[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, Lectures on Faith, 7:8.]
[Footnote B: Doctrine and Covenants, 132:20.]
That this is not a sudden elevation, but a gradual growth, is evident from many of the writings of Joseph Smith, of which the following are illustrations. "He that receiveth light and continueth in God, receiveth more light, and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day."[A] "For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace."[B]
[Footnote A: Ibid., 50:24.]
[Footnote B: Ibid., 93:20.]
In various sermons Joseph Smith enlarged upon the universal principle of advancement, but few of them have been preserved for us. In a sermon delivered in April, 1844, the following sentences occur, "God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted Man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens. You have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you; namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation."[A]
[Footnote A: Contributor, vol. 4, pp. 254 and 255.]
[Sidenote: Joseph Smith anticipated science in the statement of the law of evolution.]
The preceding quotations suffice to show that with regard to man, Joseph Smith taught a doctrine of evolution which in grandeur and extent surpasses the wildest speculations of the scientific evolutionist. Yet Joseph Smith taught this doctrine as one of eternal truth, taught him by God. There can be no doubt that the truth behind Spencer's law of evolution, and the doctrine taught by the "Mormon" prophet, are the same. The great marvel is that Joseph Smith, who knew not the philosophies of men, should have anticipated by thirty years or more the world of science in the enunciation of the most fundamental law of the universe of living things.
[Sidenote: Animals are subject to evolution.]