=22. The Gospel to be Preached to the Dead.=--It is plain, then, that the gospel must be proclaimed in the spirit world; and that such work is provided for, the scriptures abundantly prove. Peter, describing the mission of his Redeemer, thus declares this truth:--"For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."[426] The inauguration of this work among the dead was effected by Christ in the interval between His death and resurrection. While His body lay in the tomb, His spirit ministered to the spirits of the departed:--"By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water."[427] [426] I Peter iv, 6. [427] I Peter iii, 18-20. =23.= Other scriptures sustain the position, that while in a disembodied state, Christ went elsewhere than to the place usually termed heaven,--the abode of His Father; and that He labored among the dead, who greatly needed His ministry. One of the malefactors who suffered crucifixion by His side, through humility won from the dying Savior the promise, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise."[428] And three days afterward, the Lord, then a resurrected Being, declared to the sorrowing Magdalene, "I have not yet ascended to my Father."[429] [428] Luke xxiii, 39-43. [429] John xx, 17. =24.= If it was deemed proper and just that the gospel be carried to the spirits who were disobedient in the days of Noah, is it not reasonable to conclude that like opportunities shall be placed within the reach of others who have rejected the word at different times? For the same spirit of neglect and disobedience that characterized the time of Noah has ever existed.[430] And further, if, in the plan of God, provisions be made for the redemption of the wilfully disobedient, of those who actually spurn the truth, can we believe that the still greater multitudes of spirits who have never heard the Gospel are to be left in punishment eternally? No; God has decreed that even the heathen nations, and those that knew no law, shall be redeemed.[431] The good gifts of the Father are not confined to this sphere of action, but will be distributed in justice throughout eternity. Upon all who reject the word of God in this life shall fall the penalties provided for such act; but after the debt has been paid, the prison doors shall be opened, and the spirits once confined in suffering, now chastened and clean, shall come forth to partake of the glory provided for their class. [430] Luke xvii, 26. [431] Doc. and Cov. xlv, 54.