Reed Smoot "God in Embryo"
He was quite an influential figure in the early twentieth century church. Repurposed below is his talk from the October 1933 General Conference, about how we are Gods literal Children.
Elder Reed Smoot
Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles
I feel grateful to my Heavenly Father for the privilege of attending this remarkable conference. Never in the history of the world was the plan of God so necessary as it is today to solve the horrible conditions the world finds itself in. What the world needs today is more of the Spirit of the living God.
"I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation."
The Loftiest Ambition
The loftiest ambition of any person is not to receive the plaudits of the world but to be honest, honorable and patriotic in every act of life. A truly religious man cannot help but become a better citizen, no matter in what country he may reside. "In faith, nothing wavering," is and has been a fundamental principle of our Heavenly Father's Church in every dispensation of the world's history.
The Prophet's Educational Ideals
Joseph Smith was the author of such sayings as these:
"The glory of God is intelligence."
"It is impossible to be saved in ignorance."
"Seek learning even by study and also by faith."
"Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.
"And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."
The Prophet was true to his principles. He established schools and championed the cause of education. A "Mormon" writer has said: "His educational ideals passed over the threshold of time and strode down the halls of eternity. With a full appreciation of the knowledge that makes men and women capable and skillful in this life, he prized and taught others to prize, above all, the knowledge that maketh wise unto salvation. How to make a living here — how to solve life's everyday problems, was of course important; but how to grapple successfully with the mightier problems of the great hereafter, how to store up treasures in heaven and lay hold upon eternal life, was far more consequential. Education meant to him the leading out of all the latent potential powers of the individual, the training to perfection of every divine attribute in man, as the child of God and as a god himself, in embryo. He stood for the full and complete development of the soul, body and spirit combined — mental, physical, moral, and spiritual education— the education contemplated and inculcated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Reasonable and Soul-Satisfying
In my intercourse with the world, I have had ample opportunity to come in contact with other religious systems and to compare them with my own. If "Mormonism" is my preference over all, it is because it appeals to me as the most reasonable of all, the most soul-satisfying religion that I have encountered anywhere.
Man Literally a Child of God
It teaches that man is literally the child of God, fashioned in His image, endowed with divine attributes, and capable, by education and development, of becoming like unto that glorious Being, in whose image or likeness all men are created.
Earth to be Crystalized
It teaches that this earth, which is but one of millions like it formed for similar purposes, was made not out of nothing, as some theologians assert, but out of the eternal elements, spirit and matter, and that after it has filled the measure of its creation as a temporary abode, a place of probation for man, it will be converted into a celestial sphere, that the righteous may inherit it forever. Christ's millennial reign is to sanctify the earth and prepare it for celestial glory.
God's Kingdom
"Mormonism" teaches that the glorified planets are God's kingdoms, and that to each kingdom a law is given. Whosoever inherits any one of these kingdoms — celestial, terrestrial or telestial — must abide the law pertaining to that kingdom; all heavenly gifts, whether spiritual or temporal, being predicated upon the principle of obedience.
Rewarded according to their works
All men are to be rewarded according to their works, as shown to John the Revelator in his great vision on Patmos. They who inherit celestial glory, the highest heavenly condition, which is comparable to the light of the sun, are they who receive the Gospel in this life; also those who would receive it if the opportunity were offered. They can believe and repent in the spirit world and receive baptism by proxy in temples erected on earth for that purpose. These are the valiant who obey Christ in all things.
The inheritors of terrestrial glory are they who yield a partial, but not a full obedience to the divine commands. They receive not the Gospel here but afterwards receive it, and their glory is likened unto that of the moon. Telestial glory is for those who are cast down to hell, are there purged of their sins, and after paying their debt to Eternal Justice, are released from prison to receive that for which they are fitted and prepared. They are as the twinkling stars, and are servants of. the Most High, "but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end."
All men will be saved except the sons of perdition, who have had every opportunity not only for salvation but for exaltation to the highest glory; and then have denied, trampled upon and thrown it all away. These are the only ones who cannot be saved in some degree of glory; and the reason why they are lost is because they have sinned away the power of repentance, upon which all salvation is predicated.
Loyalty to County
"Mormonism" 'was made possible, humanly speaking, by the establishment of the government of the United States, whose constitutional guarantee of religious liberty paved the way for the coming forth of this "marvelous work and wonder."
The Latter-day Saints believe that they must be loyal to their country, honoring its laws, upholding its institutions, its constituted authorities, and doing all things that American citizens ought to do. They are taught that the Constitution of the United States was inspired of God and framed by wise men whom the Almighty raised up for this very purpose, and that it "should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh," so that every man may act according to the moral agency which God has given him, that he "may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment."
Believing this, they cannot be otherwise than loyal. They do not blame the government of the United States for their past persecutions at the hands of lawless mobs. They realize that such things were not because of the Constitution and the Government, but in spite of them; and they stand ready at all times to honor the laws of this nation and to defend it against foes without or within.
"In faith, nothing wavering," has been a fundamental principle of all God's servants from the beginning of time.
A Test of Faith
An opening incident in the lesson of faith to which I wish to call your attention today is an occurrence of a long time ago, as human history runs. But its lesson comes to this very hour in the crisis we now are facing. The hosts of Israel who had been held in Egyptian bondage had been led from the land of their detention. On their way to the new land they had met discouragements, defeats and victories. In it all, their great leader had pressed them forward to learn, through many miraculous displays of divine power which came to them in the vicissitudes of their journeying in the Arabian deserts, that God lived — the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were learning, too, that as descendants of those great patriarchs theirs was a chosen race for a great destiny. Among other things, they were to be a blessing to all the families of the earth.
As a starting point in their destiny from this time, they were to begin a national existence in "the promised land" — the land which the "Lord thy God giveth thee." Of those who had been led out of Egypt forty years earlier, only two remained alive, Joshua and Caleb. All the others had found graves in the desert. Yet Israel had become a "great and a mighty people." The children who had been born in the wilderness were reared in their varying ages under the leadership of the mighty Prophet Moses. The adult body of those children included a considerable force of able-bodied fighting men. But now their great leader, who had brought them to the crisis of actual entrance upon the promised land, had passed from their midst. It was a test of their faith in God, individually as well as collectively. The leadership had been taken over by Joshua, whose confidence in the mission of their departed prophet was unshaken. Testing them in their faith, as a body and as individual members thereof, came the incident to which I have made reference.
A Vital and Fundamental Command
It was then and there that the Lord gave to Joshua this vital and fundamental command, as vital and fundamental to those in Israel today who hold the Priesthood as it was to the leader Joshua on the borders of the promised land nearly thirty-four centuries ago:
"Only be thou strong, and very courageous; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." (Joshua 1 :7, 8)
Israel moved forward to success. The basic foundation of acceptance and of conformity with the admonition thus given was faith in God.
A Redeemer Promised
Only a few years earlier it had been declared (Numbers 24:17): "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel."
The great Prophet Isaiah later explained (Isaiah 59:20): "The Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord."
This was to Israel the promised and hoped for Christ, who so firmly declared this basic principle of faith in the living God (John 14:1) : "Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me."
Principle of Faith Stressed by Christ
Through all his ministry, Jesus stressed this principle of faith. When the afflicted woman had but "touched the hem of his garment" in her desire to be healed, he said (Matt. 9:22) : "Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith hath made thee whole." And to his disciples he said for occasions when they came to the necessity of performing some important work (Matt. 17 :20) : "Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove."
In the observance and exercise of the principle of faith, nothing that was proper to be accomplished would be impossible to them. This same teaching of the great importance of faith goes all through the record in the New Testament.
On the Western Continent
Not only in the Old World was the active exercise of faith in God impressed upon the people. Here on the western continent, among dwellers on this land before the opening of the Christian era, there comes in the sacred record these words of impressive testimony (2 Nephi 25 :26-29) :
"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.
"And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him, with all your might, mind and strength, and your whole soul ; and if ye do this ye shall in no wise be cast out."
In the further record of Christ's visit to people on this continent after his resurrection, there is abundant illustration of the surpassing power of faith in God, as this was exercised in accord with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a faith shown by our works that are in harmony with the laws of God as these are set forth in his revealed word. It is a living, effective, courageous faith. It is a whole-hearted recognition of the great truth declared by the Apostle John in his gospel as recorded in the New Testament (John 3 :16, 17):
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his1 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
In This Dispensation
In this later age, when the "falling away" of the early Christian Church foretold by the Apostle Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:3) had reached a culmination to the approaching "hour of God's judgment" (Rev. 14:7), the young man Joseph Smith, then under fifteen years of age, was impressed by the Spirit of the Lord to call upon God for guidance under the disturbing circumstances of his day. His reading of the Bible included the general epistle of the Apostle James. It advised him to "ask of God" (James 1:5). He considered carefully the admonition in the sixth verse of the first chapter, "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering;" and in the seventh verse that the man who wavered in his faith would not receive the desired blessing. Joseph asked in unwavering faith and received the great revelation from God so necessary for this dispensation. Divine authority was restored to earth, and the Church of Jesus Christ again came into existence, with all its gifts and powers. That organization is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in which we claim membership.
"In faith, nothing wavering"
Now, I ask for myself, as I ask for the Saints, are we ready to seek the Lord, each and every one of us, "in faith, nothing wavering?" Our faith, to be unwavering, also must be shown by our actions as well as by our words. Our human opinions and ambitions must not be our chief desire. We need to be wholly willing, when we ask the Lord in faith for wisdom, to receive direct that which the Lord is willing to give. This may be a difficult thing to do ; but doing it is the living, unwavering faith recognized in the Gospel of Christ as bringing results. Then, when we do that, we are in a frame of mind to profit by the instruction and promise which I have quoted:
"Only be thou strong, and very courageous; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success."
May we all, by our unwavering faith in the present purposes of God, be strong and very courageous in meeting the present crisis, that we may have good success in being in strict accord with God's great purposes for us, individually as well as collectively, is my prayer, in Jesus' name.
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