1. Salvation for the Dead.--The appearing of Elijah the prophet,
in the Kirtland Temple on the 3rd of April, 1836, was the introduction
of another great work connected with the redemption of the human race.
That work is Salvation for the dead, the keys of which were given to
the Prophet Joseph Smith by Elijah, on the occasion of the appearing
mentioned above. That event was an epoch in the history of this great
dispensation. It began a revolution in the theology of the Christian
world. Up to that time--1836--it was universally believed by orthodox
Christians that the souls of men who died without conversion to the
Christian religion, were everlastingly lost. It was believed that the
application of the gospel of Jesus Christ was limited to this life; and
those who failed, through whatever cause, to obtain the benefits of the
means of salvation it affords, are forever barred from such benefits.
"If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place
where the tree falleth, there it shall lie;" [180] and they argued from
this that in whatever state a man died so he remained. If he died in
a state of justification his salvation was assured; but if not, then
justification and consequently salvation was forever beyond his hope.
2. This sectarian doctrine which does so much violence to the
justice of God--since it closes the door of salvation against so
many thousands of God's children through no other circumstances than
that they never so much as heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
therefore could not either believe or obey it-arose, first, through
a misconception of the doctrine of eternal punishment with which the
wicked are threatened in the scriptures; and, second, through a very
narrow conception of the sure mercies of God.
{378} 3. Christian Dogma of Eternal Judgment.--Christians believe
that to receive eternal punishment was to be punished eternally. This
popular Christian error was corrected in a revelation to Martin Harris
through Joseph Smith, even before the church was organized.[181]
In that revelation it is explained that God is "Endless;" that is
one of his names; as also is "Eternal" one of his names. "Therefore
eternal punishment is God's punishment. Endless punishment is God's
punishment." In other words, the punishment that will overtake the
wicked is Eternal's punishment; Endless' punishment. But Christians,
mistaking the name of the punishment for the sign of its duration,
taught that men were punished eternally for the sins committed in
this life. Then again God's punishment is eternal; that is, it always
exists; it is eternal as God is, but the transgressor receives only
so much of it, endures it only so long as may be necessary to satisfy
the reasonable claims of justice, tempered with mercy. Then, when
the insulted law is vindicated, the offender is released from the
punishment. But as "the bars survive the captive they enthrall," as the
prison remains after the transgressor has served his time in it, so in
God's government, the punishment eternally remains after transgressors
have satisfied the claims of justice, and are relieved from its pains
and penalties. It remains to vindicate the law of God whenever it shall
be broken. But men read--"He that believeth not [the gospel] shall be
damned," [182] and they are taught to believe that they were damned
to all eternity--that they were consigned forever to the flames of
hell.[183] [See note 1, end of section.]
{379} 4. One would think that right conceptions of the attributes
of justice and mercy as they exist in God's character would lead
men to the rejection of the horrible dogma of eternal punishment as
taught by orthodox Christianity. But if that be not sufficient then
the scriptures themselves refute it, as will appear in the following
paragraphs:
5. Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.--From a remark made in
the writings of the Apostle Peter,[184] we learn that after Messiah
was put to death in the flesh "He went and preached to the spirits in
prison, which sometime [aforetime] were disobedient, when once the
long-suffering of God waiting in the days of Noah." During the three
days, then, that Messiah's body lay in the tomb at Jerusalem, his
spirit was in the world of spirits preaching to those who had rejected
the preaching of righteous Noah. The Christian traditions no less than
the scriptures teach that Jesus went down into hell and preached to
those there held in ward. [See note 2, end of section.]
6. Not only is the mere fact of Messiah's going to the spirit
prison stated in the scripture, but the purpose of his going there is
learned from the same source. "For this cause was {380} the gospel
preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged
according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the
spirit." [185] This manifestly means that these spirits who had once
rejected the counsels of God against themselves, had the gospel again
preached to them and had the privilege of living according to its
precepts in the spirit life, and of being judged according to men in
the flesh, or as men in the flesh are judged; that is, according to the
degree of their faithfulness to the precepts of the gospel.
7. Naturally the question arises, Why was the gospel preached
to the spirits in prison who had once been disobedient if there were
no means by which it could be applied to them for their salvation? We
can scarcely suppose that Messiah would preach the gospel to them if
it could do them no good. He did not go there to mock their sufferings
or to add something to the torture of their damnation by explaining
the beauties of that salvation now forever beyond their reach! Such
a supposition would at once be revolting to reason, insulting to the
justice of God, and utterly repugnant to the dictates of mercy!
8. Following that question comes another: If the gospel is
preached again to those who have once rejected it, how much sooner will
it be presented to those who have never heard it, who have lived in
those generations when the gospel and the authority to administer its
ordinances were not in the earth? Seeing that those who once rejected
the offer of salvation had it presented to them again--after paying
the penalty of their first disobedience--it would seem that those who
lived when it was not upon the earth, or who when it was upon the earth
perished in ignorance of it, will much sooner come to salvation.
9. Of the things we have written, this is the sum: (1) The gospel
was preached by Messiah to the spirits in prison who had rejected the
teachings of Noah; therefore there must be {381} some means through
which its precepts and ordinances may be applied to them. (2) If the
gospel can be made available to those who once rejected the proffered
mercies of God, its privileges will much sooner, and doubtless more
abundantly be granted to those who died in ignorance of it.
10. Baptism for the Dead.--The manner in which the ordinances
of the gospel may be administered to those who have died without
receiving them is hinted at by Paul. Writing to the Corinthians on the
subject of the resurrection,--correcting those who said there was no
resurrection--he asks: "What shall they do which are baptized for the
dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the
dead?" [186] In this the apostle manifestly referred to a practice which
existed among the Christian saints of the living being baptized for
the dead, and argues from the existence of that practice that the dead
must rise, or why the necessity of being baptized for the dead. Though
this is the only passage in the New Testament, or in the whole Bible,
that refers directly to the subject, yet of itself it is sufficient to
establish the fact that such a principle was known among the ancient
saints. [See notes 3 and 4, end of section.]
11. From the revelations of God to the church in this
dispensation the following may be learned: Elijah, in the fulfillment
of ancient prophecy, appeared unto Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and
delivered to them those keys or powers of the priesthood which give to
the living the right to do a work for the salvation of the dead. As a
consequence the hearts of the children are turned to the fathers; and
of course, since the fathers in the spirit world through the preaching
of the gospel learn that it is within the power of their children to do
a work for them, their hearts are turned to the children, and thus the
predicted result to follow Elijah's mission is fulfilled.
12. The work that the living may do for the dead is that of
attending to outward ordinances--baptisms, confirmations, {382}
ordinations, washings; anointings and sealings--all being appointed
by revelation and the direction of the Lord, and all sealed and
ratified by the power of the priesthood of God which binds on earth
and in heaven. It is required that all baptisms and other ordinances
of the gospel performed for the dead be attended to in houses--and
more properly in temples--specially dedicated for holy purposes. Those
ordinances are to be faithfully recorded by those who see and hear them
performed,[187] that there may be valid testimony that the work has
been done. These ordinances attended to on earth by the living, and
accepted in the spirit world by those for whom they are performed, will
make them a patent means of salvation to the dead and of exaltation
to the living, since they become in very deed "saviors upon Mount
Zion." This work that can be done for the dead enlarges one's view of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. One begins to see indeed that it is the
"everlasting gospel;" for it runs parallel with man's existence both in
this life and in that which is to come. It vindicates the character of
God, for by it we may see that justice and judgment, truth and mercy
are in all his ways. [See note 5, end of section.]
13. Different Degrees of Glory.--Closely associated with the
subjects treated in the forgoing paragraphs of this section, is the
subject of the Different Degrees of Glory. Nothing is more clearly
stated in holy writ than that men will be judged and rewarded according
to their works. [188]And as their works vary in degree or righteousness
so will their rewards vary, and so will they have bestowed upon them
different degrees of glory according as their works shall merit and
their intelligence be capable of comprehending. Messiah said to his
disciples: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so
I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; * * * that
where I am there ye may be also." [189] Still it is commonly held {383}
among Christian sects that he who attains heaven partakes immediately
of the highest glories; while he who misses heaven goes direct to hell
and partakes of all its miseries forever.[190] Yet nothing is clearer
than the fact that there are different heavens spoken of in scripture
and different degrees of glory. When Solomon dedicated the temple he
had builded, he exclaimed in his prayer--"Behold the heaven and heaven
of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have
builded!" [191] Paul in writing to the Corinthians says "I knew a man
in Christ above fourteen years ago * * * such an one caught up to the
third heaven. And I knew such a man * * * how that he was caught up
into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for
a man to utter." [192]
14. Reasoning on the resurrection, the last writer quoted says:
"There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the
glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars: for as one star differeth from another
star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead." [193] In all
this, however, the great subject is but vaguely hinted at. For a full
understanding of it we are indebted to a revelation given to Joseph
Smith, February {384} 16th, 1832. From that revelation we summarized
the following:[194]
15. The Celestial Glory.--They who receive the testimony of
Jesus, that believe on his name and are baptized after the manner of
his burial; that by keeping the commandments they might be washed
and cleansed from all sin, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying
on of hands by those having authority; who overcome by faith, and
are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise--these become the church of
the First Born. They are they into whose hands the Father hath given
all things--they are priests and kings, who have received of God's
fullness, and of his glory; they are priests of the Most High, after
the order of Melchisedek, which is after the order of the Son of
God--therefore they are Gods, even the Sons of God. All things are
theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come,
all are theirs, and they are Christ's and Christ is God's. They shall
overcome all things; they shall dwell in the presence of God and Christ
forever and forever; they are they whom Christ will bring with him when
he shall come in the clouds of heaven to reign on the earth over his
people; they have part in the resurrection of the just; their names
are written in heaven, where God and Christ dwell; they are just men
made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant; these are
they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory the sun in heaven is {385}
spoken of as typical--they inherit the celestial glory, they see as
they are seen and know as they are known.
16. The Terrestrial Glory.--The terrestrial glory differs from
the celestial glory as the light of the moon differs from the light of
the sun. These are they who died without law, and also they who are the
spirits of men in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel
unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards
received it. These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who
were blinded by the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of
God's glory but not of his fullness. They may enjoy the presence of the
Son but not of the presence of the Father; these are they who are not
valiant in the testimony of Jesus, therefore they obtain not the crown
over the kingdom of God.
17. The Telestial Glory.--The telestial glory differs from the
terrestrial, as the light of the stars differs from the light of the
moon. The inhabitants of the telestial glory are those who neither
received the gospel of Christ in the flesh nor the testimony of Jesus
in the spirit world. These are they who are thrust down to hell, and
will not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, when
Christ shall have finished his work. These are they who are of Paul and
of Apollos, and of Cephas. some of Christ and some of John, some of
Moses and some of Elias; but received not the gospel nor the testimony
of Jesus. These are they who will not be gathered with the Saints, to
be caught up unto the church of the First Born, and received into the
cloud. These are liars and sorcerers and adulterers, and whoremongers,
and whosoever loves and makes a lie. They suffer the wrath of God on
earth and the vengeance of eternal fire, but they will be judged every
man according to his works and receive according to his works, his
own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; and they shall be
servants {386} of the Most High,[195] but where God and Christ dwell
they cannot come, worlds without end. They of the Telestial Glory
enjoy neither the presence of the Father nor the Son, but receive the
ministration of angels, and of the Holy Ghost, for even they of the
Telestial Glory are accounted heirs of salvation. The Prophet Joseph
and Sidney Rigdon in their vision saw that the inhabitants of the
telestial glory were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of
heaven, or as the sand upon the sea shore--and they heard the voice
of God saying--"These all shall bow the knee and every tongue shall
confess to Him who sits upon the throne forever and ever; for they
shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive
according to his own works, his own dominions, in the mansions which
are prepared, and they shall be servants of the Most High, but where
God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end."
18. Degrees Within the Three Great Kingdoms of Glory.--These
are the three great divisions of glory in the world to come, but
within these great divisions are subdivisions or degrees. The Prophet
Joseph taught that in the celestial glory there are three heavens or
degrees.[196] Of the telestial glory it is written: "And the glory
of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one, for
as one star differs from another star in glory even so differs one
from another in glory in the telestial world." [197] From this it is
evident that there are different degrees of glory within the celestial
and telestial glories; and though we have no direct authority for the
statement, it seems but reasonable to conclude that there are different
degrees of glory in the terrestrial world also. It appears but rational
that it should be so, since the degrees of worthiness in men are almost
infinite in their variety; and as every man is to be judged according
to his works, it will require {387} a corresponding infinity of degrees
in glory to mete out to every man that reward of which he is worthy,
and that also which his intelligence will enable him to enjoy.
19. Progress Within and From Different Degrees of Glory.--The
question of advancement within the great divisions of glory--celestial,
terrestrial, and telestial; as also the question of advancement
from one sphere of glory to another remains to be considered. In
the revelation from which we have summarized what has been written
here, in respect to the different degrees of glory, it is said that
those of the terrestrial glory will be ministered unto by those of
the celestial; and those of the telestial will be ministered unto by
those of the terrestrial--that is, those of the higher glory minister
to those of a lesser order of glory. We can conceive of no reason for
all this administration of the higher to the lower, unless it be for
the purpose of advancing our Father's children along the lines of
eternal progression. Whether or not in the great future, full of so
many possibilities now hidden from us, they of the lesser glories after
education and advancement within those spheres may at last emerge from
them and make their way to the higher degrees of glory until at last
they attain to the highest, is not revealed in the revelations of God,
and any statement made on the subject must partake more or less of the
nature of conjecture.
20. But if it be granted that such a thing is possible, they who
at the first entered into the celestial glory--having before them the
privilege also of eternal progress--have been moving onward, so that
the relative distance between them and those who have fought their way
up from the lesser glories, may be as great when the latter have come
into the degrees of celestial glory in which the righteous at first
stood, as it was at the commencement; and thus between them is an
impassable gulf which time cannot destroy. Thus: those whose faith and
works are such only as to entitle them to inherit a telestial glory,
may arrive at last where those whose works in this life were such as
{388} to entitle them to entrance into the celestial kingdom--they may
arrive where these were but never where they are.
21. Sons of Perdition.--There is a class of souls with whom the
justice of God must deal, which will not and cannot be classified in
the celestial, terrestrial or telestial glories.
They are the sons of perdition. But though they will not be assigned
a place in either of these grand divisions of glory, the revelation
from which we have drawn our information respecting man's future state
describes the condition of these sons of perdition so far as it is made
known unto the children of men. It also informs us as to the nature of
the crime which calls for such grievous punishment.
22. The sons of perdition are they of whom God hath said that
it had been better for them never to have been born; for they are
vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil
and his angels in eternity. Concerning whom he hath said there is no
forgiveness in this world nor the world to come. These are they who
shall go away into everlasting punishment, with the devil and his
angels, and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any
power; the only ones who will not be redeemed in the due time of the
Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath. He saves all the works of his
hands except these sons of perdition; but they go away to reign with
the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched, which is their torment. The end thereof, the
place thereof no man knoweth. It has not been revealed, nor will it be
revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof. It
has been partially shown to some in vision, and may be shown again in
the same partial manner to others; but the end, the width, the height,
the depth and the misery thereof they understand not, nor will any one
but those who receive the terrible condemnation.
23. Such the punishment, now as to the crime that merits it.
It is the crime of high treason to God which pulls down on {389} men
this fearful doom. It falls upon men who know the power of God and
who have been made partakers of it, and then permit themselves to be
so far overcome of the devil that they deny the truth that has been
revealed to them and defy the power of God. They deny the Holy Ghost
after having received it. They deny the Only Begotten Son of the Father
after the Father hath revealed him, and in this crucify him unto
themselves anew, and put him to an open shame. They commit the same
act of high treason that Lucifer in the rebellion of heaven did, and
hence are worthy of the same punishment with him. Thank God, the number
who commit that fearful crime is but few. It is only those who attain
to a very great knowledge of the things of God that are capable of
committing it, and the number among such are few indeed who become so
recklessly wicked as to rebel against and defy the power of God.[198]
But when such characters do fall, they fall like Lucifer, never to
rise again; they get beyond the power of repentance, or the hope of
forgiveness.
NOTES.
1. The Sectarian Dogma of Eternal Punishment.--There is nothing
more obnoxious to a reasonable mind, a loving heart, a soul susceptible
to the relative claims of justice and mercy, than the Presbyterian and
other old ecclesiastical school doctrines of an eternal, material,
unchanging hell of fire and torment in which the unregenerate are
doomed to suffer the implacable wrath of an unrelenting Deity forever
and forever, worlds without end. * * * And it is not true. It was not
and is not a doctrine of Christ. It sprang from the gloom-clothed
brains of cloistered monks and heretic-burning priests, bearing not
a vestige of the sacred authority vested in the apostles and their
immediate associates. It is redolent of the Auto de fe, and stamped
with the bloody seal of apostate papal Rome. It breathes of vengeance
instead of justice, and banishes sweet mercy {390} from the economy of
heaven. It makes God more cruel than the most inhuman mortal. It is a
libel on the Almighty and a fruitful cause of atheism, irreverence and
doubt.--Penrose.
2. Messiah Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.--In the second and
third centuries every branch and division of the Christian church, so
far as their record enables us to judge, believed that Christ preached
to the departed; and this belief dates back to our earliest reliable
sources of information in the former of those two centuries.--Christ's
Mission to the Under World, (Huidekoper), fourth edition, p. 49.
As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed,
that he went down into hell.--Articles of Religion--Church of
England--Art. III, Book of Common Prayer, p. 311.
These "spirits in prison" are supposed to be the holy dead. * * * The
most intelligent meaning suggested by the context is, however, that
Christ by his spirit preached to those who in the time of Noah, while
the Ark was a preparing, were disobedient, and whose spirits are now in
prison, abiding the general judgment. The prison is doubtless hades,
but what hades is must be determined by other passages of scripture;
and whether it is the grave or hell, it is still a prison for those who
yet await the judgment day.--Cyclopedia Biblical Literature (Kitto), p.
798.
3. Baptism for the Dead.--While not maintaining the view that
there is such a thing as a living man being baptized for one who is
dead, the writer in Biblical Literature (Kitto), expresses these views:
"From the wording of the sentence [why then are they baptized for the
dead?] the most simple impression certainly is, that Paul speaks of a
baptism which a living man receives in the place of a dead one. This
interpretation is particularly adopted by those expounders with whom
grammatical construction is of paramount importance, and the first
thing to be considered." This view is also upheld by Ambrose among the
early Christian writers; and by Erasmus, Scaliger, Grotius, Calixtus
among the moderns; and still more recently by Augusti Meyer, Billroth
and Ruckert. De Wette considers this the only possible meaning of the
words.
4. Epiphanius, a writer of the fourth century, in speaking of the
Marcionites, a sect of Christians to whom he was opposed, says: "In
this country--I mean Asia--and even Galatea, their school flourished
eminently; and a traditional fact concerning them has reached us, that
when any of them had died without baptism, they used to baptize others
in their name, lest in the resurrection they should suffer punishment
as unbaptized" (Heresies xxviii:7). This proves beyond controversy the
fact that vicarious baptism for the dead was practiced among some sects
of the early Christians. Another fact proves it still more emphatically
than this statement by Epiphanius. The Council of Carthages, held A. D.
397, in its sixth canon, forbids the {391} administration of baptism
and holy communion for the dead; why should this canon be formed
against these practices if they had no existence among the Christians
of those days?--The Gospel, page 246.
REVIEW.
1. What great work did Elijah's visit to the Kirtland Temple introduce?
2. What was the Christian belief previous to this in respect to those
who died without conversion to the Christian religion?
3. Through what cause did this error arise?
4. Explain the meaning of "Eternal" punishment--"Endless" punishment.
5. What scripture teaches that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison?
6. For what purpose was the gospel preached to those who once rejected
it?
7. If the gospel was preached again to those who once rejected it, what
may we conclude in respect to those who never heard it in this life?
8. By what means is the gospel made available to those who died without
a knowledge of it, or who hearing, rejected it?
9. Give an exposition of baptism for the dead. (Notes 3 and 4.)
10. What is the scriptural doctrine in relation to the future rewards
of men?
11. What is the orthodox Christian view in respect to those who attain
unto heaven?
12. In what does the Catholic view differ from that of the Protestant?
(Note, p. 414.)
13. What evidences in the scripture can you quote to prove that there
are different kingdoms or degrees of glory in heaven?
14. Say what you can of the celestial glory.
15. Describe as far as you can the terrestrial glory.
16. In what does the telestial glory differ from the terrestrial?
17. What class of people inherit the telestial glory?
18. What can you say of degrees within the three great kingdoms of
glory?
19. What can you say of progress within and from the different degrees
of glory?
20. What can you say of the sons of perdition and their punishment?
21. What is the nature of their sin?
22. What of the number of those who commit it?
{392}