to hold up, as the answer to all the problems of life, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, as restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

There are only two reasons that come to mind, why this effort may not be acceptable; one is a disbelief on the part of the reader in the divinity of the Gospel, the other, is the inadequacy of this presentation.

To the former objection it is sufficient for the inquiring mind to say, Judge for yourself whether or not the Gospel as here set out answers every requirement of life, where other systems of philosophy all fail; to the latter we reply, No attempt is here made to present in detail the principles of the Gospel, but only to sketch the outlines; and, moreover, the reader is at perfect liberty to supply whatever deficiency he may detect.

PART I.

CONDITIONS PRECEDENT.

SPACE.

TIME.

MATTER

INTELLIGENCES.

I.
AS TO SPACE.

The school-boy is told that the idea held by people generally in the days of Columbus was that if the venturesome ships were to sail too far out on the ocean they would fall off into space; and in his silent meditations he often wonders where, in such a case, those ships would have gone. The natural answer to his mind is that they would have gone down; but when he learns later that the words "down" and "up" relate only to the earth, and that in speaking of space, there are no such terms as up or down, or east or west, or north or south, all his ideas of direction are at sea. His conception of space increases, however.

Later in school life he studies with interest the movements of the planetarium, and is surprised to find the earth, whose geographical extent has hitherto seemed so vast, represented by such an insignificant ball, so near the sun. This, however, is only the beginning of his surprises. He is told later that, large as the solar system seems, yet if our sun, viewed from one of the fixed stars, were as large as the orbit of Neptune, it would be eclipsed by a pin-head held at arm's length. And so his ideas of space continue to enlarge as he grows in understanding.

As we study Herschel's diagram of the group of stars in which we dwell and let the mind contemplate with the astronomer the nebulae, supposed by some to be other groups of stars, much more magnificent than our own, the mind is lost in wonder at the immensity of space and the grandeur of the works of God. But even this is simply a beginning.

The Lord gives us a still deeper insight into the situation when He reveals to us the fact that all these vast systems, as well as other systems of which as yet we know nothing, are revolving about other systems which are all controlled from a common centre, His "first creation,"^[3] the great Kolob.^[4]

When, therefore, the Lord, standing in the midst of His works, comprehending and controlling them all, speaks to us of the "immensity of space,"^[5] how shall mortal, finite man, state his conception of space! How far is the philosopher advanced above the school-boy with his query about the ships of Columbus?

So far as reason can answer the question as to the bounds of space, it is answered by Professor Orson Pratt. Discussing the necessity for endless time and boundless space, he says:

"That there must be an endless duration and a boundless space, are necessary truths which cannot possibly be conceived to be otherwise than they are. These are necessary truths, whether any being exists to conceive them as such or not. Indeed, if there were no being in existence, the same unalterable and unchangeable necessity would characterize these truths. Endless space and duration cannot be created nor annihilated by any being, but their continuance has been and must be eternal. These truths do not admit of being proved; for that which has no beginning cannot be preceded by a cause, and where no cause exists, there cannot possibly be any foundation for reasoning. There can be no reason why space and duration are as they are and yet we perceive a necessity for them to be as they are."^[6]

But we have a more sure word than unaided reason can offer. We are not left without revelation on this subject, meager though the reference may be. The Prophet Joseph Smith, speaking of the light of the sun, remarks:

"The sun has no beginning nor end; the rays which proceed from himself have no bounds, consequently they are eternal."^[7]

From this simple statement we receive more information than any man in our present condition, uninspired by the Lord, could ever obtain. Indeed, this very question is classed by the philosopher, Herbert Spencer, as among those the answer to which is "unknowable." But when we have this basic fact from which to reason, we are safe in concluding that if there are no bounds to the light of the sun, then it must follow that space is boundless.

II.
AS TO TIME.

Another of the questions of life, the answer to which is classed by Herbert Spencer as among the "unknowable," is time; and of the same mind apparently is Thomas Carlyle, who says:

"The illimitable, silent, never-resting thing called 'time,' rolling, rushing on—this is forever very literally, a miracle, a thing to strike us dumb."

All sorts of ideas have been advanced in all ages of the world as to the mystery of time, and even its very existence has been called into question, as witness the following;

"But the present has no duration and is not time at all. It is but the plane which, without thickness, divides past and future. Time then is not made up of past, present and future, but of past and future only; and, as these do not exist, time itself cannot exist."^[8]

But the only question that concerns us here, in our search for eternal conditions, is as to the duration of time. As to this, we may again refer to the reasoning of Orson Pratt; and we have, also, an additional and final assurance from the Lord, when He says, in speaking to Abraham:

"If there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal."^[9]

The inference is plain. If spirits always existed and always will exist, there never was a beginning and there never will be an end, of time.

III.
AS TO MATTER.

Some writer has characterized the passage in Genesis, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light," as the perfection of beauty in expression; but we