Salt Lake City, Utah.

February 20th, 1912.

Prest. Samuel O. Bennion,

Independence,

Dear Brother:—

Your question concerning Adam has not been answered before because of a pressure of important business. We now respond briefly, but, we hope, plainly. You speak of "the assertion made by Brigham Young that Jesus was begotten of the Father in the flesh by our father Adam, and that Adam is the father of Jesus Christ and not the Holy Ghost," and you say that Elders are challenged by certain critics to prove this.

If you will carefully examine the sermon to which you refer, in the Journal of Discourses, Vol. 1, you will discover that, while President Young denied that Jesus was "begotten by the Holy Ghost," he did not affirm, in so many words, that "Adam is the father of Jesus Christ in the flesh." He said, "Jesus, our elder brother, was begotten in the flesh by the same character that was in the garden of Eden and who is our Father in Heaven." Who is our "Father in Heaven"? Here is what President Young said about Him: "Our Father in heaven begat all the spirits that ever were or ever will be upon this earth and they were born spirits in the eternal world. Then the Lord by his power and wisdom organized the mortal tabernacle of man." Was He in the garden of Eden? Surely He gave commandments to Adam and Eve; He was their Father in heaven; they worshipped Him and taught their children after the fall to worship and obey Him in the name of the Son who was to come.

But President Young went on to show that our father Adam, — that is, our earthly father,— the progenitor of the race of man, stands at the head, being "Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days", and that he was not fashioned from earth like an adobe, but begotten by his Father in heaven." Adam is called in the Bible "the son of God" (Luke 3:38). It was our Father in heaven who began the spirit of him who was "the Firstborn" of all the spirits that come to this earth, and who was also his Father by the Virgin Mary, making him "the Only Begotten in the flesh". Read Luke 1:26-35. Where is Jesus called "the only begotten of the Holy Ghost?". He is always singled out as "the only begotten of the Father". (John 14:3, 16, 18, &c.) The Holy Ghost came upon Mary, and her conception was under that influence, even of the spirit of life; our Father in Heaven was the Father of the Son of Mary, to whom the Savior prayed, as did our earthly father Adam.

When President Young asked, "Who is the Father?" he was speaking of Adam as the father of our earthly bodies, who is at our head, as revealed in Doctrine and Covenants, section 107, verses 33-56. In that sense he is the one of the gods referred to in numerous scriptures, and particularly by Christ (John 10;34-36). He is the great Patriarch, the Ancient of Days, who will stand in his place as "a Prince over us forever", and with whom we shall "have to do", as each family will have to do with its head, according to the holy patriarchal order. Our father Adam, perfected and glorified as a god, will be the being who will carry out the behests of the great Eloheim in relation to his posterity. (See Daniel 7:9-14).

While, as Paul puts it, "there be gods many and Lords many (whether in heaven or in earth), unto us there is but one God the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things." The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worships Him, and Him alone, who is the Father of Jesus Christ, whom He worshipped, whom Adam worshipped, and who is God the Eternal Father of us all.

Your Brethren,

(signed)

Joseph F. Smith

Anthon H. Lund

Charles W. Penrose

First Presidency.