The Strength of the "Mormon" PositionWhitney, Orson F. (Orson Ferguson)
Religion
The Strength of the "Mormon" Position
Whitney, Orson F. (Orson Ferguson)
Latter Day Saint churches
"In the same world there are also the spirits of Catholics, and
Protestants of every sect, who have all need to be taught and to
come to the knowledge of the true unchangeable gospel in its fulness
and simplicity, that they may be judged the same as if they had been
privileged with the same in the flesh.
"There is also the Jew, the Mahometan, the infidel, who did not believe
in Christ while in the flesh. All these must be taught, must come to
the knowledge of the crucified and risen Redeemer, and hear the glad
tidings of the Gospel.
"There are also all the varieties of the heathen spirits; the noble and
refined philosopher, poet, patriot, or statesman of Rome or Greece, the
enlightened Socrates and Plato, and their like, together with every
grade of spirits, down to the most uncultivated of the savage world.
"All these must be taught, enlightened, and must bow the knee to the
eternal King, for the decree hath gone forth, that unto Him every knee
shall bow and every tongue confess.
"Oh, what a field of labor, of benevolence, of missionary enterprise
now opens to the apostles and elders of the Church of the Saints! As
this field opens they will begin to realize more fully the extent of
their divine mission, and the meaning of the great command to 'preach
the gospel to every creature'."
Parley P. Pratt, a modern Apostle, was a friend and follower of Joseph
Smith. He sat at the feet of Joseph, as Paul at the feet of Gamaliel.
These are Joseph's doctrines, the doctrines of "Mormonism", which
stands for the Gospel in all the ages, and for the salvation of the
living and the dead. God will judge no man for an opportunity that he
never possessed. Faith and repentance are just as possible and just
as effectual in the spirit world as they are in this sphere. But the
ordinance of baptism--immersion in water for the remission of sins,
and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost--with other
sacred ceremonies, must be done here, in places dedicated for the
purpose. This vicarious work is absolutely essential, in order that the
departed may be duly admitted into the Church of Christ and share in
all its blessings.
The Hell of Dante.
In the Thirteenth Century a great Italian poet, the immortal Dante,
produced a wonderful work, "La Divina Comedia" ("The Divine Comedy").
In one part of the poem, the author represents himself as passing
through Hades or Hell. In the first circle of the infernal depths--a
region called "Limbo", which a footnote in my copy of the poem
describes as a place "containing the souls of unbaptized children and
of those virtuous men and women who lived before the birth of our
Savior"--he meets some of the noble characters whom the Apostle Parley
mentions as inhabiting the Spirit World, and the guide says to him:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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