The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-27

Rev. L. B. Ridgely preached the SER
mon at st. Paurs yesterday from
Acts, 1929, reading:
godhead is like unto gold or silver, or
stone engraven by art or mans de-
vice" a synopsis of the sermon is as
follows:
L hope to study with you as oppor-
tunity offers. the thirty-nine articles of
religion prayer books. those formulate
in which the church explains the
Catholic faith. Notice that these are
not published by any general council.
The church places them as guides TO
her clergy in explaining the articles
of the creed. This discourse is not
but since we live in the midst of that
system, which contradicts many of
these articles, and in all of it's coptro-
versial tracts and pamphlets specially
attacks the first article, 1 cannot but
stop to show where the church doc
trine comes in conflict with the Nor
mon religion.
The first article Of our religion is
that of the Holy Trinity, which states
the Christian doctrine of God as fol-
lows: There is but one living and
true God, without body, parts. or pas
sions, of infinite power, wisdom and
goodness, the maker and preserVer of
all things, both visible and invisible.
and in unity of this godhead there be
three persons of one substance, power
and eternity-the Father. the Son and
the Holy Ghost
The Mormon doctrine of God, stated
cOncisely in the preceptor, is as fol-
lows: God, the Father, is a tangible
personality, having a body like unto
that of the Son; and the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost are distinct and sep
arate perSonageS or entities Let me
ask you to note especially that no
Mormon book ever uses the word per
sonality" in its true and philosophic
sense. They always mean body cor
poreality against material body. l do
not mean to suggest that this is inten-
tional misuse, but it is matter of
mistake in the meaning of the word.
Notice, then, that this doctrine is ex-
actly the old heather notion about God
as a magnified non-natural man, and
the true image of him could be made
in wood or stone by mems device. This
is the conception of those tribes who
prepare food and gifts for their gods
because they believe that these gods
eat and drink like men. 1 do not draw
on imagination in saying this. Orson
Pratt's verses on the Prophet"
poem published in the Millennial Star
in 1916, accepts and enlarges on this
notion.
Again, Mormon faith holds God to be
not real source from which ali things
material and spiritual spring, but
rather a product of a course of evolu-
ton. God once was as we are now"
says Joseph Smith, land is an exalted
man and sits enthroned in yonder
heaven" Again the Mormon doctrine
is polytheistic, as certainly as the re-
ligion of the old Greeks. Gods angels
and man are all of one substance, one
race, one great family" 1t may, then,
consistently. in fact, be said that there
are, in d subordinate sense, a plurality
of gods. T. d. Richards, in the Com
pendulum, calmly accepts the same
conclusion, saying the passages are
numerous which Indicate a plurality
of gods Evidently this system will
not stand the test of philosophy.
The instinct that drives men to be-
lieve in God drives them to him, in
fact, as being the uncaused cause of
all things; but this God is some part
of the universe. He is not supreme,
nor eternal, nor supernatural. lie can
not explain to us either nature or
man. He cannot lift man above ma
ture, nor teach him mysteries. Com
pare with this the church'S teaching
as expressed in the article above quo
ted The speaker then entered into
philosophical reasoning on the god
head. In the evening the sermon was
devoted to the question, Does the
Bible teach that God has bodily
shape?" to which the answer is No"
The prophets speak in figures of the
Lord and 1.-The right hand Of God"
These are evidently only figures. since
the Bible teaches that God no man
hath seen, or can see"