Scrap Book of Mormon Literature (Vol. 1 of 2): Religious Tracts
Religion
Scrap Book of Mormon Literature (Vol. 1 of 2): Religious Tracts
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines; Latter Day Saints
The Lord has taught that this can be done under proper circumstances
in the temples which may be erected in Zion or in any of her Stakes.
Therefore in the Temple at Salt Lake as well as in the other temples,
there is a font resting upon twelve oxen, three looking to the north,
three to the south, three to the east and three to the west, and in
this font the holy ordinance of baptism can be administered to living
people for and in behalf of their dead relatives and ancestors. This
is one of the purposes for which temples are required, and not only
are baptisms and the laying on of hands administered for the dead, but
other ordinances are also administered, it being just as necessary
that those who have died and have not received these ordinances should
receive them as it is that the living should receive them. It requires
the same obedience and submission to the laws of the Lord on the part
of one class as on the part of another. If any one could have been
saved without obedience to these principles, surely our Savior, the
Son of God, could have been. He had committed no sin, and it might
be asked why should He be baptized, for baptism is for the remission
of sins. But the Savior respected the law of the Gospel and obeyed
the ordinances thereof, and when John, feeling his own unworthiness,
remonstrated with Him about His coming to be baptized, Jesus replied:
"Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness."
We shall of necessity be a temple-building people, because there is an
immense work to be done for the redemption of the dead. Millions have
been born and have died between the time the Gospel was taken from the
earth and the time of this restoration in these days. These millions
will have to be officiated for, and this will doubtless form one of the
chief labors of the people of God during the thousand years of peace
which we are approaching, when Satan will be bound and righteousness
will reign throughout the earth. We are on the threshold of that great
era, and we have every assurance that that blessed period is not far
distant. The prophet Malachi in speaking of the latter days, makes the
following prediction:
{91} "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."
The angel Moroni in speaking to the Prophet Joseph Smith in reference
to this prediction of Malachi's uses a little different language. He
quotes Malachi as saying:
"And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made
to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their
fathers; if it were not so, the whole world would be utterly wasted at
his coming."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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