Orson Pratt, in a sermon dated February 16, 1851, delivered on board the Ellen Maria and recorded by George D. Watt said the following about King David, the sin against the Holy Ghost, and the “sealing principle, being sealed upon unto the day of redemption” (cf. D&C 132:26):
There are certain sins which are
called the sins against the Holy Ghost, and there are other sins that are not
sins against the Holy Ghost. Well now, supposing a person does not not [sic]
repent, who has not sinned against the Holy Ghost, [but rather] continues to
commit sins, and does this through the weakness of his nature, and will not repent.
They will have to be punished in the eternal world, in the same manner as they
who sin against the Holy Ghost. I might mention, for instance, David. We all
know the great transgression into which he fell. He was a man who possessed
light and knowledge. He understood the commandments of God. The Holy Spirit had
been imparted to him, He had been filled with the spirit of prophecy, and yet,
in the face, the eyes of all this, he fell through a temptation. It is was not
done maliciously. [He] fell through a temptation that did not expose him to the
unpardonable sin, but he placed himself in a condition [that] he could not be
forgiven in this life. No, for he not only committed adultery, but [he] also
placed Uriah in a situation to be murdered. This placed David in a condition
[that he] could not receive a forgiveness of that sin in this world; he had to
be punished in the eternal worlds for that transgression. [We read in] 2 Acts a
quotation concerning David: Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither suffer
thy Holy One to see corruption. He assumes, then, that David’s soul was to be
cast down to hell, but saw that he would eventually be redeemed from hell, but
saw that he would eventually be redeemed from hell. But if he had sinned
against the Holy Ghost, there could not have been any redemption from for committing [that sin]. [The]
Apostle Peter says that Peter [Written: Peter; obvious intent: David]
had not ascended unto heaven; his spirit had been separated from his body [for]
more than a thousand years. Where was he all this time? He was suffering the
penalty of his transgression. I want the Latter-day Saints to understand this:
there are some sins, [that] if we do them, we [may may?] have to humble
ourselves before the Lord, ever so much, in the eternal worlds. We have to be
punished for those sins.
Says one, [do] you believe in
redemption for man in an iniquity? Yes. The Lord is a being that constructs his
plan upon a remarkably magnanimous principle. His plans extends into all worlds
and into all eternity. But there are certain creatures that the plan of redemption
never can reach: the devil and his angels, and those that become his son by
sinning against the Holy Ghost. Redemption never can reach these creatures
throughout all the ages of eternity. But others, like with David, after they
have been punished in the eternal world sufficiently long, redemption will
reach them. Their souls will not be left in hell.
Another instance besides David,
[but] before I refer to this, I will make a few remarks upon a certain
principle that perhaps some of the Saints be ignorant of. The sealing
principle, being sealed upon unto the day of redemption. It is not every one
that attains [to] this principle. There is a certain way, and a certain
ordinance, and a certain authority that is necessary to be exercised by the restoration
of the priesthood, that this may be secured unto men. In ancient times, some of
the people of God attained this. The Corinthians and Ephesians had rendered
themselves proved in the sight of God. They had kept his commandments [and]
walked in obedience to his ordinances. They had attained to the sealing power
of the holy priesthood, [which] had been placed upon their head by proper authority.
Now, after a person has obtained this power, suppose they fall into
transgression? After that, what [are] the consequences? They must be punished
for it. Can you bring any example? Certain[ly; there is a] case in the Corinthian
church. That church had obtained this seal, and after it had been placed upon
[them], some of them fell into a gross transgression: they committed
fornication. Paul writes an epistle to them: what [did he] say about that
person? Did he say that such a person, if he repented, should obtain
forgiveness? No, he says in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when you are
gathered together, and my Spirit, to deliver such a one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, [that the] spirit [may be] saved in the day of the
Lord Jesus. [This is a] curious kind of doctrine. He had not much charity,
according to the ideas of this generation. He knew that, after the sealing
power was upon his head, after having been sealed, [there was] no forgiveness
for him in this life. [He] exhorted that such a one be delivered to Satan etc.
What [would] become of the spirit? Until the day of the Lord Jesus, [it would] be
in torment in [the] flesh. The devil [would] have power over him in this life,
but at the same time to have power over his spirit when that day come, the day
even spoken of by the prophet, a thousand years of rest, the day of the Lord.
One day with the Lord is as a thousand [with man]. It is the seven[th] thousand
years, the millennium period. When that day comes, the Corinthians that had
been delivered over to Satan, their spirits [will] all [be] upon [them and they
will] be saved in that day.
This ought to be a warning to the
Latter-day Saints, lest they fall into these great sins. There is a
responsibility placed upon [them] to be more strictly upright, honest, [and]
obedient to the commandments of God than any other people upon the face of the
whole earth. Suppose [that] after we have obtained some of the blessings of the
everlasting covenant, which you will yet have to receive, for that is the
object of the Lord [in] gather[ing] his people together, which they never could
receive scattered abroad through the nations, blessings that pertain to the
last dispensation of [the] fullness of times, and ordinances that are to be
revealed, in order to prepare a people for the day of the Lord, for the millennium
period of glory and peace. When you become acquainted with these ordinances, if
you should then turn away from righteousness and commit fornication, or any of those
enormous sins, the Lord will deal with you very differently than he would with
mankind [in general] for the same sins, after so much information and light has
been given to the saints of the Most High. (Liverpool to Great Lake City:
The 1851 Journal of Missionary George D. Watt, ed. LaJean Purcell Carruth
and Ronald G. Watt [Lincoln, Nebr.: University of Nebraska Press, 2022], 122-25)
