Can it be truthfully said that the father's foreknowledge is even a contributory cause of the evil life of his boy? To so hold is to say that a neglectful parent, who will not trouble himself to study the character of his son, who shuts his eyes to sinful ways, and rests in careless indifference as to the probable future, will by his very heartlessness benefit the boy, because the father's lack of forethought diminishes the son's tendency toward dereliction. By way of further illustration, consider the man versed in meteorology, who by due consideration of temperature, air-pressure, humidity, and other essential data, is able to forecast weather conditions. He speaks with the assurance of long experience in foretelling a storm. The storm comes, bringing benefit or injury, contributing to the harvest perhaps or destroying the ripening grain; but, whether it be of good or ill effect, can he who prophesied of the approaching storm be held accountable for its coming? It may be argued, however, that in these illustrative instances neither the mortal parent nor the human forecaster had power to alter the respective course of events, while God can direct and over-rule as He wills. But, be it remembered that God has granted agency unto His children, and does not control them in its exercise by arbitrary force. He impels no man toward sin; He compels none to righteousness. The Father of our spirits has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition of each of His children, a knowledge gained by observation and experience in the long ages of our primeval childhood, when we existed as unembodied spirits, endowed with individuality and agency--a knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through experience with their children in the flesh is infinitesimally small. In that surpassing knowledge God reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men collectively. He knows what each will do under given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future of men and nations as a state that naturally and surely will be; not as a state of things that must be because He has arbitrarily willed that it shall be. "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world." (Acts 15:18.) He willed and decreed the mortal state for His spirit offspring, and prepared the earth for their schooling. He provided all the facilities necessary to their training, and thus proclaimed His purpose: "For behold, this is my work and my glory--to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 7.) -- 92 -- ARE MEN CREATED EQUAL? Individualism is Eternal