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TEMPLES, 1873
1873: 19 Jan.: Concerning the degrees of glory.
“What will become of the old bachelor who refuses to obey the ordinance of marriage? We have preached to the young men of this Territory, and laid before them the sacredness of the marriage covenant. We have told them and the young women that it is their duty to enter into this covenant as much as it is their duty to be baptized for the remission of their sins. The same God that commanded the latter gave the revelation concerning the marriage covenant, yet there are some who will give heed to one ordinance–baptism–but will be careless and indifferent about the other. By taking this course they do not altogether forfeit their right and title to enter that kingdom, but they do forfeit their right and title to be kings therein. What will be their condition there? They will be Angels.
There are many different classes of beings in the eternal worlds, and among them are angels. Who are these angels? Some of them have never yet come to take upon them bodies of flesh and bones, but they will come in their times, seasons and generations and receive their tabernacles, the same as we have done. Then there are others who were resurrected when Jesus was, when the graves of the Saints were opened and many came forth and showed themselves to those who were then living in the flesh. Besides these there are angels who have been to this world and have never yet received a resurrection, whose spirits have gone hence into celestial paradise, and there await the resurrection. We have now mentioned three classes of angels. There are others, among them some redeemed from former creations before this world was made, one of whom administered to our first parents after they were cast out of the garden as they were offering sacrifice and burnt offerings, according to the commandments which they received from God when they were driven from the garden. After they had done this many days an Angel came and ministered to them and inquired of them why they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings unto the Lord. The answer was, ‘I know not, save it be that the Lord commanded me.’ Then this angel went on to explain to our first parents why these offerings were made and why they were commanded to shed the blood of beasts, telling them that all these things were typical of the great and last sacrifice that should be offered up for all mankind, namely the Son of the living God. These angels that came to Adam were not men who had been redeemed from this earth–not men who had been translated from this earth–but they pertained for former worlds. They understood about the coming of Jesus, the nature of these sacrifices, &c.
Some of these angels have received their exaltation, and still are called angels. For instance Michael has received his exaltation. He is not without his kingdom and crown, wife or wives and posterity, because he lived faithful to the end. Who is he? Our first, great progenitor, Adam, is called Michael, the Prince. I am mentioning now things that the Latter-day Saints are acquainted with. Many of these things I have just been quoting are revelations given to us, as those who are readers will recollect. Some of these angels have received their exaltation. They are kings, they are priests, they have entered into their glory and sit upon thrones–they hold the sceptre over their posterity. Those other classes I have mentioned have neglected the new and everlasting covenant of marriage: They can not inherit this glory and these kingdoms–they can not be crowned in the celestial world. What purpose will they serve? They will be sent on errands–be sent to other worlds as missionaries to minister, they will be sent on whatever business the Lord sees proper; in other words, they will be servants. To whom will they be servants? To those who have obeyed and remained faithful to the new and everlasting covenant, and have been exalted to thrones; to those who have covenanted before God with wives so that they may raise up and multiply immortal intelligent beings through all the ages of eternity. Here is the distinction of classes, but all of the same glory, called celestial glory.
But how about these terrestrials, can they come up into the celestial? No, their intelligence and knowledge have not prepared and adapted them to dwell with those who reign in celestial glory, consequently they can not even be angels in that glory. They have not obeyed the law that pertains to that glory, and hence they could not abide it. But will there be blessings administered to them by those who dwell in celestial glory? Yes, angels will be sent forth from the celestial world to minister to those who inherit the glory of the moon, bearing messages of joy and peace and of all that which is calculated to exalt, to redeem and ennoble those who have been resurrected into a terrestrial glory. They can receive the Spirit of the Lord there, and the ministration of angels there.
Now let us come to still inferior glories. I have mentioned those who inherit the glory of the stars. Who are they? They are not the heathen, for they come up higher–into the terrestrial glory. Who are they, then, who are permitted only to inherit a glory typified by the stars? They are the general world of mankind, those who have heard the Gospel of the Son of God but have not obeyed it. They are to be punished. How long? Until Jesus has reigned here on the earth a thousand years. How much longer? Until the ‘little season’ has passed away after the end of the thousand years, and then when the final end shall come and the trump of God shall sound, and the great white throne shall appear and the heaven and the earth shall flee away; when that time shall come, the sound of the trump shall call forth those sleeping millions of all ages, generations and nations who have heard the sound of the Gospel and have not obeyed it, but until then their bodies must sleep. They are not worthy of the first resurrection. ‘Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, for on such the second death has no power.’ But those who will not give heed to the law of the Gospel have no claim on this first resurrection, and their bodies must sleep through all these long centuries that are to intervene between the time of their death and the end of the earth. Where will their spirits be all that time? Not in any glory; they cannot inherit a glory until their punishment is past. They are not permitted to enter into prison. A great many people, and perhaps some of the Latter-day Saints, have supposed that these characters will go into prison. I do not know of any revelation anywhere intimating that any one of this class of persons will ever be put in prison. Where do they go? To another place altogether different from a prison. A prison is designed for those who never heard the Gospel here in the flesh, but yet have committed a few sins without the knowledge of the revealed law, and who have to be beaten with few stripes in prison. But those pwersons who hear the Gospel, as the nations of the present dispensation are doing, can not go to prison, it is not their place. They fall below a prison, into outer darkness or hell, where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. There they have to remain with the devil and his angels in torment and misery until the final end, then they come forth. Can they come where God and Christ dwell? No, worlds without end they cannot come there. Can they go into the presence of the heathen where the glory is that of the moon? No, they cannot even come there. When they are delivered from the power of Satan and endless death and brought forth, where do they go? If they do not go into the presence of God the Father, if they are not counted worthy to enter into the terrestrial world among the heathen, where will they go? God has provided mansions for them according to their works here in this world. Having suffered the vengeance of eternal fire for the space of a thousand years and upwards, and suffered the extreme penalty of the law of God, they can now be brought forth to inherit a place where they can be administered unto by terrestrial beings and byi Angels holding the Priesthood, and where they can receive the Holy Ghost.
Those in the terrestrial world have the privilege of beholding Jesus sometimes–they can receive the presence of the Son, but not of the fullness of the Father; but those in the telestial world, still lower, receive only the Holy Ghost, administered to them by messengers ordained and sent forth to minister to them for glory and exaltation, providing they will obey the law that is given unto them, which law will be telestial law. That will finally exalt them. How far I know not, but where God and Christ are then can not come, worlds without end.
Now I think I have set forth these glories and these different degrees of punishment, and the different classes of people that are to be judged according to the knowledge that they have here in this world.” (Orson Pratt, 19 Jan., 1873; JD 15:320-323)
19 Jan.: Work of Millennium is to build Temples.
“The work of the Millennium is to build Temples, and the Latter-day Saints are to build thousands of them, then Jesus and the holy angels will make their appearance and will reveal to us the genealogy of our forefatners, to enable us to perform the ordinances necessary for their salvation.” (Brigham Young, 19 Jan., 1873; Annals of the Southern Mission, Book B, p. 251)
9 Mar.: The Temple in Jackson County.
“The nature of the city of Zion is nowhere fully described. John the revelator has described in his 21st chapter, two cities coming down from God but of heaven. The first one is the New Jerusalem. That will come down on the land of Joseph. After John had seen that, one of the angels who had one of the vials of the seven last plagues came to him and said, ‘Come hither, John, and I will show you another city, that is that great city, the holy Jerusalem.’ He took him to the summit of a high mountain and showed him that great city, the height of its walls, the number of its gates, the names that are to be upon the gates, and a great many particulars in relation to that city are clearly revealed. But the New Jerusalem is nowhere so fully described, only as the Psalmist David says, ‘Beautiful for situation, the joy of the wyole earth is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.’ David also says, in speaking of this same city, ‘Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.’ From these declarations we can at least believe that Zion will be a very beautiful city–‘the perfection of beauty,’ whether it is constructed after the order of the old Jerusalem or not. Suffice it to say that God by revelation will inspire his servants and will dictate to them the order of the buildings of that city–the number and width of the streets, the kind of houses, the character of the Temple that is to be built therein, the kind of rock, timber and the various materials that will have to be brought from a distance to enter into the composition of that beautiful city.
When the Temple is built the sons of the two Priesthoods, that is, those who are ordained to the Priesthood of Melchizedec, that Priesthood which is after the order of the Son of God, with all its appendages; and those who have been ordained to the Priesthood of Aaron with all its appendages, the former called the sons of Aaron, will enter into that Temple in this generation, or in the generation that was living in 1832, and all of them who are pure in heart will behold the face of the Lord and that too before he comes in his glory in the clouds of heaven, for he will suddenly come to his Temple, and he will purify the sons of Moses and of Aaron, until they shall be prepared to offer in that Temple an offering that shall be acceptable in the sight of the Lord. In doing this, he will purify not only the minds of the Priesthood in that Temple, but he will purify their bodies until they shall be quickened, renewed and strengthened, and they will be partially changed, not to immortality, but changed in part that they can be filled with the power of God, and they can stand in the presence of Jesus, and behold his face in the midst of that Temple. This will prepare them for further ministrations among the nations of the earth, and it will prepare them to go forth in the days of tribulation and vengeance upon the nations of the wicked, when God will smite them with pestilence, plague and earthquake, such as former generations never knew. Then the servants of God will need to be armed with the power of God, they will need to have that sealing blessing pronounced upon their foreheads that they can stand forth in the midst of these desolations and plagues and not be overcome by them. When John the Revelator describes this scene he says he saw four angels sent forth, ready to hold the four winds that should blow from the four quarters of heaven. Another angel ascended from the east and cried to the four angels, and said, ‘Smite not the earth now, but wait a little while.’ ‘How long?’ ‘Until the servants of our God are sealed in their foreheads.’ What for? To prepare them to stand forth in the midst of these desolations and plagues, and not be overcome. When they are prepared, when they have received a renewal of their bodies in the Lord’s Temple, and have been filled with the Holy Ghost and purified as gold and silver in a furnace of fire, then they will be prepared to stand before the nations of the earth and preach glad tidings of salvation in the midst of judgments that are to come like a whirlwind upon the wicked.
I intended to lay before you some things pertaining to the order of full consecration that will be observed when we get back to Jackson County, but time will not permit to enter into that now.” (Orson Pratt, 9 Mar., 1873; JD 15:365-366)
7 Apr.: Over 50 billion to have work done for them.
“What a glorious thing it is that we, like the ancient Saints, can be baptized for the dead, and thus open the prison doors and set the prisoners free! The Lord is no respecter of persons, and the fifty thousand millions of human beings who are supposed to have lived on the earth from the days the ancient servants of God were put to death, to the restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith, never having had the privilege of hearing the Gospel, are not going to remain in the eternal world without the privilege of hearing the Gospel; but they will be preached to by Joseph Smith and the Prophets, Patriarchs and Elders who have received the Priesthood on the earth in these latter days. Many of them will receive their testimony, but somebody must administer for them in the flesh, that they may be judged according to men in the spirit, and have part in the first resurrection, just the same as though they had heard the Gospel in the flesh. The Lord has revealed this to us, and commanded us to attend to this duty, the same as Jesus, while his body was in the grave, preached three days and nights to the spirits in prison who were rebellious during the long-suffering of God in the days of Noah. They lay in prison until Jesus went and preached to them.
This and every other principle which the Elders of this Church preach and teach are from heaven–the Lord has revealed them.” (Wilford Woodruff, 7 Apr., 1873; JD 16:39)
1 Jun.: We need not make two Temples alike.
“President Brigham Young and party attended meetings at Provo. Elder Wilford Woodruff, one of the party, in his private journal wrote under this date:
In the morning meeting, at which there were nearly enough people to fill the house twice, President Brigham Young and Elder John Taylor preached. In the course of his remarks the latter said, ‘I have asked the Lord what kind of a Temple we should build, and the answer of the Lord was that He did not make two things alike and we need not make two Temples alike. So we need not look for two Temples alike.”
(JH 1 Jun., 1873)
“We met in the Meeting House at 10 oclok. There was nearly people Enough to fill the House twice. Prayer By David Evans. John Taylor Spoke One hour & 30 Minuts, President Young 10 M. President [Young] Said I have asked the Lord what a kind of a Temple we should Build & the Answer of the Lord was that He did not Make two things alike & we nned not make two Temples alike so we need not look for two Temples alike.” (Wilford Woodruff diary, 1 Jun., 1873)
27 Jun.: Pay back-tithing so we can build more temples.
“Suppose we were to say to this people, ‘Will you pay a little Tithing?’ ‘Yes, we will pay a little Tithing.’ How much would you be willing to pay? Will you pay one dollar to a thousand that you owe of back Tithing? If you will, we shall almost have more than we know what to do with. If you pay up a little of this back Tithing, I am going to make a proposition. Take the people of this one valley [Cache Valley], and they are far better able to build a Temple than the whole of the Saints were when they lived in the Eastern States. The Saints did not begin to be as able to build a Temple thn as the people of this single valley are now. My proposition is, if you will go to work and pay up some of your back Tithing, we will build a Temple up here on the hill; we can select a beautiful site for one there. We calculate to build many Temples, and we will have one here if you agree to my proposition.” (Brigham Young, 27 Jun., 1873; JD 16:112)
28 Jun.: Tithing necessary for a Temple Recommend.
“If there is any man amongst you who wants to take a wife, does he not have to obtain a certificate from his Bishop that he pays his Tithing? If any of you want to be baptized in the font in the house of the Lord for the generations of your dead, do you not need a certificate from your Bishop that you pay your Tithing? And if we want any of the blessings necessary for our exaltation we shall find it so, and more so as we advance in the future. We fathers in Israel, we heads of families, looking towards the patriarchal office and desiring to stand at the head of our generations forever, ought to think, not only about ourselves, but about those who will come after us. If our record shews that we have been faithful in all things, and have never forgotten to pay our Tithing, our posterity can come to the house of the Lord and ask, as a right, for the blessings they need for themselves or their dead.” (Franklin D. Richards, 28 Jun., 1873; JD 16:62)
9 Aug.: Receiving endowments is not enough.
“We want to attain to celestial glory. We do not feel as though we could be satisfied with anything short of that. No Latter-day Saint, who has ever reflected upon these things, feels that he can be satisfied short of celestial glory. We want to attain to the highest of all. We have set out for that, it is the goal for which we are bound, and we feel that nothing short of that will satisfy us. How many will come short of it I do not know, but I know that in order to attain to it we must be careful to observe all the duties which are incumbent upon us. We have no promise of that glory unless we do. The revelations of the Lord, through his servant Joseph, tell us that whosoever can not abide a celestial law will not inherit the glory of the celestial kingdom. There are many called Latter-day Saints who are anxious to obtain their endowments, washings, sealings and anointings, and baptisms for themselves and their dead, and who would think they were deprived of very great blessings if they could not have these privileges; and yet they act as though if they could only snatch these blessings from the hands of the servants of the Lord they would be all right, and they could do in other respects just as they please. The could neglect to pay their Tithing and the observance of the commands of the Lord generally, and walk after their own vain imaginations all the days of their lives. What a fatal mistake is here!” (Daniel H. Wells, 9 Aug., 1873; JD 16:128)
31 Aug.: History of baptisms for the dead.
“We will say we have received a great deal; very much instruction we have received. But there are keys to open up other ordinances which I will mention. Do you recollect that in about the year 1840-41, Joseph had a revelation concerning the dead? He had been asked the question a good many times; ‘What is the condition of the dead, those that lived and died without the Gospel?’ It was a matter of inquiry with him. He considered this question not only for himself, but for the brethren and the Church. ‘What is the condition of the dead? What will be their fate? Is there no way to-day by which they can receive their blessings as there was in the days of the Apostles, and when the Gospel was preached upon the earth in ancient days?’ When Joseph received the revelation that we have in our possession concerning the dead, the subject was opened to him, not in full but in part, and he kept on receiving. When he had first received the knowledge by the spirit of revelation how the dead could be officiated for, there are brethren and sisters here, I can see quite a number here who were in Nauvoo, and you recollect that when this doctrine was first revealed, and in hurrying in the administration of baptism for the dead, that sisters were baptized for their male friends, were baptized for their fathers, their grandfathers, their mothers and their grandmothers, &c. I just mention this so that you will come to understanding, that as we knew nothing about this matter at first, the old Saints recollect, there was little by little given, and the subject was made plain, but little was given at once. Consequently, in the first place people were baptized for their friends and no record was kept. Joseph afterwards kept a record, &c. Then women were baptized for men and men for women, &c. It would be very strange, you know, to the eyes of the wise and they that understood the things pertaining to eternity, if we were called upon to commence a work that we could not finish. This, therefore, was regulated and all set in order; for it was revealed that if a woman was baptized for a man, she could not be ordained for him, neither could she be made an Apostle or a Patriarch for the man, consequently the sisters are to be baptized for their own sex only.
This doctrine of baptism for the dead is a great doctrine, one of the most glorious doctrines that was ever revealed to the human family; and there are light, power, glory, honor and immortality in it. After this doctrine was received, Joseph received a revelation on celestial marriage. You will recollect, brethren and sisters, that it was in July, 1843, that he received this revelation concerning celestial marriage. This doctrine was explained and many received it as far as they could understand it. Some apostatized on account of it; but others did not, and received it in their faith. This, also, is a great and noble doctrine. I have not time to give you many items upon the subject, but there are a few hints that I can throw in here that perhaps may be interesting. As far as this pertains to our natural lives here, there are some who say it is very hard. They say, ‘This is rather a hard business; I don’t like my husband to take a plurality of wives in the flesh.’ Just a few words upon this. We would believe this doctrine entirely different from what it is presented to us, if we could do so. If we could make every man upon the earth get him a wife, live righteously and serve God, we would not be under the necessity, perhaps, of taking more than one wife. But they will not do this; the people of God, therefore, have been commanded to take more wives. The women are entitled to salvation if they live according to the word that is given to them; and if their husbands are good men, and they are obedient to them, they are entitled to certain blessings, and they will have the privilege of receiving certain blessings that they cannot receive unless they are sealed to men who will be exalted. Now, where a man in this Church says, ‘I don’t want but one wife, I will live my religion with one,’ he will perhaps be saved in the celestial kingdom; but when he gets there he will not find himself in possession of any wife at all. He has had a talent that he has hid up. He will come forward and say, ‘Here is that which thou gavest me, I have not wated it, and here is the one talent,’ and he will not enjoy it, but it will be taken and given to those who have improved the talents they received, and he will find himself without any wife, and he will remain single for ever and ever. But if the woman is determined not to enter into a plural marriage, that woman when she comes forth will have the privilege of living in single blessedness through all eternity. Well, that is very good, a very nice place to be a minister to the wants of others. I recollect a sister conversing with Joseph Smith on this subject. She told him: ‘Now, don’t talk to me; when I get into the celestial kingdom, if I ever do get there, I shall request the privilege of being a ministering angel; that is the labor that I wish to perform. I don’t want any companion in that world; and if the Lord will make me a ministering angel, it is all I want.’ Joseph said, ‘Sister, you talk very foolishly, you do not know what you will want.’ He then said to me: ‘Here, brother Brigham, you seal this lady to me.’ I sealed her to him. This was my own sister according to the flesh. Now sisters, do not say, ‘I do not want a husband when I get up in the resurrection.’ You do not know what you will want. I tell this so that you can get the idea. If in the resurrection you really want to be single and alone, and live so forever and ever, and be made servants, while others receive the highest order o intelligence and are bringing worlds into existence, you can have the privilege. They who will be exalted cannot perform all the labor, they must have servants and you can be servants to them.” (Brigham Young, 31 Aug., 1873; JD 16:165-167)
31 Aug.: Concerning tithing and temple recommends.
“We expect to build Temples in a great many valleys. We go to the endowment house, and before going, we get a recommendation from our Bishop that we have paid our Tithing. We wish it was so. I do not want to accuse the brethren; buit if your consciences and my conscience does not accuse us, why, I will not accuse you. When you gaive a certificate or letter for a man to have a woman sealed to him, and he full of sin and iniquity, is not such a certificate false? If we inquire of such, ‘Do you want to have another wife sealed to you?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Where is your wife?’ ‘Why, she has left me.’ ‘Why?’ Because you are so full of the devil that she cannot live with you, and the Bishop will give a certificate for you to get another. They also want to be baptized for their dead friends when they have not paid their Tithing. I do not want to accuse anybody; but I do not think this to be right. If the Lord will receive the people, if the Lord will accept of their labors, and will honor and bless them, and say that their officiating for their dead friends shall be sealed in the heavens and it shal be recorded by his angel, and in the day of the resurrection it shall be accounted unto them for righteousness, I am willing, I have not a word to say against it.” (Brigham Young, 31 Aug., 1873; JD 16:168-169)
31 Aug.: How can the living act for the dead?
“‘But you told us a little while ago, that our marriages were illegal, and now how can our species be multiplied after the resurrection? It cannot be, there is no marrying nor giving in marriage then. What then will become of the people, unless there is some provision, ordained by the Lord, whereby the living can act for the dead?’ Take away that principle, and amen to all those who have not been married for eternity, as well as time, so far as the multiplication of their species is concerned; for you cannot get married there. But if there is a provision, by which those who are living here in the flesh, may officiate in sacred and holy ordinances, for and in behalf of the dead, then the question will arise, How far do these ordinances extend?
Some may say, ‘Perhaps they only extend to baptism. We believe that baptism for the dead is true, because the Scriptures speak very plainly about that in the 15th chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, in which, in arguing about the resurrection of the dead, the Apostle says–“Else what shall they do who are baptized for the dead? if the dead rise not at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?”‘ Sure enough, it would have been useless for those Corinthians to have been baptized for the dead, if there had been no resurrection. But Paul very well knew that the Corinthians understood that they should be baptized for their dead; and that they were actually practicing that ordinance, that their ancestors, who had been dead for generations, might have the privilege of coming forth in the resurrection. Baptism was typical of their burial and resurrection, and hence Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, used it as an argument in support of the principle of the resurrection.
But is there any inconsistency, in supposing that other ordinances may be officiated in, for, and in behalf of the dead? Or shall we say, that God has merely selected the one ordinance of baptism, and told the living to officiate in that for the dead, and to neglect all others? If, however, we believe that God is a God of order and of justice, it is reasonable to suppose that if, by his permission and ordination, the living can do anything for the dead, they can do everything for them, so far as ordinances are concerned. That is, if they can be baptized for and in behalf of the dead, they can be confirmed, and can also officiate in the ordinance of marriage for them. Why be so inconsistent, as to suppose that God should ordain a law by which the living can be baptized for the dead, and do no more for them? God is more merciful and consistent than that; and when he spoke in our day and revealed the plan of salvation, he, as far as we were ready to receive it, gave us a system, by which the dead who have died without the opportunity of hearing and obeying the Gospel, may be officiated for in all respects, and redeemed to the uttermost and saved with a full salvation; and hence, Latter-day Saints, there is hope for our generations who have lived on the earth, from our day back to the falling away of the church–some sixteen or seventeen centuries ago. You can reach back to that day and pick up all your generations–the hearts of the children searching after the fathers from generation to generation; and the ancient fathers looking down to their children, to do something for them, just as the Lord promised in the last chapter of Malachi. There is a promise that before the great day of the Lord should come, it should burn as an oven, and all the proud and they that do wickedly should become as stubble. But before that terrible day should come God would send Elijah the Prophet to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children, lest the Lord should come and smite the earth with a curse. As much as to say, that the children would perish as well as the fathers, if this turning of their hearts towards each other did not take place. Paul, in speaking about their forefathers, to those who lived in his day, said–‘They without us can not be made perfect, neither can we be made perfect without them.’ There must be a union between ancient and modern generations, between us and our ancestry. To say that God would be kind and merciful to a certain generation, and reveal his Gospel through a holy angel for their special benefit, and leave all other generations without hope, is inconsistent. When God begins a work, it is worthy of himself–God-like in its nature, soaring into high heaven, and penetrating the regions of darkness, for those who are shut up in their prison house, that liberty may be proclaimed to the captives; a plan that not only pertains to the present, but reaches back into the past, and saves to the uttermost all who are entitled to, and are willing to receive his proferred mercy. But these ordinances must be attended to here, in this world and probation. This is the law of the Great Jehovah. In the resurrection these things can not be done.” (Orson Pratt, 31 Aug., 1873; JD 16:179-181)
4 Sep.: Sealings for dead done only in Temples.
“There are many of the ordinances of the house of God that must be performed in a Temple that is erected expressly for the purpose. There are other ordinances that we can administer without a Temple. You know that there are some which you have received–baptism, the laying on of hands, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, such as the speaking in and interpretation of tongues, prophecying, healing, discerning of spirits, etc., and many blessings bestowed upon the people, we have the privilege of receiving without a Temple. There are other blessings that will not be received, and ordinances that will not be performed according to the law that the Lord has revealed, without their being done in a Temple prepared for that purpose. We can, at the present time, go to the Endowment House and ba baptized for the dead, receive our washings and anointing, etc., for there we have a font that has been erected, dedicated expressly for baptizing people for the remission of sins, for their health and for their dead friends. We also have the privilege of sealing women to men without a Temple. This we can do in the Endowment House; but when we come to other sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy Priesthood, to connect the chain of the Priesthood from father Adam until now, by sealing children to their parents, being sealed for our forefathers, etc., they cannot be done without a Temple. When the ordinances are carried out in the Temples that will be erected, men will be sealed to their fathers, and those who have slept clear up to father Adam. This will have to be done, because of the chain of the Priesthood being broken upon the earth. The Priesthood has left the people, but in the first place the people left the Priesthood. They transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, and broke the everlasting covenant, and the Priesthood left them; but not until they had left the Priesthood. This Priesthood has been restored again, and by its authority we shall be connected with our fathers, by the ordinance of sealing, until we shall form a perfect chain from father Adam down to the closing up scene. This ordinance will not be performed anywhere but in a Temple; neither will children be sealed to their living parents in any other place than a Temple. For instance, a man and his wife come into the Church, and they have a family of children. These children have been begotten out of the covenant, because the marriages of their parents are not recognized by the Lord as performed by his authority; they have, therefore, to be sealed to their parents, or else they cannot claim them in eternity; they will be distributed according to the wisdom of the Lord, who does all things right. When we had a Temple prepared in Nauvoo, many of the brethren had their children who were out of the covenant sealed to them, and endowments were given. Then parents, after receiving their endowments, and being sealed for time and all eternity, and they have other children, they are begotten and born under the covenant, and they are the rightful heirs to the kingdom, they possess the keys of the kingdom. Children born unto parents before the latter enter into the fullness of the covenants, have to be sealed to them in a Temple to become legal heirs of the Priesthood. It is true they can receive the ordinances, they can receive their endowments and be blessed in common with their parents; but still the parents cannot claim them legally and lawfully in eternity unless they are sealed to them. Yet the chain would not be complete without this sealing ordinance being performed.
Now, to illustrate this, I will refer to my own father’s family. My father died before the endowments were given. None of his children have been sealed to him. If you recollect, you that were in Nauvoo, we were very much hurried in the little time we spent there after the Temple was built. The mob was there ready to destroy us; they were ready to burn our houses, they had been doing it for a long time; but we finished the Temple according to the commandment that was given to Joseph, and then took our departure. Our time, therefore, was short, and we had no time to attend to this. My father’s children, consequently, have not been sealed to him. Perhaps all of his sons may go into eternity, into the spirit world, before this can be attended to; but this will make no difference; the heirs of the family will attend to this if it is not for a hundred years.
It will have to be done sometime. If, however, we get a Temple prepared before the sons of my father shall all have gone into the spirit world, if there are any of them remaining, they will attend to this, and as heirs be permitted to receive the ordinances for our father and mother. This is only one case, and, to illustrate this subject perfectly, I might have to refer to hundreds of examples for each case.
With regard to heirship, I can not enter into all the matter tonight. The subject would require a good dead of explaining to the people, consequently, I will pass over it at present. I can merely say this, however, that we see that the Lord makes his selection according to his own mind and will with regard to his ministers. Brother Joseph Smith, instead of being the first born, was the third son of his father’s family who came to maturity, yet he is actually the heir of the family; he is the heir of his father’s house. It seems to us that the oldest son would be the natural heir; but we see that the Lord makes his own selection. There are some inquiries now with regard to officiating in ordinances, which I wish to answer. Some brethren here are anxious to know whether they can receive endowments for their sons or for their daughters. No, they cannot until we have a Temple; but they can officiate in the ordinances so far as baptism and sealing are concerned. A man can be baptized for a son who died before hearing the Gospel. A woman can be baptized for her daughter, who died without the Gospel. Suppose that the father of a dead son wishes to have a wife sealed to his son; if the young woman desired as a wife is dead and have a mother or other female relative in the church, such mother is the heir, and she can act in the sealing ordinances in the stead of her daughter. But if the young woman desired as a wife has no relative in the Church, to act in her behalf, then the mother of the young man can be baptized for her, and act as proxy for her in the sealing ordinances. We can attend to these ordinances now before the Temple is built here; but no one can receive endowments for another, until a Temple is prepared in which to administer them. We administer just so far as the law permits us to do. In reality we should have performed all these ordinances long ago, if we had been obedient; we should have had Temples in which we could attend to all these ordinances. Now, the brethren have the privilege of being baptized for their dead friends–when I say the brethren, I mean the brethren and sisters–and these friends can be sealed.
For instance, a man and his wife come into the Church; he says, ‘My father and mother were good people; I would like to officiate for them.’ ‘Well, have you any other friends in the Church?’ ‘Nobody but myself and my wife.’ Well, now, the wife is not a blood relation, consequently she is not in reality the proper person, but she can be appointed the heir if there are no other relatives–if there are no sisters, this wife of his can officiate for the mother; but if the man has a sister in the Church, it is the privilege and place of the sister of this man, the daughter of those parents that are dead, to go and officiate–be baptized, to go and be sealed with her brother for her father and mother. If this man and woman have a daughter old enough to officiate for her grandmother, she is a blood relation, and is the heir, and can act; but if there is no daughter, the man’s wife can be appointed as the heir.” (Brigham Young, 4 Sep., 1873; JD 16:186-188)
4 Sep.: Additional requirements for temple recommend.
“Now are we entitled to the blessings of the house of God if we keep the commandments he has given to us? Yes. If we observe his precepts and do them, are we entitled to these blessings? Yes. Are we entitled to them if we do not keep the commandments? No, we are not. Brethren go and get their endowments, and they get a recommendation so as to go into the house of the Lord. Now you go to the Bishop and enquire strictly as to some of these brethren: ‘Does such a brother pay his Tithing? Is he faithful and industrious?’ ‘Well, no.’ ‘Is he honest in his dealings?’ ‘Well, I guess he means to do right.’ ‘Does he always speak the truth?’ ‘Well, I cannot say that he does exactly.’ ‘Does he drink liquor?’ ‘Well, yes, sometimes he does. Yes, I think he does, although I never saw him drunk.’ ‘Does he take the name of the Lord in vain?’ ‘Well, I don’t know, I have heard that he does swear sometimes.’ ‘Does he quarrel with his wife?’ ‘I don’t know; I understand, however, they do not live very happily together.’ This man probably wants another wife. Is he entitled to these blessings? He pays a little Tithing, perhaps, but he says he is going to pay it in full; and the Bishop says: ‘He has been teasing me a long time for a recommendation.’ ‘But why did you give it to him?’ I will answer this. ‘I had to give it to him to get rid of him, so that he won’t tease me any more.’ This is the answer. Now ask yourselves, my brethren and sisters, is he entitled to the blessings that the Lord has for his faithful children?” (Brigham Young, 4 Sep., 1873; JD 16:189)
7 Oct.: The nations to flock to the temples.
“There is another thing connected with the building of the Temple in the latter-days. When it is built, on the place, and according to the pattern that the Lord shall designate, it will be so strange to the nations, that they will actually come up from all parts of the globe. Many of them will say one to another–‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob.’ ‘What do you want to go up there for? Why do you want to travel several thousand miles across land and sea to go to the mountain of the house of the Lord?’ ‘That he may teach us of his ways, that we may walk in his paths.’ ‘Can you not be taught in his ways in your own chapels, which you have built in England, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Austria, or wherever you may have resided? Can you not worship in your own chapels?’ ‘Oh, no, there is no house of the Lord, we have no teachers authorized of God, no Prophets and Apostles inspired by and called of God to officiate like the ancient Apostles; no one to say to us “Thus saith the Lord God,” by new revelation; no visions are manifested among us; no angels have honored our houses of worship with their presence; no glory, no fire descending from heaven to light up these chapels and sanctuaries which we have built, and we have lost all confidence in our teachers, consequently let us go up to yonder mountain on which God’s house has been built, and when we get there, he will teach us in his ways, and we will walk in his paths.’ ‘Is the only object you have in going to the mountain of the house of the Lord to receive teachings?’ No, there are other things to be attended to in the house of God or in Temples that may be built in the tops of the mountains besides teaching. We have a great many important duties to perform pertaining to the house of God, duties that can not be performed anywhere else acceptably in his sight.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:253-254)
7 Oct.: More ordinances to be revealed in the Temples.
“I think that portion of this revelation which I have read, will give you a general idea of the sacredness of the house of the Lord, which is to be built in the latter times, a place wherein the angels may come and visit, as they did in the ancient Temple; a place wherein you can receive all those ordinances which the Lord has revealed, and which he will, hereafter reveal, from time to time, preparatory to the great day of the coming of the Lord.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:256)
7 Oct.: Concerning the law of adoption.
“All who are born before their parents enter that new and everlasting covenant have to be made legitimate heirs.’ ‘In what way?’ ‘According to the ordinance and law of adoption.’ I may be asked–‘Is this important?’ ‘Yes, it matters a great deal. If there are family regulations, to preserve good order, in this world, you will find that God is more strict, in such regulations, in regard to the world to come. If parents hold certain authority over their children in this life, you will find that such authority, though in higher perfection, is transferred to the eternal worlds, and in that world there is a certain jurisdiction which parents hold over their children through all future ages of eternity. But in order that parents may have their children legitimately under their control, it is necessary that the ordinance of adoption in the house of God should be performed in regard to the children born before their parents entered into the eternal covenant of marriage. This shows the use or necessity of a Temple.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:258)
7 Oct.: Baptisms for dead in Temple of Solomon?
“Then again, we heard on Sunday afternoon considerable on the subject of baptism for the dead; it is not necessary, therefore, that I should dwell upon this subject. It is one thoroughly understood by the Latter-day Saints, and has been long preached to them, and they know that this, as well as the ordinance of marriage, pertains to the house of God. To be acceptable to him there must be a font, the same as there was in the Temple of Solomon. You recollect there was a brazen sea, a large place in the basement of the Temple of Solomon, underneath which were twelve oxen, their heads pointing to the four points of the compass–three to each point. This great brazen sea, standing upon these oxen, was a place intended for baptisms for the dead. As was said last Sabbath, it was underneath those courts, where the living, from time to time, assembled to attend to their worship; thus representing those that were in their graves, underneath the living. That was the reason it was placed in that position; and as that was intended for sacred and holy purposes, the administration of holy ordinances, so God has commanded, in these latter days, that there should be a baptismal font, and the ordinance of baptism for the dead must be performed in the place that God designates, in order to be legal and acceptable in his sight.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:258-259)
7 Oct.: The records on earth agree with those in heaven.
“The records kept by authority here, will agree with the records kept in heaven, for they keep records there, as well as we; and the books on earth, when they are kept by divine authority, will agree with the records in heaven. When there is divine authority in the administration of an ordinance here on the earth, that ordinance is sacred and holy, and is recorded here and in the heavens, and the records of heaven will agree with the records of earth; and by these records and books will mankind be judged.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:259)
7 Oct.: We will find ancestors’ names w/Urim & Thummim.
“Strangers will, perhaps, think that this is rather a partial doctrine, on one account. They may say, ‘Your fathers, whom you speak of, are not known; their names, in general, can not be obtained for more than two or three generations back; in a very few instances, perhaps, they may be found eight or ten generations back; but what will be done with all the generations, nations, and ages, that have lived since the Priesthood of God was upon the earth, and since those holy ordinances were administered in ancient times? How are they going to receive any of the benefits from this baptism for the dead, seeing that the very names of the nations, to say nothing of the individuals, are lost?’ Here comes in, again, the use of a Temple of the Lord. The Most High says–‘I deign to reveal unto you hidden things, things that have been kept hid from the foundation of the world.’ Among these hidden things that are to be revealed are the books of genealogy, tracing individuals and nations among all people, back to ancient times.
It may be inquired–‘How can all this be done?’ We answer, by the Urim and Thummim, which the Lord God has ordained to be used in the midst of his holy house, in his Temple. You may inquire–‘What is the Urim and Thummim?’ We reply, it is a divine instrument, prepared in ancient times, by which he who possessed it could call upon the name of the Lord, and receive from him answers to all matters it was necessary that he should know. Aaron, the chief Priest in the midst of Israel, had this instrument in his breast plate, in the midst of rows of stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel; and when he passed certain judgments, he did not do it by his own wisdom, but he inquired of the Lord and received the same, by this sacred instrument. When that instrument is restored to the house of God, to the Temple of the Most High, our ancestry, that is, the ancestry of all the faithful in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will be made manifest. Not all at once, but by degrees. Just as fast as we are able to administer for them, so will the Lord God make manifest, by the manifestation of holy angels, in his house, and by the Urim and Thummim, those names that are necesary, of our ancient kindred and friends, that they may be traced back to the time when the Priesthood was on the earth in ancient days.
If they could not be traced back, there would be a great chasm, a broken chain in the genealogies, and it would not be perfect, but when the Lord God comes suddenly to his Temple, he will come to a people who have made themselves perfect by obedience to his commandments. They have sought after the redemption of their dead from generation to generation, until they can link on all those who were not officiated for in ancient times, and thus carry it back from one dispensation to another, until it reaches to our father Adam in the Garden of Eden, and then, the saying of Scriptures will be accomplished–‘The hearts of the children will be turned to their fathers,’ and the hearts of all those ancient fathers, who lived thousands of years ago, will be ‘turned to their children, lest the Lord should come,’ as the Prophet Malachi says, ‘and smite the earth with a curse.’
Why smite it with a curse? Because the people are careless and do not look after the salvation of their dead, do not let their hearts be drawn out after their ancestry, do not seek to perform those ordinances that are necessary for their redemption, that they may be redeemed by law. If we would not be smitten by a curse, let us seek after the redemption of our fathers, as well as of ourselves, for says the Apostle Paul, ‘they without us can not be made perfect.’ We may do all that we please for ourselves, and yet if we, through our carelessness and indifference, neglect to seek after the salvation of the dead, the responsibility will be upon our own heads; and the sins of the dead will be answered upon us, because we had the power to act for them, and we were careless and indifferent about using it.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:260-261)
7 Oct.: The very spot of ground the Lord has for us.
“Many more things might be said in relation to the dead, and what is necessary to be done in Temples. It was asked, by one of the speakers, in relation to inheritances, ‘What man of woman among the Latter-day Saints has an inheritance sealed to them?’ What man among all this people can determine the very spot of ground that the Lord intends that he should inherit for an everlasting possession? Not one of us. The Lord has told us that he intends to give a certain land to his people, for an everlasting possession. He told the ancients, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the same thing; but they wandered as strangers and pilgrims in their day; and the martyr Stephen said they had not as much as to set their foot upon. Yet they had a promise which secured it to them after the resurrection, and also to their seed, and that personally, for an everlasting possession. Have you got any such promise? You have, as far as the great mass in concerned, the promise of a great region of country. We know where it is, God has pointed it out. But is there an individual among us who knows what portion of that great country he shall receive for his future inheritance, to possess either before or after the resurrection, and after this earth shall have passed away, and all things are made new? No. Why have we not got it? Because we have no house of the Lord built. When we have a house built, whether there be property, or inheritance, or union for eternity, or blessings for ourselves, or washings or anointing, or anything that pertains to eternity, it will be given to us by the ordinances of God’s holy house, according to law.” (Orson Pratt, 7 Oct., 1873; JD 16:261-262)
8 Oct.: Missionary work on the other side of the veil.
“There has been a good deal said here with regard to baptism for the dead. When Joseph Smith had laid the foundation of this work he was taken away. There are good reasons why it was so. Jesus sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith did the same, and from the day he died his testimony has been in force upon the whole world. He has gone into the spirit world and organized this dispensation on that side of the vail; he is gathering together the Elders of Israel and the Saints of God in the spirit world, for they have a work to do there as well as here. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Father Smith, David Patten and the other Elders who have been called to the other side of the vail have fifty times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth. There they have all the spirits who have lived on the earth in seventeen centuries–fifty generations, fifty thousand millions of persons who lived and died here without having seen a Prophet or Apostle, and without having the word of the Lord sent unto them. They are shut up in prison, awaiting the message of the Elders of Israel. We have only about a thousand millions of people on the earth, but in the spirit world they have fifty thousand millions; and there is not a single revelation which gives us any reason to believe that any man who enters the spirit world preached the Gospel there to those who lived after him; but they all preach to men who were in the flesh before they were. Jesus himself preached to the antediluvian world, who had been in prison for thousands of years. So with Joseph Smith and the Elders–they will have to preach to the inhabitants of the earth who have died during the last seventeen centuries; and when they hear the testimony of the Elders and accept it there should be somebody on the earth, as we have been told, to attend to the ordinances of the house of God for them, that they may be judged according to men in the flesh and come forth in the morning of the first resurrection and have a part therein with us.” (Wilford Woodruff, 8 Oct., 1873; JD 16:269)
8 Oct.: A railway to the temple rock quarry.
“We have now gained an advantage that we never had before–that is, railway communication directly with the granite quarry. It is true that we have to change from narrow to broad guage [sic], causing a little trouble; we bring from two to four car-loads a day of this granite on to the Temple Block.” (George A. Smith, 8 Oct., 1873; JD 16:280)
2 Nov.: Searching out our genealogies.
“I will mention some few more of the characteristics wherein we differ from the world. We believe in that doctrine which is enunciated in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians, namely, baptism for the dead–‘Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are then baptized for the dead?’ This shows plainly and clearly that, in ancient times, the people called Corinthians, organized into the Church of God, did practice the ordinance of baptism for the dead. They understood it, Paul was not writing to them about a new doctrine, but about one which they understood and practiced, and he tried to prove to them the nature of the resurrection and that such a principle as the resurrection was true, from the very fact that they were practicing baptism for those who were dead, in order that they might receive a more glorious resurrection. This doctrine has been revealed anew to this Church. Of course, in the first rise of the Church, we did not understand this any more than the sectarian world, but as soon as the Lord laid it open, and taught us why he had instituted it, it was very plain.
I have not time to dwell long upon this principle, but I will try, briefly, to explain to you its necessity and consistency, and the bearing it will have upon our ancestors. We all have many friends, behind the vail, who lived on this earth when the true Gospel was not known. Many of them were just as good as we are, and some perhaps a little better; but they lived when the world was in darkness and confusion. They had the history of the ancient Church and Gospel, but they had no one to administer its ordinances. The religious sects and ministers were contending one against another, having neither the power nor gifts of the Holy Ghost. Under these conditions our progenitors fell asleep. Now must they go down to everlasting destruction, be damned to all ages of eternity because they did not happen to live in an age, when there were none authorized by heaven to administer the ordinances of the Gospel? No, that would be inconsistent. God judges men according to the circumstances in which they are placed, and he does not condemn the people for not obeying his message, when it is not sent to them. Now, if a man comes to me that has never been called of God, and pretends to bring to me the Gospel, and has no divine authority to administer its ordinances, I am not bound to obey his message, for that requires a man that is authorized to administer it. Our fathers have gone down to the grave without having had such a man to administer the Gospel to them; the Lord is no respecter of persons. It is written in the Scriptures, that except a man be born of water and of the spirit he can in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. If that is so, and our fathers have gone down to the grave and have not had an opportunity to be baptized in water for the remission of their sins by men having authority, must they be shut out forever from the kingdom of God? Jesus says that unless they are born of water, as well as of the spirit, they can in no wise enter into his kingdom. The purpose then for which baptism for the dead was instituted, was that we might be baptized for our ancestors who died without having the privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel in the flesh, that, though in the spirit, they may have the same chance of eternal life as we have. Jesus was very merciful to the antediluvians who perished before the flood. A host who lived in those days perished in the flood and were shut up in prison; and while the body of Jesus was sleeping in the tomb his spirit went and preached to them that were disobedient in the days of Noah. They probably did not have a good opportunity in the days of Noah. There were only four persons to warn them, and they were multiplied by millions and millions in all parts of the earth, and all except Noah and his family were swept off by the flood and cast into prison, and they were kept there some two thousand years, then Jesus went to preach the Gospel to them, as it is written in the fourth chapter of the first epistle of Peter–‘For, for this cause was the Gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, and live according to God in the Spirit.’ Now, if the Gospel was preached to those who were dead, to the old antediluvians who perished over two thousand years before Jesus was put to death, for what purpose was it preached? That they might have the same privilege of hearing and obeying the Gospel that those have who are in the flesh, and of being judged thereby. ‘But,’ says one, ‘they cannot obey it in the spirit world.’ They can in part, they can obey it so far as believing in Jesus is concerned, and repenting of their sins; for repentance and faith are both acts of the mind; but when it comes to baptism, being born of or immersed in water, they can not do it; God has ordained that men, here in the flesh, shall be baptized for those who are dead, in order that they may commemorate the death, sufferings, and burial of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that as he rose to newness of life, so may they, for whom the ordinance of baptism is administered, by those in the flesh, have a claim to a more glorious resurrection.
‘But,’ says one, ‘how do you know that they who are in the spirit world can repent and believe?’ Because agency always accompanies intelligence, and intelligence is not blotted out by death. The spirits of men and women who leave this world are intelligent, and intelligence is founded upon free agency, and hence, inasmuch as they who are in the spirit world are agents, they can exercise that agency in believing; when they have a testimony they can exercise that agency in repenting of sins of which they have been guilty. But they cannot exercise that agency in attending to an ordinance ordained for the body; and therefore God has instituted baptism for the dead, that our fathers may have the same chance that we have. What for? In order that, when they come up in the resurrection with us, if they will receive what is done for them, they may be perfected with us, that there may be no broken chain in the matter, no links left out of the chain, but that all persons who will comply may be united in the grand chain of genealogy, back even to the commencement. Therefore the ordinance of baptism was ordained by the Lord from the beginning of the world down until the days of Christ, and from the days of Christ down to the end, that in the dispensation of the Gospel, when the plan of salvation should be administered to the human family, they should look after the fathers–their ancestors; and this is specially spoken of by the Prophet Malachi, or rather the Lord through the Prophet says,–‘Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet; he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse;’ as much as to say, that before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, unless the children shall seek after the salvation of their fathers, who are dead and gone, by being baptized for them, and attending to every ordinance which God has ordained for them and in their behalf, he will smite the whole earth with a curse, and no people would be prepared to behold the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
It is for this reason, that this people are building Temples. We do not build Temples to be places of preaching altogether; we have tabernacles that will accommodate many thousands, wherein we preach to the people; but Temples are built by the commandment of the Most High God, constructed after the pattern that he gives, in order that the people may be baptized for their dead, as the Corinthians and the Christians of ancient times did, leaving it with those in the eternal worlds, whether they will receive what is done for them or not, the same as Jesus, who died for all men and all women, leaves it with all men and all women to act upon their own agency, and say whether they will or will not receive that which he has purchased for them; if they will not, their condemnation is just. So in relation to our dead–if we officiate for them, we have done our duty; if they will not repent in the spirit world, and obey the principles that God has ordained for their exaltation, their condemnation will rest upon their own heads, and not upon ours. But if we do not do our duty in relation to the fathers, they will testify against us in the judgment day, saying–‘Lord, you sent an angel from heaven; you communicated the everlasting Gospel after I was dead; you gave the Apostleship, by sending Peter, James and John, and your servants went forth armed with authority and power to preach the Gospel to the nations of the earth, and many received it. You did not give me the privilege, Lord, of hearing and obeying the Gospel when I was upon the earth.’ Then the Lord might reply–‘But I gave the privilege to the people on the earth to be baptized for their dead, and I gave you the privilege of availing yourself of their administrations, the same as the antediluvians had.’ Then you see, if we have attended to the duties devolving upon us in their behalf, the condemnation falls upon them; if we neglect this, it may be that some other person, not a blood relation, will be appointed by the Lord, and the condemnation will fall upon the blood relations, and they will be rejected, while those whom they have neglected will be saved. ‘They without us cannot be made perfect,’ says the New Testament, ‘neither we without them.’ You need not think that God is so partial that he is going to save the children in the latter days, and reject all their ancestors. He is not going to do any such thing. If we would be saved we shall have to look after the salvation of the generations which are past and gone.
‘But,’ says one, ‘I can not trace my forefathers, I can only go back to my grandfather or great grandfather, what shall I do? Were not my ancestors, ten or fifteen generations further back, as worthy of salvation as they were?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Then how are you going to manage that?’ That same God who has ordained baptism for the dead, and who has commanded the believers in this generation to be baptized for them, will in due time, when we have done all we can in searching out our genealogies, reveal to us the chain so that we shall find our fathers, no matter how many generations, until we get back to the time when the Priesthood and authority were on the earth; and then, if they have not attended to their duties, we will have to go back still further, for the Lord has determined that, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, everything pertaining to former dispensations shall be perfected, whether it was in a dispensation before the flood, in the days of Enoch, Abraham, Moses, or the Prophets, it matters not, if there is anything that has been left undone pertaining to the dead in any former dispensation, it must all be fulfilled in that great and last dispensation spoken of by Paul, wherein all things in heaven and on earth, that are in Christ Jesus, shall be gathered in one. Everything must be made perfect and prepared for the great day of rest of a thousand years, during which Jesus will reign on the earth with all the resurrected Saints. If we would have our fathers and our ancient ancestry reign with us, we must do that for them which the Lord has required, and they and we shall be blessed; but if we neglect it, the whole earth will be smitten with a curse before the great day of his coming.
Has the Lord, according to his promise, sent the Prophet Elijah? He has, you have the record of it, you know where and to whom he appeared, and the keys that were given in relation to these matters. They are on record, and the Lord has fulfilled his promise, and now it is required of us to fulfill the duties devolving upon us. I feel very thankful that the Lord is moving upon our friends in the New England States and in various parts of the East to get up their genealogies. They do not know why they are doing so, or why they are so anxious to find out the ancient generations who settled this continent. We understand it; we know that God is working with them, we know that many of those early settlers who have gone down to their graves, were just as pure and upright as men could be. God is going to remember them, and hence, there are now some four hundred records of different families that have been gotten up in the East, and they are still extending their researches, and hunting out all the ancient pilgrim fathers, and their ancestry in the old countries. The genealogy of my forefathers has been sought out by them for some eleven generations. Have I been baptized for any of them? Yes. Has my brother Parley’s family been baptized for any of them? Yes, we have been baptized for something like three thousand of our ancestors, and we have been confirmed for them, and have done for them that which they could not do for themselves.” (Orson Pratt, 2 Nov., 1873; JD 16:297-300)
10 Nov.: Funeral instructions for J. D. T. McAllister.
“It is my desire to be buried in the garments and Robes of the Holy Priesthood, everything pertaining thereto properly made and put on my body. Do not want any extravagance, a medium coffin no expense for funeral clothing such as the gentiles mourn in. Would like my Brethren of the Priesthood to dictate my family in this matter, and see me buried as I ought to be, that my body can rest in pease. Do not want my coffin short or too long, deep enough to lay in without Mashing my nose, and cramping my arms or crushing my stomach, a good strong one that it will hold together. I pray that I may so live that the Holy Priesthood will feel it a pleasure to put me away, and a pleasure to receive me in their Society in the morning of the Glorious Resurrection.
/s/ John D. T. McAllister
S L City. Nov 10th 1873″
(John D. T. McAllister Papers; Church Archives; Ms/d/1257/Bx3/fd11; November 10, 1873.)
Nov.: Funeral instructions of Geo. A. Smith.
“The following written wish of President George A. Smith respecting his funeral will be interesting to the Saints, as showing his dislike for show and parade. It was written in November, 1873–
While executing my will of date the 14th Oct., 1872, I inserted the following clause–
I wish to be buried in a coffin much larger than my natural size. The expenses of an unostentatious funeral to be paid out of my undivided estate; the slab which designates my resting place shall not cost over one hundred dollars.
A coffin, made of red pine or other mountain wood, plain but well made, large enough to give ample room for the body to swell, with no unnecessary ornaments about it, and three half-inch holes bored in the bottom, will be sufficient. . . .
Let those who attend the funeral do so in clean attire, such as they would wear to meeting on other occasions.”
(DN 24(32):504, 8 Sep., 1875)