CHAPTER XXXI.

LAWS OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT.

F a man accepts the principles and obeys the ordinances I have now treated upon, and I hope with sufficient clearness, and they are administered by men having authority from God to act in his name, then he is born again, born of the water and of the Spirit-born into the kingdom of God, and hence is a child of God, a citizen of his kingdom.

And since by submitting to these ordinances a man is born into the kingdom, I would remind the reader that his position in that kingdom is closely analogous to the child just born naturally into this world. It possesses all the faculties, all the organs, all the limbs of a man, but they are in embryo, undeveloped. The new born infant has eyes, but it will be some time before it will be able to distinguish objects, or recognize even the kind face of its mother. It has ears, but it cannot distinguish sounds; a tongue but it cannot speak; limbs but it cannot stand or walk or run; nor has it control of the muscles of the hands or arms-it will have to wait for growth and strength before these organs of sense and motion are developed.

Its first attempts at the use of any of these

organs will necessarily be imperfect as to the results. The tongue will speak the first words. but brokenly; the first step will be uneven and staggering; the movements of the hands will be erratic and awkward. But by persistent effort the tongue that could only pronounce words brokenly, becomes, at last, eloquent, and crowds listen spellbound by the charm of its music. The uneven, staggering step is changed finally for the elastic step and noble carriage of graceful manhood. The hands so awkward become by practice the hands of the skilled artisan, competent to execute whatever his mind may conceive.

So it is with those just born in the church of Christ. They, at their birth, are not fully developed men and women in the things of God. It is expected that they will have to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of God." Peter exhorted the saints of his day to give all diligence, and add to their faith virtue; "and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience. godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound," said he, "they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. "'* Such instructions are applicable to the Saints of this or any other dispensation.

II Peter i: 5 8.

The new born saints will find themselves in a new atmosphere, senitive to new forces operating upon them, new powers developing within them: and as the young child staggers in its first attempts to walk, and has many a fall before it will obtain complete control over its muscles—so the new born member of Christ's church will make many mistakes and perhaps blunders in the days of his infancy.

For this reason, that the child of the kingdom might not grow weary in his efforts at moral and spiritual development, the Lord has revealed his long-suffering and merciful kindness to those who strive to keep his commandments. And such is the weakness of mankind and their frequent violations of the laws of God that had they not the repeated assurances in the revelations respecting God's character that he is slow to anger, abundant in mercy and long-suffering, the heart of man would grow faint, and his effort at spiritual development would be palsied. But with these facts firmly impressed on their minds men struggle on-they pray and faint not*.

If there is one struggle more than another in which the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but to those who endure to the end, it is in this struggle for eternal life. "He that shall endure to the end the same shall be saved," were the words of Jesus, and I know of

*Luke xviii: 1

no other condition of salvation contemplated in the Gospel of Christ, than this. "Be thou faithful unto death," wrote John to the saints at Smyrna, "and I will give thee a crown of life. "* "Blessed are they who do his commandment, that they may have right to the tree of life;"† and with such passages the scriptures are replete.

There is no one great thing that man can do and then do no more and obtain salvation. After entering into the kingdom of God, in the manner already pointed out in these pages, it is by learning "precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little and there a little," that salvation will be made secure. It is by resisting a temptation today, overcoming a weakness tomorrow, forsaking evil associations the next day, and thus day by day, month after month, year after year, pruning, restraining and weeding out that which is evil in the disposition, that the character is purged of its imperfections.

Nor is it enough that one gets rid of evil. He must do good. He must surround himself with circumstances congenial to the sensitive nature of the Holy Ghost, that it may not be offended, and withdraw itself from him; for if it does so, amen to his spiritual or moral development. He must He must cultivate noble sentiments by performing noble deeds—not

great

*Rev. ii: 10. † Rev. ii: 14.

ones, necessarily, for opportunity to perform what the world esteem great things, comes but seldom to men in the ordinary walks of life; but noble deeds may be done every day; and every such deed performed with an eye single to the glory of God, draws one that much nearer into harmony with the Deity. And "if you wish to go where God is," said the Prophet Joseph, "you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from him and drawing towards the devil.” *

Thus by eschewing the evil inclinations of the disposition on the one hand, and cultivating noble sentiments on the other, a character may be formed that shall be godlike in its attributes and consequently its possessor will be fitted to dwell with God, and if so prepared, there is no question but his calling and election are sure.

CHAPTER XXXII.

HISTORY OF THE GOSPEL.

THINK it proper in this chapter to give a brief history of the gospel-for this reason: There is a very general idea existing in the Christian world that nothing was known of the

Hist. of Joseph Smith, Apr. 10, 1842.