--Inquirest thou not what spirits Are these, which thou beholdest? Ere thou pass Farther, I would thou know, that these of sin Were blameless; and if aught they merited It profits not, since baptism was not theirs, The portal to thy faith. If they before The Gospel lived, they served not God aright; And among such am I. For these defects And for no other evil, we are lost; Only so far afflicted, that we live Desiring without hope. [1] And this was all that thirteenth century theology could say for worthies of that stamp--the best and brightest spirits of their times. Blameless, and yet in hell, "desiring without hope," simply because they had lived on earth when the Gospel was not on earth, and had not been baptized! Whether or not, as some think, it was the intent of the poet to covertly satirize such teachings, is immaterial at the present time. It is sufficient that he had such teachings to satirize. Truth's Restoration Imperative.--If any reader of mine wishes to know why Joseph Smith and "Mormonism" came into the world, he need look no further to find one of the cardinal reasons. It is furnished in those lines from Dante's masterpiece, setting forth the orthodox tenet and teaching of the Christian Church regarding the spirits of the good who depart this life without undergoing the baptismal ordinance. This, and that other man-made doctrine, that half to be damned, regardless of any good or evil done by them--little children being included in both classes--were widely preached in Christendom at the time of the advent of "Mormonism." It was imperative that a prophet should arise, that the pure primitive faith should be restored, and God's word go forth once more on its mission of justice and mercy. "According to Their Works."--Whatever Christian theology may have taught, or whatever it may teach, in support of such doctrines, the fact remains that the Gospel of Christ does not, and never did dispose of men's precious souls in that unrighteous, unreasonable, unscriptural manner. It does not prejudge, nor save nor damn, regardless of men's deserts. Rewarding all according to their works, [2] it gives to every creature, living or dead, the opportunity to accept or reject it before final judgment. [3] God is not trying to damn the world; he is trying to save it--but not independently of the principles of truth and righteousness. A Nautical Illustration.--I was crossing the Atlantic on an ocean-liner, and had been fortunate enough to secure a first-cabin berth, the only one remaining unsold when I made my purchase. There were upwards of a hundred passengers in that part of the vessel. The second-cabin compartment contained perhaps twice as many; and in the steerage were several hundred more.