The Magnolia gazette., 1899-12-20

" - q ~ I1NAA 1thA y tt4B l0i
some weeks the hist0fy " Nor
moni4m, and we have seen what
all awful history itiH, But, after
alt, tho history ~ any people is
only tho expression 81 their prin-
cipie8, and il Is apt 10 be no bet
ter ana no worse than those prin-
ciples 81 Mormonism, Let ua
seo what those principles are.
We shall take their articles Of
We shall take their articles
81 faith, which the Mormon mis-
sionarics carry with them and
give to an who will take copy,
and let their own leaders and
writer's expound them.
The first article says: 1--WE
believeiu God the Eternal Father,
and III Ills son Jesus Christ, and
in the Holy Ghost. = That Ger.
tainly sounds all right. But let
us see what they mean by il.
1--WE believe Ia God the Eter.
nal Father. Z What kind Of a
God? What kind Of Father?
This question is fundamental. A
person s conception Of God un-
deries all Of his theology and
gives shape to his own character
and conduct. We shall dwell
awhile on this point.
The Bible conception OF God is
a most exalted one. lie 10 spok.
on Of as infinite, eternal, omnip-
otent, omniscient, pure, holy,
the great / Am, the Most High,
etc, etc. Christ said, "God is
the infinite and perfect Spirit. "
The definition given by DR.. "a.
II. Strong in his systematic The
ology il, God is the infinite and
perfect Spirit, in whom all things
have their source, support and
end, y The Westminster Cate
chism defines him as "A Spirit,
eternal and Interchangeable in his
being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodnes and truth. ,"
De. j, +. Boyce says that Goods
nature is exclusively spiritual. :"
This is. the conception Of God
universally held among Chris
tians. What is the Mormon con-
eeption Of God?
/. They say that God is d
man like us; that he has body
like as, and to use their favorite
expression that he has .'parts
and passions" like us.
The Mormon missionaries, as
they go around, carry with them
little tract which they offer to
leave at every house, 1t is writ
ten, or compiled, by Mr.. Ben Il.
Rich, president Of the Mormon
Propaganda at Chattanooga.
1t is called "a Friendly Discus
sion Upon Religious Subjects. "
II is written in the form Of a sto-
ry. The scene is laid in a town
in the Southwestern part of
Tennessee, which we will call
Westminster. y The reference
evidently is TO Winchester. Sew
eral persons take in the discus
sion. The hero is a "Mr. Durant
Of Salt Lake City" +" MIR, Du-
rant is simply a Mormon elder.
lie represents Mormonism, and
Of course tries 10 uphold its prin-
ciples. The first point which he
attempts 10 proYeis is that God has
a body, and that he has nparts
and passions, = His argument
is based upon some passages Of
Scripture which speak OF God as
speaking face to face with Mos es,
and as having mouth, eyes, lips
and tongue, etc Many other
such passages might have been
quoted besides those given bv
Mr.. Durant. They are all evi-
IDENTITY used in what the theolo-
logians call an anthrpomorphic
sense-that Is, they speak Of God
as being in the form of a man,
as ian accommodation to human
thoughts, and TO the incapacity
of human language to express
exclusively divine thi n & $. :"
(Boyce.) All Chistians SO un-
derstand them. Bnt the Nor
mons take them in literal, ma.
terial sense, and base their whole
conceptions OF God and their
whole system of theology, and
indeed their whole conduct, up
on them.
Mr.. Durant closes his arcu-
ment on this point by saying:
And as for passions we are told
in the Bible that he God exer.
cises love and is a jealous God
Are these not parts and passions:
II would appear that all who be-
lieve IN Tie Scriptures must con-
olude that they are parts and
- !. .s.,t...<, a..gi ahot H.. 49,.