"Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed.
"After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for 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 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."[[12]]
The Same Yet Not the Same.—"Elias," considered as a name, is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Elijah." Compared references in the New and Old Testaments clearly establish their verbal identity.[[13]] But Joseph Smith distinguished between "the spirit of Elias" and "the spirit of Elijah," the former a forerunner, the latter holding the sealing powers necessary to complete the work of preparation for Messiah's advent.[[14]]
Elijah, therefore, is not to be confounded with Elias—that is to say, with the Elias who committed the keys of the Abrahamic dispensation. There are many Eliases, in the sense of the lesser preparing the way before the greater; and by one of them Abraham's keys were restored, in order that the blessings anciently pronounced upon the Father of the Faithful might be extended to his posterity in modern times.
Why Elijah?—"Why send Elijah?" asks the Prophet; and answers his own question thus: "Because he holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances of the Priesthood; and without the authority is given, the ordinances could not be administered in righteousness." In the same connection he states that "Elijah was the last prophet that held the keys of the Priesthood."[[15]]
The Restorer's Mission.—Elijah's mission, as made known by modern revelation, represents the establishment of that condition of perfect unity referred to by Joseph the Seer, whose comment thereon is quoted in the third paragraph of this article. "Mormonism," as already explained, does not stand for one Gospel dispensation alone, but for all the Gospel dispensations, extending, like the links of a mighty chain, through the whole course of Time. The Final Dispensation, made effective by the keys of Elijah, will bring together and weld in one the parted links of this universal chain. The restitution of all things—the setting in order of the Lord's House, preparatory to his coming, such is the significance of the mission of Elijah, who turns the hearts of the fathers (in heaven) to the children (on earth), and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
The Welding Link.—But these hearts must not only be turned; they must be bound together, and beat as one. That thought, no less than the other, was in the Prophet's mind when, from his place of retirement during a season of trouble, he wrote repeatedly to the Church regarding an all-important duty devolving upon its members. Said he: "The earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other, between the fathers and the children." And what is it? "It is the baptism for the dead. For we without them cannot be made perfect, neither can they without us be made perfect."[[16]]