Writing in 1887, Alfred Douglas Young (1808-1889) recounted the following from his 17 September 1841 vision on the hereafter:
The Celestial Kingdom
Jesus continued to
speak, and shewed me many things pertaining to His Father’s kingdom. One thing
I am at liberty to tell, the others I am not—
He told me to look. I
looked and saw that there were neither sun nor moon to give light, but the
Father and His Son were the light that lighted all the kingdoms of the world.
This is all of the
vision of the Celestial world that I am permitted to write.
The Terrestrial and
Telestial Kingdoms
The angel again said
to me, “Look.” I looked and beheld a lesser kingdom typified by the moon. It
received its light from the Celestial kingdom, and the inhabitants thereof
seemed to exceed those the Celestial kingdom, but the glory was not equal to
that of the Celestial. I saw many angels descending and ascending between the
Celestial and Terrestrial worlds. I saw the angels descending and ascending
between the Terrestrial and Telestial world and administering of the
inhabitants of the latter. The glory of the Telestial seemed great, but not as
that of the terrestrial.
The Kingdom of Darkness
The Angel said again
to me, “Look.” As I looked, I beheld another world in which the inhabitants
appeared to be less in number than in any of the three world that had been
before shown me. Perhaps I might call it a kingdom which was neither one of
light or of glory; but one of suffering. It was shaded with darkness. It
appeared to be a pit; and a thick darkness of smoke ascended upwards as far as
I could see. The inhabitants appear to be suffering beyond anything I can
describe. This passed from my vision. (Benson Knowles, ed., The Refiner’s
Fire: An Autobiographical Account of the Visions, Miracles and Trials of Mormon
Pioneer Alfred Douglas Young [GDP Consulting Inc., 2020], 34-35, emphasis in bold added)
