**God, the Father.** God, the Father, the greatest God concerned in our progression, is the supreme God. He is the Father of our spirits. He is the being of highest intelligence with whom we deal. To our senses and understanding he is as perfection. In his fulness he can not be fathomed by the human mind, and it is, indeed, useless for man to attempt to define in detail the great intelligent beings of the universe. God, the Father, the supreme God, has gone through every phase of the Great Plan, which we are working out. Therefore, he has had our experiences or their equivalents, and understands from his own experience the difficulties of our journey. His love for us is an understanding love. Our earth troubles we may lay fully before him, knowing that he understands how human hearts are touched by the tribulations and the joys of life.
God, the Father, the supreme God of whom we have knowledge, is the greatest intelligence in the infinite universe, since he is infinite in all matters pertaining to us and transcends wholly our understanding in his power and wisdom. We know no greater God than the omniscient, omnipotent Father.
**God, the Son.** With the Father is associated his only begotten Son on earth, Jesus Christ, who came on earth and submitted himself to a painful and ignoble death so that all men might be raised from the grave with the body of flesh and bones made indestructible and everlasting. Because of the central position occupied by Jesus in the Great Plan, he is essentially the God of this earth. He, also, is beyond our understanding, he sits on the right hand of the Father, and is one with the Father in all that pertains to the welfare of the human race. To us he is perfect, possessing all the attributes of the Father. Whether he is as far advanced as the Father is an idle question, since he surpasses our understanding. In all matters pertaining to the earth, the Son is the agent of the Father. Through him the will of the Father pertaining to this earth is given. All our communications with the Father are made in the name of the Son, so that they may be properly authorized. This is in simple accord with the order that prevails in the heavens and that should prevail everywhere on earth.
**God, the Holy Ghost.** The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost constitute the Godhead, or Trinity of Gods, guiding the destinies of men on earth. God, the Holy Ghost, is a personage of spirit, who possesses special functions which have not yet been clearly revealed. We know that this member of the Godhead is a knowledge-giver and an inspirer of all that is great and noble and desirable, and that his functions in the Godhead are indispensable to the welfare of man.
**Other Beings.** Many other intelligent beings, superior to us, no doubt take part in the work of man on earth. There are angels and spirits who no doubt have assigned to them the care of the men and women who walk upon the earth. Man is not alone; he walks in the midst of such heavenly company, from whom he may expect help if he seek it strongly. A plan for the schooling of intelligent spirits, walking in semi-darkness through the acquiescence of beings of higher intelligence, must of a certainty include such continuous though invisible help.
**Sex Among the Gods.** Sex, which is indispensable on this earth for the perpetuation of the human race, is an eternal quality which has its equivalent everywhere. It is indestructible. The relationship between men and women is eternal and must continue eternally. In accordance with the Gospel philosophy there are males and females in heaven. Since we have a Father who is our God, we must also have a mother, who possesses the attributes of Godhood. This simply carries onward the logic of things earthly, and conforms with the doctrine that whatever is on this earth, is simply a representation of great spiritual conditions, of deeper meaning than we can here fathom.
CHAPTER 13.
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.