The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsTalmage, James E. (James Edward)
Religion
The Vitality of Mormonism: Brief Essays on Distinctive Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Talmage, James E. (James Edward)
Latter Day Saint churches; Latter Day Saints
Uplifting and invaluable as this teaching is, it has, nevertheless,
but an indirect bearing upon the clean-cut question: Will many or but
few be saved? The people to whom Jesus was speaking were incapable
of understanding a plain answer to the question, and would have been
misled thereby. For, had He said "Few" they would have construed the
reply to mean that only a few, and they the Jews, would find a place in
"Abraham's bosom," while all the rest would be consigned to sheol. Had
the Lord answered "Many" they would have taken His word to mean that
the great majority shall attain supreme bliss in the kingdom of heaven,
and only a few are to find a place in hell. Either inference is untrue.
Later, on the night of the betrayal, the Lord said to the sorrowful
Apostles: "In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so
I would have told you." Here we find conclusive refutation of the
old and still current superstition, that but two states, conditions,
or places--heaven and hell--are established for souls in eternity.
Salvation is graded; and every soul shall inherit the condition for
which he is prepared.
Paul comprehended this great truth, as appears from his declaration
that in the resurrection some souls shall be of the celestial order,
comparable in glory to the sun; others shall attain but a terrestrial
state, of which the brightness of the moon is typical; while the graded
conditions of others shall be as the varying light of the stars. See
1 Cor. 15:41, 42. Here we have two kingdoms of glory distinctively
specified--the celestial and the terrestrial, and a third to which no
name is given.
Modern revelation is in strict accord with Holy Writ of ancient record,
and is explicit in affirming the graded conditions that await the souls
of men. As made known in 1832 through the prophet Joseph Smith (see
D&C, Sec. 76) there are three main kingdoms or degrees of glory in the
hereafter--(1) the Celestial, of which the sun is relatively typical,
(2) the Terrestrial, as far below the first as the moon is inferior
to the sun in effulgence, and (3) the Telestial, which is the kingdom
referred to by Paul but without name.
The Celestial inheritance is for those who have accepted the Gospel of
Christ and have rendered valiant service in the cause of righteousness;
those who have yielded obedience to all the laws and ordinances of the
Gospel.
Into the Terrestrial order shall enter those who have failed to lay
hold on the privileges of eternal life while in the flesh; "honorable
men of the earth" perhaps, according to human standard, yet blinded "by
the craftiness" of false teachers, false philosophy, science falsely so
called. These shall inherit glory, but not a fulness thereof.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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