THE HOPE OF TOMORROW.
Time is unceasing. There was a yesterday, there is a today, and there
will be a tomorrow. The Gospel plan encompasses all time. Tomorrow has
a great place in the eternal plan.
**Today.** The greatest day of all time is today. It is the product
of all the past; and is the promise of all the future. If each today
is made great, the tomorrows will be surpassingly greater. The one way
to draw out of life the keen joys of life, is to think little of
tomorrow, but to live mightily today.
**Tomorrow.** Yet, surely, there will be a tomorrow. The sun sets,
and we sleep, and we awaken to a new day. Forever there shall come new
days. Today is our great day; but there will be another great, a
greater day. What tomorrow shall be, depends measureably upon today.
At least, the beginning of tomorrow will be as the evening of today.
As we spend today, so will the hope of tomorrow be. The ages do not
come in leaps, but step by step do they enter into the larger life.
The law of today is that joy will transfigure each coming tomorrow, if
our work be well done today. No man knows whether his tomorrow will be
on this earth or in another existence, with new duties and under a new
environment. Of one thing we are sure, beyond all cavil, that life on
earth will continue into an endless future, and the work will be taken
up where it was laid down yesterday.
**The Resurrection.** The man whose life is ordered right, worries
little about his tomorrow. Full well he knows that, though the body be
laid in the grave, it will rise again. He has the absolute assurance
of the resurrection. In that resurrection the body will arise
purified, possessing only its essential, characteristic parts, which
cannot be taken away or transferred to another body. These essential,
characteristic parts organized into a body will be the mortal body
made immortal.
The resurrection of mortal bodies, on earth, began with Jesus, who on
the third day rose from the grave, and after his sojourn among the
children of men, took his body with him into heaven. This was the
first fruit of the resurrection, made possible by the atonement of the
Christ. Since that time, the resurrection of man may have continued,
and no doubt will continue, in the future; for many spirits have laid
down their earthly bodies, and all must be raised from the grave. In
the resurrection, order and law will prevail, and the just deserts of
men will be kept in mind.
**Our Place in the Hereafter.** Into a new, great world shall we
enter after the journey on earth has ended. In this new world we shall
continue our work of progression, forever and forever, under the
prevailing laws. Our progress, there, and the laws revealed to us,
will depend upon our own actions and upon our own willingness to abide
by the laws already known to us.
Our place in that life will depend on our faithfulness here. Whatever
a man has gained on earth, will rise with him in the resurrection. All
that he gained in the spirit world, before he came on earth, will
likewise rise with him. All men will be saved, but the degree of that
salvation will vary even as our varying work on earth. There will be
glory upon glory, and there will be different degrees of advancement,
some like unto the sun, some like unto the moon, while other glories
will differ even as the infinite stars of the heavens differ in the
brightness.
In the Great Plan there is no provision for the eternal damnation of
man. At the best, men will be ranged according to their stage of
progression--some higher, some lower. In a universe ruled by
intelligent beings, filled with love for each other, there can be no
thought of an endless damnation only as men, by opposition to law,
destroy themselves. Endless punishment and eternal punishment, terms
often used, but of little meaning to the human mind, mean simply God's
punishment, which is beyond our understanding. Those who refuse to
accept truth or to abide by law, will gradually take less and less
part in the work of progression. They will be left behind, while their
intelligent fellows, more obedient, will go on. In nature there is no
standing still; those who do not advance, will retrograde, become
weaker and finally wither, and be forgotten in their low estate.
**The Destiny of Man.** The intelligence called man cannot be
destroyed. Eternal life is therefore the destiny of man. But, eternal
life is life open-eyed, ready-minded, seeking, accepting and using all
knowledge that will assist in man's progress. To continue forever,
upward, that is eternal life and the destiny of man.