[Elder Pratt read the 7th, 8th, and 9th paragraphs of the Book of Ether.] I have read, from the Book of Ether, a portion of what is written concerning that great and wonderful vision, shown to a man in all respects just like unto ourselves, so far as his nature was concerned, all men being subjected to certain evil influences, through the transgression of our first parents. At the same time, if it had not been for their transgressing the commandments of the Lord, in the garden of Eden, this congregation would not have been here.

Because Adam and Eve transgressed we are here with mortal tabernacles; and these mortal tabernacles are subject to vanity, through the power which the adversary has on account of our organization in the flesh; he has power over the spirit, and to bring us into captivity and bondage, and subject us to the yoke of bondage, of sin, of the fallen and corrupt nature; but by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was prepared before the foundation of the world, we have hope of being redeemed from that which is a yoke upon us in the economy of this probation, for mortality was instituted by the Lord to give us an opportunity of proving ourselves.

Our first parents thorough transgressing the law of God, brought death into the world, but through the death of Jesus Christ, life and immortality were introduced. The one brings into bondage; the other gives us hope of escape, of redemption, that we may come forth with the same kind of body that Adam had before the fall, a body of immortal flesh and bones.

Adam and Eve were immortal, the same as resurrected beings, but previous to their transgression they had no knowledge of good and evil.

After the redemption we will not only have the same kind of bodies that they possessed in the garden of Eden before the fall, but we will have a knowledge of good and evil through our experience. For this purpose we are made partakers, through our agency, of the knowledge of evil in this life, that we all may know bow to appreciate good when we are put in possession of it.