This doctrine of salvation for the dead strikes a deadly blow to the horrible dogmas formulated by uninspired men in the dark ages of apostasy, in relation to the eternal punishment of those who die unconverted and in an impenitent condition. According to the aforesaid dogmas such persons are damned to all eternity, without the least hope for redemption; and ingenuity has exhausted itself to present to the mind the duration of their sufferings.
In the month of March, 1830—six years before the coming of Elijah—the Lord explained, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the meaning of the terms eternal punishment and endless punishment, in regard to which men have gone astray. In that explanation it is said: "Behold the mystery of godliness, how great is it? For, behold, I am Endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand, is endless punishment, for Endless is my name; wherefore
"Eternal punishment is God's punishment.
"Endless punishment is God's punishment."[L]
[Footnote L: Doc. and Cov., sec. xix: 10-12.]
The punishment takes its name from him who administers it; and, since God is Endless, the punishment he inflicts is called endless or eternal.
And, indeed, the punishment exists eternally, and stands ready to be applied to those who violate the laws of righteousness. But because the penalty stands ever ready to vindicate any law which may be broken, it does not necessarily follow that persons violating the law will for ever have to endure punishment. Mercy, though not allowed to rob justice, somewhere, and at some time, will step forward and claim her own; permitting the violator of law to endure punishment no longer than is necessary to vindicate the law, and satisfy the reasonable claims of justice. Hence we may conclude, that while the actions of men in this probation will greatly affect their standing in the life that is to come, those actions do not, in every case, fix the status of men for eternity.
This doctrine of salvation for the dead not only enlarges the hope of man, but it gives him nobler conceptions of the character of the Deity, and increases his admiration for him. In fact, to my thinking, this doctrine strips the character of God in the inhuman and vindictive cruelty which men, in the past, have delighted to represent him as possessing; and gives new force, and, perhaps, new meaning to the expression, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable."
It also vindicates the wisdom of Deity; for it must be a very imperfect wisdom that would construct a plan for the redemption of mankind so imperfect in its operations, so limited in its application as to miss the great majority of mankind, and leave them without redemption throughout the countless ages of eternity. But when one is given to understand, and surely such an understanding is given one in the revelations of God to which the reader's attention has been directed—when one learns that sometime in the eternities, somewhere in the numberless creations of God, the proclamation of the gospel will overtake all the children of our Father, and they have the privilege of accepting it, and will be saved by it, and permitted to enjoy all the happiness and glory their nature and degree of development enables them to encompass—the wisdom, mercy, justice and love of God all stand out in bold relief; and man's heart is warmed with increased admiration and devotion to him: for it teaches him that he worships not a tyrant who delights in the miseries and damnation of his children, but one whose great pleasure and design it is to bring to pass the eternal happiness of man.