The law of progression gives hope and purpose to those who accept the Gospel. The feeling of security that comes from the knowledge that the elements of the universe are eternal, is made living by the hope established by the great law that there is purpose in all the operations of the universe. Whatever man may do, whatever his life may bring, provided all his faculties are working actively among the things and forces about him, he is acquiring knowledge, thereby power, and, under the law of progression, he is being moved onward to a more advanced position than he now occupies, in which he may do mightier work. Men, discouraged by their failure to accomplish exactly what they desire, often speak of their lives as purposeless, but it is idle talk, for, in fact, no intelligent life which concerns itself vigorously with the things about it, can be said to be purposeless. Such a life adheres, automatically, to the law of progression, and is therefore moving on to the great destiny of supreme power and accompanying joys. The only purposeless life is the one that does not use its faculties. It matters little what tasks men do in life, if only they do them well and with all their strength. In an infinite universe, one cannot possibly learn all or do all, at once. A beginning must be made somewhere, and corner by corner, department by department, space by space, all will be known and conquered. In the end, all must be explored, and whether one begin in the east or the west cannot matter much. The big concern is to what extent a man offer himself, mind and body, to his work. Upon that will growth depend. **The Law of Development.** The law of progression is then a law of endless development of all the powers of man in the midst of a universe becoming increasingly complex. No more hopeful principle can be incorporated into a philosophy of life. CHAPTER 6. GOD AND MAN. The doctrine of man's pre-existence leads to an understanding of the relationship between God and man, which must lie at the very basis of rational theology. **Why God is God.** To determine this relationship between God and man it is necessary to discuss, first, the conditions under which God became God. As already said, God is the supreme intelligent Being in the universe, who has the greatest knowledge and the most perfected will, and who, therefore, possesses infinite power over the forces of the universe. However, if the great law of progression is accepted, God must have been engaged from the beginning, and must now be engaged in progressive development, and, infinite as God is, he must have been less powerful in the past than he is today. While it is folly for man to attempt to unravel in detail the mystery of the past, yet it is only logical to believe that a progressive God has not always possessed his present position.