Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-08-24

spirit testifying TO spirt--soul COM
muning with soul-it Is the soul Of God
imparting TO the soul of man: and II
men, after receiving that witness from
God shall blaspheme against It, fare
well hope Of forgiveness for such a
sin, In this world or In the world 70
comet
These three personages are OF equal
dignity in the Godhead, according 10
the teachings OF the New Testament,
which teachings, | pray you keep ~
mind, we most heartily accept
THE APOSTLES CREED"
This simple Christian teaching re-
spectlng the Godhead gave birth TO
what in ecclesiastical history Is called
"The Apostles Creed" A dim, vague
tradition hath II that before the Apos-
ties dispersed to go into the world TO
preach the Gospel they formulated a
creed with respect to the Churchs be-
lief in God Whether that tradition be
true or not, do not know and for mat
ter of that 1t makes little difference,
Suffice II TO say that the so-called
Apostles Creed" for two centuries
expressed the faith Of the early Chris
tians upon the question OF God. "
stands as follows
II believe IN God, the Father. Al
mighty; and in Jesus Christ, His only
Begotten Son, our Lord, who was born
Of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost
was crucihed under Pontius Pllats,
buried, arose from the dead on the third
day, assembled to the heavens, and sits
at the right hand Of the Father, whence
lie will come, to judge the living and
the dead; and In the Holy Ghost"
This was the first formulated creed
upon the subject Of the Godhead and
the ancient Saints were content 10 al
low this expression Of their belief In
God 10 excite their reverence Without
arousng their curiosity as to the ma
tune Of God Happy perhaps for this
world certainly II would have contrib
uted to the honor of eccle-siastlcal his
tory had this simple formula of the
New Testament doctrine respecting God
been allowed TO stand sufficient until
1t should please God 10 raise the cur
tain yet little more and give definite
revelation with respect of himself and
His own nature. But this did not sat
isfy the so-called Christians az the close
of the third and The beginning Of the
fourth century. BY succession Of
most bitter and cruel prosecutions. The
great, strong characters among the
Christians by that time had been
stricken down; and, as some OF our
historians record II, only weak and
timorOus men were left in the Church
| TO grapple with the rising power Of
science" falsely so-called. For q, long
| time the organization of the Christian
| religion had been going on The men
| who esteemed themselves to be phil
osophers must needs corrupt the simple
| truth of the Apostles Creed, respect
| ing the three persons of the Codhead,
| by the false philosophers OF the Orient,
and the idle speculations of the Greeks
until this simple expression Of Chris
tlan faith in God was changed from
what we find 1t in the Apostles Greed
! 10 the Athanasian creed. and those vain
| phllosophizings and definitions which
have grown out of 1t. and which re-
duce the dignity OF the Godhead to a
mere vacuum-to being impersonal,
incorporeal without a body without
| parts, without passions: and l might
| add without sense or reason or any
| other attribute-an absolute nonentity,
| which they placed In the seat Of God,
| and attempted TO confer upon this con
| ception divine powers. clothe II with d.
vine attributes, and give II divine hon
| orsl