I don’t know the complete context of Talmage but this is in the scriptures which refers to Jesus Chrsit
1 Tim 3
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
also
Here is a related quote from Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity (Collier Books, MacMillan Publ. Co., New York, 1943; paperback edition, 1960; p. 160 - the last paragraph of Chapter 9, “Counting the Cost,” in Book IV):
“The command Be ye perfect [Matt. 5:48] is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible.
He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were “gods” and he is going to make good His words.
If we let Him - for we can prevent Him, if we choose -
He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness.
The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what he said.”
Where did the highly respected C.S. Lewis get such doctrine?
From the Bible, which teaches us that we can indeed put on the divine nature and mature as sons and daughters of God, becoming like Him.
In my view, it is our status as children of God that gives us the potential to become heirs and the potential to mature and become more like the Father. Paul expresses such a concept in Romans 8:14-18:
“14 For as many as are lead by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.... 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together; 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
This quote taken from Beyond Personality, Lewis’s context comes in a chapter called “Counting the Cost,” and describes the process of sanctification that God begins at the moment one becomes a Christian and will continue until we are reunited after death and the judgment with our resurrected bodies, when we will be “perfect,” that is, “complete,” as creatures. In fact, the sentence immediately preceding this is “He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command.” In the same small volume he explains,
What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man. What God creates is not God; just as what man makes is not man. That is why men are not Sons of God in the sense that Christ is. They may be like God in certain ways, but they are not things of the same kind. They are more like statues or pictures of God. (Lewis, Beyond Personality)
It is important that citations be placed in their proper context, otherwise they are used inaccurately and incorrectly. The greater citation by Lewis shows he never supported the mormon doctrine of exaltation.