Sagebrush

ARE MEN CREATED EQUAL? 819

and ordained before he was born to be a prophet unto the nations (Jer. 1:5);and a similar foreordination is indicated by Isaiah (49:1,5). Abraham definitely avers that among the unembodied spirits there were differences, some were noble and great and others less adapted to the duties of rulership "Now the :

Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers" (Pearl of Great Price, p. 65-66). The God of spirits recognized particular qualifications in some, and selected them to be leaders among men. Let us not assume that the "rulers" thus divinely chosen are necessarily those whom men would later elect to be their leaders. Many of God's great ones have been and are counted among the despised of earth. So it was with the Christ Himself, and so with many of His prophets, apostles and revelators unto mankind. Born into the flesh with diverse capacities, subjected here to varied environment, which may be favorable or opposed to the development of inherent tendencies toward either good or evil, we as a race are creatures of disparity, inequality, and heterogeneous circumstance. But all color of injustice disappears in the light of assurance that, in the judgment of souls, every condition shall be weighed in the accurate balances of Justice and Mercy. — But what of the hereafter shall we not be made equal there? Not in the sense that our individuality shall be subverted or radically changed. We shall find beyond more gradations in society than we have ever known on earth. But the basis of classification will be essentially different. Here we are — rated according to what we have of wealth, learning, political or other influence due to circumstance; there we shall find our place according to what we really are. Ponder the significance of our Lord's assurance of the "many mansions" in the Father's kingdom (John 14:1-3), and consider Paul's summary of varied glories (1 Cor. 15:40-41). Through later Scripture we are told of distinct kingdoms or worlds of graded order, comparable to the sun, moon, and stars respectively. There are the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial kingdoms, in which the souls of men shall abide and serve as their attainments in righteousness or their disqualification through sin shall determine. Concerning the inhabitants of the Telestial world, the lowest of the specified kingdoms of glory, we read: ''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." (Doctrine and Covenants 76:111).