Chapter XXVII. Book of Abraham

The Hosts of Heaven. Pre-existence. Election. Identity of Michael and Adam. Meaning and Object of the Fall. Consistency of the Christ Example. The Messianic Wave. Enoch. The Builders of Zion. The Office of Israel. Israel's Fall. The Star of Bethlehem moves Westward.

MESSIANIC WAVE ENOCH THE BUILDERS OF

ZION The OFFICE OF ISRAEL ISRAEL'S FALL

THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM MOVES WESTWARD.

In uncovering something of the vast structure of Mormon theology, we cannot do better than to first introduce the subject matter of the "Book of Abraham," that book being as closely identified with Joseph, as its inspired translator, as is the Book of Mormon.

In this book Abraham, speaking, says : " Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intellio-ences that were organized before the world was, and among these there were many of the noble and oreat ones ; and God saw these souls that they were o-ood, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said these I will make my rulers ; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were o-ood; and he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And there stood one among them that was

like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him, We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell ; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them ; and they who keep their first estate, shall be added upon ; and they who keep not their first estate, shall not have glory in the same kino-- dom with those who keep their first estate ; and they who keep their second estate, shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.

" And the Lord said, who shall I send ? And one answered like unto the Son of Man, here am I, send me. And another answered and said, here am I, send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first."

Thus, according to Joseph's finding, the genesis of the gods was before the genesis of man, and the hosts of heaven were numbered before the Lord — the great Father of all — ere the children of earth had a mortal record.

And thus, in the exalted vision of Mormon theology, have we a pre-existing domain, with God as the Father of all spirits ; and Jesus, or the Christ, is with the Father in his works of creation and redemption.

And Abraham is also with the Father, from before the foundation of the world. He is of the same order of spirits as Jesus. Christ is chief in the works of the Father, but there are many noble ones with him in the great brotherhood which bears his name. They are the church of the First Born.

To affirm that Christ is Saviour for the whole

race of Adam, — the " Great High Priest of our profession,"— the Word by which all things were created, and yet say that his ministry and brotherhood commenced only eighteen hundred years ago, is sheerly playing with divine conceptions. True, that is the view of modern theologians, but it is cramped and narrow nevertheless. The heathen religions, and Grecian mythology, were far richer in this regard than is Christian theology as expounded by the average divine.

But the revelations of Joseph discover to us the economy of the heavens in an everlasting sweep, and make consistent the idea of an everlasting gospel.

From the Book of Abraham may be seen that the gods — not one, but many — created the heavens and the earth, and that their works are endless.

"Behold I lay in Zion a chief corner-stone," has thus given to it a far more exalted masonic meaning than that given it by Christian theologians, or even by that worthy Masonic order, which, down through the ages, has, better than churches, preserved among men the divine mysteries.

On earth the chief corner-stone was rejected, but not so in heaven : " And the Lord said, I will send the first."

And this grand celestial view is also brought home to the interest of the race in the person of Abraham, the father of the faithful: "And he said, these will I make my rulers ; * * and he said unto me, Abraham, thou art one of them, thou wast chosen before thou wast born."

Here, then, have we not only the idea of pre-existence

, but the very spirit and philosophy of the true doctrine of election.

" Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, them he also justified ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified."

He chose Adam to be the Patriarch of the whole human family. He chose Seth, Enoch, Noah, and Melchesidek. He chose Abraham to be the Father of the Faithful, Isaac to be the elect son, Jacob to be the Patriarch of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Moses to be the Leader of Israel, David to be a king, from whom Messiah was to come. He chose Jesus to come in the " meridian of time," and be the sacrifice, but in the last days tp come again as the King of Glory ; with him his apostles, and, in the consummation, all his holy angels. And finally he has chosen Joseph Smith to prepare the way for that consummation.

The scientist will see as much truth in the declaration of the pre-existence of universal man as in the pre-existence of Christ. Indeed, the universal declaration gives force and consistency to the special assertion. Philosophic exactness requires us to say, at least, that if Jesus had a pre-existence with the Father, then has all mankind a pre-existing record.

What a lifting up of the race is this ! And yet it doth not detract one jot or tittle from the glory and dignity of Christ. By this revealing of the Mormon Prophet the view of God and his children has been truly exalted, and the infinite sweep of existence has been laid bare beyond the reach of the most poetic conception.

Standing on Mar's Hill, declaring unto the Athenians

the Unknown God, Paul thus reasons : " As certain also of your poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch, then, as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."

But Jesus most affirmed the Fatherhood of God ; and the relationship which existed between himself and his Father he affirmed of his disciples also :

" And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

" I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world ; thine they were, and thou gavest them me ; and they have kept thy word. * * *

" I pray for them : I pray not for the world ; but for them which thou hast given me ; for they are thine. * * *

" They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

In plain Mormon wording, Jesus had come down from his exalted estate, sent by the Father, and his disciples also came down to work out, with him, the redemption of the world. He the master, they the apostles of his ministry to all nations.

And that ministry is not only of the days of his flesh, but from before the foundation of the world to the end of time. It is the ministry of ages in his spirit estate, the ministry of his days in the flesh, the ministry of his resurrection. And the brotherhood of which he is chief has been with him, is with him,

and will be with him, from the beginning to the end of his divine work.

As revealed to Joseph it is written in the Books of the Ancients that Michael, the great Archangel, was the first of the sons of God who came down to earth.

This was Adam. On earth, man; in the home of his spirit, an archangel. He was one of the spirits of whom Abraham has spoken, in whose midst the Father stood and said, " These will I make my rulers ! "

Adam came down to be the father of a world ; hence the command to him and his consort, " Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it."

And by the Prophet's] finding a new significance is given' to " the fall " of Adam, in that it was to accomplish the great purposes of the Father in bringing forth a race of mortals. Lehi, the Patriarch of the Book of Mormon, in explaining this mystery to his sons, says :

" And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed, he would not have fallen ; but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the state in which they were after they were created ; and they must have remained forever, and had no end. And they would have had no children ; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence ; having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no

o-ood, for they knew no sin. But, behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. And Adam fell that men might be ; and men are that they might have joy."

This is the clearest exposition of the object of "the fall," on record.

Then commenced the preaching of the gospel of redemption through Christ. This was by the administration of angels and the Holy Ghost.

Witness the word of the Lord to Moses, as revealed by Joseph: "And Adam called upon the name of the Lord, and Eve also, his wife, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way towards the garden of Eden, speaking unto them, and they saw him not, for they were shut out from his presence. And he gave unto them commandment, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.

" And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying, why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him, I know not, save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying, this thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son for evermore.

"And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which bore record of the Father, and the Son, saying, I am Jesus Christ from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou

mayest be redeemed ; and all mankind, even as many as will.

" And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth : Blessed be the name of God for my transgression, for in this life I shall have joy, and again in my flesh I shall see God.

" And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying, were it not for our transgression we should never have had seed, and should never have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.

" And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God ; and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters."

Strange as this revelation of Christ at the beginning of the world may seem to theologians educated in the belief that his revelation began with the days of his flesh, there is in it a broad and forceful consistency. Far stranger would it have been if he, being with the Father from before the foundation of the world, for thousands of years gave no sign of his mission and destiny.

Verily the coming of Christ is the "glad tidings" of great joy to "all mankind," — as much to the ancients as to us.

Adam, our great mortal Father, was the first who heard those glad tidings. And all of it he had known before; but, in the altered circumstance and method of condition incident to his entabernacling in flesh, the memory of it had been obliterated.

Continuing from the Book of Enoch, as revealed to Joseph : " And it came to pass when the Lord

had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water: and thus was he baptized. And the spirit of God descended upon him ; and thus was he born of the spirit, and he became quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying, Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and for ever. And thou art after the order of Him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity. Behold thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen."

It will be observed that here we have one of the very first revelations that came from heaven to earth, and that it was given personally by the Father to Adam, his son.

Let no one condemn this as a plagiarism from the parallel incident in Judea. There is in it an infinitely broader and deeper significance. Mark that parallel :

"Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of him.

" But John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

" And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

" And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water : and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him :

" And lo a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

In the light of Joseph's exposition this has a new, yet an eternal, meaning: Jesus was himself obeying the " Everlasting Gospel." Like as Solomon would observe the order of his own temple, so Jesus now observed the order of the eternal plan of which he was the master teacher. Therefore he said :

" Suffer it to be so now : for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness."

And what a grand significance has Joseph brought to view in giving such an example at the beginning of the world.

'Tis the selfsame divine method and sign made manifest in the two illustrious beings, who are become as two Adams, by having taken on the Adamic, or fleshy, condition.

Paul is very suggestive here :

" For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. * * *

"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul ; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." * * *

And the closing of Adam's mortal life, as revealed through Joseph, is also in point :

"Three years previous to the death of Adam [vide Book of Enoch] he called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah,

who were all high priests, with the residue of his posterity who were righteous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-ahman, and there bestowed upon them his last blessing.

"And the Lord appeared unto them and they rose up and blessed Adam, and called him Michael, the Prince, the Archangel.

" And the Lord administered comfort unto Adam, and said unto him, I have set thee to be at the head — a multitude of nations shall come of thee, and thou art a prince over them forever.

"And Adam stood up in the midst of the congregation, and notwithstanding he was bowed down with age, being full of the Holy Ghost, predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation."

Thus, in his perfect system, Joseph has revealed the Messiah in the beginning; first in the aspect of a Redeemer, next as the coming Kino- of Zion and Lord of Righteousness. And thus is he made to be the hope of the world, even in the morning of man.

In after ages it was written : " God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten [of the flesh] Son, that whosoever believed on him miorht not perish, but have everlasting life."

Thus at the bemnninQf: thus before the world was : thus " the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world."

Thus was the world begun in and through the infinite love of the Father. Thus, so to speak, have we been wafted earthward on the Messianic wave of heaven ; and notwithstanding we have sailed far out from the Father's presence, on the ocean of time

and temptation, that Messianic wave will gather us back to his bosom when earth shall have performed the cycle of her probation.

After Adam the greatest advocate of righteousness, in the first dispensation of the world, was Enoch.

And "Enoch," says Joseph, "was twenty-five years old when he was ordained under the hand of Adam, and he was sixty-five when Adam blessed him."

Enoch not only taught his people the gospel of the coming Messiah, but he was himself especially endowed and anointed with the Messianic Spirit. Indeed, amone all the ancients to the coming- of Christ, Enoch and Melchisedek seem most to have represented that spirit and mission among men.

Therefore the Lord gave unto Enoch the power to build up Zion.

Now the building up of Zion is Messiah's own work, for is it not written, " When the Lord shall build up Zion he shall appear in his glory." They only can build up Zion who are most like their Christ.

"And he (Enoch)," says Joseph, "saw the Lord and walked with him, and was before his face continually; and he walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years, making him four hundred and thirty years old when he was translated."

By revelation through Joseph the history of the patriarchal ages is thus continued :

"And it came to pass that Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord and gave heed, and they were called the Sons of God. * *• *

"And the Lord ordained Noah after His order, and commanded him that he should go forth and declare his gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch."

But in process of time the sons of Noah departed from the way of the Lord, and took unto themselves wives from the " daughters of men."

Then came the flood.

But the sacred theme is best developed in the history of the Patriarchs themselves.

Instance the case of Abraham at the time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah :

" And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do;

" Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

" For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment ; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."

This is certainly an indication of the election and predestination of certain spirits whom God "foreknew," with a very clear intimation that Abraham would teach his children the divine mysteries, of which that concerning the Christ was chief. At least the wondrous subject was communicated to such of his descendants as Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.

And thus was the knowledge of Messiah handed down among the Patriarchs and Prophets.

Moreover, what was the offering up of Isaac but a type of the offering up of Christ? Abraham understood it ; therefore was he willing to obey the awful sign of his order.

But Jehovah, though he tried Abraham, only intended it as the sign of the sacrifice, and the type of the Christ.

It was not till then that the covenant was sealed with the oath of God.

And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time,

*l And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,

"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand upon the sea shore. * * And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed ; because thou hast obeyed my voice."

In a former chapter was given a view of the rise of Israel's nationality ; but there is a subject in the chosen people even more important to the race than the rise of Israel's national glory.

The Lord made his people Israel a link between the heavens and the earth. In them was communication opened with the Father ; and at the period when Israel was acceptable in his sight, the communication was so broadly popular as to be, in a sense, national.

It was this fact that made Israel a blessing to the

race. He was the Oracle of God, through his prophets, — the word of God to the world, — the gift of God to the nations.

The genius of Israel was peculiar. There has been none like it in degree and kind.

Jacob brought forth a race of prophets. So prolific was he in this kind of offspring that when Elijah bemoaned the fall of his people, saying :

" For the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left;"

The Lord answered :

*' Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth that hath not kissed him."

And undoubtedly these still held communication with heaven, for it was that which made them to be Jehovah's peculiar people.

The ministration of angels, when Israel was in his divine moods, was also as an every-day circumstance.

True, the Chaldeans and other ancients dealt in magic, — were astrologers and soothsayers, and workers of miracles, by virtue of the genius that dominated them ; but Israel held communion with Jehovah and his holy angels. Through Israel was the Lord manifested to the nations. In Israel was he preparing to establish the kingdom of his Messiah.

But in course of time Israel said, " Give us a king to judge us."

" And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee ; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."

Messiah was Israel's true king, and he, by this communion of Israel with heaven, had actually reigned over them, though not yet come.

But after Saul, the divine leniency manifested itself in the acceptance of David, both as king and as the one through whom Messiah was to come into the world.

Yet even the house of David fell and betrayed Israel into the worship of other gods. Then came the pronouncement of Jehovah's final will to Zedekiah, king of Jerusalem :

" And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end.

" Thus saith the Lord God ; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown : this shall not be the same : exalt him that is low and abase him that is hia-h.

" I will overturn, overturn, overturn it : and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is ; and I will give it him."

&j

Until then Israel shall have no more a king! Thus went the fiat of Jehovah forth ! And the angels of empires heard the word of God.

And yet a greater fall happened to Israel. His communication with the heavens was cut off; for the chosen people departed from the Lord.

For four hundred years thereafter Israel was without prophets. His communication was cut off from the heavens. He was fallen indeed. No longer had he a mission to the nations. This was apostacy. And dire the consequence.

Then came Jesus : " unto his own, and his own received him not.

" But as many as did receive him to them gave he power to become the sons of God."

With his coming came the reopening of communion with heaven. And this brought his martyrdom. And significant is the fact that the same, in this age, brought martyrdom to Joseph.

But the Messianic wave sweeps onward. Westward gleams the star of empire and of civilization. Westward moves the Lord of Hosts, in the van of the world's enlightenment. Westward, softening barbaric Europe with his benignant influence, marches the Prince of Peace. On to America, the land of promise, there to consummate his second advent, there to reign in power and matchless glory!