We have shown, in the foregoing pages, that the preaching of the Gospel to, and the vicarious performance and administration of its eternal ordinances for the dead, are in strict harmony with the doctrines of the holy Scriptures. The application of the saving principles of the Divine system to the {185} dead has been clearly explained as a necessity, to make the work of human redemption complete, rendering our Great Captain, Christ, the triumphant victor, and Satan the prostrate, vanquished foe. The mighty host of the redeemed, as compared with those who will be destroyed as "vessels of wrath," will be as the vastness of the oceans to the insignificant stream. Those doomed to everlasting ostracism from each and all of the mansions and kingdoms of the Father, prepared as places of glory and rest for His children, will be comparatively few, as all manner of sin shall be forgiven unto men, either in time or eternity, except the one crime which is unto eternal death--the sin against the Holy Ghost. A just and merciful God has not created man that he might forever endure eternal misery, but rather that he might dwell in realms of everlasting joy. It is generally taught that after death there are but two separate and distinct divisions--heaven and hell--into the first of which the righteous are admitted, and into the second the wicked are thrust. In either one it is believed, by most professing Christians, that there are no degrees of bliss or exaltation on the one hand, or exquisiteness of torture on the other. But how such unreasonable views can be entertained, in the face of the plain declaration of Scripture, is not easily accounted for. In explanation of the grand fact that there were many dwelling places in the sphere beyond, Jesus said to his disciples, "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you", (John xiv, 2). In the following verse Jesus assigns as a reason for this preparation that it was for the purpose of having them dwell in His presence, "That where I am there ye may be also." There can be no other inference drawn from this statement than that there will be others who will dwell in the mansions of the Father, the kingdoms of our God, who will not enjoy the exalted privilege of being in the immediate presence of the Redeemer.