Chapter 3

The Supremacy of the Will

(Read the Second Article of Faith)

The story, meaning, and consequences of the so-called transgression of Adam, often known as “The Fall,” can be read and understood only in terms of the origin and nature of man.

Man is eternal. That is, he has existed from the dim beginning, and he will continue to exist forever into the future. In the language of modern revelation, man was “in the beginning with God,” and also, “he shall be from everlasting to everlasting.” In short, he is an indestructible unit of the universe, whose immortality extends back into the past as forward into the future.

Such a view implies that man, as an intelligent being, lived before he came upon earth, that is, that he has a pre-existent history; and that life on earth must have a definite connection with pre-existent life. Indeed, preexistence and the continuity of life, unbroken throughout the generations of time, are settled doctrines of the restored gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The pre-existence of man is really an old but forgotten doctrine. Jesus, the Christ, confirmed the belief to the open-eyed reader in the words of his exalted prayer, “And now, of Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.” If one person, however great, may have had a pre-existent life, all the hosts of men may have lived before they came upon earth. Moreover, it baffles thought to believe that intelligent man, who is the increasing commander of universal forces, has but transient existence, while inanimate nature has persisted and will persist forever. It makes the servant greater than the master. Perversions of truth appear to have succeeded in eliminating pre-existence from most Christian philosophies of life.

Many thinkers of all ages have been led to accept the doctrines of pre-existence. For example, it appears again and again in the philosophy of Plato, four hundred years before Christ.

Poets have sung of it, as the poet Vaughan, in “The Retreat,”

Happy those early days, when I
Shined in my angel infancy!
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race.

Or in the words of Traherne,

How like an angel came I down!
How bright are all things here!
When first among His works I did appear
O how their glory me did crown!
The world resembled his Eternity
In which my soul did walk;
And everything that I did see
Did with me talk.

The lines from the later poet, Wordsworth, are better known,

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;
The soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar—
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home.

Poets of other nations have likewise sung of man’s pre-existence.

Man was an intelligent being in the pre-existent life. He could gather knowledge, think, and act, as in this life. He possessed also that most fundamental of human qualities, a will, by which he could use his powers, accept or reject, move upward or downward. Then as now, true intelligence, a compound of knowledge and the proper use of knowledge, was conditioned by the will. By the righteous use of his will pre-existent man moved forward, throughout long ages of time. By the same use of his will he was lifted upward, along the path of progression. Perhaps it may be said that in the last analysis man and his will are synonymous.

The pre-existent beings did not use their wills alike.

Some, by the better use of their powers, progressed more rapidly than others. There was not a dead monotony among the hosts of heaven. The words of Abraham give a picture of pre-existent conditions.

“Now, the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good, and He stood in the midst of them, and he said. These will I make my rulers; for He stood among those that were spirits and He saw that they were good; and He said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.”

God, the Father, moved in that pre-existent world among His spirit children. He led, taught, opened the view to progress, even as man on earth is guided by the Lord. The progress of an intelligent being is accelerated by the help of some one superior in knowledge and power, who knows the path and its problems. Such a teacher was the father to pre-existent man. Plans and programs for advancement were no doubt formulated and presented by the Great Teacher to his children.

The time came when pre-existent, progressive man could profit by an earth-career and the experiences of temporal life. The plan for this purpose, formulated by the Father, was accepted by all who have been, are, or shall be upon earth. Only those who had fitted themselves by steady progression, a product of the will, were eligible for the earth-adventure. Only those who willingly, without compulsion, accepted the plan were permitted to come upon earth. This throws a clear light upon earth-life. Man has earned the right to come upon earth, and is here because he desired to come. He may well look the world in the face proudly and unflinchingly. He desired to come, and he had earned the right to come upon earth.

Someone had to come on earth, first. Among the assembled hosts, Adam and Eve were chosen. If Abraham were among “the noble and great ones” we may be sure that our First Parents stood with the greatest in that hopeful throng. They must have conquered their wills for mighty righteousness! It was a part of the plan of salvation (to be discussed in another article) that the eternal, deathless spirit of man should inhabit, on earth, a body subject to disease and death. Adam and Eve undertook to begin the earth-program for the waiting spirits, and to subject their own eternal spirits to earth conditions. As a shadow only do we understand the details of the sacrifice thus made by Adam and Eve. They performed their mission gladly, for their wills were under control, and ready to obey the good plans of the Father for His children.

The so-called transgression of Adam was that he subjected his deathless spirit to the conditions of a body that must of necessity suffer death. But, this subjection was indispensable, if the waiting spirits should secure the desired experiences on earth, in harmony with the plan of the Lord. The breaking of the bonds with the spirit world was the “Sin of Adam.” Sin in its larger meaning is the breaking of a law. In this instance, however, a lesser law was broken that a greater law might be fulfilled. This happens often in daily life. A beautiful crystal is broken and melted so that iron, copper, or silver which forms part of its composition may be obtained. To save another, many a person has rushed into a burning house, sometimes to his death. Through the “transgression” of Adam, all mankind has been placed upon the road of eternal progression, and thereby have been blessed. Our first parents who dared to endure the pain of initiating the eternal plan must be rated as the great hero and heroine of ail time. The human race has descended from worthy parents. The obloquy which has been cast upon Adam and Eve has been uniust and prompted by ignorance of the Gospel plan.

Adam and Eve learned to understand that out of their act, whatever error on their part it involved, great good would come. Note the words of Moses:

“And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God. And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.”

This conception frees Adam and Eve from the charge that, they by sin brought upon man the miseries of life.

Let it be remembered that every person who comes into the world from the pre-existent state, accepted the plan proposed by the leather, including the mission of Adam and Eve. Indeed, all men became parties in that sense to Adam’s “transgression,” and are in part as much to blame or to praise as Adam himself. He was our agent. There can be no serious talk, therefore, of being punished for Adam’s transgression.

Besides, though Adam had sinned, his children should not be punished therefor. Such procedure would violate the love and justice of God. Since, even in man-made courts, the criminal is punished, not his children, how much larger would be the justice administered by a divine Judge! An attempt to punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty is abhorrent, and belongs to evil or barbaric people and conditions. True it is, that one man’s faults may injure others. That is too evident in our man-made society. But there is an eternity of difference between suffering for the mistakes of others and being punished for the sins of others.

The essence of God’s law, as of man’s, is that he who breaks the law must suffer the consequences of the violation committed. That is the fundamental principle of the plan of salvation. The plan has been laid out for all persons; its metes and bounds, its regulations and requirements, have been established. They who know and obey the plan rise toward salvation; they who know and disobey are left behind. In that sense man is engaged in the work of saving himseif; the Father formulates the plan and places it within man’s reach; man himself must accept or reject the plan. Salvation becomes a cooperative affair. The outcome depends upon man’s will, as well as upon God’s help.

To seek out law and to obey it when found is man’s first and constant duty. They who obey the law find freedom; opposition to law results in bondage. Acceptance or rejection of law depends on the will of man. A fine and tempered will obeys; a weak and flabby will slinks away from duty. By the proper use of the will pre-existent man rose to the privilege of earth-life. By the use of their wills Adam and Eve were made able to fulfill their mission. By the power of the will every man may be lifted into a state of salvation. The training of the will from infancy to old age, is and should be the chief business of life. True happiness is a product only of a will for righteousness. Upon his success in mastering his will a man’s future will depend.

The word “punishment,” used in the second Article of Faith, deserves consideration. When a aw is broken, punishment follows, as effect follows cause in the ordinary experiences of life, natural or human. What is the punishment that follows the breaking of divine laws? Undoubtedly the slowing up of the rate of progression is the invariable result, but what particular form or degree does it take? The prophet, Joseph Smith, was concerned with this question, and inquiring from the Lord, he received a luminous answer: “Eternal punishment is God’s punishment. Endless punishment is God’s punishment.” He who is eternal and endless will determine the punishment to be meted out ior human transgressions, and His judgments will be tempered with mercy. Yet, the solemn, fearful fact remains: as we sow we shall reap; as we disobey the law, we shall be punished; eternally we must pay some price for our acts.

Man’s Responsibility for his acts is set forth by the Lord in words that thrill the soul:

“All truth is independent in that sphere in which God has placed it, to act for itself, as all intelligence, also, otherwise there is no intelligence. Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man, because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light.”

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

1. What is your definition of “man”?

2. How may our preexistent lives affect our careers on earth?

3. To what extent does ignorance of the law in spiritual matters affect the divine judgment pronounced upon man?

4. Under what conditions may a lesser law be broken to satisfy a higher law? Explain.

5. Enumerate some symptoms of a weak will.

6. How would you set about to strengthen the will?