Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-12-22
THE INCARNATION.

been fully reported In the press ais
matches. The strange part OF 1t Is tina
the clergyman in question, though ne
denies. as we understand II, the i'm
maculate conception OF our Lord as
wen as His bodily resurrection, main
taIns that he is orthodox, while his
Judges are In error.
Tbe scriptures certainly teach the In
carnatlon Of God In the person OF Jesus
Christ. AS the central passage OF TINS
doctrine we may refer to John /; ~
which reads: "And the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among US, and
we beheld His glory, the glory OF the
Only Begotten of the Father, full OF
grace and truth" From this, and q
number OF similar passages, the Blpie
student forms his views and belief III
the doctrine Of the Incarnation. one
Person is represented In them all. He
who undergoes birth, growth, SUFFERING.
and death says: Before Abraham
was. / am" II had glory by the
| Fathers side before the world. Hc
was 'in the form of God and took the
form OF a bond servant and obeyed
even unto DEATH"
Two natures are as clearly set forth
as the one personality. He Is repre-
sented as God. But. He became man.
and a complete man, developing IN
physique and in wisdom, as well as
years. The divine Person Of the Son
took human nature. Yet, he was al
ways divine as well as human.
The first followers of our Lord GER
tainly paid homage to Him, thereby
recognizing His divine character. Tho
records OF the martyrdoms Of Polycarp
and many others Of the early VIII
nesses show the intensity OF
their faith in the divinity OF the
Lord. The pagans accused the Chris
tIans Of being man-worshipers, and
their replies TO such charges prove that
they avow and glory In the alteration
Of their divine Master. Very early IN
ecclesiastical history we find traces OF
different opinion, but the main body
of the followers OF the Nazarene re-
manned firm in their belief in God In
oarnate.
The so-caled Arians, in the first part
of the fourth century, and later, dlf-
fered with the main body of the
church, teaching virtually that Christ
was only half God and half man. His
manhood, they thought, lacked the
spiritual element, and its place was
taken By a divine element, which they
called the Son. The following century
saw many opinions on this question.
Appolinarlus Is said to represent the
view that in the manhood OF Christ
the rational soul was lacking, and that
the Godhead took It's place. Nestorius
of Constantinople taught a dual per-
sonality. According to him, human
being systematically produced. was
united with the eternal Son OF God,
The HISTORIAN Christ, as some one has
well remarked was not Man, but
man. Others represented the so-called
Monophysite or uni-natural theory.
With them incarnation resulted IN a
single nature in which the divine ele-
ment had been transformed into the
earthly element The statement Of the
council of Chalcedon In the year 45l,
representing the orthodox view, was In
part as follows:
we confess one and the same Son,
Y nr1 CEriGy and all with
voice teach that He is perfect in God
head and perfect also In manhood. God
truly and also man truly OF reasonable
soul and body, consisting consubstan-
tial with the Father as to the Godhead,
and also consuhstantial With us as to
the manhood in all things like to US
without sin, begotten of the Father be-
fore the ages as TO the Godhead, but
also In the end Of days for US and GU,
salvation, OF Mary, the Virgin, the
mother Of God, as TO the manhood"
The early ages OF the Christian era
were continually busy with questions
relating to the divinity OF Christ and
the relation OF the Second Person In the
Godhead 10 the Father and the Holy
Spirit, and II Is rather strange that any
one In our age can deny, practically,
the doctrine OF incarnation, and yet
claim the distinction of standing on
orthodox ground.
In our own dispensation, the doctrine
OF the divinity OF Christ has been re-
stated through the inspired prophets of
the Lord. Taking the following sem
tenoes Of the Fifth Lecture on Faith
In the Doctrine and Covenants as a
summary OF the teachings of the Proph-
ct on this question, we read;
1.-THE Son, who was In the bosom OF
the Father, parsonage OF tabernacle,
made or fashioned like unto man or
being in the form and likeness OF man,
or rather man was formed after His
likeness and IN his image He Is also
the express Image and likeness of the
parsonage OF the Father, possessing all
the fulness of the Father, or the same
| fulness with the Father; being begot-
| ten OF Him and ordained from before
| the foundation OF the world TO be pro-
| pitiation for the sins OF all those who
should believe on his name, and is
| called the Son because OF the flesh and
| descended In suffering below that which
man can suffer; or In other words SUI
| fered greater suffering and was ex-
| posed to more powerful contradictions
than any man can be. But notwith-
standing all this, he kept the law of
| God and remained without sin, showing
| thereby that 1t Is In the power OF man
TO keep the law and remain also with
out sin; and also that all who walk in
| the law Of God may justly be con-
| demned by the law and have no excuse
! for their sins. And He being the only
begotten OF the Father, full Of grace
and truth. and having overcome re.
ceived fumes OF the glory of
the Father, possessing the same mind
with the Father, which mind Is the
| Holy Spirit that bears record OF the
| Father and the Son, and these three
are one; or in other words, these three
constitute the great, matches govern-
| Ing and supreme power over all things