A Baby: an Eternal Blessing

484 IMPROVEMENT ERA

announced, "He seems better. I think that he will pull through." With a great thankfulness in his heart, the father turned toward the east window where the gray light filtered through. It fell on the white bud of an Easter lily, just bursting into bloom. He felt that it was the symbol of a new life.

A Baby— an Eternal Blessing By Joseph S. Peery, Superintendent Y. M. M .1. A., Liberty Stake

The greatest of all creations is a baby. A baby is a human soul that lives forever. It lived before it came to this life. It comes to this life in school for development. In the next life it will have opportunities to go on and eternally progress and

advance. The Creator of Heaven and Earth made that baby in his own image. At first a baby is helpless, wholly dependent on others. In twenty years, as President Lorenzo Snow observed, the baby attains a development that is wonderful, becomes an inventor and does great things for humanity. If in twenty years that baby can learn so much, certainly, with its Father in Heaven as its tutor, and through ages of eternity, it is reasonable that the little baby can become like its Maker. Earthly things perish. The baby lives forever. Being the climax of all creations, what a wonderful thing, what a splendid — possession a baby in the home! Marriage is a great blessing, ordained by the Almighty. Complying with this injunction, a young couple obeys the first great commandment. They become the parents of a living soul, a wonderful privilege, far exceeding acquisition of gold or tem- porary earthly honors. "Children are an heritage of the Lord." Psalm 127:3. — Married in the Temple for time and all eternity, children are an eternal heritage, an eternal compensation for parents who obey God's first words to earth's first couple "Be fruitful, and :

multiply, and replenish the earth."