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 God'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 God. Eternity is progressive; perfection is relative; the essential feature of God's living purpose is its associated power of eternal increase.
26. The Sons of Perdition.—We learn of another class 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.[1218] 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 God, 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 God. 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 God, 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."[1219]
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 God-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 God, the special senses of men on the general words of God;' and have tried to enforce them on all men's consciences with all kinds of burnings and anathemas under equal threats of death and damnation. 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 God 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 damned. While boldly asserting 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. God 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.]
SUBMISSION TO SECULAR AUTHORITY.
Article 12.—We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.