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. We now come to one of the most important, interesting and extensive branches of this great subject, namely, that of securing the names, births, marriages and deaths of our ancestors, a class of information essential for record in order to prosecute this great work of salvation for the dead. The genealogical research must be an arduous one and ofttimes attended with great difficulty. Nathaniel H. Morgan, author of a genealogical history entitled "James Morgan and His Descendants," makes this observation in the introduction of his work: "The task of the genealogist, in groping his way amid the dusty records of the past, is much like that of the African Indians in pursuing an obscure trail through a tangled wilderness. An acute faculty of perception and a keen and practiced eye must note and scrutinize every obscure footprint, every rustled leaf, every bent twig; now, progressing rapidly, under a clear light, and guided by sure tokens; and anon, suddenly arrested by a total absence of all further signs, and forced hopelessly to abandon the trail long and patiently pursued until, perchance, again some new and unexpected waymark greets his eye, inspiring fresh pursuit." While there have been isolated instances of genealogical works in America since the year 1771, it is a noteworthy fact (and one showing the hand of God plainly manifest in moving upon the Gentiles to do this work) that since the coming of Elijah to the Kirtland Temple, this spirit of writing genealogies has rapidly increased in the United States.