=1. Spiritual Creations.=--The pre-existent condition is not
characteristic of human souls alone; all things of earth have a
spiritual being, of which the temporal structure forms but the
counterpart. We read of the creation of "every plant of the field
before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it
grew" (Gen. ii, 5). This is set forth with greater fulness in
another revelation to Moses:--"These are the generations of the
heaven and the earth when they were created, in the day that I,
the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth, and every plant of
the earth before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field
before it grew. For I, the Lord God, created all things of which
I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon the
face of the earth.... And I, the Lord God, had created all the
children of men, and not yet a man to till the ground; for in
heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the
earth, neither in the water, neither in the air: but I, the Lord
God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered
the whole face of the ground. And I, the Lord God, formed man
from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh
upon the earth, the first man also; nevertheless, all things were
before created, but spiritually were they created and made
according to my word."--(Pearl of Great Price: Moses iii, 4-7.)
=2. Authority Given of God.=--"The most comprehensive evidence
that Joseph Smith received the authority and power of the Holy
Priesthood, is that the works of John the Baptist, of Jesus and
His apostles, are being again done on the earth by his
administration. To receive the powers of this Priesthood, it is
necessary that men should obey the laws and ordinances of the
Gospel. The Lord has personally appeared to some men, and
covenanted with them as He did with Abraham (see Gen. xii, 1-3;
xiii, 14-17). The Lord also personally called and authorized His
twelve Jewish apostles. So fully were they authorized to labor
for Him, and act in His name, that He said to them: 'He that
receiveth you receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth
him that sent me' (Matt. x, 40). More generally, it is from the
prophets and apostles of Christ that men receive the Priesthood.
Many received it under the hands of the apostles of the first
Gospel dispensation. Those who have received it in this
latter-day dispensation, have received it from Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery; and, in doing so, have received it through a
legitimate channel from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Those who have received this Priesthood have covenanted with God
the Father, and He with them. This is evidently the view taken of
the subject in the above passage quoted from Matthew. The
doctrine is more fully illustrated in Doc. and Cov.: 'All they
who receive this Priesthood receiveth me, saith the Lord; for he
that receiveth my servants receiveth me; and he that receiveth me
receiveth my Father; and he that receiveth my Father, receiveth
my Father's kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be
given unto him, and this is according to the oath and covenant
which belongeth to the Priesthood' (Doc. and Cov. lxxxiv,
35-39)."--_Compendium_, F. D. Richards and J. A. Little, p. 67.
=3. Fore-ordination.=--"'Known unto God are all his works from
the beginning of the world' (Acts xv, 18). The knowledge that we
have of the beginning of the world is principally derived from
the history of its creation in the Bible Genesis, and in the
writings of Moses and of Abraham, as given in the Pearl of Great
Price.... These writings make it plain that man existed in a
spiritual condition prior to coming here, and also quite as
evident that in that pre-existence he exercised his free
agency.... God may have called and chosen men in their first
estate, or spiritual existence, but whether they will accept that
call and fill it, by repentance and good works in this life, is a
matter in which it is their privilege to exercise their free
agency.... Men exercised their free agency in the first or
spiritual estate, as well as in this. That the character of their
works in that estate shaped their destiny in this is
evident."--_Compendium_, F. D. Richards and J. A. Little, pp.
138-140.
See also: Acts ii, 23; Romans viii, 29-30; xi, 2, 28; Isaiah
xlviii, 12; I Chron. xxix, 1; Book of Mormon: Alma xiii, 3-7;
Doc. and Cov. lxxxiv, 34, 99.