in the vices of the world, permitted themselves to be led
captive by the power of the evil one. Noah in his day preached to them,
but they laughed him to scorn and continued in their evil ways. Others
of the prophets in their generations had warned them, but without avail;
so here were found Satan's harvest from the fruitful fields of the
earth."

"I can well imagine that long, long, night of darkness," added Henrik.
"No ray of hope pierced the gloom of their abode. The prison walls
loomed around and above them, shutting out any glimpse of heaven. These
had rejected the truth, which alone can make men free. They themselves
had shut out the light when it would have shone in upon their vision.
They had chosen the evil, and the evil was claiming its own. Outside the
prison were their fellows who had chosen to do the right, basking in the
light of a clear conscience, enjoying the approval of the Lord. These
faithful ones were going on to eternal perfection. How long would it
take the prisoners, if they ever were released, to overtake those ahead?
Between these was a great gulf fixed, which, in the ordinary order of
things, could never be lessened or bridged."

"But at last the time of mercy and deliverance came. I remember how the
events of the time have been described to me. Just before the coming of
the Lord, a peculiar, indescribable tremor ran through this spirit world
as if one pulse beat through the universe and that pulse had been
disturbed. The spirits in prison looked in awe at one another, many
crouching in terror, fearful that the day of judgment had come. The vast
multitude of the ignorant wondered what the 'peculiar feeling' could
mean. The righteous, who had been looking wistfully for some
manifestation of the coming of the Lord, whispered to each other, 'The
Lord is dying for the sins of the world!'

"Yes; the prophets of every dispensation had labored faithfully to
prepare the world of spirits among whom they lived for the coming of the
Lord and Savior. There were Adam, Noah, Abraham, with those who followed
them; there were Lehi, Nephi, Mosiah, and the others of their race;
there were the prophets who had lived among the lost Ten tribes; these
had all been valiant in earth-life, and were faithful yet in the spirit
world. The burden of their message in mortality had been the coming of
Christ the Redeemer, and now they still looked forward with the eye of
faith to Him who should die for the sins of the wor