BY CHARLES W. PENROSE
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (John III; 5.) This sweeping1 declaration was made by Jesus Christ to Nicodemus, when that prominent Israelite visited the Savior at night. The Apostle Peter said concerning Jesus Christ: "Neither is there salvation2 in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts IV; 12.) The words of Peter were spoken when he was "filled with the Holy Ghost." The words of Jesus came from him as the Son of God. They vitally affect the whole human family. They being true, not a soul can enter into the kingdom of God unless he or she is a true believer in Jesus Christ, and has been born of the water and of the spirit. Even Christ himself had to comply with this law, in order to "fulfill3 all righteousness." He was born of the water in His burial by baptism in Jordan, and His coming forth4 from the womb of waters; he was then born of the spirit by the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Here is the example for all mankind, who are required to "follow in His steps." This is the "strait and narrow way."
The question which naturally arises in the thoughtful mind on hearing these declarations is, "How could people believe in Jesus Christ when His name was not preached to them?" And coupled with that comes the query5: "What has become of the many millions of earth's inhabitants who died without the opportunity of being born of water and of the spirit?" The heathen nations, worshiping false gods, knew nothing of Jesus as the Savior of mankind. Even the chosen people Israel who were under the Mosaic6 law, did not walk in that way of salvation. Since the days when the Apostles and other authorized7 servants of Christ administered the ordinances8 of the Gospel, and during the times when "darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people," down to the present age when it is claimed by the Latter-day Saints that the Church of Christ, the Holy Apostleship, and the fulness of the Gospel have been restored, myriads9 of {248} good people have passed away without receiving that new birth in the manner that Christ declared to be essential. Have they all perished? Is it possible that they are doomed10 to destruction? Will the Eternal Father reject all these His children because they did not obey a law which was not made known to them?
Justice, mercy, reason, and common sense revolt at such an idea. As Paul has it: "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?" (Rom. X; 14.) Yet the word of God must stand. It endureth forever, and He is no respecter of persons. "And He is to judge the secrets of all men by Jesus Christ according to His Gospel." It is for that reason that the Gospel was to be preached to "every creature." According to the notion prevalent in modern Christendom, there will be many millions of people shut out of the kingdom of heaven, because they did not believe in a Savior about whom they knew nothing. And it is taught that there is no possible chance of salvation for those who die without faith in Christ. Sectarians sing: "There's no repentance12 in the grave, nor pardon offered to the dead." The preachers of the sects13 limit the mercy of God to this probation14. They teach that at death the soul goes either to heaven or to hell, and its state and condition is fixed15 forever. If this awful doctrine16 were true, Satan would gain the victory over Christ, claiming as his a vast and overwhelming proportion of the human family, leaving to our great Redeemer but a small and trifling17 troop out of the immense and countless18 hosts of the armies of humanity.
The solution of this, to many, puzzling problem is simple in the light of the true Gospel of Christ restored in the latter days. "The mercy of God endureth forever." It is not confined to the narrow boundaries of this little earth, nor tied up within the limits of time. The spirits of men and women are His sons and daughters, whether if the body or out of the body. "His tender mercies are over ALL HIS WORKS." No one can be justly or mercifully judged by the Gospel without hearing that Gospel, and having the opportunity to receive or reject it. Why, then, should not the Gospel of Jesus Christ be made known to those who never heard it in the flesh, after they have left the body and dwell in another sphere? Do not all the sects of Christendom, almost without exception, believe that the spirit of man is immortal19, and {249} is therefore living and sentient20 when the body is dead? And if that is true, are not the spirits of men and women able to receive instruction and information when out of the body? Is it not the spirit of man that receives and stores up intelligence conveyed through the bodily senses? Why should the change called death, which is the separation of the body and the spirit, cut off all means of divine communication to the living, immortal intelligent being that has simply "shuffled21 off the mortal coil?" There is no good reason why the spirit thus advanced one stage in its experience should not be capable of still further progress and of receiving light, knowledge, wisdom and religious teaching, especially if information essential to its eternal welfare was withheld22 while it dwelt in the body. Revelation as well as reason bears testimony23 that the word of God can be preached to the departed as well in the sphere to which they have gone, as on any part of this earthly globe.
"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 long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah; while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water." (I Peter III; 18-20). Here is a declaration which like a ray from the sun of righteousness, puts to flight the fogs and mists of modern eschatology and opens up to view a vast field of understanding, wherein the justice, wisdom and mercy of God are displayed in glorious review. The spirits of those rebellious24 people who were destroyed by the flood, after suffering about 2,000 years in their prison house, were visited by the Son of God while His body was lying in the sepulchre. This was in fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah concerning Him; for instance: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach tidings unto the meek25; He hath sent me to bind26 up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." (Isaiah LXI; 1). And further: "To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isaiah XLII; 7). And again: "That thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth. To them that are in darkness, show yourselves." (Isaiah XLIX; 9).
The common notion is that when Christ on the cross bowed his head and gave up the ghost, he went direct to {250} heaven, as it is supposed all good people do, but on the third day after this, when Christ appeared to Mary, he said unto her: "Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended27 to my Father." (John XX; 17). The time spent by the Savior between His death and His resurrection, instead of being in heaven was among the "spirits in prison," the captives whom He went to deliver. Thus Jesus could preach without His body, and the spirits whom He visited could hear also without their bodies. But what was the nature of His preaching to those who were held in captivity28? Let Peter answer this question. "For, 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." (I Peter IV; 6.) Thus it appears that the same Gospel which was preached to men in the body was also preached to men out of the body, so that all might be judged by the same Gospel, which is to be preached to "every creature." That the message of deliverance to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that were bound was successful is evident from the scriptural statement concerning Christ: "He led captivity captive." (Eph. IV; 8).
Jesus promised His disciples29 that the works which he did, they should do also. The mission and Priesthood which His Father gave to Him He gave to them also. It is therefore clear that the work of redemption commenced on earth will be carried on in the sphere beyond the veil. And that it will be performed in the latter times, may be learned without doubt from the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the end of the world, in which he foretells30 as one of the events of that period: "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth, and they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." (Isaiah XXIV; 20-22).
The spirit of man when out of the body, being an intelligent entity31, a thinking, progressive and responsible being, capable of hearing and believing or rejecting truth, must be also capable of repenting32 of evil and learning to do well. Thus the mercy of God can reach such a being independent of the mortal structure in which it was permitted to dwell on earth. The idea that the eternal future of man is fixed at death comes from a mistaken notion concerning "the judgment33 day." Both Christ and His Apostles taught that the time of judgment was set by the Father to take place "when the Son of Man shall {251} come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him." (Matt. XXV; 31-46). Paul declared that Christ would come to judge the quick and the dead "at His appearing and His kingdom." (2 Tim. IV; 1). It was at that day that Paul expected to obtain "a crown of righteousness." (Verse 8.) And the time of the judgment is fixed in the book of Revelation to be after the resurrection from the dead, when "the small and the great shall stand before God, and the books shall be opened, and the dead shall be judged out of the things written in the books according to their works." (Rev. XX).
The popular notion that final judgment takes place at the death of each individual, and that he is then and there exalted34 to heaven or thrust down to hell, is utterly35 wrong and unscriptural. Yet it has prevailed in Christendom for many centuries, and it remained for the Prophet of the 19th century, Joseph Smith, by divine inspiration to bring forth the glorious light in the midst of dense36 spiritual darkness, and show forth the mercy and goodness of Almighty37 God in providing means by which every soul of Adam's race, either in the body or out of the body, may learn the way of the Lord, the everlasting38 Gospel, the only plan of salvation. It is to be preached to all them that are dead who could not hear it while living in the flesh, and they can repent11 and turn unto God and be taught the things of His kingdom. The doctrine of purgatory39, which is part of the Roman Catholic creed40, is a perversion41 of this doctrine of Christ, but the idea of the former came from a misunderstanding of the latter. There is an intermediate state in which the spirits of the departed remain between death and the resurrection of the body, and, as will be pointed42 out in a succeeding tract43, there are works which may be performed by the living in behalf of the dead, but only such as are impossible of performance in the spirit world.
The Apostle Paul declared that Jesus Christ "gave Himself a ransom44 for ALL, to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. II; 6). The time has now come. The testimony of this great truth is proclaimed by Prophets and Apostles raised up in these latter days, and by the voice of Angles from Heaven, and by the witness of the Holy Ghost, which bears record of the Father and the Son. Let all people rejoice and praise the Lord for this new revelation of his loving kindness and tender mercies extended over all His works, and let His light shine to the uttermost parts of the earth and penetrate45 to the darkest abode46 of the regions behind the veil, that truth may triumph everywhere and God be glorified47 in the obedience48 and salvation of His children.
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1
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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query
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| n.疑问，问号，质问；vt.询问，表示怀疑 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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myriads
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| n.无数，极大数量( myriad的名词复数 ) | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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probation
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| n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期) | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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18
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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sentient
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| adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地 | |
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shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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22
withheld
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| withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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rebellious
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| adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的 | |
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meek
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| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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foretells
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| v.预言，预示( foretell的第三人称单数 ) | |
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entity
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| n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物 | |
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32
repenting
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的现在分词 ) | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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39
purgatory
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| n.炼狱；苦难；adj.净化的，清洗的 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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41
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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42
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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43
tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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44
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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45
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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46
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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47
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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48
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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