I have been much interested in the remarks made by Brother Joseph F. Smith this morning. They are true and are a part of the Gospel of life and salvation which embraces all truth. While he was speaking this passage of Scripture occurred to my mind. Jesus said, "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it."
There is not a principle associated with the Gospel of the Son of God but what is eternal in its nature and consequences, and we cannot with impunity trample upon any principle that is correct without having to suffer the penalty thereof before God and the holy angels, and in many instances before men. The principles of the Gospel being eternal, they were framed and originated with the Almighty in eternity before the world was, according to certain eternal laws, and hence the Gospel is called the everlasting Gospel. It is like God, without beginning of days or end of years, and, as the Lord says, "I am the Lord and I change not." The Gospel is eternal and does not change; it is eternal in its principles and consequences.
And the angel who was to come in the last days flying in the midst of heaven was to proclaim the everlasting Gospel—the same Gospel that Adam had, the same Gospel that Noah had, the same Gospel that Abraham had, the same Gospel that the prophets had, the same Gospel that Jesus had, also the same Gospel that the Nephites had here upon this continent, and which Jesus revealed to them, and that they had indeed before he was in the flesh. It is the everlasting Gospel which brings life and immortality to light, and which enters into all the ramifications of human existence and to the existence of the Gods, and to the existence of this world and of all other worlds.
As Brother Joseph F. Smith has justly said, the first command given was, "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
There is a principle of life associated with the Gospel—life temporal, life spiritual and life eternal. Hence men are called to be fathers of lives and women are called to be mothers of lives. We are fathers and mothers of lives. And there is something different associated with the order of God from any order of men that exists upon the earth.