In answer to the questions with which the last chapter closed, I may say that however difficult it may be to comprehend fully all things connected with man's fall, and God's plan for his redemption, we may be assured that the fall was not a blunder, nor was it an accident. The prophet Lehi bowed down under the weight of years, when giving his last testimony and instructions to his son Jacob, said: "Behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy."[A] [Footnote A: II Nephi II: 24, 25.] All that has befallen man, we may rest assured, is essential to his eternal and perfect happiness. From our limited experience, we know that men learn to appreciate the joys of prosperity by drinking deeply from the cup of adversity; they learn to prize the boon of health, by languishing upon the bed of affliction; they learn the value of wealth, by experiencing want and poverty; the sweets of life are rendered still more sweet by the draughts of bitterness we are compelled to drink; and the ever intermittent gleams of sunshine are made more bright by the renewing storms which darken the sky; and thus-- "Tis sorrow builds the shining ladder up, Whose golden rounds are our calamities." As it is with these things I have mentioned, so it is in respect to the greatest blessing Deity can bestow upon man--the gift of eternal life. How great that gift, it is difficult for us to understand. It is not to live merely three score years, nor a thousand years, nor ten thousand years, but eternally; and while "The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years; Man shall flourish in immortal youth. Unhurt amid the war of elements, The wreck of matter and the crash of worlds."-- But in order that his children might know how to prize the greatest of all his gifts. Deity has ordained that they should pass through the dark valley of death; and in the meantime, by passing through this probation we call life, they might have the opportunity of demonstrating before the heavens their integrity to principles of righteousness and truth; and by coming in contact with evil, they might forever prize that which is pure and good: that vice might ever be hideous to them, and virtue lovely--and thus the eternal happiness of man be made secure. Thus with death, as with many other things, that which at times we consider our greatest calamity, turns out to be our greatest good. As to the second question[B]--How is it that through the sacrifice of one who is innocent salvation may be purchased for those under the dominion of death?--I will observe, in passing, that what should most concern us, is, not so much _how_ it is that such is the case, but is it a _fact_. Is it true that God has established such a scheme of redemption, is what should concern us most. [Footnote B: See Discourse of J. Taylor, J. of D. vol 10, p. 114.]