We have not made the way narrow nor the gate strait, that few there be that find it! Nor was ours the edict, "Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of the father."[J]
[Footnote J: Matt. 7th chapter.]
The fact that certain laws must be observed, and ordinances complied with, is not the ruling of the Latter-day Saints, but the divine mandate of the Author of our salvation, who has said he will judge all men according to their works and opportunities. We are merely complying with the teachings of the Master which we have received, and which are requisite to salvation.
If belief alone were sufficient, then even the devils, who fear and tremble, would be saved. They recognized the Savior and declared on several occasions that he was the Son of God.[K] And the devils in the days of the sons of Sceva declared that they knew Jesus and Paul, yet they were far from the road to salvation.[L]
[Footnote K: Mark 5:2-9; Luke 4:33-34.]
[Footnote L: Acts 19:15.]
Notwithstanding the apparently narrow construction of the Latter-day Saints pertaining to the scriptures—and we most emphatically declare that all men must obey these laws if they would be saved, excepting those who die without law, and therefore are not judged by law[M]—we are broader and more liberal in our teachings than the believers in the faith-only theory of salvation, who would save all who profess a belief in the name of the Redeemer, but reject all others, consigning them to everlasting destruction without one ray of hope, simply because they did not confess that Jesus was the Christ. This view condemns all who lived at a time or place that the knowledge of the Redeemer of the world could not reach them. They would reject this vast majority of the human family, men women and children, to eternal damnation, without the fault being their own!
[Footnote M: Moroni 8:22.]
With the Latter-day Saints this is not so. While it is true we teach that a man must comply with these principles of the gospel in order to receive salvation and exaltation in the kingdom of heaven—which is proved by many passages of scripture—nevertheless, we hold out the hope that all may be saved, excepting the sons of perdition—a class that willfully rejects the atonement of the Savior: for the Lord intends to save all the workmanship of his hands, save these few who will not receive salvation. Our doctrine consigns none others to perdition, but holds forth the hope that all will eventually be saved in the kingdom of God at some time and in some degree of glory.
Little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through the atonement, "Wherefore, they cannot sin," the Lord has said, "for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me; for it is given unto them even as I will, according to mine own pleasure, that great things may be required at the hand of their fathers. And again, I say unto you, that whoso having knowledge, have I not commanded to repent?"[N]