SALVATION AND EXALTATION

Advancement Worlds Without End

IMPROVEMENT, advancement, progression, here and hereafter, are basal principles of the Divine plan with respect to the souls of men. Earth-life with its varied experiences of joy and sorrow, of success and failure, of temptation and resistance thereto, all the bitter and the sweet of mortal existence may be turned to eventual good in the development of the individual soul.

We hold as reasonable, scriptural, and true, that advancement in righteous achievement and power for good shall be a feature of the future life, both during the period of disembodiment and in and after the resurrection from the dead. Nevertheless, ability to progress in eternity is largely conditioned by the thoroughness of our education in the school of mortality.

Our status in the hereafter will be found to be primarily dependent upon the merits or demerits of our life here; and beyond as in this world ability to advance will be varied and graded. Wilful neglect here may forfeit both ability and opportunity there. Hence, though in the mercy of God the Gospel is being preached in the spirit world, and vicarious administration of the essential and saving ordinances is provided for, to the end that the repentant dead "might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6), disembodied spirits may be incapacitated and ineligible even for repentance, and for the benefits of baptism administered in their behalf upon earth, until they shall have learned in the spirit world the primary lessons that they ignored or rejected while in the flesh. To this effect spake Alma the prophet:

"There was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state, which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead." (Book of Mormon, Alma 12:24.)

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

"And now as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you, that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness, wherein there can be no labor performed.

"Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

"For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance, even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you." (34:32-35.)

Some degree of salvation shall be granted to every soul who has not forfeited all claim thereto. But Salvation as a graded state provided for all who have not sinned unto the incurring of the dread penalty of the second death is far exceeded by the Exaltation provided for the valiant righteous. Of such as are worthy of a measure of salvation, yet who have failed to lay hold on the higher blessings and privileges of eternal life, including the perpetuity of the family relation through the sealing ordinances administered under the authority of the Holy Priesthood, title to which is to be won by individual effort by and through the laws and ordinances of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Lord has spoken in this dispensation, saying that they "are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. For these angels did not abide my law, therefore they cannot not be enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in their saved condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are not Gods, but are angels of God, for ever and ever." (D&C 132:16-17.)

Progression in eternity is to be along well defined lines; and thus the inheritors of any specific order or kingdom of glory may advance forever without attaining the particular exaltation belonging to a different kingdom or order. Of those who shall belong to the Telestial or lowest kingdom of glory we read:

"But behold, and lo, we saw the glory and the inhabitants of the Telestial world, that they were as innumerable as the stars in the firmament of heaven, or as the sand upon the sea shore; and heard the voice of the Lord, saying: These all shall bow the knee, and every tongue shall confess to him who sits upon the throne for ever and ever. For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared. And they shall be servants of the Most High, but where God and Christ dwell they cannot come, worlds without end." (76:109-112.)