THE PLAN OF SALVATION.

In the midst of the Christian world there are very many conflicting theories, in relation to man's existence here and hereafter; also as to the duties he owes to himself, his fellow-man and to his Creator. It is an undisputed question that some knowledge of

WHERE WE CAME FROM,

WHY WE ARE HERE,

AND WHERE WE GO AFTER WE LEAVE THIS PROBATION,

is essential to the enjoyment and well-being of the human family.

In the following pages of this tract we shall seek to briefly set forth the belief of the Latter-day Saints on these points. While they may differ widely from the accepted ideas of the Christian world, we may be allowed to mildly suggest, that this difference is not so much between the sects of the day and the Latter-day Saints, as it is between those sects and the Bible, a fact for which we are in no sense responsible, and a fact that we can in nowise alter or change, even were we so disposed.

It is deemed proper in the commencement of this investigation, to refer to another point, so that we may clearly understand each other. It is this: sincerity of belief does not by any means establish the correctness of a principle. Testimony of an unimpeachable character can alone do that. Man's belief does not affect a principle in the least. The whole world may believe it and yet it be untrue; the whole world may refuse to believe it, and yet it be true. The unbelief of the people of Noah's day did not stay the flood; the unbelief of the Jews did not prove Jesus an impostor; and the killing of the apostles did not prove their doctrines false. The assassination of Joseph Smith was no proof one way or another as to the divine nature of his authority; neither will the rejection of the doctrines he taught prove them wrong. If they are true, though he was slain, his followers mobbed, driven and persecuted, yet in the end they will rise triumphant over every obstacle and grow stronger and stronger, as error shall grow weaker and weaker.

In presenting the principles of pre-existence, the first principles of the gospel and baptism for the dead, we shall simply quote scripture; and we again state that if there is any difference of opinion it is between the reader and holy writ.

The apostle Paul's injunction to the Thessalonians, was: "Prove all things: hold fast that which is good" (I.Thess. 5:21); and the wise man Solomon's assertion, was: "He that judgeth a matter before he heareth it is not wise."

Let us, then, refer to the word of the Lord, which is the end of argument, and see what the teachings of the Great Creator of all are.

Speaking to Job, one of the most ancient writers of the Bible, He says: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up thy loins like a man: for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? * * * When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:2-7.)

Job certainly must have been somewhere when the "foundations of the earth" were laid, or why the query?

There was doubtless more meaning to the words, "When ALL the sons of God shouted for joy," than one at first supposes. The reader asks, "Who were these sons of God?" Luke, in giving the genealogy of the human family, gives the necessary information on this subject: "which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the SON OF GOD." (Luke 3:38.) But let us turn to another text. One of the ancient writers says: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." (Ecc. 12:7.)

Let us ask ourselves how it would be possible to return to a place, point or locality, which we had never visited. How could we return to God unless we had once been in His presence? The logical conclusion is unavoidable, that to enable us to return to him we must have once enjoyed His association, which must have been in a pre-existent state, before our spirit became clothed with this body of flesh and bone.

Again, we find that the apostles must have had some conception of pre-existence, judging from their question to Jesus: "Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2.) It will, doubtless, require no argument to convince the reader that the justice of God would scarcely permit the punishment of the individual before the crime was committed. If so, then the sin must have been committed before he came upon the earth, for he was born blind. It was evident that the question was not a doubtful one in the minds of the apostles as to whether a man could sin previous to his existence in the flesh, but as to whether this particular man had sinned or not.

Paul, in his writings to the Hebrews, says: "Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" (Heb. 12:9.) We here gain the information as to who the sons of God were who shouted for joy in the beginning. We also learn the reason why we address Him as, "Our Father which art in heaven," to distinguish Him from the father of our earthly tabernacles. In other words, He is the father of the spirits that inhabit our bodies, in precisely the same sense that our earthly fathers are the fathers of our bodies of flesh and bone.

When death ensues we bury the earthly body, which decomposes and mingles with the elements surrounding its place of deposit; but what of the spirit which "returns unto God who gave it?"

When Jesus appeared to the disciples after His resurrection, "They were affrighted, and supposed they had seen a spirit"; but He corrected them, saying, "Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24: 37-39.) From these words we gather the information that man, while existing as a spirit, did not have a body of flesh and bone, but nevertheless, existed in the exact shape and form that he now possesses. He had eyes to see, ears to hear, and many other faculties with which man is here endowed. He was also doubtless in possession of intelligence, and much that goes to ennoble man. He had the ability to pass from place to place, increase in knowledge, and perform certain duties that devolved upon him in that sphere of action.

An unembodied spirit is one that has not yet taken upon itself a body. An embodied spirit is one dwelling in the flesh. A disembodied spirit is one that has passed through this stage of existence and laid its body down in the grave, to be finally taken up again united, spirit and body, those of the righteous never more to be separated.

The word of the Lord to Jeremiah was, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jer. 1:5.) Here we have the sure word of the Lord relating to one of the children of men, who was but a type of the rest, only that in this particular case we have the fact made known that, for good and sufficient reasons, our common Father in the heavens saw proper to ordain one of His children to a certain office prior to sending him down upon the earth. Having so gained the confidence of his Father while in his first or pre-existent state, he was ordained to a high and holy calling, previous to his advent upon the earth, and we learn from holy writ, that this confidence was not misplaced, but that he in honor filled his mission and proved himself true to the trust reposed in him, not veering or turning a hair's breadth from the line of his duty, though met by obstacles sufficient to appall the stoutest heart.

The reader will please be cautious not to confound the principle of fore-ordination with