The Articles of Faith Part 50

[1201] Canon Farrar. _The Early Days of Christianity_, pp. 587, 588.

=13. Toleration is not Acceptance.=--The human frailty of running to extremes in thought and action finds few more glaring examples than are presented in man's dealings with his fellows on matters religious.

On the one hand, he is p.r.o.ne to regard the faith of others as not merely inferior to his own, but as utterly unworthy of his respect; or, on the other, he brings himself to believe that all sects are equally justified in their professions and practices, and that therefore there is no distinctively true order of religion. It is in no wise inconsistent for Latter-day Saints to boldly proclaim the conviction, that their own Church is the accepted one, the only one ent.i.tled to the designation "Church of Jesus Christ," and the sole earthly repository of the eternal priesthood in the present age; and yet to willingly accord kind treatment and a recognition of sincerity of purpose to every soul or sect honestly professing Christ, or merely showing a respect for truth, and manifesting a sincere desire to walk according to the light received. My allegiance to the Church of my choice is based on a conviction of the validity and genuineness of its high claim to distinction, as the one and only Church possessing a G.o.d-given charter of authority; nevertheless, I count the sects as sincere until they demonstrate that they are otherwise, and am prepared to defend them in their rights.

=14.= Joseph Smith, the first prophet of the last dispensation, while reproving certain of his brethren for intolerance toward the cherished beliefs of other men, taught that even idolaters ought to be protected in their worship; that, while it would be the strict duty of any Christian to direct his efforts toward enlightening such benighted minds, he would not be justified in forcibly depriving even the heathen of their rights of adoration. In the pure eyes of G.o.d, idolatry is one of the most heinous of sins; yet He is tolerant of those who, knowing Him not, yield to their inherited instinct for worship by rendering homage even to stocks and stones. Deadly as is the sin of idolatrous worship on the part of him to whom light has come, it may represent in the savage the sincerest reverence of which he is capable. And, as set forth in a preceding lecture,[1202] the voice of the Eternal One has declared that the heathen who have known no law shall have part in the first resurrection.

[1202] See page 61.

=15.= What justification can man find for intolerance toward his fellow, when G.o.d, who is grieved over every sin, manifests so marked a forbearance? The free agency of the human soul is sacred to Deity.

"Know this, that every soul is free, To choose his life, and what he'll be; For this eternal truth is given, That G.o.d will force no man to heaven.

He'll call, persuade, direct aright, Bless him with wisdom, love, and light, In nameless ways be good and kind, But never force the human mind."

=16. Man is strictly Answerable for his Acts.=--The unbounded liberality and true tolerance with which the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regards other religious denominations, and the teachings of the Church respecting the a.s.surance of final redemption for all men except the few who have fallen so far as to have committed the unpardonable sin, thereby becoming Sons of Perdition, may suggest the erroneous conclusion, that we believe that all so redeemed shall be admitted to equal powers, privileges, and glories in the Heaven of our G.o.d. Far from this, the Church proclaims the doctrine of many and varied degrees of glory, which the redeemed will inherit in strict accordance with their merits.[1203] We believe in no general plan of universal forgiveness or reward, by which sinners of high and low degree shall be exempted from the effects of their deeds, while the righteous are ushered into heaven as a dwelling place in common, all glorified in the same measure. As stated, the heathen whose sins are those of ignorance, are to come forth with the just in the first resurrection; but this does not imply that those children of the lower races are to inherit the glory provided for the able, the valiant, and the true, in the cause of G.o.d on earth.

[1203] See pp. 94-95.

=17.= Our condition in the world to come will be strictly a result of the life we lead in this probation, as, by the light of revealed truth regarding the pre-existent state,[1204] we perceive our present condition to be determined by the fidelity with which we kept our first estate. The scriptures repeatedly declare that man will reap the natural harvest of his works in life, be such good or evil; in the effective language with which the Father encourages and warns his frail children, every one will be rewarded or punished according to his works.[1205] In eternity, man will enjoy or loath the "fruit of his doing."

[1204] See pp. 195-198.

[1205] Job x.x.xiv, 11; Psal. lxii, 12; Jer. xvii, 10; x.x.xii, 19; Matt. xvi, 17; Rom. ii, 6-12; xiv, 12; I Cor. iii, 8; II Cor. v, 10; Rev. ii, 23; xx, 12; xxii, 12.

=18. Degrees of Glory.=--That the privileges and glories of heaven are graded to suit the various capacities of the blessed, is indicated in Christ's teachings. To His apostles He said:--"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. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."[1206]

[1206] John xiv, 1-3.

=19.= This utterance is supplemented by that of Paul, who speaks of the graded glories of the resurrection as follows:--"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 one star differeth from another star in glory.

So also is the resurrection of the dead."[1207]

[1207] I Cor. xv, 40-42.

=20.= A fuller knowledge of this subject has been imparted in the present dispensation. From a revelation given in 1832[1208] we learn the following:--Three great kingdoms or degrees of glory are established for the future habitation of the human race; these are known as the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial. Far below the last and least of these, is the state of eternal punishment prepared for the Sons of Perdition.

[1208] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi.

=21. The Celestial Glory= is provided for those who merit the highest honors of heaven. In the revelation referred to, we read of them:--"They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given, that by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power, and who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true. They are they who are the Church of the First-born.

They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things,--they are they who are Priests and Kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory, and are Priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son; wherefore, as it is written, they are G.o.ds, even the sons of G.o.d;--wherefore 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 G.o.d's.... These shall dwell in the presence of G.o.d and his Christ for ever and ever. These are they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven, to reign on the earth over his people. These are they who shall have part in the first resurrection. These are they who shall come forth in the resurrection of the just.... These are they who are just men made perfect through Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood. These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of G.o.d, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical."[1209]

[1209] The same: Paragraphs 51-70.

=22. The Terrestrial Glory.=--This, the next lower degree, will be attained by many whose works do not merit the highest reward. We read of them:--"These are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs from that of the Church of the First-born who have received the fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the sun in the firmament. Behold, these are they who died without law, and also they who are the spirits of men kept 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 his glory, but not of his fulness. These are they who receive of the presence of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father; wherefore they are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in glory as the moon differs from the sun. These are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of our G.o.d."[1210]

[1210] The same: Paragraphs 71-79.

=23. The Telestial Glory.=--The revelation continues:--"And again, we saw the glory of the telestial,[1211] which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. These are they who deny not the Holy Spirit. These are they who are thrust down to h.e.l.l.

These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil, until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb shall have finished his work."[1212] We learn further that the inhabitants of this kingdom are to be graded among themselves, comprising as they do the unenlightened among the varied opposing sects and divisions of men, and sinners of many types, whose offences are not those of utter perdition;--"For as one star differs from another star in glory, even so differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; for these are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are they who say they are some of one and some of another--some of Christ, and some of John, and some of Moses, and some of Elias, and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; but received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant."[1213] Evidently a considerable part of the human family will fail of all glory beyond that of the telestial kingdom, for we are told,--"But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the seash.o.r.e."[1214] They are thus not wholly rejected; their every merit will be respected. "For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion in the mansions which are prepared; and they shall be servants of the Most High, but where G.o.d and Christ dwell, they cannot come, worlds without end."[1215]

[1211] See Note 2.

[1212] Paragraphs 81-86.

[1213] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 98-101.

[1214] The same: Par. 109.

[1215] The same: Par. 111-112.

=24. The Kingdoms with Respect to One Another.=--The three kingdoms of widely differing glories are themselves organized on an orderly plan of gradation. We have seen that the telestial kingdom comprises a mult.i.tude of subdivisions; this also is the case, we are told, with the celestial;[1216] and, by a.n.a.logy, we conclude that a similar condition prevails in the terrestrial. Thus the innumerable degrees of merit amongst mankind are provided for in an infinity of graded glories. The Celestial kingdom is supremely honored by the personal ministrations of the Father and the Son.[1217] The Terrestrial kingdom will be administered through the higher, without a fullness of glory.

The Telestial is governed through the ministrations of the Terrestrial, by "angels who are appointed to minister for them."[1218]

[1216] Doc. and Cov. cx.x.xi, 1; see also II Cor. xii, 1-4.

[1217] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 68.

[1218] Par. 86, 88.

=25.= It is reasonable to believe, in the absence of direct revelation by which alone absolute knowledge of the matter could be acquired, that, in accordance with G.o.d's plan of eternal progression, advancement from grade to grade within each of the three specified kingdoms will be provided for. But if the recipients of a lower glory be enabled to advance, surely the intelligences of higher rank shall not be stopped in their progress; and thus we may conclude that degrees and grades will ever characterize the kingdoms of our G.o.d.

Eternity is progressive; perfection is relative; the essential feature of G.o.d's living purpose is its a.s.sociated power of eternal increase.

=26. The Sons of Perdition.=--We learn of another cla.s.s of souls whose sins are such as to place them beyond the present possibility of redemption. These are called Sons of Perdition; children of the fallen angel, once a Son of the Morning, now Lucifer, or Perdition.[1219]

These are they who have violated truth in the full blaze of the light of knowledge; who, having received the testimony of Christ, and having been endowed by the Holy Spirit, then deny the same and defy the power of G.o.d, crucifying the Lord afresh, and putting Him to an open shame.

This, the unpardonable sin, can be committed by those only who have received the knowledge and the sacred conviction of the truth, against which they then rebel. Their sin is comparable to the treason of Lucifer, by which he sought to usurp the power and glory of his G.o.d.

Concerning them and their dreadful fate, the Almighty has said:--"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 G.o.d, 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.... They shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, 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; And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows; neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof: Nevertheless I, the Lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; wherefore the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except them who are ordained unto this condemnation."[1220]

[1219] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 25-27.

[1220] Doc. and Cov. lxxvi, 31-48, see also Heb. vi, 4-6; Alma x.x.xix, 6. For other references see page 62.

=27.= Surely the doctrines of the Church are explicit in defining the relationship between the mortal probation and the future state, and in teaching the individual accountability and the free agency of man. The Church affirms that in view of the terrible responsibility under which every man rests, as the unrestrained director of his own course, he must be and is free to choose in all things, from the life that leads to the celestial home, to the career that is but the introduction to the miseries of perdition. Freedom to worship, or to refuse to worship, is a G.o.d-given right.

NOTES.

=1. Intolerance among Christians To-day.=--"It must be said--though I say it with the deepest sorrow--that the cold exclusiveness of the Pharisee, the bitter ignorance of the self-styled theologian, the usurped infallibility of the half-educated religionist, have been ever the curse of Christianity. They have imposed 'the senses of men upon the words of G.o.d, the special senses of men on the general words of G.o.d;'

and have tried to enforce them on all men's consciences with all kinds of burnings and anathemas under equal threats of death and d.a.m.nation. And thus they incurred the terrible responsibility of presenting religion to mankind in a false and repellent guise. Is theological hatred still to be a proverb for the world's just contempt? Is such hatred--hatred in its bitterest and most ruthless form--to be regarded as the legitimate and normal outcome of the religion of love? Is the spirit of peace never to be brought to bear on religious opinions? Are such questions always to excite the most intense animosities, and the most terrible divisions?... Is the world to be forever confirmed in its opinion that theological partisans are less truthful, less candid, less high-minded, less honorable even than the partisans of political and social causes, who make no profession as to the duty of love? Are the so-called 'religious' champions to be forever as they now are, the most unscrupulously bitter, the most conspicuously unfair? Alas! they might be so with far less danger to the cause of religion if they would forego the luxury of 'quoting scripture for their purpose.'"--Canon Farrar, _The Early Days of Christianity_, pp. 584-585.

=2. "Telestial."=--The adjective "telestial" has not become current in the language; its use is at present confined to the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is applied as a distinguishing term to the lowest of the three kingdoms of glory provided for the redeemed. The only English word approaching it in form is the adjective "telestic," which is defined thus:--"tending toward the end or final accomplishment; tending to accomplish a purpose."

=3. Toleration.=--"'Mormonism' offers no modified or conditional claims as to the necessity of compliance with the laws and ordinances of the gospel by every independent inhabitant of earth unto whom salvation shall come. It distinguishes not between enlightened and heathen nations, nor between men of high or low intelligence; nor even between the living and the dead. No human being who has attained years of accountability in the flesh, may hope for salvation in the kingdom of G.o.d until he has rendered obedience to the requirements of Christ, the Redeemer of the world. But while thus decisive, 'Mormonism' is not exclusive. It does not claim that all who have failed to accept and obey the gospel of eternal life shall be eternally and forever d.a.m.ned.

While boldly a.s.serting that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the sole repository of the Holy Priesthood as now restored to earth, it teaches and demands the fullest toleration for all individuals, and organizations of individuals, professing righteousness; and holds that each shall be rewarded for the measure of good he has wrought, to be adjudged in accordance with the spiritual knowledge he has gained. And for such high claims combined with such professions of tolerance, the Church has been accused of inconsistency. Let it not be forgotten, however, that toleration is not acceptance. I may believe with the utmost fulness of my soul's powers that I am right and my neighbor is wrong concerning any proposition or principle; but such conviction gives me no semblance of right for interfering with his exercise of freedom. The only bounds to the liberty of an individual are such as mark the liberty of another, or the rights of the community. G.o.d himself treats as sacred, and therefore as inviolable, the freedom of the human soul.

'Mormonism' contends that no man or nation possesses the right to forcibly deprive even the heathen of his right to worship his deity. Though idolatry has been marked from the earliest ages with the seal of divine disfavor, it may represent in the benighted mind the sincerest reverence of which the person is capable. He should be taught better, but never compelled. There is no claim of universal forgiveness; no unwarranted glorification of Mercy to the degrading or neglect of Justice; no thought that a single sin of omission or of commission shall fail to leave its wound or scar. In the great future there shall be found a place for every soul, whatever his grade of spiritual intelligence may be."--_The Philosophy of Mormonism_: The Author, in _Improvement Era_, vol. iv, pp. 502-504.

LECTURE XXIII.