"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 God's." (76:59.)
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THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Both to Hear The Gospel
THE Atonement of Jesus Christ is the means by which salvation has been placed within the reach of all mankind—poor and rich, bond and free, and, be it added, living or dead.
We have seen in the light of scriptural demonstration that, except through compliance with the laws and ordinances of the Gospel as enunciated and prescribed by the Lord Jesus Christ, no man can attain a place in the Kingdom of God.
What then of the dead, who have lived and passed without so much as hearing that there is a Gospel of salvation or a Savior of the race? Are they to be hopelessly and forever damned? If so, the phrase "eternal justice" should be stricken from Scripture and literature, and "infamous injustice" substituted.
Think of the myriads who died before and at the Deluge, of the hosts of Israel who knew only the Law and died in ignorance of the Gospel, and count in with them the millions of their pagan contemporaries; then think of the generations who passed away during the long dark night of spiritual apostasy, predicted by prophecy and attested by history; and contemplate the heathen and but partly civilized tribes of the present day. Are these, to whom no knowledge of the Gospel has come, to be under eternal condemnation in consequence?
In the hereafter the saved and the lost are to be segregated. The Scriptures so avouch. Therefore, were there no salvation for these who have died in ignorance of Christ's Atonement and His Gospel, these benighted spirits could never associate with their descendants who have been privileged to live in an age of Gospel enlightenment, and who have made themselves eligible for salvation by faith and its fruitage, obedience.