THE COURSE OF THE GOSPEL ON EARTH.
The Great Plan provided that man should come upon earth with the
memory of his past taken from him, so that, beginning his earth-life
as a child, he might repeat on earth the efforts that earned for him
progress in the pre-existent life. Even Adam and Eve forgot the
details of their previous lives, for it was necessary that all be
under the same law, and that no improper strength be derived, by
anyone, from the pre-existent experiences.
**Adam Hears the Gospel.** The only rational thing that could be done
to spirits so placed on earth was to teach them fully the story of
man's origin and destiny and the meaning and duties of the earth-life.
The plea of ignorance would not then be valid. Consequently, soon
after the first parents had been driven out of the Garden of Eden, an
angel appeared and taught Adam the story of man from the first to the
last day. The plan of salvation, including the atoning sacrifice of
Jesus, the organized Church, the purpose and powers of the priesthood
and the rights and duties of man upon earth, whether within or without
the Church, was fully unfolded. Adam, the first earth-pupil of God,
was taught, as his first lesson, the great philosophy overshadowing
the existence of man. When Adam had been taught all this, and had
accepted the truth, he was baptized, even as men are baptized today,
and he entered into all the other ordinances of the Gospel and was
given full authority through the Priesthood conferred upon him to
officiate in God's name in all matters pertaining, under the Great
Plan, to the welfare of man.
**The First Dispensation.** As children and children's children came
to Adam he taught them carefully all that had been taught him, so that
the knowledge of the law might remain upon the earth. The ordinances
of the Gospel were practiced, the righteous were organized into the
Church, even as today, and the authority of the Priesthood was
transmitted by Adam to his children, and by them to their children, so
that the precious gift might not be lost. In those days the Church was
probably fully organized, according to the patriarchal order; at least
in the days of Enoch, the seventh from Adam, it seems quite clear that
the Church was established with all of its essential parts. The
activity in behalf of the Gospel which began with Adam and continued
until Noah, at the time of the great flood, is ordinarily known as the
first dispensation of the Gospel.
**The First Apostasy.** From the beginning of his earth-career, Adam
retained his free agency. God, directly or through agents, might teach
and command, but Adam, a free agent, had the right to accept or reject
as seemed him best. Adam's children, likewise, though taught by the
patriarch of the race of the way of righteousness, could accept or
reject for themselves whatever was taught them. Free agency was with
man in that early day as it is now.
The descendants of Adam soon began to exercise their free agency, some
for, and many against, the Great Plan. Cain exercised his free agency
in the murder of Abel. As time went on, large numbers departed from
the truth concerning man's place in the universe as taught by Adam,
and refused to accept the Gospel. Concurrently with the establishment
of the Church in the first dispensation there was, therefore, a first
great apostasy. It is ever so, it has ever been so, and will ever be
so, that in a world of intelligent beings, possessing free agency,
some will accept and some will reject the truth. No doubt, in the
process of time, truth will triumph, and all may be brought to
understand the will of God, but the conquest is attended by many
temporary departures from the truth. Nevertheless, Adam and those who
remained true to his teachings, continued, faithfully, to teach to
others the eternal truth, so that they might perchance be made to
return to the great truth which they had so lightly cast aside.
**The Later Dispensations.** The first apostasy culminated in the
flood, which was sent because of the violence of the first apostasy
and the corruption of men. As far as known, only Noah and his
immediate family were preserved. In them, however, was represented all
the blood of the world. To the new race Noah explained fully that the
flood was due, entirely, to the wicked hardness of the hearts of the
people, and their refusal to accept eternal truth or to respect the
authority of God, and that it was necessary, should calamity be
avoided, to live in accordance with the Great Plan. To them all, the
Gospel was taught in its purity. Nevertheless, it was only a short
time before apostasy again occurred among many. The free agency of man
can not be curbed. Yet, probably, there has not been, since the flood,
such utter corruption as prevailed during the first apostasy.
From the days of the flood, God or his messengers have appeared on
earth, at various times, to restore the truth or to keep it alive in
the hearts of the faithful, so that man might possess a full knowledge
of the Gospel and that the earth might never need to be without the
story of the Great Plan and the authority of the Priesthood. For
instance, Melchizedek, the high priest, possessed a full measure of
the authority of the holy priesthood. To Abraham, God and his angels
appeared, and endowed him with the authority of God. So on, down the
course of time, there are numerous instances of the appearance of God
to men to help the children of men to a perfect understanding of the
great truths that must be understood and obeyed, if men are to
continue in their progressive development. It is not known how many
men and women at various times have received such visitations, but it
is probable that hosts of men and women at various times, even when
the Church has not been organized, have received and used the truth of
life as embodied in the Great Plan.
**The Dispensation of the Meridian of Time.** In the course of human
history and in accordance with the Great Plan, Jesus the Son of God,
appeared on earth, to atone for the act of Adam and Eve, who "fell"
that men might be. This is called the dispensation of the meridian of
time. Jesus did live on earth, and gave his life so that mortal bodies
may rise from the grave and pass into an eternal existence, beyond the
reach of corruption. During the sojourn of Jesus on earth, he devoted
himself to a restatement of the Gospel, including the story of the
past and the present and the hope of the future. At no time since the
days of Adam, had the Gospel been so fully taught and made so simply
clear to the understanding as in the days of Jesus. Under the
teachings of the Savior, the Church was re-established in order and
completeness.
**The Great Apostasy.** After the ascension of Jesus, the Church
remained, for some time, fully organized. Thousands flocked to it, and
the people lived in accordance with the doctrines taught by the
Savior. Soon, however, history repeated itself. In the right of their
free agency, men refused, in many cases, to obey the laws and
ordinances of the Gospel, and more often changed them to suit their
own convenience. Such departures from the truth became more numerous
and more flagrant as time wore on, until error permeated the whole
Church. At last, about six hundred years after Christ, the Gospel laws
and ordinances had become so completely warped that it was as if the
Church had departed from the earth. The authority of the Priesthood no
longer remained with the Church. This was the great apostasy. From
that time, complete darkness reigned for many centuries. In those
days, however, many honest men could see that the truth was not upon
the earth, and hoped that the simple principles of the Gospel might
again be correctly practiced by man. Among such men were Luther and
many others, who used their best endeavors to show the people that
error ruled. At last many were awakened, and the days of the
Reformation began. The Reformation was a period of preparation for the
last restoration of the Gospel on earth. Many years were required
before the darkness of centuries could be lifted from the souls of
men.
**The Restoration.** Finally, as men broke through the darkness, as
intelligence became diffused among all men, and as liberality of
thought grew and became respected, the world was ready for the eternal
truth. Again the Gospel was restored with the authority of the
Priesthood and the organization of the Church. On an early spring day,
in the year 1820, in the woods of western New York, God the Father,
and God the Son, appeared to a fourteen-year-old boy named Joseph
Smith, who had faithfully asked for divine help. Through the
instrumentality of this boy, guided constantly by God, the Church was
re-established, the authority of the Priesthood again conferred upon
many men, and a fulness of knowledge pertaining to man's place in the
universe offered to all who would listen. In time the Church was
organized precisely as was the primitive Church, and more fully than
at any other time in the history of the world. This was the great
restoration.
**The Vital Facts.** The Gospel was fully taught to the first man,
who in turn taught it to others. The Church was organized from the
beginning. As apostasy dimmed men's knowledge of the Gospel and
undermined the Church, the full truth was repeatedly restored. At
least four times has a complete statement of the Great Plan been made
to the people of the earth--at the time of Adam, of Noah, of Jesus
Christ and of Joseph Smith. Consequently, the Gospel has been on the
earth and within the reach of men practically during the whole course
of the earth's history. The fundamental truths of the Great Plan were
taught to Father Adam and since that time have been scattered
broadcast over the earth. This wide dissemination of the truth, in all
ages, explains the fact that practically every life philosophy
proposed by man contains some of the truths of the Gospel. In every
system of theology and in every sect there is a certain measure of
truth, for all have drawn from the one fountain. All, no doubt, seek
for truth, and believe that they have found it; but, in fact, they
have only fragments, picked up here and there and worked into a
system. The full truth must encompass the complete philosophy of man
and the universe, including the authority to act for God in the
working out of the Plan. Those who thus accept the whole Plan,
constitute the Church of Christ. In the churches of the world there is
much of truth and consequently none is wholly wrong, though at times
the truth has been so warped that it appears worse than untruth. In
the matter of full truth, and of authority, however, do the Church and
its imitators differ absolutely. There can be no duplicate set of
truth, and no double seat of authority.
It is clear that free agency, for which the heavenly battle was waged,
is in full operation upon the earth. At first sight it may seem that
Lucifer's plan would have been best, for by it all men, in spite of
themselves, would have been given the earth-experience and kept in the
righteous path that leads to salvation. Yet, the origin of man, and
the doctrine that he can advance only by self-effort, make it
unthinkable that he should allow himself to be, as it were,
blindfolded and then compellingly directed by some greater power. Men
are directed, no doubt, by beings of higher intelligence, but in that
directing our wills must be allowed to play their part. There can be
no real satisfaction, if it were possible, in advancement which has
been forced upon man Lucifer's plan was impossible.
It must also be remembered, that men are not necessarily evil because
they do not accept the Gospel. Some find it impossible to understand
the truth because their hearts are so set upon other things, and
others have been led by their free agency in one direction, whereas
the Gospel would lead them in another. Nevertheless, though men are
not evil because they refuse to accept the Gospel, they retard
themselves of necessity, when they fail to obey the law; and thereby
they invite upon themselves the punishment that comes without fail
to all who are not in full harmony with the great, controlling
universal laws.
MAN AND GOD.