I will read a portion of the 3rd chapter of St. John—
"There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews:
The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know
that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he
enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, 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.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and
knowest not these things?
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify
that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye
believe if I tell you of heavenly things?"
In listening this morning to the remarks of Elder Schonfeldt, on the
everlasting Gospel as preached by the Elders of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, he stated in substance that none could
receive salvation outside this Church, and outside the Priesthood
which God had restored to the Church. He did not explain—had not time,
probably, or his mind was carried away on some other points, how, or
why it is that salvation can only be obtained in the way that God, our
heavenly Father, has prescribed. Many, doubtless, who listen to the
Elders of this Church, when speaking upon the principles of life and
salvation, have come to the conclusion, when they have not thoroughly
understood the principles and the system as they are set forth, that
we are an exceedingly exclusive and uncharitable people for believing
that only a very few out of the large mass of human beings who have
peopled the earth will be saved, while the great majority—those who
are outside the pale of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints—will go down to an endless hell.
The reason, probably, that these ideas are entertained by many who
have heard our Elders preach, is because they have drawn deductions
from the preaching they have heard, imagining that our views of the
sayings of the Scriptures corresponded with theirs, and that it
necessarily followed that all who failed to render obedience
to the ordinances of the Gospel, as we preach them, would go down to
that endless hell in which so many of the sects believe. But any
person entertaining such ideas does us, or rather the Gospel that we
preach, great injustice. We believe that God, our heavenly Father, is
a God of perfect justice, a God of mercy, a God filled with
long-suffering and tender compassion towards all the works of his
hands. We could not, with our views respecting the character of God,
believe as our friends imagine with regard to the destiny of those who
die outside of this Church, for that would be incompatible with and
contrary to all that we understand concerning the character of our
God—the God who is revealed in the Bible, and the Father of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
We believe, as Jesus said, that "this is condemnation, that light has
come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because
their deeds are evil." This is the condemnation under which mankind
will suffer—the condemnation will follow the rejection of light by
those to whom it may be sent in every nation and age of the world; in
other words, we believe that where there is no law, there is no
transgression—where men and women have not had the Gospel, or the
principles of salvation, communicated unto them, they cannot be held
accountable for disobeying the same. It is a truth that has been
enforced by all who have understood the Gospel, that those to whom the
Gospel is revealed, must obey it, or condemnation follows.
Condemnation did not fall upon the inhabitants of the antediluvian
world until Noah had taught unto them the will of God. Noah, commanded
of God, went forth as a preacher, of right eousness, declaring to the
people the judgments that were about to come upon them; and God so
inspired, directed and strengthened him that he was enabled to warn
the people to such an extent that they were left without excuse, so
much so that God felt justified in sending the flood upon the earth.
This has been the course the Almighty has pursued in every age when
his judgments have been poured out upon the people—he has sent
Prophets to warn them and to tell them how they might escape the
calamities threatened. This was so with the Jews, unto whom the Son of
God came. He proclaimed the Gospel unto them, and warned them of
coming judgments, and he sent his disciples through all Jewry, doing
the same. You all remember the Savior's pathetic lament over
Jerusalem, when he said he would have gathered her people as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wing, but they would not receive him
as a messenger of salvation, as the heir and Son of God, empowered to
impart unto them principles, obedience to which would have secured
them life here and hereafter. He also pronounced a woe upon many
cities of that land, and said that if the mighty works which had been
done in them had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, their people would
have repented. But the Jews hardened their hearts, and not only
rejected his testimony, but they shed his blood, and invoked
condemnation on their own heads for doing so. History tells us that
the judgments which Christ and his Apostles had declared did descend
upon the Jewish nation. Jerusalem was taken, the temple thrown down,
and the people carried into captivity, and the desolation and dreadful
woes that had been predicted by the Son of God were all fulfilled upon that generation of Jews.
In these instances we see that God sent messengers to warn the people
before his judgments were poured out upon them; and we also learn that
when the Gospel is proclaimed by those having authority, if the people
reject it they are held to a strict accountability therefore, and
condemnation inevitably follows—there is no escape from it, but it
falls in all its severity upon those who reject the message of life
and salvation when proclaimed by those having authority to proclaim
it. A perusal of this book (the Bible) will convince all who believe
in it, that it is a most dangerous thing, and attended with the most
terrible consequences, to reject the message that God gives to his
authorized servants to proclaim to their fellow creatures. There is no
instance of which we read, from the beginning of the book to the close
thereof, where judgments did not fall upon a people if they did not
repent of their sins and obey the message sent unto them by God. When
I say repent, I mean a complete forsaking of sin, and turning from it
truly and sincerely; in no other way can mankind escape the judgments
and calamities threatened, and of which they are warned.
In the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ there were certain conditions
revealed. Mankind were required to obey a certain form of doctrine
declared unto them, and when they did obey they received the
blessings. But I have often thought when traveling abroad in the
nations, how different it is in our day from what it was anciently. In
our day we see countless numbers of elegant spires pointing to heaven,
and legions of men preaching what they call the Gospel, but the
wickedness of the people is unchecked. Anciently, when God sent his
authorized servants to proclaim his Gospel to the people, salvation,
on the one hand, followed obedience, or, on the other, condemnation
followed rejection. And these effects did not linger, they were not
deferred for centuries, but if the people did not repent after hearing
the message of the servants of God, great calamities quickly followed.
They could not listen to the authorized servants of God for any length
of time, and harden their hearts against their testimony and warnings,
without speedy judgment following. This was the case from the days of
Noah to the days of John the Revelator, and it will be the case in
every generation when the Gospel of the Son of God, in its purity and
fullness, is proclaimed to the people, and when God has a Church and
Priesthood upon the earth which he recognizes. He is the King of the
earth, he is the Creator of all its inhabitants, and when he calls
upon the people, and requires them to do anything, they must promptly
comply, or suffer the terrible consequences of their disobedience.
In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as I have already remarked, there are
certain conditions with which the people are expected to comply; if
they do they receive the blessings, if they do not they receive
condemnation. Jesus and his Apostles taught that it was essential that
mankind should believe in him as the Son of God—as the only name given
under heaven by which men could be saved. All mankind were therefore
required to believe and to have faith in him, and to approach the
Father in his name. That was the first condition of the Gospel as
taught by Jesus and his Apostles.
The next condition was repentance. All who had committed sin and were
guilty of wrong of any kind, were required to repent of that
wrong and to live pure and holy lives. They were not only required to
be sorry—to have compunctions of conscience for the commission of
evil, but they were required to forsake it entirely and to become new
creatures. If they had been dishonest, untruthful, unvirtuous,
profane; if they had taken advantage of their neighbor, borne false
witness against him, or encroached upon his rights; if, in fact, they
had done anything contrary to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, or of
their consciences when enlightened by that Spirit, they were required
to repent of and forsake the same.
The third condition of the Gospel was, that parties who had believed
in Jesus, and had repented of their sins, should take some step for
the remission of them. Now the penalty of the sin that our father Adam
committed was death—"In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die" was the proclamation of the Creator; and when Adam sinned
he paid the penalty and died, and entailed death upon every generation
of his posterity, and that sleep of death would have been eternal had
it not been for the death of the Son of God. He came as the Redeemer
of the world, he died for the sin that had been committed by Adam, he
atoned for it, and thus ensured to all the family of man redemption
from the grave or a resurrection of their mortal bodies. But he gave
unto his disciples a commandment that they should preach remission of
sins, and that they should administer an ordinance by which all
obedient believers could obtain remission of sins, and that ordinance
was baptism. "Not the putting away," as the Apostle Paul says, "of the
filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God."
They were required to submit to this ordinance. Jesus taught it, and
he, himself, although admittedly a pure being, set the example of
obedience to it. When John was baptizing in the river Jordan, Jesus
went to him and requested baptism at his hand. John remonstrated with
him, saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to
me?" But Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us
to fulfil all righteousness," and he went down into the water and was
baptized by John, and the first evidence that we have in the
Scriptures of his recognition by the Father was on that occasion, for
after he had been baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon him, and a
voice was heard bearing testimony to the assembled multitude that
Jesus was the beloved Son of the Father. He therefore set the example
himself, so that it could not be said, though sinless, that he had not
complied with the ordinance which he required all the inhabitants of
the earth to submit to, and which the disciples administered to all
repentant believers.
This prepared them for another ordinance which, we find in the
Scriptures, was administered to all who had complied with the
conditions of the Gospel which I have named—namely, the laying on of
hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have been told repeatedly that
this ordinance was to be administered only to those who were intended
for the ministry—it was not designed for the members of the Church
called laymen. A careful perusal of the Scriptures, however, does not
sustain this idea; but on the contrary, it very clearly sustains the
idea that this ordinance had to be administered to every one who
joined the Church, and that without it the Holy Ghost was not bestowed
as a gift. To prove that this is correct, you have only to read the 8th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, where you will find
an account of the labors of Philip in the city of Samaria. It seems
that Philip had power and authority to preach the Gospel and to
baptize men and women, but not to administer all the ordinances. I
have the idea that he had the same authority as John the Baptist—the
authority to baptize, but not to confer the Holy Ghost. We find that
when John was preaching, he said that there would one come after him,
whose shoes he was not worthy to bear, who would baptize them with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. John baptized with water, but he did not
confer any further gift or blessing—he had not the authority so to do.
Philip seemed to have the same authority, for the sacred writer says
that when the Apostles of Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received
the Gospel at the hands of Philip, they sent unto them two Apostles,
for as yet, although the Samaritans had been baptized with water, the
Holy Ghost had not descended upon any of them; and we are told that
when the Apostles came unto them, they prayed with them, and laid
their hands upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost. Nothing is
said about the hands of the Apostles being laid upon those only who
were intended for the ministry, but the ordinance was administered to
all who had received baptism at the hands of Philip, without
distinction of sex or station.
Another instance in support of this view we find in the 19th of the
Acts. We read there that when Paul was passing through the upper
coasts he came to Ephesus and he found there certain disciples who
said they had been baptized unto John's baptism, but when he asked
them if they had received the Holy Ghost they said they had not so
much as heard of it. Then, we are informed, they were baptized in the
name of the Lord, and when Paul, who had the necessary authority, had
laid his hands upon them they received the Holy Ghost, and spake with
tongues and prophesied. Many other proofs on this point might be
adduced, but these are sufficient. From what has been said we learn
that the first principle of the Gospel is belief in Jesus Christ; the
second principle is repentance of sin, and the third, baptism for the
remission of sins.
"Ah!" says one, "Cannot I come to the foot of the cross and, through
the atoning blood of Jesus, have my sins washed away without baptism?"
I doubt not that hundreds, in various nations and generations, who
have been in ignorance of the true Gospel, and far removed from those
who had authority to administer its ordinances, have had their sins
blotted out. God has looked in mercy upon them, and on account of
their sincerity has witnessed unto them that he accepted the broken
spirits and contrite hearts which they offered unto him. I cannot
doubt this; but wherever the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached in its
fullness, none can obtain the remission of sins only in the way that
God has pointed out, and that is by baptism by one having the
authority from God to administer that ordinance.
Supposing that I, with the views which I have of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, were today outside of the church of God, and I were to say,
"I will not be baptized for the remissions of sins. My father or my
grandfather was a good Methodist, or a good Presbyterian or Baptist,
or a good sectarian of some other denomination, and he told me that he
had experienced a change of heart and I believe that he had his sins
washed away through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, and on
this account I will not submit to the ordinance of baptism which is
preached to me as necessary to salvation, but I will seek for the
remission of my sins the way my father or grandfather did," how do you
think it would be with me? Should I obtain the remission of my sins at
the hands of God? There would be no remission of sins for such an
individual in this life. Light has come into the world, God has
revealed to men the true principle by which remission of sins can be
obtained, namely, baptism, and when that is taught to them and they
refuse to obey it, condemnation follows, and the blessings will be
withheld which were granted in days when, in ignorance, men taught the
Lord in faith and humility and with broken and contrite spirits.
We now come to the fourth and last initiatory principle of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ—the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy
Ghost. "Is it not possible," says one, "for a man to receive the Holy
Ghost without being baptized for the remission of sins, and having
hands laid upon him?" Says the reader of Scripture, "I recollect that
Cornelius, the history of whose conversion is contained in the 10th
chapter of the Acts, received the Holy Ghost, and yet he was not
baptized; and if he did, is it not possible for others to do the
same?" Let those who think so read the history very carefully, and
they will find that in bestowing the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius without
baptism, God had a purpose in view. Cornelius was the first Gentile
unto whom the Gospel was preached. The prevalent belief among the
disciples, and one which they, being Jews, had inherited through the
traditions of their fathers, was that the Gentiles were not to have
the privilege of enjoying the blessings of the Gospel, they were not
for them, and the disciples were not disposed to administer its
ordinances to them. You recollect what Peter said when the Holy Ghost
descended upon Cornelius—this uncircumcised man—and his house, whom
they had supposed were without the pale of the Gospel—"Who can forbid
water, seeing that they have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?"
Peter cited this bestowal of the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his
house, as a proof that the ordinance of baptism should be administered
to them, and to all believing repentant Gentiles as well as to the
house of Israel. This, in connection with the vision which Peter had,
you recollect it, wherein he saw a sheet let down from heaven,
containing all manner of beasts, clean and unclean, he being commanded
to arise, kill and eat thereof, had dispossessed his mind of the
prejudice which he had entertained, in common with his fellow
believers, that the Gospel was for the Jews only. And when he saw
Cornelius and his house thus blessed, he inquired of his brethren what
there was to prevent the ordinance of baptism being administered to
them, and they were baptized by Peter.
Cornelius did not say, as many, doubtless, would say today, "We have
received the Holy Ghost, and having obtained this evidence of our
acceptance with God, what is the use of our being baptized? Is it
likely that God would have given us the Holy Ghost if he had not
forgiven our sins?" These inquiries, I think, would be made by hundreds
in our day under such circumstances. But not so with Cornelius: he had
heard the Gospel preached to him by Peter, and though he had received
the Holy Ghost, he believed it was still neces sary for him to
be baptized in water for the remission of his sins, and he complied
with that ordinance, and then doubtless the hands of the servants of
God were laid upon him to confirm him a member of the Church and to
seal upon him the blessing of the Holy Ghost, that he might be led and
guided by it into all truth.
This, my brethren and sisters, is the only plan of salvation taught in
the Scriptures. There is no other way given by which men can be saved.
It is the way that Jesus trod, the way that his Apostles walked in, it
is the doctrine they taught, and when it is taught by those having
authority from God to teach it, the Holy Ghost will follow the
administration of these ordinances. The ancient gifts and blessings
will be bestowed, and men will be led into all truth, the power of God
will be with them, and they will know God for themselves, for he is
the same God now that he was yesterday, the same in the year 1872
that he was in the year 33, or fifteen or eighteen hundred years
before the birth of Christ, and if we obey the same form of doctrine
obeyed by those who lived anciently, and it is administered by those
who hold authority from God, the gifts and powers will most assuredly
follow, for God loves his children now as much as he loved them in any
past age of the world.
Says Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus, in the words I have quoted,
"Except a man he born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." This
puzzled Nicodemus, he could not understand it, and he asked the Savior
another question, to which Jesus answered, "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." Now, my brethren and sisters, how can a man
be born of water? We know a birth to be a passage from one element
into another; hence if he be born of the water he must be completely
immersed therein, and pass from that element into another. The same
with the birth of the Spirit—he or she who is born of it must be
completely enveloped in it. Jesus says a man cannot see the kingdom
of God unless he is born again, and he further says, a man cannot
enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the
Spirit, not only of the Spirit, but also of the water.
What does this birth of the water and of the Spirit consist of? Of
that which I have been endeavoring to describe to you—baptism for the
remission of sins, being buried with Christ by baptism, whereby we are
resurrected, as it were, from the dead, in the likeness of his burial
and resurrection, entombed in the water, and being born of, or coming
forth from the bosom of the water; and then receiving the Holy Ghost
by the laying on of hands, which is the birth of the Spirit. And let
me say unto you, as Brother Schonfeldt said this morning, that unless
a man does obey this form of doctrine he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.
This is strong language, and men may say it is uncharitable. I cannot
help that. These words are the words of the Savior—the Son of God.
They are the words of truth and righteousness, they cannot fail. I
have not the right to say that a man can enter into the kingdom of God
by any other means than this; on the contrary, I must affirm and
reaffirm, and I must bear testimony to the words of Jesus, when he
says, "Except a man be born of the water and of the Spirit he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God."
The inquiry then arises in the mind, What is to become of the
millions who have died without ever hearing the name of Christ? Says
one, "What is to become of my ancestors and ancestresses who have not
been born of the water and of the Spirit?" I know how this inquiry
enters the hearts of men and women, and when they become acquainted
with this Gospel, how strongly it appeals to their affections. They
think, then, of beloved relatives and friends who have died without a
knowledge of the Gospel, and they would do a great deal for their
salvation; in fact it would embitter all their lives to think that
they could not be saved. Could we be happy, my brethren and sisters,
in thinking that we had received a form of doctrine which would exalt
us into the presence of God and the Lamb, there to bask forever in
happiness and bliss so great that the Apostle says, "Eye hath not
seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of
man to conceive?" Do you think we could be happy in the contemplation
and assurance of such a future, if no means were provided whereby our
parents and relatives, who had died in ignorance of the Gospel, could
be made partakers of the same blessing and glory, but because they had
not had the privilege of being born of the water and of the Spirit
they must be consigned to endless perdition? I could not be happy
under such circumstances. I would rather, it seems to me, have much
less happiness and have them share it with me, than to be eternally
separated, and them condemned to that never-ending hell about which
the sectarian world preach so much. But we are happy in the knowledge
that this is no part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That teaches that
all will be judged according to the law that has been taught unto
them. As I have already said, I again repeat, "This is condemnation,
that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light." "Where there is no law," the Apostle says, "there is no
transgression." Men cannot be held accountable for that which they
never knew. God will never consign his creatures to a never-ending
misery for not obeying the Gospel of his Son, when they never had it
taught unto them, and it is as great a fallacy, and as great a libel
on our God, as ever was propagated about any being to make such an
assertion. To say that these heathen, who roamed over these mountains
and through these valleys, before we came here, who never heard the
name of Jesus Christ, and countless myriads of heathen in other lands
who have died in ignorance of the Gospel, will be consigned to eternal
damnation, to a never-ending hell, there to welter in and to suffer
unspeakable and indescribable misery throughout the countless ages of
eternity, because they did not obey the Gospel they never heard, is
one of the greatest libels on the character of our God that ever was
enunciated by man. I do not believe in such a God; he is not the God
of the Bible; he is not the God I worship. I worship a God of mercy
and of love, whose heart is full of compassion. The Bible teaches that
God is love, and I cannot conceive that a God would be possessed of
the attributes of love and mercy who would take such a course with his
own ignorant offspring. No, there is something different from this
taught in the Gospel. We are taught there that God's salvation is not
confined to this brief space which we call time, but that, as he is
eternal, so are his mercy, love and compassion eternal towards his
creatures. I have not time this afternoon to explain our views
on this point. Suffice it to say that, in the Scriptures is found,
plainly written, the plan of salvation which God has devised.
Who are they who are under condemnation, and who need fear at the
prospect of the same? Men and women who, living in the day when the
Gospel is preached in its fullness and purity, hear it and reject it.
Against such the anger of God is enkindled, and they are in a far
worse condition than those who die and never hear it. Says Jesus, "It
would be better for a man to have a millstone tied to his neck, and
for him to be thrown into the depths of the sea," than to do such and
such things; and in another place he says, "It would be better for a
man never to be born." Why? Because light having been presented to
him, and truth proclaimed in his hearing, he rejects the same.
The Latter-day Saints, I hold, will be held to stricter accountability
than any other people on the face of the earth. Men wonder why we have
suffered and been persecuted so much in the past. I think it was
partly because of our hardness of heart. Not that the men who
persecuted us were justified in so doing. They were tested and tried,
the Lord left them their agency and they brought themselves under
condemnation because of their conduct. But we never had anything
descend upon us as a persecution or scourge that has not been intended
for our good; and we are held to a stricter accountability than any
other people because we have the Gospel taught unto us. The thousands
who live throughout these valleys testify that they have received the
Holy Ghost; they testify that they received it in the lands where they
embraced the Gospel; they say that this love which they have for one
another, and the disposition they have to dwell together in peace and
unity are the fruits of this Holy Spirit that they have received. They
testify that the Lord has revealed unto them that this is the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know but there are thousands here
today who, if they had time and opportunity, would arise and testify
that this is the truth, and that God has taught it unto them, and they
know it by the power of the Holy Ghost. When a people reach this
condition they are held to stricter accountability than they are who
have not this knowledge. On this account we must walk circumspectly,
with the fear of God before our eyes. We must be a pure people or we
will be scourged; we must be a holy people, or God's anger will be
kindled against us. We must not be guilty of dishonesty or take
advantage one of another; we must not bear false witness; we must not
neglect our duties one to another or towards God, for we cannot do
these things with impunity, for God's anger will be kindled against
us; and in proportion to the light which men have will they be judged,
and God will reward them according to the deeds done in the body. An
enlightened American will be held to stricter accountability than an
ignorant Indian; and the man who has heard the sound of the
everlasting Gospel and the testimony of the servants of God is held to
stricter accountability than he who has never heard them.
I said that time would not permit me to dwell on points connected with
the salvation of the ignorant dead; but there is a way provided in the
Gospel of the Son of God by which even they can have its ordinances
administered unto them. I will just refer to one passage, which you
can read at your leisure. In the 15th chapter of the first of
Corinthians, Paul, in reasoning upon the resurrection of the dead,
says, among other things, "Else what shall they do who are baptized
for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why then are they baptized
for the dead?" This is a little key given to a very important
principle. Paul evidently understood a principle by which vicarious
baptism could be performed, that is, one person could be baptized for
another, the same as Jesus made a vicarious offering for us. He died
on the cross for us—he was our Savior. Paul, substantiating the idea
that there is a resurrection, referred to this ordinance, which seemed
to exist in the Church and to be understood by the Saints in ancient
days. There would have been no need to be baptized for the dead if the
dead rise not at all. This is the gist of his argument; and there are
other passages which go to prove that the Gospel of Jesus is all
sufficient to reach and save those who have died without hearing and
obeying it. Peter says, referring to Jesus, "He went to preach to the
spirits in prison who were disobedient when once the long-suffering of
God waited in the days of Noah." I will give you another passage to
show that he did not go direct to his Father after his death on the
cross. You Latter-day Saints understand, or ought to understand, that
he did not go immediately to his Father, as many suppose, because,
after his resurrection, when Mary had been seeking for the body of her
Lord, and supposed that somebody had stolen it, she saw a personage in
the garden who she imagined was the gardener. She went to him and
asked who had taken away the body of her Lord. This personage spoke to
her, calling her by name. She immediately recognized the Lord Jesus,
and in her eagerness, anxiety and love she rushed forward as if to
grasp him. But he forbade her, told her not to do so, saying, "Touch
me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father, but go to my brethren
and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my
God and your God." This was on the Sunday, after his body had lain in
the tomb from the preceding Friday—the third day, and he said he had
not yet ascended to his Father. This is explained by Peter, in the
passage I have already quoted, wherein the Apostle says, "By which
also he went to preach to the spirits in prison, who were disobedient
when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." There
is another passage in Peter, which goes to prove the same thing, but I
will not touch upon it. I have said sufficient to relieve, or it ought
to relieve, us Latter-day Saints from any fears for those who have
died in ignorance of the Gospel. But we can say, truly, that salvation
can only be obtained in the way God has prescribed—by obeying the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this is the way that he marked
and the way we must walk in to obtain it.
That God may help us to be faithful and to cleave to the truth all our
days, regardless of all consequences, and eventually save us in his
kingdom, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.
- George Q. Cannon