_ETERNAL JUDGMENT_
_Judgment According to Works_--This is a subject I have reflected
upon a great deal, and I have come to the conclusion that we shall be
judged according to the deeds done in the body and according to the
thoughts and intents of the heart. 14:99.
There are none ticketed for the pit, unless they fill up that ticket
themselves through their own misconduct. 4:268.
I do know that the trying day will soon come to you and to me; and ere
long we will have to lay down these tabernacles and go into the spirit
world. And I do know that as we lie down, so judgment will find us, and
that is scriptural; "as the tree falls so it shall lie," or in other
words, as death leaves us so judgment will find us. 4:52.
The sectarian doctrine of final rewards and punishments is as strange
to me as their bodyless, partless, and passionless God. Every man
will receive according to the deeds done in the body, whether they be
good or bad. All men, excepting those who sin against the Holy Ghost,
who shed innocent blood or who consent thereto, will be saved in some
kingdom; for in my Father's house, says Jesus, are many mansions.
11:125.
How many kingdoms there are has not been told to us; they are
innumerable. The disciples of Jesus were to dwell with him. Where will
the rest go? Into kingdoms prepared for them, where they will live and
endure. Jesus will bring forth, by his own redemption, every son and
daughter of Adam, except the sons of perdition, who will be cast into
hell. Others will suffer the wrath of God--will suffer {585} all the
Lord can demand at their hands, or justice can require of them; and
when they have suffered the wrath of God till the utmost farthing is
paid, they will be brought out of prison. Is this dangerous doctrine to
preach? Some consider it dangerous; but it is true that every person
who does not sin away the day of grace, and become an angel to the
Devil, will be brought forth to inherit a kingdom of glory. 8:154.
How many glories and kingdoms will there be in eternity? You will see
the same variety in eternity as you see in the world. 6:293.
We read in the Bible, that there is one glory of the sun, another
glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. In the book
of Doctrine and Covenants, these glories are called telestial,
terrestrial, and celestial, which is the highest. These are worlds,
different departments, or mansions, in our Father's house. Now those
men, or those women, who know no more about the power of God, and the
influences of the Holy Spirit, than to be led entirely by another
person, suspending their own understanding, and pinning their faith
upon another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the
celestial glory, to be crowned as they anticipate; they will never be
capable of becoming Gods. They cannot rule themselves, to say nothing
of ruling others, but they must be dictated to in every trifle, like a
child. They cannot control themselves in the least, but James, Peter,
or somebody else must control them. They never can become Gods, nor
be crowned as rulers with glory, immortality, and eternal lives. They
never can hold sceptres of glory, majesty, and power in the celestial
kingdom. Who will? Those who are valiant and inspired with the true
independence of heaven, who will go forth boldly {586} in the service
of their God, leaving others to do as they please, determined to do
right, though all mankind besides should take the opposite course.
1:312.
More will prove faithful than will apostatize. A certain class of this
people will go into the celestial kingdom, while others cannot enter
there, because they cannot abide a celestial law; but they will attain
to as good a kingdom as they desire and live for. 8:39.
The punishment of God is God-like. It endures forever, because there
never will be a time when people ought not to be damned, and there must
always be a hell to send them to. How long the damned remain in hell,
I know not, nor what degree of suffering they endure. If we could by
any means compute how much wickedness they are guilty of, it might be
possible to ascertain the amount of suffering they will receive. They
will receive according as their deeds have been while in the body.
God's punishment is eternal, but that does not prove that a wicked
person will remain eternally in a state of punishment. 9:147.
You hear some of them preach and teach that which I never taught; you
hear them preach people into hell. Such doctrine never entered into my
heart; but you hear others preach, that people will go there to dwell
throughout the endless ages of eternity. Such persons know no more
about eternity, and are no more capable of instructing others upon the
subject, than a little child. 1:352.
But when the light of the knowledge of God comes to a man, and he
rejects it, that is his condemnation. 2:140.
All who believe, have honest hearts, and bring forth fruits of
righteousness, are the elect of God and heirs to all things. All who
refuse to obey the holy commandments of the Lord and the ordinances of
his house will be judged out {587} of their own mouths, will condemn
themselves as they do now, will be accounted unworthy and will have no
part or lot with the righteous. 8:83.
"Well," says one, "if I am pretty sure to get a state of glory better
than this, I guess I will not take the trouble to inherit anything
more." Well, run the risk of it, every man on the earth has the
privilege. The Gospel is preached, sin revives, some die and some
contend against it--some receive it and some do not; but this is the
sin of the people--truth is told them and they reject it. This is the
sin of the world. "Light has come into the world, but men love darkness
rather than light, because their deeds are evil." So said Jesus in his
day. We say, here is the Gospel of life and salvation, and everyone
that will receive it, glory, honor, immortality and eternal life are
theirs; if they reject it, they take their chance. 15:128.
_Honesty in Action Will Temper Judgment_--A man or woman must know
the ways of God before they can become ungodly. Persons may be sinners,
may be unrighteous, may be wicked, who have never heard the plan of
salvation, who are even unacquainted with the history of the Son of
Man, or who have heard of the name of the Savior, and, perhaps, the
history of his life while on the earth, but have been taught unbelief
through their tradition and education; but to be ungodly, in the strict
sense of the word, they must measurably understand godliness. 4:58.
Don't cast them down to hell for their honest belief. 2:140.
If you do evil ignorantly and in good faith, I promise you it shall
result in good. 7:139.
It has appeared to me, from my childhood to this day, as a piece of
complete nonsense, to talk about the inhabitants {588} of the earth
being thus irretrievably lost--to talk of my father and mother, and
yours, or our ancestors, who have lived faithfully according to the
best light they had; but because they had not the everlasting covenant
and the holy Priesthood in their midst, that they should go to hell and
roast there to all eternity. It is nonsense to me; it always was, and
is yet. 6:291.
So far as morality is concerned, millions of the inhabitants of the
earth live according to the best light they have--according to the
best knowledge they possess. I have told you frequently that they will
receive according to their works; and all, who live according to the
best principles in their possession, or that they can understand, will
receive peace, glory, comfort, joy and a crown that will be far beyond
what they are anticipating. They will not be lost. 6:332.
I say to every priest on the face of the earth, I do not care whether
they be Christian, Pagan or Mohammedan, you should live according to
the best light you have; and if you do you will receive all the glory
you ever anticipated. We should not be prejudiced against you in the
least; even if you are against us and declare falsehoods about us we
should not retaliate. But how prone we are to rebuke if we are rebuked,
or if we receive a sharp word to return one. The Latter-day Saints have
to overcome this; and the world may cry out and say all manner of evil
against us, but, my brethren and sisters, let us so live that it will
be said falsely. 14:151.
The very heathen we were talking about; if they have a law, no matter
who made it, and do the best they know how, they will have a glory
which is beyond your imagination, by any description I might give; you
cannot conceive {589} of the least portion of the glory of God prepared
for his beings, the workmanship of his hands. 3:93.
None will become angels to the Devil except those who have sinned
against the Holy Ghost. 11:271.
_Hell Defined_--Any person knowing and understanding the
Scriptures as they are, and understanding the mind and will of God,
can understand at once that when he is shut out from the presence of
the Lord, when he does not hear his voice, sees not his face, receives
not the ministering of his angels or ministering spirits, and has no
messenger from the heavens to visit him, he must surely be in hell.
2:137.
Were the wicked, in their sins, under the necessity of walking into the
presence of the Father and Son, hand-in-hand with those who believe
that all will be saved--that Jesus will leave none, their condition
would be more excruciating and unendurable than to dwell in the lake
that burns with fire and brimstone. The fatalist's doctrine consigns
to hell the infant not a span long, while the adulterer, whoremonger,
thief, liar, false swearer, murderer, and every other abominable
character, if they but repent on the gallows or their death-beds, are,
by the same doctrine, forced into the presence of the Father and the
Son, which, could they enter there, would be a hell to them. 8:153-4.
There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their
God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ
will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the
judgments of the Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and
woman will have to atone for breaking their covenants. To what degree?
Will they have to go to hell? They are in hell enough now. I do not
wish them in a greater hell, {590} when their consciences condemn them
all the time. Let compassion reign in our bosoms. Try to comprehend how
weak we are, how we are organized, how the spirit and the flesh are
continually at war. 3:247.
Will I prophesy evil? No. Let us prophesy good. But the justice and
mercy of God must have their demands. 8:195.
_The Second Death_--What is that we call death, compared to the
agonies of the second death? If people could see it, as Joseph and
Sidney saw it, they would pray that the vision be closed up; for they
could not endure the sight. Neither could they endure the sight of the
Father and the Son in their glory, for it would consume them. 18:217.
It is a curious idea, but one in favor of which there is much
testimony, that when people take the downward road, one that is
calculated to destroy them, they will actually in every sense of the
word be destroyed. Will they be what is termed annihilated? No, there
is no such thing as annihilation, for you cannot destroy the elements
of which things are made. 2:302.
None will be lost or turned away except those who sin against the Holy
Ghost. 16:32.
_Measure of Human Judgment_--Every man and woman has got to have
clean hands and a pure heart, to execute judgment, else they had better
let the matter alone. 3:247.
I have a certain knowledge within me that the Elders of Israel will
never be permitted to lay judgment to the line and righteousness to the
plummet, with regard to the wicked and ungodly, until they understand
righteous principles, and live to them. 7:46.
You may judge of the truth you hear today and of that which you will
hear in times to come; for we shall be judges {591} of ourselves as
well as of our enemies, and we shall also judge angels. 5:258.
When the judgment is given to the Saints, it will be because of their
righteousness, because they will judge even as the angels and as the
Gods, and not as the wicked do. 19:7. {592}