How can you be certain that your whole life is not a dream?
As long as you are good you will be great. But, if you cease to be good you will cease to be great.
It is important to gain knowledge, yes, but any advantage we will have in the eternal life to come will be a knowledge, I am sure, of those saving principles upon which our eternal life will depend.
We have been counseled to "seek. . . out of the best books words of wisdom. " It is pointed out in Proverbs, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. " (Proverbs 4:7. ) But in getting wisdom and getting knowledge, above all we should "get understanding. " It is important to learn a profession, learn a trade. That applies not only to the young men, but it applies to you young women as well. You girls should place yourselves in a position to be self-supporting and independent in the event that tragedy or an emergency comes, for emergencies have come and will continue to come.
As calls come to us for church service by the Lord's representatives, it is natural for us to wonder why we have been selected. The Lord has made it plain that every individual has been blessed and endowed with certain gifts and talents. And while there are many gifts, yet 'To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby. ' (D&C 46:12)
Elegance and beauty have been banished.
It is never wrong to be on the side of freedom. . . never.
We know only that we are living in these bodies and have a vague idea, because we have heard it, and because our faith tells us so, that we possess souls. As to what good qualities there may be in our souls, or who dwells within them, or how precious they are, those are things which seldom consider and so we trouble little about carefully preserving the soul's beauty.
Our age is essentially one of understanding and reflection, without passion, momentarily bursting into enthusiasm and shrewdly relapsing into repose.