Having been called upon this afternoon, to speak to this congregation,
I earnestly desire that I may be so influenced by the spirit of truth
that I may be able to bring forth such things as will be profitable
for us to reflect upon. I feel that we are greatly blessed in being
privileged to meet in this house, dedicated to the worship and service
of our Heavenly Father, where we can attend to those things which are
required of us, in peace and in unity of spirit, and receive
instructions as the Holy Spirit may prompt.
We meet in the name of the Lord. All that we do should be done in the
name of Jesus Christ, for so we have been commanded. The Church to
which we belong is the Church of Jesus Christ. It is composed of
people called Latter-day Saints, but it is Christ's Church. He
has set it up, He has organized it, and all the principles and
doctrines which have been made known to us have been revealed through
Him. It is His work and He will watch over it and direct it and
consummate it. And He has commanded us that we shall do all things in
connection with our faith in His holy name, and in that way only will
it be acceptable to our Heavenly Father; for all the blessings that
come from our Father to us His children, will come to us through Jesus
Christ. His is the only name given under heaven whereby man can be
saved. The Gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached to every creature.
For it would not be just for our Heavenly Father to condemn any of his
creatures who did not believe in Jesus Christ, without giving them an
opportunity of understanding who He is and what His commandments are.
All people, then, must hear the Gospel and have an opportunity of
receiving it or rejecting it. Jesus Christ sent out His Apostles,
after His resurrection, to preach the Gospel to all the world in that
day and generation, and they went forward and fulfilled the
commandment which he gave to them. Since that time a great many false
doctrines have been introduced into the world, and a great many
churches have been established, according to the notions and ideas of
men not authorized by the Lord Jesus, not accepted of Him, not
recognized by Him in any way. They are the churches of men, and the
doctrines preached therein, in a great many respects are the doctrines
and commandments of men. They are not of God. They are not recognized
by Him. They are not acceptable to Him. And so with many ordinances
which have been introduced since that day. Some men have introduced
them in the name of Jesus Christ, but they were not authorized by the
Lord to do so, and therefore He will not accept them, and they are of
no benefit to the children of men so far as their salvation is
concerned. But in the day and age in which we live the Lord Jesus has
manifested Himself again, and has reorganized the Church which He set
up in ancient days, in the same form and shape, with the same
officers, with the same ordinances, with the same commandments, and
with the same spirit, power, gifts and blessings. And in this Church,
if we live under the inspiration of the spirit and attend to the
duties and obey the commandments which He reveals, in the way He has
pointed out, we will be accepted of Him, and that which His servants
perform on the earth in His name in the way He has appointed, will be
the same as though it was performed by Himself in person, and will be
accepted of the Father, just the same as though performed by the Lord
Jesus Christ, and what they seal on the earth will be sealed in the
heavens, and what they loose on the earth will be loosed in the
heavens, according to His word. We have this great blessing and
privilege, then, in belonging to this Church, that we become the
people of the Lord Jesus, the Saints of the Lord, members of the
Church of Christ, not members of any church made by a man, or a set of
men, but the true Church of the living God, established by Himself
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we offer up our sacraments
before Him in the way He has appointed, they will be accepted by Him,
and we will receive the benefits that result from properly attending
to these things.
At the present time there are a great many different sects
professing to be the churches of Christ. A great variety of doctrines
are taught therein. Generally speaking these doctrines are supposed to
be taken from the book called the Bible. Ministers usually read a
portion of scripture either from the Old Testament or from the New
Testament, and preach discourses therefrom. But although these
different religions and these different discourses are supposed to be
taken from the one book, yet they are very conflicting. The notions
and ideas of one sect in regard to the things contained in the book,
differ from those that are entertained by another sect, also
professing to be the church of Christ. And even in each of these
various sects the people do not all believe alike. They do not
understand alike the doctrines that pertain to their particular sect.
For instance, the people in what is called the Methodist church do not
all believe alike. The people of the Baptist church do not all believe
alike. There is not only a difference existing between the Baptist and
the Methodist, but the Methodists differ among themselves, and
Baptists differ among themselves; and so with the rest of all the
different sects in Christendom. The reason of this is because they
have no real and definite standard. They take the Bible or rather
profess to take the Bible as their standard; but their ideas
concerning the Scriptures differ. They do not all understand the Bible
alike. If they all understood the Bible alike there would be a unity
of faith; but their ideas differ in regard to the meaning of the
things contained in the Bible. At the present time there is a great
controversy going on in the Christian world in regard to the manner in
which this book should be read, and in regard to its authority. Some
claim that every word in the book is inspired; that the word contained
in the Bible must be relied upon implicitly as the very word of God.
Others dispute this, deny the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures,
and some of them think the book should be regarded in the same light
as secular history. And so the notions and ideas concerning the Bible
are quite varied. Outside of the Bible they have no standard. We may
perhaps except the church called the Roman Catholic Church. That
church has a standard in the person of the supreme head of the
church—the Pope, the traditions, and the decisions of the councils of
the church. But neither the Roman Catholic Church, nor the Episcopal
Church, which has come out from it, nor any of the sects which have
come out from the Episcopal Church, have any inspired standard among
them save and except the things that were written of old contained in
the Bible, which they do not comprehend alike. In the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints we have something besides the written
word. We have the living oracles of God, men that have been called and
enabled and set apart to minister in Christ's stead, men in whom the
Lord has placed His spirit, and not only His spirit, but His authority
that they may act in His name; and they have access unto Him. It is
their privilege not only to expound the things that were written of
old which have been preserved and placed on record, and which are
contained in the books of the Bible, but also to receive intelligence
from the same source from which these things that are inspired that
are in the Book were given. The same fountain from which the
Prophets of old partook is open to us, and the servants of God in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can learn the mind and
will of God respecting us as it exists in His own bosom, because the
fountain of revelation is not dried up. Access is open unto our
Heavenly Father as it was in times of old; and if Peter could learn
the word of the Lord and teach it to the former-day Church, so the
servants of God holding a similar position today can call upon the
Lord and receive His word and declare it to the Latter-day Church. If
the Prophets of God of old wrote and spoke as they were moved upon by
the Holy Ghost, there are Prophets of God living upon the earth today
who can speak and write as they are moved upon by the same power. And
the word of God that comes down from heaven in our day is just as
authoritative as the word of God that came in times of old and that is
written in the old books, and it is of much more importance to the
people called Latter-day Saints, because it comes direct to them from
our living head. It does not come in any ambiguous phraseology; it
does not come in a shape that would leave it open to controversy; but
it comes to us clear, plain and straightforward, so that all may
understand. We have the benefit of the living oracles; not only the
words of the oracles that are dead, but the words of those that are
living.
And we find when we come to investigate the things that God makes
manifest in our own day through the living oracles, that in spirit and
in doctrine they correspond with the things that God revealed in days
of old. We, then, have "a more sure word of prophecy" than the things
that were written aforetime. The Apostle Peter spoke of this in his
day. He said that holy men of God wrote and spoke as they were moved
upon by the Holy Ghost, and that no prophecy of the Scripture is of
any private interpretation. He said, further, "We have also a more
sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts." They had the living oracles. The people
who lived in Peter's day had not only the words of Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and the other prophets, and the Book of the Laws, as written
by Moses, the inspired prophet of God, who looked upon God and talked
with Him face to face—they not only had these things written in the
ancient records, but they had living oracles, men in their midst who
were authorized to speak in the name of the Lord and declare to the
people the living word of God for their present benefit. And as it was
with the people in that day, so it is in this Church that Jesus Christ
our Savior has reestablished on the earth. We have the living
oracles, those who are called and ordained to stand between us and the
Lord. And in addition to all this we have the great privilege of the
Holy Ghost universally diffused throughout the body of the Church for
the benefit of every member thereof; for every man and for every
woman, for every individual who has been baptized into it and has
received its ordinances. Every person in the Church may receive of
this spirit which is the light of God, which is the spirit of
inspiration, which bears record of the things of God, and makes plain
to all who have it the things that God reveals through the living
oracles. If a servant of God speaks or writes under the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost, the same spirit by which He writes or speaks is
in the members of the church, and it is their privilege to see as He
sees, to comprehend as He comprehends, that we may all see "eye to
eye" and understand the things of God alike.
Some people have an idea that it is impossible to bring a great number
of individuals to understand religion exactly alike. People sometimes
point to the difference that there is in human character. It is true
that our characters vary, as do our countenances. The faces that are
before me today are all different, although we are all of the same
race. We are all different in our appearance. Even brothers and
sisters of the same family differ in their appearance in some
respects. So it is with all things that God has made. It is not only
so in regard to the human family, but it is so with the brute
creation. No two blades of grass are exactly alike. No two leaves upon
the trees in the forest are exactly alike. No two worlds that God
Almighty has made that glitter in the firmament on high at night are
exactly alike. There are some peculiarities about each of them,
distinct and different from others. This is all true. But is it
impossible to bring people who are thus organized, people of different
characters and different minds, to see and comprehend exactly alike?
No, there is no difficulty about it when the thing is properly
understood. Take any of what are called the exact sciences, and people
can be brought to understand them just exactly in the same way. Take a
sum in arithmetic, for instance. When a dozen people understand the
rules in the same way they will work out the sum in the same way, no
matter where they were born, or what language they speak. When they
understand the principle and rule that governs the workings of the sum
they all work it out in the same way, and what a dozen or a hundred
can do a million can do. It makes no difference about the number. If
all understand the principle alike they will work it out alike, and
the result will be exactly the same. Why cannot this be done in those
things called religion? It is true that religious principles are not
governed altogether by the same rules and laws as those which govern
secular things. But yet if people are in possession of the same
spirit, and the truth is made clear before their understandings, they
can all be brought to see exactly alike, and we have proven this in
our own experience. For instance, when the Gospel of Jesus Christ came
to us, it found us when we were scattered abroad in different nations.
We have people here from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and from
different parts of the European continent; from Sweden, Norway,
Germany, Italy, and from the various cantons of Switzerland; a great
many from the various States of America, from the islands of the sea,
from the East Indies, from Africa—people from all quarters of the
globe. Now, when the Gospel came to us, it, found us in a scattered
condition. We lived in different countries, we spoke different
languages; we had different ideas in regard to God and His ways. But
we were taught that we must believe in the true and the living God;
that we had all sprung from Him; that He was our Father, and that we
were made in His image; that the idea prevalent in the world that the
Deity is a being without body, parts or passions, an incomprehensible
nonentity, was altogether wrong. We were told that we had sprung from
God, and being His offspring we were like Him, and that,
therefore, in some respects He is like us; that He is a personage, and
as every seed begets its own kind, and we are the offspring of God, we
could form some conception of what He is like, and we put away our old
ideas. We came to a unity of the faith concerning God, that He is an
individual; that although He is a spirit, yet He dwells in a tangible
tabernacle. Man is a spirit as well as God, because we have sprung
from Him. The spiritual part of our being is the offspring of God,
which spiritual part dwells in our natural part that has come from the
dust. In this way we could form some idea concerning the Deity, and we
all formed the same idea; we all came to the unity of the faith in
this respect. We were also taught that it was needful for us to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and when we had full faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ to obey His commandments, that we were to repent of
our sins. Now there were different ideas in the world as to what
constituted repentance; but we were taught that in order to repent
acceptably before God, we must come to the determination in our minds
to leave off sinning, to cease doing that which is wrong, and to get
to understand and to do what is right. Then we were taught that in
order to receive remission of sins we must be baptized. Now there were
different notions in regard to baptism in the world. Some people
believed that the marking of the sign of the cross with a little water
on the forehead by a priest was baptism. Others believed that
sprinkling water upon the face was baptism. Others that it was needful
to immerse the whole body in water to constitute baptism, and still
others that a person ought to be immersed three times. But we were
taught that baptism was at once a burial and a birth; that in order to
be properly baptized the person who administers the ordinance should
have authority from God, because he uses the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost, and he has no right to use the names of the holy
trinity without being expressly authorized of God to do so. We learned
that in the first place, then, an individual who administers the
ordinances must have authority to administer, and he must administer
in the way that the Lord has appointed—not the way that man may think
is right, but the way the Lord has ordained, or else it would not be
acceptable to God. And we were taught that the individual to be
baptized must believe and repent, for without faith and repentance
baptism would be of no avail. So the individual who was baptized must
be a repentant believer, and the individual who administered the
ordinance must be an ordained servant of God having legitimate
authority from on high—not that which he had taken upon himself, not
that which he may have felt called upon to do in his own heart; but he
must be a bona fide representative of Deity, a man called and ordained
and set apart by authority from God to administer in His name, or it
would not be valid. And then the individual who baptizes must go down
into the water with the person to be baptized—the candidate must be
buried in the water in the likeness of Christ's death and burial, and
then be raised out of the water in the likeness of His
resurrection—and the object of this was for the remission of sins.
This was very different from the doctrines which prevailed in the
world. But when this was taught to us in plainness, and we were bap tized in this way, we received a testimony in our hearts that we
were made clean, that our sins were remitted, that they had been
washed away—not by the water but through our obedience to the
ordinance which God had established and the blood of Jesus Christ,
which was shed for the remission of our sins. We had the conviction
sealed upon our hearts that we had received this blessing. As the
result thereof we were thus brought to the unity of the faith. Then
when the servants of God laid their hands upon us, according to the
pattern revealed from heaven, and conferred upon us the Holy Ghost,
the Comforter, we received the same spirit from on high, the same Holy
Ghost. The people who received this ordinance in Scandinavia had the
same spirit come down upon them as the people who received it in
England or in Scotland, and the people on this Western Hemisphere on
which we live have received the same spirit as the people received on
the Eastern Hemisphere. In every part of the globe, wherever this
ordinance was administered the same spirit rested down on the people
and bore the same testimony to them. Now, although there are a variety
of operations of this spirit, yet the spirit is the same and the light
that it brings is the same. People do not all receive that light to
the same degree, but the light is the same, just as the light of the
sun is the same to all. Some people can see a great deal further than
others with their natural eyes. Their eyesight is better, but the
light by which both see is the same. So it is with regard to the gift
of the Holy Ghost. All people do not receive it in the same degree,
because they are not all gifted with the same capacity, and all have
not the same desires; but the difference is not in the spirit, it is
in the individual. Some people are very earnest after the things of
God, and he who seeks finds, and the more he seeks in the right
direction the more he finds. He that is dilatory in searching after
the things of God, obtains but little; he that is diligent obtains
much. All may receive it, but they must obtain it in the way that God
has appointed, all receiving their measure according to their
diligence and desire; but the spirit is the same. And this spirit has
operated upon our hearts in such a way as to make us—a people of
diverse feelings and opinions—of one heart and one mind in regard to
this matter. And wherever this Gospel has been preached and people
have received it, they have been brought to a "unity of the faith."
They no longer have many faiths and many baptisms, but one faith, one
baptism and one God, having commenced to walk in the same straight and
narrow way that leads to life and which is the only way of salvation.
And all people who desire to enjoy the fullness of His glory must walk
that straight and narrow way; "for wide is the road, and broad is the
gate that leads unto death, and many there be," we are told, "that go
in thereat." There is only one way of life, only one plan of
salvation, because there is but one God to serve. If there were many
Gods to worship, there might be many different ways to salvation; but
as to us there is only one God, there can be but one Gospel, one
Church, one gate leading to the celestial city.
I have shown that it is possible for a great many people of different
ideas and notions to be brought to understand things alike. And if
this can be done in regard to one or four things (I have named
four) or principles, it can be done in a million or any number of
principles. And we are told in the Scriptures that the time is to come
when all shall see eye to eye; because all shall know God from the
least unto the greatest. There is, too, a time to come when the Holy
Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh, "when the sons and the
daughters will prophesy, the old men dream dreams, and the young men
see visions," etc.; and when the earth and all that live upon it shall
be redeemed and sanctified; the earth will then be as it was when it
rolled out of the hands of the Creator, and the people will understand
God and His ways; they will understand them alike. There will not be a
thousand different religions; but there will be one only, one God the
Father of all, and one Holy Spirit burning in the hearts of His
children.
At the present time there is a diversity of opinions and notions and
ideas concerning God and His ways; but I have stated that this one way
in which the Saints have begun to walk, is the only true way. That may
sound very exclusive; it may seem also to some a little inconsistent.
That is because they may not understand the matter in all its
bearings. I say, there can be but one true religion, simply because
there is only one true God. True religion is that religion which comes
from God; and that religion which is man-made cannot be the religion
of God; it is therefore not binding; nothing religious is binding upon
mankind but that which is revealed from God. That which comes from God
through His servants and is declared to the people is binding; he that
receives it will be saved; and he that rejects it will be condemned.
This must be so because it comes by authority, from Deity himself. It
is His word; it is His will; and he who rejects it, rejects it against
his own salvation; and none can be saved who do not obey.
Some may ask. "Do you mean to say that all the people that have lived
upon the earth since the days when Jesus and the Apostles preached,
who did not hear and who did not obey the Gospel, are all damned and
lost forever?" I answer, No. We merely hold to the proposition that
there is but the one true way. I will refer you to the language of the
Savior himself upon this point spoken to Nicodemus, one of the rulers
of the Jews, who sought an interview with Jesus by night: "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." There is a very
plain declaration, and a very conclusive one. There are millions of
people who have lived upon the earth who have not been "born of water
and of the Spirit." Take, for instance, the millions of Jews alone who
lived before the introduction of the Gospel by Christ, and after it
was preached to their ancestors. For, let me tell you, the Gospel was
preached before Christ preached it. When Jesus came, he did not
introduce anything new, he came to restore something that had been
lost. The Gospel was known by our first parents when they came out of
the Garden of Eden. It was known to Abraham. It was preached to Israel
before the law was added. It is stated by Paul to the Hebrews. "All
our fathers were under the cloud, and they all passed through the sea;
And they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did
partake of the spiritual Rock that fol lowed them, which Rock
was Christ." They were baptized the same as we have been, but they did
not receive the faith of the Gospel fully in their hearts; they did
not profit by the word preached, therefore, God added the law as a
schoolmaster, to bring them to the right way. He added the law of
carnal commandments because they would not receive the fullness of the
greater law in faith. When Jesus came, He restored the Gospel; but
there had been millions and millions of people among the Jewish nation
alone, from the days of Moses to those of Jesus, who had not been
"born of water and of the Spirit." They termed nations outside the
Jewish nation the heathen, and none of them for hundreds of years had
obeyed the Gospel—had received ordinances by which they could be born
of water and of the Spirit. So in regard to the people from the days
since the ancient Apostles were put to death, who had authority from
God, who were sent forth to minister in His name, to preach the Gospel
to all people, and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and to teach them all things whatsoever he
had commanded them. From their day to the time in which we live,
thousands and millions of people have passed away without receiving or
obeying the Gospel of the Son of God. According to the doctrines of
men, because they did not hear it, they will be condemned forever.
The heathen nations for ages past have not even heard the doctrines of
men professing to be Christian. They worship idols; they worship
beasts; they worship the heavenly bodies, etc. Many millions of them
are outside the pale of Christendom. What is to become of them?
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye are born of water and of
the Spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God." So says the
Savior; and there is no other name given under heaven whereby man can
be saved than the name of Christ Jesus; and yet there are millions and
millions of people who have passed away from the earth never having
heard the name of Jesus Christ. A great many millions more have died
without a knowledge of the true Gospel. And what is to become of them
all? According to the doctrines of modern Christendom, they are all
destroyed, they are all damned. That is a horrible thing to think of.
There is considerable controversy going on in the Christian world
today, not only in reference to the plenary inspiration of the Bible,
but in regard to probation. There is a discussion in progress now in
regard to what is called "probation after death." The question is
whether there is a probation after people leave this world, or is it
confined to the sphere in which we now move. Some of the ministers are
beginning to think that there must be a chance for souls after they
leave the earth to learn the way of life and salvation, but the great
majority of modern divines, representing popular religious opinions,
believe that this is the only state of probation; that when death
overtakes a man, that is the end of his opportunities for salvation.
According to that rule all those millions of people who have died
without hearing the name of Jesus Christ have gone to hell.
There are different ideas about hell nowadays. A few years ago there
was only the one idea, which was that hell is a great, bottomless pit
full of flaming fire and brimstone, into which the wicked are cast
never to return, whilst the devils are continually stirring up
the flames for the everlasting torment of the doomed. And this scene
used to be described by popular divines in the most hideous and
shocking manner. People have recently modified their ideas concerning
future punishment, and the change is greatly due to the teachings of
the Elders of this Church, and the doctrines which have been set forth
and published as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The
controversy that is now being conducted by leading theological minds
upon the subject of probations, has been brought about through the
effects upon the public mind of the preaching of the Elders of the
doctrine revealed in the very beginning of the Church. You will find
in the Doctrine and Covenants that God revealed to Joseph Smith as
early as March 1830, that "eternal punishment is God's punishment."
Because God is an eternal being. His laws are eternal, and there are
penalties attached to all of them. But it does not follow that because
a person may be banished into the eternal punishment it is intended
that he shall stay there eternally. He may go into eternal punishment,
he may go to the place prepared for the rebellious and the sinner and
stay there but for a certain period. Some may stay longer than others.
In the language of the Scriptures, some are beaten with many stripes,
and others are beaten with but few stripes; but all stay until they
have paid "the uttermost farthing;" all are punished according to the
gravity of their guilt. It will be "more tolerable" in the day of
judgment for people who did not hear the word of God in the flesh, and
who were wicked, than for the wicked who did hear the word of God and
rejected it. But the time will come when all men will be judged, and
the Apostle Paul says they will be judged by the Gospel; all will
appear before the judgment seat to be judged according to their works,
receiving according to their merits or demerits, gauged by their light
and their opportunities.
Now, the Lord made this very plain in the revelation he gave to Joseph
Smith. The term eternal damnation God said had been used to work upon
the hearts of the children of men altogether for His glory. That is,
in the low condition of humanity in which most people are placed there
must be a threat of punishment and a promise of reward to influence
people to do that which is right. They ought to do what is right
simply because it is right; to love truth for its own sake. But
humanity is in a low, degraded condition, and a promise of reward has
to be held out to induce people to do right, and threats of punishment
to restrain them from doing wrong. That is not the higher plane on
which men are yet to stand. If people are trained aright they will
love that which is true and dislike that which is untrue; they will
love that which is virtuous, pure and Godlike, and dislike everything
contrary thereto. They will do good, but not for reward; they will
turn from evil, but not from fear of punishment. They will love truth
and work righteousness for their own sake. But in the degraded
condition of humanity this eternal punishment that has been preached
has been allowed to go forth to work upon the hearts of the children
of men altogether for the glory of God, that evil might be curbed,
that transgression and sin might be restrained, that people might be
checked from going headlong to destruction through fear of the
consequences.
On the 16th of February, 1832, the Lord made this matter
plainer. He gave to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, one of the most
glorious visions that human beings ever gazed upon. It is the most
complete and delightful that I have ever read. There is nothing in the
book called the Bible that can compare with it. It is full of light;
it is full of truth; it is full of glory; it is full of beauty. It
portrays the future of all the inhabitants of the earth, dividing them
into three grand classes or divisions—celestial, terrestrial, and
telestial, or as compared to the glory of the sun, the glory of the
moon, and the glory of the stars. It shows who will be redeemed, and
what redemption they will enjoy; and describes the position the
inhabitants of the earth will occupy when they enter into their future
state. In that glorious vision we are told that there is only a
certain class who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord. I
will read a few verses:
"Thus saith the Lord concerning all those who know my power, and have
been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the
power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my
power—
"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;
"For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God,
with the devil and his angels in eternity;
"Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor
in the world to come—
"Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having
denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto
themselves, and put him to an open shame.
"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;
"Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time
of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath.
"For all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the
dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain,
who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made.
"And this is the gospel, the glad tidings, which the voice out of the
heavens bore record unto us—
"That he came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the
world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and
to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;
"That through him all might be saved whom the Father had put into his
power and made by him;
"Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of his hands,
except those sons of perdition, who deny the Son after the Father has
revealed him."
I do not intend to read from this vision the condition of the people
who will be redeemed in the different degrees of glory; you can do
that for yourselves. I merely refer to it that the point may be made
clear, that there are only a certain few who will not be redeemed in
the due time of the Lord, through the merits of the atonement wrought
out by Jesus Christ. The sons of perdition are to go away into this
everlasting punishment and abide there. And as we are told in another
part of the revelation, the height and the depth, and extent of their
misery no man knoweth. It is not revealed except to a few, and
then the vision is closed up, as the things they behold are unlawful
to be uttered.
The "sons of perdition" are those who have received the Gospel, those
to whom the Father has revealed the Son; those who know something
concerning the plan of salvation; those who have had keys placed in
their hands by which they could unlock the mysteries of eternity;
those who received power to ascend to the highest pinnacle of the
celestial glory; those who received power sufficient to overcome all
things, and who, instead of using it for their own salvation, and in
the interest of the salvation of others, prostituted that power and
turned away from that which they knew to be true, denying the Son of
God and putting Him to an open shame. All such live in the spirit of
error, and they love it and roll it under the tongue as a sweet
morsel; they are governed by Satan, becoming servants to him whom they
list to obey, they become the sons of perdition, doomed to suffer the
wrath of God reserved for the devil and his angels. And for them,
having sinned against the Holy Ghost, there is no forgiveness either
in this world or the world to come. But all the rest Christ will save,
through the plan of human redemption prepared in the beginning before
the world was.
Now the question may be asked, how can these things be? If no man can
enter into the Kingdom of God except he be born of the water and of
the Spirit, and only a few are to receive this eternal condemnation,
how can the rest obtain this great salvation, how can they escape
eternal punishment? The Lord has provided a plan for them, and it is
very simple when properly under stood. I noticed in reading the reports
of recent discussions on probation after death that it was admitted by
the learned men engaged in it that they did not know anything definite
about it. The notions and ideas of even the most advanced divines are
but theories and speculations. But here we have the revelations of God
concerning these things, that we may not be in the dark; so that we
can all come together and see eye to eye and understand alike. For it
is true, and truth can be made plain to all that desire its light. But
when people do not want to see the truth, they can shut their eyes and
exclude it from their spiritual vision, as people sometimes shut out
from their eyes the light of the sun, from their "best rooms," which,
by the way, are their worst rooms, for the very reason that the
blessed sunlight does not enter there—so people can close the windows
of the soul and shut out the rays of the sun of righteousness; but he
who desires to behold the truth may see it and comprehend it. As we
now see each other by the light of the sun, so people of different
minds and different races may turn their eyes towards the truth, and
by the light of the Holy Ghost, they will see it exactly alike. They
will no longer be divided on principles of doctrine.
But how can salvation come to those who never heard the name of Jesus
Christ, who never heard the Gospel while living; who never had the
opportunity of being born of the water and the Spirit, of being
baptized by one with authority, for the remission of their sins, and
having hands laid upon their heads for the reception of the Holy
Ghost—how can they hear, how can they understand, how can they obey?
People have fallen into the common mis take that it is
impossible to learn the will of God when they leave this world. I do
not know where the idea sprang from. I think it came from some of the
monkish cells of the old Romish Church, descending down through the
various sects that have come out from that Church. Why should not a
person when out of the body be able to understand as when in the body?
If we believed like some of the people of India, that when the spirit
leaves the body it goes back to Brahma, or emerges into the generally
diffused spirit of the universe, then we might conclude that they
would not understand anything when they leave the body. If the spirit
becomes a nonentity when it is disembodied we might have reason for
entertaining such a notion. But we understand that the spirit is the
real man, and that the body is but the outside covering; that when
the change we call death comes, the body returns to the earth as it
was, but the spirit returns to God who gave it. That the spirit is the
actual person, that which thinks and reasons, the body being but the
medium conveying impressions to the real man operating inside of it.
That when the spirit is liberated, although not subject to the same
laws as when in the tabernacle, yet it is the same person, a son or
daughter of God; a being capable of thinking; of receiving
inspiration; of accepting or rejecting that which is presented; and
therefore is a subject of salvation. If not, why not? What is the
reason? I think we will find when we shuffle off this mortal coil,
when we get rid of the trammels of the mortal body, and enter into the
spirit state, we shall be if anything more intelligent than when in
the body. We shall not be bound by the same laws that now bind our
mortal flesh, and we will be able to comprehend a great many things
which were very hard for us to get a little inkling of while in the
mortal tabernacle. "Well," somebody may say, "that is very reasonable;
but how does it coincide with the Christian religion, with the
doctrines laid down in the Scriptures?" Let us see. Jesus Christ, we
read, was put to death by wicked men. They took His body down from the
cross and laid it in a new tomb hewn out of the rock. But where was
Jesus? That was not Jesus in the tomb. It was his mortal body that was
laid away. Where was Jesus? People generally suppose that He went to
heaven. Stop a moment. After Jesus Christ was raised from the dead a
woman whose name was Mary, was weeping at the sepulchre, when Jesus
appeared before her. Mary stepped forward apparently to embrace Him,
whereupon He said to her: "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." Three days had
elapsed between the time when the body was taken down from the
cross—the time when he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit," and the time of His resurrection. Where had He been in the
interval? Peter tells us in his first epistle, 3rd chapter, from the
18th to the 20th verses: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were
disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of
Noah." It appears that after being put to death He went somewhere. Where? "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits
in prison." What spirits? "Which sometime were disobedient, when once
the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark
was preparing." Now, that makes the matter very clear to a person that
wants to understand. But you take a learned divine whose mind has
become befogged by the traditions of men and he does not want anything
to do with that scripture, or if he does he will try to explain it
away. How do the clergy explain it? They say the spirit of Jesus in
Noah preached to the people before the flood. Now, compare that idea
with the text I have quoted. It was not Noah who was put to death. But
it was He that was put to death in the flesh, and quickened by the
spirit that went and preached to the spirits in prison. Again, in the
4th chapter of the first Epistle of Peter, and the 6th verse, we read
this: "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and
live according to God in the spirit." Here were people that were
preached to who were not men in the flesh. Who were they? They were
spirits in prison, and they were in prison because of their
disobedience in the days of Noah. They had been there about 2,000
years, and Jesus went and preached to them. What did he preach? He
preached the Gospel. What did he preach to them for? That they might
be further condemned and taunted with their miserable fate? Oh no. He
went there that He might preach to them the Gospel, "so that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to
God in the spirit." This is what the an cient prophet predicted
concerning Jesus. We read that he went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day and stood up for to read. He took the book of the Prophet
Isaiah, and what he read was this: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to
the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound."
That was Christ's mission—not only to preach to men in the flesh, but
to preach to men in the spirit. Isaiah says in c. xlix, 9 v., "That
thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in
darkness, Shew yourselves;" and in c. xlii, 7 v., "to bring out the
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the
prison house."
Jesus left His body sleeping in the tomb and went to the spirit world,
and the repentant thief who died by His side went there also. Some
people think that because the thief said, "Lord, remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom," and Jesus replied, "To day shalt thou be
with me in paradise," that he (the thief) went direct to heaven and in
the presence of God. Now, if he did, Jesus Christ broke His own word;
for he said, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Where did the thief go?
Wherever Jesus went, the thief went, and he had the privilege of
hearing Jesus preach the Gospel, so that he might have the chance of
being judged according to men in the flesh, but living according to
God in the spirit. And how could he do that? By receiving the same
Gospel that men had in the flesh. Jesus, then, left his body in the tomb and went to the spirit world. Those everlasting gates had
to be lifted up. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up,
ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." He went
and preached deliverance to the captives, and opened the prison doors
to them that were bound. He went to proclaim the acceptable day of the
Lord. He came back to His sleeping body, and having the keys of hell
He also grasped the keys of death, and His body was quickened. He
stood upon His feet and ministered to His disciples. He could then go
to His Father and report the accomplishment of His mission. He could
say: "I have done the work thou gavest me to do; I have preached the
Gospel to the meek; I have bound up the brokenhearted; I have
preached deliverance to the captives; I have opened the prison doors
of them that were bound; I have led captivity captive; I have shed my
blood as an atonement for the sins of the world; now, Father, accept
of me and my labors." Then He could come to the earth and say: "All
power is given unto me both in the heavens and on the earth." He had
fulfilled His mission, and had received immortal keys and honors and
powers as a reward of the fulfillment thereof. He shall occupy the
highest place among all the sons of God, because He is the firstborn,
and has performed the work of the firstborn in the plan of human
redemption. He will be exalted above every creature, because He was
the most obedient of every creature. He will be the greatest, because
He was the humblest. He will be the richest, because He was the best.
He is the sinless Christ, and therefore He wears the eternal crown.
There is another question that arises here. If men can hear the Gospel
in the spirit world, can they obey it fully in the spirit world? Let
us look at that a little. Here are the Gospel ordinances. Are
ordinances of any effect? Yes, they are. "Except a man be born of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
Just the same as if an alien does not obey the naturalization laws, he
cannot become a citizen of the United States. God's house is a house
of order. He has a way of His own, and he that will not accept that
way cannot obtain the blessing. Then can those spirits who hear the
Gospel in the spirit world obey the Gospel fully? Can they believe?
Yes. Can they repent? Why not? It is the soul of man, or the spirit of
man in the body, not the body, that believes. It is the spirit of man
in the body that repents. What is it that obeys the ordinances? Why,
the spirit. But these ordinances belong to this sphere in which we
live, they belong to the earth, they belong to the flesh. Water is an
earthly element composed of two gases. It belongs to this earth. What
there is in the spirit world, we know little about. But here is the
water in which repentant believers must be baptized. Can they be
baptized in the spirit world? It appears not. What is to be done,
then. The Apostle Paul asks this question in the fifteenth chapter of
the first epistle of the Corinthians: "Else what shall they do which
are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then
baptized for the dead?" It seems that the people to whom that was
written were familiar with the ordinance called baptism for the dead,
and they were baptized for their dead. Paul was arguing upon the
literal resurrection of the body, and says, What shall they do if the
dead rise not; why are they then baptized for the dead? Our
learned divines may presume from that that the doctrine is not laid
down sufficiently clear to endorse it; but to us there is no doubt
concerning it, the Lord having revealed the principle to the Prophet
Joseph Smith. He also explained the manner in which the ordinances
should be administered, like everything else He has revealed, in great
plainness. And that is why we are building Temples. People who visit
our city frequently say, "What a fine meetinghouse you are building."
No, that is not a meetinghouse; this Assembly Hall and the adjacent
Tabernacle are meetinghouses. That is a Temple, a building in which
we expect to perform ordinances for the living and the dead; wherein
we may be baptized for our dead, that they may receive the benefit of
that ordinance, provided they believe and repent and do the spiritual
part, while we do the material part, that they may receive the
blessings of obedience to the Gospel, and live according to God in the
spirit. Some will say, "I cannot see why a thing done by one person
should stand for another." How do you understand the doctrine that
Jesus Christ has done something for all of us? We read that "without
the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." Not my blood or
your blood is to be shed for the remission of our sins; but He who was
without sin allowed His blood to be shed as a sacrifice for our sins.
Now the whole question hinges on that. If you reject the doctrine of
proxy in baptism, you must reject the doctrine of proxy in the
atonement.
Now, there is no dubiety in the minds of the Latter-day Saints on this
subject. We have learned these things from God, and we understand them
alike. Why? Because we desire the truth; we do not care about the
nonsense of men, we want divine truth which comes from God. And when
it comes we are anxious to receive it; we seek for it; we ask for it;
and He enlightens us by His Spirit, and when the Good Shepherd speaks,
we know His voice; and it is that voice that has made plain to us the
doctrine that we who have obeyed the Gospel in the flesh may be
baptized for our ancestors in the spirit world.
If you will look at this in the spirit that accompanies its
unfoldment, your hearts will be filled with joy at the mercy and
goodness of God. If there are men or women here who have not believed
this, and they will ponder upon it, and seek to God for light upon it,
they will have their eyes opened to see that it is one of the most
glorious principles. It opens the way for the redemption of our
fathers who lived and died without hearing the sound of the Gospel. It
opens up the way for the redemption of the heathen nations who never
heard the name of Jesus Christ. It opens up the way for the hosts of
Israel, with their posterity, who ages ago fell away from the truth
and went into darkness; for those whose hearts have been heavy, and
whose eyes have been blinded—for it is written "blindness in part has
happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come
out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn ungodliness from Jacob: For
this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins."
Those that will live upon the earth of their lineage who shall obey
the Gospel, in the latter times will perform the outward ordinances
for and in behalf of their dead ancestors. This glorious doctrine
lifts up the dark curtain of sectarianism and lets in the light
of heaven, and makes plain the justice of God, and the mercy of God.
The mercy of our God extends to all of his children, not only to one
little branch through the loins of Abraham. All shall hear, all shall
have opportunity of knowing the ways of life and truth, and the
opportunity of rejoicing therein; and this is the means that God will
adopt to accomplish this great and stupendous result! Every heart
shall be gladdened with the tidings of salvation. The living and the
dead shall be visited and even those who have been thrust down to
hell, who have been beaten with many stripes, and have suffered their
portion in the eternal punishment, will have the arm of sweet mercy
extended to them when stern justice is satisfied; and in due time
every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the
Christ to the glory of God the Father. And the time will come when
death and hell shall be destroyed, and there will be no more death,
neither sorrow nor pain, but every creature, in heaven above and the
earth beneath shall be heard to sing, "Blessing, and honor, praise and
power, be unto God and the Lamb forever, who has redeemed us by His
blood out of every nation and tribe and tongue and people!"
The Gospel is plain and simple and easily understood and appreciated
by the honest seeker after truth. The reason that people generally do
not receive it when it is preached to them by the servants of God—it
is a hard saying, but true nevertheless—is because their deeds are
evil; because they love the things of the world more than the things
of God, and the love of the Father is not in them. And because they
reject the truth when presented to them, and delight in the spirit of
the world, they oppose the truth; and if not openly, in their hearts
they sanction acts of persecution and hatred against the Saints of
God. Some of them are corrupt in their practices, and such persons are
ever ready to assail and traduce the character of our leading men, men
whom we know to be pure in their lives, and to be righteous before
God; it is the very worst of men who take this course, and thus the
Evil One, the destroyer of the souls of men worketh in them and
through them. And when they have opposed this work all that they
possibly can, they will find that it flourishes and grows and spreads
forth, while they will go to the place prepared for them, where they
will remain until they shall have paid the uttermost farthing for
their willful wickedness. All men who fight against the Holy
Priesthood of God, will have to meet that some day. Their acts are not
hidden from the eyes of Him who does not slumber. Their evil deeds and
wicked sayings will be revealed openly. The time will come when the
first angel of God will sound the trump declaring the secret acts of
men during the first thousand years; and the second angel will sound
his trump and reveal the secret acts of men and the thoughts and
intents of their hearts during the second thousand years, and so on
down to the last thousand years, even until it shall be declared that
time shall be no longer, and the secret acts of all men in all the
ages shall be brought to light. My brethren and sisters, let that be a
caution to you and to me. When we went down into the waters of baptism
and were immersed by the servants of God having authority to
administer that ordinance for the remission of sins, though our sins
were as scarlet they were washed whiter than snow; and we came
forth from the water clean and pure, cleansed by the blood of Christ
from all sin. But since that time the acts we have performed will have
their effect upon us for good or for evil, and we shall be accountable
for them when we stand before the bar of God. They will be seen and
known of all; they are written in the books out of which we are to be
judged, and every man's acts are stamped upon his own being, in
characters that will speak for themselves, in the day when we shall
see as we are seen and know as we are known.
Then let us try and do right for the sake of the right, live in the
light of the spirit, see eye to eye, and prove ourselves worthy of the
great salvation; and may God help us so to do, in the name of Jesus
Christ. Amen.
- Charles W. Penrose