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.'"