Outlines of Ecclesiastical History

by B. H. Roberts

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.