This proves beyond controversy the fact that vicarious baptism for the dead was practiced among some of the sects of the early Christians.
Another fact proves it still more emphatically than this statement by Epiphanius. The Council of Carthage, held A. D., 397, in its sixth canon, forbids the administration of baptism and holy communion for the dead; why should this canon be formed against these practices if they had no existence among the Christians of those days?
From the revelations of God to the church in this dispensation, the following may be learned: Elijah in fulfillment of ancient prophecy, appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and delivered to them those keys or powers of the Priesthood which give to the living the right to do a work for the salvation of the dead. As a consequence, the hearts of the children are turned to the fathers; and of course, since the fathers in the spirit world through the preaching of the gospel learn that it is within the power of their children to do a work for them, their hearts are turned to the children, and thus the result to follow Elijah's predicted mission is fulfilled.
The work that the living may do for the dead is attending to outward ordinances—baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, washings, anointings and sealings—all being appointed by revelation from the Lord, and all sealed and ratified by the power of the Priesthood of God, which binds on earth and in heaven. It is required that all baptisms and other ordinances of the gospel performed for the dead, be attended to in temples dedicated for such holy purposes. These ordinances performed on earth by the living, and accepted in the spirit world by those for whom they are administered, will make them a potent means of salvation to the dead, and of exaltation to the living, since they become in very deed "saviors upon Mount Zion."
This work that can be done for the dead enlarges one's views of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One begins to see indeed that it is the "everlasting gospel;" for it runs parallel with man's existence both in this life and in that which is to come. It vindicates the character of God, for by it we may see that justice and judgment, truth and mercy are in all his ways.
The servants of God and the saints generally have been earnest in seeking to erect temples in which to attend to these ordinances of the gospel for the dead.[[15]] At first thought I was tempted to say that this work for the dead was by far the greatest part of the work contemplated in the New Dispensation; for as the leaves upon the trees in a single summer are insignificant in comparison to the leaves that have flourished upon the trees in all the summers since creation's dawn, so the number of men now living is insignificant in comparison to the unnumbered millions that have passed away; but I chanced to remember that this work extends to the future as well as to the past; that it will effect the generations to come, as well as those that have gone, and so I checked the thought that the work in relation to past generations was greatest. It is enough to say for this phase of the work that relates to salvation for the dead, that it recognizes the great truth, which Paul also teaches, in part, that the fathers who have died without us cannot be made perfect;[[16]] nor can we without them be made perfect. Hence in the great dispensation of the fullness of times those principles are made active, and those sentiments excited which shall turn the hearts of the present generation backward to the fathers, and turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, a circumstance that shall eventuate in the complete salvation and linking together not only of all the generations of men, but also all the families and kindred of the earth.
Closely associated with the matter treated in the foregoing paragraphs, is the subject of the different degrees of glory. Nothing is more clearly stated in holy writ than that men will be judged and rewarded according to their works.[[17]] And as their works vary in degree of righteousness, so will their rewards vary, and so will they have bestowed upon them different degrees of glory according as their works shall merit, and their intelligence be capable of receiving and enjoying. Messiah said to his disciples: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; * * * that where I am there ye may be also."[[18]] Still it is commonly held among Christian sects, that he who attains heaven partakes immediately of the highest glories; while he who misses heaven goes direct to hell and partakes of all its miseries forever. Yet nothing is clearer than the fact that there are different heavens spoken of in scripture and different degrees of glory. When Solomon dedicated the temple he had builded, he exclaimed in his prayer: "Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have builded!"[[19]] Paul in writing to the Corinthians says: "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, * * * such an one caught up to the third heaven; and I knew such a man, * * * how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."[[20]]
Reasoning on the resurrection, the last writer quoted says: "There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars: for as one star differeth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead." In all this, however, the great subject is but vaguely hinted at, for a full understanding of it we are indebted to a revelation given to Joseph Smith, February 16th, 1832. From that revelation we summarize the following:[[21]]
They who receive the testimony of Jesus, who believe on his name, and are baptized after the manner of his burial; who keep the commandments of God and are washed and cleansed from all sin; who receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; who overcame by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise—these become the church of the First Born. They are they into whose hands the Father hath given all things—they are priests and kings, who have received of God's fullness, and of his glory; they are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek, which is after the order of the Son of God—therefore they are Gods, even Sons of God. All things are theirs. Whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs, and they are Christ's, and Christ is God's. They shall overcome all things; they shall dwell in the presence of God and Christ forever and forever; they are they whom Christ will bring with him when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to reign on the earth over his people; they have part in the resurrection of the just; their names are written in heaven, where God and Christ dwell; they are just men made perfect through Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant; these are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory the sun in heaven is spoken of as typical—they inherit the celestial glory, they see as they are seen and know as they are known.
The terrestrial glory differs from the celestial glory as the light of the moon differs from the light of the sun. These are they who died without law, and also they who are the spirits of men in prison, whom the Son visited and preached the gospel unto, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh; who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of God's glory but not of his fullness. They will enjoy the presence of the Son, but not the presence of the Father; these are they who are not valiant in the testimony of Jesus, therefore they obtain not the crown over the kingdom of God.