That is, spirits were begotten, born and educated in the celestial world, and were brought forth by celestial bodies. By tracing this subject a little we might understand how this is brought about. The spirits before inhabiting bodies are as pure and holy as the angels or as the gods, they know no evil. This, their first estate, is the commencement of their experience.

These spirits I shall leave for the present, and refer to our first parents, Adam, and Eve, who were found in the Garden of Eden, tempted and overcome by the power of evil, and consequently subject to evil and sin, which was the penalty of their transgression. They were now prepared, as we are, to form bodies or tabernacles for the reception of pure and holy spirits. When the body is prepared, at the proper time, the spirit enters the tabernacle, and all the world of mankind in their reflections and researches must come to this conclusion, for the fact is they can come to no other—that when the mother feels life there is an evidence that the spirit from heaven has entered the tabernacle. So far, this is the philosophy of our being. As has been said, in consequence of sin, the body is subject to sin, and it requires all the efforts and power that man can exert in order to resist temptation that this pure and holy spirit may bring into subjection the body, so that it may be sanctified by the Gospel or the law of Christ. The inquiring mind will ask, Why is this so? Simply that we may know good from evil; all the facts which you and I understand are by contrast, and all glory, all enjoyment, every happiness and every bliss are known by its opposite. This is the decree, this is the way the heavens are, the way they were, and the way they will continue to be, forever, and for ever. Never was there a time when evil was not in existence, but the time will, come when this evil will pass away and be no more, so far as this world is concerned, and nothing will be able to endure only that which is pure and holy, and Christ will destroy death and him that hath the power of death. This applies to this earth, and the ordeals which it passes through with those that are upon it until the winding-up scene.

But to return to this organization. We find a pure spirit inhabiting the tabernacle of the creature which is always prompting the individual to good, to virtue, to truth and holiness; all of which emanate from that source of purity from which this spirit came. And here the evil that came through transgression that is in this tabernacle, is warring with this pure spirit, it seeks to overcome it, and is striving with all its power to bring this spirit into subjection, into bondage to the law of sin. This is the warfare which Paul refers to when speaking of the "thorn in the flesh," which is no more or less than the spirit contending against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit. This pure spirit will remain in a condition to receive the operations of the spirit of God, which has gone forth into the world, and which lightens every man that comes into the world, regardless of his condition, birth or education; the spirit of Christ lightens them all, and instructs their pure spirits, which are organizations in the germ and in their growth, to become independent beings, even sons and daughters of the Almighty; and it will continue to thus operate until this body, this sinful tabernacle, has warred against the spirit and overcome. it to such a degree as to entirely subject it to the man of sin.