And if ye do not these things at the end of the appointment, obviously does not mean "if ye do not build a temple at the end of the appointment," as our critics infer it does, but it refers to the ordinances that were to be performed in the temple, and the failure on the part of the Saints to perform these ordinances for their dead was the thing that would cause their rejection with their dead, and not the failure to build the temple, which was merely the edifice in which the saving principles were to be performed. This is in harmony with the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who said that if we neglect the salvation of our dead "we do it at the peril of our own salvation! Why? Because we without them cannot be made perfect." (Doc. & Cov. sec. 28:15.)
The virtue of salvation for the dead is not in the structure of the temple, but in the ordinances which are performed in the temple. The temple is to the ordinances just what the vessel is to the life-giving nourishment it contains. Those who would reject us on a technicality, because, as they say, "we did not finish the temple," neither build temples nor perform the ordinances for the dead, wherein they prove their rejection by the Lord, according to the revelations of Joseph Smith, the prophet.]
The restoration of Elijah's priesthood accomplished more than the turning of the hearts of the members of the Church to their fathers, for the spirit of his mission spread forth and took hold of the hearts of the honorable men and women in the world who have been directed, they know not why, to spend their time and means in preparing genealogies, vital records and various other genealogical data, which they are publishing at great labor and expense.
It is a curious and interesting fact that the year following the coming of Elijah, the British government passed laws requiring the proper recording of records, and the filing of them in one central place. In the year 1844, the New England Historical and Genealogical Society was organized in Boston; in 1869 the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society was incorporated in New York. Other societies have been organized from time to time in America, principally in the New England States, and they are publishing quarterly genealogical magazines and registers, family records, etc.; and are continually disseminating information regarding our ancestors, that is useful to the Latter-day Saints. The New England Society is publishing, as they express it in their magazine, "by a fund set apart from the bequest of Robert Henry Eddy," to the society, the vital records (births, marriages and deaths) of towns in Massachusetts, whose records are not already printed from the beginning to the year 1850. This is a tremendous work, many volumes of these records have been published, and others are in course of preparation.[I] Eventually they will be printed by this and other similar societies in Massachusetts, a state that has set the pace for her sister states to follow. There, and in other parts, these societies are protected and encouraged by legislative enactment. Besides these numerous societies engaged in this noble work, there are multitudes of individual laborers who are publishing at their own expense family genealogies and vital records that extend back for hundreds of years.
[Footnote I: Other societies in Massachusetts are also preparing vital records, among them are the Topsfield Historical Society, the Essex Antiquarian Society, the "Systematic History Fund," Franklin P. Rice, trustee. Of this work Mr. Rice, who is a pioneer in genealogical research, says:
"I hope sometime to give in detail an account of the various undertakings in the line of record preservation with which I have been connected since I began, in the early seventies, with the idea, crude and imperfect, of subjecting to classification, for easy reference, manuscript materials in public depositories, many of which were then hidden or unknown, and in many places practically inaccessible. * * * * Thirty-five years ago the interest in such matters was mainly antiquarian, and the few examples in print in this line had been inspired from that standpoint. Genealogical research was not the powerful factor it is today. As the idea expanded and developed, I came to regard the work chiefly in its practical and scientific aspects, and I applied the term "Systematic History" as the best explaining its purpose, to meet the necessities of all enquirers and investigators. * * * I formulated a plan sometime before 1890 to require the towns in Massachusetts to print their records, but this met with little favor. Its substantial features are embodied in the Act of 1902. * * * Pursuing the work since 1898 under the operation of the Systematic History Fund, I have been able to secure copies and to print the vital records of more than thirty towns in central Massachusetts.">[
In Great Britain the work is carried on by the Harleian Society, the Genealogist Society, Phillimore & Company, the Lancashire Parish Register Society, the Yorkshire Parish Register Society, and similar societies in nearly all of the counties of Great Britain. These societies publish the parish registers of the several parishes in England, and to an extent in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. There is also in Great Britain Lodge's, Debrett's and Burkes' Peerages and Visitations which are invaluable to the searcher of genealogical information in those lands. These numerous societies and individuals in the world, upon whom the spirit of Elijah has fallen to this extent at least, are compiling, printing and distributing these records of the dead, faster than the Saints can, with their present facilities and understanding of the work, obtain them. In fact, they have far outstripped us in the race, and while we sometimes are given to boasting of the great work we are doing for the dead, it is as nothing, a mere drop in the bucket. These people and societies are helping us, should we not take every advantage of their labors and stand in the forefront, magnifying our calling and proving our birthright as the children of Ephraim?
Thus the hearts of the children are gradually, but surely turning towards their fathers. The spirit of this work is now taking hold of the hearts of the people of Germany, Scandinavia and the continent of Europe. And why are they doing this? Because their hearts have been drawn out to their fathers, through the restoration of the keys of salvation for the dead, and they are energetically and faithfully laboring, but all the while unconscious of the full significance and worth of their labors, simply because the work appeals to them and they are fascinated by it. Surely they shall receive their reward.
While many honorable men and women in the world are accomplishing a great work in searching out and compiling genealogical data, their labors serve only as the means to the end. The greatest work, after all, devolves on the members of the Church who have the priesthood, power and privilege, to go into the temples, taking the names from these compiled records and from all other authentic sources and performing the ordinances in behalf of their dead. We live in the greatest dispensation of the world's history, that of the fulness of times, when all things are to be gathered and restored to their proper order, ushering in the millennial reign of the Redeemer and the righteous. Do we Latter-day Saints fully realize the importance of the mighty responsibility placed upon us in relation to the salvation of the world? We are doing a great deal in the attempt to convert and save a perverse and wicked generation; we are sending hundreds of missionaries into all parts of the earth, and are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in this very necessary labor, with results that are not so very startling. We are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the building of meetinghouses, church schools and other buildings, and in the education of the youth of Israel, in developing and improving our lands, building cities and increasing our communities, publishing periodicals and magazines, and in every way diligently striving to improve our own people, and disseminate knowledge that will convert the world to the gospel; but what are we doing for the salvation of our dead? Many there are, it is true, who comprehend this greater work, and are faithfully discharging their duties in the temples of the Lord, but of others this cannot be said. The temple in Salt Lake City has for many months been so crowded with anxious, earnest workers, that it has been necessary many times to turn large numbers away because there was not sufficient room. This is a good sign, showing the willingness and activity of the Saints. But this condition does not relieve from responsibility the inactive, dilatory members, who are doing nothing for their dead. These persons cannot expect to receive credit for what others may be doing. The responsibility rests with equal force on all according to our individual ability and opportunities. It matters not what else we have been called to do, or what position we may occupy, or how faithfully in other ways we have labored in the Church, none are exempt from this great obligation. It is required of the apostle as well as the humblest elder. Place or distinction, or long service in the Church, in the mission field, the stakes of Zion, or where or how else it may have been, will not entitle one to disregard the salvation of one's dead. Some may feel that if they pay their tithing, attend their regular meetings and other duties, give of their substance to the poor, perchance spend one, two or more years preaching in the world, that they are absolved from further duty. But the greatest and grandest duty of all is to labor for the dead. We may and should derail these other things, for which reward will be given, but if we neglect the weightier privilege and commandment, notwithstanding all other good works, we shall find ourselves under severe condemnation. And why such condemnation? Because "the greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us, is to seek after our dead;"[J] Because we cannot be saved without them, "It is necessary that those who have gone before and those who come after us should have salvation in common with us, and thus hath God made it obligatory to man,"[K] says the Prophet Joseph Smith. From this, then, we see that while it is necessary to preach the gospel in the nations of the earth, and to do all other good works in the Church, yet the greatest commandment given us, and made obligatory, is the temple work in our own behalf and in behalf of our dead.
[Footnote J: Joseph Smith in Times and Seasons 6:616.]