I have now shown that the Temple was completed; that the Saints
were diligent in their labors, and they were also hindered by their
enemies. I now reaffirm what has previously been said; that it made no
difference, so far as the Church and its authority is concerned, even
if the Temple had not been completed, or finished, in the technical
sense of that word. Some of the embellishments, the ornamentations and
fixtures, may not have been placed in the building according to the
original intention, and in that technical sense the building may not
have been "finished completely." But if so, what difference would it
make? The Lord, thank heaven, is not as technical and peevish as men
are, or woe be unto all of us. The revelation does not say that the
Church would be rejected with its dead if every identical board and
plank or fixture was not in the building according to the original
design. The thing the revelation does require is that a place be
prepared, or built, where the Lord could reveal the Priesthood and its
ordinances which had been taken away or that had not been restored.
And, too, if the temporary floors had not been replaced by the
permanent floors, the Lord could and would have revealed Himself to the
Saints and would have accepted of their offering. Now let's see just
what the revelation does say about this matter. Beginning at verse 25.
"25. And again, verily I say unto you, let all my Saints come from
afar;
26. And send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say
unto them; come ye, with all your gold, and your silver, and your
precious stones, and with all your antiquities; and with all who
have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come, and bring
the box tree, and the fir tree, and the pine tree, together with
all the precious trees of the earth;
27. And with iron, with copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and
with all your precious things of the earth, and build a house to my
name, for the most High to dwell therein;
28. For there is not a place found on earth that he may come and
restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken
away, even the fulnesss of the Priesthood;
29. For a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my
Saints, may be baptized for those who are dead;
30. For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be
acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are
not able to build a house unto me.
31. But I command you, all ye my Saints, to build a house unto me;
and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me,
and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me.
32. But behold, at the end of this appointment, your baptisms for
your dead shall not be acceptable unto me; and if you do not these
things at the end of the appointment, ye shall be rejected as a
church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God.
33. For verily I say unto you, that after you have had sufficient
time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing
for the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from
before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead
cannot be acceptable unto me.
34. For therein (that is in Temples) are the keys of the Holy
Priesthood ordained that you may receive honor and glory.
35. And after this time, your baptisms for the dead, by those who
are scattered abroad, are not acceptable unto me, saith the Lord.
36. For it is ordained that in Zion, and in her stakes, and in
Jerusalem, those places which I have appointed for refuge, shall be
the places for your baptisms for your dead.
37. And again, verily I say unto you, How shall your washings be
acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you
have built to my name?
38. For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a
tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness,
and to build a house in the land of promise that those ordinances
might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was;
39. Therefore, verily I say unto you, that your anointings and
your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn
assemblies, and your memorials for your sacrifices, by the sons of
Levi, and for your oracles in your most holy places, wherein you
receive conversations, and your statutes and judgments, for the
beginning of the revelation and foundation of Zion, and for the
glory, honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are ordained
by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always
commanded to build unto my holy name."
I have read quite extensively from this revelation, now let us examine
and see just what is meant. At the time this revelation was given the
Saints were baptizing in the Mississippi river for their dead, this was
a special privilege that the Lord granted them in their poverty and
while they could prepare a place in the Temple for that ordinance. He
declares that while that place was being built He would accept of their
baptisms in the river, but just as soon as a place could be prepared
in the Temple baptisms for the dead in the river should cease. Now you
will notice that verse 31 reads:
"But I command you, all ye my Saints, to build a house unto me; and
I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me."
Now I wish you to note what follows:
"And during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me."
I take it that this means that the Lord would accept of their baptisms
in the river until they could prepare a place where the ordinance
could be attended to properly, and that He would not discontinue river
baptisms until they had had sufficient time to build such a place. I
want to read what the president of the "Reorganized" Church has to say
on this point. Said he:
"Baptisms for the dead was a permissive rite."
Of course I do not agree with him that it was a permissive rite, but to
continue the quotation:
"Baptism for the dead was a permissive rite; or to write more
plainly, the Church was permitted by the Lord to baptize for the
dead under certain rules."
Here is the rule:
"By terms stated in the revelation this permissive rite could be
performed and would be acceptable if performed in the river while
the time given the Church in which the Temple should be built was
passing. After the completion of the Temple, baptisms for the dead
were to be performed in it." (Saints' Herald, February 17, 1904).
We are certainly safe in saying that the Lord would not break His
promise, therefore if we can discover a time when baptisms were
discontinued in the river it will be a sign that the sufficient
time had expired, so far as baptisms in the river for the dead were
concerned. I turn to the minutes of the October conference, 1841, and
read from the remarks on baptism for the dead delivered by the Prophet
on the third day as follows:
"There shall be no more baptisms for the dead until the ordinance
can be attended to in the font of the Lord's house; and the Church
shall not hold another general conference, until they can meet in
said house. _For thus saith the Lord!_" (Times and Seasons, Vol.
II., page 578).
Remember this was in October, 1841--six months after the first stone
of the Temple was laid. Was the Temple finished? No. Was the Church
then rejected with its dead? Verily no! for this was 1841, and I have
already referred you to the editorial of the Prophet's of May, 1842,
wherein he says that never since the formation, or foundation, of the
Church was laid, have the Saints been so willing to comply with the
requisitions of Jehovah, and manifested a more ardent desire to do
the will of God, than in the building of that Temple. Therefore they
could not have been rejected. Yet the sufficient time was up.[13] What
must we then conclude? That the Temple had progressed so far that
baptisms could be performed in it for the dead in accordance with the
revelation, and it did not depend altogether, you will see, on the
complete finishing of the building; and as the rooms were finished one
by one and dedicated, they too, could be used for the ordinances of the
Temple until the whole Temple was built.
Are we right in our conclusion that a font had been built? Yes,
a temporary font had been built in the basement of the Temple--a
temporary one--but obviously one that answered the requirements of the
revelation. Moreover, in this temporary font, which was used by the
command of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, baptisms for the
dead were performed from November, 1841, until it was replaced by the
permanent font, and then these baptisms continued in that until the
Saints were driven from Nauvoo.