--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Fetzer, Isaiah W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 10 number: 5 published: 1907-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Fetzer, Isaiah W., "Thoughts on Two Passages of Scripture," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 5 (March 1907): 383.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1005unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1005unse start_page: 383 end_page: 383 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1005unse publication_year: 1907 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Thoughts on Two Passages of Scripture THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY TWO PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. BY ISAIAH W. FLETCHER. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus; who, being in thn form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the like- ness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and be- came obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. —(Philippians ii: 5-6.) Many things may be inferred from this. The first is: man is made in the form of God, which, without doubt to my mind, shows that God and man had one common origin. That being the con- clusion arrived at, man must, of necessity, have inherent in him the same potentialities or possibilities that characterize God, hia Heavenly Parent. Were it otherwise, he could not, throughout all the eternities, become equal with him, no matter what man's aspirations might be. If that is not the case, then we would be compelled to admit that our Heavenly Parent has created a being inferior to himself, a fact which reason, most emphatically, repu- diates. Another truth evident to a reflective mind is that, man being thus endowed can without fear of intimidation from any source whatever (being a separate and distinct entity), aspire unto the highest possible attainments in the universe, God's present condition being an inspiration to him to that end. As Latter-day Saints, we understand full well that the at- tributes of Deity are only attainable, or made manifest, through an organized personality; in other words, by the descent of Spirit into element, and its contending with gross, material environments, such as obtain in the world in which we find ourselves. By attributes I mean such as we believe are at present en-