The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTalmage, James E. (James Edward)
Religion
The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Talmage, James E. (James Edward)
Latter Day Saint churches; Latter Day Saints
Again, in that last solemn interview with His apostles on the night
of the betrayal, the Lord Jesus thus cheered with sublime assurance
their sorrowful despair: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me." (John 15:26.)
Could the members of the Trinity be more definitely segregated? That
the Comforter is the Holy Ghost is expressly set forth in the preceding
chapter (John 14:26), and in that passage also the Father and the Son
are as separately specified.
That the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ are individual
Personages is clear from the very fact of the relationship expressed,
for no being can be his own father or his own son. The numerous
Scriptures in which Christ is shown as praying to His Father abundantly
testify of Their distinct personality; and, furthermore, amidst the
indescribable glory of our Lord's transfiguration, from out of the
cloud came the voice of the Father, avowing again: "This is my beloved
Son."
The individual members of the Holy Trinity are united in purpose, plan,
and method. To conceive of disagreement, differences, or dissension
among them would be to regard them as lacking in the attributes of
perfection that characterize Godhood. But that this unity involves any
merging of personality is nowhere attested in Scripture, and the mind
is incapable of apprehending such a union.
In the course of His soulful High-Priestly prayer, Christ supplicated
the Father in behalf of the Apostles, asking "that they may be one"
as He and the Father were one (John 17:11). Surely the Lord did not
intimate that He would have the Apostles lose their individuality and
become one person; and indeed, He had long before assured them that at
a time which is even yet future they "shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt. 19:28.)
Human knowledge concerning the attributes of God and the nature of
the Godhead is such as has been revealed from the heavens. Divine
revelation is the ultimate source of all we know of the being and
personality of the Deity. Through revelation in ancient days God was
made known to man--to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the
prophets. And in the present age, after mankind had in great measure
come to reject the plain and simple truths of a personal God and His
actual Son Jesus Christ, such as the Scriptures affirm, the Father and
the Son have revealed Themselves anew.
Joseph Smith has given us his solemn testimony that in the early
spring of 1820, while engaged in solitary prayer, to which he had been
impelled by scriptural admonition (James 1:5), he was visited by the
Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ, and that the Father, pointing
to the Christ, spake, saying: "This is my beloved Son, hear Him."
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account