declaration--and not only saved, but glorified, if they will repent.
The glorified planets are God's kingdoms, and "all kingdoms have a law
given"--celestial, terrestrial or telestial. Whosoever inherits any of
these kingdoms, must abide the law pertaining to that kingdom. If he
cannot abide "the Law of Christ," he must inherit a glory other than
the celestial--even a terrestrial or a telestial glory. If he cannot
abide a telestial law, he is "not meet for a kingdom of glory;" and if
he willeth to abide in sin, and altogether abideth in sin, then must he
"remain filthy still." [9]
Sons of Perdition.--One class alone remains outside salvation's pale,
permanently condemned--they who commit the unpardonable sin, the sin
against the Holy Ghost. For them there is no forgiveness. But one
must receive the Holy Ghost before he can sin against it, must have
knowledge and power sufficient to entitle him to celestial exaltation;
and then prove utterly recreant to the great light that has come to
him. Such a sin can be committed only by men equipped with every
qualification for the highest degree of eternal glory. It is an offense
so heinous that the sinner cannot repent. This is what makes his case
hopeless; salvation being predicated upon repentance. If he could
repent, he could be forgiven; but being unable to repent, incapable of
reformation, he cannot be reached by the pardoning power.
They who commit the sin unpardonable are as first-cabin passengers who,
in the full enjoyment of every privilege and advantage pertaining to
that highly favored condition, wilfully throw all away, and recklessly
fling themselves overboard, to go down in unfathomable depths. Sons of
Perdition, these--"the only ones on whom the second death shall have
any power"--"the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time
of the Lord." They "deny the Son, after the Father has revealed him.
Wherefore, he saves all except them." [10]
Desires As Well as Deeds a Basis of Judgment.--But the final word was
not yet spoken. At a date subsequent to that upon which Joseph and
Sidney received this wonderful manifestation, the heavens were again
opened to the Prophet, and he beheld the glory--the transcendent glory
of the Celestial Kingdom, [11] He saw that little children, those "who
die before they arrive at the years of accountability," are saved in
that kingdom. He also saw his brother Alvin--a good and worthy man,
but one who had not been baptized, he having died before the Gospel
came--saw him in celestial glory! Joseph marveled at the sight,
wondering how Alvin could have risen to so exalted a plane. Then came
the voice of the Lord to him, saying: "All who have died without a
knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been
permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;
also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would
have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;
for I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according
to the desire of their hearts." [12]
Mormonism's Magnanimity.--And yet "Mormonism" is said to be narrow,
small and illiberal. Narrow, forsooth! Then where will you find
breadth? Where find justice, mercy, magnanimity, if not in a religion
that saves the living, redeems the dead, rescues the damned, and
glorifies all who repent? "Mormonism" a small thing? It's the biggest
thing in the universe! It is the Everlasting Gospel, the mighty
soul-ship of the dispensations, launched in the days of Adam upon the
heaving ocean of the ages, and now on its last voyage over the stormy
billows of Time to the beaconing coast of Eternity.
Footnotes
1. Hades or Hell, Canto 4, lines 29-39.
2. Rev. 20:12.
3. I Peter 4:6.
4. John 14:2.
5. Vision of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, D. & C. 76:50-70. See also
131:1. Compare 1 Cor. 15:40-42.
6. D. & C. 76:72-79.
7. D. & C. 76:84-88.
8. D. & C. 76:110-112.
9. Ib. 88:21-40.
10. D. & C. 76:31-44.
11. February 16th, 1832, was the date of Joseph and Sidney's vision;
January 21st, 1836 the date of the other manifestation.
12. Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, p. 380. Compare Alma 29:4,5.
We are not to infer that Alvin Smith or anyone else could inherit
celestial glory, without receiving the fulness of the Gospel. It was a
prophetic vision, showing what would be when Alvin had done his part,
and the part that he could not do had been done for him. The same
vision showed the parents of the Prophet--Joseph and Lucy Smith--in
celestial glory; and yet at that time they were still alive on earth.
We are not to infer that Alvin Smith or anyone else could inherit
celestial glory, without receiving the fulness of the Gospel. It was a
prophetic vision, showing what would be when Alvin had done his part,
and the part that he could not do had been done for him. The same
vision showed the parents of the Prophet--Joseph and Lucy Smith--in
celestial glory; and yet at that time they were still alive on earth.
End of Project Gutenberg's Saturday Night Thoughts, by Orson F. Whitney