I have heard of a man who was cut off because he would not believe that Adam was our Father. "Well, but was it not so?" Its being so does not change the fact we are sinners and need salvation, and such preaching does not help men and women to repent of their sins. I call all that preaching senseless which cannot be applied. When we get where such things are needed, we shall be better able to understand them. We want men to be sober, temperate, just, honest, virtuous, and pure, always doing right, rising in progressive intelligence, and helping their fellows to rise also; and to accomplish this we must teach them to be so—teach them principles which they can comprehend and apply. . . . As for believing that Adam was our God, I do not know but that we are gods; only, if it is so, we are very young yet. But could we ever feel that we are the children of a God who watches over us with more care and solicitude than we can bestow upon the little ones who call us fathers here on the earth, would not our desires and object be to win the continued love of such a Parent by leaving off everything wrong, while we would seek to fill up the whole aggregate of our judgments with knowledge that is pure and holy, that we might become like the Father and be prepared to dwell with him. Then it is well to think that God is our Father; and whether it be Adam or anyone else, ever struggle upwards, upwards; always keep your hearts and faces upwards . . .