MAN'S COMMUNION WITH GOD.
Man is not left to himself on the face of the earth. Though his memory
has been taken away, he will not be allowed to drift unwatched and
unassisted through the journey on earth. At the best, man is only a
student who often needs the assistance of a teacher. It is
indispensable, therefore, to know how communication may be established
by man with intelligent beings wherever they may be.
**The Will to Ask.** The first of the fundamental principles by which
man may confer with God, is that man must show his desire to receive,
by asking for help. Man has the right to reject whatever is offered
him; in the midst of plenty he may refuse to eat. Therefore, whatever
a man gains from the surrounding wisdom is initiated either by a
petition or by a receptive attitude which is equivalent to a request.
Unless a man ask, he is in no condition to receive, and ordinarily
nothing is given him. On extraordinary occasions, when God uses a man
to accomplish his purposes, something may be given without the
initiatory prayer, but such gifts are rarely of value to the man
himself. To get help from without, a man must ask for it. That is the
law. History confirms this doctrine. Adam prayed to God and the angel
came to explain the plan of salvation. Joseph Smith, the latter-day
restorer of the Gospel, prayed in the grove and the Father and the Son
appeared. It is unnatural to believe that gifts are given without
prayer. That the answer is often overwhelmingly greater than the
expressed desire, is only a sign of the love of the Giver, and does
not remove the necessity of asking, as the first step in obtaining
what a person desires. It is probable that no request, addressed to a
being of superior intelligence, is refused. However, the answer comes
at a time and place not predetermined by man.
**By Personal Appearance.** In answer to prayer, God may appear
personally. There is no physical or spiritual reason why God should
not appear to his children in person whenever he so desires. In fact,
sacred history indicates that God appeared to Adam in the Garden of
Eden, to Abraham in the Holy Land, to Moses on the mountain, to Joseph
in the sacred grove, and to many others at various times during the
earth's history. Likewise, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived upon
this earth and walked and talked with men. To limit the powers of God
by saying that he cannot or will not now appear to man, is to make him
a creature of less power than is possessed by man.
**By the Visitation of Angels.** The will of God may be transmitted
to man by visible representatives who are beings of a lower degree of
intelligence. Angels have frequently visited men and brought to them
divine messages concerning their own affairs or the affairs of the
world. After Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, an angel came
and laid before him the philosophy of man's existence. Similarly,
angels appeared to Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joseph Smith and
numerous others, many of which are not recorded in history. These
vivid personages, intelligent beings vastly superior to man, knowing
well the laws of nature and therefore able to control them, may be
with man, though they are not seen with the natural eye. Most probably
we walk in the midst of such invisible intelligent spirits. The
development from the earth-journey comes largely from the self-efforts
of man, who, apparently, must depend upon himself. If at will he could
bring to his aid visible, supernatural beings, to tide him over his
difficulties, his need of self-development and self-dependence would
become very small, and the man would not grow strong.
**By the Holy Spirit.** God is a personal being of body--a body
limited in extent. He cannot, therefore, at a given moment be
personally everywhere. Time and space surround him as they surround
us. It is difficult to believe that God can in person answer the
numberless petitions reaching his throne. Nevertheless, it is known
distinctly that God, by his power, will and word is everywhere
present. It is almost as difficult to believe that, in spite of the
hosts of heavenly beings, personal administrations are possible in the
great majority of the countless petitions to God. God must be,
therefore, in possession of other agencies whereby his will may be
transmitted at his pleasure to the uttermost confines of space. The
chief agent employed by God to communicate his will to the universe is
the holy spirit, which must not be confused with the Holy Ghost, the
personage who is the third member of the Godhead. The holy spirit
permeates all the things of the universe, material and spiritual. By
the holy spirit the will of God is transmitted. It forms what may be
called the great wireless system of communication among the
intelligent beings of the universe. The holy spirit vibrates with
intelligence; it takes up the word and will of God as given by him or
by his personal agents, and transmits the message to the remotest
parts of space. By the intelligent domination and infinite extent of
the holy spirit, the whole universe is held together and made as one
whole. By its means there is no remoteness into which intelligent
beings may escape the dominating will of God. By the holy spirit, God
is always with us, and "is nearer than breathing, and nearer than
hands and feet." The intelligent earthly manifestations of the holy
spirit are commonly spoken of as the natural forces. It is conceivable
that the thunders and the lightnings, the movements of the heavenly
bodies, the ebb and flow of the oceans, and all the phenomena known to
man, are only manifestations of the will of God as transmitted and
spread by the measureless, inexhaustible, infinite, all-conducting
holy spirit.
By the holy spirit, which fills every person, man may obtain
information from God. By its means come the messages which transcend
the ordinary methods of acquiring knowledge. By it man may readily
communicate with God, or God with him. When a person utters his prayer
in faith it is impressed upon the holy spirit, and transmitted, so
that God may read the man's desire.
This doctrine of a rational theology has been duplicated in a modest
way by the development of wireless telegraphy. According to science,
the universe is filled with a subtle substance called the ether, on
the waves of which the message is spread throughout the universe to be
taken up by any person who has the proper receiving apparatus.
**The Eternal Record.** So thoroughly permeated with the holy spirit
is the immensity of space that every act and word and thought is
recorded and transmitted everywhere, so that all who know how to read
may read. Thus we make an imperishable record of our lives. To those
whose lives are ordered well this is a blessed conception; but to
those of wicked lives, it is most terrible. He who has the receiving
apparatus, in whose hands the key is held, may read from the record of
the holy spirit, an imperishable history of all that has occurred
during the ages that have passed in the world's history. This solemn
thought, that in the bosom of the holy spirit is recorded all that
pertains to the universe--our most secret thought and our faintest
hope--helps man to walk steadily in the midst of the contending
appeals of his life. We can not hide from the Master.