Bubblehd75

Journey of a Willow
2003-01-15 06:56:22 (UTC)

Life Lessons

"Man stands erect on the earth in the likeness of his
great Creator; beautifully constructed in all his parts,
with a body possessing all the functions necessary for the
wants of humanity; sstanding, not only by right, but by
adaptability, beauty, symmetry and glory, at the head of
all creation; possessing also mental powers and the
capacity of reflecting upon the past, with the
capabilities to reason upon cause and effect, and by the
imductive pwers of his mind, through the inspiration of
the Almighty, to comprehend the magnificent laws of
nature, and of adapting them to his own special benefit;
and by his powers penetratung into the diip, ascending
into the heavens, rushing with mighty velocity across the
earth, making use of the separate or combined forces of
nature with which he is surrounded and subjugating them to
his will; as, likewise, by his intelligence, he has
dominion over tge fishes of the sea, over the fowls of the
air, and over the cattle.

"Man stands erect as the head of all creation and the
representativ of God upon the earth. But while he occupies
this exalted position and is in the image of Gos, yet he
possesses simply, as a man, only the powers wich belong to
man; and is subject to weakness, infirmity, disease and
death. And when he dies, without some superior aid
pertaining to the future, that noble structure lies silent
and helpless, its organs, that heretofore were active,
lively and energetic, are now dormant, inactive and
powerless. And what of the mind, that before went back
into eternity and reached forward in to eternity? And what
of its powers? Or what of that spirit, which, with its
Godlike energies, its prescience and power, could grasp
infinity? What of it and where is it?...

"If there is a spirit in man which reaches into futurity,
that would grasp eternal progress, eternal enjoyments, and
eternal exaltations; then those glories, those
exaltations, those capabilities and those powers must be
the gift of some superior being, power or authority to
that which exists in man... It is of this gift that we
now spwak. It is of a principle that emanates from God,
that originates with a superior intelligence, whose plans,
and powers, and capabilities are exalted above those of
mortal man, as the heavens are above the earth, or as the
majestic works of the Great Creator throughout the
infinitude of space are superior to the puny efforts of
the chilren of mortality.

"It is for the exaltation of man to tis state of superior
intelligence and Godhead that the mediation and atonement
of Jesus Christ is instituted; and that noble being, man,
made in the image of God, is rendered capable not only of
being a son of man, but also a son of God..."

- John Taylor




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