Joseph Smith the Prophet-Teacher: A Discourse

Produced by the Mormon Texts Project,
http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Ben Crowder,
Meridith Crowder, Tod Robbins.








JOSEPH SMITH

THE

PROPHET-TEACHER


A DISCOURSE

BY

ELDER B. H. ROBERTS


THE DESERET NEWS

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

1908




Copyright, 1908.
By B. H. Roberts.




TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I.
A GREAT POSSIBILITY.

II.
HISTORICAL AMERICANS.

III.
WHAT IS A PROPHET?

IV.
RELIGIOUS AND PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEFS OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

    Revelation.
    Ideas of Deity.
    Of the Universe.
    Of Man.
    Man and His Salvation.
    Of the Significance of Salvation and Damnation.

V.
THE PROPHET'S CORRECTION OF SECTARIAN ERRORS.

    The Doctrine of Revelation.
    The Being and Kind of Being God Is.
    Creation, the Law of Substance.
    Of Man's Origin.
    Election and Reprobation.

VI.
THE PROPHET'S PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES.

    The Prophet's Definition of Truth.
    As to Things--Existences.
    The Reign of Law.
    Change and Its Tendency.
    The Existence of Good and Evil.
    The Intelligent Entity.
    The Relationship of Intelligences.
    Man's Freedom.
    Eternity of Relations.

VII.
THE PROPHET'S GENERALIZATIONS.

VIII.
AN AMERICAN PROPHET.

    America the Old World.
    The Constitution of the United States Inspired of God.
    America Fortified of God Against Other Nations.




DEDICATION.

TO MY MOTHER, ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF HER EIGHTY-SECOND BIRTHDAY,
DECEMBER 18, 1908.

For a long time, my Dear Mother, I have desired to couple remembrance
of you with some of my works; and finally have chosen this Discourse
upon our great Prophet-Teacher to carry with it that distinction. To
all who read this Discourse, then, I desire to say that I love and
honor you; and that your love for me has ever been an inspiration to
my work.




JOSEPH SMITH
THE
PROPHET-TEACHER

A Discourse[A]

[Footnote A: This discourse was delivered at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake
City, on Sunday, December 22nd, 1907, at a Memorial Service held in
honor of the one hundred and second anniversary of the Prophet's
birth, 23rd December 1805.]

---

Tomorrow will be the one hundred and second anniversary of the birth
of Joseph Smith, whom most of you here present believe was a Prophet
of God. I have been invited to say something about him on this
occasion. It is not at all my intention to deal with the incidents of
Joseph Smith's eventful life; these are familiar to you. If I could
attain the full desire of my heart, I would like to set before you
somewhat the value of this man as a teacher of great truths. I desire
to speak of him as a Prophet-Teacher, that is, as a Prophet acting in
his capacity of Teacher, a Prophet's highest and noblest office.

As an introduction to what I desire to say, I shall read a passage
from a book quite famous for its literary merit--it has reached its
ninth edition; also it is famous for the character sketches of
prominent Americans of the early decades of the nineteenth century.
The book, "Figures of the Past," was written by Josiah Quincy of the
famous Quincy family of Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard, 1821;
mayor of Boston from 1845 to 1849. Mr. Quincy visited Nauvoo in May,
1844, forty-three days previous to the martyrdom of the Prophet, and
though his "Figures of the Past" was not published until 1882, the
year of his death, yet his recollections of the Prophet and his
impressions of Nauvoo were drawn from his journal, written at the time
of that visit, and numerous letters written to his friends about the
same period. Mr. Quincy places his pen-portrait of "Joseph Smith at
Nauvoo" with similar portraits of such eminent Americans as John
Adams, Daniel Webster, John Randolph, Andrew Jackson, and the French
soldier and statesman, Lafayette. The passage I am going to read is
the opening paragraph of the chapter on "Joseph Smith at Nauvoo."




I.

A GREAT POSSIBILITY.


    "It is by no means improbable that some future text-book, for the
    use of generations yet unborn, will contain a question something
    like this: What historical American of the nineteenth century has
    exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his
    countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to
    that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith, the Mormon
    Prophet. And the reply, absurd as it doubtless seems to most men
    now living, may be an obvious commonplace to their descendants.
    History deals in surprises and paradoxes quite as startling as
    this. The man who established a religion in this age of free
    debate, who was and is today accepted by hundreds of thousands as
    a direct emissary from the Most High--such a rare human being is
    not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory
    epithets."

Reading that passage a few days ago, I asked the question: Is this
rather remarkable semi-prediction of Quincy's in the way of
fulfillment?