Book of Mormon Studies (3 March 1904)

BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES.

BY ELDER WARREN H. LYON, OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not” (John i:1-5). Evidently the sectarian idea of the Godhead was obtained largely from the above passages. The writer understands that Christ is a God, that He existed before the creation described in the first and second chapters of Genesis, that He is the agent by whom the work of creation was accomplished, that He is the source of life and intelligence, and that He has always been willing to assist man through the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost.

I desire to show how valuable the Book of Mormon is as an expounder of the Bible, and to assist those that are studying the Book of Mormon to get a testimony of its divinity. We find the following in Alma, chap, xi:38, 39, 40: “Now Zeezrom saith again unto him, Is the Son of God the very eternal Father? And Amulek said unto him, Yea, he is the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and of all things that in them is; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”

Why is He called the Father? Because of His position as Creator of all things. “Behold I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. … In me hath the Father glorified his name” (III. Nephi ix:15). Evidently He who created man in His own image and in the image of the Gods present upon that occasion was none other than God the Christ. King Benjamin told the people in his day (Mosiah iii:5-7) that “the time is not far distant that with power, the Lord omnipotent who reigneth who was and is from all eternity shall come down from heaven among the children of men and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth among men, working mighty miracles such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear and curing all manner of diseases. … And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning.” Throughout the Book of Mormon we are given to understand that Jesus was the Creator of all things with which we have to deal. The following are submitted: “We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth and all things” (Mosiah iv:2); “Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very eternal Father” (Mosiah xvi:15). We are told that He will come and that He will remember every creature of His creating, “Yea every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him, then they shall confess that he is God; then shall they con­fess, who live without God in the world, that the judgment of an everlasting punishment is just upon them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye” (Mosiah xxvii:31). Many excellent references are given in the Book of Mormon in connection with the ones I have quoted.

We must not forget that He who created these worlds said, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.” The words of our Redeemer through Solomon show us how completely the Savior has attained to the con­dition He desires us to reach when He tells us to pray, “Thine be the glory.” Speaking of Himself He says, “When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water; Before the moun­tains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens I was there; when He set a compass upon the face of the earth; when He established the clouds above; when He strengthened the foundation of the deep” (Prov. viii:24-28).

From other scripture it is made plain that God the Father receives the glory of work done by God the Son. And yet the Agent is glorified by the Master Builder because of His (the Agent’s) perfect work. We see how completely Christ has given all honor to the Father, and how necessary it is we should do all we are able to do, and do it with the same spirit of consecration. “Father, not my will but thine be done.” Out of this complete annihilation of selfishness, which is expected of us, but which Christ alone has been able to attain, have sprung errors concerning the Deity. When the Prophet Joseph translated the Book of Mormon the idea of Trinity in unity was accepted by mankind. There was a mystery concerning the true character of Deity that the wisdom of man seemed unable to solve. The Book of Mormon teaches the separate personality of the members of the Godhead, and harmonizes throughout with the Prophet’s account of his first vision. The harmony of the writers of the various books of the Bible, is a proof of their common inspiration. When a man has a knowledge that the Bible is the word of God, he may obtain a testi­mony of the truth of the Book of Mormon in the same way, and he who knows the Book of Mormon is true, knows that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of the Living God.

The vital questions of theology are treated with startling clearness in the Book of Mormon. Let those that care to investigate study for example, the Holy Ghost, atonement, faith, repentance, baptism. How could the unedu­cated youth, Joseph Smith, possibly have given to the world such a deep, masterful treatise on theology? I thank my heavenly Father that such a mass of testimony has been borne as to his lack of education and worldly wisdom. How much more difficult it would have been for us to proclaim the Gospel if the world had been told that he was a man of great mental ability. Some day a man with an intellect like Herbert Spencer may analyze our beloved Prophet’s teachings; and when a true knowledge of the greatness of Mormon philosophy dawns upon the world, men will have shut themselves out of accounting for the manner in which it was obtained unless they accept the proper explanation.