In 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, Ohio, Elijah the Prophet came, in
fulfilment of Malachi's prophecy (Mal. iv, 5, 6), and made known those
principles which would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the hearts of the children to the fathers, viz., the doctrine
of salvation for the dead. From the keys of knowledge which Elijah
restored great light has been thrown upon the plan of salvation,
showing it to be more perfect and more extensive than ever man dreamed
of in his philosophy. It is learned from the keys of knowledge which
he restored that the innumerable millions who have died without a
knowledge of Christ or of His Gospel, together with those who have
been deceived by the teachings of pseudo ministers of Christ, are not
eternally lost, but that since the spirit of man when separate from
the body retains all the faculties of mind, the gospel is preached in
the spirit-world to the disembodied spirits, and that on condition of
their {170} accepting the Gospel, and living according to the laws
of God in the spirit, they may be saved on condition of the outward
ordinances of the Gospel being administered vicariously for them
upon the earth by their agents--their relations. That the Gospel is
preached to departed spirits is evident from the Scriptures. Peter
said:
"For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: _by which also he went
and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were
disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days
of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight
souls were saved by water"_ (I Peter iii, 18-20),
Men may turn and twist that passage all they please, but its plain
simple statement is that the spirit of Christ, while His body lay in
the tomb, went and preached to the spirits which were disobedient in
the days of Noah. And again he says:
"For for this cause was the Gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but
live according to God in the spirit" (I Peter iv, 6).
That the ancient Saints also knew something about performing ordinances
vicariously for the dead is evident from this remark of the Apostle
Paul:
"Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead if the
dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead" (I
Cor. xv, 29).
And we ask--if there was no such thing among the ancient Saints as
baptism for the dead, why, then, does Paul refer to it in such positive
terms?
The Gospel of Christ is not limited in its powers to save to this life,
or this world alone. Its powers enter into the spirit-world. And by its
proclamation in the world of spirits the fathers will learn that they
are dependent upon the children still in this world for the performance
of the outward ordinances of the Gospel; hence, their hearts will be
turned to the children. The children on the earth will learn that it
is within their power to attend to ordinances of the Gospel for their
progenitors; hence, the hearts of the children will be turned to the
fathers. It is because of this--because of the knowledge restored by
Elijah, that the Latter-day Saints, wherever they have planted their
feet, have sought, even in the days of their greatest poverty, to build
a temple, the {171} proper place in which to attend to these ordinances
for the dead; and they thus witness to the world that the hearts of the
children are turned to the fathers.