ELIJAH COMES.
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 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 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.