CHAPTER XV

THE DOCTRINES OF MAN, OF THE FALL, AND OF THE CHARACTER OF EVIL

THE doctrine that God made man "in His own image" is confined neither to his physical body, nor yet to his origin in the Garden of Eden. Just as the proper destiny of the human race is to attain to union with the divine nature, so, with equal propriety, essential divinity is believed to have been its origin. Man partakes of God's image and likeness also in possessing the proper attributes of God; intelligence - which is the "glory of God" (D. and C., Sec. xciii. 36)- and eternity, both past and future. This teaching involves, of course, that the spirit of man is self-existent, uncreated (although "begotten," being less than God), and that it had an actual and, in a very real sense, a conscious preexistence. This doctrine is an essential part of the teachings of Mormon scriptures, especially the Book of Abraham and the Doctrine and Covenants. In the latter book the following passages occur:

"And now, verily I say unto you, I (Jesus Christ) was in the beginning with the Father, and am the first-born. . . . Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is spirit, even the Spirit of truth.... Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be.' -Section xciii, 21, 23, 29.

The same idea is still further developed in the following extract from an address delivered by Joseph Smith in July, 1839:

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"The spirit of man is not a created being; it existed from eternity, and will exist to eternity. Anything created cannot be eternal; and earth, water, etc., had their existence in an elementary state, from eternity. Our Savior speaks of children and says, Their angels always stand before my Father. The Father called all spirits before Him at the creation of man, and organized them. He (Adam, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph) is the head, and was told to multiply. The keys were first given to him, and by him to others. He will have to give an account of his stewardship, and they to him."History of the Church, Vol. III. p. 387.

Of the condition of the spirits of mankind previous to their incarnation, and of the significance of the doctrine of preexist

ence to the body of the theological system of this Church, the following is an excellent explanation:

"From the little knowledge we have on this subject (need of an earthly probation) we reach the following conclusions: That at the time of the creation of the earth, all who were to become its inhabitants were living in the spirit with God. There we communed with Him, partook of His kindness and mercy, received His counsel and instruction, and enjoyed, as fully as we were capable of enjoying, His glory. But happy and free from care and temptation though we doubtless were, safe from the snares, and dangers, and toils, and pains, and sins that beset us now, we were not perfectly contented. This because we were well aware that we had attained to the highest possible point of excellence-the greatest degree of advancement of which we were capable in the spiritual state. True, we were in heaven, sons and daughters of God, enjoying, no doubt, His fatherly care and protection; but we knew that that was not the highest and greatest destiny the Father had in mind for us. He desired that we should be fathers and mothers, as well as sons and daughters; rulers, as well as subjects; Gods, as well as children of God. This great, expanding, exalted destiny was closed to us, as long as we remained in the spiritual condition.

"We fully knew that we must, first, obtain bodies; second, endure the tests of a temporary separation from our Father; third, form the relationships of husband and wife, parent and child, etc.; fourth, prove ourselves worthy in these relationships, in the midst of sorrow, sin, and suffering. Without these varied experiences, away from our heavenly home, and forgetful of our spiritual life with God, we knew that this higher exaltation would be impossible."— Anon., "Principles of the Gospel," Part I., pp. 33-34. (Y. M. M. I. A. Manual. 1901-02.) As explained in the foregoing passage, the doctrine of an "earthy probation" for the spirits or "souls"- of mankind involves that the experiences of life on earth are in some manner necessary for their "perfecting." Why this is true has always been a very real problem to earnest thinkers, quite as insistent, in fact, as the similar query as to why a good God has allowed evil. Whatever may be said in way of criticism or confutation," however, no one can deny that the explanation here given is both intelligible and plausible. The following passages contain the official explanation of the doctrine.

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Man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receiveth a fullness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fullness of joy."-D. & C., xciii. 33-34.

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The spirit and the body is the soul of man. And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul.”—Ibid. lxxxviii. 15-16. Separated from its particular methods of expression, the sense of these passages may be held to be that the spirit of man cannot by any means attain to its proper perfection until incarnated. But this is no new teaching: it is merely a restatement of a belief that has been common to humanity from remote ages: that the spirit and the body shall, at the resurrection, be reunited, and shall continue in association to eternity. This is the Christian

doctrine of the resurrection, as well as the Egyptian. Mormonism merely expresses what other teachings have always implied, that this eternal union of the spirit and the body is a necessary and essential condition of blessedness, rather than one merely accidental (so far, at least, as we can derive an intelligible explanation). It also enables us to understand, on these terms, why it is that God, embracing in Himself the sum of all perfections, should logically be regarded as possessed of a proper body. The doctrine of preexistence coupled with this teaching, however, is of importance in yet another phase of the situation. Briefly expressed, it is capable of explaining in humanly intelligible form the numerous passages of Scripture which have been held to teach the doctrine of foreordination. Indeed, with the acceptance of these passages as literal, not merely “figurative," expressions, we are able, with a belief in eternal preexistence, to justify the "justice of God" to our own minds, without abrogating the freedom of the individual will, which has been a great problem among theologians for many centuries. Coupled with the Mormon doctrine of the "fall" of Adam and the operation of the atonement of Christ, it avoids the further troublesome dilemma of a foreknowing and foreordaining God, who is not also the actual author of sin and evil.

The corollary of this teaching is that the spirits of mankind, gathered, as it were, in a "great council," acquiesced perfectly in all the conditions of earth life; accepting at that time the parts they were to play in the drama of time, in accordance with the purposes of God in inaugurating the plan. Forthwith, Adam was chosen by divine decree to become the progenitor and " patriarch" of the human race; being then appointed to play his part, which, by the terms of this system, also made possible the procreation of the human species. Thus, we may glean the outlines of an idea of the significance of the "fall" of man to the divine economy of the universe. The "fall" was foreseen of God as a part of the plan of "redemption "- which also becomes a necessary, not merely an "accidental," manifestation of divine power and was participated by Adam, by free choice, and in obedience to the decrees of the "great council" of spirits, although in a very real sense a transgression," as indicating, in effect, the assertion of the will of a finite intelligence, in opposition to the expressed commands of the Supreme Intelligence. Thus, whether" foreknown," and, in a sense, "sanctioned" by God, or not, it is evident that this act of Adam's involved a very real "new order," in which, contrary to what should be, the human spirit no longer depends upon the divine will and law for its guidance, but rather upon itself. But, as all systems of

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theology argue in some way, God used the sin of Adam as the starting point of the work of redemption. Here, however, His foreknowledge is not associated with alleged "divine decrees" by which, as the Westminster Confession asserts, “some men and angels are . . . foreordained to everlasting death," but, surprisingly enough, a means, literally, of a higher and completer blessing, as will be explained presently.

Most of the passages of Scripture supposed to teach the doctrine of foreordination may with equal propriety be held to involve the idea of preexistence also, and by no very wide departure from established canons of interpretation. Thus, we read:

"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."-Jer. i, 5.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."— Rom. viii, 29-30.

In this connection it is needless to argue, on philosophical grounds, that, for God, who "inhabits eternity," foreknowing is knowing, and that what He foresees already exists for Him. On this view, however, the fact that, as stated in Acts xv. 18, "known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world," involves for the philosopher that they preexisted in a preeminently real sense, as existing for the mind and contemplation of the Almighty: that which exists in time for finite minds exists in eternity for God. If, then, in the words of Christ (Mark xii. 27), "He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living," involving that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still live, even though dead, it is no immense stretching of the sense of this passage to hold that those whom He "foreknew, predestinated, called, justified and glorified," may with propriety be covered by the same statement, even though, at the period mentioned, as yet unborn into the world of time.

As exhibiting the method by which individual freedom of choice is represented as combining with the decisions of God, in establishing the things to be accomplished in earth life, the following from one of the leading scriptures of the Mormon Church, may be quoted as illustration:

"That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying- Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me- Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought

to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; and he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."— Moses iv. 1-4.

As may be understood, this passage refers primarily to the origin of evil" by postulating a "war in heaven," or the "rebellion" of a great archangel, known as Lucifer, the Son of the morning. As embodied in various oriental literatures, and introduced at a comparatively late period into the Bible-although this fact is no argument against its antiquity-the account has varied in differing degrees from the postulation of an eternal "dualism dualism" [as between Ahura-Mazda, the good Creator, and Angro-Manyu, the evil creator, in the system of Zoroaster] to a vague and general belief in the existence of an evil influence in the spiritual world, potent over mankind, but inferior to, and permitted to exist by, God, for some "mysterious reasons." The explanation offered by Joseph Smith, curiously enough, contains the suggestion of a wonderfully clear solution of this problem. We learn here that all spirits, being eternal and uncreated, are in a very real sense "divine." We learn, also, that there are grades and degrees of dignity in the eternal world, as found in certain beings called archangels, seraphim, etc., who, as in the case of Gabriel, "stand in the presence of God" (Luke i. 19). We learn also that the freedom of the will consists in the really ultimate and uncaused character of all spirit life. With these postulates, we may understand much more readily how that Satan, or Lucifer, was a prototype in the eternal world of Korah and his company (Num. xvi. 3), who, with his followers, gathered themselves together against [God] and against [the Eternal Son], and said, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them." Of course, the failure of this eternal spirit to recognize the infinite exaltation of God the Father above him— because accustomed to "stand in his presence"-is of the same description of "blindness that in which the traducers of the Eternal Son brought about his crucifixion. This sin explains why it was that Satan fell "as lightning from heaven" (Luke x. 18), also why it was that Judas, the betrayer, "went and hanged himself" (Matt. xxvii. 5).

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as

A very similar solution of the vexed problem of "free will," placing the scene of its operation in a preexistent state of some order, is presented by several philosophers. Thus Prof. Josiah Royce, although basing his argument on a quite different concept of the universe, concludes as follows: