The Strange Theology of the "Sectarian Minister" in the 20th-Century Mormon Temple Ceremony

The above hymn is from the early LDS publication Times & Seasons 6.2 (Feb 1, 1845): 799. Recently, while studying material written by a mid-twentieth century LDS apologist, I was struck by the fact that the impression he had of historic Christianity didn’t come from reading the Bible or other Christian books, nor from contact with members of historic Christian churches.  It came rather from a single Mormon source, the parody of Christian theology presented in the preaching of the so-called "Sectarian Minister" in the LDS Temple ritual.  That stalk character, long represented as a money grubbing lackey of the devil, was, I believe, finally retired, put out to grass, in the 1990s.  He was not always a part of the Temple ritual. At an earlier stage several sectarian preachers were present.

Before his retirement from the Temple ritual, the "Sectarian Minister" was presented as preaching to father Adam at the bidding of the devil, who was represented as his enthusiastic supporter. As one reads Mormon writers throughout the twentieth century one finds that, like the particular LDS apologist I referred to earlier, most descriptions of historic Christian notions of God come from the phrases parroted by the "Sectarian Minister" in the Temple ritual.  Since this is so, it only makes sense to inquire into what the theology, that is to say the doctrine of God, expressed in the "Sectarian Minister's" little sermon, is, and where it came from. Other non-Mormon doctrines are also included in the “Sectarian Minister’s” speech, but here I am particularly interested in what he is made to say about God. So anyhow, here it is:

Sectarian Minister [to Adam]: "I am glad to know that you were calling upon Father.  Do you believe in a God who is without body, parts, and passions; who sits on the top of a topless throne; whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere; who fills the universe, and yet is so small that he can dwell in your heart; who is surrounded by myriads of beings who have been saved by grace, not for any act of theirs, but by His good pleasure. Do you believe in this great Being?"

From the descriptive sentences included it is clear that the sermon is meant to come across as absurd, even laughable, to the Mormons hearing it. This is especially true of the first three affirmations:

"Do you believe in a God who is without body, parts, and passions; who sits on the top of a topless throne; whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere...?  

Let's look at sources for each of these phrases in turn, and I very much welcome further information concerning their ultimate sources. 

(1) "Do you believe in a God who is without body, parts, and passions...."  The main source for this statement is the first of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England:  "There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body, parts, or passions." A similar affirmation appeared it the historic statement of Reformed (Calvinist) theology known as the Westminster Confession (2.1).  

Mormons often wrongly suppose that all Christians affirm this. "The whole Christian world," said the late Apostle LeGrand Richards, "believed in a God without body, parts, or passions.  That means he had no eyes; he couldn’t see. He had no ears; he couldn’t hear. He had no voice; he couldn’t speak. How could they believe in such a god as that?" (General Conference, April, 1973). Now, of course, Apostle Richards is wrong in his accusation that "the whole Christian world" believes in a God that can't hear, see, or speak.  That is simply false.  But his intent was not to accurately represent other people's religious views but only to ridicule them as a way of bolstering up the confidence of his LDS listeners.

But he is also wrong about the whole Christian world believing in a God without body parts or passions.  The God of the Bible is, if nothing else, represented as a very passionate being.  Nevertheless of the three affirmations made by the Sectarian Minister, this is the only one that  actually does have some formal or official standing in the larger Christian community, in that it actually does appear in certain historic Christian confessions.  Still, as a Christian, who did his doctorate in an Anglican (Church of England) school (Wycliffe College, Toronto), I have to say that I have never been asked in any Christian setting, there or elsewhere, to affirm belief that God is without body, parts, or passions.  Nor would I be inclined to affirm it if pressed.       

(2) "who sits on the top of a topless throne...."  Well before the Mormons got hold of it, the colorful early nineteenth-century Methodist preacher Lorenzo Dow (d. 1834) had already stigmatized calling God’s throne “topless,” as a thing you would hear in “a school in the environs of Babylon.” “For how,” Lorenzo asked, “if a throne be topless can one be seated on it?” [Lorenzo Dow, “A Journey from Babylon to Jerusalem,” in History of Cosmopolite; or The Four Volumes of Lorenzo Dow’s Journal…Also His Polemical Writings…To Which is Added the “Journey of Life,” by Peggy Dow (4^th ed.; Washington: OH: Joshua Martin, 1848], 475-76). 

But to be fair, that language was poetic and only meant to express the incomprehensible, surpassing greatness of God’s throne, as is seen in a hymn by Isaac Watts that employed it:

Infinite leagues beyond the sky,

The great Eternal reigns alone;

Where neither wings nor soul can fly,

Nor angels climb the topless throne.

Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs in Three Books (Worchester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1804), 2:26 (p. 168).

This isn't formal logic, its poetic license, a topless throne is one that is unfathomably high and lifted up, just as a bottomless pit is one that is unfathomably deep.  I would be very interested to hear from someone who had traced this topless throne idea back further, but in the meantime why should Christendom as a whole be unfairly saddled with the infelicitous line from a writer whose hymns, including such classics as Joy to the World and O God Our Help in Ages Past, appear in both LDS and historic Christian hymnals?

(3) ...whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.... (Latin: "cuius centrum est ubique, circumferentia vero nusquam")

This phrase has been quoted historically by such popular figures as Charles H. Spurgeon (“The Sitting of the Refiner,” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit 27 [1881]: 6) and Alexander Campbell ("The Destiny of Our Country [Aug 3, 1852]," in idem, Popular Lectures and Addresses [Philadelphia, PA: James Challen, 1863], 163).  But it is more frequently quoted in more mystical writers.  It is often wrongly attributed to the fourth and fifth century writer, St. Augustine of Hippo, as it was, for example, by Carl Gustav Jung in his 1938 Terry Lectures at Yale University [see his Psychology & Religion (New Haven & London, 1938), 66]), and Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay "Circles," (Essays: First Series [New Edition; Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1856] 273). As best as I can tell the statement originates in an anonymous work, the earliest manuscript of which dates from the 12th century, known as the Liber XXIV philosophorum, the Book of the 24 Philosophers.  The work is sometimes attributed to Hermes Trismegistius, which would link it with hermetic circles or historic Christian circles colored by hermetic influences.  An English translation has been provided by Markus Vinzent here.  Finally, this phrase has no official standing among historic Christians at all. 

I would welcome hearing from anyone with additional or more precise information than what I have presented here.