Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-11-05
WHAT THE MORMONS BELIEVE.
(By EMIL GAMMETER.)
Continued from Monday.)

| tuous, lovely, or of good report, or
pralseworthy, I'VE seek after these
things. JOSEPH SMITH.
What seems to be a fairly complete
statement of the doctrinal views of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints was recently made before
the Denver Philosophical Society by
DR.. James Il. Talmage, of the Univers-
ity of Utah. The address Is published
in full in the April and May numbers
Of The Improvement Era, (Salt Lake
City, Mr.. Talmage lays stress on the
] claim that the creed of his church Is
"preeminently Christian in theory, pre-
cept and practice, and that 1t refuses to
wear a name indicative of distinctive
or peculiar doctrines"
"Mormonism" rejects what it regards
as heresy, the false doctrine of pre-
destination, as an absolute compulsion
or even as an irresistible tendency
forced upon the individual toward right
or wrong-as a pre-appointment to
eventual exaltation or condemnation;
yet 1t atfirms that the infinite wisdom
and fore-knowledge of God make plain
to him the end from the beginning;
and he can read in the natures and
dispositions Of his children their des-
tiny.
"Mormonism" claims an actual and
literal relationship of parent and child
between the Creator and the man
not in the fgurative sense in which
the engine may be called the child OF
its builder; not the relationship of
thing mechanically made to the maker
thereof, but the connection between
father and offspring.
In short, it is bold enough to declare
that mans spirit being the offspring
Of Deity, and mans body, though OIL
earthly components, yet being in the
very image and likeness Of God, man
even in his present degraded-aye, fall
en- condition still possesses, if only in
a latent state, inherent traits, tenden-
cies, and powers that tell of his more
than royal descent; and that these may
be developed SO as to make him, even
while mortal in a measure, God-like.
But Mormonism is bolder yet. 1t as
serts that In accordance with the in
violable law of organic nature, that
like shall beget like, and that multi
plication of numbers and perpetuation
of species shall be in compliance with
the conditions, each after his kind.
The child may achieve a God in en-
bryo. However far in the future it
may be, what ages may elapse
what eternities may pass, before any
individual, now mortal being, may at
tain the rank and sanctity of Godship,
nevertheless man carries in his soul
the possibilities of such achievement;
even as the crawling caterpillar or the
coarse-like chrysalis holds the latent
possibility, nay, barring destruction in
an earlier stage, the certainty indeed,
of the winged image in all the glories
Of maturity.
|
MOrmonism claims that all nature,
both on earth and in heaven gerates
on plan Of advancement; as the very
Eternal Father is progressive being;
that His perfection, while so complete
as to be incomprehensible by man,
possesses this essential quality of true
perfection-the capacity of eternal in
crease. That therefore, in the far fu.
ture, beyond the horizon of eternity
perchance, man may attain the status
of God. Yet this does not mean that
r he shall be then the equal of the Deity
we worship, nor that he shall ever
+. overtake those intelligences that are
already beyond him in advancement;
for to assert such would be to argue
that there is no progression beyond a
certain stage of attainment and that
+. advancement is a characteristic of
low organization and inferior purpose
alone.
We believe that there was more than
the sounding of brass or the tinkling
of wordy cymbals in the feryent ad-
monition Of Christ to His followers.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father in heaven is perfect"
"Mormonism" accepts the doctrine
of the fall and the account of the trans
gression in Eden, as set forth in Cen
, esis; but it aftirms that none but Adam
shall ever have to account for Adam q
disobedience; that mankind in general
is absolutely absolved from the re.
sponsibility for that original sin, and
that leach shall answer for his own
transgressions alone"
The Church must be in direct COM
I t..nf tn.. writ l,A