{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_35562/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_35562","id":"gutenberg_35562","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35562","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines","Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines","Latter Day Saints","Theology"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by the Mormon Texts Project,\nhttp://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Benjamin\nBytheway, Byron Clark, Ben Crowder, Tom DeForest, Eric\nHeaps, Jason Hills, Tod Robbins.\n\n\n\n\n\nRational Theology\n\nAs Taught by the\nChurch of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints\n\n\nBY\nJOHN A. WIDTSOE\n\n\nPublished for the Use of the Melchizedek Priesthood\nby the General Priesthood Committee\n\n1915\n\nCopyright, 1915\nBY JOHN A. WIDTSOE\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nA rational theology, as understood in this volume, is a theology which\n(1) is based on fundamental principles that harmonize with the\nknowledge and reason of man, (2) derives all of its laws, ordinances\nand authority from the accepted fundamental principles, and (3) finds\nexpression and use in the everyday life of man. In short, a rational\ntheology is derived from the invariable laws of the universe, and\nexists for the good of man.\n\nThis volume is an exposition; it is not an argument. The principles of\nthe Gospel, as held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints, are stated, briefly, simply and without comment, to show the\ncoherence, reasonableness and universality of the gospel philosophy.\nThe authority for many of the statements found in the volume is given\nin the references included in the appendix. The doctrines herein\nstated are, however, the common knowledge of the members of the\nChurch. No attempt has been made to correlate the doctrines discussed\nwith current philosophical opinions. Those who are led to study this\nrational theology in the light of the best knowledge and soundest\nthought, will enter a fertile field, and will find a surprising\nharmony between the Gospel and all discovered truth.\n\nThe book could not be made larger, were it to serve well the special\npurpose for which it was written. Therefore, the treatment is brief\nand many important and interesting subjects are omitted. Moreover, the\nbook had to be completed within a short, set time, and many of the\nimperfections of the work are the results of the hurried preparation.\n\nEvery writer who in this day attempts an exposition of the Gospel must\ndraw heavily upon the clear thoughts of those who, from Joseph Smith\nto the living workers, have written and spoken in behalf of the truth.\nI acknowledge, gratefully, my obligation to the makers of \"Mormon\"\nliterature. Many friends have, also, in various ways, given kindly\naid; to them I offer hearty and sincere thanks.\n\n                                       JOHN A. WIDTSOE.\n\nLOGAN, UTAH.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\nFUNDAMENTALS AND PRE-EXISTENT STATE.\n\nChapter 1. **The Meaning of Theology**\n\n  Man in the Universe--A Man's Religion--Theology Defined--The\n  Gospel--The Purpose of this Book.\n\nChapter 2. **How Knowledge is Gained**\n\n  The Senses--The Sixth Sense--Transmitted Knowledge--The Use of the\n  Reason--The Foundation of Rational Theology.\n\nChapter 3. **Eternalism**\n\n  All Knowledge, the Basis--Eternal Matter--Universal Matter,\n  Indestructible--Eternal Energy--Universal Intelligence--Eternal\n  Intelligence--The Eternal Relationship--An Eternal Plan--Eternalism.\n\nChapter 4. **The Will of Man**\n\n  The Primeval Condition--The Intelligence of Man--The Will of Man--\n  Value of the Will.\n\nChapter 5. **The Great Law**\n\n  Increasing Complexity of the Universe--Man and the Great Law--The\n  Law of Development.\n\nChapter 6. **God and Man**\n\n  Why God is God--Many Gods--Why Man is Man--God's Help to Man--Man's\n  Help to God--God's Attributes.\n\nChapter 7. **Man Is That He May Have Joy**\n\n  Consciousness and the Universe--The Primeval Condition--The First\n  Estate--The Second Estate--The Third Estate--Everlasting Joy.\n\nChapter 8. **Man's Free Agency**\n\n  In the Beginning--The Council in Heaven--The Need of a Savior--Man's\n  Part in the Great Plan--Free Agency.\n\nChapter 9. **The Great Plan**\n\n  Forgetfulness--Subject to Earth Conditions--Laws to Be Obeyed--An\n  Organization--All to Accept the Plan--The Meaning of the Earth Plan.\n\n\nTHE BEGINNING OF THE EARTH WORK.\n\nChapter 10. **The Coming of Man**\n\n  Making of the Earth--The Builders--The Coming of Man--The \"Fall\"--\n  The First Blessing--The Garden of Eden--A Wise Beginning.\n\nChapter 11. **The Course of the Gospel on Earth**\n\n  Adam Hears the Gospel--The First Dispensation--The First Apostasy--\n  Later Dispensation of the Meridian of Time--The Great Apostasy--The\n  Restoration--The Vital Facts.\n\n\nMAN AND GOD.\n\nChapter 12. **The Gods of this Earth**\n\n  The Order of Gods--Plurality of Gods--God, the Father--God, the\n  Son--God, the Holy Ghost--Other Beings--Sex Among the Gods.\n\nChapter 13. **Man's Communion with God**\n\n  The Will to Ask--By Personal Appearance--By the Visitation of\n  Angels--By the Holy Spirit--The Eternal Record.\n\nChapter 14. **Man Walks with God**\n\n  Reading God's Message--Spirit Blindness--Prayer--Active Prayer--The\n  Gift of Understanding--Man Walks with God.\n\n\nMAN AND THE DEVIL.\n\nChapter 15. **The Kingdom of the Evil One**\n\n  Descending Beings--The Devil--Man and the Devil--The Devil Subject\n  to God.\n\n\nMAN AND THE CHURCH.\n\nChapter 16. **Why a Church?**\n\n  Man Helped by God on Earth--The Plan of Salvation for All--\n  Orderliness--Test of Attitude--Authority--The Great Purpose of the\n  Church.\n\nChapter 17. **Conditions of Membership**\n\n  Faith--Repentance--Baptism--The Gift of the Holy Ghost--Continued\n  Conformity--Acceptance of Authority.\n\nChapter 18. **The Priesthood in the Church**\n\n  Priesthood Defined--Divisions of the Priesthood--The Aaronic\n  Priesthood--The Melchizedek Priesthood--All Hold the Priesthood--The\n  Power of the Priesthood.\n\nChapter 19. **The Organization of the Church**\n\n  The General Authorities--The Stakes of Zion--The Wards of the\n  Stakes--The Priesthood in Stakes and Wards--Auxiliary\n  Organizations--All Must Work--The Tenure of Office--An Unpaid\n  Ministry--Appointments in the Priesthood--Common Consent--Bestowal\n  of the Priesthood.\n\nChapter 20. **The Authority of the Priesthood**\n\n  The Foundation of Authority--Absolute Authority--Derived Authority--\n  The Authority of Office--Authority and Free Agency--Authority Over\n  Self--The Exercise of Authority--The Unrighteous Exercise of\n  Authority--The Church Authoritative.\n\nChapter 21. **Obedience**\n\n  The Restraint of Nature--An Active Condition--The Restraint of Man--\n  The Life of Law--Disobedience--The Church Worth Having.\n\nChapter 22. **A Missionary Church**\n\n  A Church with a Purpose--The Hope of Today--Temporal Salvation--The\n  Foreign Mission System--The Home Mission Service--For the Common\n  Good.\n\nChapter 23. **Temple Ordinances**\n\n  Educational--Symbolism--Covenants--Blessings--Temple Authority--\n  Possible Repetition.\n\n\nMAN AND MAN.\n\nChapter 24. **The Brotherhood of Man**\n\n  Common Origin--Common Purposes--Common Destiny--Inter-Dependence--\n  Brothers.\n\nChapter 25. **The Equality of Man**\n\n  The Pre-existent Effort--The Earth Effort--The Variety of Gifts--The\n  Equality of Opportunity--Unequal Equality--The Test of Equality.\n\nChapter 26. **Mutual Support**\n\n  The Duty of the Strong--Co-operation--Education.\n\nChapter 27. **The United Order**\n\n  Purpose--Historical--Co-operation--Tithing--Voluntary Offerings--The\n  Common Good.\n\nChapter 28. **Work for the Dead**\n\n  All Must Be Saved--Earthly Ordinances--A Work of Love--The Need of\nRecords--The Result.\n\nChapter 29. **Marriage**\n\n  Eternity of Sex--The Waiting Spirits--The Meaning of the First\n  Command--The Family--Celestial Marriage--The Sealing Powers.\n\nChapter 30. **The Community**\n\n  Community Defined--The Individual in the Community--The Rights of\n  the Community--Training for the Community--The Supremacy of the\n  Community.\n\n\nMAN AND NATURE.\n\nChapter 31. **Man and Nature**\n\n  The Intelligence of Nature--A Living Earth--The Lower Animals--All\n  for the Use of Man--Man's Conquest of Nature--Miracles--Harmony of\n  Man and Nature.\n\n\nMAN AND HIMSELF.\n\nChapter 32. **The Sound Body**\n\n  The Importance of the Body--Food--Exercise--Rest--Stimulants--Moral\n  Purity--The Gospel and the Sound Body.\n\nChapter 33. **Education for the Inner Life**\n\n  The Senses--The Reasoning Power--The Feelings--The Spiritual Sense--\n  Symbolism--Education.\n\nChapter 34. **Satisfaction with Daily Work**\n\n  Variety of Earthly Tasks--All Work May Be Intelligent--Nothing\n  Temporal--Subjection to Self.\n\nChapter 35. **The Hope of Tomorrow**\n\n  Today--Tomorrow--The Resurrection--Our Place in the Hereafter--The\n  Destiny of Man.\n\nChapter 36. **The Law of the Earth**\n\n  The Unknown Meaning--The Earth Law--To Love God--To Love a Neighbor\n  as Oneself--The Triumph of Man.\n\n\nAPPENDIX--References to Authorities\n\nINDEX\n\n\n\n\nRational Theology.\n\n\nCHAPTER 1.\n\nTHE MEANING OF THEOLOGY.\n\n\nEarth, stars and the vastness of space; yesterday, today and tomorrow,\nand the endlessly increasing knowledge of the relations of forces,\npresent an illimitable universe of numberless phenomena. Only as a\nwhole, and in general outline, can the human mind understand the\nuniverse. In its infinite variety of expressions, it wholly transcends\nthe human mind.\n\n**Man in the Universe.**  In the midst of this complexity, man finds\nhimself. As he progresses from childhood to manhood, and as his\nslumbering faculties are awakened, he becomes more fully aware of the\nvastness of his universe and of the futility of hoping to understand\nit in detail.\n\nNevertheless, conscious man can not endure confusion. From out the\nuniversal mystery he must draw, at least, the general, controlling\nlaws, that proclaim order in the apparent chaos; and, especially is he\ndriven, by his inborn and unalterable nature, to know, if he can, his\nown place in the system of existing things. Every normal man desires\nand seeks an understanding of his relation to all other things, and\npractically every man has worked out for himself, on the basis of his\nknowledge, some theory which explains, more or less satisfactorily,\nthe mystery of star and earth and man and life. No other quest is\nfollowed by man with such vigorous persistence, as is that of\nestablishing an intelligible and satisfactory philosophy of\nearth-life.\n\n**A Man's Religion.**  The philosophy, or system of thought, adopted\nto explain man's place in nature determines largely the joy and manner\nof a man's life. If the philosophy be poor and loose, life will be\nconfused; if rich and firm, life will be clear cut, and if law be made\nsupreme, life will be orderly. Those who have no religion at all\nbecome the playthings of unknown forces. Every act of a man's life is\ninfluenced by the philosophy of his life. It is the most important\nproduct of an individual life, and is the most compelling power in\nlife.\n\nIn a broad sense, the philosophy, according to which a man orders his\nlife, may be called that man's religion. It may or may not involve the\nidea of God or an organized body of believers. If it guides a life, it\nis that life's religion, whether it leads to weakness or to strength.\n\n**Theology Defined.**  Since all men are placed in the same universe,\nwith approximately the same powers, and under conditions nearly alike,\nit is possible for each person to establish for himself a religion as\nabove defined, for the guidance of his life. All religions must be\norganized from the content of the one, and so far as we know, the only\nuniverse; and the presumption would be, therefore, that the religions\nof all men should be the same, in as far at least as men are the same.\nIn fact, however, during the course of human history, many more or\nless dissimilar religions have been established and accepted. True,\nmost of these religions show close kinship, but the vital differences\nare often very great. For instance, the religions of men fall\nnaturally into two great classes: those that adopt as their central\nidea a great governing intelligence and power--a God; and those that\nrefuse to include a God in their system of thought.\n\nA religion which accepts the idea of a God is a theology. The great\nmajority of the religions of men are theologies, for the majority of\nmen believe in some form of personal divine power.\n\n**The Gospel.**  The word gospel is also frequently used, among\nChristians, to designate the religion of men. The Gospel is a theology\nwhich includes the doctrine of the life and mission of Jesus Christ,\nas the Son of God. Among Christians, the words religion, theology and\ngospel are freely used in the same sense. It is well, however, to bear\nin mind the distinction in meaning of the three words. The Christian\nreligion, the Christian theology and the Gospel are equivalent in\nmeaning. In the following pages, the terms are often used\ninterchangeably without the qualifying words. Indeed, the Gospel will\nbe used most frequently, and wherever used, it must be understood to\nstand for the rational theology discussed in this book.\n\n**The Purpose of This Book.**  This volume is devoted to the\nexposition of the fundamental principles of a rational theology--a\nphilosophy of life which, because of its complete harmony with all\nknowledge, should be the one to which all men might give adherence.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 2.\n\nHOW KNOWLEDGE IS GAINED.\n\n\nKnowledge is the material upon which the reasoning mind of man acts.\nJust as physical strength can neither be developed nor exercised\nunless material bodies are at hand, so mental strength can neither be\ndeveloped nor exercised unless facts or knowledge are in man's\npossession. The acquisition of knowledge or experience is the first\nstep towards formulating an acceptable religion. It is of interest,\ntherefore, to consider, briefly, the sources of human knowledge.\n\n**The Senses.**  Through eyes, ears, nose, the sense of taste and the\ncomplex and poorly understood sense of feeling, man becomes acquainted\nwith the universe. That which is seen by the eyes, heard by the ears,\nsmelled by the nose, tasted by the mouth, or felt by any part of the\nbody, becomes impressed and registered upon the mind, there later* to\nbe used. The detailed method by which knowledge is added to man is not\nunderstood. The theories that prevail concerning the entrance of\nknowledge into the human mind need not here be discussed.\n\nIt follows that the man who wishes to gain much knowledge must guard\nhis senses from harm, and must sharpen them, so that during the few\ndays of life they may do as much as is possible to help man establish\na rational religion for his guidance. The foundation of human\nknowledge is derived from the direct action of the senses.\n\n**The Sixth Sense.**  Important as are the senses in adding knowledge\nto man, yet it must be admitted that they recognize without help only\na very small part of the universe. Our universe is infinite in its\nvariety of expression--of that man feels certain,--and it could hardly\nbe expected, therefore, that man, who admittedly is yet far from\nperfection, should be able to know, even with the greatest aid, all of\nthe universe.\n\nThe truth that an immeasurable part of the universe lies outside of\nhuman experience, is borne in upon every thinking man. In recent\ntimes, the developments of science have emphasized this vast region of\nthe unknown. The mystery of electricity, in the telephone and\ntelegraph; the wonder of space, in wireless telegraphy; the marvel of\nthe elements, speak clearly of places and conditions of which we as\nyet have no clear and accurate conception, and before which the senses\nof man, unaided, stand helpless.\n\nNevertheless, glimpses into this unknown region may be had by helps to\nthe senses. By the telescope the far is brought near; by the\nmicroscope the small is made large; by the photographic plate unseen\nlight is made visible; by the well tuned coil of wire the wireless\nmessage is taken out of space; by the spectroscope, light is broken\ninto its elements, and so on through almost the whole field of human\nendeavor. Facts that are gathered in such an indirect way are as\ncorrectly certain as are those that are sensed directly. The world\nwould lose tremendously should all the truth gathered through aids to\nthe senses be removed.\n\nMan himself, through what may be called, for want of a better name,\nthe sixth sense, may become a great aid to his own direct senses. By\nproper exertion he may intercept messages from out the directly\nunknown, as completely as this may be done by man-made instruments.\nThroughout history this power of man has been recognized and usually\nrespected. The experience or knowledge thus gained should, when\nproperly examined by the mind, be given an equal place beside that\ngained directly through the commoner senses. Prophets, poets, men of\nvision and faith, have all builded their work largely upon this kind\nof knowledge or inward feeling.\n\n**Transmitted Knowledge.**  The inexhaustible universe and the limited\npowers of man, make it possible for a person to discover for himself\nrelatively a very small amount of truth. Much effort may be saved and\nmore knowledge gained, if each person learn as much as he may of what\nhas already been learned, to which he may add the little new discovery\nthat he may make.\n\nThis method of obtaining knowledge has been in vogue since the first\nday. What the first man learned, he told to others, and they in turn\ncommunicated it, with the addition of whatever new knowledge they had\ngained. Thus comes the present value of tradition--the spoken\nrecord,--and of books--the written record. Men who desire to build a\nsafe religion or a safe science, make themselves familiar with as much\nas they can of what is already known, instead of attempting to\ntraverse the known field as original discoverers, and to this\ntransmitted knowledge, they add whatever in the course of their\npursuit they may discover independently. Those who in the present day\nwill accept only what they themselves discover, will make slow\nprogress. To them the treasuries of the greatest age will not be\nopened.\n\nIf, in the course of events, it becomes necessary for God to speak to\na man for the benefit of many, it would be contrary to rational\nthinking that each man for whom the message was given, should directly\nhear God's voice, unless, indeed, the means of communicating the\nknowledge become effectually blocked. Such transmitted knowledge is\nevery whit as sound as that acquired by direct communion with nature.\n\nTrue, the knowledge already possessed by man is so large that it can\nin nowise be transmitted, in all its details, to one man. The efforts\nof humanity are directed, therefore, to the devising of general\nstatements, or laws, which embody the meaning of a multitude of facts,\nwhile they are yet easily intelligible to the human mind. More and\nmore important will become the repositories of such general principles\ncontaining the knowledge of mankind. The Bible, in its various books,\npresents such great underlying principles of our knowledge relating to\nseveral very important phases of earth-life.\n\n**The Use of the Reason.**  Whether knowledge be obtained by any or\nall of the methods indicated, it should be carefully examined in the\nlight of reason. The only knowledge that will help in the\nestablishment of a satisfactory religion is true knowledge. Truth is\nthe end of the search. False or apparently true knowledge often\nintrudes itself upon the attention and at times it is so well\ndisguised as to be dangerously deceptive. Man must learn of the\nuniverse, precisely as it is, or he can not successfully find his\nplace in it. A man should therefore use his reasoning faculty in all\nmatters involving truth, and especially as concerning his religion.\n\n**The Foundation of Rational Theology.**  The Gospel, or rational\ntheology, is founded on truth, on all truth, for \"truth is knowledge\nof things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come,\" and\n\"truth has no end.\" In building a philosophy of life a man, therefore,\ncan not say that some truth must be considered and other truth\nrejected. Only on the basis of all truth, that is, all true knowledge,\ncan his religion be built. Further, the perfection of his knowledge,\nthat is, the extent of his truth possessions, will determine the value\nof his religion to him. Therefore, \"it is impossible for a man to be\nsaved in ignorance,\" \"a man is saved no faster than he obtains\nknowledge,\" and \"the glory of God is intelligence.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 3.\n\nETERNALISM.\n\n\nThe conceptions necessary for logical thought belong to the Gospel as\nwell as to science, for a satisfactory life philosophy must be based\non all knowledge known to man.\n\n**All Knowledge, the Basis.**  The Gospel, as the largest knowledge,\nmust include the knowledge of all sciences. The conceptions of time\nand space are quite as necessary in theology as in natural science or\nin any other branch of human thought. The Gospel does not claim,\nhowever, possession of ultimate knowledge concerning space or time or\nother fundamental conceptions. Indeed, man is, ordinarily, allowed to\nwork out for himself the truths of the universe and to organize them\ninto systems of thought which he may follow profitably. Knowledge is\ngiven directly by a superior intelligence only when it becomes\nindispensable. Moreover, there are innumerable phenomena in the\nuniverse which can not be explained by the human understanding as at\npresent developed. The distinguishing feature of the Gospel is that it\npossesses the key to the final philosophy of life. In outline it\noffers the entire plan of life in the universe; and man may engage for\nall time to come in the elaboration and development of each department\nof this great universal plan of human life, without requiring an\nexpansion of the outline. The plan is complete.\n\n**Eternal Matter.**  The saddest feature of manmade religions is their\nlack of security. One man constructs one theology; another a different\none, and men flock hither and thither, accepting the one that appears,\nfor the moment, to be the best, without the deep feeling that the one\nfinally accepted is absolutely the one and only correct system of\nthought. Yet, this is logically absurd, for a house is either red or\nnot red; a stick is straight or not straight; a man has truth or only\nthe semblance of truth. Two different truths can not be parallel with\nrespect to the same thing. The final philosophy of life must be based\non irrevocable truth. That which is true must always remain true,\nthough the applications may change greatly from generation to\ngeneration. It is the absence of such fundamental certainties, no\ndoubt, that leads men into a new search for a satisfying religion, or\nthat drives them away from their old theology.\n\nThe Gospel of Jesus Christ is obviously a system founded on unvarying\ncertainties. Its doctrines rest on demonstrated truths that lie at the\nfoundation of all sound, acceptable thinking. For instance, as a\ncornerstone of theology, the Gospel recognizes, in connection with the\nexistence of space and time, the existence of matter. Without matter,\nthe mind of man would have no material on which to act, and the\nexistence of matter becomes, therefore, a fundamental conception of\nthe Gospel. It is the business of man to become acquainted with matter\nin all of its forms, so far as may be possible, in order to provide a\nfoundation on which the reasoning mind of man may increasingly build\nits power.\n\nThe Gospel holds strictly to the conception of a material universe.\nMuch inconsistency of thought has come from the notion that things\noccur in a material and an immaterial state. This unthinkable\ncondition has been made the basis of doctrines concerning God and man,\nwhich have led to utter confusion of thought. The Gospel accepts the\nnatural view, supported by all human experience, that matter occurs in\nmany forms, some visible to the eye, others invisible, and yet others\nthat may not be sensed by any of the senses of man. In short, there is\nno such thing as immaterial matter, but some forms of matter are more\nrefined than others. Light, heat, and other similar forces are held by\nscience to be manifestations of a subtle state of matter, beyond the\nimmediate senses of man, which has been called ether. In fact, matter\nas ordinarily known, and ether, a finer form of matter, are every day\nconceptions of science. The material universe may appear in a variety\nof forms; but man recognizes, directly, only that form which is the\nordinary matter of our daily lives.\n\n**Universal Matter Is Indestructible.**  Matter is eternal, that is,\neverlasting. Whether the various forms of matter may be converted one\ninto the other, is not definitely known. Any such conversion would,\nhowever, leave the total quantity of matter unchanged. God, the\nsupreme Power, can not conceivably originate matter; he can only\norganize matter. Neither can he destroy matter. God is the Master,\nwho, because of his great knowledge, knows how to use the elements,\nalready existing, for the building of whatever he may have in mind.\nThe doctrine that God made the earth or man from nothing becomes,\ntherefore, an absurdity. The doctrine of the indestructibility of\nmatter makes possible much theological reasoning that would be\nimpossible without this doctrine.\n\nThe nature of matter is not, in and of itself, a subject of deep\nconcern in practical religion. By the slow, laborious methods of man's\nsearch for truth, the nature of matter will gradually be revealed.\nWhether it shall be found to be something distinct, or a form of the\nuniversal energy, will not be of consequence in the Gospel structure.\nThat matter, whatever it is, is eternal, is, however, a principle of\nhighest theological value, for it furnishes a foundation for correct\nreasoning.\n\n**Eternal Energy.**  Matter, wherever found and in whatever form,\nalways possesses energy. It is frequently said that matter in motion,\nonly, can impress the human mind. Matter without motion, were it\nconceivable, could not be recognized by the human mind as at present\nconstituted. Matter is always associated with energy; energy with\nmatter. It is not conceivably possible to separate them. Whether one\nis a manifestation of the other, so that there is only matter or only\nenergy, or if they are distinct things, we do not know. All sound\nthought recognizes, however, the existence of energy throughout the\nuniverse. Energy appears in many forms, such as heat, light,\nelectricity, magnetism, gravitation, and, according to the Gospel, the\nmany spiritual forces. These various forms of energy seem to be\nconvertible, one into the other, thus indicating the existence of one\ncentral force, of which all other forces are manifestations. The\nquestion of energy will probably be answered gradually, as the\nknowledge of man increases.\n\nOf one thing the Gospel, as well as science, is perfectly certain,\nnamely, that the energy in the universe is indestructible. Changed it\nmay be, from heat to light, from light to electricity, from\nelectricity to magnetism, or from any form to any other form of\nenergy, but destroyed it can not be. Like matter, energy had no\nbeginning and can have no end. God, possessing the supreme\nintelligence of the universe, can use energy in accomplishing his\nends, but create it, or destroy it, he cannot. Undiminished,\neveracting, universal energy will continue through all times.\n\n**Universal Intelligence.**  In one particular, however, the Gospel\ngoes beyond the teachings of modern science. The Gospel teaches that,\nassociated with the universal energy that vivifies universal matter,\nand possibly identified with it, is universal intelligence, a force\nwhich is felt wherever matter and energy are found, which is\neverywhere. The forces of the universe do not act blindly, but are\nexpressions of a universal intelligence. That a degree of intelligence\nis possessed by every particle of energized matter cannot be said; nor\nis it important. The great consideration is that, since intelligence\nis everywhere present, all the operations of nature, from the simplest\nto the most complex, are the products of intelligence. We may even\nconceive that energy is only intelligence, and that matter and\nintelligence, rather than matter and energy, are the two fundamentals\nof the universe!\n\n**Eternal Intelligence.**  Throughout the universe are found, in\naddition to indestructible matter, everlasting energy and universal\nintelligence pervading space.\n\n\"Man was also in the beginning with God.\" The doctrine that man is an\neternal being leads to untold possibilities. Eternal man lived a\npersonal life before the earth-life began, and he continues a personal\nexistence hereafter.\n\n**The Eternal Relationship.**  The phenomena of the universe result\nfrom the interaction of matter, energy and intelligence. These\nfundamental, universal elements are forever acting upon each other to\nproduce the infinite variety of the universe. Nevertheless, space is\nnot filled with disorder; chaos does not prevail. On the contrary, the\nuniverse, so far as known, is essentially orderly. This comes from the\ngreat law of cause and effect. If energy acts on matter in a given\nway, a definite effect is obtained. Under like conditions, the same\ncause will forever give the same effect. Where, therefore, like\nconditions are permanently operating, like results will always be\nfound. This law lies at the foundation of the orderliness of nature.\n\"There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven upon which all blessings\nare predicated, and it is only by obedience to this law that any\nblessing may be obtained.\"\n\n**An Eternal Plan.**  The Gospel itself, the so-called plan of\nsalvation, or Great Plan, in obedience to which men guide their\nearth-lives, is eternal. It is not a temporary or transient thing,\nmade primarily for the handful of men and women on earth, but it is an\neternal plan based upon the everlasting relationship of the elements\nof the universe--a plan which, in some form, is adapted everywhere and\nforever, for the advancement of personal beings. This must be so, for\nit leads to a definite end, and in accordance with the law of cause\nand effect, it must have a universal meaning.\n\n**Eternalism.**  The Gospel is founded on tangible and eternal things\nand relationships. These eternal realities, no doubt, in their\nessence, lie beyond the full understanding of man, just as time and\nspace transcend human understanding. This conception, carried far\nenough, leads to a gospel or life philosophy which is unshakable,\nbecause it rests upon eternal certainty. Without certainty, man is, in\nthe great affairs of life, merely the driftwood of existence, moved\nhither and thither by the wind of doubt.\n\nThe Gospel may be said to be The Philosophy of Eternalism. The Gospel\nis immersed in the ocean of eternity.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 4.\n\nTHE WILL OF MAN.\n\n\nThe doctrine of the eternal nature of man is most characteristic of\nthe Gospel. It is a doctrine which gives great satisfaction to all who\nhave accepted the Gospel.\n\n**The Primeval Condition.**  All that is really clear to the\nunderstanding is that man has existed \"from the beginning,\" and that,\nfrom the beginning, he has possessed distinct individuality impossible\nof confusion with any other individuality among the hosts of\nintelligent beings. Through endless ages, man has risen by slow\ndegrees to his present state. Possibly, with respect to the coming\nday, man understands as little as did the spiritual beings with\nrespect to present day conditions.\n\n**The Intelligence of Man.**  To speculate upon the condition of man\nwhen conscious life was just dawning is most interesting, but so\nlittle is known about that far-off day that such speculation is\nprofitless. Nevertheless, of some things pertaining to the beginning\nwe are fairly certain. The being which later became man, even in the\nfirst day possessed intelligence. That is, he was able to become aware\nof the external universe, to learn, and by adding knowledge to\nknowledge, to learn more. Then, as now, the universe was filled with\nmatter acted upon by many forces, and an intelligent being in the\nmidst of the interaction of forces and matter, must have become aware,\nmeasurably, of what was going on. From the beginning, the ego of man\nhas been a conscious being, saying to itself, \"This is I; that is not\nI. This life is apart from the life of all the rest of the universe.\"\n\n**The Will of Man.**  In addition to his power to learn and his\nconsciousness of his own existence, the spiritual personality\npossessed, from \"the beginning,\" the distinguishing characteristic of\nevery intelligent, conscious, thinking being--an independent and\nindividual will. No one attribute so clearly distinguishes man as does\nthe intelligent will or the will to act intelligently. It was by the\nexercise of their wills that the spirits in the beginning gathered\ninformation rapidly or slowly, acquired experiences freely or\nlaboriously. Through the exercise of their wills they grew, or\nremained passive, or perhaps even retrograded, for with living things\nmotion in any direction is possible.\n\nNaturally, the original spirit, possessing, with all other attributes\nof intelligence, the power of will, exercised that will upon the\ncontents of the universe. The exercise of the will upon the matter and\nenergy within reach, enabled the intelligent beings, little by little,\nto acquire power. By the use of his will upon the contents of the\nuniverse, man must have become what he now is.\n\n**Value of the Will.**  The above doctrine involves the idea of\nself-effort. It is only when the will is exercised in a certain\ndirection that the support of other forces may be invited so that\nprogress in that direction may be accelerated. From the beginning, the\ndeliberate use of the will has moved personal beings onward; and in\nthis latest day of our existence, it is the will that moves men into\ngreater lives. Undoubtedly, the will of man will determine the\ncompletion of the structure built through all ages into a perfected\nman.\n\nThe Gospel, resting upon eternal, indestructible principles, maintains\nthe living supremacy of the will of man. The culture, training and use\nof the will, for good or for evil, determine primarily the direction\nof an individual life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 5.\n\nTHE GREAT LAW.\n\n\nThe innumerable interactions of the matter, energy and intelligences\nof the universe, must be held together by some great law. This\nuniversal law to which all lesser laws contribute, must be of real\nconcern to the man who seeks a true philosophy of life.\n\n**Increasing Complexity of the Universe.**  It has already been said\nthat a universe controlled by intelligence and under the reign of the\nlaw of cause and effect cannot be conceived to be in confusion. Man is\nabsolutely certain, if his knowledge is rational, that, whether it be\nyesterday, today or tomorrow, the same act, under the same conditions,\nwill produce the same result. Under a set of given conditions, a ray\nof sunshine passed through a glass prism will always be broken into\nthe same spectrum, or a straight stick standing in water will always\nappear crooked. Whether in the physical, mental or moral world, the\nlaw of cause and effect reigns supreme.\n\nQuiescence in the universe can not be conceived, for then there would\nbe no universe. Constant action or movement characterizes the\nuniverse. The multiplicity of actions upon each other, of the various\nforms of matter, energy and intelligence, composing the universe, must\ncause an equal multiplicity of effects. Moreover, increasing\nintelligent wills, acting upon matter and energy, must and do produce\nan increasing series of reactions among the forces of the universe.\n\nMoreover, each new set of effects becomes the cause of still other\neffects. Thus, in our universe, as we conceive it to be constituted,\nincreasing complexity would seem to be the great resultant law of the\noperation of universal forces. This is the great law of nature, to\nwhich every living thing must conform, if it is to be in harmony with\nall other things. In a universe controlled by intelligence, it is only\nnatural to find everything within the universe moving along towards\none increasing purpose. As new light has come to man, the certainty of\nthis law as a controlling one, has become more and more emphatic.\n\n**Man and the Great Law.**  The law of increasing complexity is\nfundamental. Since man is constantly being acted upon and acting upon\nmatter and energy, he must himself be brought under the subjection of\nthe great law. That is, under normal conditions, he will increase in\ncomplexity. As man observes phenomena and reasons upon them and\napplies them he grows in knowledge. Where he formerly had one fact to\nuse, he now has many. This is the essence of his complexity. A\ncarpenter with one tool does less and poorer work than does one with a\nfull kit of modern tools. Likewise, man, as he gathers experience,\nbecomes more powerful in using the forces of nature in the\naccomplishment of his purposes. With this thought in mind the great\nlaw becomes a law of increasing power, of progressive mastery over the\nuniverse. For that reason, the law expressing the resultant of the\nactivities of universal forces is often called the law of progression.\n\nThe degree of man's growth or progression will depend upon the degree\nhis will is exercised, intelligently, upon the things about him. It is\neven conceivable that by the misuse of will, man may lose some of his\nacquired powers. In any case, the operation of the will, under normal\nconditions, adds power to man; and by the use of the intelligent will\nin a world of matter and energy, the increasingly complex man grows in\npower and strength towards perfection, in an increasingly interesting\nworld. Those who do not conform to the law of progression are abnormal\nand do not exert their powers, to the requisite degree, in the right\ndirection.\n\nNature is inexhaustible in the possible number of inter-relations\namong matter, energy and intelligence. It follows, therefore, that man\nwill forever be able to add knowledge unto knowledge, power unto\npower, or progress unto progress. This law of progression is the great\nlaw of the universe, without beginning and without end, to which all\nother laws contribute. By adherence to this law the willing,\nintelligent beings have risen to their present splendid state of\nmanhood, and by further compliance with this law they will advance to\na future Godlike state of perfection. The supreme intelligence and\nperfected will of the universe, God, has attained His position by an\nobedient recognition of the conditions of the law of progression.\n\nThe law of progression gives hope and purpose to those who accept the\nGospel. The feeling of security that comes from the knowledge that the\nelements of the universe are eternal, is made living by the hope\nestablished by the great law that there is purpose in all the\noperations of the universe. Whatever man may do, whatever his life may\nbring, provided all his faculties are working actively among the\nthings and forces about him, he is acquiring knowledge, thereby power,\nand, under the law of progression, he is being moved onward to a more\nadvanced position than he now occupies, in which he may do mightier\nwork. Men, discouraged by their failure to accomplish exactly what\nthey desire, often speak of their lives as purposeless, but it is idle\ntalk, for, in fact, no intelligent life which concerns itself\nvigorously with the things about it, can be said to be purposeless.\nSuch a life adheres, automatically, to the law of progression, and is\ntherefore moving on to the great destiny of supreme power and\naccompanying joys. The only purposeless life is the one that does not\nuse its faculties. It matters little what tasks men do in life, if\nonly they do them well and with all their strength. In an infinite\nuniverse, one cannot possibly learn all or do all, at once. A\nbeginning must be made somewhere, and corner by corner, department by\ndepartment, space by space, all will be known and conquered. In the\nend, all must be explored, and whether one begin in the east or the\nwest cannot matter much. The big concern is to what extent a man offer\nhimself, mind and body, to his work. Upon that will growth depend.\n\n**The Law of Development.**  The law of progression is then a law of\nendless development of all the powers of man in the midst of a\nuniverse becoming increasingly complex. No more hopeful principle can\nbe incorporated into a philosophy of life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 6.\n\nGOD AND MAN.\n\n\nThe doctrine of man's pre-existence leads to an understanding of the\nrelationship between God and man, which must lie at the very basis of\nrational theology.\n\n**Why God is God.**  To determine this relationship between God and\nman it is necessary to discuss, first, the conditions under which God\nbecame God. As already said, God is the supreme intelligent Being in\nthe universe, who has the greatest knowledge and the most perfected\nwill, and who, therefore, possesses infinite power over the forces of\nthe universe. However, if the great law of progression is accepted,\nGod must have been engaged from the beginning, and must now be engaged\nin progressive development, and, infinite as God is, he must have been\nless powerful in the past than he is today. While it is folly for man\nto attempt to unravel in detail the mystery of the past, yet it is\nonly logical to believe that a progressive God has not always\npossessed his present position.\n\nIt is clear also that, as with every other being, the progress of God\nbegan with the exercise of his will. In \"the beginning\" which\ntranscends our understanding, God undoubtedly exercised his will\nvigorously, and thus gained great experience of the forces lying about\nhim. As knowledge grew into greater knowledge, by the persistent\nefforts of will, his recognition of universal laws became greater\nuntil he attained at last a conquest over the universe, which to our\nfinite understanding seems absolutely complete. We may be certain\nthat, through self-effort, the inherent and innate powers of God have\nbeen developed to a God-like degree. Thus, he has become God.\n\nGod, the supreme Being of the universe, absolutely transcends the\nhuman understanding. His intelligence is as the sum of all other\nintelligences. There can be no rational discussion of the details of\nGod's life or nature. To him we give the most complete devotion, for\nto us he is in all respects infinite and perfect. His Godhood,\nhowever, was attained by the use of his power in simple obedience to\nthe laws he discovered as he grew in experience.\n\n**Many Gods.**  During the onward march of the Supreme Being, other\nintelligent beings were likewise engaged, though less vigorously, in\nacquiring power over the forces of the universe. Among many\nintelligent beings thus moving onward, there is little probability of\nany two attaining exactly the same place, at the same time. There is\nrather the probability of infinite gradation from the lowest to the\nhighest development. Next to God, there may be, therefore, other\nintelligent beings so nearly approaching his power as to be coequal\nwith him in all things so far as our finite understanding can\nperceive. These beings may be immeasurably far from God in power,\nnevertheless immeasurably far above us mortal men of the earth. Such\nintelligent beings are as Gods to us. Under this definition there may\nbe a great number of intelligent beings who possess to a greater or\nless degree the quality of Godhood. The acceptance of the preceding\ndoctrines makes it almost a logical necessity that there are many gods\nor beings so highly developed that they are as gods, in fact are Gods.\nThis is a fundamental doctrine of the Gospel.\n\n**Why Man is Man.**  It is fairly evident from what has been said why\nman is man. Man is subject-to eternal laws, and in the far-off\nbeginning he must have exercised his will more slowly or not at all;\nperhaps, even, as laws came to him he ignored or opposed them. As more\nknowledge and power are attained, growth becomes increasingly more\nrapid. God, exalted by his glorious intelligence, is moving on into\nnew fields of power with a rapidity of which we can have no\nconception, whereas man, in a lower stage of development, moves\nrelatively at a snail-like, though increasing pace. Man is,\nnevertheless, moving on, in eternal progression. \"As man is, God once\nwas; as God is, man may become.\" In short, man is a god in embryo. He\ncomes of a race of gods, and as his eternal growth is continued, he\nwill approach more nearly the point which to us is Godhood, and which\nis everlasting in its power over the elements of the universe.\n\n**God's Help to Man.**  Self-effort, the conscious operation of will,\nhas moved man onward to his present high degree. However, while all\nprogress is due to self-effort, other beings of power may contribute\nlargely to the ease of man's growth. God, standing alone, cannot\nconceivably possess the power that may come to him if the hosts of\nother advancing and increasing workers labor in harmony with him.\nTherefore, because of his love for his children and his desire to\ncontinue in the way of even greater growth, he proceeded to aid others\nin their onward progress.\n\nKnowledge may be transmitted from intelligence to intelligence. God\noffered to the waiting intelligent beings the knowledge that he had\nalready gained, so that they need not traverse that road, but might\nattack some other phase of universal existence. He devised plans of\nprogression whereby the experiences of one person might be used by an\ninferior one. Each person should give of his experience to others, so\nthat none should do unnecessary work. In that manner, through the\nunited effort of all, the whole race of progressive beings would\nreceive an added onward impetus.\n\n**Man's Help to God.**  The progress of intelligent beings is a mutual\naffair. A lone God in the universe cannot find great joy in his power.\nGod, being in harmony with eternal laws, can progress best as the\nwhole universe becomes more complex, or advances. The development of\nintelligence increases the complexity of the universe, for each active\nindividual may bring new relationships into view, and increases\nmany-fold the body of acquired truth. In that sense, the man who\nprogresses through his increase in knowledge and power, becomes a\nco-laborer with God, and may be said, indeed, to be a help to God. It\nis a comforting thought, not only that we need God but also that God\nneeds us. True, the need God has of us is relatively small, and the\nhelp he gives us is infinitely large, yet the relation exists for the\ncomfort and assurance of man.\n\n**God's Attributes.**  To analyze the supreme intelligence of the\nuniverse, the God whom we worship, is a futile attempt, to which men\nof shallow minds, only, give their time. That which is infinite\ntranscends the human understanding. The Gospel accepts this condition,\ncalmly, knowing that, in the scheme of things, greater truths will\ncome with increased power, until, in the progress of time, we shall\nunderstand that which now seems incomprehensible. For that reason,\neternal, or everlasting, or infinite things are things understood by\nGod, the supreme and governing Power, but not understood by us. Thus,\n\"eternal punishment is God's punishment; endless punishment is God's\npunishment.\" Likewise, everlasting joy or endless blessings are God's\njoy and God's blessings. Man acknowledges in this manner that all\nthings are relative to God.\n\nMan does not understand God fully, yet an understanding between man\nand God does exist in that, God in the course of his progression has\ngone over the road that we are traveling and therefore understands us\nfully. He understands our difficulties, our hopes, our sorrows, our\nfaults and our follies. God is supreme, and his justice is perfect;\nhis love is unmeasurable and his mercy without end; for his justice\nand love and mercy are tempered by the memory of his own upward\ncareer. God's relation to man is, in a literal sense, that of father\nto son, for we are of the same race with God. We may rest secure that\nGod's attributes are, with others, those that man possesses, made\ngreat and beautiful. He is our Father who knows and understands us.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 7.\n\nMAN IS THAT HE MAY HAVE JOY.\n\n\nIs the increasing power of man a sufficient reward for the effort and\nstruggle that must accompany progression? This is a question that\ncomes to every student of the Gospel. Power in itself may not be the\nideal end of existence. It becomes necessary, therefore, to determine\nif there is associated with power, gifts that make worth while the\neternal searching out of knowledge in order that greater power may be\nwon.\n\n**Consciousness and the Universe.**  Intelligent spirits have\npossessed, from the beginning, a consciousness of the world in which\nthey found themselves. They must have been susceptible, from the\nfirst, of feeling pleasure and pain, and must have had equivalents of\nour senses, which, possibly, were keener than those we now possess.\nWhen they were placed in opposition to any law of nature, pain or its\nequivalent undoubtedly resulted exactly as today. When they moved\nalong with law, joy must have been sensed, as today. Intelligent\nbeings can not rejoice in pain, therefore, from the beginning, to\navoid pain and to secure joy, they have searched out and obeyed law.\nThe more advanced the intelligence, the greater the number of laws\nthat are understood to which adaptation may be made, and therefore the\ngreater the possibility of joy. The search for increasing power,\ncarried on by all normal beings is then really a search for a greater\nand more abiding joy. There is no Godliness in pain, except as it is\nan incident in securing more knowledge. True freedom, which is full\njoy, is the complete recognition of law and adaptation to it. Bondage\ncomes from ignorance of law or opposition to it.\n\n**The Primeval Condition.**  Man's approach to a fullness of joy is\npictured in his revealed history. Through the veil of forgetting we\nsee but dimly our pre-existent condition. The Gospel student does not\nreally concern himself, greatly, with the details of the life before\nthis one; so much needs to be done in this life that he is content\nwith the great outlines of pre-existent life, which may assist him to\nunderstand the eternal journey of intelligence. Of the primeval\ncondition of man little is known. He found about him many forces,\noperating in diverse ways, and to control them, and thus to sense joy,\nhe began to study them. The story of that early day of striving for\nthe greatest goal has not been told to mortal man.\n\n**The First Estate.**  Matter exists, perhaps, in many forms, but may\nbe classified, as the ponderable matter of earth, known directly\nthrough the senses, and, as the imponderable matter which cannot be\nsensed directly by man. This second class, often called spirit matter,\nis perhaps most important, for it is not unlikely that from it are\nderived all other forms of matter.\n\nIt was of first importance that the intelligent beings aiming at the\nconquest of the universe, should learn to understand, thoroughly, the\nproperties of universal matter, in all of its forms. As nearly as can\nbe learned, the efforts of man were first devoted to education in the\nproperties of spirit matter. We were begotten spirits by God, who thus\nbecame our Father, and we are his sons and daughters. Our career in\nthe spirit world is often spoken of as man's first estate.\n\nHow long man remained in the first estate, is not known. Undoubtedly,\nhowever, it was long enough to enable him to become thoroughly\nfamiliar with the manifestations of all forms of spirit substance.\nOnly when education in this division of the universe was completed\nwere we permitted to enter the next estate.\n\n**The Second Estate.**  The kind of matter characteristic of this\nearth and the so-called material universe, also forms an important\npart of the universe. No spirit can acquire real mastery over the\nuniverse until this form of matter is so thoroughly understood as to\nbe used and governed. The next step in the education of these\nintelligent beings was therefore to teach them familiarity with gross\nmatter. Consequently, the spirits passed out of the spirit world, and\nwere born into the world of earthly things, the world we now occupy,\nas men and women clothed upon by a body consisting of gross matter, so\nthat intimate familiarity with the nature and possibilities of gross\nmatter might be acquired. This is called the second estate of man.\n\nThe business of man is to become so thoroughly acquainted with earth\nconditions, that through the possession of an earthly body, he may go\non, forever.\n\n**The Third Estate.**  We pass out of this, but reappear in another\nworld, for a brief time separated from our earth-won body, but finally\npossessing bodies of both kinds of universal matter. In this estate,\nboth the spirit matter and the grosser matter composing our final\nbodies are represented by their essences, and therefore permit perfect\nfreedom and ease of movement and thought. These celestial bodies, as\nthey are called, connect the intelligence with all parts of the\nuniverse, and become mighty helps in the endless search for truth.\nThis is the third estate of man.\n\nSuch then are the three estates, and as far as known, all the estates\nof man.\n\nWhether the outline, as here presented, in its details, is precise or\nnot, matters little. The essential thing is that man has to undergo\nexperience upon experience, to attain the desired mastery of the\nexternal universe; and that we, of this earth, are passing through an\nestate designed wholly for our further education.\n\n**Everlasting Joy.**  It follows that, in each estate, with each\nonward step, a profounder knowledge of the laws of nature is attained.\nWhen conscious, active wills are thus at work, the new knowledge makes\npossible a more perfect adaptation of man to law. The more completely\nlaw is obeyed the greater the consciousness of perfect joy. Throughout\neternal life, increasing knowledge is attained, and with increasing\nknowledge comes the greater adaptation to law, and in the end an\nincreasingly greater joy. Therefore it is that eternal life is the\ngreatest gift of God, and that the plan of salvation is priceless.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 8.\n\nMAN'S FREE AGENCY.\n\n\nThe question of the rights of each intelligent being as pertaining to\nhimself and to all others must always have been and must always remain\na chief one.\n\n**In the Beginning.**  In each intelligent being has resided, from the\nbeginning, an individual and distinct will, which, of itself, has been\nacting in some degree upon the external universe. Each being, with its\ndeveloping will, has learned more and more of natural forces and of\nthe methods of controlling them. Each has striven to adapt his\nknowledge of surrounding forces to his own particular needs or\ndesires. Clearly, since many wills have been so engaged, it might\neasily occur that different wills might use acquired knowledge in\ndifferent ways to suit their different desires. It is easily\nconceivable, therefore, that one will might attempt so to control the\nsurrounding forces as to give itself joy, yet to affect another will\nadversely. In general, whatever is desirable for one is desirable for\nall, since all spirits are cast in the same mold and have the same\nderivation. Nevertheless, when individuality is assumed, it is equally\nclear that there is always a possibility of one will crossing another\nto the detriment of one or possibly both.\n\nThe universal plan may follow its developing path, unhindered, only\nwhen all the intelligent beings within it labor harmoniously together\nfor the upbuilding of each and all. The only solution for the problem\nof the possible conflicts resulting from the activities of a great\nnumber of beings is an agreement among them relating to the general\ngood. Laws established for the community of beings must be obeyed as\nrigidly as those found in external nature. Each may act freely and to\nhis full power in any desired way so long as the general laws\nrespecting the freedom of all others are not violated. The right of an\nindividual can never transcend the rights of the community.\n\n**The Council in Heaven.**  A dim though wonderfully attractive\npicture has come down of an event in the spiritual estate of man, the\nfirst estate, that deals directly with the great question of the one\nand the many, the individual and the community.\n\nThere had been born, in time, a family of spirits, the innumerable\ndestined hosts of earth, who, at length, seemed fitted for further\neducation in another field. God, the Father of these spirits, saw that\nthey were ready for further light, and came down among them, to\ndiscuss their future. As the Supreme Being, God had in mind a plan,\nthe Great Plan, whereby each spirit could enter upon his second estate\nand become acquainted with the properties of gross matter. However, as\neach intelligent spirit possessed a free and untrammeled will which\nmust be respected, God called together the spirits in question, and\npresented the plan for their approval.\n\nIn the Great Council then held, of which a dim and distant picture\nonly has been left, the great question was with respect to man's free\nagency. The essence of the proposed plan was that the spirits,\nforgetting temporarily their sojourn in their spirit home should be\ngiven a body of grosser matter, and should be subject to this form of\nuniversal matter, and even be brought into a temporal death. To bring\nan eternal, free spirit under the bondage of matter and forgetfulness,\nit was necessary for some one to begin the work by, figuratively\nspeaking, breaking a law, so that the race might be brought under the\nsubjection of death. This may be likened, roughly, to the deliberate\nbreaking, for purposes of repair or extension, of a wire carrying\npower to light a city. Someone had to divert the current of eternal\nexistence, and thus temporarily bring man's earthly body under the\nsubjection of gross matter. Adam, the first man, was chosen to do\nthis work. By the deliberate breaking of a spiritual law, he placed\nhimself under the ban of earthly death and transmitted to all his\nposterity the subjection to death. This was the so-called \"sin of\nAdam.\" To obtain or give greater joys, smaller pains may often have to\nbe endured.\n\n**The Need of a Savior.**  The purpose of the earth career was,\nhowever, two-fold, to learn to understand gross matter, and to acquire\na body made of the essence of such matter. The bodies laid in the\ngrave must, therefore, be raised again. As the spirits, by their own\nact had not brought upon themselves death, so by their own act they\nshould not conquer it. It was necessary, therefore, that someone, in\ntime, should reunite the broken wires and reestablish the flow of\neternal life, and thus to conquer death. For this work Jesus Christ\nwas chosen. Jesus actually came on earth, lived and taught the ancient\nGospel again to the children of men, and in time suffered death so\nthat the act of Adam might be atoned for. By this work, the purpose of\nthe earth-life was completed, and thus Jesus Christ became the central\nfigure in the plan of salvation.\n\nWhy death, so-called, should be necessary for us to achieve an\nintimate knowledge of matter, and why Jesus should die to permit the\ncurrent of eternal life to flow freely between the earthly body and\nthe eternal spirit, are not fully known. Through Adam man was brought\non earth, subject to death; through Jesus, the Christ, he was lifted\nout of death to continue an eternal life in association with the\nearth-acquired body.\n\n**Man's Part in the Great Plan.**  In this great gathering in the\nheavens many questions arose. By Adam man was to come on earth; by\nJesus he was to be resurrected. In both of these great acts, man had\nno part, beyond permitting himself to be acted upon. In the plan, what\nwas to be man's part?\n\nLucifer, a great leader in the Council, proposed that, since others\nwere acting for man in bringing him on and taking him away from the\nearth, it was not necessary for man, during his earth-career, to\nexercise his own will. Lucifer proposed that, in spite of himself, his\nwill, his desires and his individuality, man should be placed on\nearth, and be taken from it, and without effort, be filled with a\nknowledge of earth conditions. All men should be forced into\nsalvation. Jesus Christ, who became the Savior of men, objected to\nthis change in God's plan, as it interfered with the essential right\nof intelligent beings to act for themselves. Jesus insisted that, as\nwithout will there can be no growth, man, placed on earth through the\nagency of Adam and resurrected and brought into a full life through\nthe agency of Jesus, should retain, during his earth-career, his full\nfree agency. Though he might walk an forgetfulness of the past, and\nhave no visions of the future, he would yet be allowed a free and\nuntrammeled agency as he walked in the clearness of the earth's day.\nWhile upon earth he might learn much or little, might accept a law or\nreject it, just as he had been, privileged to do in all the days that\nhad gone before.\n\nThese two views regarding man's part in the plan led, we\nare told, to a great difference of opinion among the spirits.\nNaturally, the first proposition appealed to many, for it is the easy\nway of obtaining victory, if victory it may be called. The other way\nseems always somewhat hard and bitter, though in the end the joy\nobtained surpasses that attained without effort. Lucifer, who led the\nfight for the first method, could not agree to the original plan which\nwas finally accepted; and so, in that great, dim day, many of the\nspirits followed Lucifer, and have not yet entered upon their\nearth-careers, but are independently and in opposition to God's\nwill, following paths that are not leading them onward. The majority\naccepted God's law, as championed by the Son, though it is said that\nmany weak and fearful spirits remained neutral, daring neither to\naccept nor to reject either proposition. The hosts who accepted the\nplan of God, girded themselves with the necessary strength to begin\nthe pilgrimage, ending in an earthly death, but reaching, through the\nresurrection, into an eternal life of exceedingly great progress.\n\n**Free Agency.**  On the earth, as elsewhere, then, the free agency of\nman, as expressed in the individual will, is supreme. Though our\nenvironment is that of gross matter, and though we dwell in\nforgetfulness of the past, our free agency is as vigorous as ever.\nHowever, the free agency of man cannot transcend the plan which all of\nus of earth accepted, together, in the day of the Great Council.\nMan's will is always circumscribed by great laws that are\nself-existent or that are formulated or may be formulated for the\nbenefit of the race. The many must devise laws whereby individual and\ncommunity progress are simultaneous. It is the full right of the\nindividual to exercise his will in any way that does not interfere\nwith the laws made for the many; and, under proper conditions, the\nlaws for the many are of equal value to the individual. Under the law\nwe are free.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 9.\n\nTHE GREAT PLAN.\n\n\nThe plan proposed by God for the government of the spirits who entered\nupon their earth careers is revealed only so far as it is necessary\nfor the guidance of man. We may remain certain that the Great Plan is\nbased upon eternal laws that always have been and always will be\noperative. Matters pertaining to man's earth-life are matters of\neternal interest; and the laws formulated for the guidance of man on\nearth must be laws which in some form are fundamental for the guidance\nof man in any place and at all times. Nothing is temporary or\ntransient about the Plan itself, for it rests on eternal foundations.\n\n**Forgetfulness.**  A condition of the Plan seems to be that the\nspirits, transferred to this earth, shall remain on earth in\nforgetfulness of an earlier existence. As in a dream, in moments of\ndeep spiritual fervor, do we occasionally seem to recall our\npreexistent life. A veil has been drawn over the past; and, without\nthe aid of memory, man fights his battle with the world of gross\nmatter. This forgetfulness seems reasonable. The spirit of man\naccepted the earth-plan in detail, and if he remembered every step\nthat led to this acceptance, and every detail of the Plan itself,\nthere would not be much reason for the exercise of will in adhering to\nit. Left as he is, with little memory to steady him, he must exercise\nall his power, to compel surrounding forces to serve him in searching\nout the past and in prophesying for the future. By such vigorous\nexercise of his will he develops a more intimate acquaintanceship with\nthe things of the earth.\n\n**Subject to Earth Conditions.**  Intimacy with the conditions of\nearth, alone, will give a man final knowledge of them. Such\ninformation can not be obtained second hand nor by casual or\nsuperficial acquaintanceship. For that reason, probably, man has been\nbrought so completely under the subjection of gross matter, that he\nhas no power over it beyond that which he gains as he obtains\nknowledge of it. Hence, on this earth, stripped of all power, and\nleft, as it were, helpless in the midst of contending universal\nforces, man must search out the nature of the things about him and\ndetermine their laws before he acquires power over nature and thereby\nbrings himself into a condition of joy. In the face of the impending\nchange called death, man is possibly more determined to acquire the\npower that will lift him from the grave and give him an eternal\nassociation with all the elements of the universe, including his\nearthly body.\n\n**Laws to be Obeyed.**  To enter into the fullness of progressive joy,\na man must, as has been said, naturally subject himself to the laws of\nthe universe. In God's Plan for life on earth, is a system of laws,\nrepresenting eternal realities, to which man must conform. Such a law,\nfor instance, is faith, which, in its simple universal meaning, is\nman's certainty that in the universe is found everything he may desire\nfor his upbuilding and advancement, and that the eternal relations of\nuniversal forces will prevail for his good. Another such fundamental\nlaw to which man must conform, is that of repentance, which in its\nlarger sense, is merely faith made active. Passive faith can do little\nfor man's advancement. Yet another such law is that of baptism, which\nis essentially obedience to existing laws. And still another such law\nis that of the gift of the Holy Ghost, which perhaps means that a man\nmay place himself in touch with the whole of the universe and to draw\nknowledge from it, including the beings of superior intelligence that\nit contains. These and other laws are given as guides for man. They\nsharpen his free agency; develop his habits of obedience to law, and\nestablish for him communication with God. Moreover, a plan formulated\nby an intelligent Being must be composed of laws, for even the\ninfinite relationships of matter and energy fall naturally into groups\nof invariable laws. The laws of the Plan, like those above stated, are\nlogical necessities, if the earth-plan is at all accepted.\n\n**An Organization.**  It follows of necessity that if there is a plan,\nthere must also be an organization. The plan is not for one alone, but\nfor many. All must be served and blessed by the Great Plan. Those,\ntherefore, who subject themselves to the earth-plan with its laws,\nmust needs group themselves so that the laws may be operative for all.\nA person may be able to serve in the advancement of the whole race of\nman, only when there is a unity of purpose and effect, which can be\nsecured only by organization. The question of organization involves\nthose of priesthood, authority, and others, later to be discussed.\n\n**All to Accept the Plan.**  The earth-plan, fully completed, must be\naccepted or definitely rejected by all the spirits who have appeared\non earth in conformity with their vote in the Great Council. That is\nfundamental. Those who enter upon their earth-careers may accept or\nreject the Gospel; but, since the full success of the Plan is based\nupon the advancement of all the spirits, it becomes necessary to use\nevery possible effort to secure for the Plan a recognition of all\nthose who accepted it in the spirit world, and who, therefore, entered\nupon the pilgrimage of earth. God's purpose in the Plan will be\nincomplete so long as one soul remains unconverted.\n\nLife on earth deals directly with gross matter and the forces\npertaining to it. The laws formulated for the guidance of man, are\nespecially devised for earth conditions, and belong to the earth. For\ninstance, baptism, the symbol of obedience to God and acceptance of\nhis love, is not necessarily an ordinance that belongs elsewhere than\non earth. More probably, water baptism is essentially an ordinance of\nand for this earth. It is unlikely that water baptism is practiced in\na future estate. If it be true, then all who enter upon the\nearth-career, and who desire at the years of discretion the perfected\njoy derived from the Gospel, must have baptism on this earth. Should\nsome of the spirits refuse, while on earth, to accept the Gospel, or\nfail to hear it, baptism, belonging to the earth, must be done for\nthem, vicariously, on earth, so that they, having had the work done\nfor them here, may accept or reject the ordinance in their life beyond\nthe grave. This is the motive of the work for the dead. The earth\nordinances must be done by or for every soul born upon the earth so\nthat the earth experience may not be in vain, should the Gospel be\naccepted in the remotest day of eternity. This view becomes more\nimportant when it is recalled that ordinances of the earth, belonging\nprimarily to the earth, stand for vast, eternal realities,\nindispensable to man's progress.\n\nWhen the simple ordinances of the Gospel, as pertaining to the earth,\nhave been done for the dead, then may the dead be judged as of the\nearth, and may receive the blessings of the obedient who conform to\nlaw.\n\n**The Meaning of the Earth Plan.**  The earth-plan, plan of salvation,\nor Great Plan, for the guidance of the spirits placed on earth, may\nperhaps be more clearly understood if it is compared to the great\nchart in the captain's cabin by which the vessel is steered. Life on\nearth is as the large and angry ocean. The chances of shipwreck and of\nbeing driven out of the set course, are many. If, however, the ocean\nis well charted, the mariners can better avoid the sunken reefs, and\nthe dangerous places, and after the storm can more readily return to\nthe course so that the destined port may be entered with a good bill\nof health. The Gospel is such a chart, on which the journey is\noutlined, showing the dangers of the journey, the havens of rest and\nthe final destination. If a man accept the chart, and use it in his\nlife's career, he will find the voyage pleasant and his arrival\nsecure, and his life will be as that of one cast in pleasant places.\nearth so that the earth experience may not be in vain, should the\nGospel be accepted in the remotest day of eternity. This view becomes\nmore important when it is recalled that ordinances of the earth,\nbelonging primarily to the earth, stand for vast, eternal realities,\nindispensable to man's progress.\n\nWhen the simple ordinances of the Gospel, as pertaining to the earth,\nhave been done for the dead, then may the dead be judged as of the\nearth, and may receive the blessings of the obedient who conform to\nlaw.\n\n**The Meaning of the Earth Plan.**  The earth-plan, plan of salvation,\nor Great Plan, for the guidance of the spirits placed on earth, may\nperhaps be more clearly understood if it is compared to the great\nchart in the captain's cabin by which the vessel is steered. Life on\nearth is as the large and angry ocean. The chances of shipwreck and of\nbeing driven out of the set course, are many. If, however, the ocean\nis well charted, the mariners can better avoid the sunken reefs, and\nthe dangerous places, and after the storm can more readily return to\nthe course so that the destined port may be entered with a good bill\nof health. The Gospel is such a chart, on which the journey is\noutlined, showing the dangers of the journey, the havens of rest and\nthe final destination. If a man accept the chart, and use it in his\nlife's career, he will find the voyage pleasant and his arrival\nsecure, and his life will be as that of one cast in pleasant places.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BEGINNING OF THE EARTH WORK\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 10.\n\nTHE COMING OF MAN.\n\n\nThe decision arrived at in the Great Council was promptly carried out\nby those to whom the authority to do so was confided.\n\n**Making of the Earth.**  The first step, in carrying out the Great\nPlan, was to secure a place on which the desired experience might be\ngained. To accomplish this, the earth was made from materials, found\nin the universe, which, by the intelligent power of God, were\ncollected and organized into the earth. The earth was not made from\nnothing, nor by the fiat of God, except as his will and words\ndetermined that the work should be undertaken. In the clumsy way of\nman, by adding stone to stone or material to material, the earth was\nnot made; rather, great forces, existing in the universe, and set into\nceaseless operation by the directing intelligence of God, assembled\nand brought into place the materials constituting the earth, until, in\nthe course of long periods of time, this sphere was fitted for the\nabode of man. In the making of the earth, as in all other matters\npertaining to the destiny of man, the work was done in complete and\norderly harmony with the existing laws of the universe. The Mosaic six\ndays represent successive stages in the earth's construction, each\nmeasured by ages of time. The forces of nature act steadily but slowly\nin the accomplishment of great works.\n\n**The Builders.**  The creation of the earth, the details of which are\nnot known, must have been marvelously and intensely appealing in its\ninterest to the intelligent beings who, because of their exalted\nknowledge, had the necessary power over the elements and forces of the\nuniverse to accomplish the forming of an earth. Three great\nintelligent Beings were in supreme authority in the building of the\nearth, namely, God, the Father, his Son, Jehovah, who became the\nChrist, and Michael, who became the first man, Adam. These three\nbeings were naturally the ones concerned in the making of an earth for\nthe sojourn of the spirits, for it was through the agency of God, the\nFather, that the spiritual bodies were started on the road of eternal\nprogression; it was about the mission of Jehovah, the Son of God, that\nthe differences of opinion raged in the Great Council, and, finally,\nit was Adam, or Michael, who was appointed to be the one to come upon\nthe earth, and there to subject himself to death, so that the\nprocreation of spirits in earthly tabernacles, might be started. These\nthree beings, who are so vitally concerned in the destinies of the\nhuman race, had charge of the making of an earth which should be a\nsuitable and a pleasant habitation for the earth-clad spirits.\n\n**The Coming of Man.**  The earth at last was finished. Adam, the\nfirst man, and his wife, Eve, then appeared on earth. The statement\nthat man was made from the dust of the earth is merely figurative, and\nmeans that he was made of universal materials, as is the earth.\nLikewise, the statement that God breathed into man the breath of life\nis only a figure of the existence of the spirit within the body. The\nexact process whereby man was placed upon earth is not known with\ncertainty, nor is it vital to a clear understanding of the plan of\nsalvation. We may rest assured that the first man and the first woman\nwere eternal beings, who subjected themselves to life on this earth,\nso that the process of clothing eternal spirits with mortal bodies\nmight begin on the earth. Adam and Eve, in view of the great\nsacrifices they made to make the Great Plan a reality, are the great\nhero and heroine of human history.\n\n**The \"Fall.\"**  Biblical lore and traditions among all of the races\nof man, tell of the \"fall\" of the first parents from the grace of God.\nAn event called the fall did occur, but it was a necessary part of the\nGreat Plan. Adam and Eve were eternal beings, and were not under the\nban of mortal death. Subject to death they must become, however, if\ntheir posterity should inherit corruptible bodies. The fall then was\nsimply a deliberate use of a law, by which act Adam and Eve became\nmortal, and could beget mortal children. The exact nature of this\nevent or the exact manner in which the law was used is not understood.\nThe Bible account is, undoubtedly, only figurative. There was no\nessential sin in the fall, except that the violation of any law,\nwhether deliberately or otherwise, is always followed by an effect.\nThe \"fall\" of Adam and Eve was necessary, for without it, there would\nhave been no begetting on the earth of spirits with mortal bodies, and\nthe Plan proposed and confirmed in the Great Council would have\nremained inoperative. \"Adam fell that man might be.\"\n\n**The First Blessing.**  The curse, so-called, pronounced by God upon\nAdam as he went out of the Garden of Eden, that in the sweat of his\nbrow he should earn his bread, is possibly the greatest of all human\nblessings, and it is a simple extension of a great eternal law. From\nthe beginning of the dim past, when man slumbered with only a feeble\nthought of his possible vast future, the great law of his progress has\nbeen that only personal effort can achieve desirable things. The price\nto be paid for advancement is vigorous self-effort. The active will\nprecedes every step of progress. To exercise the will means labor,\nwhich may well be represented by \"the sweat of the brow.\" The\nso-called curse, however, carries with it the magnificent promise that\nman, by the exercise of his powers, may subdue the earth, and make it\nserve all his needs. In a universe controlled and directed by the\nintelligent God, there can be no question but that, ultimately, the\nintelligent will shall control for its own use not only the things of\nthis earth but all the forces of the universe. The subjection to which\nthe earth will be brought depends entirely upon the degree to which\nman exercises his will, that is, the degree to which he accepts the\nbenefits of the first blessing.\n\n**The Garden of Eden.**  The first days on earth of the first man and\nthe first woman are of intense interest to every student of the\nsubject, and it is to be regretted that so little knowledge of those\nearly times has survived the vicissitudes of time. In the Garden God\nwalked with man and taught him the living truth. According to the\nProphet Joseph Smith, the Garden of Eden, the first home of Adam and\nEve, was located near the city known as Independence, Missouri. To the\nnorth and east of Independence, some scores of miles, is probably the\nplace where Adam dwelt after he had been driven out of the Garden. The\nState of Missouri, and the country around it, is, therefore, of\ntremendous interest to those who accept the Gospel as restored in the\nlatter days.\n\n**A Wise Beginning.**  In all matters pertaining to the beginning of\nman's earth career, it may be observed that proper preparations have\nbeen made. There has been no blind destiny working out unknown\npurposes; instead, intelligent forces have provided for man from\nbeginning to end, so that the whole scheme of man's life, here and\nhereafter, is one of order and system.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 11.\n\nTHE COURSE OF THE GOSPEL ON EARTH.\n\n\nThe Great Plan provided that man should come upon earth with the\nmemory of his past taken from him, so that, beginning his earth-life\nas a child, he might repeat on earth the efforts that earned for him\nprogress in the pre-existent life. Even Adam and Eve forgot the\ndetails of their previous lives, for it was necessary that all be\nunder the same law, and that no improper strength be derived, by\nanyone, from the pre-existent experiences.\n\n**Adam Hears the Gospel.**  The only rational thing that could be done\nto spirits so placed on earth was to teach them fully the story of\nman's origin and destiny and the meaning and duties of the earth-life.\nThe plea of ignorance would not then be valid. Consequently, soon\nafter the first parents had been driven out of the Garden of Eden, an\nangel appeared and taught Adam the story of man from the first to the\nlast day. The plan of salvation, including the atoning sacrifice of\nJesus, the organized Church, the purpose and powers of the priesthood\nand the rights and duties of man upon earth, whether within or without\nthe Church, was fully unfolded. Adam, the first earth-pupil of God,\nwas taught, as his first lesson, the great philosophy overshadowing\nthe existence of man. When Adam had been taught all this, and had\naccepted the truth, he was baptized, even as men are baptized today,\nand he entered into all the other ordinances of the Gospel and was\ngiven full authority through the Priesthood conferred upon him to\nofficiate in God's name in all matters pertaining, under the Great\nPlan, to the welfare of man.\n\n**The First Dispensation.**  As children and children's children came\nto Adam he taught them carefully all that had been taught him, so that\nthe knowledge of the law might remain upon the earth. The ordinances\nof the Gospel were practiced, the righteous were organized into the\nChurch, even as today, and the authority of the Priesthood was\ntransmitted by Adam to his children, and by them to their children, so\nthat the precious gift might not be lost. In those days the Church was\nprobably fully organized, according to the patriarchal order; at least\nin the days of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, it seems quite clear that\nthe Church was established with all of its essential parts. The\nactivity in behalf of the Gospel which began with Adam and continued\nuntil Noah, at the time of the great flood, is ordinarily known as the\nfirst dispensation of the Gospel.\n\n**The First Apostasy.**  From the beginning of his earth-career, Adam\nretained his free agency. God, directly or through agents, might teach\nand command, but Adam, a free agent, had the right to accept or reject\nas seemed him best. Adam's children, likewise, though taught by the\npatriarch of the race of the way of righteousness, could accept or\nreject for themselves whatever was taught them. Free agency was with\nman in that early day as it is now.\n\nThe descendants of Adam soon began to exercise their free agency, some\nfor, and many against, the Great Plan. Cain exercised his free agency\nin the murder of Abel. As time went on, large numbers departed from\nthe truth concerning man's place in the universe as taught by Adam,\nand refused to accept the Gospel. Concurrently with the establishment\nof the Church in the first dispensation there was, therefore, a first\ngreat apostasy. It is ever so, it has ever been so, and will ever be\nso, that in a world of intelligent beings, possessing free agency,\nsome will accept and some will reject the truth. No doubt, in the\nprocess of time, truth will triumph, and all may be brought to\nunderstand the will of God, but the conquest is attended by many\ntemporary departures from the truth. Nevertheless, Adam and those who\nremained true to his teachings, continued, faithfully, to teach to\nothers the eternal truth, so that they might perchance be made to\nreturn to the great truth which they had so lightly cast aside.\n\n**The Later Dispensations.**  The first apostasy culminated in the\nflood, which was sent because of the violence of the first apostasy\nand the corruption of men. As far as known, only Noah and his\nimmediate family were preserved. In them, however, was represented all\nthe blood of the world. To the new race Noah explained fully that the\nflood was due, entirely, to the wicked hardness of the hearts of the\npeople, and their refusal to accept eternal truth or to respect the\nauthority of God, and that it was necessary, should calamity be\navoided, to live in accordance with the Great Plan. To them all, the\nGospel was taught in its purity. Nevertheless, it was only a short\ntime before apostasy again occurred among many. The free agency of man\ncan not be curbed. Yet, probably, there has not been, since the flood,\nsuch utter corruption as prevailed during the first apostasy.\n\nFrom the days of the flood, God or his messengers have appeared on\nearth, at various times, to restore the truth or to keep it alive in\nthe hearts of the faithful, so that man might possess a full knowledge\nof the Gospel and that the earth might never need to be without the\nstory of the Great Plan and the authority of the Priesthood. For\ninstance, Melchizedek, the high priest, possessed a full measure of\nthe authority of the holy priesthood. To Abraham, God and his angels\nappeared, and endowed him with the authority of God. So on, down the\ncourse of time, there are numerous instances of the appearance of God\nto men to help the children of men to a perfect understanding of the\ngreat truths that must be understood and obeyed, if men are to\ncontinue in their progressive development. It is not known how many\nmen and women at various times have received such visitations, but it\nis probable that hosts of men and women at various times, even when\nthe Church has not been organized, have received and used the truth of\nlife as embodied in the Great Plan.\n\n**The Dispensation of the Meridian of Time.**  In the course of human\nhistory and in accordance with the Great Plan, Jesus the Son of God,\nappeared on earth, to atone for the act of Adam and Eve, who \"fell\"\nthat men might be. This is called the dispensation of the meridian of\ntime. Jesus did live on earth, and gave his life so that mortal bodies\nmay rise from the grave and pass into an eternal existence, beyond the\nreach of corruption. During the sojourn of Jesus on earth, he devoted\nhimself to a restatement of the Gospel, including the story of the\npast and the present and the hope of the future. At no time since the\ndays of Adam, had the Gospel been so fully taught and made so simply\nclear to the understanding as in the days of Jesus. Under the\nteachings of the Savior, the Church was re-established in order and\ncompleteness.\n\n**The Great Apostasy.**  After the ascension of Jesus, the Church\nremained, for some time, fully organized. Thousands flocked to it, and\nthe people lived in accordance with the doctrines taught by the\nSavior. Soon, however, history repeated itself. In the right of their\nfree agency, men refused, in many cases, to obey the laws and\nordinances of the Gospel, and more often changed them to suit their\nown convenience. Such departures from the truth became more numerous\nand more flagrant as time wore on, until error permeated the whole\nChurch. At last, about six hundred years after Christ, the Gospel laws\nand ordinances had become so completely warped that it was as if the\nChurch had departed from the earth. The authority of the Priesthood no\nlonger remained with the Church. This was the great apostasy. From\nthat time, complete darkness reigned for many centuries. In those\ndays, however, many honest men could see that the truth was not upon\nthe earth, and hoped that the simple principles of the Gospel might\nagain be correctly practiced by man. Among such men were Luther and\nmany others, who used their best endeavors to show the people that\nerror ruled. At last many were awakened, and the days of the\nReformation began. The Reformation was a period of preparation for the\nlast restoration of the Gospel on earth. Many years were required\nbefore the darkness of centuries could be lifted from the souls of\nmen.\n\n**The Restoration.**  Finally, as men broke through the darkness, as\nintelligence became diffused among all men, and as liberality of\nthought grew and became respected, the world was ready for the eternal\ntruth. Again the Gospel was restored with the authority of the\nPriesthood and the organization of the Church. On an early spring day,\nin the year 1820, in the woods of western New York, God the Father,\nand God the Son, appeared to a fourteen-year-old boy named Joseph\nSmith, who had faithfully asked for divine help. Through the\ninstrumentality of this boy, guided constantly by God, the Church was\nre-established, the authority of the Priesthood again conferred upon\nmany men, and a fulness of knowledge pertaining to man's place in the\nuniverse offered to all who would listen. In time the Church was\norganized precisely as was the primitive Church, and more fully than\nat any other time in the history of the world. This was the great\nrestoration.\n\n**The Vital Facts.**  The Gospel was fully taught to the first man,\nwho in turn taught it to others. The Church was organized from the\nbeginning. As apostasy dimmed men's knowledge of the Gospel and\nundermined the Church, the full truth was repeatedly restored. At\nleast four times has a complete statement of the Great Plan been made\nto the people of the earth--at the time of Adam, of Noah, of Jesus\nChrist and of Joseph Smith. Consequently, the Gospel has been on the\nearth and within the reach of men practically during the whole course\nof the earth's history. The fundamental truths of the Great Plan were\ntaught to Father Adam and since that time have been scattered\nbroadcast over the earth. This wide dissemination of the truth, in all\nages, explains the fact that practically every life philosophy\nproposed by man contains some of the truths of the Gospel. In every\nsystem of theology and in every sect there is a certain measure of\ntruth, for all have drawn from the one fountain. All, no doubt, seek\nfor truth, and believe that they have found it; but, in fact, they\nhave only fragments, picked up here and there and worked into a\nsystem. The full truth must encompass the complete philosophy of man\nand the universe, including the authority to act for God in the\nworking out of the Plan. Those who thus accept the whole Plan,\nconstitute the Church of Christ. In the churches of the world there is\nmuch of truth and consequently none is wholly wrong, though at times\nthe truth has been so warped that it appears worse than untruth. In\nthe matter of full truth, and of authority, however, do the Church and\nits imitators differ absolutely. There can be no duplicate set of\ntruth, and no double seat of authority.\n\nIt is clear that free agency, for which the heavenly battle was waged,\nis in full operation upon the earth. At first sight it may seem that\nLucifer's plan would have been best, for by it all men, in spite of\nthemselves, would have been given the earth-experience and kept in the\nrighteous path that leads to salvation. Yet, the origin of man, and\nthe doctrine that he can advance only by self-effort, make it\nunthinkable that he should allow himself to be, as it were,\nblindfolded and then compellingly directed by some greater power. Men\nare directed, no doubt, by beings of higher intelligence, but in that\ndirecting our wills must be allowed to play their part. There can be\nno real satisfaction, if it were possible, in advancement which has\nbeen forced upon man Lucifer's plan was impossible.\n\nIt must also be remembered, that men are not necessarily evil because\nthey do not accept the Gospel. Some find it impossible to understand\nthe truth because their hearts are so set upon other things, and\nothers have been led by their free agency in one direction, whereas\nthe Gospel would lead them in another. Nevertheless, though men are\nnot evil because they refuse to accept the Gospel, they retard\nthemselves of necessity, when they fail to obey the law; and thereby\nthey invite upon themselves the punishment that comes without fail\nto all who are not in full harmony with the great, controlling\nuniversal laws.\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND GOD.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 12.\n\nTHE GODS OF THIS EARTH.\n\n\nThe conception of a universe directed by a God of intelligence can not\ninclude a God of mystery. In mystery there is only confusion. It does\nnot follow that because he is not mysterious he is fully comprehended.\nIn our general conception of God, his origin, his destiny, and his\nrelation to us, we understand him clearly; but, in the details of his\norganization, powers and knowledge he transcends our understanding.\nIntelligent man dwelling in a universe containing many superior\nintelligent beings will often find need of the help that higher\nintelligence only can give. Earth-bound as we are, we need a close\nacquaintance with the God who shapes the destinies of men. The better\nGod is known, the better may the eternal truths we learn be applied in\nour daily lives.\n\n**The Order of Gods.**  God has had no beginning and will have no end.\nFrom the first, by the exercise of his will, he has constantly\nacquired new knowledge and thereby new power. Because of the wisdom\nwhich he has gained, and the love thereby begotten for the unnumbered\nhosts of striving intelligent beings, he formulated the plan which\nwill lead them readily and correctly in the way of continued\nprogression. In so far as man accepts the plan of salvation he is\nbeing educated by God, to become even as God is. God and man are of\nthe same race, differing only in their degrees of advancement. True,\nto our finite minds, God is infinitely beyond our stage of progress.\nNevertheless, man is of the order of Gods, else he cannot know God.\n\n**Plurality of Gods.**  Since innumerable intelligent beings are\nmoving onward in development, there must be some in almost every\nconceivable stage of development. If intelligent beings, far\ntranscending the understanding of man, be called Gods, there must be\nmany Gods. God, angel and similar terms denote merely intelligent\nbeings of varying degree of development. The thought, however, that\nthere is a plurality of gods and other beings of varying grades, is a\nthought of fundamental truth, which may be applied in every-day life,\nfor it gives the assurance that it is possible for all, by self-effort\nand by gradual steps, to attain the highest conceivable power.\n\nA division of labor is necessary among men on earth, and it is only\nreasonable that a similar division of labor may exist in all\nintelligent systems. The conception of a community of men may be\napplied to the community of heavenly beings. In the community of men,\ndifferent men have different duties; so, perhaps, on an exalted scale,\nthe gods are organized with a perfected division of labor.\n\n**God, the Father.**  God, the Father, the greatest God concerned in\nour progression, is the supreme God. He is the Father of our spirits.\nHe is the being of highest intelligence with whom we deal. To our\nsenses and understanding he is as perfection. In his fulness he can\nnot be fathomed by the human mind, and it is, indeed, useless for man\nto attempt to define in detail the great intelligent beings of the\nuniverse. God, the Father, the supreme God, has gone through every\nphase of the Great Plan, which we are working out. Therefore, he has\nhad our experiences or their equivalents, and understands from his own\nexperience the difficulties of our journey. His love for us is an\nunderstanding love. Our earth troubles we may lay fully before him,\nknowing that he understands how human hearts are touched by the\ntribulations and the joys of life.\n\nGod, the Father, the supreme God of whom we have knowledge, is the\ngreatest intelligence in the infinite universe, since he is infinite\nin all matters pertaining to us and transcends wholly our\nunderstanding in his power and wisdom. We know no greater God than the\nomniscient, omnipotent Father.\n\n**God, the Son.**  With the Father is associated his only begotten Son\non earth, Jesus Christ, who came on earth and submitted himself to a\npainful and ignoble death so that all men might be raised from the\ngrave with the body of flesh and bones made indestructible and\neverlasting. Because of the central position occupied by Jesus in the\nGreat Plan, he is essentially the God of this earth. He, also, is\nbeyond our understanding, he sits on the right hand of the Father, and\nis one with the Father in all that pertains to the welfare of the\nhuman race. To us he is perfect, possessing all the attributes of the\nFather. Whether he is as far advanced as the Father is an idle\nquestion, since he surpasses our understanding. In all matters\npertaining to the earth, the Son is the agent of the Father. Through\nhim the will of the Father pertaining to this earth is given. All our\ncommunications with the Father are made in the name of the Son, so\nthat they may be properly authorized. This is in simple accord with\nthe order that prevails in the heavens and that should prevail\neverywhere on earth.\n\n**God, the Holy Ghost.**  The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost\nconstitute the Godhead, or Trinity of Gods, guiding the destinies of\nmen on earth. God, the Holy Ghost, is a personage of spirit, who\npossesses special functions which have not yet been clearly revealed.\nWe know that this member of the Godhead is a knowledge-giver and an\ninspirer of all that is great and noble and desirable, and that his\nfunctions in the Godhead are indispensable to the welfare of man.\n\n**Other Beings.**  Many other intelligent beings, superior to us, no\ndoubt take part in the work of man on earth. There are angels and\nspirits who no doubt have assigned to them the care of the men and\nwomen who walk upon the earth. Man is not alone; he walks in the midst\nof such heavenly company, from whom he may expect help if he seek it\nstrongly. A plan for the schooling of intelligent spirits, walking in\nsemi-darkness through the acquiescence of beings of higher\nintelligence, must of a certainty include such continuous though\ninvisible help.\n\n**Sex Among the Gods.**  Sex, which is indispensable on this earth for\nthe perpetuation of the human race, is an eternal quality which has\nits equivalent everywhere. It is indestructible. The relationship\nbetween men and women is eternal and must continue eternally. In\naccordance with the Gospel philosophy there are males and females in\nheaven. Since we have a Father who is our God, we must also have a\nmother, who possesses the attributes of Godhood. This simply carries\nonward the logic of things earthly, and conforms with the doctrine\nthat whatever is on this earth, is simply a representation of great\nspiritual conditions, of deeper meaning than we can here fathom.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 13.\n\nMAN'S COMMUNION WITH GOD.\n\n\nMan is not left to himself on the face of the earth. Though his memory\nhas been taken away, he will not be allowed to drift unwatched and\nunassisted through the journey on earth. At the best, man is only a\nstudent who often needs the assistance of a teacher. It is\nindispensable, therefore, to know how communication may be established\nby man with intelligent beings wherever they may be.\n\n**The Will to Ask.**  The first of the fundamental principles by which\nman may confer with God, is that man must show his desire to receive,\nby asking for help. Man has the right to reject whatever is offered\nhim; in the midst of plenty he may refuse to eat. Therefore, whatever\na man gains from the surrounding wisdom is initiated either by a\npetition or by a receptive attitude which is equivalent to a request.\nUnless a man ask, he is in no condition to receive, and ordinarily\nnothing is given him. On extraordinary occasions, when God uses a man\nto accomplish his purposes, something may be given without the\ninitiatory prayer, but such gifts are rarely of value to the man\nhimself. To get help from without, a man must ask for it. That is the\nlaw. History confirms this doctrine. Adam prayed to God and the angel\ncame to explain the plan of salvation. Joseph Smith, the latter-day\nrestorer of the Gospel, prayed in the grove and the Father and the Son\nappeared. It is unnatural to believe that gifts are given without\nprayer. That the answer is often overwhelmingly greater than the\nexpressed desire, is only a sign of the love of the Giver, and does\nnot remove the necessity of asking, as the first step in obtaining\nwhat a person desires. It is probable that no request, addressed to a\nbeing of superior intelligence, is refused. However, the answer comes\nat a time and place not predetermined by man.\n\n**By Personal Appearance.**  In answer to prayer, God may appear\npersonally. There is no physical or spiritual reason why God should\nnot appear to his children in person whenever he so desires. In fact,\nsacred history indicates that God appeared to Adam in the Garden of\nEden, to Abraham in the Holy Land, to Moses on the mountain, to Joseph\nin the sacred grove, and to many others at various times during the\nearth's history. Likewise, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived upon\nthis earth and walked and talked with men. To limit the powers of God\nby saying that he cannot or will not now appear to man, is to make him\na creature of less power than is possessed by man.\n\n**By the Visitation of Angels.**  The will of God may be transmitted\nto man by visible representatives who are beings of a lower degree of\nintelligence. Angels have frequently visited men and brought to them\ndivine messages concerning their own affairs or the affairs of the\nworld. After Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, an angel came\nand laid before him the philosophy of man's existence. Similarly,\nangels appeared to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph Smith and\nnumerous others, many of which are not recorded in history. These\nvivid personages, intelligent beings vastly superior to man, knowing\nwell the laws of nature and therefore able to control them, may be\nwith man, though they are not seen with the natural eye. Most probably\nwe walk in the midst of such invisible intelligent spirits. The\ndevelopment from the earth-journey comes largely from the self-efforts\nof man, who, apparently, must depend upon himself. If at will he could\nbring to his aid visible, supernatural beings, to tide him over his\ndifficulties, his need of self-development and self-dependence would\nbecome very small, and the man would not grow strong.\n\n**By the Holy Spirit.**  God is a personal being of body--a body\nlimited in extent. He cannot, therefore, at a given moment be\npersonally everywhere. Time and space surround him as they surround\nus. It is difficult to believe that God can in person answer the\nnumberless petitions reaching his throne. Nevertheless, it is known\ndistinctly that God, by his power, will and word is everywhere\npresent. It is almost as difficult to believe that, in spite of the\nhosts of heavenly beings, personal administrations are possible in the\ngreat majority of the countless petitions to God. God must be,\ntherefore, in possession of other agencies whereby his will may be\ntransmitted at his pleasure to the uttermost confines of space. The\nchief agent employed by God to communicate his will to the universe is\nthe holy spirit, which must not be confused with the Holy Ghost, the\npersonage who is the third member of the Godhead. The holy spirit\npermeates all the things of the universe, material and spiritual. By\nthe holy spirit the will of God is transmitted. It forms what may be\ncalled the great wireless system of communication among the\nintelligent beings of the universe. The holy spirit vibrates with\nintelligence; it takes up the word and will of God as given by him or\nby his personal agents, and transmits the message to the remotest\nparts of space. By the intelligent domination and infinite extent of\nthe holy spirit, the whole universe is held together and made as one\nwhole. By its means there is no remoteness into which intelligent\nbeings may escape the dominating will of God. By the holy spirit, God\nis always with us, and \"is nearer than breathing, and nearer than\nhands and feet.\" The intelligent earthly manifestations of the holy\nspirit are commonly spoken of as the natural forces. It is conceivable\nthat the thunders and the lightnings, the movements of the heavenly\nbodies, the ebb and flow of the oceans, and all the phenomena known to\nman, are only manifestations of the will of God as transmitted and\nspread by the measureless, inexhaustible, infinite, all-conducting\nholy spirit.\n\nBy the holy spirit, which fills every person, man may obtain\ninformation from God. By its means come the messages which transcend\nthe ordinary methods of acquiring knowledge. By it man may readily\ncommunicate with God, or God with him. When a person utters his prayer\nin faith it is impressed upon the holy spirit, and transmitted, so\nthat God may read the man's desire.\n\nThis doctrine of a rational theology has been duplicated in a modest\nway by the development of wireless telegraphy. According to science,\nthe universe is filled with a subtle substance called the ether, on\nthe waves of which the message is spread throughout the universe to be\ntaken up by any person who has the proper receiving apparatus.\n\n**The Eternal Record.**  So thoroughly permeated with the holy spirit\nis the immensity of space that every act and word and thought is\nrecorded and transmitted everywhere, so that all who know how to read\nmay read. Thus we make an imperishable record of our lives. To those\nwhose lives are ordered well this is a blessed conception; but to\nthose of wicked lives, it is most terrible. He who has the receiving\napparatus, in whose hands the key is held, may read from the record of\nthe holy spirit, an imperishable history of all that has occurred\nduring the ages that have passed in the world's history. This solemn\nthought, that in the bosom of the holy spirit is recorded all that\npertains to the universe--our most secret thought and our faintest\nhope--helps man to walk steadily in the midst of the contending\nappeals of his life. We can not hide from the Master.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 14.\n\nMAN WALKS WITH GOD.\n\n\nThe knowledge of means of communication between man and God is of\ngreat help to man in all the affairs of his life.\n\n**Reading God's Message.**  In possession of the holy spirit is a\nrecord of the will of God with respect to all things and all\noccurrences, great or small, in the universe from the first day. The\nbig problem of man is to read the message of God as it is held by the\nholy spirit. In wireless telegraphy, a spark coil sets up waves in the\nether and other coils similarly \"tuned,\" receive the waves anywhere in\nthe universe. In wireless telegraphy the all-important thing is that\nthe transmitting and receiving instruments be tuned alike, for only\nthen may the message be read. The same principle holds with the holy\nspirit. The giver and the receiver must be \"tuned\" alike, that is,\nmust be in harmony, if the messages are to pass readily and\nunderstandingly from one to the other. The clearness of the message\ndepends wholly upon the degree to which this tuning approaches perfect\nharmony.\n\n**Spirit Blindness.**  There are many who, walking among vast\nspiritual forces, yet feel themselves wholly alone. They do not have\nthe assurance that there is something or someone near them which may\nnot be known by the ordinary judgment of the senses, yet which may be\nknown by man. These persons are so untuned as to be unable to\nunderstand the messages of the holy spirit. Many will not be brought\ninto an understanding harmony with the holy spirit; others merely find\nit so hard to be brought into tune with the infinite that they would\nrather be without the messages than to do the necessary labor of\nacquiring harmonious relations with the holy spirt. Those who can not\nfeel and in part commune with the holy spirit, are blind to the larger\npart of the universe, which lies outside of the circumscribed world,\nswept by our immediate senses. In terms of the unseen forces will the\nearth at last be cleared of all its mystery. In yesterday and tomorrow\nshall today be glorified. The eternal concern of man will be, as it\nhas been, to secure an understanding knowledge of all the forces of\nspace. They, therefore, who cannot on this earth possess a direct\nassurance of the existence and assistance of the great unseen world,\nare indeed spiritually blind, and much to be pitied.\n\n**Prayer.**  As already stated, all communication between man and a\nhigher intelligent Being must be initiated by a request from the man.\nThus, the place of prayer in the life of man is at once established.\nPrayer is a request for further light, protection, or whatever else is\ndesired. Prayer is the first and greatest means of reading God's\nmessages, for by intense prayer man gradually places himself in tune\nwith the infinite so far as his request is concerned. Those who do not\nask, naturally do not establish an understanding relationship with the\nunseen world, and no message appears. The Being of higher\nintelligence, to whom the request is directed, may or may not grant\nthe prayer, but some answer will be given. Prayer has been said to be\n\"the soul's sincere desire.\" Only when it is such will the highest\nanswer be obtained, and it is doubtful if such a prayer is ever\nrefused. No prayer is unheard. The place and time of prayer are of\nless importance. Morning, noon and night, prayer is always fitting.\nHowever, it is well to be orderly, and to beget habits of prayer, and\ncertain hours of the day should therefore be set aside for prayer,\nboth in private and in the family. Frequent and regular prayer helps\nto remind man of his dependence on a Being of higher intelligence in\naccomplishing the great work of his heart. A man should pray always;\nhis heart should be full of prayer; he should walk in prayer. Answers\nwill then be heard as God pleases. Seldom is a man greater than his\nprivate prayers.\n\n**Active Prayer.**  To become properly tuned with the guiding\nintelligent Being, one must not pray in a stereotyped way. A man must\ngive himself to the matter devotedly desired, in the form of prayer,\nand then support it with all his works. Prayer is active and not\npassive. If a thing is wanted a man must try to secure it. Then, as a\nman devotes all of himself to the matter of the prayer, his attitude\nbecomes such as to make him susceptible to the answer when it shall be\nsent. Prayer may be said to be the soul's whole desire.\n\n**The Gift of Understanding.**  Every now and then a man is found who\nseems to possess a knowledge above that of his fellow men. Knowledge\nis gained by tremendous self-effort, and the men who know most are\nusually those who have exerted themselves most to learn. However, it\nis well known that those who have given themselves with all their\nmight to a certain study, often have great flashes of insight, whereby\nthey leap as it were from knowledge to knowledge, until their progress\nbecomes tremendously rapid, compared with that of ordinary men.\n\nThis means of acquiring knowledge may be compared crudely with the\nswitch of an electric lighting system. When the switch is out, though\nthe great dynamo in the canyon mouth hammer and generate its\nelectricity, there is no flow of current through the city system and\nall is darkness. Yet a man, with a slight effort, can raise the switch\nand connect the wires, thereby flooding the city with light. The\nresult appears to be infinitely greater than the cause. Thus, those\nwho by great effort build up systems of truth often reach a place\nwhere by relatively little effort a flood of new light may be thrown\nupon the subject to which the mind has given itself. That is one of\nthe compensations to those who strive with all their might for the\nmastery of any subject. This power becomes the gift of understanding,\nwhich may come to all who study deeply.\n\nThe gift of understanding is the result of the operation of the holy\nspirit. The holy spirit which is in communication with the whole\nuniverse, is in a measure subject to those who give themselves\ndevotedly and with all their heart to any righteous matter. It is one\nof the most precious of gifts, and one that should be sought after by\nall men, because by its aid, the chance for development is greatly\nincreased.\n\n**Man Walks with God.**  Literally, then, through the assistance of\nthe mighty and all-pervading holy spirit, man is, indeed, always in\nthe presence of God and his agencies. From this point of view man is\nimmersed in the light and power of Godliness. He, who by earnest\nprayer, close attention, and noble desires seeks the intelligence\nabove and about him is not alone. He walks hand in hand with\nintelligent beings and draws from them the power that he does not of\nhimself possess. In times of need such a man may reach into the black\nunknown and bring out hope, born of high knowledge.\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND THE DEVIL.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 15.\n\nTHE KINGDOM OF THE EVIL ONE.\n\n\nIf there is progression, there may also be retrogression; if there is\ngood, there may be evil. Everything has its opposite.\n\n**Descending Beings.**  In a universe containing eternal, intelligent,\npersonalities possessing free agency, there may be beings who are in\nopposition to the general law of progress. In fact, such opposing\nintelligent spirits or men have always and everywhere been found.\nNaturally, those who devote themselves to the opposition of law are\nwaging a hopeless battle, and lose their strength as time goes on.\nNevertheless, since many of them have acquired great knowledge before\nthey turn against the truth, they may long continue active in their\nopposition to righteousness. The final end of such beings is not\nknown. As they are eternal, it is doubtful if they can ever fully\ndestroy themselves. Nevertheless, as they oppose law, they will at\nlast shrivel up and become as if they were not. Beings who would stand\nin the way of progress, also use the forces of the universe, as best\nthey can, and must be considered, in the ordering of life, whether in\nor out of the earth.\n\n**The Devil.**  The number of descending spirits in the universe is\nnot known. In fact, little is known about the whole matter, which\nprobably is for the good of man. The scant knowledge that we have,\ncomes largely from the account of the Great Council. One of the great\nspirits there present, proposed to save men without the use of their\nfree agency. When he and his numerous followers failed to secure the\nadoption of this plan they left the Council, and set themselves\nthenceforth against the plan adopted by the majority. The leader in\nthis rebellion was Lucifer, said to be a prince of the morning, who,\nundoubtedly, through much diligence, had acquired a high position\namong the spirits. Even those of high degree may fall. No man is sure\nof himself, unless from day to day he can keep the germ of opposition\nfrom settling within his breast.\n\nLucifer and his followers, who fell from the Great Council, are the\ndevil and his angels, possessing definite wills and free agencies, who\nare still continuing the battle that originated in the heavens. The\nfundamental conceptions of eternalism, including eternal beings, make\nreasonable the existence of a personal devil, with personal agents,\nwhose indestructible wills are used to oppose the Great Plan through\nadherence to which man entered upon his earth career.\n\n**Man and the Devil.**  In a measure, God and all other intelligent\nbeings are affected by the active will of man. If man wills not to be\nhelped by God, it is difficult for God to send him divine help. Even\nso, in the face of the will of man, the devil has little or no power.\nIt is only when man so wills that he hears fully the voice of God; and\nit is only when man so wills that he hears the message of the devil.\nThe doctrine that a request must initiate the gift is as true in the\nrelationship that may be established between man and the devil as\nbetween man and God. God sends his messages throughout the universe;\nso does the devil as far as his knowledge permits him. However, the\nmessages of the evil one need not be heard unless man so desires. In\nreality, therefore, man does not need to fear the evil one. He is not\na force that can work harm, unless man places himself under the\nsubjection of evil; but, if the devil be allowed a hearing, he may\nbecome the master of the man, and lead him downward on the road of\nretrogression.\n\n**The Devil Subject to God.**  Though the free agency of man is\nsupreme with respect to himself, under the direction of a perfected\nintelligence, it must not interfere with the free agencies of others.\nThis law holds for all ascending or descending intelligent beings. For\nthat reason the devil is subject to God, and is allowed to operate\nonly if he keeps within well-defined limits. He can suggest ways of\niniquity, but he cannot force men to obey his evil designs. A man who\nsincerely desires to walk in righteousness need have no fear of the\ndevil.\n\nBy the knowledge of opposites, man may draw conclusions of\nfar-reaching importance in his course of progression. The operations\nof the devil and his powers may, therefore, serve some good in giving\ncontrasts for man's guidance. This does not mean that it is necessary\nfor man to accept the suggestions of the evil one, or to commit evil\nto know truth. On the contrary, every rational impulse resents the\nthought that a man must know sin so that he may know righteousness\nbetter. Unfortunately, the works of the evil one may be plentifully\nobserved in the world, among those who have forsaken the Great Plan\nand the path of progression.\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND THE CHURCH.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 16.\n\nWHY A CHURCH?\n\n\nThose who believe in the Great Plan form the community known as the\nChurch. Many men, who have given the subject only superficial study,\nfind it difficult to understand why a church should be necessary.\n\n**Man Helped by God on Earth.**  It was not intended, in the plan of\nsalvation, that man, though in forgetfulness, should wander alone and\nhelpless through the earth. Rather was it intended and made necessary\nthat men should gain experience by actual contact and contest with the\nearth and earthly forces, under the watchful care of beings of\nsuperior intelligence, who would help as demanded by man's free\nagency. In an intelligent world it could not well be otherwise. In\nfact, without the help of superior intelligence, the earth would be\nchaotic instead of orderly. The Great Plan is founded on intelligence,\nguided by a God of intelligence, and has for its purpose greater\nintelligence.\n\nAvenues of communion with God have been pointed out, but many men are\nimpervious to divine messages and need earthly help to understand the\nwill of God. The Church, the community of persons with the same\nintelligent faith and desire, is the organized agency through which\nGod deals with his children, and through which such help may be given\nman. Through the Church, God's mind may be read by all, at least with\nrespect to the Church community. Moreover, the authority to act for\nGod must be vested somewhere on earth. The Church holds this authority\nfor the use of man. Besides, it is the common law of the universe that\nwhen intelligent beings are organized, as of one body, they progress\nfaster, individually and collectively. The Church as an organization\nrepresents God on earth and is the official means of communication\nbetween men and God.\n\n**The Plan of Salvation for All.**  In the Great Council the\nearth-career was planned for all the spirits there assembled who\naccepted the Plan. The earth and whatever pertains to it, are for all\nand not for the one or the few. This means that man must not go\nthrough his earth-life independently, doing as he pleases, living\napart from his fellowmen and accepting the Great Plan in his own way.\nBy his own free agency he became a member of the hosts of the earth,\nand by his own promise, given in the Great Council, he must live in\naccordance with definite rules to be enforced by God. The Church is\nthe community of those who, having accepted the Plan, desire unitedly\nto work out their mutual salvation under the settled authority of God.\n\nThe purpose of the Great Plan can not be wholly fulfilled until all\nhave heard the Gospel. The Church as a body undertakes to carry out\nthis purpose. Only when the Church is not organized on earth, may\nindividuals who know the Great Plan, stand alone; but even in such\ncase it is the bounden duty of those having the knowledge, to give\nthemselves to the converting of others, so that the Church may be\norganized.\n\n**Orderliness.**  If each intelligent being placed on this earth, were\nto lead an independent life and deal independently with his God,\nrelative to all matters concerning him, many of which would of\nnecessity involve others, there would soon be disorder among humanity.\nIt has been found desirable in all earthly affairs to organize so that\norder may prevail. By the organization known as a church all things\nmay be done in order. Chaos is abhorrent to the intelligent mind.\n\n**Test of Attitude.**  There is yet another reason for the\norganization of a church. The plan of salvation is one founded in\nintelligence. Man must accept and live its laws and ordinances\nintelligently. The Church, by his adherence to these laws and\nordinances, gives a man a means of testing himself as to his attitude\ntowards the whole Plan. Whatever is done in life somehow connects\nitself with the Church. A Church which separates itself from the\nactual, daily life of the man does not acknowledge the essential unity\nof the universe and is not founded on man's intelligent conceptions of\nthe constitution of the universe. The Church, therefore, must possess\na system of laws the compliance with which will enable a man or his\nfellows to test his progress and spiritual condition, which, in turn,\nwill be a guide for his future work. It would be difficult for a man\nto apply such tests to himself if he stands alone, away from his\nfellow men and making laws for himself to fit his apparent needs.\n\n**Authority.**  There is much to be done for man and by man during the\nearth-career. Every day brings its problems; laws are to be enforced;\nordinances to be performed, and God must communicate with his earthly\nchildren. Much of this work involves authority, which must be settled\nsomewhere if order is to prevail. The authority to act for God is\ncommitted to the Church, as the organized community of believers, and,\nindeed, authority is a distinguishing characteristic of the Church.\nEvery man has or may receive authority to act in his own behalf in\nmany matters, but to exercise authority in behalf of others, requires\nthe kind of authority which God has delegated to the Church. Some form\nof authority from God is necessary in all our work, and the earthly\nsource of God's authority is the Church, organized by the supreme,\nintelligent God.\n\n**The Great Purpose of the Church.**  Finally, the plan of eternal\nprogress involves every living soul who comes upon earth. To the\nChurch is committed the great task of keeping alive this Plan and of\ncarrying it to all the nations. Those who have accepted the truth must\nbe kept active; those who have not accepted it must be taught; all\nmust hear it; even for the dead must the essential ordinances be\nperformed. The Church, then, is a great missionary organization. This,\nof itself, justifies, the existence of the Church, for it is\nimprobable that any individual would or could undertake the conversion\nof all the people to eternal truth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 17.\n\nCONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP.\n\n\nMembers of the Church must necessarily accept the conceptions for\nwhich it stands. These are, essentially, the plan of salvation, the\nprogressive development of all spirits concerned in the Plan, and the\nauthority of a supreme intelligent Being, to deal with the men and\nwomen placed on earth. The conditions of membership are not many, nor\ndifficult to understand. They are, rather, of a kind naturally\nappearing before an intelligent being concerned in any organization.\n\n**Faith.**  All who enter the Church, or accept the Great Plan must,\nas a first condition, possess the faith which has been defined as \"the\nsubstance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.\" In\nother words, they must first acknowledge the existence in the universe\nof things and powers that may not be sensed directly, but which may be\nused to accomplish the purposes of man. Such an attitude is required\nto admit the existence of a God or a plan of salvation. Such a faith\nyields to man a comprehensive possession of the universe, and may\nestablish a philosophy of life that conforms to every law of nature.\nThe man who has no such faith stands before the plan of salvation as\nbefore a sealed book. He can not open it, nor opened, can he read it.\nA faith that admits the universe, seen and unseen, enables man to\naccomplish great things; in fact, all who have done the great labor of\nthe world, have had such a faith. The law of faith is a general law.\n\nFaith is not necessarily removed from the ordinary experiences of\nlife. On the contrary it is the beginning of all knowledge. Man\nobserves the phenomena of nature, classifies and groups them until he\nreaches great general laws representing many individual phenomena. By\nthe use of such laws, reasoning from the known to the unknown, laws\nmay be inferred, the existence of which cannot be sensed directly. By\nthis method of using human knowledge, man rapidly becomes aware of the\ncertainty of the great universe that lies around him but beyond his\nimmediate ken. Moreover, and possibly of chief importance, such\ninferred but certain knowledge makes man confident that he can\ncontinue forever in the acquisition of knowledge and power, and it\nthus becomes a help in every duty of life.\n\n**Repentance.**  Another fundamental requirement of those who enter\nthe Church is repentance. This is also self-evident, for if man is\nconvinced of the correctness of a certain procedure, that is, if he\nhas faith in it, he certainly will use that faith, if it is to become\nof any value to him. An active faith is repentance. It is commonly\nfelt that repentance is only the turning away from evil practices. It\nis probably just as important for man to act out the good he learns as\nto refrain from doing evil. Repentance, then, is not merely negative;\nit is also positive. This also is a general law. Great work can be\ndone by those only who have faith and who put that faith into action.\n\n**Baptism.**  The third requirement of those who desire entrance into\nthe Church is baptism. The candidate for baptism, presenting himself\nto one who has authority from Jesus Christ, is buried in the water and\ntaken out again, as a symbol of the death and resurrection, the\natoning sacrifice, and the conquest over death, of the Savior. The\nordinance of baptism, as far as man is concerned, is essentially an\nacknowledgment of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, a promise of\nobedience to the requirements of the Great Plan, and the acceptance of\ndivine authority. Baptism is also a principle of general application,\nfor in whatever pursuit a man may be engaged, whether in or out of the\nChurch, he must first have faith in the work he has to do, then\nrepent, in the sense of putting his faith into action and, finally, he\nmust give obedience to the laws involved in the work.\n\n**The Gift of the Holy Ghost.**  The fourth condition of Church\nmembership, which is in the nature of a result of the three first\nrequirements, is that the candidate receive the gift of the Holy\nGhost. This is accomplished when one having authority places his hands\non the head of the candidate, confirms him a member of the Church, and\nsays, \"Receive the Holy Ghost.\" This establishes an authoritative\nconnection between man and God, the Holy Ghost, by which it is\npossible to secure, through the active support of the Holy Ghost, more\nlight and power and confidence than man may secure unaided. Every man\nborn into the world has life by the holy spirit and may, through its\noperations, and his own self-effort, be in communication with all\nother intelligent beings in the universe; but, only those who conform\nto the first ordinances of the Gospel are connected officially with\nthe powers of the Holy Ghost in such a way as to secure added help. A\ndistinct and real power conies to the individual who has received the\nHoly Ghost. It is as if he had been given a key to a great and\nwonderful building which he enters at his pleasure. However, the key\nmay be kept unused; then the gift has been of no value. Man must draw\nupon the Holy Ghost, if the gift shall be real. The gift of the Holy\nGhost also represents a general law, for it is evident that all who\nhave faith made active by repentance, and have shown obedience by\nbaptism, will be in such harmony with intelligent forces as to receive\ngreat light from them if desired or needed.\n\n**Continued Conformity.**  It is not sufficient that a man secure\nentrance into the Church by compliance with the first four principles\nof the Gospel. After he has attained membership he must become active\nin the practice of the laws which constitute the body of Church\ndoctrine, and which are quite as important as the fundamental ones\npreceding entrance. Passivity will not suffice; activity only\nconstitutes an unqualified membership in the Church. The man will be\n\"in tune\" with the work only when he lives out daily the principles of\nthe Great Plan. This is self-evident, moreover, because the Church has\nthe mission of bringing the Gospel to the understanding of all men on\nearth, and unless the members of the Church are active in missionary\nwork, they will not acquire the full spirit of the Church.\nUnselfishness should characterize the members of the Church.\n\n**Acceptance of Authority.**  The conditions of membership here\nmentioned are all vital. Nevertheless, in addition to them, candidates\nfor admission to the Church must acknowledge the full authority of the\nChurch as a divine institution, to which has been committed, by God,\nthe authority to act for him in all matters pertaining to the plan of\nsalvation. Without this authority, the Church is no more than any\nman-made institution. The acceptance of authority means that all the\nlaws of the Gospel must be obeyed, by every member. The law cannot be\nvaried for individuals, to please their fancies or supposed needs.\nThis is clearly brought out by the historical fact that Adam, after he\nhad been taught and had accepted the Gospel, was baptized, confirmed,\nand received all the ordinances of the Church. Similarly, Jesus, the\nSon of God, began his official labors by being baptized by one having\nauthority. The pattern has been set for all; and it has been followed\nin all dispensations. If men be on the full road of progress they will\ncomply with the laws of membership, and become active in the support\nof the Church and its work.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 18.\n\nTHE PRIESTHOOD OF THE CHURCH.\n\n\nThe Priesthood of the Church differs vitally from that of churches\ncomposed only of fragments of the complete truth.\n\n**Priesthood Defined.**  The Church is composed of eternal,\nintelligent beings, moving onward in eternal progression, who have\naccepted God's plan of salvation. It is God's Church. God directs the\nwork of his children on earth, and he naturally gives attention to the\nChurch. Nevertheless, although God is the directing intelligence, he\nis not here in person, nor are other superior beings sent to take\ncharge of the work, for that would be contrary to the law that through\nhis free agency and by self-effort, man on earth must move onward and\nupward. Therefore, that the earth-work may be done authoritatively,\nGod has delegated the necessary authority to man. The Priesthood is\nsimply the name given this authority. The body of the Priesthood\nconsists of the persons who have received this authority and who may\nact for God, on earth, in matters pertaining to the Church or to\nthemselves. Without authority from God, there can be no Priesthood.\n\n**Divisions of the Priesthood.**  Much work is to be done in the\nChurch, and the work differs greatly, for man's life is complex.\nConsequently, many and varied are the labors that must be directed and\nsupported by the Priesthood. To accomplish the work well, there must\nbe a division of labor--the fundamental characteristic of all orderly\nwork.\n\nThere are two great divisions of the Priesthood, the Aaronic and the\nMelchizedek, each of which possesses special authority. Each of these\ndivisions is again sub-divided. These divisions and subdivisions are\nall necessary for the complete exercise of the Priesthood in the\nChurch.\n\nOne great division of the Priesthood of God, the Aaronic Priesthood,\nis named after Aaron, the brother of Moses, a famous leader in this\npriesthood. It is the Lesser Priesthood, really only an appendage of\nthe Higher or Melchizedek Priesthood. To the Aaronic Priesthood is\nassigned, particularly, the temporal work of the Church, but it also\nhas authority to preach, teach and baptize. The Melchizedek\nPriesthood, named after the great high priest Melchizedek, is the\nhigher division of the Priesthood, and includes the Aaronic\nPriesthood. It holds the keys of spiritual authority and has the right\nto officiate under proper direction in all the affairs of the Church.\nThe subdivisions of these Priesthoods make it possible to group,\nsimply and properly, the duties of the members of the Church.\n\n**The Aaronic Priesthood.**  Those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood\nbelong to one of three ascending groups: the deacon, the teacher, and\nthe priest. The bishop presides over the priest's quorum and is the\npresiding authority of the Aaronic Priesthood. Each group, in addition\nto its own special authority, may, when called upon by proper\nauthority, exercise also the authority of the group below it. The\nmembers of the Aaronic Priesthood are organized in quorums of twelve\ndeacons, twenty-four teachers and forty-eight priests. Each quorum is\npresided over by a president and two counselors, which in the priests'\nquorum are the bishop and his two counselors.\n\n**The Melchizedek Priesthood.**  The Higher Priesthood is\ncharacterized by spiritual authority, the right of presidency and the\npower of officiating in all the work of the Church. There are also\nseveral divisions of this Priesthood but the fundamental authority is\nthe same in all, and each division represents merely a calling in the\nHigher Priesthood. There are five chief groups in this Priesthood; the\nelder, the seventy, the high priest, the apostle, and the patriarch.\nThe elder may officiate when properly called and set apart in any of\nthese groups of the Priesthood, without having conferred upon him any\nfurther Priesthood. The members of the Higher Priesthood are organized\ninto quorums, of 96 elders with a president and two counselors and of\n70 seventies with seven presidents. The quorums of high priests are\nindefinite in number, except administrative quorums, such as the\nTwelve Apostles and the First Presidency.\n\n**All Hold the Priesthood.**  The Church exists to advance the Great\nPlan by which, in the end, every man may live happily on earth and at\nlast enter into great progression. In it there should be no active and\nnon-active members, for all must be active to work out their own\nproper destinies, and to assist in the advancement of the whole Plan.\nAll, therefore, need the authority of the Priesthood to officiate as\nmay be needed in the work of the Church, or in their own behalf. If\nthe work of the Church were delegated to a few members, it would\nprobably be reasonable for a few men to hold the Priesthood. When,\nhowever, every member must or should take upon himself a part of the\nactive work of the Church, it is necessary that every man hold the\nauthority of the Priesthood so that he may authoritatively perform the\nnecessary acts in the propaganda of truth.\n\nIn fact, in the Church, all men who have attained sufficient\nexperience hold or should hold the Priesthood. The young men are\nordained deacons, teachers and priests, and at last elders, when they\npossess all the authority of the Priesthood. They may then receive an\nordination and calling in the Melchizedek Priesthood, such as seventy,\napostle, high priest or patriarch.\n\nWomen enjoy all the endowments and blessings of the Priesthood in\nconnection with their husbands. The family is the basis of society on\nearth, and as there must be organization among intelligent beings,\nsomeone must be spokesman for the family. In the family, the man is\nthe spokesman and presiding authority, and, therefore, the Priesthood\nis bestowed upon him.\n\nIt is clear that there is no Priesthood class in the Church of Jesus\nChrist. The Priesthood belongs to all. This is another distinguishing\nmark of the true Church, which rests its doctrines upon eternal\nprinciples as already outlined. The general possession of the\nPriesthood by all the male members of the Church is only in conformity\nwith the theory of the Gospel, which makes the Plan one of\nintelligent, united effort under the direction of beings of higher\nintelligence, and which declares that the highest individual\nsatisfaction can be obtained only when all other individuals are\nsimultaneously advancing.\n\n**The Power of the Priesthood.**  The Priesthood conferred on man\ncarries with it real power to do effective work in behalf of the plan\nof salvation. Under the normal organization of the Church, when things\nare moving on in the ordained way, there is no insistent evidence of\nthe great power possessed by those who have the Priesthood, and who,\ntherefore, can act for God in matters pertaining to the Church. Under\nsuch a condition there is a quiet, steady use of power in behalf of\nthe daily work of the Church--each man performing the work that has\nbeen assigned to him, in addition to which each man in his own behalf\nmay use his authority as seems to him fitting. Yet, the power is with\nthe Priesthood, and when need arises, it becomes the voice of God,\nwhich all must hear. As an illustration of the great power, authority\nand duty carried by the Priesthood it may be recalled that, if by any\nchance every man holding the Priesthood in the Church should be\ndestroyed, save one elder, it would be the duty and right of that one\nelder, under divine revelation, to reorganize the whole Church with\nall the grades of the Priesthood and of its officers. This\nfar-reaching authority is held by all who receive the Priesthood--an\nauthority to be guarded carefully and to be used cautiously as\ndirected.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 19.\n\nTHE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH.\n\n\nTo carry on the diversified work of the Church requires a close\norganization. An organization, in turn, requires officers. All the\nofficers of the Church hold the Priesthood, but the Priesthood is held\nalso by many who do not hold official positions. Therefore, while the\nauthority to act in all the offices of the Church is held by\npractically every man in the Church, that authority, in the\nadministration of the affairs of the Church, becomes effective only\nwhen the man is called to exercise the authority. The chief officers\nof the Church are herewith briefly enumerated.\n\n**The General Authorities.**  The First Presidency consists of three\npresiding high priests, a President and two counselors, whose duty it\nis to supervise the work of the whole Church, in all matters of\npolicy, organization and execution. No part of the work of the Church\nis beyond their authority. With the death of the President, the First\nPresidency becomes disorganized.\n\nAssociated with the First Presidency is the quorum of Twelve Apostles.\nThe Twelve are special witnesses for Christ, and it is their duty to\ncarry the Gospel to all the world. In addition, they give direct\nassistance to the First Presidency. When the quorum of the First\nPresidency is disorganized, the quorum of apostles becomes the\npresiding quorum until the First Presidency is reorganized. The quorum\nof the Twelve has one president, who is always the senior apostle.\n\nThe Patriarchs of the Church possess the sealing and blessing powers\nand receive instructions from the Presiding Patriarch.\n\nThe quorums of Seventy, the missionary quorums of the Church, are\npresided over by the Seven Presidents of the first quorum. This\nCouncil labors under the direction of the apostles. If the First\nPresidency and the quorum of the Twelve were disorganized,\nsimultaneously, the first quorum of Seventy would become the presiding\nquorum until full reorganization were effected.\n\nThe temporal affairs of the Church are largely cared for by the\nPresiding Bishopric, consisting of the presiding bishop and two\ncounselors. The Presiding Bishopric also has general supervision of\nthe bishops of the wards, of the Church.\n\nThe General Authorities are the First Presidency, the Twelve Apostles,\nthe Presiding Patriarch, the Presidents of the first quorum of\nSeventy, and the Presiding Bishopric--making in all twenty-six men.\nThese general presiding authorities, representing all the great\ndivisions of the Priesthood, deal with all the general affairs of the\nChurch.\n\n**The Stakes of Zion.**  For convenience of administration, the Church\nis divided into stakes containing usually from one thousand to ten\nthousand members. The stakes are presided over by a Stake Presidency,\nthree high priests denominated president and two counselors, which\nhave the same relation to the stake that the First Presidency has to\nthe whole Church. The Stake Presidency are assisted by the high\ncouncil, consisting of twelve regular and six alternate counselors who\nare high priests. To this body is assigned much of the work for the\nwelfare of the members of the stake. Such other officers as may be\nneeded are moreover secured in each stake.\n\n**The Wards of the Stakes.**  The stakes are, in turn, divided into\nwards containing usually from one hundred to two thousand members.\nThey are presided over by a Bishop and two counselors, who are\nassisted in various capacities by the local ward Priesthood.\n\n**The Priesthood in Stakes and Wards.**  In every ward, if there be\nenough members, are organized quorums of deacons, teachers, priests,\nelders and seventies. If there are not enough in one ward to form a\nquorum, then a quorum is organized from two or more wards. The high\npriests in a stake are usually assembled into one quorum for the\nstake. All of the Priesthood meets regularly in the ward to which they\nbelong, for the discussion of their duties and for studying the\noutlines and books provided by the general Church authorities.\n\n**Auxiliary Organizations.**  In addition to the regular Priesthood,\nthere are helps in government known as auxiliary organizations. These\nare the Relief Society, for women, the Deseret Sunday School Union,\nthe Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, the Young Ladies'\nMutual Improvement Association, the Primary Association, the Religion\nClass, the Boards of Education, and others that may be organized from\ntime to time. Each of these is represented by a general board, under\nthe direction of the First Presidency. In each stake there are also\nstake boards of these auxiliary organizations, under the direction of\nthe stake presidency. Moreover, in each ward of the Church, if large\nenough, is an organization of each of the auxiliary activities of the\nChurch.\n\n**All Must Work.**  So complete an organization, ramifying throughout\nthe Church, shows that all members of the Church should or may be at\nwork. There is no place for the idler. Every man or woman, who is not\naverse to working in behalf of the Church, will find some duty that\nwill fill his life.\n\n**The Tenure of Office.**  The officers of the Priesthood have no\ndefinite tenure of office. Since all hold the Priesthood, there is\nalways a supply of ready material to fill any vacancies that may\noccur. The general authorities in the Church have generally held life\npositions, but a number of these, for various reasons, chiefly\ninsubordination or error of doctrine, have been released before death.\nAccording to doctrine, no office in the Priesthood, is absolutely\ncertain of life tenure. Failure to perform properly the work of the\noffice constitutes full cause for removal.\n\n**An Unpaid Ministry.**  The rewards of life should be and are only in\npart material. To assist, officially, in carrying out the Great Plan,\nbrings its own distinct reward. The Priesthood of the Church,\ntherefore, is largely unpaid. A man's duty in the Priesthood seldom\ntakes all of his time, thus leaving him partly free to earn a\nlivelihood by the use of his profession. When a man's whole time is\ntaken by the Church, he gets his support from the Church. There is no\nPriesthood class, especially trained for the work, and striving for\npositions carrying with them high material remuneration. All should\nknow the Gospel and be prepared to carry on the work.\n\n**Appointments in the Priesthood.**  The power to nominate men to fill\nthe official positions in the Priesthood belongs to the Priesthood of\nthe Church. Men are chosen from any walk in life, without previous\nwarning, and the acceptance of the office often means the sacrifice of\nbusiness, profession, or ease of life. Under this system there can be\nno talk of men seeking offices in the Church. Preparation to do the\nwork of the Church can be the only form of self-seeking, and that may\nor may not lead to any particular position in the Church. Meanwhile,\nthe vast organization of the Church is such as to find work for every\nman; and in fact, every worthy worker should be kept busily engaged in\nthe work of the Great Plan.\n\n**Common Consent.**  Every officer of the Priesthood, though properly\nnominated, holds his position in the Church only with the consent of\nthe people. Officers may be nominated by the presidency of the Church,\nbut unless the people accept them as their officials, they can not\nexercise the authority of the offices to which they have been called.\nAll things in the Church must be done by common consent. This makes\nthe people, men and women, under God, the rulers of the Church. Even\nthe President of the Church, before he can fully enter upon his\nduties, must be sustained by the people. It is the common custom in\nthe Church to vote on the officers in the general, stake and ward\nconferences. This gives every member an opportunity to vote for or\nagainst the officers. Meanwhile, the judiciary system of the Church is\nsuch that there is ample provision whereby any officer of the Church,\nif found in error, may be brought to justice and if found guilty be\nremoved from his position.\n\nThe doctrine of common consent is fundamental in the Church; and is\ncoincident with the fact that the Church belongs to all the people.\nSince the authority of the Priesthood is vested in all the people, it\nfollows that the officials of the Priesthood must be responsible to\nthe people. The responsibility and work of the Church are not only for\nbut by the people as a whole.\n\n**Bestowal of the Priesthood.**  On the earth the Priesthood was first\nconferred on Adam and was handed down directly from Adam through his\ndescendants to Noah. Every link in this progression of the Priesthood\nhas been preserved. Similarly, after Noah, it was continued for many\ngenerations. Moreover, Jesus conferred the Priesthood directly upon\nhis disciples. At various times in the history of the world, the\nPriesthood has been given by God to man and continued for various\nlengths of time. In these latter days of the restored Church, John the\nBaptist appeared in person and conferred the Aaronic Priesthood upon\nJoseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. Later, Peter, James and John, who had\nreceived the Priesthood from Jesus Christ, and who represented the\nPresidency of the Priesthood in those days, appeared to Joseph Smith\nand Oliver Cowdery and conferred upon them the Holy Priesthood and the\napostleship which carried with it authority in the lower divisions of\nthe Priesthood. In the Church of Christ the authority of the\nPriesthood may always be traced back directly to God, from whom it\nradiates and whom it represents.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 20.\n\nTHE AUTHORITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD.\n\n\nThe authority of the Priesthood is often misunderstood, and it is\nfrequently the rock upon which many men and women suffer spiritual\nshipwreck.\n\n**The Foundation of Authority.**  The power or right to command or to\nact, is authority. In the beginning, man, conscious and in possession\nof will, reached out for truth, and gained new knowledge. Gradually as\nhis intelligence grew, he learned to control natural forces, as he met\nthem on his way. Knowledge, properly used, became power; and\nintelligent knowledge is the only true foundation of authority. The\nmore intelligence a man possesses the more authority he may exercise.\nHence, \"the glory of God is intelligence.\" This should be clear in the\nminds of all who exercise authority.\n\n**Absolute Authority.**  Such high authority, based on increasing\nintelligent knowledge, may be called absolute authority. All other\nforms of authority, and many forms exist, must be derived from\nabsolute authority, for it is the essence of all authority. Nothing in\nthe universe is absolutely understood, and absolute authority does not\nmean that full knowledge or full power has been gained over anything\nin the universe. Forever will the universe reveal its secrets. By\nabsolute authority is meant the kind of authority that results\ndirectly from an intelligent understanding of the things over which\nauthority is exercised. Authority can therefore, be absolute only so\nfar as knowledge goes, and will become more absolute as more knowledge\nis obtained. The laws of God are never arbitrary; they are always\nfounded on truth.\n\n**Derived Authority.**  Anyone possessing the absolute authority\nresting on high intelligence, will often find it necessary or\nconvenient to ask others to exercise that authority for him. This may\nbe called derived authority. It does not necessarily follow that those\nwho are so asked understand the full meaning of the authority that\nthey exercise. The workman in a factory carries out the operations as\ndirected by the chief technician, and obtains the same results, though\nhe does not to the same extent understand the principles involved.\n\nEvery person who has risen to the earth-estate possesses a certain\ndegree of absolute authority, for he has knowledge of nature which\ngives him control over many surrounding forces. Every person possesses\nor should possess certain derived authority, which is exercised under\nthe direction of a superior intelligence, though it is not always\nwholly understood.\n\n**The Authority of Office.**  In an organized body like the Church,\neach activity must be governed by established laws. Those who have\nbeen chosen officers to enforce these laws and to carry on the regular\nwork of the Church, exercise their power because of their office.\nAuthority of office is only a form of derived authority--derived from\nthe people who have agreed to submit their wills to certain officers,\nwho are to enforce laws accepted by the people. Even such authority,\nbelonging to official positions, must be founded on intelligent\nknowledge, and the organization of the Church itself must be\nintelligently authoritative. Therefore, authority of office is best\nexercised when those holding it have qualified themselves\nintelligently for the work. The mistakes made by officers are commonly\ndue to the want of the needed intelligence in the exercise of their\nduties. Fortunately, however, the Church is so organized that the\nactions of its officials may be tried for their righteousness whenever\nthey appear to be wrong to the people. Mistakes are most likely to be\nmade by officials who will not qualify themselves for their work.\n\n**Authority and Free Agency.**  While intelligent knowledge does\nestablish the highest degree of authority, absolute authority, yet it\ndoes not, alone, justify the exercising of authority that may conflict\nwith the wills of others. The law of free agency must not be\ntranscended; nor is it permissible to do anything that will hinder, in\nthe least, the progress of man under the Great law. Authority must\ntherefore be exercised only in such a manner as to benefit other\nindividuals. Naturally, when a community accepts a body of laws for\ntheir government, and officers are appointed by the people to enforce\nthe laws, the punishment of the disobedient is not an interference\nwith free agency, for all have accepted the law. Only when a person\nwithdraws from the community, does the community law become\ninoperative with respect to him. Since the battle for free agency must\nnot be waged again, laws must be enforced as they are accepted by the\npeople; thus it comes about that all the officers in the Church, who\nmerely represent the people, must be sustained by the people. The\npeople govern the Church through their sustained authorities. When a\nperson opposes righteousness, the worst that can be done is to sever\nthat individual from the organization. The Priesthood has no authority\nto exercise further punishment. The punishment which comes to those\nwho do wrong is automatic, and will, of itself, find out the sinner.\n\n**Authority over Self.**  The Priesthood conferred on man establishes\nan authority which each man may at all times exercise with respect to\nhimself and God. By the authority of the Priesthood he has a right to\ncommune with God in prayer or in other ways, and has, as it were, the\nright to receive communications in return from the intelligent beings\nabout him, so that his ways may be ways of strength and pleasantness.\nMan's own work should be inseparably connected with the power of the\nPriesthood to which he has attained.\n\n**The Exercise of Authority.**  The authority committed to man by God\nis in earthly hands. The flesh is weak; and men who possess authority\nmay often make mistakes in its exercise. The proper manner of\nexercising the authority of the Priesthood has been made exceedingly\nclear. \"The rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with\nthe powers of heaven, and the powers of heaven cannot be controlled or\nhandled only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be\nconferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our\nsins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise\ncontrol, or dominion, or compulsion, upon the souls of the children of\nmen, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw\nthemselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is\nwithdrawn, Amen to the Priesthood, or the authority of that man.\nBehold! ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the\npricks; to persecute the Saints, and to fight against God. No power or\ninfluence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the Priesthood,\nonly by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness, and meekness,\nand by love unfeigned; by kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall\ngreatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile,\nreproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost,\nand then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom\nthou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; that he may\nknow that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death; let\nthy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the\nhousehold of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly,\nthen shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God, and the\ndoctrine of the Priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from\nheaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy\nsceptre an unchanging sceptre of righteousness and truth, and thy\ndominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory\nmeans it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever.\"\n\nAny authority of the Priesthood otherwise exercised than as above\nstated is not in harmony with the law. There is therefore no need to\nfear authority, for those who misuse it will ultimately be removed\nfrom their offices and will be punished not only by the laws of the\nChurch, but by God, the Giver of law. Meanwhile, the thought stands\nout prominently, that those who are given the Priesthood, and\nespecially those who are to exercise authority in the offices of the\nPriesthood, should carefully fit themselves for the work that they\nhave to do. This is the only safe key to authority.\n\n**The Unrighteous Exercise of Authority.**  Authority may be\nunrighteously exercised from the lack of intelligence or because of\nwickedness. Should a member of the Church note this, the procedure of\ncorrection is to notify the ward teachers, who try to settle the\ndifficulty. If the ward teachers do not succeed in this, the bishop's\ncourt takes up the matter, which, if needs be, it passes to the Stake\nPresidency and high council, and may be appealed to the First\nPresidency. Justice is meted out to all in-the Church. If the people\nare dissatisfied with any officer they may refuse to sustain him at\nthe times of the voting, which prevents him from exercising the\nfunctions of his office. However, in all things the majority rules;\nand in many of the judgments of the Church there must be unanimity.\n\n**The Church Authoritative.**  The Church of Christ possesses real\nauthority, derived from God, and in its work represents God. Such a\nChurch, alone, can appeal to the human understanding. A Church without\nauthority is limp and helpless. Authority is the final test of a true\nChurch. Does it attempt to officiate for God? Does its Priesthood\npossess authority? From the beginning, the Church of God has been\ngiven direct, divine authority so that its work might not be\nquestioned. The angel walked with Adam, God spoke to Abraham, Jesus in\nperson came on earth, the Father and the Son came to Joseph Smith,--in\nall ages, when the Church has been fully established, the Priesthood\nhas been conferred by authoritative beings. The authority of the\nChurch is real and genuine and possesses power. By its power it shall\nbe known.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 21.\n\nOBEDIENCE.\n\n\nIn the consideration of Priesthood and its authority, much useless\ndiscussion is often indulged in as to whether a person should yield\nobedience to authority. Some believe that to yield obedience is to lay\ndown free agency.\n\n**The Restraint of Nature.**  Countless forces, surrounding man, are\ninteracting in the universe. By no means can he withdraw himself from\nthem. By experience he has learned that control of natural forces is\nobtained only when their laws are understood. When a certain thing is\ndone in a certain manner, there is a definite, invariable result. No\ndoubt it has often occurred to an intelligent being that he might wish\nit otherwise; but that is impossible. The only remedy is to comply\nwith existing conditions, acknowledge the restraint of nature, and\ngaining further knowledge, put law against law, until the purpose of\nman has been accomplished. This is the process by which intelligent\nbeings have acquired dominion over nature. Such an acknowledgement of\nthe existence of the law of cause and effect does not weaken man;\nstrength lies in an intelligent subjection to rightful restraint, for\nit has been the condition of progress from the beginning. The\nrecognition of law and the obedience to law are sure signs that\nintelligent beings are progressing.\n\n**An Active Condition.**  Obedience is an active condition or it could\nnot be a principle of consequence. It is closely akin to repentance.\nObedience simply means that whenever a truth is revealed, it is\nobeyed, which by our previous definition is a phase of repentance. The\nman who is active in carrying out what he knows is truth, is an\nobedient man. His active obedience to authority is based on\nintelligence; and the more knowledge a man has concerning the nature\nof the law in question, the more thoroughly obedient is he. Obedience\nis not a characteristic of ignorance.\n\n**The Restraint of Man.**  Obedience to the invariable laws of nature\nis, usually, considered to be a self-evident necessity. The question\nof obedience is commonly raised when man exercises authority. Shall a\nman obey a man? The first consideration in the answer to this question\nis whether the system which the man in authority represents is based\non truth. If so, then intelligent man will be bound to render\nobedience to the system, even if it is exercised through imperfect\nman. The second consideration is whether the man is acting within his\nauthority in the organization. This can always be determined, simply,\nby laying the matter before the bodies constituted to settle such\nmatters. With the exception of the First Presidency, every officer in\nthe Church has a limited jurisdiction. The third consideration is\nwhether the matter to which authority has been applied is at all under\nthe discipline of the organization. No officer in the Church has\nauthority beyond matters that pertain to the Church. Any authority\nexercised beyond that field is accepted only at the discretion of the\nindividual members of the Church, and should come only in the form of\ncounsel. If yes is the answer to these three considerations, obedience\nmust be rendered by a progressing man. If no is the answer, obedience\nshould not be yielded, but the matter should be tried before the\nproper courts.\n\nThe restraint of man in the exercise of authority derived from eternal\nlaws, is as compelling as the restraint of nature, because they are\nparts of the same whole.\n\n**The Life of Law.**  Obedience is nothing more than a compliance with\ntruth. Truth is of no consequence to a man if it is not used. The\nmoment truth is used, obedience begins. Man, and the Church to which\nhe belongs, are active organisms, interested in progress. When truth\nis given them, promises to use that truth should be required, else all\nis in vain. Lives conforming to law, alone, are moving onward. For\nthat reason, for every gift to man a promise is required, and usually\na statement of the punishment that will follow the non-use or misuse\nof it. Obedience to truth means progress; refusal to use truth means\nretrogression.\n\n**Disobedience.**  Disobedience may be active or passive. Passive\ndisobedience is not doing what should be done; active disobedience is\ndoing what should not be done. Both may be equally harmful. The main\neffect of disobedience is to weaken, and finally wreck the man who\ndisobeys law. Disobedience and sin are synonymous.\n\n**The Church Worth Having.**  The only Church worth having is one\nhaving authority, resting on intelligence and truth. Such a Church\nwill command obedience. In such a Church, little misunderstandings are\neasily rectified. Within the laws of the Church, man has absolute,\npersonal freedom. It is so with nature, outside of the Church. Within\nthe laws of nature, man has full freedom. The greatest freedom known\nto man comes from obedience to law. The greatest punishment\nconceivable to man comes from opposition to law. This is true with\nrespect to the Church as a community of the saints, and with respect\nto individual man in the great universe.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 22.\n\nA MISSIONARY CHURCH.\n\n\nThere must be, in every organization, and especially in a Church\ndedicated to the great philosophy of man's place in the universe, a\ngreat cementing purpose. In the Church of Christ this is the desire to\nbring about the highest joy for all mankind.\n\n**A Church with a Purpose.**  According to the fundamental doctrines\nelaborated in previous chapters, the purpose of the earth-career is to\nassist in man's development, so that he may acquire more power and\ntherefore more joy. In the nature of things, as already explained, it\nis impossible for an intelligent being to rise to the highest degree\nof joy unless other like beings move along with him. The Great Plan\nwill be successful only if all or at least a majority of those who\naccepted it are saved. The Church, a feature of the Great Plan, must\nhave the same main purpose. All must be saved! In fact, the work of\nthe Church cannot be completed until all have at least heard the\ntruth. There can be no talk of a few saved souls at the throne of God,\nwith the many in hell. The great mission of the Church must be to\nbring all men into the truth. This is the cementing purpose of the\nChurch.\n\n**The Hope of Today.**  However, men are not saved merely by being\ntaught the truth. They must live it in their daily lives. Life,\nindeed, is an endless succession of days, each of which must be a\nlittle larger in development than the preceding one. Each day must be\nwell spent. The Church must help, every day, in all the affairs of the\nday, from the food man eats to his highest spiritual thought. Each day\nmust be a step onward to the eternal exaltation which he desires. This\nis the hope of today. To help in this daily work is one of the main\nparts of the missionary labors of the Church. All the days of all the\nmembers must be made happy ones.\n\n**Temporal Salvation.**  In a church based on the principles already\noutlined there can be no separation between the spiritual and the\ntemporal. There is one universe, of many aspects, to which we belong.\nThere is one Great Plan for us. In the heavens, spiritual things are\nprobably of greatest importance, but on earth, temporal things are of\nimportance. The impossibility of separating things temporal from\nthings spiritual justifies the attempt of the Church to assist in the\ntemporal affairs of its members. In fact, a large part of the\nmissionary labors of the Church must be to better the temporal\nconditions of its members. Only when the temporal as well as the\nspiritual life is looked after, can the Church rise to its full\nopportunity. Only in sound bodies can the spirit experience the\nhighest joy. Only under sound temporal conditions can the Church move\non in full gladness.\n\n**The Foreign Mission System.**  In conformity with the cementing\nmissionary spirit of a church, every member of which holds or may hold\nthe Priesthood, it follows that every member of the Church, whether\nman or woman, may be called to go on a spiritual or temporal mission\nfor the upbuilding of his fellowmen. In harmony with the law of free\nagency, it is voluntary with the individual, whether he accept or\nrefuse the call. The custom in the Church of today has been that a man\ngo on at least one mission, which varies in length, two or more years.\nThe missionaries not only assist the members already gathered into the\nChurch, but they travel all over the world, preach to all the\neverlasting Gospel, and bring those who accept the truth into the\nChurch. The main purpose of the Church missionary system is to preach\nthe Gospel to all the members of the human race, so that, as far as\npossible, none may be left with the excuse that he has not heard the\nGospel.\n\n**The Home Mission Service.**  The whole Church, at home, is devoted\nto the home mission service. The organizations of the Priesthood and\nthe auxiliary organizations, form a network of active service into\nwhich every member of the Church may be brought. The home missionary\nservice concerns itself with the spiritual and the temporal side of\nman's nature and life. The amusements of the young people; the home\nlife of the older people, and the daily duties of all, are made part\nand parcel of the organized missionary system of the Church.\n\n**For the Common Good.**  The genius of the Church of Christ stands\nfor the common good; hence the ceaseless missionary activity which is\nthe great cementing principle of the Church. Not for the one, not even\nfor the many, but for all, does the Church stand.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 23.\n\nTEMPLE ORDINANCES.\n\n\nThe Church of God has always been characterized by the possession of\ntemples in which the holiest work of the Gospel has been done. The\nactivities of the Church have, so to speak, centered about the\ntemples.\n\n**Educational.**  The doctrines of the origin, present condition and\ndestiny of man should always be well in the mind of all, for without\nthis knowledge, it is difficult to comply fully and intelligently with\nthe laws and ordinances of the Gospel. It has been provided,\ntherefore, that the story of man, from the beginning, at the present,\nand to the last great day, shall be given as frequently as may be\ndesired to the members of the Church. In the temples this information\nis given, in an organized and correct form, so that it may not depart\nfrom among men and women. That is, the temples are conservators of the\ngreat truths of the Gospel. To the temples, man goes to be refreshed\nin his memory as to the doctrines relative to man and his place in\nnature. The endowments given to members of the Church in the temples\nare, essentially, courses of instruction relative to man's existence\nbefore he came on this earth, the history of the creation of the\nearth, the story of our first earthly parents, the history of the\nvarious dispensations of the Gospel, the meaning of the sacrifice of\nJesus Christ, the story of the restoration of the Gospel, and the\nmeans and methods whereby joy on this earth and exaltation in heaven\nmay be obtained. To make this large story clear and impressive to all\nwho partake of it, every educational device, so far known to man, is\nemployed; and it is possible that nowhere, outside of the temple, is a\nmore correct pedagogy employed. Every sense of man is appealed to, in\norder to make the meaning of the Gospel clear, from beginning to end.\n\n**Symbolism.**  Naturally, the very essence of these fundamental\ntruths is not known to man, nor indeed can be. We know things only so\nfar as our senses permit. Whatever is known, is known through symbols.\nThe letters on the written page are but symbols of mighty thoughts\nthat are easily transferred from mind to mind by these symbols. Man\nlives under a great system of symbolism. Clearly, the mighty, eternal\ntruths encompassing all that man is or may be, cannot be expressed\nliterally, nor is there in the temple any attempt to do this. On the\ncontrary, the great and wonderful temple service is one of mighty\nsymbolism. By the use of symbols of speech, of action, of color, of\nform, the great truths connected with the story of man are made\nevident to the mind.\n\n**Covenants.**  The temple service also gives those who take their\nendowments, special information relative to their conduct upon earth.\nFor instance, men and women are taught to keep themselves free from\nsin. They must be chaste, virtuous, truthful, unselfish, and so on.\nMoreover, they are taught that they must devote themselves and all\nthat they have or may have to the great cause of truth, to teaching\nthe everlasting Gospel to their fellowmen, so that the Great Plan may\nbe worked out according to the* mind and will of God. In return for\nthis, those who take their endowments make covenants with each other\nand their God, that they will observe the instructions given, and will\ncarry them out in their daily lives. Thus the work becomes active and\nvital. It is also explained that the failure to carry out these\npromises, when once knowledge has been given, will be punished. This\nis in accordance with the law that provides a penalty for\ndisobedience, as already explained. Only by the use of knowledge will\nmore knowledge be obtained. The whole system of temple worship is very\nlogical.\n\n**Blessings.**  In the course of instruction in the temple, it is\nemphasized that blessings will follow those who accept the truth,\npractice it and live Godlike lives. The essence of the endowment\nservice is a blessing. Punishment is not made so prominent, as is the\npossibility of inviting great blessings by proper obedience to the\ntruths that may be obtained from time to time.\n\n**Temple Authority.**  Perhaps the most glorious ordinances of the\ntemple are those that seal husband and wife and children to each other\nfor time and all eternity. According to the Gospel, the marriage\nrelation does not necessarily cease with death. On the contrary, since\nsex is eternal, the sex relation may continue to the end of time. Such\na union or sealing may be performed only by special authority, which\nis possessed only by the President of the Church. The President may,\nhowever, delegate the authority for longer or shorter times, so that\ncertain temple workers may perform such marriages in the temples of\nGod. Similarly, children who have been born to parents who were not\nmarried for time and eternity, may be sealed later to their parents,\nso that the relationship may be sustained throughout all the ages of\neternity.\n\nMoreover, every ordinance belonging to the Church may be performed in\nthe temple. In the temple is a baptismal font, so that the\nintroductory ordinance may be performed; likewise, every other\nordinance for the benefit of the Saints may be performed in the holy\ntemple. The work for the dead, as will be explained in chapter 28, is\ndone in the temples, by the living. The vicarious work for the dead,\nwho did not accept the Gospel on earth, forms the bulk of the temple\nwork, since, after the first time, when endowments are taken for\nhimself, a person must do work for the dead when he goes through the\ntemple.\n\n**Possible Repetition.**  The vastness of meaning in the temple\nworship makes it difficult at once for man to remember and understand\nit, and only once are the endowments taken for himself by any one\nperson. To refresh his memory, and to place him in close touch with\nthe spirit of the work, a man may enter the temple as frequently as he\ndesires and take endowments for the dead, and in that way both he and\nthe dead are benefited. The temples, then, are means whereby every\nmember of the Church may receive precious endowments, and may be kept\nin refreshed memory of the Great Plan, which he, with the rest of the\nhuman family, is working out. Temple work is the safety of the living\nand the hope of the dead. At present, temples are in operation in Salt\nLake City, St. George, Logan and Manti, all in Utah, and a temple is\nnearing completion in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND MAN.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 24.\n\nTHE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN.\n\n\nThere are many men and women upon the earth. No one faces, alone, the\ngreat forces of nature. About him move other men, with whom he must\nassociate. In the Great Plan it is so ordained that men shall dwell\ntogether, and this leads to many of the finest applications of the\nGospel to the daily life of man.\n\n**Common Origin.**  By the power of God, the spirits of men were born\ninto the spiritual world; thus all became the children of God. In\nturn, all have been born from the same spiritual estate into the earth\nestate, from the one earthly ancestor, Adam. All men are therefore of\nidentical origin. Absolute uniformity prevails among the children of\nmen, so far as their origin is concerned.\n\n**Common Purposes.**  The spirits are placed on earth for a common\npurpose. From the beginning, man has risen to his high estate through\nthe acquisition of power over the natural forces surrounding him. \"Man\nis that he may have joy,\" is the fundamental purpose of man's\nactivity, whether on or out of the earth. In the Great Council all the\nspirits which have reached or will reach the earth, were present; and\nall declared themselves in favor of the Plan. In conformity with this\nagreement, man is on earth. All desire a closer acquaintance with\ngross matter, as a means of future power and consequent joy; and all\ndesire that the earth-experience may be accompanied with as much joy\nas is possible. Consequently, all who are or have been, or will be\nassembled on earth, have a common purpose. Absolute uniformity\nprevails among men so far as their fundamental purpose is concerned.\n\n**Common Destiny.**  Likewise, the destiny of all the spirits sent to\nearth, is the same. Man has ever moved towards eternal life. All new\ninformation, every addition of knowledge, has moved him onward, toward\nperfection and a vision of greater happiness. True, since all men have\nfree agencies, individual wills express themselves in different ways,\nand no two spirits are therefore at precisely the same point on the\nupward road. Some are far ahead, some lag behind, each and all\naccording to individual effort. However, throughout the vast\neternities, all who are conscientiously moving upward, though it be\never so slowly, will in time reach a point which is absolute\nperfection to our mortal conceptions. Then, all will seem as if\nprecisely alike. Whether or not we reach a given point at the same\ntime, all men have a common destiny. As far as the destiny of man is\nconcerned, all are alike.\n\n**Inter-dependence.**  Of even greater importance in daily work is the\nfact that every intelligent being affects every other intelligent\nbeing. Every person affects every other person. Through the operation\nof the Holy Spirit all things are held together. Good or evil may be\ntransmitted from personality to personality; it is impossible to hide\nfrom God, and it is equally impossible for us to hide ourselves\ncompletely from our fellowmen. No individual action may restrain or\nretard another individual; but all our actions, thoughts and words\nmust be so guarded that all are advanced. This is as true for the\nearth-life as it may be for the spiritual life.\n\nMen affect each other; every man is, in a measure, his brother's\nkeeper. There can be no thought of a man going on in life irrespective\nof the needs or conditions of his fellowmen. The main concern of man\nmust be to find such orderly acts of life as will enable other men to\nlive out their individual wills without interference. All must be\nbenefited, all must be helped. This is the basis of the great system\nof co-operation. Meanwhile, the inter-dependence of the spirits\ndwelling on earth, brings men more closely together, and strengthens\nthe friendships from the former spirit estate.\n\n**Brothers.**  The human race is a race of brothers, of the same\norigin, with the same purposes and with the same destiny, so\nelaborately inter-dependent that none may move without affecting the\nothers. Any rational theology must recognize this condition, and, as\nfar as it may be able, must make provision for the proper recognition\nof the brotherhood of man.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 25.\n\nTHE EQUALITY OF MAN.\n\n\nThough the brotherhood of man is supreme, it does not follow that all\nmen are equal in all particulars. This needs careful examination.\n\n**The Pre-existent Effort.**  Men of common origin, and of common\ndestiny, labor on earth under a mutually accepted Plan. Yet, it is not\nconceivable, that all the spirits who reach the earth have attained\nthe same degree of progress. The pre-existent progress depended upon\nself-effort; those who exerted their wills most, made the greatest\nprogress; moreover, those who had led the most righteous lives, and\nhad been most careful of their gifts, had acquired greatest\nstrength--consequently, at the time of the Great Council, though the\nspirits were, in general, of one class, they differed greatly in the\ndetails of their attainments, in the righteousness of their lives, in\nthe stability of their purpose, and in their consistent devotion to\nthe great truth of their lives. In one particular they were all alike:\nby their faithful efforts, they had earned the right to take another\nstep onward and to share in the earth experience.\n\nMost probably, the power acquired in the life before this is\ntransmitted to some degree to the earthlife. We may well believe,\ntherefore, that the differences in the quality and characteristics of\nmen, may be traced, in part at least, to the pre-existent lives. It is\nnot unthinkable that, in a plan governed by a supreme intelligent\nBeing, since there are differences of advancement, the spirits who\ncome on earth are placed frequently in positions for which they are\nbest fitted. An intelligent ruler would probably use ability where it\nis most needed. To some extent, therefore, men may have been chosen\nfor this or that work on earth, and, under the law of progression,\nthis small measure of predestination may be accepted. Yet, it must be\nremembered that predestination can not be compelling. Man's free\nagency, the great indestructible gift, always remains untrammeled.\nTherefore, whatever may be God's plan for man, however easy may be the\npath to the predestined earth position, the man may at any time, by\nthe exercise of his free agency, depart from the appointed path and\nenter other fields. Any opposite doctrine is the one proposed by\nLucifer in the Great Council.\n\nIt is most likely that those who, on earth, accept the highest truth\nof life, find the Gospel attractive, and are most faithful in the\nrecognition of law, are those who, in the pre-existent state, were\nmost intelligent and obedient. In that sense, the Church consists of\nGod's chosen people--chosen because of their willingness to obey.\n\n**The Earth Effort.**  Nevertheless, the thought that power is drawn\nfrom our pre-existent state need not be an overwhelming feeling to\noppress and crush us. Our previous life can not be an insurmountable\nhindrance. The invariable law of cause and effect will enable those\nwho exert themselves on earth to draw great power unto themselves,\neven so that it may be possible by earth efforts to overcome possible\nhandicaps from pre-existent lethargy. Thus, on earth, man may gain\nmore than he has lost before. Our earth efforts are of greatest\nconsequence. Neither forward nor backward must we look, except to\nplace ourselves properly in our day, but must use in full degree the\npossibilities of each day as it comes. Man's inequality comes chiefly\nfrom the inequality of earth effort.\n\n**The Variety of Gifts.**  Meanwhile, it is always to be remembered\nthat the spirit within must speak through a mortal body, subject to\ndisease and death. The eternal spirit cannot rise here above the\nconditions of the body, which is of the earth, and is a result of all\nthe physical good and evil to which man has given himself since the\ndays of Adam. During the long history of the race, both strength and\nweakness have no doubt been added to the body. It possesses inborn,\ninherent qualities, which man finds it difficult to ignore. Under the\nbest conditions, the body is weaker than the spirit within. It is\nlikely that the spirit within the finest earthly body is infinitely\ngreater than may be expressed through the body. We live only as our\nbodies allow; and, since our bodies differ greatly, there is in them\nanother source of man's inequality. In fact, the inequality of man\ncomes largely from inequality of body, through which the eternal\nspirit tries in vain to speak.\n\n**The Equality of Opportunity.**  Clearly, an absolute equality among\nmen is not conceivable, for the differences among the powers of men\nare infinite in number. We are brothers, but we are occupying a\nvariety of stages of progress. Probably, it is well that there are\nsuch differences, so that by contrast with each other we may be\nimpelled onward. The equality of man on earth must be the equal\nopportunity to progress. From the point in the eternal journey that\neach man now occupies, he must be allowed to move onward, unhindered\nby other persons, and must be allowed to exert his inborn powers to\nthe full, for his help on the journey. None must stand in another's\nway. On the contrary, the spirit of the Gospel makes clear that the\nGreat Plan cannot be fulfilled, the earth's destiny cannot be\ncompleted, and our highest progressive rewards cannot be obtained\nuntil all the spirits of man have been brought under the Gospel rule.\nWhether on this earth, or in the future, the work will not be\ncompleted until all have accepted the freedom of the Gospel. Instead\nof hindering each other, men must give each other all possible needed\nhelp, then we offer our fellows an equal opportunity to advance, and\nall are helped. With equality of opportunity, all may advance so far\nthat, in time, the differences between men will not be apparent.\n\nThe equality of opportunity which characterizes the plan of salvation\nis shown in the fact that all the ordinances of the Church, from the\nhighest to the lowest, are available to every person who enters the\nChurch. Faith, repentance, baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost are,\nfor all, the four cardinal principles for active participation in the\nwork of the Church, irrespective of the powers of men. The endowments\nof the temple, and all the blessings that may there be received, are\navailable to every member of the Church who has shown himself active\nin the faith. In fundamental principles, in gifts and blessings, in\nspiritual opportunities, as required or offered by the Church, men are\nstripped of all differences, and stand as if they were equal before\nGod. This is equality of opportunity.\n\n**Unequal Equality.**  Though equality of opportunity be granted all,\nthe wills of men, as expressed through their free agencies, differ\ngreatly. Consequently, some will use well their opportunities; others\nwill use them poorly. Under this condition, even if all started out\nabsolutely alike, differences would soon appear. Without violating the\nfundamental laws of nature, this seems to be absolutely unpreventable.\nMen may soon be grouped as representing different degrees of strength.\n\nHowever, that the equality of opportunity, belonging to the Great\nPlan, may be preserved, it becomes necessary for all, whether weak or\nstrong, to support each other. Differing attainments must be forgotten\nin the desire to permit all to develop their powers to the utmost, and\nthus to achieve joy both here and hereafter. The great problem of\nevery age is how to keep together, as one body, the many who, because\nof their differing wills, have become different in their powers and\nattainments.\n\n**The Test of Equality.**  A test may be applied whereby men may be\nplaced in one class, irrespective of their various attainments. If a\nman use his powers, with all his might, for his own and others' good,\nin the cause of universal progress, he is the equal of every other man\nof like effort. No more can be asked of a man. It is well that\nhumanity, dwelling together, should keep this principle in mind. Men\nmust not be judged, wholly, by their attainments, or by their gifts,\nbut largely by the degree to which they give themselves to the great\ncause represented by the plan of the major intelligent Being, for the\nminor intelligent beings of the universe.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 26.\n\nMUTUAL SUPPORT.\n\n\nThe doctrines set forth indicate that each man must exert himself to\nthe utmost. Even this is not sufficient for the full progress of\nindividuals. Every man must also be supported by every other man.\nUnless this is done, the individual and the community will be\nretarded.\n\n**The Duty of the Strong.**  The man who is in possession of strength,\nacquired by any means whatsoever, is under special obligations to the\ncommunity. The strong must, somehow, attach to themselves those who\nare weak; and as the strong move onward, they must pull with them\nthose who are weak. If a person possess knowledge, he must give\nknowledge to others, so that all may attain great knowledge; if he\nhave great faith, he must use faith until all may know its virtue; if\nhe have acquired great wealth, he must use it so that many may share\nin its physical benefits. Those who have must give to those who have\nnot. Those who understand the deeper, inner life must not forget those\nwho are not gifted with an understanding of the contents of the vast\nuniverse.\n\nThe weak have similar responsibilities devolving upon them. Under\nearthly conditions the weak tend to foster jealousy of the strong.\nThis is out of harmony with the law of progress. The weak must seek\nstrength for themselves, and should invite the assistance of the\nstrong. The weak may help the progress of the race by accepting, as a\ngift, the assistance of the strong. There is no shame in accepting\ngifts, in learning from those who have more than we have, providing\nour own powers are used to the full. If the strong will not give to\nthe weak, in the right spirit of helpfulness; or if the weak will not\naccept the help proffered for their advancement, the whole onward\nmovement will be slowed down.\n\nMoreover, it is a common law of nature that those who are strong, and\ngive of their strength to others, add thereby to their own strength.\n\n**Co-operation.**  Co-operation of all, weak or strong, is\ncharacteristic of mutual helpfulness. When many men unite to\naccomplish great works, mighty results follow. Each man then obtains\nhis full reward. Even if the co-operation provides that its results\nare divided equally among the participants, the strong receives his\nfull reward, for, because of his greater strength, he has done greater\nlabor, and has consequently added greatly to his strength. The weak,\nby their association with the strong, having shared equally with them,\nhave gained greater hope, and more courage to carry on their\nindividual work of progress. The principle of co-operation is in full\nconformity with the whole plan of salvation.\n\n**Education.**  Education looms large in the matter of mutual support,\nfor it is only by the development of individual power that man may\nhelp his fellow man and thus recognize the full brotherhood of man.\nGreat powers can be exercised only by faculties that are trained to\nthe utmost. Schools are provided, where the young mind may be guided\nrapidly and well into a better control of itself. A rational theology\nmust be established upon the basis of developed intelligence, which\njustifies the existence of schools and other devices for the proper\nunfolding of the mind. In the Church there must ever be a vigorous\npropaganda for the education of the masses. The Church must be a\ngenerally educated Church, in which the \"educated class\" includes all.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 27.\n\nTHE UNITED ORDER.\n\n\nThe true relation among men, the doctrine of the brotherhood of man,\nis nowhere better exemplified than in the principle of the united\norder. This system of living represents, no doubt, the acme of\nbrotherly love and human efficiency.\n\n**Purpose.**  The united order recognizes that men have different\ntalents and therefore different aspirations which should be allowed\nfull and free unfolding. That is, the individual should be allowed to\nexercise his inborn gifts. The united order further provides that the\nmembers of a community share equally in the material returns of the\nactivities of the whole community. Since the wants of a community are\nsatisfied only by a variety of necessary labor, some yielding large,\nothers small, material gains, the united order provides that, if a man\nwork to the full of his ability, all the working days of his life, he\nshould have an equal share in the material gains of the community,\nwhatever his labor may be. Under this system there could be no\npoverty; all would be amply supplied with the material necessities of\nlife. Those who, because of their greater talents or training, do the\ngreater work, will receive whatever is needed for the maintenance of\nlife; and they will attain, moreover, a greater growth and\nsatisfaction because of the greater work that they have performed.\nSince the material wants of all will be amply supplied, there can be\nno real reason why all should not share in the total results of the\nlabor of the community. The united order implies a closely organized\nbody of men and women working together for individual and for mutual\nadvancement. In theory, at least, it appears to be the best answer to\nmany of the great questions that trouble mankind.\n\n**Historical.**  The united order is not a new conception. It has been\nknown from the beginning of time. In the days of Enoch, the seventh\npatriarch, the united order was practiced successfully. When the\nChurch was organized by Christ, the united order was practiced very\nfully for some time, by many of the people. It is quite possible that\nthe order has been established and practiced successfully at other\ntimes, but no record has come down to this age. Finally, in this\ndispensation, the united order was revealed to the Prophet Joseph\nSmith. The people, on several occasions, tried to practice it, and\nwherever practiced correctly, it appeared to result in good; but\nindividual selfishness usually resulted in the abandonment of the\npractice. It is a system of life requiring the fullest understanding\nof the Gospel truth, and the greatest conception of man's place in the\nuniverse. In its practice, men must overcome their selfishness, and\naccept at their true values, the various rewards of life. Enoch and\nhis people acquired such high control over themselves that they were\nable to practice the united order unselfishly, and at last were\ntranslated from the earth without tasting death. It seems that the\nunited order is above the reach of the kind of men and women we now\nare. Nevertheless, it is the system we approach, as we approach\nperfection.\n\n**Co-operation.**  The united order has been suspended as a required\nform of life in the Church, but its spirit still remains. Those who\nare indeed worthy members of the Church must accept the spirit of the\nunited order. It finds present expression in the system of\nco-operation, under which many unite in one enterprise, in such a way\nthat no one person dominates it, but that all concerned have a voice\nin it, and so that the profits resulting from the enterprise are\ndivided more or less uniformly among those connected with it.\nCo-operative enterprises have been fostered constantly and\nconsistently by the Church in the latter days, and in the majority of\ninstances have been extremely successful. In fact, when the Church\nsettled in Utah, it would have been impossible to accomplish the great\nwork before the pioneers, had they not practiced co-operation. To give\nevery man a full and proper chance is the spirit of the true Church.\n\n**Tithing.**  Every organized Church must have some means of material\nsupport. Houses of worship must be constructed; temples must be built;\neducation must be fostered; the poor must be provided for; and many\nother material needs form a part of the great spiritual mission of the\nChurch. For the general support, therefore, of the Church and of the\npoor who are unable to provide for themselves, a fund has been\nprovided by the tithing of the people. This is a preparation for the\nunited order, and some day will be replaced by the more complete\nsystem. This fund is maintained by the payment, by each member of the\nChurch, of one-tenth of his earnings, as they are delivered to him.\nThe money thus obtained is placed in the hands of the bishops, and is\ndisbursed under the direction of the First Presidency associated with\nthe presiding bishopric and other officials named in the revelations.\n\nTithing is an ancient system, frequently mentioned in the history of\nthe past. It is fair to all the people, for it is necessarily a system\nwhereby each man pays in proportion to his earnings. Great blessings\nfollow obedience either to the law of united order or the law of\ntithing.\n\n**Voluntary Offerings.**  In addition to tithing, voluntary offerings\nmay be made to the Church for specific or general purposes, as for the\nsupport of the poor or distressed living near us, or for the building\nof churches.\n\n**The Common Good.**  All these devices for gathering material funds\nfor the sustenance of the Church, simply show the underlying and\noverwhelming desire of those who understand the Gospel, to assist for\nmutual benefit. Not the good of one, but the common good, is uppermost\nin the minds of those who understand and love the Gospel.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 28.\n\nWORK FOR THE DEAD.\n\n\nThe doctrine of the brotherhood of man and the principles of united\norder and co-operation show the necessity of giving ourselves for the\ncommon good. This intense desire of the Church for service to all, for\nhuman brotherhood, are probably nowhere better shown than in the work\nfor the dead.\n\n**All Must Be Saved.**  Temple work rests on the principle of the\nGreat Plan that all must be saved, or at least given the opportunity\nof salvation. Persons who have been unable to accept the Gospel\nordinances on earth, are not necessarily denied the privileges of\nmembership in the Church or refused the blessings which come to those\nwho accept the truth. For such dead persons vicarious work must be\ndone in all the essential ordinances of the Church. Vicarious work is\nnot new, for it has been practiced in various forms from the first\nday. In common daily life, a man is given authority to do official\nwork for another, when a \"power of attorney\" is conferred. The work of\nJesus Christ was essentially vicarious, for he atoned for the act of\nAdam.\n\n**Earthly Ordinances.**  Great, eternal truths make up the Gospel\nplan. All regulations for man's earthly guidance have their eternal\nspiritual counterparts. The earthly ordinances of the Gospel are\nthemselves the reflections of heavenly ordinances. For instance,\nbaptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and temple work are really earthly\nsymbols of realities that prevail throughout the universe; but, they\nare symbols of truths that must be recognized if the Great Plan is to\nbe fulfilled. The acceptance of these earthly symbols is part and\nparcel of correct earth-life, and being earthly symbols they are\ndistinctly of the earth, and can not be performed elsewhere than on\nearth. In order that absolute fairness may prevail and eternal justice\nmay be satisfied, all men to attain the fulness of their joy must\naccept these earthly ordinances. There is no water baptism in the next\nestate, nor any conferring of the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying\non of earthly hands. The equivalents of these ordinances prevail no\ndoubt in every estate, but only as they are given on this earth can\nthey be made to aid, in their onward progress, those who have dwelt on\nearth. For that reason those who have departed this life without\nhaving accepted the earthly ordinances, which constitute in part the\nconditions of entrance to the Church, must have that work done for\nthem on earth. By proxy they must be baptized by water, receive the\nlaying on of hands and accept of the temple ordinances. By this method\nthe path to eternal life is invariable; in fairness and without\ndiscrimination, all must tread it. Were there any departure from this\norder, it would be a short time only until men might take upon\nthemselves the authority of devising various methods whereby eternal\njoy might be obtained. This would be unnatural, because definite order\nprevails throughout nature.\n\n**A Work of Love.**  To do work for the dead involves much sacrifice\non the part of the living. Genealogies must be collected, exact\ninformation concerning dates of births and deaths and other\nfundamental data must be obtained, and the better part of a day is\nrequired to take the endowments for each dead person--and all this,\nusually, for a person long dead, of whom the worker may have no\ndefinite knowledge beyond name and time of his life. It follows that\nonly by love for one's fellowmen can the work be done. Young and old\nmay do work for the dead in the temples; and young and old are,\nindeed, engaged in it. Especially in the evening of life, when time is\nmore plentiful for such work, do many persons give themselves fully to\nthis labor of love. As a result of temple work for the dead, to which\nthousands of people give their time and means, a great flood of love\nfor humanity is poured out upon the people.\n\n**The Need of Records.**  Before the earth passes away into its next\nstage of existence, work must be done in the temples for all the\nliving and all the dead. Only when this is done, will the curtain be\nrolled up, and the vision of complete existence given to man. To do\nwork for the dead, who in life did not accept the Gospel, will require\ncomplete genealogies of the human race. To secure these is a gigantic\ntask. The diverse conditions of human life, and the vicissitudes of\nthe race have been such that frequently genealogies have not been\nwritten and often have been lost. The most careful search of man will\nnot reveal them all. However, as has been explained, in an intelligent\nuniverse, nothing is wholly lost. The record of every man exists and\nby some means will be found before the work on earth is completed.\nMeanwhile, no external power will come to man's aid, until he has used\nhis own efforts, and therefore it becomes necessary for men to search\nout existing genealogies of the human race. When that has been done,\nin the years to come, man may rest secure that the gods who direct our\nearth, will come to the rescue of this important part of the work of\nsalvation.\n\nConsequently there is intense interest in the Church in all\ngenealogical matters. Every person is on the lookout for his own\ngenealogy; when that is completed, he searches for those of others.\nSuch work intensifies family loyalty and devotion, from which virtues\nproceed. It follows, also, that the Church records and preserves with\nutmost care the genealogical histories of its members. Sacred history\nshows that at all times, when the Church has been on earth,\ngenealogies have been carefully kept and recorded.\n\n**The Result.**  Work for the dead has far-reaching results. First of\nall, it establishes a close communion among those who have lived and\nwho are living on earth. The hearts of the children are turned to the\nfathers, and the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children.\nThis, indeed, is the vital principle of the Great Plan--that all may\nwork together to the ultimate good of each.\n\nThe principle of infinite, loving brotherhood among men, as\nexemplified in the work for the dead, may be applied in the daily\nlives of the living. If so much work is done, so much time and energy\nexpended and so much care bestowed upon the salvation of the dead, how\nmuch more should we help and support and love the living. The living\nmust always be man's first concern. This principle, carried into our\ndaily lives, means that we must continually and at our own sacrifice\nhelp each other. Then only will the sacrifice for the dead not be in\nvain.\n\nWork for the dead is no doubt symbolic of the great universal law that\nthings of the universe move onward together, not singly. So great is\nthis principle in its application to daily life, among the living,\nthat it rises to be one of the mightiest principles that contribute to\nhuman brotherhood and brotherly love.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 29.\n\nMARRIAGE.\n\n\nWe are not the last spirits to enter upon the earth career. There are\nyet countless numbers of unborn spirits waiting for the privilege of\nreceiving earthly bodies and of tasting the sorrows and the joys of\nearth. The living, who understand the Great Plan, must not then\nconfine their attention to themselves and to those who have gone\nbefore. The waiting spirits must be a concern of our lives.\n\n**Eternity of Sex.**  It has already been said that sex is an eternal\nprinciple. The equivalent of sex has always existed and will continue\nforever. As the sex relation, then, represents an eternal condition,\nthe begetting of children is coincidently an eternal necessity. We\nwere begotten into the spirit world by God the Father, and have been\nborn into the world which we now possess.\n\n**The Waiting Spirits.**  According to the Great Plan, all who, in the\nGreat Council, accepted the Christ, will in time appear on earth,\nclothed with mortal bodies. All these spirits must be born as children\ninto the world. A high purpose, if not the main one, of the earth work\nmust be, therefore, to continue the race by begetting children and\nproperly caring for them until they reach maturity. Undoubtedly, the\nwaiting spirits are hoping patiently for their turn to reach the\nearth--a glorious step in the progressive advancement of man, which\nthe spirits have earned by their righteous lives.\n\n**The Meaning of the First Command.**  This doctrine makes clear the\nmeaning of the first great command, to multiply and replenish the\nearth. It is not only for the joy and satisfaction of humanity that\nthe sex relation, with the possibility of begetting offspring,\nprevails on earth, but as much for the fulfilment of the eternal Great\nPlan. It becomes a necessary duty, for all wedded persons who dwell on\nearth, to bring children into the world. This is the greatest and\nholiest and most necessary mission of man, with respect to the waiting\nspirits. Fatherhood and motherhood become glorified in the light of\nthe eternal plan of salvation.\n\nThe doctrine that wedded man and woman should not beget children or\nshould limit the number of children born to them, is contrary to the\nspirit of the Great Plan, and is a most erroneous one. Let the waiting\nspirits come! Let children be born into the earth! Let fatherhood and\nmotherhood be the most honored of all the professions on earth!\nMarriage resulting in parenthood is a great evidence of the reality of\nthe brotherhood of man, of the unselfishness of man. However, only in\nthe marriage relation should children be begotten. Looseness of life,\nbetween man and woman, is the most terrible of human iniquities, for\nit leads, assuredly, to the physical decay of the race. With the\nsanction of the Priesthood, men and women should contract to live\ntogether as husband and wife.\n\n**The Family.**  The unit of society is the family. The family circle\nis intimate, and in it the keenest human loves prevail. As the family\ndevelops so will society, as a whole, develop. By children comes\ncomplete family life. Without children, family life is incomplete.\nChildren are, then, a real necessity in the fulfilling of the\npossibilities of the Church. The true Church always encourages the\nbegetting of children; the intensifying of family life, and the\ndignifying of all the duties pertaining to procreation.\n\n**Celestial Marriage.**  If sex is eternal, it follows of necessity,\nthat the marriage covenant may also be eternal. It is not a far step\nto the doctrine that after the earth work has been completed, and\nexaltation in the next estate has been attained, one of the chief\nduties of men and women will be to beget spiritual children. These\nspirits, in turn, in the process of time, will come down upon an\nearth, there to obtain an acquaintance with gross matter, and through\nthe possession of earthly bodies to control more fully, and forever,\nthe manifold forces surrounding them. It is one of the rewards of\nintelligent development, that we may be to other spiritual beings,\nwhat our God has been to us.\n\nAmong those who understand the Gospel, marriage may be, and indeed\nshould be, for time and eternity. Marriage that lasts only during the\nearth life is a sad one, for the love established between man and\nwoman, as they live together and rear their family, does not wish to\ndie, but to live to grow richer with the eternal years. Marriage for\ntime and eternity establishes a unique relation between husband and\nwife. Their children belong to them for time and eternity; the family\nis continued from this earth into the next life, and becomes a unit in\nthe eternal life, and, in all family relations, the vision is cast\nforward, in anticipation of an undying relationship.\n\n**The Sealing Powers.**  Naturally, the power to seal men and women to\neach other, for time and eternity, and to seal children to their\nparents for eternal ages, is a supreme power, committed to man's\nkeeping. The President of the Church is the only person on the earth\nwho holds the keys of these sealing ordinances. True, he may delegate\nhis power to workers in the temples, so that celestial marriages and\nsealings may go on, but such delegated authority may be withdrawn at\nany moment. In that respect, it differs wholly from the power of the\nPriesthood, which can be withdrawn from a man only who is found in\nsin. It is proper that only one man should hold this power, for it is\nof infinite effect, and should be guarded with the most jealous care,\nand kept from the frail prejudices and jealousies of men.\n\nThe power to bind for time and eternity is the power, also, to loose\nthat which has been bound, should it be found necessary. Undoubtedly,\nunder human conditions, mistakes may be made, but if such mistakes are\nmade and are not rectified on earth, they will, no doubt, under a\nsupervising intelligent Being, be rectified in the hereafter. It is,\nhowever, only through the sealing power that the eternal relationship\nof the sexes, the eternal increase of life, and the consequent eternal\njoy, may be obtained.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 30.\n\nTHE COMMUNITY.\n\n\nThe relations of the few and the many lead to great problems which are\nof the gravest import to humanity.\n\n**Community Defined.**  A community is a body of people having common\ninterests and, usually, living in the same place, under the same laws\nand regulations. From the beginning of time, individuals have\nassociated and grouped themselves into communities. Every Church is a\ncommunity of believers. The Church which conforms to the whole law is\nthe one characterized by authority and operating under authoritative\nlaws.\n\n**The Individual in the Community.**  A community is a great organism,\nwith individuality which must express itself in adaptation or\nopposition to law.\n\nSince the community is composed of individuals, each with independent\nwills and agencies, nothing must be done, as a community, to prevent\nthe full unfolding of the individual, for the more progressive the\nindividuals, the more progressive is the community. While the\ncommunity is under responsibility to each individual, the individual,\nhaving accepted a place and life in the community, must not do\nanything that will restrain other individuals of the community.\nWhatever is good for the many, must always take preference. This does\nnot interfere, in the least, with full individual development, since\nthe greatest individual development always comes from proper\nadaptation to law. When each individual faithfully obeys the law, the\ncommunity is safe.\n\n**The Rights of the Community.**  The community has rights which are\nas inalienable as the free agency of individuals. An individual who\nwill not obey the community laws should move out of the community.\nThose who remain must yield obedience to the laws established for the\npublic good. This was well brought out in the Great Council, when\nLucifer fell because he was not one with the community. In that great\nday, as in our day, the many had the right to demand that their good\nbe considered as of primary importance.\n\n**Training for the Community.**  In view of the supremacy of the\ncommunity it becomes indispensable that the powers of the individual\nbe so unfolded as to be of service to the community. No man can\nselfishly stand aside and say \"I am sufficient unto myself; in the\ncommunity I have no interest; though I obey its laws, I do not serve\nit.\" It is not sufficient that a man obey the laws of the community;\nhe must vigorously serve the community. Every act of every man's life\nmust relate itself to the good of other men. This is fundamental in\nthe Gospel, and should be fundamental in the daily relations of men.\n\nThis justifies the modern training now given men for the necessary\npursuits and common tasks of daily life. Whatever is necessary, may\nand should be made honorable and dignified. All pursuits are made\nprofessional, so that all who serve the good of the many, may find the\nsame joy in their work whatever it may be. All men should be trained\nfor service to the community.\n\nIt is an interesting commentary on the present-day Church that\nPresident Brigham Young was one of the first men in America to\nestablish schools in which the training of men for the actual affairs\nof life was made pre-eminent. Today we train for citizenship, whether\nin the Church or in the State. In such training lies the hope of the\ncommunity for its future. By such training will a feeling of community\nresponsibility be established among men.\n\n**The Supremacy of the Community.**  From all this and from what has\nbeen said in preceding chapters, it is clear that the Great Plan was\nso devised that men may unitedly work out their salvation. Man may not\nstand alone. Brotherhood is the great principle on which the Church is\nbased.\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND NATURE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 31.\n\nMAN AND NATURE.\n\n\nThere is but one nature. All things, visible or invisible, belong to\nthe one universe.\n\n**The Intelligence of Nature.**  Each and all of the numerous forces\nin the universe may be subjected to the will of man. In the universe\nare untold numbers of intelligent beings, whose main business it is to\ndiscover the ways of nature, and by an intelligent control of nature,\nto acquire greater power of advancing development. The holy spirit\nfills all things, and by its means the thoughts and minds of these\nincreasing intelligent beings are everywhere felt. Intelligence\npermeates the universe.\n\nThe question is often asked, \"Does nature, as we know it, the rocks\nand trees and beasts, possess intelligence of an order akin to that of\nman?\" Who knows? That intelligence is everywhere present is beyond\nquestion. By the intelligent God, nature is directed. The forming of a\ncrystal or the conception of a living animal is, somehow, connected\nwith an intelligent purpose and will. This fruitful field of\nconjecture should be touched with care, for so little definite\nknowledge concerning it is in man's possession.\n\n**A Living Earth.**  It seems to be well established that the earth as\na whole, is a living organism. It had a beginning; it will die or be\nchanged, and after is purification it will be brought into greater\nglory as a resurrected organism. Even the symbolism of baptism was\nperformed for the earth when the waters descended in the great flood.\nAll this can simply mean that the earth, as well as all on it, are\nsubject to the fundamental Plan, involving the atonement of Jesus\nChrist.\n\nThe earth as an organism does its work perfectly well. It is without\nsin. \"The earth abides the law of a celestial kingdom, for it fills\nthe measure of its creation, and transgresses not the law. Wherefore\nit shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be\nquickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened,\nand the righteous shall inherit it.\" If the earth is a living\norganism, it seems more than likely that all things on earth possess a\nmeasure of life and intelligence.\n\n**The Lower Animals.**  The lower animals were created by the power of\nGod. All things created by him, have first been created spiritually,\nthen temporally, after which they pass again into the spiritual life.\nAnimals were created spiritually before they were given material\nexistence. If the meaning of this doctrine is that animals lived\nbefore this, they certainly may live hereafter. That which is\nessential in animals is probably indestructible. Our knowledge of this\nsubject is extremely limited, and whatever is said about it, is\nconjectural and subject to revision.\n\n**All for the Use of Man.**  Nevertheless, rocks and trees and beasts,\nare for the use of man, to be used by him in moderation and with\nwisdom. Man is at the head of the creations on earth. It is his duty\nto make proper use of them all. Whoever teaches that any part of the\nuniverse is not for the benefit of man, is in error.\n\n**Man's Conquest of Nature.**  It is the simplest of present-day\ndoctrines that the vastness of nature makes it impossible for man to\ncomprehend more than the minutest part of it. Yet, in the true\nphilosophy of life, nothing is more certain than that the greatest\nmystery of nature may at some time be understood. The great purpose of\nman's existence is a complete understanding of all the mysteries of\nnature. True, the understanding that will give him full mastery over\nnature will come little by little. In the end, man shall know all that\nhe desires. Even in that happy day he shall not be able to change one\nlaw of nature; only by intelligent control may he apply nature's laws\nto desired ends. With this certainty man may go onward hopefully.\nNature is inexhaustible and man shall not, in all the endless ages,\nexplore it completely; he shall only in the eternal days become more\nconscious of its infinite majesty--thereby comes the everlasting joy\nof man. Great hope of conquest enables man to meet his daily tasks,\nwith lifted head and fearless courage. Man knows that all his search\nshall be successful, if he only search with might and main and have\npatience to wait.\n\n**Miracles.**  Man is of limited power; whatever he can not understand\nor duplicate may be called miraculous; and only in that sense can\nmiracles be allowed. The miracles of the Savior were done only by\nsuperior knowledge. Nothing is unnatural. All that has been done, man\nmay do as he increases in power. The conception of intelligence\nguiding the destinies of men, makes it possible that, in our behalf,\nwonderful things are often done, that transcend our understanding, but\nwhich are yet in full and complete harmony with the laws of nature.\nFor ourselves we must discover all of nature that we can. In time of\nneed, when our own knowledge does not suffice, the Master may give his\nhelp. Thus, after man has used his full knowledge and failed, the sick\nmay be healed, the sorrowing, comforted, or wealth or poverty may\ncome, provided we draw heavily enough upon the unseen forces about us.\nHelp so obtained is not unnatural. A miracle is simply that which we\ncan not understand, and at which we marvel.\n\n**Harmony of Man and Nature.**  Vast, unnumbered forces lie about us.\nThe possible power of man, as he grows in knowledge, is quite beyond\nour under standing. All that is required of man is that he place\nhimself in harmony with the interacting forces, operating in all\ndirections. If the forces are not fully understood, he must search\nthem out, and as best he can, must place himself so that they are with\nhim rather than against him. To enjoy nature is our privilege and\nduty. No life finds joy above its harmonious associations with the\nthings that lie about it in nature. All this is merely in accord with\nthe fundamental doctrines already laid down. The Church possessing the\ntruth, always fosters, encourages and respects all honest\ninvestigation of nature.\n\n\n\n\nMAN AND HIMSELF.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 32.\n\nTHE SOUND BODY.\n\n\nConsideration has been given, in the preceding chapters, to the\npre-existent life, the course of the Gospel on the earth, and man's\nrelationship to God, to the Church and to his fellowman. Man must,\nalso, give respectful consideration to himself, as an individual.\n\n**The Importance of the Body.**  Attention has already been called to\nthe fact that the condition of the body limits, largely, the\nexpression of the spirit. The spirit shines through the body only as\nthe body permits. The body is essentially of the earth; and, in the\nearth career, the earthly envelope of the spirit would naturally\ndetermine the expression of man's powers. If the body is in poor\ncondition from birth, man must strengthen it as the days increase; if\nit is strong from the beginning, he must make it stronger.\n\n**Food.**  A first consideration for the proper maintenance of bodily\nhealth, is the proper feeding of the body. Man should use food adapted\nto the body and seasonable according to nature. In accordance with the\nWord of Wisdom, meat should be used sparingly, and no food should be\nused to excess.\n\n**Exercise.**  The elimination of unassimilated food from the human\nbody is quite as important as the taking in of food. For that purpose,\nphysical exercise must be taken regularly. Moreover, exercise develops\nand strengthens all parts of the body. Manual labor, which usually is\nlooked upon as inferior to mental labor, is in reality a means of\nimproving the body, permitting hard mental labor and making possible a\nfuller expression of man's spirit. Man's life should not be given\nwholly to physical work, but it should constitute a vital part of it.\n\n**Rest.**  Just as necessary as is food or exercise, is the change\ncalled rest. If the same muscles be exercised continuously they will\nsurely tire and good work can, then, no longer be done with them.\nRegular rest should be given the body. Frequently, a change from one\nkind of work to another is a sufficient rest; but in many cases,\ncessation from effort is necessary to recuperate man's strength,\nproperly. The natural law requiring regular sleep should be obeyed,\nthough none should sleep too long. One day out of seven, the Sabbath,\nshould be devoted, particularly, to matters concerning God and the\nspiritual life, which too often are submerged during the other days,\nin the material affairs of life. An occasional fasting is very\ndesirable, since, for a few hours, it gives some organs of the body a\ncomplete rest. At present, the Church practice is to fast twenty-four\nconsecutive hours once each month. The food thus saved, in conformity\nwith the fundamental spirit of brotherhood, is distributed among those\nwho have need of it, by ward officers specially appointed for that\npurpose.\n\n**Stimulants.**  In normal health, food, exercise, rest, love of God\nand fellowman and daily work, furnish a natural and sufficient\nstimulation for all the duties of life. In fact, none other should be\nallowed, if the best physical health is to be retained. Therefore,\nalcohol in all its forms, tobacco, tea, coffee and the variety of\ndrugs should not be used. There is double danger in the use of\nstimulants: first, they tend to undermine the strength of the man,\nand, second, they take away from man his mastery of himself. Under the\ninfluence of a drug, man is urged on by the drug itself, and not by\nhis own strength of will. This is most dangerous. A man who loses\ncontrol of himself, never knows just what he may do.\n\n**Moral Purity.**  The body is much concerned in the moral purity of\nthe man. Men and women must keep themselves pure or there will be a\nloss of life and procreative power. Moreover, men must keep themselves\nas pure as do women. No reasoning, based on natural law, justifies two\nstandards of morality, one for the man and the other for the woman.\n\n**The Gospel and the Sound Body.**  The sound body is a Gospel\nrequirement, for only with a sound body can man work out his mission\nand have full joy. Working effectively and to make others happy, can\nbe done only in a healthy body. Every effort should be made to keep\nour bodies as sound as possible. It is a part of a rational theology.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 33.\n\nEDUCATION FOR THE INNER LIFE.\n\n\nAfter all, the body is only the tabernacle of the spirit. The spirit\nwithin, the essential part of man, must be developed as much as\npossible during the earth career.\n\n**The Senses.**  Knowledge is the material on which the mind works. In\nevery progressive life fresh knowledge must be gathered as the days go\nby. The senses of man are the gateways through which that knowledge\nenters. The senses of man must be developed, therefore, as completely\nas is possible. Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling must\nall be developed fully and joyously for the pleasure and benefit of\nman. Without sharp senses, man may not have the highest earthly joy.\n\n**The Reasoning Power.**  It is not sufficient for the contentment of\nman that he gather knowledge, and add fact to fact. All new\ninformation must be compared with other information, so that\nconclusions may be drawn, and new knowledge brought into view. By this\nprocess of reasoning, on the basis of acquired knowledge, man may rise\nby sure steps to a high degree of understanding. Man must train\nhimself, with all his might, to use this wonderful faculty of reason,\nso that he may intelligently read new knowledge from all he learns. A\nfact, of itself, is lifeless; only when it is compared with other\nfacts, does it leap into life, and show forth its hidden meaning.\n\n**The Feelings.**  The sense of feeling is but a poor expression for\nthe one great sense by which man may directly communicate with the\nregion of the unseen. Through this sense, man stands on the border\nline between earth and the external universe. Those who have communion\nwith the forces about them, because of their greater refinement of\nfeeling, have comfort which is attainable in no other manner.\n\nMoreover, our feelings with respect to our fellow men should be\ncultivated. We must learn to sympathize with them in their distresses,\nrejoice with them in their joys, and pity them in their sins. The\neducation of the feelings is a great duty of man.\n\n**The Spiritual Sense.**  This sense is closely akin to the feelings.\nThe virtues of man, such as hope, charity, and mercy, can reach high\ndevelopment only on the basis of the conviction that the unseen world\nmay be known. When this conviction grows upon a man, and he reaches\nout for a fuller understanding of it, his spiritual sense develops,\nnew worlds are opened to him and he conforms to the intelligent love\nwhich made the Great Plan possible.\n\n**Symbolism.**  Moreover, as man develops, he learns to be content to\nknow eternal truths only in great symbols. That is, he learns to be\nsatisfied to know that he does not fully know. This has already been\ndwelt upon and need not be further emphasized. The Sacrament, as an\nordinance of the Church is one of the great symbols of the suffering\nand death of Jesus for the sake of mankind, that the Great Plan might\nbe fulfilled. Bread is eaten and water is drunk as symbols of the body\nand blood of the Savior, given in the atoning sacrifice. Every other\nordinance is similarly symbolic. Back of the symbols lies the whole\nGreat Plan in all of its gradations. God demands that the sacrament be\npartaken of frequently, so that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus may be\nheld before the people continually; so with the other great symbols of\nthe Church. By them the realities of eternal life are held before us.\n\n**Education.**  The whole of life is education, or training for\nfurther work. No wonder, therefore, that, in the correct philosophy of\nlife, schools and other devices for the training of man's powers are\nforemost. Education is and must be carried onward fully and\nabundantly, in the Church of Christ. The support of education is,\nindeed, a test of the truthfulness of the Church.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 34.\n\nSATISFACTION WITH DAILY WORK.\n\n\nAll must work--in defense if for no other reason. Without some kind of\nlabor, body and mind will deteriorate. Clearly, however, all cannot do\nthe same work, unless each man does practically all the variety of\nwork necessary for the production of the things necessary in his life.\nIn a complex civilization of many needs, that would be impossible or\nwasteful. The great satisfaction of earth-life is to be content with\nwhatever work may come.\n\n**Variety of Earthly Tasks.**  In obedience to God's command, man must\ndevote himself to the work of subduing the earth. This is no simple\ntask, for the earth is an organism of many elements. Moreover, the\nneeds of man are varied and manifold, to the satisfying of which, the\nsubjection of the earth is ordained. There is an endless variety of\ntasks, for body and mind, to be accomplished by the men and women of\nearth. These tasks differ greatly; some concern themselves chiefly\nwith the body; others, chiefly with the mind; and yet others with both\nbody and mind. Some deal with this, and others with that, essential\nneed; some with this, and others with that, necessary condition. The\nvocations of man are almost numberless. Much unhappiness has come to\nmen because they have been obliged in life to follow one vocation when\nthey would rather follow another. If a man thus be unhappy in his\ndaily work the whole of his life is akin to failure, because he does\nnot truly realize the possible joys of life. Occasionally, the\ndiscontent is due to the unwillingness of the man to earn his bread in\nthe sweat of his brow. This is due to ignorance. Earnest, sincere\nlabor, requiring steady and full effort, is the source of many abiding\njoys.\n\n**All Work May be Intelligent.**  If intelligence pervades all things,\nand if all things belong to the Great Plan, including the labors in\nwhich man lives and moves, then all tasks may and should be made\nintelligent and appealing to mind as well as to body. Rational as it\nis, it is however a relatively new thought, that to every task, if\nproperly illumined by knowledge, many forces of the mind may be\napplied. As man has gained added knowledge, this has become more and\nmore evident. The fact that intelligence may be made to illuminate the\nso-called humbler tasks, lifts much of the so-called curse from the\nlabor of man. This is another reason for the education of man into an\nunderstanding of the full meaning of the necessary tasks of life. It\njustifies the support of research into all divisions of nature, and\nstamps with approval honest study and investigation of every kind. All\nkinds of work must be done; full preparation for every kind of work is\nfully justified.\n\n**Nothing Temporal.**  God has never given a temporal commandment. All\nGod's creative works are first spiritual, then temporal. That is, they\nwere first begotten of the intelligent mind, and must represent some\nnecessity in the Great Plan. Whatever, therefore, is brought into\noperation on earth for the good of man, must represent great, eternal,\nspiritual realities. In conformity with this thought, every task,\nhowever apparently humble, however apparently remote from fundamental\nprinciples, has a spiritual counterpart, and is necessary for the\ncompletion of the plan under which man works. It matters little,\ntherefore, whether man devote his life to the tilling of the soil, the\nmaking of shoes or the writing of books, so that the work be well\ndone. All such tasks are proper, dignified and necessary parts of the\nGreat Plan, and will lead man along the path of eternal progression.\nThis means that, no matter to what work a man may give himself,\nproviding it is honorable and he do it with all his might, he may rest\nsecure that on the last great day, the work will be transmuted into\nspiritual values, and as such will be written into the eternal record.\nThe quality and not the kind of work is the final test of man's\nachievements.\n\nMan knows relatively little. He accepts his part without knowing its\nmeaning in the full economy of God's plan for his children. Wise is\nthe man who spends his strength, with a full heart, in the\naccomplishment of the nearest work. He will find his work transmuted\ninto things glorious beyond his dreams. More than that: Man need not\nwait long for the transmutation of his honest work. Strength comes to\nthe man of honest and full endeavor, irrespective of the kind of work,\nand on this earth his efforts are transmuted into a great and noble\njoy. All work is holy, and, well done, will bring its own reward, here\nand in the hereafter.\n\nWithout question, men should seek the work they think they love best,\nor for which they are best fitted. Yet,' the majority of men can do\nmost work in a satisfactory manner. The work that we finally must do,\nwe should accept in the light of its eternal value.\n\n**Subjection of Self.**  Nevertheless, to accept a place in\nsociety--not always the place one desires; to do well the work that is\nnear at hand--not always the work one wishes; to love and to cherish\nthe work, and to forget oneself in the needs of others, all that is\nnot always easy. Such a life means a subjection of self which can be\naccomplished only if there is a clear understanding of the plan of\nsalvation.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 35.\n\nTHE HOPE OF TOMORROW.\n\n\nTime is unceasing. There was a yesterday, there is a today, and there\nwill be a tomorrow. The Gospel plan encompasses all time. Tomorrow has\na great place in the eternal plan.\n\n**Today.**  The greatest day of all time is today. It is the product\nof all the past; and is the promise of all the future. If each today\nis made great, the tomorrows will be surpassingly greater. The one way\nto draw out of life the keen joys of life, is to think little of\ntomorrow, but to live mightily today.\n\n**Tomorrow.**  Yet, surely, there will be a tomorrow. The sun sets,\nand we sleep, and we awaken to a new day. Forever there shall come new\ndays. Today is our great day; but there will be another great, a\ngreater day. What tomorrow shall be, depends measureably upon today.\nAt least, the beginning of tomorrow will be as the evening of today.\nAs we spend today, so will the hope of tomorrow be. The ages do not\ncome in leaps, but step by step do they enter into the larger life.\n\nThe law of today is that joy will transfigure each coming tomorrow, if\nour work be well done today. No man knows whether his tomorrow will be\non this earth or in another existence, with new duties and under a new\nenvironment. Of one thing we are sure, beyond all cavil, that life on\nearth will continue into an endless future, and the work will be taken\nup where it was laid down yesterday.\n\n**The Resurrection.**  The man whose life is ordered right, worries\nlittle about his tomorrow. Full well he knows that, though the body be\nlaid in the grave, it will rise again. He has the absolute assurance\nof the resurrection. In that resurrection the body will arise\npurified, possessing only its essential, characteristic parts, which\ncannot be taken away or transferred to another body. These essential,\ncharacteristic parts organized into a body will be the mortal body\nmade immortal.\n\nThe resurrection of mortal bodies, on earth, began with Jesus, who on\nthe third day rose from the grave, and after his sojourn among the\nchildren of men, took his body with him into heaven. This was the\nfirst fruit of the resurrection, made possible by the atonement of the\nChrist. Since that time, the resurrection of man may have continued,\nand no doubt will continue, in the future; for many spirits have laid\ndown their earthly bodies, and all must be raised from the grave. In\nthe resurrection, order and law will prevail, and the just deserts of\nmen will be kept in mind.\n\n**Our Place in the Hereafter.**  Into a new, great world shall we\nenter after the journey on earth has ended. In this new world we shall\ncontinue our work of progression, forever and forever, under the\nprevailing laws. Our progress, there, and the laws revealed to us,\nwill depend upon our own actions and upon our own willingness to abide\nby the laws already known to us.\n\nOur place in that life will depend on our faithfulness here. Whatever\na man has gained on earth, will rise with him in the resurrection. All\nthat he gained in the spirit world, before he came on earth, will\nlikewise rise with him. All men will be saved, but the degree of that\nsalvation will vary even as our varying work on earth. There will be\nglory upon glory, and there will be different degrees of advancement,\nsome like unto the sun, some like unto the moon, while other glories\nwill differ even as the infinite stars of the heavens differ in the\nbrightness.\n\nIn the Great Plan there is no provision for the eternal damnation of\nman. At the best, men will be ranged according to their stage of\nprogression--some higher, some lower. In a universe ruled by\nintelligent beings, filled with love for each other, there can be no\nthought of an endless damnation only as men, by opposition to law,\ndestroy themselves. Endless punishment and eternal punishment, terms\noften used, but of little meaning to the human mind, mean simply God's\npunishment, which is beyond our understanding. Those who refuse to\naccept truth or to abide by law, will gradually take less and less\npart in the work of progression. They will be left behind, while their\nintelligent fellows, more obedient, will go on. In nature there is no\nstanding still; those who do not advance, will retrograde, become\nweaker and finally wither, and be forgotten in their low estate.\n\n**The Destiny of Man.**  The intelligence called man cannot be\ndestroyed. Eternal life is therefore the destiny of man. But, eternal\nlife is life open-eyed, ready-minded, seeking, accepting and using all\nknowledge that will assist in man's progress. To continue forever,\nupward, that is eternal life and the destiny of man.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER 36.\n\nTHE LAW OF THE EARTH.\n\n\nIn the high heavens yet hang the stars. Throughout the infinite\nuniverse still play the hosts of mighty forces. The full conquest of\nthe earth by man is yet to be accomplished. As things were when man\nopened his eyes after birth, so do they appear to be today. Yet,\nduring the years that have gone, the man has changed; for now he knows\nhis origin and his destiny, and the purpose of his life on earth. He\nknows that throughout the seeming sameness there is progressive\nchange; that, as he has changed, so has the world changed, too; that\nthe all pervading Intelligent God of the universe is engaged in a\nprogressive development.\n\nMan has found his place amidst the things about him. Whence? Whither?\nHe knows; and with smiling courage sets out to subdue the tasks of the\nday, knowing well that the day's labor, whatever it may be, in\nrighteousness, shall count for him in the endless journey which he is\nmaking.\n\n**The Unknown Meaning.**  The man has learned that in an infinite\nuniverse, admitting of endless development, things may not be fully\nknown. The very essence of things must forever be the goal, towards\nwhich intelligence strives. Nevertheless, man also knows that to\napproach by slow degrees, but steadily, the full knowledge which gives\nunmeasured power over natural forces, is the way of progress. So he is\ncontent to let each day speak one new word of the unknown meaning of\nthe universe.\n\nThe universe is one. All things in it are parts of one whole. The\ndominating spirit of the vastness of space and of its contents is the\ndominating spirit of the least part of that which constitutes the\nwhole. It matters not then, to what a man give himself. In everything\nand anything may the riddle of the universe be read, if the search be\ncontinued long enough. Modest in his possessions, yet courageous in\nhis hope of ultimate conquest, he stands before the things of his\nlife, small or great, knowing of a surety that in them lie the truths\nthat overwhelm the universe.\n\n    \"Flower in the crannied wall,\n    I pluck you out of the crannies,\n    I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,\n    Little flower--but if I could understand\n    What you are, root and all, and all in all,\n    I should know what God and man is.\"\n\nKnowing all this, and the outline of his origin and destiny, man must\nbe forever engaged in extending the philosophy, in accordance with\nwhich he orders and guides his life.\n\n**The Earth-Law.**  On earth the man dwells today. Great are the\nconceptions revealed to him concerning the constitution, progress and\ndestiny of the universe. Marvelous to his understanding is the\nknowledge of his full and vital place in the scheme of things. Yet,\nencompassed by earth conditions, he strives to assemble all this vast,\ndivine and wondrous knowledge, and out of it to draw some simple\nformula, in the language of man, that may be applied in the affairs of\nearth, and which shall be a simple guide to him in all that he may do.\n\nSuch a formula was sought and found by the first man, and has been\nused by the righteous of all ages. In the meridian of time, when Jesus\nof Nazareth, the Christ, came upon earth to fulfil the central thought\nin the plan of salvation, he stated the formula in words that never\nhave been surpassed. Thus runs the formula, and thus is worded the law\nof the earth: \"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,\nand with all thy soul and with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy\nneighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hangeth the law and the\nprophets.\"\n\nThis, in short, is man's duty while he dwells in the flesh. His God,\nhis fellowman and himself--the three concerns of his life. We say it\nis the earth-law, but like all other things of the earth, it stands\nfor huge spiritual meanings, and is therefore an eternal law for all\ntimes and for all places.\n\n**To Love God.**  What does it mean, to love God with one's heart and\nsoul and mind? Certainly, a love of the heart and the soul and the\nmind can not be given to a Being who is not known nor understood. Such\nlove is more than a blind obedience. In such a love there must be a\nrational understanding of God's nature and of his place in the\nuniverse and of his relation to men. There must be in such a fulness\nof love an acceptance of God's superior knowledge, of his intelligent\nPlan for man and of his supreme and final authority. Such a love can\nnot well be forgotten or survive, unless God is part of a universe,\nthe orderly outlines of which can be fathomed by the human mind, That\nsuch knowledge may be possessed by man, and that a real unfeigned love\nfor God may be developed, has been taught in the preceding pages.\nNeither can God be fully loved unless he is obeyed; and the first\ncommand is simple, \"Multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it.\"\n\n**To Love a Neighbor as Oneself.**  To love oneself--that is easy.\nInstinctively, from the first day, we have reached out for our own\ngreater good. Every personal philosophy makes the man the center. To\nlove our neighbor equally well--\"that's the rub.\" His will is not our\nwill; his ways, not our ways. Yet, only by the progress of all, can\neach gain the greatest advancement. The fundamental conceptions of a\nuniverse filled with eternal matter and forces, and a host of\nindividual intelligent beings, make it clear that only by complete\nharmony of all intelligent beings can the interests of each be served,\nin the work of subjugating, by intelligent conquest, the forces of\nuniversal nature.\n\nTo love one's neighbor, then, a man must first know fully his own\norigin and destiny and possible powers; then he may soon learn the\nneed of loving his fellowman, if his love for himself shall grow\ngreat. This commandment is not inferior to the first.\n\n**The Triumph of Man.**  The eternal, conscious, willing being, having\nbecome an earthly man, stands before the law of the earth. If he\nstrives, all the days of his life, to bring into perfect accord, the\nGod who rules, his earthly brother and himself, he will at length win\nthe victory in the battle of his life. Out of such a life will come,\namong other gifts, controlled personal desires, subjection to law, a\nrecognition of the great power of man, and the harmonious adjustment\nof contending forces to the completion of the Great Plan which governs\nman's earth-life. Whether living or dead, such a person has triumphed,\nand the journey from the dim beginning has not been in vain. To such\nsouls comes the reward of the unspeakable joy of a perfect\nunderstanding of the meaning of life, and the living peace that\npasseth understanding--through which appears the vital future, ever\nvigorously progressing towards an increasing, virile goal.\n\nHave you tried the virtue of the law of the earth? If you have not,\ntry it now, for it is good.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nThe doctrines and views set forth in the preceding pages, based on the\nteachings of the elders of the Church, especially of the Prophet\nJoseph Smith, may be confirmed by a study of the doctrinal standards\nof the Church, namely, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and\nCovenants and the Pearl of Great Price. The following references,\nchosen almost at random, from these standards, especially from the\nDoctrine and Covenants, are for the immediate use of those who wish to\npursue the study somewhat more in detail. For a critical study, an\nexhaustive examination must necessarily be made of the doctrinal\nstandards and of the mass of books and printed sermons on the system\nof belief of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Such\nstudents will find the existing indexes or concordances to the\nstandard authorities of most value.[A] but they will also obtain much\nready help from the several existing excellent compilations of\nreferences, classified under doctrinal headings.[B] A list of Church\nliterature may be obtained from the Deseret News and Deseret Sunday\nSchool Union Bookstores, Salt Lake City, Utah.\n\n[Footnote A: _Cruden's Concordance to the Bible_ (or some other good\nconcordance). _A Complete Concordance to the Book of Mormon_ (George\nReynolds). _A Concordance to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants_ (John\nA. Widtsoe). No index has as yet been made for the _Pearl of Great\nPrice_, but the book is small and may be read easily in its entirety.]\n\n[Footnote B: _The Compendium_ (Richards and Little) is the type after\nwhich most of the later compilations have been fashioned.]\n\n\nREFERENCES.\n\nCHAPTERS 1 AND 2\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 1:28; 42:61; 46:18; 84:19; 88:78-80, 118,\n  119; 89:19; 90:15; 93:11-14, 29-36, 53; 101:25; 128:14; 130:18, 19;\n  131:6.\n\nCHAPTER 3\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 3:2; 9:7-9; 28:13; 29:31-35; 49:17;\n  76:13, 22-24; 82:4; 86:9; 88:13, 25, 26, 34-45; 93:21-23, 29; 105:5;\n  121:30-32; 130:20, 21; 131:7; 132:8.\n\n  **Pearl of Great Price,** Abraham 3:18-21; Moses 1:33, 35; 3:5, 9.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** I Nephi 10:19; II Nephi 11:5; Alma 13:6, 7;\n  34:9; 42:16.\n\n  **Bible,** Job 38:4-7; Jer. 1:5; John 9:2; 17:5; Heb. 12:9; Rom.\n  6:23.\n\nCHAPTER 4\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** 9:7-9;\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Alma 12:11, 31; 29:4, 5; 30:9; Moroni 10:4, 5;\n  Mosiah 18:28.\n\nCHAPTER 5\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** Lectures on Faith 7:8; sections 50:24;\n  93:12-14, 20; 132:20.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Alma 32:32; Mosiah 4:12.\n\nCHAPTER 6\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** 3:2, 4, 10; 6:2; 76:2-4; 88:13, 41;\n  93:1, 12-15, 29-38; 107:54, 55; 110:1-4, 130:1-3, 22.\n\n  **Pearl of Great Price,** Abraham 4:1-31.\n\nCHAPTER 7\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** 45:71; 58:18; 77:2; 88:15; 93:28, 33,\n  34; 98:8; 128:19; 133:33.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 2:25; Enos 1:3; Ether 3:6-20.\n\nCHAPTER 8\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** 9:3-6; 10:66; 18:11-13; 19:16-19;\n  29:35-42, 46; 58:28; 74:7; 76:25, 26, 39-41, 69; 93:29-39; 98:8;\n  101:78; 104:17; 121:32.\n\n  **Pearl of Great Price,** Abraham 3:18, 25, 26.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** I Nephi 4:33; 6:4; II Nephi 2:3, 6, 27; 9:5,\n  25-26; 10:23-25; 31:21; Alma 3:26; 7:12; 12:31; 13:3; Mosiah 3:5;\n  4:6-9; Helaman 14:30.\n\n  **Bible,** Gen. 2:17; Isa. 63:9; Matt. 18:11; John 1:29; 3:14, 15;\n  12:23; Rom. 3:25; 5:15; 6:23; I Tim 2:5; Gal. 3:13; Jude 1:6; Rev.\n  12:7.\n\nCHAPTER 9\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** 82:4; 88:35-40; 93:38; 128 sec.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** I Nephi 10:18; 21:6; II Nephi 9:18, 25; Alma\n  12:25; 30:11; 34:16.\n\n  **Bible,** Neh. 9:17; Acts 15:18.\n\nCHAPTER 10\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** 27:11; 29:35-41; 38:1-3; 107:53, 54;\n  116:1.\n\n  **Pearl of Great Price,** Abraham chaps. 4 and 5.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 2:9-25; Alma 12:22, 23, 31; 18:29;\n  Mosiah 2:25; 3:16: 4:2; Mormon 9:12.\n\n  **Bible,** Gen. chap 3; Rom. 5:12.\n\nCHAPTER 11\n\n  **Pearl of Great Price,** Book of Moses, Book of Abraham; Writings\n  of Joseph Smith.\n\n  **Bible,** Genesis; The Gospels.\n\nCHAPTER 12\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 18:18; 19:24; 27:11; 29:34; 39:6; 50:43;\n  76:56-58; 78:15-18; 84:37, 38; 93:1-17; 107:53-56; 121:28-32;\n  132:19, 20, 23, 37.\n\n  **Pearl of Great Price,** Abraham 3:1-5.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Alma 12:31.\n\n  **Bible,** Gen. 1:26; Deut. 10:17; Exo. 15:11; Psalms 86:8; Dan.\n  2:47; I Cor. 8:5; Rev. 17:14.\n\nCHAPTER 13\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 5:2; 27:18; 29:30, 31; 59:14; 93:26;\n  95:4.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** I Nephi 1:12; II Nephi 2:4; Alma 7:13; Ether\n  2:15.\n\n  **Bible,** Gen. 6:3; Prov. 1:23; Dan. 4:8; John 16:13.\n\nCHAPTER 14\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 4:7; 9:8; 41:3; 42:16, 61; 46:28; 50:29;\n  59:14; 68:33; 89:18, 19; 121:26-33.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 21:2, 3; 31:3; Alma 11:41; 32:34;\n  34:39; Moroni 10:10.\n\nCHAPTER 15\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 10:12, 23-33, 63; 29:28, 29, 36-40; 35:9;\n  52:14; 76:28; 84:67; 88:114; 121:4; 124:98; 129:8.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 2:17; III Nephi 13:12; 18:15; Mosiah\n  16:5; Moroni 7:12.\n\nCHAPTER 16\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 10:67; 11:24-26; 20:1; 21:1-3; 22:3;\n  26:2; 29:42, 43; 41:2, 3; 42:8; 43:8; 45:14; 50:44; 58:23; 76:54;\n  115:4.\n\nCHAPTER 17\n\n**Faith**\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** Lectures on Faith, sections 18:18; 35:9;\n  41:3; 44:2; 45:8; 49:11-14; 52:20; 85:1, 2; 136:42.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** I Nephi 10:6, 17; II Nephi 25:26; Enos 1:8;\n  Mosiah 8:18; Ether 12:10.\n\n  **Bible,** Genesis 15:6; Exodus 4:5; Numbers 20:12; Psalms 119:66;\n  Prov. 16:20; John 5:24; 20:29; Acts 8:37; 10:43; II Cor. 5:7.\n\n**Repentance**\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 1:32, 33; 18:42; 20:29; 39:18; 90:34.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** I Nephi 10:18; II Nephi 30:4; Alma 12:24; 26:22;\n  Mosiah 27:24.\n\n  **Bible,** Matt. 3:2; Luke 13:3; II Peter 3:9; Rev. 3:19.\n\n**Baptism**\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 18:42; 20:37, 72-74; 55:2; 68:8, 25-27;\n  76:51; 128:12.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Alma 28:18; Moroni 8:4-22.\n\n  **Bible,** Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:16; Luke 3:3; John 1:33; 3:23; I\n  Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:5.\n\n**Gift of the Holy Ghost**\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 20:41; 33:15; 35:6; 76:52, 114-118;\n  121:26-32.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Alma 31:36.\n\n  **Bible,** Acts 8:17; 9:17; 19:2-6.\n\nCHAPTER 18\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants,** Lectures on Faith. Sections 18:27; 20:2,\n  3, 38-71; 27:1-18; 84:14-21, 35-39; 107:1-5, 40-52; 112:31, 32;\n  128:20.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Mosiah 29:42; Alma 4:4; 6:1; 13:1-3, 5-20;\n  Helaman 8:18.\n\n  **Bible,** Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14-18; Psalms 110:4; John 15:16; Acts\n  14:23; Heb. 2:17; 3:1; 4:14; 5:1; 7:3, 15-28; I Peter 2:5; Titus\n  1:5; II Tim. 1:6.\n\nCHAPTER 19\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 20:60-67; 26:2; 28:13; 68:19-21; 78:1;\n  104:21; 107, whole section; 124:123-145.\n\nCHAPTER 20\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 84:18, 21, 35; 107:30-32; 113:8;\n  121:36-46; 128:9-11; 132:28, 45-49.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Alma 5:3; I Nephi 10:23.\n\nCHAPTER 21\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 3:4; 6:9; 19:33; 20:20; 29:34; 56:1;\n  58:21; 63:55; 64:34; 82:10; 88:22-39; 98:4-7; 101:43-62; 103:31-34;\n  105:5; 124:49; 130:19, 20, 21; 134, whole section.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 2:23, 27; 9:25; Alma 30:3, 11; 42:17;\n  Mosiah 5:8; 2:32-37; Moroni 8:25.\n\nCHAPTER 22\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 1:1-2, 23; 4:5; 19:21, 22; 36:4-8;\n  33:8-12; 38:11; 42:63; 45:20; 49:11-14; 84:87; 90:11; 112:30.\n\nCHAPTER 23\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 13:21; 36:8; 84:5; 105:33; 109:5; 110:8;\n  124, whole section; 128:15, 24; 133:2.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 5:6; 33:15; III Nephi 11:1; Jacob 1:17;\n  Mosiah 1:18; 2:1-7; Alma 10:2; Helaman 3:9; 10:7.\n\nCHAPTER 24\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 1:10; 38:24; 42:27; 59:6; 81:4; 88:81;\n  136:20-27.\n\nCHAPTER 25\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Jacob 5:66; Mosiah 27:3; 29:38; Alma 1:26.\n\nCHAPTER 26\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 26:30; 33:4; Mosiah 18:21; Ether 12:27.\n\nCHAPTER 27\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 42:30-39, 53-55, 71-73; 51:1-20; 44:6;\n  52:40; 78:1-2; 82:1-24; 83:1-6; 85:1-5, 9-12; 92:1-2; 104:1-86;\n  105:34; 119:1-7.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** III Nephi 26:19; IV Nephi 1:2, 3, 16.\n\n  **Bible,** Numbers 18:26-28; Lev. 27:30; II Chron. 31:5, 6; Neh.\n  10:37, 38; Mal. 3:18; Matt. 19:16-21; Luke 18:12; Acts 4:31-32, 35;\n  Heb. 7:5.\n\nCHAPTER 28\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** sections 2 and 128; 21:1; 47:3; 57:3;\n  93:8-17; 110:13-16; 124:33; 127:5-8; 128:2-5.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 26:30; Mosiah 2:4.\n\nCHAPTER 29\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 18:42; 20:70, 71; section 25; 29:46, 47;\n  49:15-17; 55:4; 68:25-27; 74:5, 6; 83:4, 5; 84:27, 28; 93:40-42;\n  131:2; section 132.\n\n  **Bible,** Gen. 1:27; 15:5; 2:18, 23; 20:12; Deut. 7:3; I Cor.\n  11:11.\n\nCHAPTER 30\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 38:23; 50:40; 55:4; 69:7; 88:77, 79, 118,\n  119, 127, 137; 90:8, 15; 93:53; 95:17; 130:19.\n\nCHAPTER 31\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 20:17; 29:24, 31, 32; 45:58; 49:16, 19;\n  59:18, 21; 77:2, 3; 88:20-45; 89:15; 103:7; 130:9.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** II Nephi 8:6; Ether 6:4; 13:9.\n\nCHAPTER 32\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 42:24; 49:19-21; 59:14-20; 63:16; 88:124;\n  section 89; 132:41.\n\nCHAPTER 34\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 29:32-35.\n\nCHAPTER 35\n\n  **Doctrine and Covenants** 18:12; 29:26-28; 45:45-54; 63:20, 21, 49;\n  section 76; 77:1; 88:14-42; 101:25, 78; 130:9-11.\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Mosiah 16:9.\n\n  **Bible,** Daniel 12:2; Job 19:25; Luke 24:34; Rom. 8:24; Rev.\n  1:18; 20:5,6.\n\nCHAPTER 36\n\n  **Book of Mormon,** Mosiah 23:15.\n\n  **Bible,** Matt. 22:34-40.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"A Rational Theology, as Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":42754}