Plurality
of Gods The
Christian Godhead -- Plurality of Gods Meeting in the Grove, east of the (Nauvoo)
Temple, June 16, 1844 DHC 6:473-479 Page 473 Prayer by Bishop Newel K. Whitney.
Choir sang, "Mortals
Awake." President Joseph Smith read the 3rd chapter of Revelation, and took
for his text 1st chapter, 6th verse -- "And
hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen." It is altogether correct in the translation. Now,
you know that of late some malicious and corrupt men have sprung up and apostatized
from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they declare that the
Prophet believes in a plurality of Gods, and, lo and behold! we have discovered
a very great secret, they cry -- "The
Prophet says there are many Gods, and this proves that he has fallen." It
has been my intention for a long time to take up this subject and lay it clearly
before the people, and show what my faith is in relation to this interesting matter.
I have contemplated the saying of Jesus (Luke 17th chapter, 26th verse) --
"And as it was in the
days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man." And if
it does rain, I'll preach this doctrine, for the truth shall be preached. Page
474 I will preach on the plurality of Gods. I have selected this text for that
express purpose. I wish to declare I have always and in all congregations when
I have preach on the subject of the Deity, it has been the plurality of Gods.
It has been preached by the Elders for fifteen years. I have always declared God
to be a distinct personage, Jesus Christ a separate and distinct personage from
God the Father, and the Holy Ghost was a distinct personage and a Spirit: and
these three constitute three distinct personages and three Gods. If this is in
accordance with the New Testament, lo and behold! we have three Gods anyhow, and
they are plural; and who can contradict it? Our text says, "And
hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father." The Apostles have
discovered that there were Gods above, for John says God was the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. My object was to preach the scriptures, and preach the doctrine
they contain, there being a God above, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I
am bold to declare I have taught all the stronger doctrines in public than in
private. John was one of the men, and apostles declare they were made kings and
priests unto God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It reads just so in the
Revelation, Hence the doctrine of a plurality of Gods is as prominent in the Bible
as any other doctrine. It is all over the face of the Bible. It stands beyond
the power of controversy. A wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein.
Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many. I want to set it forth in a plain
and simple manner; but to us there is but one God -- that is pertaining to us;
and he is in all and through all. But if Joseph Smith says there are Gods many
and Lords many, they cry, "Away
with him! Crucify him! Crucify him!" Mankind verily say that the Scriptures
are with them. Search the Scriptures, for they testify of things that these apostates
would gravely pronounce blasphemy. Paul, if Joseph Smith is a blasphemer, you
are. I say there are Gods many and Lords many, but to us only one, and we are
to be in subjection to that one, and no man can limit the bounds or the eternal
existence of eternal time. Hath he beheld the eternal world, and is he authorized
to say that there is only one God? He makes himself a fool if he thinks or says
so, and there is and end of his career or progress in knowledge. He cannot obtain
all knowledge, for he has sealed up the gate to it. Page 475 Some say I do not
interpret the Scripture the same as they do. They say it means the heathen's gods.
Paul says there are Gods many and Lords many; and that makes a plurality of Gods,
in spite of the whims of all men. Without a revelation, I am no going to give
them the knowledge of the God of heaven. You know and I testify that Paul had
no allusion to the heathen gods. I have it from God, and get over it if you can.
I have a witness of the Holy Ghost, and a testimony that Paul had no allusion
to the heathen gods in the text. I will show from the Hebrew Bible that I am correct,
and the first word shows a plurality of Gods; and I want the apostates and learned
men to come here and prove to the contrary, if they can. An unlearned boy must
give you a little Hebrew. Berosheit baurau Eloheim ait aushamayeen vehau auraits,
rendered by King James' translators, "In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." I want to analyze the
word Berosheit. Rosh, the head; Sheit, a grammatical termination; the Baith was
not originally put there when the inspired man wrote it, but it has been since
added by an old Jew. Baurau signifies to bring forth; Eloheim is from the word
Eloi, God, in the singular number; and by adding the word heim, it renders it
Gods. It read first, "In
the beginning he head of the Gods brought forth the Gods," or, as other have
translated it, "The
head of the Gods called the Gods together." I want to show a little learning
as well as other fools. A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep, or
taste not the Pierian spring. There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And
drinking largely sobers us up again. All this confusion among professed translators
is for want of drinking another draught. The head God organized the heavens and
the earth. I defy all the world to refute me. In the beginning the heads of the
Gods organized the heavens and the earth. Now the learned priests and the people
rage, and the heathen imagine a vain thing. If we pursue the Hebrew text further,
it reads, "The
head one of the Gods said, Let us make a man in our own image," I once asked
a learned Jew, "If
the Hebrew language compels us to render all words ending in heim in the plural,
why not render the first Eloheim plural?" He replied, "That
is the rule with few exceptions; but in this case it would ruin the Bible."
He acknowledged I was right. I came here to investigate these things precisely
as I believe them. Hear and judge for yourselves; and if you go away satisfied,
well and good. Page 476 In the very beginning the Bible shows there is a plurality
of Gods beyond the power of refutation. It is a great subject I am dwelling on.
The word Eloheim ought to be in the plural all the way through -- Gods. The heads
of the Gods appointed one God for us; and when you take [that] view of the subject,
its sets one free to see all the beauty, holiness and perfection of the Gods.
All I want is to get the simple, naked truth, and the whole truth. Many men say
there is one God; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are only one God. I say
that is a strange God anyhow -- three in one, and one in three! It is a curious
organization. "Father,
I pray not for the world, but I pray for them which thou hast given me."
"Holy Father, keep through
Thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are."
All are to be crammed into one God, according to sectarianism. It would make the
biggest God in all the world. He would be a wonderfully big God -- he would be
a giant or a monster. I want to read the text to you myself -- "I
am agreed with the Father and the Father is agreed with me, and we are agreed
as one." The Greek shows that it should be agreed. "Father,
I pray for them which Thou hast given me out of the world, and not for those alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all
may be agreed, as Thou, Father, are with me, and I with Thee, that they also may
be agreed with us," and all come to dwell in unity, and in all the glory
and everlasting burnings of the Gods; and then we shall see as we are seen, and
be as our God and He as His Father. I want to reason a little on this subject.
I learned it by translating the papyrus which is now in my house. I learned a
testimony concerning Abraham, and he reasoned concerning the God of heaven.
"In order to do that,"
said he, "suppose
we have two facts: that supposes another fact may exist -- two men on the earth,
one wise than the other, would logically show that another who is wiser than the
wisest may exist. Intelligences exist one above another, so that there is no end
to them." If Abraham reasoned thus -- If Jesus Christ was the Son of God,
and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father, you may
suppose that He had a Father also. Where was there ever a son without a father?
And where was there ever a father without first being a son? Whenever did a tree
or anything spring into existence without a progenitor? And everything comes in
this way. Paul says that which is earthly is in the likeness of that which is
heavenly, Hence if Jesus had a Father, can we not believe that He had a Father
also? I despise the idea of being scared to death at such a doctrine, for the
Bible is full of it. Page 477 I want you to pay particular attention to what I
am saying. Jesus said that the Father wrought precisely in the same way as His
Father had done before Him. As the Father had done before? He laid down His life,
and took it up the same as His Father had done before. He did as He was sent,
to lay down His life and take it up again; and then was committed unto Him the
keys. I know it is good reasoning. I have reason to think that the Church is being
purged. I saw Satan fall from heaven, and the way they ran was a caution. All
these are wonders and marvels in our eyes in these last days. So long as men are
under the law of God, they have no fears -- they do not scare themselves. I want
to stick to my text, to show that when men open their lips against these truths
they do not injure me, but injure themselves. To the law and to the testimony,
for these principles are poured out all over the Scriptures. When things that
are of the greatest importance are passed over by the weak-minded men without
even a thought, I want to see truth in all its bearings and hug it to my bosom.
I believe all that God ever revealed, and I never hear of a man being damned for
believing too much; but they are damned for unbelief. They found fault with Jesus
Christ because He said He was the Son of God, and made Himself equal with God.
They say of me, like they did of the Apostles of old, that I must be put down.
What did Jesus say? "Is
it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods? If He called them Gods unto whom
the word of God came, and the Scriptures cannot be broken, say ye of Him whom
the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because
I said I am the Son of God?" It was through Him that they drank of the spiritual
rock. Of course He would take the honor to Himself. Jesus, if they were called
Gods unto whom the word of God came, why should it be thought blasphemy that I
should say I am the Son of God? Go and read the vision in the Book of Covenants.
There is clearly illustrated glory upon glory -- one glory of the sun, another
glory of the moon, and a glory of the stars; and as one star differeth from another
star in glory, even so do they of the telestial world differ in glory, and every
man who reigns in celestial glory is a God to his dominions. By the apostates
admitting the testimony of the Doctrine and Covenants they damn themselves. Paul,
what do you say? They impeached Paul and all went and left him. Page 478 Paul
had seven churches, and they drove him off from among them; and yet they cannot
do it by me. I rejoice in that. My testimony is good. Paul says,
"There is one glory of
the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one
star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the
dead." They who obtain a glorious resurrection from the dead, are exalted
far above principalities, powers, thrones, dominions and angels, and are expressly
declared to be heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, all having eternal
power. These Scriptures are a mixture of very strange doctrines to the Christian
world, who are blindly led by the blind. I will refer to another Scripture.
"Now," says God,
when He visited Moses in the bush, (Moses was a stammering sort of a boy like
me) God said, "Thou
shalt be a God unto the children of Israel." God said, "Thou
shalt be a God unto Aaron, and he shall be thy spokesman." I believe those
Gods that God reveals as Gods to be sons of God, and all can cry,
"Abba, Father!"
Sons of God who exalt themselves to be Gods, even from before the foundation of
the world, and are the only Gods I have a reverence for. John said he was a king.
"And from Jesus Christ,
who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince
of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God, and His Father;
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." Oh, Thou God who art
King of kings and Lord of lords, the sectarian world, by their actions, declare,
"We cannot believe Thee."
The old Catholic church traditions are worth more than all you have said. Here
is a principle of logic that most men have no more sense than to adopt. I will
illustrate it by an old apple tree. Here jumps off a branch and says, I am the
true tree, and you are corrupt. If the whole tree is corrupt, are not its branches
corrupt? If the Catholic religion is a false religion, how can any true religion
come out of it? If the Catholic church is bad, how can any good thing come out
of it? The character of the old churches have always been slandered by all apostates
since the world began. I testify again, as the Lord lives, God never will acknowledge
any traitors or apostates. Any man who will betray the Catholics will betray you;
and if he will betray me, he will betray you. All men are liars who say they are
of the true Church without the revelations of Jesus Christ and the Priesthood
of Melchizedek, which is after the order of the Son of God. It is in the order
of heavenly things that God should always send a new dispensation into the world
when men have apostatized from the truth and lost the priesthood, Page 479 but
when men come out and build upon other men's foundations, they do it on their
own responsibility, without authority from God; and when the floods come and the
winds blow, their foundations will be found to be sand, and their whole fabric
will crumble to dust. Did I build on any other man's foundation? I have got all
the truth which the Christian world possessed, and an independent revelation in
the bargain, and God will bear me off triumphant. I will drop this subject. I
wish I could speak for three or four hours; but it is not expedient on account
of the rain; I would still go on, and show you proof upon proofs; all the Bible
is equal in support of this doctrine, one part as another. (DHC 6:473-479, June
16, 1844.) Discuss
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The Pioneers went through great harship in their quest to build Zion
