hful Mormons are to become gods by and by, and create and
populate new worlds; hence the value of polygamy; in fact, this world
is but one of the samples of this truth. Adam is the owner and ruler
of earth, and to him we pray. He is our God. As such he is only one in
an endless procession of such beings.

"There has been and there now exists an endless procession of the
Gods, stretching back into the eternities, that had no beginning and
will have no end. Their existence runs parallel with endless duration,
and their dominions are limitless as boundless space."[3]

Possibly the most popular hymn among these people is the following,
written by one of the wives of Joseph Smith, Eliza R. Snow. It is in
their collection and now in use:

HYMN TO FATHER AND MOTHER

O my Father, thou that dwellest
In the high and glorious place!
When shall I regain thy presence,
And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation,
Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood,
Was I nurtured by thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose
Thou hast placed me here on earth,
And withheld the recollection
Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something
Whispered, "You're a stranger here";
And I felt that I had wandered
From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father,
Through thy Spirit from on high;
But, until the Key of Knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens are parents single?
No; the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me, I've a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence,
When I lay this mortal by,
Father, mother, may I meet you
In your royal court on high?
Then, at length, when I've completed
All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation
Let me come and dwell with you.

-----

[3] New Witness for God, B. H. Roberts, 1895.

WEBER TOM, UTE POLYGAMIST