assembly or congregational worship as are church buildings in general,
but for the administration of sacred ordinances. It is both interesting
and instructive to note that this characteristic applies alike to
heathen temples and to exclusive sanctuaries reared to the name of
the true and living God. In pagan temples of olden time, the altar of
sacrifice stood at the entrance; and though devotees thronged about the
altar, none but the officiating priests were admitted to the actual
shrine within the temple itself.
So also with the Tabernacle of the Congregation, which was a portable
sanctuary, constructed by the Israelites in their migration from Egypt;
and so with the imposing Temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel and Herod, in
each of which were spacious courts enclosed by outer walls, with altar
and other equipment, within which courts the people congregated; but
the sanctuary itself was a relatively small structure, reserved for the
most holy ordinances and ceremonial ministry. Similarly the Temples
erected and maintained by the Latter-day Saints are reserved for the
solemnizing of sacred ordinances, and are distinctively other than
meeting-houses used for public worship.
True to the Divine commission laid upon Israel, the Nephite colonists
erected a Temple on the Western Continent as early as 570 B. C., about
thirty years after their exodus from Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon
informs us that this structure was patterned after the Temple of
Solomon, though greatly inferior in size and splendor. (2 Nephi 5:16.)
The Latter-day Saints build Temples because they are commanded so to
do through the direct word of modern revelation; and in this divinely
imposed labor they recognize the purposes of God with respect to the
salvation and possible exaltation of mankind.
Through the Atonement wrought by Jesus Christ the eventual resurrection
of all who have lived and died is assured. This deliverance from the
power of death is an essential element of Redemption; and Christ is the
one and only Redeemer of the race.
By compliance with the prescribed terms as embodied in the Gospel,
men may be saved from the blighting effects of sin. This condition
constitutes Salvation; and since provision therefor is made effective
through the Atonement, Christ is the one and only Savior of the race.
Great and glorious as is the boon of Redemption from the grave, greater
and more glorious as are the conditions prescribed for the soul's
Salvation, the revealed Gospel of Jesus Christ provides yet more
transcendent blessings in the plan for Exaltation, whereby resurrected
man may advance from one stage of relative perfection to another, with
powers of eternal increase and never ending progression.
The laws and ordinances of the Gospel so far as required for
Salvation--specifically the individual exercise of saving faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, true repentance, submission to baptism by immersion
at the hands of one having authority, and to the higher baptism of the
Spirit by the authoritative imposition of hands for the bestowal of
the Holy Ghost--these requirements may be met and the saving effects
thereof secured by the living without Temples. But baptism for the
dead, as also the endowments incident to the Holy Priesthood with its
boundless possibilities of advancement, in short, administration of the
laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Christ requisite to Exaltation
in the eternal worlds, can be solemnized only in Temples erected and
dedicated for these holy purposes, for so the Lord hath declared. See
D&C 124:28-41.
As indicated above, Temples are not for the benefit of the living
alone. Existing Temples are maintained for the salvation and exaltation
of both living and dead; and the ordinances administered therein in
behalf of the dead outnumber many fold the administrations for the
living.
Vicarious service for the departed is peculiar to the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, and rightly so, for to this Church has
the commission for this high ministry been given. In the last chapter
of Malachi we find a vivid description of the condition of mankind in
the last days, and a prophecy of gladsome promise. On April 3, 1836,
in the first Temple erected in modern times, that at Kirtland, Ohio, a
glorious manifestation was given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery,
in the course of which Elijah ministered in person to the two modern
prophets, saying:
"Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of
Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great
and dreadful day of the Lord come, to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth
be smitten with a curse. Therefore the keys of this dispensation are
committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and
dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors." (D&C 110:14-16.)
The requirements of the Gospel are universally applicable, to bond and
free, to living and dead. In the plenitude of Divine mercy provision
is made whereby the myriads who have died without a knowledge of the
required conditions, or without opportunity of compliance therewith,
may be ministered for by their living posterity. Thus the departed
fathers, if they be repentant in the spirit world, may be made
partakers of the blessings provided through the Atonement of Christ.
"For for this cause was 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." (1 Peter 4:6.) [1]
Footnotes
1. See the author's "The House of the Lord," 333 pp., with
illustrations of modern Temples, _The Deseret News_, Salt Lake City,
Utah.
-- 86 --
THE SECOND DEATH
Spiritual Banishment Like Unto the First
IN the Revelation written by John, the second death is referred to
several times, and always as the dread fate of the ungodly or wilfully
wicked. Physical death is associated with sorrow; and the anguish of
bereavement is often so deep that only the assurances of immortality
and the certainty of a resurrection can effectively palliate or
relieve. The mere mention or thought of a second death is horrifying.
What is this frightful eventuality? And is it to be the lot of the many
or the few?
We have seen that a means of redemption is provided even for those who
are cast into hell; and that every soul shall be resurrected in due
time, whether he be righteous, or foul with sin. The second death,
therefore, whatever its nature or extent, is a feature of the final
judgment, at which each shall stand in his resurrected body of flesh
and bones to receive the sentence of honor or of shame.
We are without scriptural warrant for assuming that the second death
is another separation of body and spirit, or that the spirit shall
undergo dissolution and cease to be. The spirit of man is eternal;
and the resurrected body shall be everlasting. The soul knows not
annihilation, neither loss of personality in an impossible Nirvana.
You will be yourself and I myself throughout eternity, with quickened
senses, amplified powers of perception and vastly increased capacity
for happiness or suffering. Neither heaven nor hell can be gaged by the
yard-stick of human conception.
In what then does the second death consist? John wrote of an event
following the resurrection of the wicked and the pronouncement of
judgment: "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death." (Rev. 20:14.) The "lake of fire" as elsewhere
explained by the Revelator is the abode of Satan and those over whom he
has gained power. The second death therefore is final consignment to
the dominion of Satan, and, of necessity, banishment from the presence
of God and Christ.
The condition of death that Adam brought immediately upon himself
through disobedience was essentially a spiritual change, whereby he was
shut out from the presence of God; and this befell him in the very day
of his transgression, as he had been warned it would. Bodily death,
though an unescapable result, was nevertheless secondary, and was
deferred until Adam had reached the age of 930 years.
As eternal life consists in knowing God and His Son Jesus Christ (John
17:3; D&C 132:24), so eternal condemnation or spiritual death is
essentially banishment from the Divine presence, with corresponding
forfeiture of glory and power appertaining to exaltation. The word of
latter-day revelation, relating to Adam's spiritual death, and to the
final or as we call it, the second death, which is reserved for the
ungodly, runs as follows: "Wherefore I the Lord God caused that he
should be cast out from the Garden of Eden, from my presence, because
of his transgression, wherein he became spiritually dead, which is the
first death, even that same death, which is the last death, which is
spiritual, which shall be pronounced upon the wicked when I shall say,
Depart, ye cursed." (D&C 29:41.)
The Lamanite prophet, Samuel, had a clear understanding of the matter,
as thus expressed: "But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth
mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the
presence of the Lord. Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of
repentance, that whosoever repenteth, the same is not hewn and cast
into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not, is hewn down and cast into
the fire, and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a
second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to
righteousness." (Book of Mormon, Helaman 14:17-18.)
We are assured that all who win place and part in the first
resurrection--distinctively the resurrection of the just--shall
be exempt from the second death, and shall find their way open to
exaltation in the presence of God.
There is a place or condition of punishment even deeper than hell.
This is prepared for those who have sinned most grievously, who have
received the testimony of Christ and afterward wilfully and with
consciousness of what they were doing, have surrendered themselves to
the power and service of Satan. "They are they who are the sons of
perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have
been born. . . . These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire
and brimstone, with the devil and his angels, and the only ones on whom
the second death shall have any power." (D&C 76:32-37.)
-- 87 --
ANTIQUITY OF THE GOSPEL
As Old as Adam
THE old Anglo-Saxon words "god" and "spel," from which our Anglicized
term Gospel is a lineal descendant, signified in combination "the good
news of God." In a theological sense, and indeed according to common
usage, "The Gospel" is thus defined: "Good news or tidings, especially
the announcement of the salvation of men through the atoning death of
Jesus Christ." (Stand. Dict.)
It is noteworthy that the word does not occur in the Old Testament,
which is usually regarded as the record, in part, of the Semitic
peoples, and of God's dealings with them through the medium of the
Mosaic Law. The definite distinction between this Law and the Gospel of
Jesus Christ is strikingly illustrated by the segregation of the Holy
Bible into Old and New Testaments.
The teachings of Christ and later those of the Apostles emphasized
the superiority of the Gospel over the Law, which latter was likened
by Paul to a schoolmaster whose function was to discipline, train and
instruct, in preparation for the greater revelation of the Gospel. See
Gal. 3:23-29. These and other kindred facts have led to the erroneous
assumption that the Gospel was first revealed to mankind when Christ
came in the flesh.
Nevertheless, the Gospel, comprising not alone precepts but the
accompanying authority of the Holy Priesthood to administer ordinances,
was preached to men in the earliest period of human history. The
necessity of (1) faith in the then unembodied but chosen and ordained
Savior of mankind, (2) the indispensability of repentance as a means
leading to remission of sins, (3) the Divine requirement of baptism by
immersion in water, and (4) spiritual baptism through the power of the
Holy Ghost--which constitute the fundamental principles and ordinances
of the Gospel--was preached and administered to Adam, the patriarch of
the race, and by him to his posterity. Through a revelation to Moses
this is recorded of Adam, following the Fall:
"And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam
saying . . . Thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son,
and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son for
evermore. And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth
record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the
Father from the beginning, henceforth and for ever, that as thou hast
fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will."
(Pearl of Great Price, p. 20.)
As wickedness increased among men "God cursed the earth with a sore
curse and was angry with the wicked, with all the sons of men whom He
had made. For they would not hearken unto His voice, nor believe on
His Only Begotten Son, even Him whom He declared should come in the
meridian of time, who was prepared from before the foundation of the
world. And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning,
being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and
by His own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost." (p. 26.)
The prophet Enoch testified further: "But God hath made known unto our
fathers that all men must repent. And He called upon our father Adam
by His own voice, saying: . . . If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken
unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and
be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son,
who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name
which shall be given under heaven whereby salvation shall come unto the
children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (p. 33).
Enoch taught the same Gospel and administered baptism to repentant
believers, and Noah, duly ordained, labored in similar ministry: "And
it came to pass that Noah continued his preaching unto the people,
saying: Hearken, and give heed unto my words. Believe and repent of
your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
even as our fathers, and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost, that ye may
have all things made manifest; and if ye do not this, the floods will
come in upon you; nevertheless they hearkened not." (p. 48).
So, from Adam to the Deluge, which came because of the unbelief and
apostasy of the race, the ordinances of the Gospel were known and
administered. Reverting to Biblical Scripture we read that the Gospel
was preached unto Abraham, with the assurance that all who would abide
therein should be accounted as Abraham's children. See Gal. 3:6-18.
Through the prophet Joseph Smith a fuller account of Jehovah's promise
to Abraham is given us, the Lord saying: "I will bless them through
thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy
name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless
thee, as their father"; and the particularity of the blessing wherein
all families of the earth might share through the lineage of Abraham
was to be "the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of
salvation, even of life eternal." (Pearl of Great Price, p. 58).
As Abraham's posterity became sinful, the lesser law, which when
codified came to be known as the Law of Moses, was prescribed instead
of the Gospel, which had been preached aforetime and which was later
taught by the Lord Jesus Christ. Following the apostolic administration
apostasy again darkened the world; and now, in the current or last
dispensation, the Gospel has been restored anew with all its ancient
authority, power, and blessings. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints proclaims these glad tidings to the world. This
Gospel is new only in the fact of its restoration to earth according
to prophecy. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which was preached to
and by Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and a host of other men of God who
ministered anciently; it is the Gospel that was taught by the Savior
Himself and by His Apostles; it is the Eternal Gospel brought again to
earth in preparation for the advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.
-- 88 --
THE ORIGIN OF SACRIFICE
Coeval with the Race
THAT the offering of material things as sacrifices to Deity dates from
Adamic days is attested in Genesis 4:3-5, wherein we read that both
Cain and Abel made offerings unto the Lord. The Biblical record shows
that the practise continued to and beyond the Deluge, and throughout
the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations among the Semitic peoples, who
were distinguished as Jehovah worshipers. Non-scriptural history is no
less definite in making the sacrifice of animals an essential feature
of pagan ceremonial, even in the earliest times of which we have
account. That Noah, Abraham, Jacob and other patriarchs and prophets
builded altars and sacrificed thereon is admitted by all to whom the
Holy Bible is authentic; and the Mosaic code regulated the ordinance of
sacrifice while silent as to its origin or even its establishment in
Israel.
That pagan sacrifices were originally in imitation of the Semitic
practise is highly probable, though both may have been derived from
a common and, as generally regarded, a prehistoric pattern. This
conception is no whit weakened by the corruptions and abominations
incident to heathen idolatry, which reached the extreme of atrocity
in the immolation of human victims on the altars of defilement and
sacrilege; for, without the directing and restraining power of
Divine revelation, unauthorized innovations and unholy extremes were
inevitable.
Israelitish sacrifices may be conveniently classified as bloody and
bloodless, the former comprising all offerings involving the ceremonial
slaughter of animals, and the latter consisting in the offering of
vegetables or their manufactured products. The bloody sacrifices were
early associated with the idea of expiation, or propitiation for
sin, the offerer, whether an individual or the community as a whole,
acknowledging guilt and craving propitiation through the death of the
animal made to serve as proxy for the human offender.
The animal victim intended for sacrificial death had to be chosen in
accordance with specific requirements. Thus, it was to be of the class
designated as clean, and within this class only domestic cattle and
sheep and certain birds--pigeons and turtle-doves--were acceptable.
Furthermore, it was essential that the selected animal be without
physical defect or blemish; and thus all that were deformed, maimed
or diseased were absolutely excluded. Physical defects were held as
typical of spiritual blemish, or sin; and "God cannot look upon sin
with the least degree of allowance."
These requirements of relative perfection on the part of the victim
were in accord with the fact that the slaughter of animals as a
priestly rite by Divine direction was in pre-figurement of the then
future sacrifice of the Christ Himself, whose atoning death would mark
the consummation of His ministry in mortality. While the animal victims
slain on Israel's altars figuratively bore the sins of the people, who
by their observance of the sacrificial rite sought propitiation for
their offenses, or reconciliation with God, from whom they had become
estranged through transgression, Jesus Christ actually bore the burden
of sin and provided a way for a literal reconciliation of sinful man to
God. The principal sacrifice in the Mosaic dispensation was that of the
Passover; and the superseding of the type by the actual is forcefully
expressed by Paul: "For even Christ our pass-over is sacrificed for
us." (1 Cor. 5:7.)
Theologians, Bible scholars generally, and ethnologists as well,
admit the absence of all record both in the Bible and in profane
history concerning the origin of sacrifice. The writer of the article
"Sacrifice" in one of our Bible Dictionaries (Cassell's), which article
is in line with other learned commentaries, says, following an array of
facts: "On these and other accounts it has been judiciously inferred
that sacrifice formed an element in the primeval worship of man; and
that its universality is not merely an indirect argument for the
unity of the human race, but an illustration and confirmation of the
first inspired pages of the world's history. The notion of sacrifice
can hardly be viewed as a product of unassisted human nature, and
must therefore be traced to a higher source and viewed as a Divine
revelation to primitive man."
That "Divine revelation to primitive man" is now before the world;
and the much-talked-of historical difficulty as to the origin of
sacrificial rites is definitely solved by revelation from God to man in
the current age, whereby parts of the ancient Scriptures not contained
in the Bible have been restored to human knowledge. As the natural and
inevitable consequence of his transgression, Adam forfeited the high
privilege of holding direct and personal association with God. In his
fallen state the man was commanded by the voice of the Lord to offer in
sacrifice the firstlings of his flocks.
"And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying:
Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I
know not, save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying:
This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of
the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do
all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and
call upon God in the name of the Son for evermore." (Pearl of Great
Price, p.20.)
This, then, was the origin of the sacrificial ordinance on earth. Its
purport as the prototype of the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to be effected approximately four millenniums later, was revealed to
Adam, who, through obedience, attained salvation. With the Savior's
sacrificial death the significance of animal sacrifices was superseded
as part of the Israelitish ritual. The law of sacrifice is still
operative however; and the acceptable offering is thus specified in the
present age: "Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in
righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit." (D&C
59:8.)
-- 89 --
SIMPLICITY OF THE GOSPEL
None Need Err Therein
SALVATION of the soul consists essentially in the attainment of a state
of blessedness beyond the grave, and therefore comprises immunity from
the penalties incident to condemnation. Both salvation and condemnation
involve graded conditions, or degrees, every soul receiving according
to his just deserts, based on his works done in the flesh, be they good
or evil.
Our individual status in the hereafter, both during the period of
disembodiment and in the resurrection from bodily death, will be
determined by the record of our earthly life, which will be fully
declared by what we actually are. In the judgment of souls conflict of
testimony or evidence will be impossible. Every fact bearing upon our
condition of worthiness or guilt, of cleanliness through righteousness
or defilement through sin, will be known.
To each of these asseverations the Holy Scriptures of both former and
current time bear abundant and unequivocal testimony. The same high and
unimpeachable authority, embodying the very words of Divine decree,
declares that only by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ is salvation in the Kingdom of God possible unto
man.
Consider the fundamental rite, which is baptism. The words of the
Christ to the timid but truth-seeking rabbi of Jerusalem are as free
from ambiguity as language makes possible: "Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God." (John 3:5.)