Ptah

“ The name Hephæstus, and the further statement of the Greeks, that this god was the father of the Sun-god, prove that in Ptah the Egyptians worshipped not only fire, but the spirit of warmth and light generally; and that they must have regarded him as the origin and source of light.
Manetho puts Ptah at the head of the dynasties of the gods. He ruled for 9,000 years before the other gods. Inscriptions name Ptah "the lord of truth," the "father of truth," the "ruler of the sky," "the king of both worlds." As the god of the light which shows everything in its true form, he is the spirit of truth ”

“ The name is said to mean 'opener,' from the circumstance that Ptah was thought to open the day; but this derivation has been combated. Dr. Brugsch suggests 'sculptor' or 'engraver' as the true translation, and as Ptah was the god of all handicrafts it seems most probable that this is correct. Ptah seems to have retained the same characteristics from the period of the Second Dynasty down to the latest times. In early days he seems to have been regarded as a creator, or perhaps he was confounded with one of the first Egyptian creative deities. ”

“ Like the Egyptian artisan god Ptah, and the linking deity Khnumu, Ea was the "potter or moulder of gods and man". Ptah moulded the first man on his potter's wheel: he also moulded the sun and moon; he shaped the universe and hammered out the copper sky. Ea built the world "as an architect builds a house". [36] Similarly the Vedic Indra, who wielded a hammer like Ptah, fashioned the universe after the simple manner in which the Aryans made their wooden dwellings. ”

“ To Khnemu was given the fashioning of animals, while Ptah was employed in making the heavens and the earth. The great metal plate which was supposed to form the floor of heaven and the roof of the sky was made by Ptah, who also framed the [Pg 145] supports which upheld it. We find him constantly associated with other gods—that is, he takes on the attributes or characteristics of other deities for certain fixed purposes. For example, as architect of the universe he partakes of the nature of Thoth, and as the god who beat out the metal floor of heaven he resembles Shu. ”

“ Thōth is the principal creator by this means, and this idea probably belongs to a period soon after the age of the animal gods. (2) The other view is that Ptah framed the world as an artificer, with the aid of eight Khnumu, or earth-gnomes. This belongs to the theology of the abstract gods. The primitive people seem to have been content with the eternity of matter, and only personified nature when they described space (Shu) as separating the sky (Nut) from the earth (Seb) . This {68} is akin to the separation of chaos into sky and sea in Genesis. ”

“ An action for damages could not lie against you."
"Sir!" he cried.
"Father," said Miss Ottley, "how can Dr. Pinsent's foolish sarcasm affect you? Besides, we need his Arabs."
"Quite so," said Sir Robert. "We need his Arabs. How brightly the stars shine to-night, Dr. Pinsent."
The cool impudence of the pair struck me dumb. I shook with passion. For a moment I thought of calling a halt and returning the way we had come to my own camp with my Arabs. But for my curiosity to see the tomb of Ptahmes very probably I should have done so. ”

“ I am angry to hear you talk so. 'Tis very well for you that none of our Judges hears you, for tho' you are but a Stranger, you would pass your Time very ill; because, according to our Principles, you could not have utter'd a more enormous Blasphemy. I ask your Pardon, Sir, said I; the most holy Men that have written our Law, affect in many [Pg 140] Places thus to characterise the Deity: To him alone they ascribe all the Victories and Conquests obtained by the Jews, and they put him at the Head of their Troops like a formidable General, who demolishes every thing in his way. ”

“ When we speak of the presence of the Lord we speak of an exhibition of power. His presence was with the children of Israel as a cloud by day, and as the shining of a flaming fire by night. Though Israel were not worthy to enter the tabernacle and behold the personage of the Lord and to talk with him, yet Moses, not having forfeited that right, could enter into the tabernacle of the Lord while his glory rested upon it, and he could talk to the Lord face to face. Why? Because he held the higher Priesthood and had been obedient to the higher law and had attended to the higher ordinances. ”

“ Should God deal with the Saints in Utah upon the same principle now, that He did in ancient times, it would be nothing strange if He should give to many of His faithful servants a hundred fold of wives and children; while others, less faithful, would be limited to one, and others still have none at all, like the great majority of Israel in the wilderness. ”

“ The Book of Mormon says—"When thy seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of his covenant which he hath made with his people who are of the House of Israel." This remnant, the American Indians, do not comprise all Israel, they are but a small remnant of one single tribe, namely the descendants of that Joseph who was carried into Egypt. Away in yonder north countries, where I do not know, but away in those regions are ten tribes of the house of Israel. ”

“ A voice is heard form Utah, saying, Come over and help us; teach us of our errors; convince us of our delusions, if we have any; set us in the good old paths of ancient Christianity, if we are not already walking therein; take us by the hand and lead us into the light, if you consider us in darkness; prove to us that the Book of Mormon is an imposition, that we may be justified in rejecting it; convince us that a plurality of wives is contrary to the Gospel ”

“ If the people of Utah are the people of God, then there is no possible chance of their being deceived upon any subject of as great importance as that of the plurality of wives; for no man has a right to these blessings unless God shall give them to him through His servant the prophet. But, on the other hand, if the people of Utah have no prophet, then they are not the people of god, but are deceived like all the rest of Christendom who are without prophets. ”

“ In a few days I expect to be wending my way, in company with some of my brethren, on another mission to the United States, for the purpose of doing whatever the Spirit of the Lord may direct in those lands. Whether I shall return again to Utah, it matters not, if it so be that I keep the commandments of God and do his will. All flesh is in His hands, and He governs and controls all things according to his own righteous will and purposes, and preserves in life whomsoever he sees proper, and takes away his servants whenever it seems to him good to do so. ”

“ It is to be hoped that there will be nothing of this kind among the armies of Israel in the latter days. We have the promise of the Almighty, and I hope that it will never be revoked, that "I say not unto you as I said to your fathers, my angel shall go before you, but not my presence, but I say unto you that my angel shall go before you and also my presence." In order for the presence of God to go with us we must retain the higher Priesthood, for without that and the ordinances thereunto pertaining, no man can behold the face of God and live ”

“ They will not have to refer back three or four thousand years to the miracles wrought anciently by the God they worship, but they will tell of things wrought in their own day, which have taken place while they themselves live. "The Lord liveth that brought up Israel out of the north country; the Lord liveth who, in our day, smote the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and also the river Nile in its seven mouths; the Lord liveth who, in our day, cast up a highway in the midst of the great deep, for his chosen to come over." ”

“ When he gets the people out from the midst of this nation. "Then I will remember my covenant which I made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my Gospel unto them." Has it been fulfilled? Yes. It is over a quarter of a century since the Lord brought us out, and laid a foundation for us to live here; and we have been enabled by his power to erect towns villages and cities, to open up farms, and begin to live, and we have got a broad foundation laid; and now, the next thing is—"I will bring the fulness of my Gospel unto thee, O house of Israel;" that is, unto the Indians ”

“ In that day will be set apart twelve thousand out of each of these ten tribes—one hundred and twenty thousand persons ordained to the High Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God, to go forth to all people, nations, kindreds and tongues, for the salvation of the remnants of Israel in the four quarters of the earth, to bring as many as will come unto the Church of the firstborn. Thus God will have twelve thousand out of all the tribes of Israel to fulfill his purposes ”

“ They thought the Gentiles had no part or lot in the matter; and notwithstanding the commission that the Lord had given to the Apostles he had to work a miracle to convince Peter, so strong were the prejudices of the Jews that the Holy Ghost and the Gospel blessings were not for the Gentiles. You recollect Peter's vision, in which the Lord let down a sheet by the four corners, full of all manner of beasts, clean and unclean, and Peter being commanded to arise, slay and eat ”

“ They will, no doubt, call them poor deluded Mormons, and say that they ought to be hooted out of society, and that they ought to be persecuted, afflicted, and hated by all people. "They will be among the Gentiles and the Gentiles knoweth them not. They will also be among the Jews, and the Jews shall know them not. And it shall come to pass when the Lord seeth fit in his wisdom, that they shall minister unto all the scattered tribes of Israel, and unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, and shall bring out of them unto Jesus many souls, that their desire may be fulfilled ”

“ God is determined to raise up Prophets among that people, but he will not bestow upon them all the fulness of the blessings of the Priesthood. The fulness will be reserved to be given to them after they come to Zion. But Prophets will be among them while in the north, and a portion of the Priesthood will be there; and John the Revelator will be there, teaching, instructing and preparing them for this great work; for to him were given the keys for the gathering of Israel, at the time when he ate that little book while on the Isle of Patmos. At that time, John was a very old man ”

“ We answer, let the practices of the thirty thousand Saints in Utah, speak; let strangers who have traveled through our flourishing territory, declare; let the record of the courts of justice bear witness; let the injured females, if there be any,whose character and reputation have been destroyed by the vile seducer, publish their wrongs; let illegitimate children, if Utah affords them, come forth as a public monument of our disgrace; if a house of ill-fame and breadth of our territory, then let the Saints hide their faces in shame, and the sons and daughters of Utah blush before the Heavens ”

“ God will have a Church on the earth—a Zion, and out of that Church a deliverer will come for and in behalf of all Israel, not only the Jews—the two tribes and a half that were scattered after Christ, but the ten tribes that were taken away out of Palestine some seven hundred years before Christ. All Israel—the whole twelve tribes—will come to the knowledge of the truth when God sends this deliverer out of Zion, proclaiming the Gospel of the latter-days for their salvation. ”

“ The result of this conflict brought sorrow to the Church at Far West. Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight met the brethren on their return, at Log Creek, where they did all that could be done for Captain Patten before his death. “Brother Patten,” said the Prophet, “was a very worthy man, beloved by all good men who knew him. He was one of the Twelve Apostles, and died as he had lived, a man of God, and strong in the faith of a glorious resurrection, in a world where mobs will have no power or place. ”

“ It was all most curious, and though somewhat gruesome, Patty was fascinated at the strange sight.
“Ask him if he likes it,” she said to Peter, and when asked, he answered at great length, and very earnestly.
“What does he say?” asked Patty, impatiently.
“He declares,” said Peter, “that to be used in this decorative way is the greatest honour a Capuchin monk can have. To gain it, a monk must have been in the monastery for twenty-five years, and he’s awfully afraid he’ll die before he earns his right to be a fresco.”
“Ugh!” said Milly, with a shiver, “I hate it! Let’s go out into the sunlight.” ”

“ The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
"Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ”

“ And I will add that there is one thing that I am confident of—viz., that in Utah there is not much danger of the Latter-day Saints becoming very rich. If they accumulate by their perseverance a sufficiency of breadstuffs and those things that are necessary for their present sustenance and future security against the famines that are to spread desolation in the earth, they will do well. I think there are no people upon the face of the earth that need to envy the Latter-day Saints, so far as their temporal prospects are concerned. In other respects they have great cause to envy them. ”