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

ants the prophet informs us or inst
fact IN the Following words: Ctwcnty-
first verse;.
"And again, The voice OF God In the
chamber of old Father Whitmer, IN
| Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry
times, and in divers places through
| all the travels and trlbulations of this
| Church OF Jesus Christ OF Latter-day
Saints. And the voice of Michael. the
archangel; the voice OF Gabriel, and
Of Raphael, and of diverse angelo,
| from Michael TOR Adam, DOWN TO
THE PRESENT TIME. all declaring
| their dlspcnsatlon, their rights, their
! keys, their honors, their majesty and
! glory, and the power of their priest
hood giving line upon line. precept
upon precepti here a little, and there
little--glving us consolation by
holding forth that which is to come,
confirming our hope"
| Now, why did they declare their
| priesthoOd2 Was II merely 10 say that
they held it? No; they came and con-
| ferred upon Joseph's head their priest
hood, and declared the powers and Keys
which they held and conferred them
upon the head OF the man who stood az
the head of the greatest dispensation
| of all. In this dispensation 1t has been
commanded that we save our dead as
well as ourselves. How are we going
to do It? BY performing baptisnis and
blltl bIhlIuUgtf lOl lutHl III NuN NDh~
pie, by becoming sealed, united, If you
pleBse--wives to husbands and children
to parents, from the days of Adam
down TO the present time. and until
the end of time. and unless that work Is
done the whole plan of salvation win
fail, for we cannot be saved withou;
our dead. Adam stands ut the head
of his posterity. We are all his chill
dren, and he will rule over us. His
son Seth will always be his son. and so
on down through time the posterity of
each man will always and forever be
his, and all will be joined, link by link,
from the end of time back to the days
OF Adam. That liz the work of Elijah,
and we are told that unless the keys
are here for the binding of the hearts
of the children to the parents, and the
hearts of the parents to the children,
the uniting of the people In one grand
family, the whole plan of salvation
would fail. 1 want to refer to a few pas
sages in the Scriptures bearing on this
matter. I win read from the Doctrine
and Covenants, sections 1T and l2S.
RECORDS MUST BE KEPT.
First. 1t speaks of the necessity for
all this work being properly recorded.
That has been dealt with and is UNI
derstood, so / win treat it very briefly.
Sections 127 and 1873 deal with temple
work. The LORD declares that cor
rect record must be kept of all bap~
tisms and ordinances These ordinances
must be performed in the presence of
eye witnesses, and as we record on earth.
so shall 1t be recorded in heaven. We
understand from the visions of John,
as recorded in chapter 20 of his RcVala-
tons, that when the dead shall stand
before the LORD to be judged, the
books will be opened and the dead will
be judged out of the things written
In the books. Then, John says, AN
other book was opened which IS the
book of life" What is the book of life?
1t is the record of our deeds. our career
here upon the earth. and we are to be
JUDGED according to what we have
done. Among those records which shall
be opened shall be the one of our
temple work. showing what we have
done in behalf of our dead as well as
In our own behalf. Speaking OF this
the Prophet Joseph says:
You may think this order of things
to be very particular, but let me tell
you that 1t is only to answer the will
of God, by conforming to the ordi-
nances and preparation that the Lord
ordained and prepared before the foun-
dalton of the world. for the salvation,
of the dead who should die without a
knowledge of the gospel.
Then he goes on to say:
Nov the great and grand secret of
the whole matter. and the summum
honum of the whole subject that is
lying before us, consists In obtaining
the power of the holy priesthood. For
him TO whom these keys are given.
there Is no difficulty in obtaining a
knowledge of facts in relation 10 the
salvation of the children of men, both
as we'll for the dead us for the living.
Herein is glory and honor. and
Immortality and eternal life. The or
dinance of baptism by water, to he
immersed therein in order to answer
to the likeness of the dead that one
principle might accord with the other.
To be immersed In the water and
come forth out of the water is in the
thickness of the resurrection of the
dead in coming forth out of their
graves; hence this ordinance was in |
stituted TO form a relationship with |
the ordinance of baptism for the dead,
being in likeness of the dead"
Then speaking of this work of saving |
our dead-which l say we must do. as |
far as in our power lies linking the
generations back as far as we can 20 |
the prophet says
And now, my dearly beloved breth-
rem ana sisters, let me assure you that
these are principles in relation TO the
dead, and the living, that cannot be |
lightly passed over, as pertaining 10
our salvation. For their salvation is
necessary, and essential to our saliva
tion, as Paul says concerning the faith
ers that they without us cannot be
made perfect neither can we without
our dead be made perfect.
And now, in relation TO the BAPTISM
for the dead, L viii give you another
quotation of Paul. / Corinthians XIV;
~, Else what shall they do which are
baptized for the dead. II the dead rise
not at all; why are they then baptized
for the dead?'
And again, in connection with thi,
quotation, 1 will give you a quotation
from one of the prophets, who had MS
eye fixed on the restoration of the
the glories to be revealed
In the last days, and in an especial
manner this most glorious OF all sub
jects belonging to the everlasting COS.
pei, VIZ, the baptism for the dead; for
Malachi says, last chapter, verses
and d: Behold, /. viii send you Elijah
the prophet, before the coming of the
great and dreadful day OF the Lord;
and he shall turn the hearts OF the
fathers to the children, and the hearts
)f the children TO their fathers, lest I
come and smite the earth with
curse.
These passages emphasize the inn