Now in regard to people who will not receive the Gospel when it is presented to them. When they reject it, they reject the Lord. But are they to be everlastingly lost and destroyed? If so, only a few people among the great family of the Eternal Father would obtain the blessings of salvation. What I will read to you from this book relates to the final condition of the human race. As I said, I will not attempt to read the whole of it; it would take too long. I will read only a few verses. But I recommend all people to read it fully. I consider it the most glorious manifestation of light and truth concerning the future of mankind that has ever been put in print. There is nothing in the Bible equal to this manifestation from God, of His plans and purposes regarding His children who dwell on the earth. The first part of this revelation contains the statement that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the 16th day of February, 1832, were surrounded by His power and light, and they beheld the Father seated upon His throne, and Jesus Christ, His Son, at His right hand, and the angels that surround the throne and worship before their face. The Lord manifested in this vision the conditions of the human family in the world to come, who will be partakers of the various degrees of glory—the celestial glory, the terrestrial glory, and the telestial glory. The part I wish to read is this:
"And this is the Gospel, the glad tidings which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us:
"That He came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness;
"That through Him all might be saved whom the Father had put into His power and made by Him,
"Who glorifies the Father, and saves all the works of His hands, except those sons of perdition, who deny the Son after the Father has revealed Him;
"Wherefore He saves all except them: 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." (Doctrine and Covenants, section 76, vs. 40-45.)
But Few Will Be Lost.
My friends, the great truth is declared in this revelation that Jesus Christ will ultimately save ALL mankind, except a few who are called the sons of perdition, "who deny the Son after the Father has revealed Him." This is a very different idea of the plan of salvation to that which is entertained by most if not all our "Christian" friends, who say that we are very illiberal. They have an idea that the Latter-day Saints are very exclusive and illiberal in their religion. I wish to say here that there is no creed in Christendom which is so liberal as that which is believed in by the Latter-day Saints. We do not hold that all who differ with us in regard to the principles of salvation will be irretrievably lost. We do not consign our "Christian" friends, as they do us, to an everlasting hell, to frizzle and fry in brimstone and fire while eternity comes and goes; not at all. We do not believe that our Eternal Father will condemn any person who acts according to his sincere belief and who endeavors, as far as he can, to understand and practice what is true. The understanding and the practice of truth is that which exalts; and the time will come—according to our faith—when everybody who dwells on the earth, and those who have dwelt here and have gone away, will hear the sound of this one Gospel; for, as I said, there can be but one Gospel, one way of salvation, and all those who do not get into that one way are in the broad way.
There are millions and millions of heathens who never heard the name of Jesus Christ. What is to become of them all? There are millions of Jews who reject Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. Are they all to be lost eternally? They will be, according to the doctrines of some of our very liberal "Christian" friends. According to their doctrines, no one will be saved who does not believe in Jesus Christ. And they have warrant for that in the Scripture; for "there is none other name given under heaven whereby men can be saved, than the name of Christ Jesus." That being true, all who do not hear the name of Jesus Christ and believe in Him will be condemned. If, therefore, only while men dwell in the flesh they may hear the name of Christ and have the privilege of obeying His Gospel, then the vast majority of the human race, the sons and daughters of the Eternal God, will be doomed to everlasting punishment, according to the modern creeds. But according to what the Lord has shown to this Church by revelation, this Gospel will be preached to every creature. If people do not hear it while they dwell in the flesh, they will hear it after they leave the body. That is contrary to the doctrine of modern Christendom, I am aware. It comes right in contact with one of the tenets of faith of all "Christian" sects. They do not believe in the doctrine of preaching to men after they are dead. They do not believe that there is salvation for mankind after they leave this body. To use expressions common with them, "As the tree falls, so it lies;" "as death meets us, so judgment finds us;" "There's no repentance in the grave, or pardon offered to the dead." That is modern "Christianity."
Salvation For the Dead.
But that is not the Christianity of Christ. I would direct the attention of my friends to the book of the Prophet Isaiah. I will not take time to turn to it this afternoon. Read the 61st chapter, 1st verse, and you will find there this prophecy concerning the coming of the Redeemer: (See also 42nd chapter, 7th verse.)
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
Jesus Christ accepted that as a prediction concerning Himself, as you will read in the Gospel according to St. Luke, (iv, 18) by getting up in the synagogue on the Sabbath day and reading that Scripture to the Jews, testifying that it referred to Himself. Jesus, while He dwelt in the flesh, preached good tidings to the meek. He healed the sick; He comforted those that mourned; He bound up the brokenhearted. But how about proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that were bound? The Apostle Paul says that when Jesus was raised up on high "He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." How did He lead captivity captive? Why, Peter explained it, but the eyes of the "Christian" world have been closed to it for hundreds of years. In the 3rd chapter of the 1st Epistle of Peter, 18-20 vs., we read:
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went."