Galileo and Joseph Smith Compared

GALILEO AND JOSEPH SMITH COMPARED. BY J. X. ALLEN, M. D.

A telescope is an optical instrument for enlarging the image of a distant object on the retina of the eye; or, if the object be a point of light, for increasing its brilliancy. It consists essentially

of two parts, an object glass or mirror for forming an image of the object, and an ocular or eyepiece for viewing such object. By the telescope, distant objects hitherto unknown are brought into view, and objects hitherto but dimly recognized are magnified —seen more plainly and familiarized. The telescope is a means of revelation, whereby new facts are brought to light, previous errors and misconceptions are corrected, and the minds of men are much enlightened. In the year 1609, Galileo made a telescope which n-agnified

thirty diameters, by the use of which he was enabled to view the moons of Jupiter, thereby confirming the Copernican theory. As was to be expected, the few who were hungering and thirsting after knowledge gladly received the new revelation and profited thereby, but the great majority, led by the clergy, objected most vigorously to the innovation, which upset so many pet theories. In the year 1820, Joseph Smith discovered a sacred telescope by which he could penetrate more deeply into the spiritual world; namely, inspiration and revelation. Revelation had been excluded organizations. The for many centuries, from the faith of Christian churcheswere satisfied with dogmas which governed their conduct, communication and loudly proclaimed that God had forever cut off human family: God had left them to themselves and to with the their conceits and follies. What the telescope is in the physical

world, revelation is in the spiritual world. Revelation is the "Mor-

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mon" telescope. It reveals new truths. It re-reveals old and forgotten truths. It corrects error in spite of its hoary age or high authority; but it never destroys, denies, nor ever casts suspicion upon any of God's sacred truths. And herein lies the

parallel between the physical and the ' 'Mormon" telescope. One gathers and concentrates the light of physical objects upon the retina of the physical eye. It is a means whereby vision is enlarged, knowledge multiplied, and intelligence wonderfully increased in the human family, by which means men are brought nearer to their Maker. Revelation increases the spiritual vision. It illuminates the souls of men. It collects the rays of God's truths, and concentrates them upon the mind, and makes plain that which before was mystery. By means of the "Mormon" telescope, the Prophet was enabled to gaze into the realm of light; "How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it was not lawful for a man to utter." (II Cor. 12! 4.) It was true before the invention of the telescope that there was a sun, and that it was the life and light of the world. The telescope did not seek to destroy this fact. It did not take away any knowledge which the world possessed with regard to the sun: it confirmed known truths. Its business was to penetrate more deeply into the mysteries of the physical universe. By means of the telescope, spots were discovered on the face of the sun, and by means of said spots it was discovered that the sun revolved on its axis. A fact which always existed, but was neither known nor suspected by the philosophers previous to the invention of the telescope. So it is with "Mormonism." That there is and always was a Supreme Ruler of the Universe is and was a fact well grounded in the minds of the human family. This fact was demonstrated to the Prophet Joseph Smith by the bodily appearance of both Father and Son to the boy prophet. The known truth that there is and was a God was not denied nor suspicioned, but it was confirmed and demonstrated. But, as in the case of the telescope, while confirming a known truth, it corrected error by revealing anew a truth — although long denied—which was revealed to Adam in the garden of Eden, and also to Moses on the mountain. The God of

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heaven has a physical body. He appeared in the form of a man. Man is made in the image of his Creator — sublime truth. The spiritual telescope has extended man's spiritual knowledge. God has reasserted himself, and the old error: "God has neither body, parts nor passions, nor any properties common with matter," has been corrected, and the world blessed by the "Mormon" telescope's collecting and concentrating more light upon the Author of our being. The moon: the telescope did not deny nor cast suspicion upon the known facts concerning the moon. All that ever was true about the moon is just as true today as it ever was. The telescope, while confirming all known truths about our queen of night, revealed more facts: the mountains on its the many extinct surface, volcanoes, the dried-up sea beds, and many other things too numerous to mention here. The "Mormon" telescope, while confirming accepted truths about the future abode oi our spirits, has corrected many errors respecting the future abode and' conditions of the souls of men. For instance, the universal belief of Christendom, in the year 1830, when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints was organized, was that there were but two places and conditions that the spirit of man could hope for — one, eternal damnation in a lake of burning brimstone, where the spirit could suffer most acutely, but could not die, but must remain in this inexpressible — torment, millions and billions of years in fact, a never-ending torment in hell; the other place was the extreme opposite of the one described — all joy, happiness, and never-ending glory. The "Mormon" telescope, while contradicting no truth, has re-discovered some very precious old truths. For instance: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14: 2.) Again: "The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matt. 16: 27.)"Then came the first, saying, Also: Lord, thv pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities." (Luke 19:16-19.)

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"And then shall he reward every man according to his works." These scriptures seem to be about as plain as language can be made upon this subject. But through time and superstition, the thoughts had become blurred, indistinct, and inconceivable, until the "Mor- — — mon" telescope revelation was turned upon them, then they became clear, distinct and altogether palpable. Before 1830, the Christian world drew one straight line of demarkation, and all who were found on the underside of this line,whether little or great sinners, were doomed to eternal damnation; and all who happened to be above said line were saved and crowned in the presence of God. No reward according to the life led and the work performed: either all saint or all sinner devil or angel —slave or monarch; in a word, no justice. "One star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." (I Cor. 15: 41, 42.) It is very plainly to be seen by the above quotation that the Apostle Paul had no thought that there would be no discrimination made in the distribution of rewards when the final reckoning shall come. Again: ' 'For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." (II Cor. 4: 17.) "Exceeding weight of glory." Exceeding whose glory? The thought implied is that those who suffer most for Christ willreap the greatest reward. Another parallel! The discoveries of Galileo excited the hatred of the leading clergy of his day to such a degree that they actively persecuted him. He was cited to appear in Rome before the Holy Office. He made a written statement in brief, of his discoveries: "The earth has a diurnal motion." "The sun is immovable in the centre of the world." While the second proposition is true as far as regards our solar system, it has been proved to be not critically true. The sun has a motion through space of about 154 millions of miles annually (Sir John Herschel). Although it has, since Sir John's statement, been decided that the motion of the great luminary is about three times as swift as it was formerly supposed to be. The Holy Office characterized the two propositions: "The sun is immovable in the centre of the world, and the earth has a di. urnal motion," the first as "absurd in philosophy, and formally

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heretical, because expressly contrary to scripture," and the second as "open to the same censure in philosophy, and at least, erroneous as to faith." Two days later, Galileo was, by command of Pope Paul, the fifth, to appear at. the palace of one of the cardinals and there he was officially admonished not thenceforward to "Hold, teach, nor defend the sinful doctrine." He promised to obey the injunction. But afterward he seemed to have forgotten that he had ever made such a promise. He had previously invited both philosophers and clergy to visit and. look through his telescope, and behold for themselves the wonders of the heavens to see the circling moons of Jupiter, meandering around their primary. But no; they declined, lest seeing they should be convinced. Galileo finally died a prisoner.

The Prophet Joseph Smith, after bringing forth the Book of Mormon, was the object of such bitter hatred that life became almost a burden. The clergy were not satisfied with hating him, but they appealed to the mob — the lowest device and- the lowest characters, to make life as uncomfortable for him as it was possible to be made. And because a greater prophet than Galileo, they were not satisfied with his imprisonment, but cowardly murdered him in cold blood, an innocent and defenseless prisoner. There is one expedient that a baffled opponent can always have recourse to: If you cannot refute an argument, you can always abuse the author. Joseph invited the clergy to investigate his doctrine, but, as in the case of Galileo, they feared to investigate lest they should be convinced. They chose the vulgar alternative — they ridiculed him. They raised mobs to annoy and finally massacre him, as the Jews did with the Savior of the world. There is a parallel existing between the telescope and revelation that I have not seen mentioned in any writings; namely, the difficulty in ascertaining the precise distance of objects having no parallax. A new star is discovered whose parallax is almost nil. It

is almost impossible to get complete accuracy of results in trigonom-

etry, where the given angle is very minute, and in many observations in telescopy, no perceptible change is obtainable. Therefore, the distance of the discovered object from the observer is a matter of speculation. In revelation we meet with the same uncertainty as to distance, in time of events foretold by the prophets.

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For instance, the apostle Paul, in writing on the second coming of our Lord makes use of these words: "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." (I Thessalonians, 4: 17.) It is evident from this statement, that the second coming of Christ appeared to the apostle to be much nearer than it really was. That the early Christians understood this,' and other scriptural passages, in a literal sense, is evident from Gibbon, chap, xi: "It was universally believed that the end of the world, and the Kingdom of Heaven were at hand." There is one way in which this mental mirage can be accounted for; namely, large objects and great events appear nearer than they actually are. Strangers coming to Salt Lake City, from the East, will imagine that they can take a walk to the West Mountain and back in a few hours. Strangers coming to Ogden, frequently imagine that they can take a run to the top of the mountains, on the east, in two or three hours, while they are waiting for their train, but in reality such a task would be a very good day's work. The prophet, in an ecstasy of spiritual exaltation, beholds a panorama of events so clearly that he fails

to appreciate the distance in time of their fulfilment: the inspirational impression is correct, but the interpretation is hazy. Although Galileo died a prisoner and in disgrace, the discoveries which he made, and the doctrines which he advocated, were subsequently accepted by the world at large. One would naturally have supposed that the circumnavigation of the globe, in the early part of the previous century, would have satisfied the philosophers that a flat earth with its four corners was a mistake; but no; men cleave tenaciously to long established errors. A flat ' earth could not be expected to ' 'have a diurnal motion. ' But, "truth is mighty and will prevail" was verified in this case, as in many other cases, and the statements of the grand old man and philosopher have been verified and justified. In the early part of the nineteenth century it was a universally accepted doctrine, among Christians, that life was commenced at the birth of a child, some believing that it was in the child a short time prior to its entrance into the outer world. Absurd as it may seem, learned men believed that a thing co::ld have one end and not necessarily two. The Prophet Joseph declared that man had

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a previous existence. Mohammed had declared "'That which has a beginning must have an end." Ancient philosophers were unable to comprehend how men could reasonably expect a future life, if

we had not had a previous one. That which was a mystery to the philosophers was easily understood by the clergy and their ignorant followers. In the sixth book of the AUneid, where the warrior is supposed to pass into the Ian d of shades, ^Eneas beholds a vast number of spirits. He asks his father who and what are those many beings which he sees moving about? The father's answer clearly indicates the belief of the wise men of those times:

"These are the Italian names, which fate will join with ours, and graft upon the Trojan line."

Reflecting minds of today fail to see how there can possibly be a future existence, unless there has been a past life; and also,

how our future life can be influenced by our present, unless our present is in some way dependent upon our previous existence. Marriage in the last century was regarded as being for time

alone, while the prophet of the last days taught that it is for time and eternity. Adam and Eve were joined together while they were immortal beings before the fall. Therefore, being immortal, they being married, it certainly does look as if other immortal beings may also dwell in wedlock. This idea is meeting with much favor with many writers; even preachers will frequently make the remark at funerals: "He or she has gone to join his or her partner.'" In a word, "Mormonism" is being accepted by the world more rapidly since the martyrdom of the prophet, than was the doctrines of Galileo, after his death. As a matter of course, the world does net acknowledge that it is being converted, but it is, just the same, and the truth is already gaining the upper hand. In the year 1830, it was the custom for every preacher to stir up hell fire, and shake sinners over the boiling caldron, the object being to work upon their fears and frighten the sinners into seeking the penitent bench. The prophet declared against this mode of bringing men to repentance. He sought to convince men by reason, and by por-