Time is unceasing. There was a yesterday, there is a today, and there will be a tomorrow. The Gospel plan encompa.s.ses all time. Tomorrow has a great place in the eternal plan.
**Today.** The greatest day of all time is today. It is the product of all the past; and is the promise of all the future. If each today is made great, the tomorrows will be surpa.s.singly greater. The one way to draw out of life the keen joys of life, is to think little of tomorrow, but to live mightily today.
**Tomorrow.** Yet, surely, there will be a tomorrow. The sun sets, and we sleep, and we awaken to a new day. Forever there shall come new days. Today is our great day; but there will be another great, a greater day. What tomorrow shall be, depends measureably upon today.
At least, the beginning of tomorrow will be as the evening of today.
As we spend today, so will the hope of tomorrow be. The ages do not come in leaps, but step by step do they enter into the larger life.
The law of today is that joy will transfigure each coming tomorrow, if our work be well done today. No man knows whether his tomorrow will be on this earth or in another existence, with new duties and under a new environment. Of one thing we are sure, beyond all cavil, that life on earth will continue into an endless future, and the work will be taken up where it was laid down yesterday.
**The Resurrection.** The man whose life is ordered right, worries little about his tomorrow. Full well he knows that, though the body be laid in the grave, it will rise again. He has the absolute a.s.surance of the resurrection. In that resurrection the body will arise purified, possessing only its essential, characteristic parts, which cannot be taken away or transferred to another body. These essential, characteristic parts organized into a body will be the mortal body made immortal.
The resurrection of mortal bodies, on earth, began with Jesus, who on the third day rose from the grave, and after his sojourn among the children of men, took his body with him into heaven. This was the first fruit of the resurrection, made possible by the atonement of the Christ. Since that time, the resurrection of man may have continued, and no doubt will continue, in the future; for many spirits have laid down their earthly bodies, and all must be raised from the grave. In the resurrection, order and law will prevail, and the just deserts of men will be kept in mind.
**Our Place in the Hereafter.** Into a new, great world shall we enter after the journey on earth has ended. In this new world we shall continue our work of progression, forever and forever, under the prevailing laws. Our progress, there, and the laws revealed to us, will depend upon our own actions and upon our own willingness to abide by the laws already known to us.
Our place in that life will depend on our faithfulness here. Whatever a man has gained on earth, will rise with him in the resurrection. All that he gained in the spirit world, before he came on earth, will likewise rise with him. All men will be saved, but the degree of that salvation will vary even as our varying work on earth. There will be glory upon glory, and there will be different degrees of advancement, some like unto the sun, some like unto the moon, while other glories will differ even as the infinite stars of the heavens differ in the brightness.
In the Great Plan there is no provision for the eternal d.a.m.nation of man. At the best, men will be ranged according to their stage of progression--some higher, some lower. In a universe ruled by intelligent beings, filled with love for each other, there can be no thought of an endless d.a.m.nation only as men, by opposition to law, destroy themselves. Endless punishment and eternal punishment, terms often used, but of little meaning to the human mind, mean simply G.o.d"s punishment, which is beyond our understanding. Those who refuse to accept truth or to abide by law, will gradually take less and less part in the work of progression. They will be left behind, while their intelligent fellows, more obedient, will go on. In nature there is no standing still; those who do not advance, will retrograde, become weaker and finally wither, and be forgotten in their low estate.
**The Destiny of Man.** The intelligence called man cannot be destroyed. Eternal life is therefore the destiny of man. But, eternal life is life open-eyed, ready-minded, seeking, accepting and using all knowledge that will a.s.sist in man"s progress. To continue forever, upward, that is eternal life and the destiny of man.
CHAPTER 36.
THE LAW OF THE EARTH.
In the high heavens yet hang the stars. Throughout the infinite universe still play the hosts of mighty forces. The full conquest of the earth by man is yet to be accomplished. As things were when man opened his eyes after birth, so do they appear to be today. Yet, during the years that have gone, the man has changed; for now he knows his origin and his destiny, and the purpose of his life on earth. He knows that throughout the seeming sameness there is progressive change; that, as he has changed, so has the world changed, too; that the all pervading Intelligent G.o.d of the universe is engaged in a progressive development.
Man has found his place amidst the things about him. Whence? Whither?
He knows; and with smiling courage sets out to subdue the tasks of the day, knowing well that the day"s labor, whatever it may be, in righteousness, shall count for him in the endless journey which he is making.
**The Unknown Meaning.** The man has learned that in an infinite universe, admitting of endless development, things may not be fully known. The very essence of things must forever be the goal, towards which intelligence strives. Nevertheless, man also knows that to approach by slow degrees, but steadily, the full knowledge which gives unmeasured power over natural forces, is the way of progress. So he is content to let each day speak one new word of the unknown meaning of the universe.
The universe is one. All things in it are parts of one whole. The dominating spirit of the vastness of s.p.a.ce and of its contents is the dominating spirit of the least part of that which const.i.tutes the whole. It matters not then, to what a man give himself. In everything and anything may the riddle of the universe be read, if the search be continued long enough. Modest in his possessions, yet courageous in his hope of ultimate conquest, he stands before the things of his life, small or great, knowing of a surety that in them lie the truths that overwhelm the universe.
"Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower--but if I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all, I should know what G.o.d and man is."
Knowing all this, and the outline of his origin and destiny, man must be forever engaged in extending the philosophy, in accordance with which he orders and guides his life.
**The Earth-Law.** On earth the man dwells today. Great are the conceptions revealed to him concerning the const.i.tution, progress and destiny of the universe. Marvelous to his understanding is the knowledge of his full and vital place in the scheme of things. Yet, encompa.s.sed by earth conditions, he strives to a.s.semble all this vast, divine and wondrous knowledge, and out of it to draw some simple formula, in the language of man, that may be applied in the affairs of earth, and which shall be a simple guide to him in all that he may do.
Such a formula was sought and found by the first man, and has been used by the righteous of all ages. In the meridian of time, when Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, came upon earth to fulfil the central thought in the plan of salvation, he stated the formula in words that never have been surpa.s.sed. Thus runs the formula, and thus is worded the law of the earth: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy G.o.d with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hangeth the law and the prophets."
This, in short, is man"s duty while he dwells in the flesh. His G.o.d, his fellowman and himself--the three concerns of his life. We say it is the earth-law, but like all other things of the earth, it stands for huge spiritual meanings, and is therefore an eternal law for all times and for all places.
**To Love G.o.d.** What does it mean, to love G.o.d with one"s heart and soul and mind? Certainly, a love of the heart and the soul and the mind can not be given to a Being who is not known nor understood. Such love is more than a blind obedience. In such a love there must be a rational understanding of G.o.d"s nature and of his place in the universe and of his relation to men. There must be in such a fulness of love an acceptance of G.o.d"s superior knowledge, of his intelligent Plan for man and of his supreme and final authority. Such a love can not well be forgotten or survive, unless G.o.d is part of a universe, the orderly outlines of which can be fathomed by the human mind, That such knowledge may be possessed by man, and that a real unfeigned love for G.o.d may be developed, has been taught in the preceding pages.
Neither can G.o.d be fully loved unless he is obeyed; and the first command is simple, "Multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it."
**To Love a Neighbor as Oneself.** To love oneself--that is easy.
Instinctively, from the first day, we have reached out for our own greater good. Every personal philosophy makes the man the center. To love our neighbor equally well--"that"s the rub." His will is not our will; his ways, not our ways. Yet, only by the progress of all, can each gain the greatest advancement. The fundamental conceptions of a universe filled with eternal matter and forces, and a host of individual intelligent beings, make it clear that only by complete harmony of all intelligent beings can the interests of each be served, in the work of subjugating, by intelligent conquest, the forces of universal nature.
To love one"s neighbor, then, a man must first know fully his own origin and destiny and possible powers; then he may soon learn the need of loving his fellowman, if his love for himself shall grow great. This commandment is not inferior to the first.
**The Triumph of Man.** The eternal, conscious, willing being, having become an earthly man, stands before the law of the earth. If he strives, all the days of his life, to bring into perfect accord, the G.o.d who rules, his earthly brother and himself, he will at length win the victory in the battle of his life. Out of such a life will come, among other gifts, controlled personal desires, subjection to law, a recognition of the great power of man, and the harmonious adjustment of contending forces to the completion of the Great Plan which governs man"s earth-life. Whether living or dead, such a person has triumphed, and the journey from the dim beginning has not been in vain. To such souls comes the reward of the unspeakable joy of a perfect understanding of the meaning of life, and the living peace that pa.s.seth understanding--through which appears the vital future, ever vigorously progressing towards an increasing, virile goal.
Have you tried the virtue of the law of the earth? If you have not, try it now, for it is good.
APPENDIX.
The doctrines and views set forth in the preceding pages, based on the teachings of the elders of the Church, especially of the Prophet Joseph Smith, may be confirmed by a study of the doctrinal standards of the Church, namely, the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. The following references, chosen almost at random, from these standards, especially from the Doctrine and Covenants, are for the immediate use of those who wish to pursue the study somewhat more in detail. For a critical study, an exhaustive examination must necessarily be made of the doctrinal standards and of the ma.s.s of books and printed sermons on the system of belief of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Such students will find the existing indexes or concordances to the standard authorities of most value.[A] but they will also obtain much ready help from the several existing excellent compilations of references, cla.s.sified under doctrinal headings.[B] A list of Church literature may be obtained from the Deseret News and Deseret Sunday School Union Bookstores, Salt Lake City, Utah.
[Footnote A: _Cruden"s Concordance to the Bible_ (or some other good concordance). _A Complete Concordance to the Book of Mormon_ (George Reynolds). _A Concordance to the Book of Doctrine and Covenants_ (John A. Widtsoe). No index has as yet been made for the _Pearl of Great Price_, but the book is small and may be read easily in its entirety.]
[Footnote B: _The Compendium_ (Richards and Little) is the type after which most of the later compilations have been fashioned.]