_SALVATION_
_Universal Salvation_--Salvation is the full existence of man, of
the angels, and the Gods; it is eternal life--the life which was, which
is, and which is to come. And we, as human beings, are heirs to all
this life, if we apply ourselves strictly to obey the requirements of
the law of God, and continue in faithfulness. 12:111.
The economy of heaven is to gather in all, and save everybody who can
be saved. 11:262.
People should understand that there is no man born upon the face of the
earth but what can be saved in the Kingdom of God, if he is disposed to
be. 8:160.
I have heard a great many sermons, prayers and exhortations for people
to go and get religion and have their names written in the "Lamb's Book
of Life." I want to inform the whole world, all the sons and daughters
of Adam, that their names are written there, and there they will remain
to all eternity unless they by their evil acts blot them out. 13:149.
There never was any person over-saved; all who have been saved, and
that ever will be in the future, are only just saved, and then it is
not without a struggle to overcome, that calls into exercise every
energy of the soul. 2:132.
All that have lived or will live on this earth will have the privilege
of receiving the Gospel. They will have Apostles, Prophets, and
ministers there, as we have here, to guide them in the ways of truth
and righteousness, and lead them back to God. All will have a chance
for salvation and eternal life. 6:149. {593}
If our faith is one, and we are united to gain one grand object, and I,
as an individual, can possibly get into the celestial kingdom, you and
every other person, by the same rule, can also enter there. 2:132.
How many shall be preserved? All who do not deny and defy the power and
character of the Son of God--all who do not sin against the Holy Ghost.
6:292.
The heathen nations that now exist and that have existed on the
earth will all be blessed, will see the time when they will have the
privilege of receiving the blessings of the covenant established on the
earth by the Son of God, and through it will be brought into glory and
rest. 8:83.
The names of every son and daughter of Adam are already written in the
Lamb's Book of Life. Is there ever a time when they will be taken out
of it? Yes, when they become sons of perdition, and not till then.
Every person has the privilege of retaining it there for ever and ever.
If they neglect that privilege, then their names will be erased, and
not till then. All the names of the human family are written there,
and the Lord will hold them there until they come to the knowledge of
the truth, that they can rebel against him, and can sin against the
Holy Ghost; then they will be thrust down to hell, and their names be
blotted out from the Lamb's Book of Life. 6:297.
Now, the inquiry on our minds is, are all the world going to share in
these blessings? Yes, all the world. Are there none going to be lost?
Are there none going to suffer the wrath of the Almighty? I can say,
in the first place, as I have said all my life, where I have been
preaching, I never had the spirit to preach hell and damnation to the
people. I have tried a great many times--I tried last Sabbath, and I
have tried today to come to that point--the sufferings of {594} the
wicked. They will suffer, it seems; but I cannot get my heart upon
anything else, only salvation for the people. All nations are going to
share in these blessings; all are incorporated in the redemption of the
Savior. He has tasted death for every man; they are all in his power,
and he saves them all, as he says, except the sons of perdition; and
the Father has put all the creations upon this earth in his power. The
earth itself, and mankind upon it, the brute beasts, the fish of the
sea, and the fowls of heaven, the insects, and every creeping thing,
with all things pertaining to this earthly ball,--all are in the hands
of the Savior, and he has redeemed them all. 6:296-297.
Where God and Christ dwell, that is a kingdom of itself--the celestial
kingdom. 7:288.
How many Gods there are, and how many places there are in their
kindgoms, is not for me to say; but I can say this, which is a source
of much comfort, consolation, and gratification to me: Behold the
goodness, the long-suffering, the kindness, and the strong parental
feeling of our Father and God in preparing the way and providing
the means to save the children of men--not alone the Latter-day
Saints--not alone those who have the privilege of the first principles
of the celestial law, but to save all. It is a universal salvation--a
universal redemption. 8:35.
It will be a pleasure to know that we have saved all the Father gave
into our power. Jesus said that he lost none except the sons of
perdition. He will lose none of his brethren, except sons of perdition.
Let us save all the Father puts in our power. 9:124.
All heaven is anxious that the people should be saved. The heavens weep
over the people, because of their {595} hardheartedness, unbelief, and
slowness to believe and act. 4:196.
Our religion is adapted to the capacity of the whole human family. It
does not send a portion of the people to howl in torment for ever and
ever, but it reaches after the last son and daughter of Adam and Eve,
and will pluck them from the prison, unlock the doors, and burst the
bonds and bring forth every soul who will receive salvation. 12:309.
The salvation that Jesus has purchased will reach the whole human
family and save, in a kingdom or in some place where they will enjoy
to the extent of their capacity, those who reject not the Gospel and
despise not the Savior. 14:133.
There is a chance for those who have lived and for those who now
live. The Gospel has come. Truth and light and righteousness are sent
forth into the world, and those who receive them will be saved in the
celestial kingdom of God. And many of those who, through ignorance,
through tradition, superstition, and the erroneous precepts of the
fathers, do not receive them, will yet inherit a good and glorious
kingdom, and will enjoy more and receive more than ever entered into
the heart of man to conceive, unless he has had a revelation. 8:36.
_The Way to Salvation_--You will be no more perfect in your
sphere, when you are exalted to thrones, principalities, and powers,
than you are required to be and are capable of being in your sphere
today. 6:99.
No man will be saved and come into the presence of the Father, only
through the Gospel of Jesus Christ--the same for one as the other. The
Lord has his cause, his ways, his work; he will finish it up. Jesus is
laboring with his might {596} to sanctify and redeem the earth and to
bring back his brethren and sisters into the presence of the Father. We
are laboring with him for the purification of the whole human family,
that we and they may be prepared to dwell with God in his Kingdom.
13:150.
No matter what the outward appearance is--if I can know of a truth that
the hearts of the people are fully set to do the will of their Father
in Heaven, though they may falter and do a great many things through
the weaknesses of human nature, yet they will be-saved. 5:256.
And if we accept salvation on the terms it is offered to us, we
have got to be honest in every thought, in our reflections, in our
meditations, in our private circles, in our deal, in our declarations,
and in every act of our lives, fearless and regardless of every
principle of error, of every principle of falsehood that may be
presented. 5:124.
To look for salvation fifty years hence and do nothing for salvation
at the present time is preposterous. God has placed the means of
salvation within our reach, and the volition of the creature is at his
own disposal. When his sons and daughters avail themselves of the means
he has supplied for their salvation, doing good for themselves, it is
gratifying to him. 10:221.
Salvation an Individual Work--Though our interest is one as a people,
yet remember, salvation is an individual work; it is every person for
himself. I mean more by this than I have time to tell you in full, but
I will give you a hint. There are those in this Church who calculate
to be saved by the righteousness of others. They will miss their
mark. They are those who will arrive just as the gate is shut, so in
that case you may be shut out; then you will call upon some one, who,
by their own faithfulness, through the {597} mercy of Jesus Christ,
have entered in through the celestial gate, to come and open it for
you; but to do this is not their province. Such will be the fate of
those persons who vainly hope to be saved upon the righteousness and
through the influence of Brother Somebody. I forewarn you therefore to
cultivate righteousness and faithfulness in yourselves, which is the
only passport into celestial happiness. 2:132.
If Brother Brigham shall take a wrong track, and be shut out of the
Kingdom of heaven, no person will be to blame but Brother Brigham. I am
the only being in heaven, earth, or hell, that can be blamed.
This will equally apply to every Latter-day Saint. Salvation is an
individual operation. I am the only person that can possibly save
myself. When salvation is sent to me, I can reject or receive it. In
receiving it, I yield implicit obedience and submission to its great
Author throughout my life, and to those whom he shall appoint to
instruct me; in rejecting it, I follow the dictates of my own will
in preference to the will of my Creator. There are those among this
people who are influenced, controlled, and biased in their thoughts,
actions, and feelings by some other individual or family, on whom they
place their dependence for spiritual and temporal instruction, and for
salvation in the end. These persons do not depend upon themselves for
salvation, but upon another of their poor, weak, fellow mortals. 1:312.
_Many Degrees of Salvation_--When God revealed to Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon that there was a place prepared for all, according to
the light they had received and their rejection of evil and practice
of good, it was a great trial to many, and some apostatized because
God was {598} not going to send to everlasting punishment heathens and
infants, but had a place of salvation, in due time, for all, and would
bless the honest and virtuous and truthful, whether they ever belonged
to any church or not. It was a new doctrine to this generation, and
many stumbled at it. 16:42.
These words set forth the fact to which Jesus referred when he said,
"In my Father's house are many mansions." How many I am not prepared
to say; but here are three distinctly spoken of: the celestial, the
highest; the terrestrial, the next below it; and the telestial, the
third. If we were to take the pains to read what the Lord has said to
his people in the latter days we should find that he has made provision
for all the inhabitants of the earth; every creature who desires, and
who strives in the least, to overcome evil and subdue iniquity within
himself or herself, and to live worthy of a glory, will possess one. We
who have received the fulness of the Gospel of the Son of God, or the
Kingdom of heaven that has come to earth, are in possession of those
laws, ordinances, commandments and revelations that will prepare us,
by strict obedience, to inherit the celestial kingdom, to go into the
presence of the Father and the Son. 14:148.
There are millions and millions of kingdoms that the people have no
conception of. The Christians of the day have no knowledge of God, of
godliness, of eternity, of the worlds that are, and that have been, and
that are coming forth. There are myriads of people pertaining to this
earth who will come up and receive a glory according to their capacity.
6:347.
Is it not a glorious thought that there are kingdoms, mansions of
glory and comfortable habitations prepared for {599} all the sons and
daughters of Adam, except the sons of perdition? All will not have part
in the first resurrection, and perhaps many will not appear in the
second; but all will be resurrected, and, except the sons of perdition,
enter kingdoms, the least of which I presume is more glorious than ever
John Wesley saw in vision. 8:196-197.
_Exaltation Proportioned to Capacity_---The man or woman who lives
worthily is now in a state of salvation. 1:6.
Is every man and woman capable of receiving the highest glory of God?
No. 9:104.
Are all spirits endowed alike? No, not by any means. Will all be equal
in the celestial kingdoms? No. Some spirits are more noble than others;
some are capable of receiving more than others. There is the same
variety in the spirit world that you behold here, yet they are of the
same parentage, of one Father, one God. 4:268.
Some are not capable of the same exaltation as are others, arising
from the difference in the conduct and capacities of people. There is
also a difference in the spirit world. It is the design, the wish, the
will, and mind of the Lord that the inhabitants of the earth should be
exalted to thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, according to
their capacities. In their exaltation, one may be capable of presiding
over ten cities, while another may not be capable of presiding over
more than five, another over only two, and another over but one. They
must all first be subjected to sin and to the calamities of mortal
flesh, in order to prove themselves worthy; then the Gospel is ready
to take hold of them and bring them up, unite them, enlighten their
understandings, and make them one in the Lord Jesus, that their
faith, prayers, hopes, affections, and all their desires may ever be
concentrated in one. 6:97. {600}
_The Celestial Kingdom_--The celestial is the highest of all.
The telestial and terrestrial are also spoken of; and how many more
kingdoms of glory there are, is not for me to say. I do not know that
they are not innumerable. This is a source of great joy to me. 8:35.
The Kingdom that this people are in pertains to the celestial kingdom;
it is a Kingdom in which we can prepare to go into the presence of the
Father and the Son. 8:197.
The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom,
will find that they must battle every day. 11:14.
As for a person being saved in the celestial kingdom of God without
being prepared to dwell in a pure and holy place, it is all nonsense
and ridiculous; and if there be any who think they can gain the
presence of the Father and the Son by fighting for, instead of living,
their religion, they will be mistaken, consequently the quicker we make
up our minds to live our religion the better it will be for us. 14:157.
Who can define the divinity of man? Only those who understand the
true principles of eternity--the principles that pertain to life and
salvation. Man, by being exalted, does not lose the power and ability
naturally given to him; but, on the contrary, by taking the road that
leads to life, he gains more power, more influence and ability during
every step he progresses therein. 7:274.
Our spirits, thousands of years ago, were first begotten; and at the
consummation of all things, when the Savior has finished his work
and presented it to the Father, he will be crowned. None of you will
receive your crowns of glory, immortality, and eternal lives before he
receives his. He will be crowned first, and then we shall be crowned,
{601} every one in his order; for the work is finished, and the Spirit
is complete in its organization with the tabernacle. The world is the
first to be redeemed, and the people last to be crowned upon it. 6:282. {602}