the dead. Hence, too, Joseph and Oliver might well wait, after they had been commissioned with authority to save the living, to learn if the Lord had further keys of authority to confer upon them. [Footnote C: Heb. 11:49.] [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.