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
"As it is impossible for motion to exist without a substance, so it
is equally impossible and absurd for wisdom, knowledge, goodness,
love, power, will, or any other similar attribute or quality to exist
separate and apart from substance; hence the 'Creative Energy' itself
could not exist unless a substance existed to which it appertained. The
most eminent philosophers of modern times, with very few exceptions,
have considered substance necessary to the existence of every quality.
These were the views of that great master spirit--the renowned Sir
Isaac Newton. In the Scholium, at the end of the 'Principia,' when
speaking of God, he says, 'He is omnipresent, not by means of his
virtue alone, but also by his substance, for virtue cannot subsist
without substance.' The Holy Spirit, therefore, is a substance, and
must, like all other substances, have parts, bearing relation to space
and duration."[A]
[Footnote A: Millennial Star, Vol. XII, No. 20.]
Then as to "personage:" The Prophet used this term always in the
sense of meaning an individual, including bodily form, with all that
belongs to it; never in the subtle and vague sense of the philosophers
or school men, mediaeval or modern.[A] This is evident from use of
the term in describing his first vision: "I saw two personages whose
brightness and glory defy all description."[B] These two "personages"
were the Father and the Son, of the holy Trinity, and whom in later
years, as already seen, the Prophet declares to possess bodies of flesh
and bone as tangible as man's, and in form like man's. It follows,
then, that describing the Holy Ghost as a "personage of Spirit," means
only that the Holy Ghost differs from the other glorious personages
of the Godhead in the nature of the substance of which, for want of a
better term, we may say he subsists, but not necessarily different in
form; and of which we can only say--that is, of his substance--he is
not flesh and bone as are the tabernacles of the Father and the Son.
[Footnote A: Never, for example, as Calvin uses it: "What I denominate
a person is a subsistence of the divine essence which is related to
the others and yet is distinguished from them by an incommunicable
property." Calvin's Institutes i:13; or as the philosophers use it,
where consciousness, thought and will seem to be the essentials
of "personality," without any reference to form. (See Evolution in
Relation to Religious Thought, Dr. Jos. Le Conte, p. 339.)]
[Footnote B: Pearl of Great Price, Writings of Joseph Smith, ch. ii.]
LESSON XIII.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
NATURE AND FORM (Continued).
ANALYSIS.
IV. A Spiritual Personage Revealed.
V. The Holy Ghost in Person Revealed
VI. Personality of the Holy Ghost Revealed in Described Activities.
VII. The mode of Union Between the Holy Ghost and Men.
REFERENCES.
The Scriptures and works cited in the body of this lesson.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account