Besides the principles of the Gospel there are certain ordinances involving material works, which are indispensable to salvation. Among these the Scriptures specify baptism by immersion in water, and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the imposition of authorized hands. How can a man be baptized when he is dead? The answer is that the necessary ordinances may be administered vicariously for the dead to their living representatives in the body. Thus, as a man may be baptized in his own person for himself, he may be baptized as proxy for his ancestral dead. Herein we find point and explanation of Paul's challenging question to the doubting Corinthians: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" (1 Cor. 15:29.) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms that the Divine plan of salvation is not bounded by the grave; but that the Gospel is deathless and everlasting, reaching back through all the ages that have sped, and forward into the eternities of the future. Vicarious service by the living in behalf of the dead is in line with and a result of the supreme vicarious sacrifice embodied in the Atonement wrought by the Savior of the world. Largely for the administration of ordinances in behalf of the dead the Latter-day Saints build and maintain Temples, wherein the living posterity enter the waters of baptism and receive the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, as representatives of their departed progenitors. This labor was foretold through Malachi as a necessary and characteristic feature of the last dispensation, preceding the advent of Christ in glory and judgment. Thus, the dead fathers and living children are turned toward one another in the affection of a kinship that is to endure throughout eternity. (See Mal. 4:5-6.) We solemnly aver that on April 3, 1836, Elijah the ancient prophet came to earth and committed unto the restored Church the authority and commission to administer in behalf of the dead. (See D&C 110: 13-16.) -- 72 -- OPPORTUNITY HERE AND HEREAFTER Free Agency and Its Results REPENTANCE and other good works, whereby the saving grace of Christ's Atonement may be made of individual effect for the remission of sins, are possible to the dead; and furthermore, the required ordinances of the Gospel may be administered to the living in behalf of the departed. Let it not be assumed that the doctrine of vicarious labor for the disembodied implies, even remotely, that the administration of ordinances in behalf of the dead operates in the least degree to interfere with the right of choice and the free exercise of agency on their part. They are at liberty to accept or reject ministrations intended for their benefit; and so they will accept or reject in accord with their penitent or unregenerate condition, even as is the case with those whom the Gospel message reaches in mortality.