked: How can one find God? ¶

To him I gave a hurried answer. One finds God in the same way he finds anything — by searching. The Master had answered to a similar question: "If any man will do his will, he shall know. . . ." (John 7:17.) ¶

Another man wrote: "If a member cannot believe the concept that God himself was once as we are now, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens," is this justification for excommunication from the Church? This, he has quoted, was from a statement made by the Prophet Joseph Smith in a funeral sermon delivered in Nauvoo, Illinois, shortly before his martyrdom, in about 1843. ¶

In answering this man's question, I must hasten to assure him that the question of his Church membership and his worthiness to continue as a member must be left to the determination of local Church authorities charged with the responsibility of making that decision. ¶

True Concept of God

I would rather be concerned in an attempt to enlarge his views and his understanding as to the true concept of that glorified being whom all so-called Christians worship as God, our Heavenly Father. ¶

The reasoning of Joseph Smith, in the partial statement from which he has quoted, "that God was once as we are now," is given additional strength if our brother will recall the words of the Master: "The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John 5:19.) ¶

When we consider the fact that our Lord and Master, Jesus of Nazareth, one of the Godhead, came to tabernacle in mortality, then this quoted statement, taken literally, is of great significance. ¶

The scriptures make it plain to the student of these sacred writings that there are three personages in the Godhead: (1) God, the Eternal Father, also known as the Father of our spirits, (2) his Son, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, even Jehovah, and (3) the Holy Ghost. ¶

We are told in an inspired explanation that "the Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. . . ." (D&C 130:22.) ¶

Man Created in God's Image

Surely one must stop and ponder deeply the biblical account of the creation, where God declared: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. . . ." (Gen. 1:26.) ¶

And later, after Adam's act of transgression, the Lord God said to one other who was with him: "Behold, the man is become as one of us. . . ." (Moses 4:28.) ¶

If man, then, was created after the image and likeness of his glorified Creator, and afterward man became as one with those who had created him, then the doubts in my friend's mind must begin to be resolved, and he can then come to see the grandeur of this greater concept of the living God whom we worship. ¶

Commenting on this same teaching, President Brigham Young had this to say: ". . . it must be that God knows something about temporal things, and has had a body and been on an earth; were it not so He would not know how to judge men righteously, according to the temptations and sins they have had to contend with." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 4, p. 271.) ¶

Eternal Life

The sacred writings of the prophets speak of an exalted state to which man may attain, which is called eternal life, or life in the presence of God and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Those who can attain to this highest degree of glory are spoken of in a revelation we know as Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4: ¶

"In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees; ¶

"And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; ¶

"And if he does not, he cannot obtain it. ¶

"He may enter into the other, but that is the end of his kingdom; he cannot have an increase." ¶

President Young again expands upon the meaning of this quotation: ¶

". . . The kingdoms he possesses and rules over are his own progeny. Every man who is faithful and gets a salvation and glory, and becomes a king of kings and Lord of Lords, or a father of fathers, it will be by the increase of his own progeny. Our Father and God rules over his own children. Wherever there is a God in all the eternities possessing a kingdom and glory and power it is by means of his progeny. . . ." (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 11, p. 262.) ¶

There are those who would think to go beyond that which God has revealed. It was to such as these, who would seek to penetrate that curtain of revealed truth, that inspired writers of our early leaders posed a profound question that was later given a musical setting in one of our most beloved hymns: ¶

"If you could hie to Kolob In the twinkling of an eye, And then continue onward With that same speed to fly, D'ye think that you could ever, Through all eternity, Find out the generation Where Gods began to be? ¶

"Or see the grand beginning, Where space did not extend? Or view the last creation, Where Gods and matter end? Me-thinks the Spirit whispers, No man has found "pure space," Nor seen the outside curtains, Where nothing has a place. ¶

"The works of God continue, And worlds and lives abound; Improvement and progression Have one eternal round. There is no end to matter; There is no end to space; There is no end to spirit; There is no end to race." ¶

(Hymns, No. 257.) ¶

Advice to Truth Seekers

A prophet-leader of our dispensation then extends this great wisdom to all truth seekers: ¶

"Many have tried to penetrate to the First Cause of all things; but it would be as easy for an ant to number the grains of sand on the earth. It is not for man, with his limited intelligence, to grasp eternity in his comprehension. . . . What, then, should be the calling and duty of the children of men? Instead of inquiring after the origin of the Gods — instead of trying to explore the depths of eternities that have been, that are, and that will be, — instead of endeavoring to discover the boundaries of boundless space, let them seek to know the object of their present existence, and how to apply, in the most profitable manner for their mutual good and salvation, the intelligence they possess. . . ." (Brigham Young, in Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 284.) ¶

Then, finally, this most timely admonition: ¶

"Let them seek to know and thoroughly understand things within their reach, and to make themselves well acquainted with the object of their being here, by diligently seeking unto a superior Power for information, and by the careful study of the best books." (Ibid., pp. 284-85.) ¶

Fullness of Knowledge

The ancient prophet was not speaking idly when he declared in exaltation, "O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it." (2 Ne. 9:20.) ¶

Neither was the profound injunction to his disciples meaningless. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5:48.) ¶

The Master was speaking of a state of ultimate perfection to which all might attain through their faithfulness. ¶

About this fullness of knowledge, and power, and glory, the Prophet Joseph Smith said this: ¶

"When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the gospel — you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave. . . ." (King Follett Discourse, Documentary History of the Church, Vol. 6, pp. 306-7.) ¶

Begin with First Principles

A few weeks ago we met in Chicago with 165 young men who are going into military service, or who are in their basic training in nearby military training stations. ¶

In a discussion period of the seminar being conducted to give them a perspective of their opportunities in the Church while they were in military service, they began asking questions about deep theological problems with which they said they were confronted by their inquiring friends: about conditions in the premortal world, about the creation, about eternal marriage and temple work, about the hereafter. ¶

The wise and able teacher drew a diagram on the blackboard to resemble ascending steps and then asked a simple, logical question: To reach the topmost step on a ladder, where must you begin? The answer was obvious: with the bottom step first. ¶

Then, to teach one to understand the highest principles and ordinances, where should one begin? ¶

"With the first principles of the gospel," came the answer. The discussion brought out that these first principles of the gospel are: faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, and the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost, by which one could come to know the truth of all things, the greatest of which revealed knowledge would be the true knowledge of God. ¶

This lesson, of course, was merely another way to impress what the Master meant when he answered a question I have previously quoted: "If any man would know of his doctrine," they must do his will and keep his commandments. ¶

The apostle Paul had said that one of the prime purposes of the organization of the Church was "for the edifying of the body of Christ [or the Church], till we all come in . . . the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man . . ." (see Eph. 4:12-13), which knowledge, the apostle Paul explained, no man could have except by the revelations of the Holy Ghost. (See 1 Cor. 12:3.) ¶

Knowledge of Character of God

The wisdom of the teacher's reply to the young men in Chicago is impressed by another statement from a modern prophet: ¶

"These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another. . . ." (DHC, Vol. 6, p. 305.) ¶

Time does not permit a further exposition of these most vital truths relative to our personal relationship to our Heavenly Father and to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. ¶

This relationship is nowhere more aptly expounded than in the apostle Paul's sermon on Mars hill, in Athens, where he found an inscription: "To the Unknown God," whom these devout Grecians were "ignorantly" worshiping. ¶

This is his clear and forceful testimony of the true God, who to them, at that time, was unknown: ¶

"[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; ¶

"That they should seek the Lord . . . and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: ¶

"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; . . . For we are also his offspring. ¶

"Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. ¶

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:26-30.) ¶

True Knowledge Through Revelation

In this dispensation, as has been the case in all previous dispensations of the gospel upon the earth, there was given through the modern prophet, Joseph Smith, the true knowledge of God and his Son, our Savior, when, as glorified personal beings who could talk with and be seen of men, they conversed with him, as though to demonstrate their tangible reality, as the dispensation of the fulness of times was ushered in, in preparation for the second coming of the Lord to reign as Lord of lords and King of kings at the commencement of the millennium. ¶

His Church, bearing his name, is upon the earth. To his Church, through a living prophet, "he has revealed, . . . does now reveal, and . . . will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." (Article of Faith 9.) ¶

With all this knowledge that, through revelation, is available to us and, through diligent efforts on our part, can be made available to all the world, if we yet stand in ignorance of the true God and Jesus Christ, his Son, we might one day be among those to whom our Master may ask again a searching question — which will imply a stern rebuke — as he did to his disciples of a former dispensation. ¶

Jesus asked his disciples, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me . . . ? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. . . ." (John 14:9.) ¶

"Certainty That Succeeds Doubt"

The fundamental and soul-satisfying step in our eternal quest is to come in a day when each does know, for himself, that God answers his prayers. ¶

This will come only after "our soul hungers," and after mighty prayer and supplication, and after, as one who, as a faithful defender of the faith, in past generations has testified: "Into my heart, purified of all sin, there entered a light that came from on high, and then suddenly and in a marvelous manner I saw certainty succeed doubt." (Cyprian.) ¶

May the Lord put within each of us the determination to put our lives in order, to the end that we too may know with a "certainty that succeeds doubt" that God does live, and that through the glorious mission of our Lord and Savior, we too can live again in that realm where God and Christ dwell — to obtain which is to attain eternal life. ¶

To all of this, I add my humble testimony as to this true knowledge of God, even as the Master answered: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7:17.) ¶

In this dispensation, when the fullness of the gospel is upon the earth, I sincerely pray that truth seekers everywhere may not "walk in the darkness at noon-day." In unison with all of those who have this witness, I too know that my Redeemer lives, to which I bear solemn testimony in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶