Cowley's Talks on Doctrine

by Matthias F. Cowley

Another very emphatic evidence that this ordinance was practiced by the ancient followers of Christ is that the council of Carthage, A. D., 397, in Canon No. 6, forbids the ordinance of baptism for the dead. Why would such a decree be issued against this ordinance if it had no existence in the Church?

Having shown that salvation for the dead is scriptural doctrine, adopted in theory and practice by the Former-day Saints, let us turn now to the dispensation of the fullness of times.

We have seen that the mission of Christ to the dead was spoken of by Isaiah in the forty-second chapter. The same great prophet utters a prediction in the twenty-fourth chapter as follows: "The earth is also defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant." The context shows clearly that this prophecy refers to the last days, because it predicts that "the inhabitants of the earth are burned and but few men left." The term "everlasting covenant" cannot refer to the Mosaic law, which existed under the lesser priesthood. This law consisted in the rites and ceremonies of the offering of sacrifice, pointing to the great sacrifice of the Messiah, and of the law of carnal commandments, which served, Paul says, as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. The Mosaic law was done away in Him, because he fulfilled the law. It was not everlasting. Breaking the everlasting covenant must, therefore, refer to an apostasy from the fullness of the Gospel as instituted by the Savior.

In connection with this apostasy Isaiah tells us in the same chapter: "And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 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." In other words, we might say that they have rejected the Gospel during the Christian era, as the antediluvians rejected it in the days of Noah; the judgments of God destroyed them in the flesh, and their spirits were consigned to the prison house and could not be visited until after many days. Whether the Gospel dispensations in the spirit would correspond in their divisions of time to those delivered to men in the flesh, we do not know so far as preaching to the spirits in prison is concerned; but this much is evident, that when no Gospel dispensation exists upon the earth, those in the spirit world, whatever their opportunities to hear, cannot enjoy the blessings of the Gospel, because no one in the flesh has authority to receive the ordinances in their behalf. It, therefore, follows that the haughty ones spoken of by Isaiah could not receive the Gospel until it should be revealed again from heaven in the latter days; and to fulfill this prophecy such a revelation must come, comprehending the keys of a dispensation of the Gospel to the dead as well as to the living.

Malachi, whose prophecies are the last of those of Jewish prophets recorded in the Old Testament, in speaking of the great day of the Lord's second coming and the judgements of God which would precede, utters the following prediction (Malachi iv:5, 6): "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." This prophecy is in beautiful accord with that of the apostle Peter recorded in the twentieth and twenty-first verses of the third chapter of Acts: "And He shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you; whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began." How different these joyful words to those of an apostate Christianity which denies the necessity of revelation and tells us that the canon of Scripture is full!

John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of the Messiah at His first coming, was also the forerunner of the higher priesthood in these last days. On the 15th of May, 1829, he appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and ordained them to the Aaronic priesthood, the authority to preach unto and baptize those living in the flesh. Afterwards came Peter, James and John, with the keys of the Melchisedek priesthood, embodying authority to administer all the ordinances of the Gospel to men in the flesh. But the prophecy of Malachi, chapter iv., was yet to be fulfilled. On the 3d of April, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph testified that "Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us and said: 'Behold the time has fully come which was spoken of by Malachi, testifying that he (Elijah) should be sent before 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.'"

In connection with the restoration of the keys of temple ordinances by Elijah, let us contemplate for a few moments a prediction by the Prophet Joseph Smith. He stated that the Gospel as preached by the elders would yet revolutionize the religious world. Without going into detail regarding the application of this prophecy to several principles of the Gospel, the subject in hand, salvation for the dead, will clearly prove the prophecy correct. When Joseph first taught the redemption of the dead, it was not believed, but was ridiculed by every denomination of Christendom, so far as we know, and by nearly all the religious world individually; yet during the past fifteen years this doctrine has been growing in favor in the minds of prominent men. Dr. Thomas, of the Methodist church in Illinois, was brought in question a few years ago by his church for teaching unorthodox doctrine, which consisted in claiming that those who did not hear the Gospel in this world would hear it in the spirit world. There is now a vast number in the various denominations that believe there is hope for the dead such as was never thought of before the words of the Prophet Joseph were spoken. Since the glorious visitation of Elijah, the Lord has revealed definitely how to conduct the ordinance for the dead. He has fulfilled the words of Jeremiah that He would take "one of a city and two of a family and bring them to Zion." It required "two of a family," or at least a male and a female representative of the dead, to receive the ordinances of salvation for the dead of their respective sexes.

It has been related of Henry Ward Beecher that he said, if a literal rendering of the Scriptures was to be accepted, then "Mormonism" was correct. In line with his sentiments on this subject, it has been reported that he delivered a lecture in Nashville, Tennessee, his subject being, "What Christianity Has Done to Civilize the World," in which he said: "What has Africa done for the world? She has never produced a sage, a philosopher, a poet nor a prophet, and why not? Because the name of Christ and the influence of Christianity are scarcely known in her dark regions. Millions of her children have lived and passed away without hearing the truth. What will become of them? Will they be forever damned? No, not if my God reigns, for they will hear the gospel in the spirit world." He then proceeded to show by irrefutable evidence that salvation for the dead is a scriptural doctrine.

The writer was not present at the lecture, but another Latter-day Saint elder was present, and, at the conclusion of the lecture, stepped up to the platform and said: "Mr. Beecher, I have been much interested in your lecture and would like to ask you a question. Jesus said to Nicodemus, 'Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' Now, how is it possible for a man to be baptized in water when his body has already crumbled in the earth?" The great preacher looked at the interrogator for a moment and then said: "Young man, where do you hail from?" "From the West." "From what part of the West?" "From Salt Lake City," answered the Elder. "Oh," said Mr. Beecher, "you may answer your own question. Good evening," and walked away. Mr. Beecher probably had read enough on the subject of baptism for the dead to know that such a doctrine must be coupled with preaching to departed spirits, but he did not wish to be accused of teaching "Mormonism," so he stopped short of that. He said enough, however, to verify the words of Joseph Smith, and also those of the Savior, when He said that if men put new wine into old bottles it would break them to pieces; in other words, new doctrine into old systems.

Other instances might be cited, but this will suffice to illustrate how the influence of the Gospel is working among the children of men.