The inference is plain. If spirits always existed and always will exist, there never was a beginning and there never will be an end, of time. III. AS TO MATTER. Some writer has characterized the passage in Genesis, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light," as the perfection of beauty in expression; but we venture to place over against it another, this, however, directly from a Divine source through the Prophet Joseph Smith. What could be more succinct or beautiful or more richly laden with truth respecting conditions precedent than the words, "The elements are eternal?" [10] That expression is worth more to the scientist who will receive it, than all the fine-spun theories of so-called philosophy. An acceptance of this truth would put to rest no end of controversy. Since the earliest times investigators have believed in the transmutation of matter, that if they could only find the secret, they could, for instance, turn silver into gold; and, again, it has been the belief until recent years, that matter could be annihilated. Now, however, the idea is accepted throughout the entire scientific world that no particle of matter can be destroyed. It may be changed from one form into another, as water is converted into steam, but the elements remain unchanged. The transmutation theory, however, still haunts the human mind. "The elements are eternal." The Prophet Joseph Smith adds to this nugget of truth another beautiful thought, when he says: "Hence we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos--chaotic matter, which is element, and _in which dwells all the glory_." [11] From which we may be assured that in the Gospel scheme of organization, this life's drama in the large, matter plays no unimportant part. We, therefore, may conclude: That all the matter now existing always existed and always will exist. That there never was any more matter than there is at present and there never will be any more than there is now. IV. AS TO INTELLIGENCES. Notwithstanding the desire for knowledge, the simplicity of truth has ever entailed upon it an unfriendly reception at the hands of men. It seems to be almost a law of the human mind that our preconceived notions, whether true or false, stand in the way of new ideas, and usually our principal effort is put forth in trying to reconcile a new thought with the old theory, rather than in an endeavor to give to each its proper valuation. And this is preeminently the case in relation to our ideas on the eternal existence of personal, individual intelligences. We can easily conceive of eternally existing matter, but not so of spirits.