"And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. "And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate: and, at that day, many followed after him." (Book of Abr. 3:22-28.) Truth Speaks for Itself.--What a sublime presentation! What a wealth of doctrine! What a wonderful scope of prophecy! The whole divine scheme for human progress revealed at a glance! Surely the Book of Abraham, whose authenticity has recently been assailed by Christian scholars, and defended by "Mormon" writers and speakers, can stand upon its own merits in refutation of any argument brought against it as a divine record. Who but God could reveal such principles as this marvelous book contains? Who but one inspired of heaven could teach them in so pure a spirit and in such majestic terms? Truth--eternal truth--speaks for itself: it is not dependent upon books or translators. These are but some of the means used in making it known to the world. It is not limited to time and place. Whether in the catacombs of Egypt, or in the mounds of America, whether spoken anciently or modernly, "Truth is truth, where'er 'tis found, On Christian or on heathen ground." "Mormon" Philosophy.--Note the sound philosophy of this revelation--the divine proposition to "make an earth," not out of nothing--an absurdity put forth by Christian theologians in their teachings relative to the creation--but out of "materials" already in existence, eternal spirit and eternal matter, as never-ending as space and duration. Then ask yourself, reader, if the "Mormon" doctrine, set forth in the Book of Abraham, is not the only logical, scientific, common-sense presentation possible or conceivable in the premises. Note also that it was the design to "make an earth;" the inference being that this was not the only earth that had been created, nor would it be the last. "And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth" (Abr. 4:1). CHAPTER V. Creation of the Earth. Two Creations.--There were two creations--the first spiritual, the second temporal. This truth is taught inferentially in the first and second chapters of Genesis, King James's Translation; but more plainly and pointedly in the Book of Moses, a reproduction of the Book of Genesis, revised and amplified by the spirit of revelation in Joseph the Seer. Here is the modern rendering of the passages bearing directly upon this point: As Related in the Book of Moses.--"And now, behold, I say unto you, that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I, the Lord God, made the heaven and the earth.