will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most
High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit."[9]

Justification for citing these scriptures in connection with our present
consideration will be found in the cause of the great contention--the
conditions that led to this war in heaven. It is plain from the words of
Isaiah that Lucifer, already of exalted rank, sought to aggrandize
himself without regard to the rights and agency of others. The matter is
set forth, in words that none may misapprehend, in a revelation given to
Moses and repeated through the first prophet of the present
dispensation: "And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That
Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is
the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me,
saying--Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem
all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it;
wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved son, which was my
Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me--Father, thy will be
done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because that Satan
rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I,
the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine
own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should
be cast down; and he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of
all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his
will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."[10]

Thus it is shown that prior to the placing of man upon the earth, how
long before we do not know, Christ and Satan, together with the hosts of
the spirit-children of God, existed as intelligent individuals,[11]
possessing power and opportunity to choose the course they would pursue
and the leaders whom they would follow and obey.[12] In that great
concourse of spirit-intelligences, the Father's plan, whereby His
children would be advanced to their second estate, was submitted and
doubtless discussed. The opportunity so placed within the reach of the
spirits who were to be privileged to take bodies upon the earth was so
transcendently glorious that those heavenly multitudes burst forth into
song and shouted for joy.[13]

Satan's plan of compulsion, whereby all would be safely conducted
through the career of mortality, bereft of freedom to ac