=27.= The necessity of vicarious work is here shown,--the living laboring in behalf of the dead; the children doing for their progenitors what is beyond the power of the latter to do for themselves. Many and various are the interpretations rendered by erring human wisdom on this plain statement of Paul's; yet the simple and earnest seeker after truth finds little difficulty in comprehending the meaning. In words which form the closing sentences of the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi predicted the great work to be carried on in behalf of the dead during the latter days: "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."[436] It is a current belief among many Bible students, that this prophecy had reference to the birth and ministry of John the Baptist,[437] upon whom indeed rested and remained the spirit and power of Elias, as the angel had foretold;[438] but we have no record of Elijah ministering unto John; and moreover the results of the latter's ministry warrant no conclusion that in him did the prophecy find its full realization. [436] Mal. iv, 5-6. [437] Matt. xi, 14; xvii, 11; Mark ix, 11; Luke i, 17. [438] Luke i, 17; Doc. and Cov. xxvii, 7. =28.= We must therefore look to a later date in the world's history for a fulfillment of Malachi's prediction. On the 21st of September, 1823, Joseph Smith[439] received a visitation of a heavenly being who announced himself as Moroni, sent from the presence of God. In the course of his instructions to the chosen youth, this heavenly personage quoted the prophecy of Malachi, already referred to, but in language slightly different from, and certainly more expressive than, that appearing in the ordinary translation of the scriptures; the angel's version is as follows: "For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly, shall burn as stubble, for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 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 earth would be utterly wasted at His coming."[440] [439] See page 10. [440] Compare verses 1, 5, and 6, Mal. iv.