NOTES.
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.