SECTION VII.
The appearing of Moses in Kirtland Temple and his restoring the keys for the gathering of Israel, marks the inauguration of a mighty work within the work of God, in this dispensation, and gives a reality to many of the predictions of the ancient prophets. To fully comprehend this great work it will be necessary to call the attention of the student to the Israelites, and a brief outline of their history.
1. Who Are Israel.—The children of Israel are the descendants of Abraham through the loins of Isaac and Jacob, taking their name, however, from the last-named patriarch, whose name was changed by an angel of the Lord from Jacob to Israel, which means a prince of God. Unto Jacob by four wives were born twelve sons—the heads of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Joseph, Jacob's son by his wife Rachel, being his father's favorite son, was hated by his brethren, and without the father's knowledge was sold to merchants, who carried him into Egypt. His cruel brethren rent his clothing and stained it in blood, then taking it to their father represented that his son had been destroyed by a wild beast. The Lord was with Joseph in Egypt, and gave him favor in the eyes of the rulers of that land, until he became second in authority in the kingdom. Having been warned in a dream of an approaching famine, some years before it took place, he laid up in store an abundance of corn, so that while famine distressed surrounding countries there was plenty in Egypt, and thither the sons of Israel went to purchase food. Joseph revealed his identity to his brethren, became reconciled to them, and sent for his father and all attached to his household—about seventy souls in all—to come to him and take up their abode in Egypt. This the aged patriarch did, and ended his days there.
2. Israel Enslaved.—Some time after Joseph's death, there arose a king who knew him not, and observing that the Israelites were likely to become more numerous than the Egyptians—since they did not murder their offspring either before or at birth, as many among the Egyptians did—this monarch enslaved them and placed task masters over them, and by oppression and the destruction of their male offspring sought to prevent their increase. Finally the Lord raised up Moses and delivered them from bondage amid a splendid display of his Almighty power, and eventually settled them in the land of Canaan—the land he had promised unto Abraham as an inheritance—where they became a mighty nation. [See note 1, end of section.]
3. Revolt of the Ten Tribes.—As a nation the Israelites reached the zenith of their splendor under the reign of David and his son Solomon. At the death of the latter, 975 B. C., the kingdom was divided. Ten tribes revolted against the oppression of Solomon's successor, his son Rehoboam, and formed the kingdom of Israel, choosing for their king Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, one of Solomon's servants. The new king—a man of great valor—established his capital at Shechem [Shek-em], but fifty years afterwards it was removed to Samaria.
4. The Captivity of Israel—The Lost Tribes.—This kingdom of Israel continued its existence for about two hundred and fifty years. In that time the people may be said to have departed wholly from the paths of righteousness, becoming drunken, licentious and idolatrous. So the Lord gave them up and Shalmaneser, a noted Assyrian king, made war upon them, utterly overcame them and led them captives into Assyria. From thence the Lord led many of them away into the northern country, where, no man knoweth, and hence they are denominated the Lost Tribes. Our reason for saying they were led away into the north is to be found in the fact that many predictions of the prophets plainly declare that they shall come from the land of the north, a great company, etc.;[154] and it must be manifest that they cannot come from the land of the north unless they are there. Messiah, when he visited the Nephites after his resurrection, plainly told them that the other tribes of the house of Israel—meaning the ten tribes—the Lord had led away out of the land;[155] and he also announced his intention of visiting them, and commanded the Nephites to make a record of it that a knowledge of the existence of these "other tribes" might be made known unto the Gentiles when the Nephite records should be revealed to them. These "other tribes," Messiah spoke of, he declared not to be of the land of America, nor the land of Jerusalem, "neither in any parts of that land round about whither I have been to minister."[156]
5. The Apocryphal writer Esdras, in relating one of his visions describes one of the great characters that figured in those visions as calling unto himself a peaceful people. "Those," said the angel sent to interpret the vision, "are the tribes which were carried away captives out of their own land in the time of Oseas (Hosea) the king, whom Salmanaser, the king of the Assyrians, took captive, and crossed them beyond the river; so were they brought into another land. But they took counsel to themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth unto a further country where never man dwelt, that they there might keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land. And they entered in at the narrow passage of the River Euphrates. For the Most High then showed them signs, and stayed the springs of the flood till they were passed over. For through the country there was great journey, even of a year and a half, and the same region is called Arsareth (or Ararah). Then dwelt they there until the latter time, and when they come forth again, the Most High shall hold still the springs of the river again, that they may go through; therefore sawest thou the multitude peaceable."[157]
6. Whatever doubt may be entertained respecting the writings of Esdras, it cannot be denied that in respect to the Ten Tribes and what became of them he is in harmony with the statement made by Jesus to the Nephites, viz: that the Lord had led them away out of the land. The Most High, according to Esdras, showing them signs by staying the springs of the flood of the Euphrates, as he will do when the time comes for them to return.[158] He is also in harmony with the prophets who predict the return of Israel in the last days from the land in which they have been hidden by the Lord.[159] [See note 2, end of section.]
7. The Samaritans.—The country inhabited by the kingdom of Israel—the north half of Palestine—was taken possession of by people sent from Babylon, Persia and other countries by the Assyrian king, and these strangers, intermarrying with the few Israelites remaining in the land, after the main body of the people had been led away into captivity, became the mixed people called Samaritans, so heartily despised by the Jews.
8. The Kingdom of Judah.—In the civil dissensions which divided the Israelites at the death of Solomon, the tribe of Benjamin remained loyal to Judah, and may be said to have almost lost its identity in the kingdom which with Judah it formed after the revolt of the ten tribes. It was a stormy career that the kingdom of Judah experienced after the said revolt. It was subject in turn to the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. In consequence of treachery to the last named power, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, about 586 B. C.,[160] besieged Jerusalem, reduced the city to the utmost extremity, captured the king, put out his eyes and led him and most of the Jews captive to Babylon. The walls of the city were thrown down, the temple rifled of its sacred vessels and the city left desolate to be inhabited by strangers. The captivity of the Jews in Babylon lasted about seventy years.[161] The Babylonians in the meantime had been overcome of the Persians, under Cyrus the Great, who in the first year of his reign permitted the Jews to return and rebuild the city and its walls.
9. The Jews, however, never wholly regained their independence; being located between Syria and Egypt, their country was held in subjection as a province to one or the other of them according as now one and now the other was successful in the unhappy wars which broke out between those nations. Finally Palestine became a province of Rome, but the people were allowed the freedom to worship God according to the teachings of Moses and their prophets. This was their condition at the birth and during the lifetime of Messiah.[162]
10. About forty years after the crucifixion of the Christ, the Jews foolishly rebelled against the Roman authority, which brought on a terrible war. During the siege of Jerusalem, which lasted six months, over one million of the wretched inhabitants, according to Josephus, perished of the famine. The remainder were either driven into exile or sold into slavery. The city was razed to the ground, the temple destroyed, and in their eager search for gold the Romans tore up the very foundation, and ploughed up the site, so that literally there was not left one stone to stand upon another that was not thrown down.[163] Since the destruction of their city and the overthrow of their nation, the Jews have been scattered among all nations, despised, hated, oppressed, until all the evil that was prophesied of by Moses[164] concerning them—when they should turn away from God and his law—came upon them. [See note 3, end of section.]
11. Miscellaneous Dispersions.—Besides the tribes of Israel that were thus dispersed, there were families of various tribes whom the Lord led away at different times into distant lands. Such as the family of Lehi of the tribe of Manasseh; and that of Ishmael of the tribe of Ephraim, both of which families, together with one Zoram—of what tribe he was is not known—the Lord led to the continent of America. The Lord also led to the same land a colony that departed from Jerusalem immediately after its destruction by king Nebuchadnezzar, in the sixth century B. C., among whom was one Mulek, one of the sons of King Zedekiah, whose people founded the city of Zarahemla, and afterwards united with the Nephites.
12. The Blood of Israel Sprinkled Among all Nations.—The Jews since the destruction of their city and nation by the Romans, have been scattered among all nations, but they have succeeded in a remarkable manner in preserving their identity as a distinct people. Still it is not to be doubted that there are instances where Jews have married and intermarried with the Gentiles among whom they lived, until they lost their identity, and thus the blood of Israel, unrecognized, is in the veins of many supposed to be Gentiles.
13. The tribes of Israel sent into Babylon, Assyria and the surrounding countries in like manner inter-mingled their blood with the people of those nations. Moreover, there are good reasons to believe that in that exodus of the ten tribes from Assyria to the north, many became discouraged and stopped by the way. Others unable to prosecute the journey also abandoned the expedition, and these that thus halted, uniting and intermarrying with the original inhabitants of the land, constituted those prolific races that over-ran the western division of the Roman Empire.
14. In this manner the blood of Israel has been sprinkled almost among all the nations of the earth, until the word of the Lord which says, "I will sift the house of Israel among all nations,"[165] has been literally fulfilled.
15. The Gathering of Israel.—Notwithstanding Israel and Judah have thus been scattered, their temple destroyed and their chief city trodden down of the Gentiles, the remnant of this favored people of God, according to the promises of the Lord, are to be gathered together again and established upon the lands promised to their forefathers. The keys necessary for the inauguration of this work were given to the Prophet Joseph by Moses on the occasion of his appearing to him and to Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple, and the work has begun. I think it proper here to give some of the passages of scripture which promise the gathering of Israel.
16. From the Bible.—Hear the word of the Lord, O, ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all.[166]
Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.[167]
And it shall come to pass in that day[168] that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. * * * And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.[169]
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass when ye be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind. * * * At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. * * * In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.[170]
17. From the Book of Mormon.—But behold thus saith the Lord God: when the day cometh that they [the Jews—see context] shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance. And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance.[171]
18. From the Doctrine and Covenants.—And the Lord, even the Savior, shall stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh. And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord, and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves, and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence. And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep. Their enemies shall become a prey unto them, and in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools or living water; and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land. And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants. And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence. And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim; and they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy. Behold, this is the blessing of the Everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows. And they also of the tribe of Judah, after their pain, shall be sanctified in holiness before the Lord to dwell in his presence day and night, for ever and for ever.[172] [See note 4, end of section.]
19. The Preparatory Work to the Return of the Ten Tribes.—This is enough in a general way upon the return of the Ten Tribes from the north and the return of the Jews to Jerusalem. Yet there is another part of this work of gathering Israel that calls for our attention. We have described the manner in which the blood of Israel has been sprinkled among the Gentile nations. The people in whose veins that blood runs must be gathered as well as the Jews and the Ten Tribes; for the promise of gathering extends to all the children of Israel, in all the countries whither they have been scattered. Moreover, it would seem that the Ten Tribes are to come to Zion and sing in the heights thereof, and there be crowned with glory by the hands of the servants of the Lord, the children of Ephraim.[173] The gathering of Israel scattered among the Gentile nations will have made considerable progress, and Zion will be built up before the Ten Tribes will be brought from the north. This work of gathering Israel from among the Gentile nations is the work that the Church of Christ is now engaged in. The Lord has revealed the location of Zion;[174] it has been dedicated for the gathering together of his people Israel. Even the temple site is known and dedicated, and the sure word of God given that the temple shall be built in this generation.[175] The enemies of the church drove the Saints away form the consecrated land, it is true;[176] but their absence will only be temporary; the time will come when they will return and fulfill all that the Lord hath decreed in relation to Zion and its redemption.
20. Meantime they are building up stakes of Zion in the Rocky Mountain valleys, and in this way are fulfilling predictions of the ancient prophets. Isaiah hath it written, that "In the last days the house of the Lord shall be established in the tops of the mountains; * * * and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."[177]
21. It is remarkable how minutely the Latter-day Saints are fulfilling the terms of this prophecy:
I. They are building the temples of God in the tops of the mountains, so that the house of the Lord is truly where Isaiah saw it would be.
II. The Saints engaged in this work are people gathered from nearly all the nations under heaven, so that all nations are flowing unto the house of the Lord in the top of the mountains. [See note 5, end of section.]
III. The people who receive the gospel in foreign lands joyfully say to their relatives and friends, "Come ye, and let us go up to the house of the Lord, and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths."
22. The manner in which the Saints are gathered, one here and one there, one from this city and one from another, fulfills the prophecy of Jeremiah, who, in speaking of this great gathering of Israel, represents the Lord as saying: "I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion; and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding."[178]
23. The student should be informed how it is we know the Saints are of the house of Israel. First, they fulfill the terms of the prophecies written about the gathering of Israel by the ancient prophets, as seen above; second, the patriarchs of the church, ordained and set apart to that calling by the apostles, in giving blessings to the Saints declare them to be of the house of Israel, and mainly of the tribe of Ephraim. [See note 6, end of section.]
24. Object of Gathering.—Another object of this gathering of the people of God from among the Gentile nations—which with their wickedness, spiritual blindness, and confusion constitute Babylon—is that they may not partake of the sins of Babylon, and that they might escape the judgments and plagues decreed by God against the wickedness thereof. The Apostle John prophesies of this. In those visions given to him on the Isle of Patmos, showing him things that would take place in the future, he heard a voice from heaven saying: "Come out of her [that is out of Babylon], my people; that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. * * * Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning, and famine; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."[179] The Saints are gathering out of Babylon that they may escape these threatened judgments.
1. Settlement of Israel in Canaan.—Of the twelve tribes of Israel, nine and a half were located to the west and two and a half to the east of the Jordan. In this region they had been led by Joshua, Moses being only permitted to catch a distant glimpse of the promised land. After the death of Joshua, followed the period of Judges, which lasted about five centuries. The last of the judges was Samuel, who, when the people demanded a king, anointed Saul, 1095, B.C.—Anderson's Gen. Hist.
2. The Departure of the Ten Tribes for the North—They [the ten tribes] determined to go to a country "where never man dwelt," that they might be free from all contaminating influences. That country could only be found in the north. Asia was already the seat of a comparatively ancient civilizations; Egypt flourished in northern Africa; and southern Europe was rapidly filling with the future rulers of the world. They had, therefore, no choice but to turn their faces northward. The first portion of their journey was not, however, north; according to the account of Esdras, they appear to have at first moved in the direction of their old home, and it is possible that they originally started with the intention of returning thereto, or probably in order to deceive the Assyrians, they started as if to return to Canaan, and when they crossed the Euphrates, and were out of danger from the hosts of the Medes and Persians, then they turned their journeying feet toward the polar star. Esdras states that they entered in at the narrow passage of the river Euphrates, the Lord staying the springs of the flood until they were passed over. The point on the river Euphrates at which they crossed would necessarily be in its upper portion, as lower down would be too far south for their purpose. The upper course of the Euphrates lies among lofty mountains near the village of Pastas; it plunges through a gorge formed by precipices more than a thousand feet in height and so narrow that it is bridged at the top; it shortly afterwards enters the plain of Mesopotamia. How accurately this portion of the river answers to the description of Esdras of the "Narrows," where the Israelites crossed!—Reynolds' Are we of Israel? pp. 26-27.
3. Final Overthrow of Judah.—According to Josephus (De Bell. Jud. vi: 9, 3) 1,100,000 men fell in the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, and 79,000 were captured in the whole war. Of the latter number, the greater part was distributed among the provinces, to be butchered in the amphitheaters or cast to wild beasts; others were doomed to work as public slaves in Egypt; only those under the ages of seventeen were sold into private bondage. An equally dreadful destruction fell upon the remains of the nation, which had once more assembled in Judea, under the reign of Hadrian (A. D. 133), which Dion Cassius concisely relates. By these two savage wars the Jewish population must have been effectually extirpated from the Holy Land itself, a result which did not follow from the Babylonian captivity. Afterwards a dreary period of fifteen hundred years' oppression crushed in Europe all who bore the name of Israel, and Christian nations have visited on their head a crime [the crucifixion of Messiah] perpetrated by a few thousand inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were not the real forefathers of the European Jews. Nor in the east has their lot been much more cheering. With a few partial exceptions, they have ever since been a despised, an oppressed and naturally a degraded people; though from them have spread light and truth to the distant nations of the earth.—Biblical Literature (Kitto) vol. I, p. 39.
4. Return of the Ten Tribes from the North.—Away in yonder north countries, where, I do not know, but away in those regions are ten tribes of the house of Israel. How do you know they are in the north country? Because the Bible has told us that in the latter days they should come out of the north country, and if they were not in the north country they could not come from there. Jeremiah says in his thirty-first chapter—"Behold I will bring them from the north, the blind and the lame with them, and the woman with child; they shall come, a great company out of the north countries." Where will they go to? Will they go immediately to Palestine, where they formerly had their inheritance. No. Jeremiah tells us where they will go, he tells there is to be a place called Zion before these tribes come out of the north countries, and when they come with a great company, the blind and the lame with them, and the Lord God leads them with supplication and with tears and with prayers, bringing them forth from those dreary, desolate, cold arctic regions; when that day shall come, there shall be a Zion prepared to receive these ten tribes, before they finally go back to Palestine. Is there anything in the scriptures about this? Yes. In the same chapter of Jeremiah we read that, "they shall come and sing in the height of Zion." Zion, then, will have to be built up before they come; Zion will have to be reared somewhere and prepared to receive them; and it will be a holy place, and it will be a holy people who will build up Zion, so much so that the Lord will bring these ten tribes into the height of Zion, into the midst of it.—Orson Pratt—Journal of Discourses, vol. 18, p. 22, 23.
5. All Nations Flowing Unto the House of the Lord.—One of the features in the celebration of Pioneer Day—24th of July, the anniversary of the day the company of Pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley, 1847—in Salt Lake City, 1880, was to have represented the various nationalities composing the population of Utah. A man and a woman of each nation from which people had been gathered by the proclamation of the gospel were selected as the representatives, each pair bearing the national colors of their country. They occupied a platform in the Tabernacle during the services, and after a historical sketch of the introduction of the gospel in the various nations was read by Orson Pratt, the representatives of the nations arose and President John Taylor said: "I wish to state to the congregation that the Lord commanded his servants to go forth to all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. We have not yet been to all the world, but here are twenty-five nations represented today, and we have thus far fulfilled our mission."
6. The Latter-day Saints of Israel.—The set time was come for God to gather Israel, and for his work to commence upon the face of the whole earth, and the elders who have arisen in this church and kingdom are actually of Israel. Take the elders who are in the house [the old Tabernacle in Salt Lake City], and you can scarcely find one out of a hundred but what is of the house of Israel. * * * Will we go to the Gentile nations to preach the gospel? Yes, and gather out the Israelites wherever they are mixed among the nations of the earth. * * * Ephraim has become mixed with all the nations of the earth, and it is Ephraim that is gathering together. It is Ephraim that I have been searching for all the days of my preaching, and that is the blood which ran in my veins when I embraced the gospel. If there are any of the other tribes of Israel mixed with the Gentiles we are also searching after them.—Brigham Young. From a Discourse preached April 8th, 1855.
REVIEW.
1. What great work did the visit of Moses to the Kirtland Temple inaugurate?
2. Who are Israel?
3. Give a sketch of the history of Israel to the revolt of the ten tribes.
4. How came the ten tribes to revolt?
5. Give an account of the fall of the kingdom of Israel.
6. Why are the ten tribes called the "lost tribes?"
7. What evidence have you that they are in the north?
8. Give the evidence to be found in the words of Jesus to the Nephites.
9. What statement does the Apocryphal writer Esdras make respecting the ten tribes? (Note 2.)
10. Who were the Samaritans?
11. What tribes formed the kingdom of Judah?
12. Give an outline of the history of Judah to the birth of Messiah.
13. What befell Judah about thirty years after the crucifixion of Messiah? (Note 3.)
14. What can you say of miscellaneous dispersions?
15. How came the blood of Israel sprinkled among all nations?
16. What promises are made to scattered Israel?
17. Quote the several passages from the Bible which predict the gathering of Israel.
18. Quote the passages from the Book of Mormon.
19. What progress has been made in the preparatory work of the ten tribes? (Note 4.)
20. What progress has been made in the preparatory work?
21. What prophecies are the Saints minutely fulfilling in gathering together in the mountains? (Note 5.)
22. How do we know that the Latter-day Saints are of Israel? (Note 6.)
23. For what object are the Saints gathering from Babylon?
SECTION VIII.
1. Salvation for the Dead.—The appearing of Elijah the prophet, in the Kirtland Temple on the 3rd of April, 1836, was the introduction of another great work connected with the redemption of the human race. That work is Salvation for the dead, the keys of which were given to the Prophet Joseph Smith by Elijah, on the occasion of the appearing mentioned above. That event was an epoch in the history of this great dispensation. It began a revolution in the theology of the Christian world. Up to that time—1836—it was universally believed by orthodox Christians that the souls of men who died without conversion to the Christian religion, were everlastingly lost. It was believed that the application of the gospel of Jesus Christ was limited to this life; and those who failed, through whatever cause, to obtain the benefits of the means of salvation it affords, are forever barred from such benefits. "If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall lie;"[180] and they argued from this that in whatever state a man died so he remained. If he died in a state of justification his salvation was assured; but if not, then justification and consequently salvation was forever beyond his hope.
2. This sectarian doctrine which does so much violence to the justice of God—since it closes the door of salvation against so many thousands of God's children through no other circumstances than that they never so much as heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and therefore could not either believe or obey it-arose, first, through a misconception of the doctrine of eternal punishment with which the wicked are threatened in the scriptures; and, second, through a very narrow conception of the sure mercies of God.
3. Christian Dogma of Eternal Judgment.—Christians believe that to receive eternal punishment was to be punished eternally. This popular Christian error was corrected in a revelation to Martin Harris through Joseph Smith, even before the church was organized.[181] In that revelation it is explained that God is "Endless;" that is one of his names; as also is "Eternal" one of his names. "Therefore eternal punishment is God's punishment. Endless punishment is God's punishment." In other words, the punishment that will overtake the wicked is Eternal's punishment; Endless' punishment. But Christians, mistaking the name of the punishment for the sign of its duration, taught that men were punished eternally for the sins committed in this life. Then again God's punishment is eternal; that is, it always exists; it is eternal as God is, but the transgressor receives only so much of it, endures it only so long as may be necessary to satisfy the reasonable claims of justice, tempered with mercy. Then, when the insulted law is vindicated, the offender is released from the punishment. But as "the bars survive the captive they enthrall," as the prison remains after the transgressor has served his time in it, so in God's government, the punishment eternally remains after transgressors have satisfied the claims of justice, and are relieved from its pains and penalties. It remains to vindicate the law of God whenever it shall be broken. But men read—"He that believeth not [the gospel] shall be damned,"[182] and they are taught to believe that they were damned to all eternity—that they were consigned forever to the flames of hell.[183] [See note 1, end of section.]
4. One would think that right conceptions of the attributes of justice and mercy as they exist in God's character would lead men to the rejection of the horrible dogma of eternal punishment as taught by orthodox Christianity. But if that be not sufficient then the scriptures themselves refute it, as will appear in the following paragraphs:
5. Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.—From a remark made in the writings of the Apostle Peter,[184] we learn that after Messiah was put to death in the flesh "He went and preached to the spirits in prison, which sometime [aforetime] were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waiting in the days of Noah." During the three days, then, that Messiah's body lay in the tomb at Jerusalem, his spirit was in the world of spirits preaching to those who had rejected the preaching of righteous Noah. The Christian traditions no less than the scriptures teach that Jesus went down into hell and preached to those there held in ward. [See note 2, end of section.]
6. Not only is the mere fact of Messiah's going to the spirit prison stated in the scripture, but the purpose of his going there is learned from the same source. "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."[185] This manifestly means that these spirits who had once rejected the counsels of God against themselves, had the gospel again preached to them and had the privilege of living according to its precepts in the spirit life, and of being judged according to men in the flesh, or as men in the flesh are judged; that is, according to the degree of their faithfulness to the precepts of the gospel.
7. Naturally the question arises, Why was the gospel preached to the spirits in prison who had once been disobedient if there were no means by which it could be applied to them for their salvation? We can scarcely suppose that Messiah would preach the gospel to them if it could do them no good. He did not go there to mock their sufferings or to add something to the torture of their damnation by explaining the beauties of that salvation now forever beyond their reach! Such a supposition would at once be revolting to reason, insulting to the justice of God, and utterly repugnant to the dictates of mercy!
8. Following that question comes another: If the gospel is preached again to those who have once rejected it, how much sooner will it be presented to those who have never heard it, who have lived in those generations when the gospel and the authority to administer its ordinances were not in the earth? Seeing that those who once rejected the offer of salvation had it presented to them again—after paying the penalty of their first disobedience—it would seem that those who lived when it was not upon the earth, or who when it was upon the earth perished in ignorance of it, will much sooner come to salvation.
9. Of the things we have written, this is the sum: (1) The gospel was preached by Messiah to the spirits in prison who had rejected the teachings of Noah; therefore there must be some means through which its precepts and ordinances may be applied to them. (2) If the gospel can be made available to those who once rejected the proffered mercies of God, its privileges will much sooner, and doubtless more abundantly be granted to those who died in ignorance of it.
10. Baptism for the Dead.—The manner in which the ordinances of the gospel may be administered to those who have died without receiving them is hinted at by Paul. Writing to the Corinthians on the subject of the resurrection,—correcting those who said there was no resurrection—he asks: "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?"[186] In this the apostle manifestly referred to a practice which existed among the Christian saints of the living being baptized for the dead, and argues from the existence of that practice that the dead must rise, or why the necessity of being baptized for the dead. Though this is the only passage in the New Testament, or in the whole Bible, that refers directly to the subject, yet of itself it is sufficient to establish the fact that such a principle was known among the ancient saints. [See notes 3 and 4, end of section.]
11. From the revelations of God to the church in this dispensation the following may be learned: Elijah, in the fulfillment of ancient prophecy, appeared unto Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and delivered to them those keys or powers of the priesthood which give to the living the right to do a work for the salvation of the dead. As a consequence the hearts of the children are turned to the fathers; and of course, since the fathers in the spirit world through the preaching of the gospel learn that it is within the power of their children to do a work for them, their hearts are turned to the children, and thus the predicted result to follow Elijah's mission is fulfilled.
12. The work that the living may do for the dead is that of attending to outward ordinances—baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, washings; anointings and sealings—all being appointed by revelation and the direction of the Lord, and all sealed and ratified by the power of the priesthood of God which binds on earth and in heaven. It is required that all baptisms and other ordinances of the gospel performed for the dead be attended to in houses—and more properly in temples—specially dedicated for holy purposes. Those ordinances are to be faithfully recorded by those who see and hear them performed,[187] that there may be valid testimony that the work has been done. These ordinances attended to on earth by the living, and accepted in the spirit world by those for whom they are performed, will make them a patent means of salvation to the dead and of exaltation to the living, since they become in very deed "saviors upon Mount Zion." This work that can be done for the dead enlarges one's view of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One begins to see indeed that it is the "everlasting gospel;" for it runs parallel with man's existence both in this life and in that which is to come. It vindicates the character of God, for by it we may see that justice and judgment, truth and mercy are in all his ways. [See note 5, end of section.]
13. Different Degrees of Glory.—Closely associated with the subjects treated in the forgoing paragraphs of this section, is the subject of the Different Degrees of Glory. Nothing is more clearly stated in holy writ than that men will be judged and rewarded according to their works.[188]And as their works vary in degree or righteousness so will their rewards vary, and so will they have bestowed upon them different degrees of glory according as their works shall merit and their intelligence be capable of comprehending. Messiah said to his disciples: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; * * * that where I am there ye may be also."[189] Still it is commonly held among Christian sects that he who attains heaven partakes immediately of the highest glories; while he who misses heaven goes direct to hell and partakes of all its miseries forever.[190] Yet nothing is clearer than the fact that there are different heavens spoken of in scripture and different degrees of glory. When Solomon dedicated the temple he had builded, he exclaimed in his prayer—"Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have builded!"[191] Paul in writing to the Corinthians says "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago * * * such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man * * * how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."[192]
14. Reasoning on the resurrection, the last writer quoted says: "There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for as one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead."[193] In all this, however, the great subject is but vaguely hinted at. For a full understanding of it we are indebted to a revelation given to Joseph Smith, February 16th, 1832. From that revelation we summarized the following:[194]
15. The Celestial Glory.—They who receive the testimony of Jesus, that believe on his name and are baptized after the manner of his burial; that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all sin, and receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands by those having authority; who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise—these become the church of the First Born. They are they into whose hands the Father hath given all things—they are priests and kings, who have received of God's fullness, and of his glory; they are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek, which is after the order of the Son of God—therefore they are Gods, even the Sons of God. All things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs, and they are Christ's and Christ is God's. They shall overcome all things; they shall dwell in the presence of God and Christ forever and forever; they are they whom Christ will bring with him when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to reign on the earth over his people; they have part in the resurrection of the just; their names are written in heaven, where God and Christ dwell; they are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant; these are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory the sun in heaven is spoken of as typical—they inherit the celestial glory, they see as they are seen and know as they are known.
16. The Terrestrial Glory.—The terrestrial glory differs from the celestial glory as the light of the moon differs from the light of the sun. These are they who died without law, and also they who are the spirits of men in prison, whom the Son visited, and preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of God's glory but not of his fullness. They may enjoy the presence of the Son but not of the presence of the Father; these are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus, therefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of God.
17. The Telestial Glory.—The telestial glory differs from the terrestrial, as the light of the stars differs from the light of the moon. The inhabitants of the telestial glory are those who neither received the gospel of Christ in the flesh nor the testimony of Jesus in the spirit world. These are they who are thrust down to hell, and will not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, when Christ shall have finished his work. These are they who are of Paul and of Apollos, and of Cephas. some of Christ and some of John, some of Moses and some of Elias; but received not the gospel nor the testimony of Jesus. These are they who will not be gathered with the Saints, to be caught up unto the church of the First Born, and received into the cloud. These are liars and sorcerers and adulterers, and whoremongers, and whosoever loves and makes a lie. They suffer the wrath of God on earth and the vengeance of eternal fire, but they will be judged every man according to his works and receive according to his works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared; and they shall be servants of the Most High,[195] but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end. They of the Telestial Glory enjoy neither the presence of the Father nor the Son, but receive the ministration of angels, and of the Holy Ghost, for even they of the Telestial Glory are accounted heirs of salvation. The Prophet Joseph and Sidney Rigdon in their vision saw that the inhabitants of the telestial glory were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the sea shore—and they heard the voice of God saying—"These all shall bow the knee and every tongue shall confess to Him who sits upon the throne forever and ever; for they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominions, in the mansions which are prepared, and they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end."
18. Degrees Within the Three Great Kingdoms of Glory.—These are the three great divisions of glory in the world to come, but within these great divisions are subdivisions or degrees. The Prophet Joseph taught that in the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees.[196] Of the telestial glory it is written: "And the glory of the telestial is one, even as the glory of the stars is one, for as one star differs from another star in glory even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world."[197] From this it is evident that there are different degrees of glory within the celestial and telestial glories; and though we have no direct authority for the statement, it seems but reasonable to conclude that there are different degrees of glory in the terrestrial world also. It appears but rational that it should be so, since the degrees of worthiness in men are almost infinite in their variety; and as every man is to be judged according to his works, it will require a corresponding infinity of degrees in glory to mete out to every man that reward of which he is worthy, and that also which his intelligence will enable him to enjoy.
19. Progress Within and From Different Degrees of Glory.—The question of advancement within the great divisions of glory—celestial, terrestrial, and telestial; as also the question of advancement from one sphere of glory to another remains to be considered. In the revelation from which we have summarized what has been written here, in respect to the different degrees of glory, it is said that those of the terrestrial glory will be ministered unto by those of the celestial; and those of the telestial will be ministered unto by those of the terrestrial—that is, those of the higher glory minister to those of a lesser order of glory. We can conceive of no reason for all this administration of the higher to the lower, unless it be for the purpose of advancing our Father's children along the lines of eternal progression. Whether or not in the great future, full of so many possibilities now hidden from us, they of the lesser glories after education and advancement within those spheres may at last emerge from them and make their way to the higher degrees of glory until at last they attain to the highest, is not revealed in the revelations of God, and any statement made on the subject must partake more or less of the nature of conjecture.
20. But if it be granted that such a thing is possible, they who at the first entered into the celestial glory—having before them the privilege also of eternal progress—have been moving onward, so that the relative distance between them and those who have fought their way up from the lesser glories, may be as great when the latter have come into the degrees of celestial glory in which the righteous at first stood, as it was at the commencement; and thus between them is an impassable gulf which time cannot destroy. Thus: those whose faith and works are such only as to entitle them to inherit a telestial glory, may arrive at last where those whose works in this life were such as to entitle them to entrance into the celestial kingdom—they may arrive where these were but never where they are.
21. Sons of Perdition.—There is a class of souls with whom the justice of God must deal, which will not and cannot be classified in the celestial, terrestrial or telestial glories.
They are the sons of perdition. But though they will not be assigned a place in either of these grand divisions of glory, the revelation from which we have drawn our information respecting man's future state describes the condition of these sons of perdition so far as it is made known unto the children of men. It also informs us as to the nature of the crime which calls for such grievous punishment.
22. The sons of perdition are they of whom God hath said 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 he hath said there is no forgiveness in this world nor the world to come. These are they who shall go away into everlasting punishment, with the devil and his angels, and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; the only ones who will not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath. He saves all the works of his hands except these sons of perdition; but they go away to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment. The end thereof, the place thereof no man knoweth. It has not been revealed, nor will it be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof. It has been partially shown to some in vision, and may be shown again in the same partial manner to others; but the end, the width, the height, the depth and the misery thereof they understand not, nor will any one but those who receive the terrible condemnation.
23. Such the punishment, now as to the crime that merits it. It is the crime of high treason to God which pulls down on men this fearful doom. It falls upon men who know the power of God and who have been made partakers of it, and then permit themselves to be so far overcome of the devil that they deny the truth that has been revealed to them and defy the power of God. They deny the Holy Ghost after having received it. They deny the Only Begotten Son of the Father after the Father hath revealed him, and in this crucify him unto themselves anew, and put him to an open shame. They commit the same act of high treason that Lucifer in the rebellion of heaven did, and hence are worthy of the same punishment with him. Thank God, the number who commit that fearful crime is but few. It is only those who attain to a very great knowledge of the things of God that are capable of committing it, and the number among such are few indeed who become so recklessly wicked as to rebel against and defy the power of God.[198] But when such characters do fall, they fall like Lucifer, never to rise again; they get beyond the power of repentance, or the hope of forgiveness.
NOTES.
1. The Sectarian Dogma of Eternal Punishment.—There is nothing more obnoxious to a reasonable mind, a loving heart, a soul susceptible to the relative claims of justice and mercy, than the Presbyterian and other old ecclesiastical school doctrines of an eternal, material, unchanging hell of fire and torment in which the unregenerate are doomed to suffer the implacable wrath of an unrelenting Deity forever and forever, worlds without end. * * * And it is not true. It was not and is not a doctrine of Christ. It sprang from the gloom-clothed brains of cloistered monks and heretic-burning priests, bearing not a vestige of the sacred authority vested in the apostles and their immediate associates. It is redolent of the Auto de fe, and stamped with the bloody seal of apostate papal Rome. It breathes of vengeance instead of justice, and banishes sweet mercy from the economy of heaven. It makes God more cruel than the most inhuman mortal. It is a libel on the Almighty and a fruitful cause of atheism, irreverence and doubt.—Penrose.
2. Messiah Preaching to the Spirits in Prison.—In the second and third centuries every branch and division of the Christian church, so far as their record enables us to judge, believed that Christ preached to the departed; and this belief dates back to our earliest reliable sources of information in the former of those two centuries.—Christ's Mission to the Under World, (Huidekoper), fourth edition, p. 49.
As Christ died for us, and was buried, so also is it to be believed, that he went down into hell.—Articles of Religion—Church of England—Art. III, Book of Common Prayer, p. 311.
These "spirits in prison" are supposed to be the holy dead. * * * The most intelligent meaning suggested by the context is, however, that Christ by his spirit preached to those who in the time of Noah, while the Ark was a preparing, were disobedient, and whose spirits are now in prison, abiding the general judgment. The prison is doubtless hades, but what hades is must be determined by other passages of scripture; and whether it is the grave or hell, it is still a prison for those who yet await the judgment day.—Cyclopedia Biblical Literature (Kitto), p. 798.
3. Baptism for the Dead.—While not maintaining the view that there is such a thing as a living man being baptized for one who is dead, the writer in Biblical Literature (Kitto), expresses these views: "From the wording of the sentence [why then are they baptized for the dead?] the most simple impression certainly is, that Paul speaks of a baptism which a living man receives in the place of a dead one. This interpretation is particularly adopted by those expounders with whom grammatical construction is of paramount importance, and the first thing to be considered." This view is also upheld by Ambrose among the early Christian writers; and by Erasmus, Scaliger, Grotius, Calixtus among the moderns; and still more recently by Augusti Meyer, Billroth and Ruckert. De Wette considers this the only possible meaning of the words.
4. Epiphanius, a writer of the fourth century, in speaking of the Marcionites, a sect of Christians to whom he was opposed, says: "In this country—I mean Asia—and even Galatea, their school flourished eminently; and a traditional fact concerning them has reached us, that when any of them had died without baptism, they used to baptize others in their name, lest in the resurrection they should suffer punishment as unbaptized" (Heresies xxviii:7). This proves beyond controversy the fact that vicarious baptism for the dead was practiced among some sects of the early Christians. Another fact proves it still more emphatically than this statement by Epiphanius. The Council of Carthages, held A. D. 397, in its sixth canon, forbids the administration of baptism and holy communion for the dead; why should this canon be formed against these practices if they had no existence among the Christians of those days?—The Gospel, page 246.
REVIEW.
1. What great work did Elijah's visit to the Kirtland Temple introduce?
2. What was the Christian belief previous to this in respect to those who died without conversion to the Christian religion?
3. Through what cause did this error arise?
4. Explain the meaning of "Eternal" punishment—"Endless" punishment.
5. What scripture teaches that Jesus preached to the spirits in prison?
6. For what purpose was the gospel preached to those who once rejected it?
7. If the gospel was preached again to those who once rejected it, what may we conclude in respect to those who never heard it in this life?
8. By what means is the gospel made available to those who died without a knowledge of it, or who hearing, rejected it?
9. Give an exposition of baptism for the dead. (Notes 3 and 4.)
10. What is the scriptural doctrine in relation to the future rewards of men?
11. What is the orthodox Christian view in respect to those who attain unto heaven?
12. In what does the Catholic view differ from that of the Protestant? (Note, p. 414.)
13. What evidences in the scripture can you quote to prove that there are different kingdoms or degrees of glory in heaven?
14. Say what you can of the celestial glory.
15. Describe as far as you can the terrestrial glory.
16. In what does the telestial glory differ from the terrestrial?
17. What class of people inherit the telestial glory?
18. What can you say of degrees within the three great kingdoms of glory?
19. What can you say of progress within and from the different degrees of glory?
20. What can you say of the sons of perdition and their punishment?
21. What is the nature of their sin?
22. What of the number of those who commit it?