Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-02-29

and then " required another temple
more complete In Its structure than the
| former one. When the Kirkland tenn.
| ple was built, one of the Visions given
| in II TO the prophet was that In which
he received keys through the coming oil
Elijah. IN fulhllmcnt of the promise
made both by Moroni and by Malachi
In section 40 OF the Doctrine and Gov
enants we have mentioned q number
OF visions that were received ON the
Ard day of April. 1896. but this one l.
all thai will concern us this afternoon:
beginning with the 18th verse:
COMING OF ELIJAH.
AFTER this vision had closed. an
other great and glorious vision burst
upon us. for Elijah the prophet. who
was taken to heaven without tasting
death stood before us, and said;
Behold, the time has fully come.
which was spoken OF by the mouth Of
Malachi testifying that he CBlljahl
should be sent before the great and
dreadful day OF the Lord come
ITO turn the hearts of the fathers
TO the children. and the children to the
fathers. lest the whole earth he smit-
ten with n curse.
"Thereforo the keys OF this DISPENSE
ton are committed into your hands,
and by this we may know that the great
and dreadful day of the Lord Is near,
even At the doors,
Now refer again to section ic4. TO q
passage that has been misapplied by
those not of our faith, and through IL
many who are of our faith have been
confused:
but behold. at the end of this APP
pointment, your baptisms for your
dead shall not be acceptable unto me;
and II you do not these things Mt the
end of the appointment, ye shall be re-
jected as a church, with your DEAD,
saith the Lord your Cod"
IMPORTANCE OF TEMPLE WORK.
There are those among us who say
that this means that IL the NauVoo tenn
pie was not finished within q certain
time. that the Lord would reject the
saints with their dead. But 1t does not
read that way: 1t simply means this:
The Lord declares that He will give
unto the saints a sufficient time to
build a temple to His name, and while
they are building that temple He VIII
accept their baptisms as they were
performing them in the river, but just
as soon as q place could be prepared in
the temple for the baptisms FOR the
dead then baptisms in the river must
ccase. because that was not the proper
place. This revelation was given on the
18th day OF January. 1871, and by Octo-
Der. lS4l, the temple had advanced so
far that font had been placed in it.
Then the word Of the Lord came to the
Prophet Joseph Smith, on the Bird day of
that month during the conference. that
no more baptisms would be permitted In
the river Now. II is quite evident that
the saints had not had time In the six
months or little over six months. TO
build a temple, because that temple was
built OF stone. costing a great deal or
money and hard labor. and all the
saints were required to do was to fur
nish one-tenth of their income or time.
However on that day the Lord de-
clared. through the prophet. that no
more baptisms would be accepted If
performed In the river a few days lat
er baptisms began IN the font In the
Lords house The temple was not COM
pleted at the time, and they kept at
work building II, and at the same time
performing baptisms in the font in the
basement, according to the command
the Lord had given them. The Lord
said that at the end OF the appointment
given the saints to baptize In the river
when the privilege should be withdrawn
that the saints must continue to per-
form the ordinances in the temple in
behalf OF their dead or be rejected with
their dead And why were they TO be
rejected IL they neglected the salvation
of their dead? Because we cannot re-
ceive a perfect salvation without our
kindred who have gone before us to
the other world. 1t was not the neg
lect of the building of the temple for
which they were to be rejected. but for
the neglect of their temple work in
behalf of their dead Fortunately neith-
er the building of the temple nor the
performance of the ordinances was
neglected. The neglect of the temple
ordinances In connection with rejection
applies to us today just as forcibly as
I. did In 1S41 We can say with equal
force to the Latter-day Saints today: If
you wilfully neglect the salvation of
your dead, then you will be rejected. no
matter II there should be a thousand
temples built to the honor anS glory
of the Lord. 1t is the performance of
this work that Is to bring salvation by
uniting the hearts of the children and
the parents. and the neglect of II that
will iaring rejection and destruction
when the Savior comes.
The prophet Elijah came and con-
ferred upon the heads of Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery the keys
of this work. Therefore, they went
forth with greater power and ltnowl-
edge: and revelations were received
from that day forth concerning the
building of temples until the work
was esta blished In its fitness, and the
spirit of this work has spread to the
four quarters of the earth and be-
cause of 1t men have been inspired
to prepare genealogies of tho dead;
they know not why. but we understand
IL IL TO be through the restoration of
Eliiah's priesthood.
Two weeks ago, / stated that in
this dispensation things had been re-
vealed that had been kept hid from
the foundation of the world, things
that were not understood by the
saints in the days of Christ, or in the
days of Noah, or at any other period
pf the worlds history. | did not give
the proof concerning that as we have
Il in modern revelation. but ] confined |
my remarks to some passages in the |
Did Scriptures. Now I want to show |
YOU from modern revelation that this |
IS the case. In sectin 1924 of the Doc. |
.rlne and Covenants, forty-tirst verse, |
he Lord saws;
For deign to reveal unto my |
Church things which have been kept |
aid from before the foundation of the
world. things that pertain to the dis
of the fulness of times"
Again in section 127 eighth verse,
lie says
For I am about to restore many
hings to the earth, pertaining to the
Priesthood, saith the Lord Of hosts
baUa oIraady raad that tho ord |