[Footnote D: Rom. 14:9.]
And the Lord had further authority to confer upon them. After the vision of Elias was closed, the promise given nearly thirteen years before was fulfilled. Another glorious vision opened before the seers. "For Elijah, the prophet," we read, "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 came, 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 the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."[E] Thus, the necessary authority for performing saving ordinances for the dead was restored in this dispensation by him who held it. Another important act in the drama of the Restoration was accomplished.
[Footnote E: Doc. and Cov. 110:13-16.]
During the years following immediately upon the vision of Elijah, not a great deal was accomplished in the great work of salvation for the dead. In after years, however, the subject grew on the Prophet's mind. It was ever present with him. He wrote about it, and he spoke about it. In 1841, in a general conference of the Church held at Nauvoo, he said, "There is never a time, when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within reach of pardoning mercy, who have not committed the unpardonable sin, which hath no forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. There is a way to release the spirits of the dead! that is by the power and authority of the Priesthood—by binding and loosing on earth. This doctrine appears glorious, inasmuch as it exhibits the greatness of divine compassion and benevolence in the extent of the plan of human salvation.
"This glorious truth is well calculated to enlarge the understanding and to sustain the soul under troubles, difficulties, and distresses. For illustration, suppose the case of two men, brothers, equally intelligent, learned, virtuous, and lovely, walking in uprightness and in all good conscience, so far as they have been able to discern from the muddy stream of tradition, or from the blotted page of the book of nature.
"One dies and is buried, having never heard the gospel of reconciliation; to the other the message of salvation is sent, he hears and embraces it, and is made the heir of eternal life. Shall the one become the partaker of glory and the other be consigned to hopeless perdition? Is there no chance for his es cape? Sectarianism answers 'none.' Such an idea is worse than atheism. The truth shall break down and dash in pieces all such bigoted Pharisaism; the sects shall be sifted, the honest in heart brought out, and their priests left in the midst of the corruption.
"This doctrine presents in a clear light the wisdom and mercy of God in preparing an ordinance for the salvation of the dead, being baptized by proxy, their names recorded in heaven and they judged according to the deeds done in the body. This doctrine was the burden of the scriptures. Those Saints who neglect it in behalf of their deceased relatives, do it at the peril of their own salvation."[F]
[Footnote F: "History of the Church," Vol. IV, pp. 425-6.]
Again, in September of the year following, while he was in hiding from his enemies who pursued him without cause, the Prophet wrote two epistles to the Church.[G] In these he confesses that the subject of salvation for the dead is uppermost in his mind. He gives detailed instructions for the proper recording of the vicarious work of those who have gone before. He shows by scriptural evidence why it is necessary to preserve an accurate record of all that is done upon the earth. He reviews with spirit the whole of the sublime doctrine of the salvation of the dead. And, finally, he bursts into a beautiful modern psalm[H] praising the King Immanuel, who ordained before the world was a means whereby the uninitiated dead might be redeemed.
[Footnote G: Doc. and Cov. secs. 127, 128.]