(Scripture Reading Exercise.)

INTELLIGENCES AND SPIRITS.

SPECIAL TEXT: "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and to your Father; to my God and your God." (Jesus Christ: St. John xx:19.)

DISCUSSION.

1. Uncreated "Intelligences" and "Spirits": In the Book of Mormon we have the revelation which gives the most light upon the spiritexistence of Jesus, and, through his spirit-existence, light upon the spiritexistence of all men. The light is given in that complete revelation of the pre-existent, personal spirit of Jesus Christ, made to the brother of Jared, ages before the spirit of Jesus tabernacled in the flesh. The essential part of the passage follows:

"Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ And never have I showed myself to man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image. Behold this body which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit, and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit, will I appear unto my people in the flesh."^[A]

[Footnote A: Ether, Ch. iii:14-16.]

What do we learn from all this? First, let it be re-called that according to the express word of God "intelligences" are not created, neither indeed can they be. Now, with the above revelation from the Book of Mormon concerning the spirit-body of Jesus, before us, we are face to face with a something that was begotten, and in that sense a "creation," a spirit, the "first born of many brethren;" the "beginning of the creations of God." The spirit is in human form—for we are told that as Christ's spirit-body looked to Jared's brother, so would the Christ look to men when he came among them in the flesh; the body of flesh conforming to the appearance of the spirit, the earthly to the heavenly. "This body which ye now behold is the body of my spirit"—the house, the tenement of that uncreated intelligence which had been begotten of the Father a spirit, as later that spirit-body with the intelligent, uncreated entity inhabiting it, will be begotten a man. "This body which you now behold is the body of my spirit," or spirit-body. There can be no doubt but what here "spirit" as in the Book of Abraham, and in the passages quoted from the Prophet's King Follet's Sermon, is used interchangeably with "intelligence," and refers to the uncreated entity; as if the passage stood: "This is the body inhabited by an intelligence." The intelligent entity inhabiting a spirit-body make up the spiritual personage. It is this spirit life we have so often thought about, and sang about. In this state of existence occurred the spirit's "primevil childhood;" here spirits were "nurtured" near the side of the heavenly Father, in his "high and glorious place;" thence spirits were sent to earth to unite spirit-elements with earth-elements—in some way essential to a fullness of glory and happiness. "Man is Spirit. The elements are eternal, and Spirit and Element inseparably connected receive a fullness of joy; and when separated man cannot receive a fullness of joy. The elements are the tabernacle of God; Yea, man is the tabernacle of God even temples."^[A] Hence spirits are sent to earth, to take on its elements, and to learn the lessons earth-life has to teach. The half awakened recollections of the human mind may be chiefly engaged with scenes, incidents and impressions of that former spirit life; but that does not argue the non-existence of the uncreated intelligences who preceded the begotten spiritual personages as so plainly set forth in the revelations of God.

[Footnote A: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 93:32-35.]

The difference, then, between "spirits" and "intelligences," as here used, is this: Spirits are uncreated intelligences inhabiting spiritual bodies; while "intelligences," pure and simple, are intelligent entities, but unembodied in either spirit bodies or bodies of flesh and bone. They are uncreated, self-existent entities; but let it be observed, in passing, that nothing is here said in relation to the form of these intelligent entities, nor anything as to their mode of existence. Indeed, so far as I know, nothing has been revealed in relation to their form or mode of existence; nothing beyond the fact of existence, their eternity and the qualities necessary to them as Intelligences.

2. Jesus and Men of the same Order of Intelligences: The scriptures teach that Jesus Christ and men are of the same order of beings; that men are of the same race with Jesus, of the same nature and essence; that he is indeed our elder brother. "For it became him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: [i. e., essence or nature; or, regarding men's spirits, of one Father] for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."^[A] Hence, though the Christ is more perfect in righteousness, and more highly developed in intellectual and spiritual powers than men, yet these differences are of degree, not of kind; so that what is revealed concerning Jesus, the Christ, may be of infinite helpfulness in throwing light upon the nature of man and the several estates he has occupied and will occupy hereafter. The coeternity of Jesus Christ with God, the Father, and the extension of the principle of co-eternity of the Intelligences in men with Jesus Christ and God has been already pointed out.^[B]

[Footnote A: Heb. ii:10, 11.]

[Footnote B: Lesson II, this treatise.]

Again at the resurrection of the Christ, according to the testimony of St. John, the Master said to Mary of Magdala: "Go to my brethren [the apostles] and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God" (St. John 20:17). Hence we have Jesus and the apostles with the same Father, the same God, and the fact of brotherhood proclaimed. If such relation exists between Jesus and the apostles, then it exists between Jesus and all men, since the apostles were men of like nature with other men. In his great discourse in Mars Hill, Paul not only declares that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men"—but he also quoted with approval the Greek poet Aratus, where the latter says: "For we are also his (God's) offspring;" and to this the apostle adds: "For as much, then, as we are the offspring of God [hence of the same race and nature], we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art after man's device."^[A] Our own nature, one might add, in continuation of the apostle's reasoning, should teach those who recognize men as the offspring of God, better than to think of the Godhead as of gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art after man's device, since the nature of the offspring partakes of the nature of the parent; and our own nature teaches us that men are not as stocks and stones, though the latter be graven by art after the devices of men.

[Footnote A: Acts xvii:26-30.]

Paul might also have quoted the great Hebrew poet: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the Gods. * * * * I have said ye are Gods; and all of you are children of the Most High."^[A]

[Footnote A: Psalms lxxxii:1, 6, 7.]

The matter is clear then, men and Gods are of the same race; Jesus is the Son of God, and so, too, are all men the offspring of God, and Jesus but the first born of many brethren. Eternal Intelligences are begotten of God, spirits; and hence are sons of God—a dignity that never leaves them. "Behold," said one of old, "now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."^[A]

[Footnote A: I John iii:2. I am not unmindful of the array of evidence that may be massed to prove that it is chiefly through adoption, through obedience to the Gospel of Christ, that man in the scripture is spoken of as being a son of God. But this does not weaken the evidence for the fact for which I am contending, viz., that man is by nature the son of God. He becomes alienated from his Father and the Father's kingdom through sin, through the transgression of the law of God; hence the need of adoption into the heavenly kingdom, and into son-ship with God. But though alienated from God through sin, man is nevertheless by nature the son of God.]

3. Jesus the First Born of Many Brethren: Sure it is that God, the Father, is the Father of the spirits of men. "We," says Paul, "have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live?" (Heb. 12:9).

According to this, then there is a "Father of Spirits." It follows, of course, that "spirits," have a father—they are begotten. It should be remarked that the term, "spirits" in the above passage cannot refer to self-existent, unbegotten intelligences of the revelations, considered in the foregoing lessons; and certainly this relationship of father to spirits is not one brought about in connection with generation of human life in this world. Paul makes a very sharp distinction between "Fathers of our flesh" and the "Father of spirits" in the above. Father to spirits is manifestly a relationship established independent of man's earth-existence; and, of course, is an existence which preceded earth-life, and where the uncreated Intelligences are begotten spirits. Hence, the phrase "shall we not be subject to the Father of spirits and live?"

Christ is referred to by the writer of the epistle to the Colossians, as the "first born of every creature" (i:15); and the Revelator speaks of him as "the beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14); and in the revelation already quoted so often (Doc. & Cov. Sec. xciii) Jesus represents himself as being in the "beginning with the Father;" and as "the first born."

The reference to Jesus as the "first born of every creature" cannot refer to his birth into earth-life, for he was not the first-born into this world; therefore, his birth here referred to must have reference to the birth of his spirit before his earth life.

The reference to Jesus as the "beginning of the creation of God," cannot refer to his creation or generation in earth-life; for manifestly he was not the beginning of the creations of God in this world; therefore, he must have been the "beginning" of God's creation elsewhere, viz., in the spirit world, where he was begotten a spiritual personage; a son of God.

The reference to Jesus as the "first born"—and hence the justification for our calling him "our Elder Brother" cannot refer to any relationship that he established in his earth-life, since as to the flesh he is not our "elder brother" any more than he is the "first born" in the flesh; there were many born in the flesh before he was, and older brothers to us, in the flesh, than he was. The relationship of "elder brother" cannot have reference to that estate where all were self-existent, uncreated and unbegotten, eternal Intelligences; for that estate admits of no such relation as "elder," or "younger;" for as to succession in time, the fact on which "younger" or "elder" depend, the Intelligences are equal, that is,—equal as to their eternity. Therefore, since the relationship of "elder brother" was not established by any circumstance in the earth-life of Jesus, and could not be established by any possible fact in that estate where all were self-existing Intelligences, it must have been established in the spirit life, where Jesus, with reference to the hosts of Intelligences designed to our earth, was the "first born spirit," and by that fact became our "Elder Brother," the "first born of every creature," "the beginning of the creations of God,".as pertaining to our order of existence.

4. Views of Sir Oliver Lodge on the Eternity of Mind: Some scientists also bear testimony to the truth of the principle here contended for. Sir Oliver Lodge, when arguing for the reality of that mysterious, vital "something" which builds up from earth elements an oak, an eagle or a man, closes with the question, "Is it something which is really nothing, and soon shall it be manifestly nothing?" "Not so," he answers, "nor is it so with intellect and consciousness and will, nor with memory and love and adoration, nor all the manifold activities which at present strangely interact with matter and appeal to our bodily senses and terrestrial knowledge; they are not nothing, nor shall they ever vanish into nothingness or cease to be. They did not arise with us; they never did spring into being; they are as eternal as the Godhead itself, and in the eternal Being they shall endure for ever. * * * And surely in this respect there is a unity running through the universe, and a kinship between the human and the Divine; witness the eloquent ejaculation of Carlyle:^[A]

[Footnote A: Of Paul, too, and of David before him. See Hebrews ii:6, and Psalms viii:4.]

'What then, is man! What, then, is man!

'He endures but for an hour, and is crushed before the moth. Yet in the being and in the working of a faithful man is there already (as all faith from the beginning, gives assurance) a something that pertains not to this wild death-element of Time; that triumphs over Time, and is, and will be, when Time shall be no more."—"Science and Immortality," pp. 160, 161.