25. Christ's Work among the Dead was Foretold.—Centuries before Christ came in the flesh, the prophets rejoiced in the knowledge that through Him would salvation be carried to the dead as well as to the living. Speaking of the punishment to be brought upon the proud and haughty of the earth, Isaiah declares: "And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited."[431] The same great prophet thus testifies concerning the work of the coming Redeemer; He is "to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."[432] And David, singing to the music of inspiration concerning the redemption from the grave, exclaims: "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."[433]
26. Work of the Living for the Dead.—The redemption of the dead will be effected in strict accordance with the law of God, which is written in justice and framed in mercy. It is alike impossible for any spirit, in the flesh or disembodied, to obtain even the promise of eternal glory, except on condition of obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel. And, as baptism is essential to the salvation of the living, it is likewise indispensable to the salvation of the dead. This was known by the Saints of old, and hence the doctrine of baptism for the dead was taught among them. In an epistle addressed to the Saints at Corinth, Paul expounded the principles of the resurrection, whereby the bodies of the dead are to be brought forth from the graves. "Christ the first fruits, and afterward they that are Christ's," and as proof that this doctrine of the resurrection was included in the gospel as they had received and professed it, the apostle asks: "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?"[434] These words are unambiguous, and the fact that they are presented without explanation or comment argues that the principle of baptism for the dead was understood among the people to whom the letter was addressed.
27. The necessity of vicarious work is here shown,—the living laboring in behalf of the dead; the children doing for their progenitors what is beyond the power of the latter to do for themselves. Many and various are the interpretations rendered by erring human wisdom on this plain statement of Paul's; yet the simple and earnest seeker after truth finds little difficulty in comprehending the meaning. In words which form the closing sentences of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi predicted the great work to be carried on in behalf of the dead during the latter days: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."[435] It is a current belief among many Bible students, that this prophecy had reference to the birth and ministry of John the Baptist,[436] upon whom indeed rested and remained the spirit and power of Elias, as the angel had foretold;[437] but we have no record of Elijah ministering unto John; and moreover the results of the latter's ministry warrant no conclusion that in him did the prophecy find its full realization.
28. We must therefore look to a later date in the world's history for a fulfillment of Malachi's prediction. On the 21st of September, 1823, Joseph Smith[438] received a visitation of a heavenly being who announced himself as Moroni, sent from the presence of God. In the course of his instructions to the chosen youth, this heavenly personage quoted the prophecy of Malachi, already referred to, but in language slightly different from, and certainly more expressive than, that appearing in the ordinary translation of the scriptures; the angel's version is as follows: "For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble, for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so the whole earth would be utterly wasted at His coming."[439]
29. In a glorious manifestation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, given in the Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836, there appeared unto them Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death; he declared unto them: "Behold, the time has fully come which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse. Therefore the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands, and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."[440]
30. The Fathers and the Children Mutually Dependent.—One of the great principles underlying the doctrine of salvation for the dead is that of the mutual dependence of the fathers and the children. As the Prophet Joseph taught the Saints,[441] but for the establishment of a connecting link between the departed fathers and the living children, the earth would be smitten with a curse. The plan of God provides that neither the children nor the fathers can alone be made perfect; and the necessary union is effected through baptism and associated ordinances for the dead. The manner in which the hearts of the children and those of the fathers are turned toward one another is made plain through these scriptures. As the children learn that without the aid of their progenitors they cannot attain perfection, assuredly will their hearts be opened, their faith will be kindled, and good works will be attempted, for the redemption of their dead; and the departed, learning from the ministers of the gospel laboring among them, that they must depend upon their children as vicarious saviors, will seek to sustain their still mortal representatives with faith and prayer for the perfecting of those labors of love.
31. And love, which is a power in itself, is thus intensified. Aside from the emotions which are stirred within the soul by the presence of the Divine, there are few feelings stronger and purer than the love for kindred. Heaven would not be all we wish were family love unknown there.[442] Affection there will differ from its earthly type, in being deeper, stronger, purer. And thus in the mercy of God, His erring, mortal children, who have taken upon themselves the name of Christ on earth, may become, in a limited sphere, each a savior in the house of his fathers, and that too by vicarious labor and sacrifice, rendered in humility, and, as represented in the baptismal ordinance, typical of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Redeemer.
32. The Labor for the Dead is Two-fold.—That performed on earth would be incomplete but for its supplement and counterpart beyond the vail. Missionary labor is in progress there, whereby the tidings of the gospel are carried to the departed spirits, who thus learn of the work done in their behalf on earth. What glorious possibilities concerning the purposes of God are thus presented to our view! How the mercy of God is magnified by these evidences of His love! How often do we behold friends and loved ones, whom we count among earth's fairest and best, stricken down by the shafts of death, seemingly in spite of the power of faith and the ministrations of the Priesthood of God! Yet who of us can tell but that these may be permitted to minister in the labor of redemption beyond, preaching perhaps the gospel to the spirits of their forefathers, while others of the same family are officiating in a similar behalf on earth?
33. As far as the Divine will has been revealed, it requires that the outward ordinances, such as baptism in water, the laying on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, and the higher endowments that follow, be attended to on earth, a proper representative in the flesh acting as proxy for the dead. The results of such labors are to be left with God. It is not to be supposed that by these ordinances the departed are in any way compelled to accept the obligation, nor that they are in the least hindered in the exercise of their free agency. They will accept or reject, according to their condition of humility or hostility in respect to things divine; but the work so done for them on earth will be of avail when wholesome argument and reason have shown them their true position.