Rays of Living Light on the One Way of SalvationPenrose, Charles W. (Charles William)
Religion
Rays of Living Light on the One Way of Salvation
Penrose, Charles W. (Charles William)
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
Evidences of the existence of a Supreme Being are seen in vast
profusion. They appeal to every rational mind. The order, beauty,
and sublimity of the heavenly bodies, moving through space in silent
majesty, each in its own orbit, balancing and counterbalancing each
other without an error in time or revolution, all preserving their
own identity and performing their own mission, proceeding thus
through everlasting ages, are perennial witnesses of the existence,
power and glory of God. The earth itself, with its relations to
other planets, its products, its seasons, its adaptation to the
needs of the creatures that inhabit its surface or its atmosphere,
joins in the grand chorus of the music of the spheres, "Forever
singing as they shine, the hand that made us is divine." Nature,
however, while proclaiming the existence of Deity, does not disclose
his personality or reveal his will. A knowledge of God can only come
from God. Faith leads to that knowledge.
The greatest religious teacher among men was Jesus, the Nazarene. In
his personality God was manifest in the flesh. He revealed Deity to
humanity. He showed that God was in reality the Father of the
spirits of men. He proclaimed that he was in the beginning with God;
that he came forth from God, and that all mankind were his brethren,
made in the image of God and part of his eternal family. This
presents God as actually and literally "Our Father which art in
heaven." It takes away the mystery with which false faiths have
enveloped the Supreme Being, beclouding the minds of men, and making
God utterly incomprehensible. Jesus taught that his Father and our
Father is a personal being, man being in his likeness, Jesus himself
being in his express image. He taught also that he was sent into the
world to save mankind, and bring them back to the Father's presence;
that no man could come unto God but by him. The true Christian
religion, therefore, combines faith in Jesus Christ the Son, with
faith in God the eternal Father. Christ further taught the existence
of a divine Spirit, proceeding from God, to enlighten the souls of
men; that is, the Holy Ghost, by which the mind and will of God may
be made known to man, and by which holy men chosen of God have been
inspired in different ages to declare his word.
These three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, form the
eternal Godhead. They are not one person, as erroneously declared by
modern Christian churches, but are separate and distinct substances,
though one in mind and power and dominion. Jesus of Nazareth, as the
Son of God, was a personality as distinct from the personality of
the eternal Father as is that of any earthly son from his father.
The Holy Spirit, though proceeding from both the Father and the Son,
is not either of them, but has an identity of his own. It is true
that Jesus said, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). But he also
said, "My Father is greater than I" (John 14:28).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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