(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

SPECIAL OFFICES OF THE PERSONAGE OF THE HOLY TRINITY.

SPECIAL TEXT: "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend to my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God." (Jesus—St. John xx:17.)

DISCUSSION.

1. Alikeness and Diversity in the Nature of Divine Beings: Whatever may be said in the scriptures of the union in knowledge, mercy, love, power, and will—in a word, whatever may be said of the alikeness of these holy and divine Personages of the trinity, it should be so understood as to allow of the thought of some difference in office; and of some one or more distinctions in their relations to each other, and in their relationship towards men; and even in their physical natures when compared one with another. I feel encouraged to make this avowal, unusual though it may be, because in nature we may observe both a unity and a diversity. Though a given species of grass may have general characteristics in which all the varieties of grasses are alike, yet men have not yet found two blades of grass precisely alike. In all the leaves of the forest, there have not yet been found two leaves exactly alike; among all the hordes of men—the millions living and the millions dead—no two have yet been found one of which is a precise counterpart of the other. It is so everywhere you look in nature; in animal or plant life; in mountains, rivers or valleys; in the sands or among the shells of the sea shore—everywhere unity of kind, of groups, but infinite variety of individuals. That being the general truth taught throughout nature, may it not hold in reference to Divine Personages as well? Without absolutely insisting upon it, I shall venture to say I think so; and that in some way—in office, in function, in appointment, in some respects even in physical nature also—there are distinctive characteristics in the three divine Personages of the Godhead.

Setting forth, and in profoundest reverence, the Personages of the Godhead with reference to their chief functions as each stands related to man, they appear as God, the Father; God, the Son, Redeemer of man; God, the Holy Ghost, Witness to man of truth, of all truth.

Let us consider each in these capacities respectively.

2. God, the Father: With this conception of God as "Father" there is associated the larger—but not higher—idea of "Creator."

There exists, I think, a real difference between the idea of "father" and "creator," and yet one feels, from our use of terms, and even from the terminology of holy scripture, that each idea may include the other. But first as to the distinctions between "father" and "creator." The term "father" carries with it the notion of generation, begetting from one's own person, springing from one's own nature, and partaking of one's own physical and mental qualities and perhaps likeness, but the term "creator" does not necessarily convey that notion, since a created thing may be external to the nature of the being who created it; as, for example, when God created the heaven and the earth.^[A] In this case the heaven and the earth did not bear the image of God; nor was it made in his likeness, as the result was when God said, "Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness." So in relation to man; he begets a son or a daughter by act of generation; he is a father; and also, in a sense, a creator.^[B]

[Footnote A: Gen. i.]

[Footnote B: Athanasius makes the following distinction between "begotten" and "created," which I believe to be true and of great importance as a truth. "Let it be repeated," he says, "that a created thing is external to the nature of the being who creates it; but a generation, (a begetting, as a father begets a son) is the proper off-spring of the nature." (Quoted in Shedd's Hist, of Christian Doctrine, Vol. I, p. 322.)]

He gathers materials and builds a house; or with various colored pigments, brushes, and stretched canvas he paints a landscape, or from some rude block of marble with mallet and chisel he hews out the image of a man; he is a creator. Creator of the house, the painted landscape, the statue; and also, in a certain sense, after our manner of speech, we could say the father of them. So that in the terms "father" and "creator" there is both a distinction and a sameness.

3. The Dual Idea of "Father" and "Creator:" I said a moment since that scripture terminology justified this dual idea that goes with the use of "father" and "creator." Now to the proof: In Hebrews we find this passage: "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"^[A] From this it is learned that God is the "Father" of the spirits of men—from which circumstance comes the title—"God, the Father." In the Book of Moses, the Lord, following an account of the creation, says: "I, the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken spiritually, before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. * * * And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them. * * * And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word."^[B]

[Footnote A: Heb. xii:9.]

[Footnote B: Book of Moses (Pearl of Great Price), ch. iii:5, c. f. Doc. and Cov. Sec. xxix:30-34; also Book of Abraham, ch. iii:23. Gen. i:26-27; c. f. Gen. ii:5-7.]

Here we have God saying that he had "created all the children of men," and yet there was not a man to till the earth; "for in heaven I created them," that is, uniting this statement with Paul's passage, he had become the "Father of spirits;" and "Father" and Creator are seen to be used synonymously. Conversely: Nothing is clearer than that God, in the Scriptures, is proclaimed the "Creator:" "Creator of heaven and earth and all things that in them are." And now comes one of our Book of Mormon writers, saying: "and they [i. e., Father and Son, see context] are one God, yea, the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth."^[A] Which can only be understood as "creator of heaven and earth."

[Footnote A: Mosiah xv:4.]

Again: "Is the Son of God the very eternal Father? * * * Yea, he is the very eternal Father of heaven and of earth, and all things which in them is."^[A] In the quotation following the terms are used in combination. Samuel, the Lamanite prophet, was sent unto the people of a certain city, that they "might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things, from the beginning."^[B] From these passages it is evident that the term "father" is made to include the idea of "Creator."

[Footnote A: Alma xi:38, 39.]

[Footnote B: Helaman xiv:12. Wherein Jesus is referred to as the Creator, the "Father of heaven and earth," it should be understood that he is so under the direction of the God, the Father; "God * * * hath * * * spoken to us by his Son, by whom also he (God the Father) made the worlds" (Hebrews i:3). "To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things,—and we in him: and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him" (I. Cr. viii:6) " * * * God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. iii:9). So that while Jesus was the immediate creator of things he did so under and by the Father's direction, so that the Father may still be regarded as the first mover in the creation drama, Jesus the agency through whom he acted.]

4. "Father" and "Fathering:" The chief characteristic, of the First Personage of the Godhead, then, appears to be that of "Father," "Creator." And with this goes the extended idea inseparably associated with the notion of "Father," viz., "fathering"—caring for, sustaining, upholding. We contemplate this Holy First Personage, then, not only as "Father of spirits;" but one anxious for their welfare, for their progress. And he himself has declared "this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."^[A] And in the creation drama we have God, the "Father of the spirits," standing among them and planning for their advancement. God said unto those who were with him: "We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; and they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate, and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of man: Here a. I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first."^[B]

[Footnote A: Book of Moses, ch. i:39.]

[Footnote B: Book of Abraham, ch. iii:24-27.]

And so the second personage of the Godhead was chosen for his office of Savior of men. But the first Personage was proposing the plan for "adding upon" these spirits of heaven. He was planning for their increase in honor and glory for ever and ever; and that through development; though increasing their intelligence, knowledge, wisdom and spiritual power; by experiences to be obtained in earth-life among broken harmonies, when fidelity to truth and virtue and God should be tested, where men should find themselves. He was "fathering" them. Just as in being "Creator" he not only creates—causes to exist—but he cares for the "creation," he sustains it; upholds it; guides it to some definite end, to the achievement of some beneficent purpose.

Such must be our thought of this all glorious First Personage of the Godhead-Father, Creator; also Sustaining, Guiding, Loving Power of the Universe.