Not only are the elders of Israel traveling, preaching the gospel, and
baptizing the people by the thousand, but the saints are flocking to
the temples of the Lord, and redeeming their dead from the grasp of
Satan. They are performing a great and mighty work for the human family
who have lived upon the earth in different ages of the world's history,
and who, in some instances, by revelation, make manifest to their
children or friends the fact that they have accepted the gospel in the
spirit world.
The patriarchs and prophets of former days, with Peter, James and the
apostles who lived in the meridian of time, with Joseph Smith, Brigham
Young, and other prophets of the "dispensation of the fullness of
times" in the latter days, are earnestly engaged in the work of giving
information and directing the preaching of the gospel in the spirit
world.
Associated with our Father in the heavens, with the angels, and the
good and true of the earth, we can afford to smile at the puny efforts
of man to overthrow the work of God. What! can man strive against
the bucklers of Jehovah? Can the designs that have been in process
of fulfillment since the world began, now be stayed in their onward
progress, because they do not happen to meet the approval of the people
of to-day?
In conclusion, let us examine one more question that has doubtless
presented itself to the mind of the reader, and that is the question of
future punishment. If, by preaching to the spirits in prison, bringing
them to a knowledge of the truth, and being baptized for them, released
them from their prison house, it logically follows that there must be
an end to future punishment.
We hear the question asked, "Do not the scriptures say it is 'eternal
punishment' and 'everlasting punishment'?" We answer, "Yes." But let
us not put any private interpretation on these terms, but correctly
understand their meaning.
Eternal punishment is God's punishment; everlasting punishment is God's
punishment; or, in other words, it is the name of the punishment God
inflicts, He being eternal in His nature.
Whosoever, therefore, receives God's punishment, receives eternal
punishment, whether it is endured one hour, one day, one week, one
year, one age. "And they were judged every man according to their
works." (Rev. 20:13.) Some shall be beaten with few and some with many
stripes. (Luke 12:47, 48.) Here we have plainly set forth the fact that
all men are not punished alike, that some receive a greater punishment
than others; that as their works are, so shall be the punishment
awarded them. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God:
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, _according to their works_. And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it and death and _hell delivered_ up the dead
which were in them." (Rev. 20:12, 13.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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