th. Since then I have had some further thought on the subject which I
will here jot down for you. You asked me, you remember, what sin is, and
I tried to explain. Here is another definition: Man belongs to an order
of beings whose goal is perfection. The way to that perfection is long
and hard, narrow and straight. Any deviation from that path is sin. God,
our Father, has reached the goal. He has told us how we may follow Him.
He has pointed out the way by teaching us the law of progress which
led Him to His exalted state. Sin lies in not heeding that law, but in
following laws of our own making. The Lord says this in the Doctrine and
Covenants, Section 88:

'That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to
become a law unto itself, and willeth to abide in sin, and altogether
abideth in sin, cannot be sanctified by law, neither by mercy, justice,
nor judgement. Therefore, they must remain filthy still.'

"Now, keeping in mind that sin is the straying from the one straight,
progressive path, let us consider this expression: 'The wages of sin is
death'. This leads us to the question: what is death? Do you remember
what Drummond says? He first explains in a most interesting way what
life is, using the scientist's phrasing. A human being, for instance,
is in direct contact with all about him--earth, air, sun, other human
beings, etc. In biological language he is said to be 'in correspondence
with his environment,' and by virtue of this correspondence is said to
be alive. To live, a human being must continue to adjust himself to his
environment. When he fails to do this, he dies. Thus we have also a
definition of death. 'Dying is that breakdown in an organization
which throws it out of correspondence with some necessary part of the
environment.'

"Of course, these reasonings and deductions pertain to what we term he
physical death; but Drummond claims that the same law holds good in the
spiritual world. Modern revelation seems to agree with him. We have an
enlightening definition of death in the following quotation from the
Doctrine and Covenants, Section 29: 'Wherefore I the Lord God caused
that he (Adam) should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my
presence, because of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually
dead, which is the first death, even that same death, which is the last
death, which is spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked
when I shall say Depart ye cursed'.

"It