--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Penrose, Charles W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 8 published: 1914-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Charles W. Penrose, "Whom do the Latter-day Saints Worship?," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 8 (June 1914): 705–710.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1708unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1708unse start_page: 705 end_page: 710 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1708unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Whom do the Latter-day Saints Worship? Improvement Era Vol. XVII JUNE, 1914 No. 8 Whom do the Latter-day Saints Worship? BY CHARLES W. PENROSE, OF THE FIRST PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH The saying of the Savior concerning the Samaritans of his day: "Ye worship ye know not what" (John 4:22), appHes to millions of people of various sects, heathen and Christian, at the present time. The attempts made by modern theologians to de- scribe Deity are echoes of similar efforts by Greek and other philosophers of olden times. To all of them God is an incompre- hensible immateriality. The Latter-day Saints may truthfully re- peat the associate assertion of Jesus Christ : "We know what we worship." (John 4:22.) Not that we claim to comprehend God in the fulness and per- fection of his being; but that he is measurably understandable now, and when we are made perfect and become like him, we shall "comprehend even God" and see him as he is (I John 3:2; Doc. and Cov. 88:49). The God whom we worship is our heavenly Father we are in his image and likeness, because we are his sons ; and daughters, on the eternal principle that every seed brings forth "after its own kind." The spirit of man is a substantial entity, a personal being, the offspring of Deity, the corporeal body conform- ing to the spirit form. (Doc. and Cov. 77:2 A.) Spirit is tangi- ble to spirit, as grosser element called matter is tangible to mat- ter. There is no such thing as immaterial substance (Doc. and Cov. 131 :7). A personal spirit has shape, extension, limits, a dis- tinct individuality, whether in or out of the body, and is in the likeness of his or her heavenly parents, as are the children of men in the image of their earthly progenitors. — God, then, is a personal Being, a perfect Spirit dwelling in a perfect body of immortal flesh and bones, quickened by spirit (Doc. and Cov. 130:22). Our Father in heaven was revealed and made manifest in the person of His Son Jesus Christ "For in him : dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). Thus Christ is God, "being the brightness of His glory and the express ; 706 IMPROVEMENT ERA image of His person." He was the "first-begotten" of the Father in the spirit, and the "only begotten" in the flesh. (Heb. 1, 2; Col. 1:15-19; Doc. and Cov. 93:9-14, 21, 23.) He was with the Father "in the beginning," and was the active creator or organizer of "the worlds," under the direction of the Father. He knew what to do and how to do it for, as he declared when in the flesh "The ; : Father loveth the Son and showeth him all things that Himself doeth" (John 5 :20). Being the first-born of the many sons he was to bring unto glory, as their Redeemer, by his experience, intelli- gence, association with the Father in the glorious works of count- less ages, he was qualified to represent the Father and to come to earth in the time predestined, to act as "God manifest in the flesh." When he had accomplished his work on earth and "ascended up where he was before," he had "all power in heaven and on earth," and was God in every respect, appearing and acting as "both the Father and the Son." We — worship God the Father first person in the Trinity in ; the name of the Son, Jesus Christ — second person in the Trinity — under the inspiration and guidance of the Holy Ghost third per- son in the Trinity, bearing witness of the Father and the Son. These constitute the Godhead, and are ONE. Not one person, but one in perfect unison of mind, spirit, purpose and action, as all the sons of God will be when exalted unto the perfection of "the gods." We worship that Divine Being who is "exalted above all that are called gods, either in heaven or on earth." He is the God of the Bible, both of the Old Testament and of the New the ; God whom Adam worshiped both before and after the fall the ; God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, of Moses, and of the prophets of Jesus the Christ, and of his apostles and disciples. ; He is our Father in heaven whom Jesus has taught us to worship, and whom he worshiped and obeyed. Each of the Divine beings in the Holy Trinity is separate and distinct from the others. The Father has a body of flesh and bones, the Son also, but the Holy Ghost is a '^personage of spirit" (Doc. and Cov. 130). In their personality neither of them can be in more than one place at one time, no matter how speedily or by what means he can move through illimitable space. But universally dififused throughout the immensity of space is an everywhere-present holy spirit that is not a personage, and by that essence God can be and is omnipresent and omniscient at will. That spirit of God is Divine light. It is the spirit of intelli- :" gence which "was not created or made, neither indeed can be it is the spirit of life and is manifested through organisms of all grades and varieties. By that spirit God created or organized all things, spiritual and temporal. It is the light of Christ and "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." It is "the in- spiration of God that giveth men understanding." By its opera- . o 2. O T (JQ n ^ ^ Cu^<^ '^ d. ft) H f^W ^-- .> H ^ & 3 "^ rl p >t3 3 G O O ^ O 3' 3 u) r-f- ii i-< — n CfQ ^H 1 «** '' A- ^; i r 3* Sa H 3-^ - a> -^ClS* tfl > to C r &5 fU C '^ ^ B^ u o o ^ "Jen 3 3 r- n" n en o -P H 1^ n> „ H "> <" q S^ X M m crq o H p w o" ° 5. M ':1\ i> ' l-^ ll w cr o) *< 5^ .-+> tt. O) Q- o 3 +. 3-r- -• lT> r p ?? 5f o w o O -t P o 3 ?r ! cr n> ft) fB p D 3 3 3 CU ft) CfQ in J — p3 p fj 3- Jr. OOP 3 o "^ crq ^3 i U.^ K p ~< oft> 3 ^o - ^ COo 3 3 003 1 n fC »< rt- -:. 3 i_,p a'L. 3 3 ^ crcucrq i-t -J i-f rt- P 3* y ^ tn fti 3 en »^ en P en O -1 en , 7 MM^i Tin-: SALT LAKIC TABERNACLE Is a world-famed structure, liaviiig an immense auditorium, elliptic in shape, and scatinj^; eight thousand. The building is 250 by 150 feet in area and 80 feet in height. The self-supporting wooden roof is a remarkable work of engineering, resting upon buttresses of red sand- stone that stands ten to twelve feet apart in the whole circumference of the building. The pillars support wooden arches ten feet in thick- ness, and spanning 150 feet. These arches are put together with wooden pins and are of a lattice-truss construction. There were no nails in Utah in the days when this building was erected, neither iron of any kind was used in the framework. The wonderful structure w^as erected from 1865 to 1867, and all the imported material used in its construction had to be hauled with ox teams from the Mis- souri river, since the railroad did not reach Utah until May, 1869. The roof now has a metallic covering which some years ago replaced the old wooden shingles. The original cost of this building was about $300,000, exclusive of the great organ which, until recently, was the largest in the world. The Tabernacle was planned and erected under the direction of Brigham Young who was a glazier and cabinet- maker by trade, schooled chiefly, however, by hardship and experi- ence. The building is used for conferences of the whole Church which are held in April and October of each year, the annual con- ference being held in April, and the semi-annual conference, in Oc- tober. It is also used for special Sunday services, for services of the Salt Lake City stake conferences on Sunday afternoons, for concerts by the great world-famed "Mormon" Tabernacle choir, and for con- certs and lectures by world-famed artists and lecturers. THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE (See frontispiece.) The temple is 186 feet long by 99 feet wide.The greatest height of this magnificent structure with its six imposing spires is 222 feet to the top of the figure mounting the eastern central spire. It was begun in 1853, less than six years after the arrival of the pioneers. The foundation walls are 16 feet wide and 18 feet deep, and above the ground the walls vary in thickness from nine to six feet. The great building was completed in 1893 and dedicated April 6, just forty years after it was begun. Its construction cost approximately four million dollars. Up to 1873, when the railroad was completed to the rock quarries the huge granite blocks of which t!ie temple is built were hauled from the Cottonwood granite quarries, some twenty miles to the southeast of the city, by ox teams. It frequently re- quired four days with four yoke of oxen to carry to the temple grounds a single stone. As with all the temples of the Saints, no visitors are admitted to this building. Temples are not designed as places of public assembly, but are devoted to sacred ordinances. Marriages, baptisms, and other sacred rites, including baptism for the dead, are here performed. The ground upon which the temple stands consists of a ten-acre square, surrounded by a stone and adobe wall 12 feet high and 3 feet thick. The grounds are beautifully parked. Resides the temple there are the Tabernacle, the Assembly Hall and the Bureau of Informa- tion. The gull monument, recently erected in front of the Assembly Hall, commemorates a remarkable event in the history of the pio- neers; and then there are also monuments of Joseph Smith, the prophet, and Hyrum Smith, his brother, with inscriptions relating to the founding of the Church, and remarkable revelations leading thereto. At the Bureau of Information approximately 200,000 visitors are entertained each year and much literature is distributed descriptive of Utah and the Latter-day Saints. WHOM DO THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS WORSHIP? 709 tions, of which there is great diversity, spiritual gifts are bestowed, and holy men of old received and spoke and wrote the word of God. It pervades all worlds and "proceedeth from the presence of God throughout the immensity of space," being in all things, giving light to all things, and the law and power of God by which all things are governed, and by which "He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before Him, and all things are round about Him, and He is above all things, and through all things, and in all things, and all things are by Him, and of Him, even God forever and ever." (John 1 :l-9; Job 32:8; I Cor. 12:4-11 Doc. ; and Gov. 88:7-13, 41; and 93:29.) Thus God can receive our prayers, know our thoughts, understand our desires and minister to our necessities. He has also at His command angels, and other divine intelligences, who operate in different spheres and worlds and ."onstellations, who are endowed with power and authority to speak and act for Him in the grand order of His spiritual kingdom, according to eternal principles and the developments and needs of His creatures and creations. We should worship and adore and render obedience to Him who is the Father of our spirits. (Heb. 12:9.) We are indebted to Him for our organized, conscious, intelligent personalities, who, in our "first estate," gave us the power of agency when He begat us in His own likeness. All elements are eternal, whether spiritual or gross material. But, as our bodies are organized entities be- gotten by our earthly fathers and composed of earthly yet eternal elements, so our spirits are organized entities begotten by or unto our Eternal Father, and composed of eternal spiritual elements. There was "no beginning" to their numbers or their substance. (See Doc. and Gov. 29:31; 76:24; 93:17; Book of Moses 3:5; 4:3; Book of Abraham 3:13.) Adam stands at the head of the human race on this planet, as the great patriarch of all the earth's families we should and will honor him as the Ancient of Days ; (Dan. 7:13), with whom we shall "have to do" in matters per- taining to earth. Adam in his pre-existence was Michael, the arch- angel, a mighty being in heaven and on earth. But we do not worship him. We worship the great Elohim whom Adam wor- shiped and will worship (Doc. and Gov. 107:53-56), and whom Jesus the Ghrist also worships, and to whom he will render up this earth and its inhabitants when redeemed, that the God of gods, the majestic and mightv One, our Eternal Father, who is above all,may indeed be "all in all." Jesus, the Christ, who was the Jehovah of the ancient He- brews, and who gave to ]\Toses the law called by his name, is some- times snoken of as "both th? Father and the Son." He is so named in the Book of Mormon. But that is explained in the same book bv the declaration that he is "the father of heaven and earth," being its actual creator under and with his Father and our Father, 710 i.mi'I«:()VI';mI':nt vma h\< God and our God. Mosiah 3:8; 111 Ncplii 15:5; I Cor. 15: ( 28.) was "in the beginning with God and was God," for all lie thirds were made by him and for him, and the Father gave to him the power to act in and use His holy name. On this earth Christ represents the Father, manifests the Father, .speaks as the l-'athcr, possesses "the fulness" of the Father, and calls his dis- ciples not his sons but his brethren. The. Holy Ghost, "a personage of spirit," is the being sent by the Savior after his departure from earth, to bear witness of both the Father and the Son, to dispense spiritual gifts, to reveal "the deep things of God," to comfort, enlighten and inspire the bap- tized believers in Christ, who receive from him "the gift of the — Holy Ghost" in their confirmation that is, the Holy Ghost as a gift a special endowment and continual guide, an "abiding wit- : ness" by "the anointing from above that teacheth all things" through the higher than ordinary operations of that universal holy snirit that pervades all things. He is with the true Church of Christ was present on that day of Pentecost when the disciples ; were endowed with power from on high, and on the occasion of similar manifestations in these latter days. By his aid we draw near to Christ the Son. and God the Father, and hold communion with the Highest. He is a separate and distinct individual from the Son, as the Son is from the Father, but the three personalities are One in Deity, and all act in perfect unity, through the agency of the universally-present, eternal spirit of light and truth and power. In the language of Paul "Though there be that are : called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father of ^yhom are all things, and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ, by ; whom are all things, and we bv him" (I Cor. 8:5, 6). It is God the Father whom we worship and adore in the name of Jesus Christ. His Son, under the influence of the Holy Ghost. Other worship is idolatry. The Being whom we worship is the embodiment and expres- sion of the eternal verities. He is the complete revelation of light, life, truth, faith, hone, love, law. justice, mercv. virtue, beauty, harmonv. power, authoritv. equity and energy. Eternal principles are perfectlv manifested in his personality. He is altogether ven- erable, lovable and adorable. Therefore, and because he is our Et°rml Father, we should worship and implicitly obey him in all things. In theological discussions among the Latter-day Saints much misunderstindino- would be avoided if notions derived from ob- scure passages of scripture or isolated expressions made by prom- inent speakers nnd writers were let alone, and the recognized standar^^s were taken as the proper written guide. Also if subjects upon wdiich there is no definite revelation were not argued or