Part 7

No doubt many apparent objections to our views of the Godhead will arise in the minds of many who nave been traditionated in the absurd doctrines of immaterialism. Not long since a series of questions were propounded to the Latter-day Saints by the Rev. F. Austin, a Roman Catholic minister, a few of which, relating to the nature of God, we insert here together with our answers. (The whole series of questions, together with the answers, will be published in the "Millenial Star.")

Question.--"If the God of the Mormonites be like a man in figure, we must suppose the organs of the senses to have the same uses, and to be dependent on the same sources for information; his ears, in consequence, for hearing must be dependent on the transmission of sound. How, then, can he hear his people praying to him in Europe when he is in America?"

Answer.--Because the _figure_ of two substances are alike, that is no evidence that the _qualities_ of the two substances are alike. A wax figure may be in the shape of a man, and yet, we all know, that it has not the qualities of a man. A wise man may have the figure of a foolish man, and yet be far superior to him in the qualities of wisdom, knowledge and understanding. God may have the figure of a man, and yet have many qualities and susceptibilities which man has not got. The resemblance of figure, then, has nothing to do, as to whether other qualities shall be alike or unlike. The spiritual body of the Deity is altogether a different kind of substance from the fleshly body of man, yet they may resemble each other in figure. The substances are entirely different, therefore, though the figures should resemble each other, this is no evidence that all the qualities must be alike. The ear of the fleshly body may be affected by the vibrations of our atmosphere; the ear of a spiritual body may be affected in an entirely different manner, and yet their figures may resemble each other. The ear of the fleshly body may be affected by the vibrations of many elastic substances besides the atmosphere. Sound is conveyed through various mediums with different degrees of velocity. The ear of the spiritual body may be affected, not only by the atmosphere and other elastic mediums which affect the ear of flesh, but it also may be affected by a vast number of other more subtle and refined mediums, which may transfer sound with a velocity immensely superior to any motion with which we are acquainted. A refined medium which would convey sound with no greater velocity than that of light, would carry information from Europe to America in less than the sixtieth part of a second. But if God foreknows all things, he must have foreknown all about our prayers millions of ages before we were born, and must also have foreknown the precise time when we would pray, and the kind of spirit or feeling, and the degree of faith that would accompany each prayer; and if he knew all these things before they come to pass, he must certainly know them the moment they do come to pass; and, therefore, with a foreknowledge of all things, there would be no necessity for his receiving information of our prayers by the transmission of sound; he would know and understand our prayers the moment they were offered up, the same as he knew them and understood them in ages before they were offered up. "He that formed the ear shall he not hear." Because God knows the nature of music, that is no reason why he may not rejoice in hearing music. One use, then, of the ears of his spiritual body is, no doubt, to hear and rejoice in delightful music, not that it increases his knowledge, but it is joyful to his ear. The ear of man serves a double purpose; it is not only a medium of information, but a medium of sounds that are delightful to the mind. The ear of the Lord may be delighted with sounds, though he receive no additional knowledge by those sounds.

Question--"If he be like man, his legs must be the organs of motion; if not, what purpose do they serve? If they are, are they good for walking through the air as well as on land? Or has he wings, or how? or some organ of motion we have not got? And if we have not sot this organ, how can we be created to his image and likeness, supposing the resemblance in every thing?"

Answer.--The resemblance between man and God has reference, as we have already observed, to the shape or figure; other qualities may or may not resemble each other. Man has legs, so has God, as is evident from his appearance to Abraham. Man walks with his legs, so does God sometimes, as is evident from his going with Abraham towards Sodom. God can not only walk, but he can move up or down through the air without using his legs as in the process of walking. (See Gen. xvii. 22; also xi. 5; also xxxv. 13.)--"A man wrestled with Jacob until the breaking of day;" after which, Jacob says--"I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."--Gen. xxxii. 24-30. That this person had legs is evident from his wrestling with Jacob. His image and likeness was so much like man's, that Jacob at first supposed him to be a man.--(See 24th verse.) God, though in the figure of a man, has many powers that man has not got. He can go upwards through the air. He can waft himself from world to world by his own self-moving powers. These are powers not possessed by man only through faith, as in the instances of Enoch and Elijah. Therefore, though in the figure of a man, he has powers far superior to man.

Question--"When God appears surrounded with glory, is this glory essential to him or not? If essential, how can he lay it aside, as he seems to have done when he appeared to Abraham? If his appearing so does not prove it essential, how does his appearance in the form of a man prove that form essential to him?"

Answer--The glory of God is essential to him under all circumstances, whether his person is visible or invisible--whether man is permitted to behold that glory or not. He never lays aside his glory, though he may not always render it visible to mortals. "The God of glory," says the martyr Stephen, "appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran"--Acts, vii. 2. But because he showed Abraham his person, it did not necessarily follow that he must also show him his glory. The person of God is one thing, and his glory is another; they are inseparably connected. He cannot divest his person of his glory, nor lay it aside, but he can hide his glory from the gaze of man, or he can reveal it and his person also, or he can reveal his person and not his glory. The visibility or the invisibility of the glory of God does not render it non-essential to him. The glory is just as essential as his image and likeness, and his image or likeness, resembling that of man's, is as essential as his glory--neither can be laid aside, though one or both may be rendered visible or invisible.

Question.--"If his presence do not extend beyond his size, that is, the size of a man, how could he divide the waters of the sea--how could he hold them up? If they were a solid mass, it might be conceived; but all the strength in the world won't hold up water; and it must be remembered that a person must be present where he acts."

Answer.--He could divide the waters of the sea, and hold them up by the actual presence of his Holy Spirit which not only moves upon the face of the waters, but is likewise in and through the waters, governing them and controlling all the elements according to the mind of God. It is the actual presence of this Spirit that produces all the phenomena ascribed to the laws of nature, as well as many of the deviations from those laws, commonly called miracles; it extends, like the golden rays of the bright luminary of heaven, through all extent; it spreads life and happiness through all the varied species of animated beings, and gilds the starry firmament with a magnificent splendor, celestial, immortal, and eternal.

_15, Wilton Street, Liverpool, July 31st, 1849_.

----

R. James, Printer, 39, South Castle Street, Liverpool.

Transcriber's Note

This ebook aims to reproduce the 1849 Liverpool edition. Signature Books very kindly gave permission for the Mormon Texts Project to use the text of "Absurdities of Immaterialism" they originally published in "The Essential Orson Pratt" (as made available on their website) as a basis for this work. This text was compared to scans of the pamphlet that Google has helpfully made available. The end of the pamphlet, which was not in the Signature Books text, was produced based off the Google scans, and the rest of the text was carefully compared to the scans and in a few cases edited to conform more closely.

Footnote citations in the original have been converted to parenthetical form to improve readability. Some unmatched quotation marks have been corrected in cases where the correct placement could be established. A few typographical errors (wont for won't, actua for actual) have been corrected.

End of Project Gutenberg's Absurdities of Immaterialism, by Orson Pratt