The Seventy's Course in Theology, Fifth Year: Divine Immanence and the Holy GhostRoberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
The Seventy's Course in Theology, Fifth Year: Divine Immanence and the Holy Ghost
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
Elsewhere I have said on this subject: One cannot help being profoundly
impressed with the great truth that creation, throughout its whole
extent, bears evidence of being one system: that it presents at
every point unity of design, and harmony in its government. Nor am I
unmindful of the force there is in the deduction usually drawn from
these premises, _viz._, that the Creator and Governor of the universe,
must necessarily be One. But I am also profoundly impressed by another
fact that comes within the experience of man, at least to a limited
extent, _viz._: the possibility of intelligences arriving at perfect
agreement, so as to act in absolute unity. We see manifestations of
this principle in human governments, and other human associations of
various kinds. And this, too, is observable, viz., that the greater
and more perfect the individual intelligence, the more perfect can
the unity of purpose and of effort become for the community of
intelligences; so that one need only conceive the existence of perfect
intelligences to operate together in order to secure perfect oneness;
then shall come the one system evident in the universe, exhibiting at
every point unity of design, and perfect harmony in its government. In
other words, "oneness" can be the result of perfect agreement among
many intelligences as surely as it can be the result of the existence
of One Only Intelligence. Also, the decrees and purposes of the
perfectly united Many can be as absolute as the decrees and purposes of
the One Only Intelligence. One is also confronted with the undeniable
fact that inclines him to the latter view as the reasonable explanation
of the "Oneness" that is evidently in control of the universe--the fact
that there are in existence many Intelligences, and, endowed as they
are with free will, it cannot be denied that they influence, to some
extent, the course of events and the conditions that obtain. Moreover,
it will be found, on careful inquiry, that the explanation of the
"Oneness" controlling in the universe, on the theory that it results
from perfect agreement or unity of Many Intelligences, is more in
harmony with the revelations of God on the subject than the theory that
there is but One Only Intelligence that enters into its government.[A]
[Footnote A: Mormon Doctrine of Deity, pp. 137-8.]
John Stuart Mill, in his Essay on Theism, in speaking of the evident
unity in nature, which suggests that nature is governed by One Being,
comes very near stating the exact truth in an alternative proposition
to his first remark, viz.: "A. least, if a plurality be supposed, it is
necessary to assume so complete a concert of action and unity of will
among them, that the difference is for most purposes immaterial between
such a theory and that of the absolute unity of the Godhead."[A]
[Footnote A: Essays on Religion; Theism p. 133.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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