Part 6

The spirit of man when out of the body, being an intelligent entity, a thinking, progressive and responsible being, capable of hearing, and believing or rejecting truth, must be also capable of repenting of evil and learning to do well. Thus the mercy of God can reach such a being independent of the mortal structure in which it was permitted to dwell on earth. The idea that the eternal future of man is fixed at death comes from a mistaken notion concerning "the judgment day." Both Christ and his apostles taught that the time of judgment was set by the Father to take place "when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him" (Matthew 25:31-46). Paul declared that Christ would come to judge the quick and the dead "at his appearing and his kingdom" (II Timothy 4:1). It was at that day that Paul expected to obtain "a crown of righteousness" (Verse 8). And the time of the judgment is fixed in the book of Revelation to be after the resurrection from the dead, when the small and the great shall stand before God, and the books shall be opened, and the dead shall be judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works.

The popular notion that final judgment takes place at the death of each individual, and that he is then and there exalted to heaven or thrust down to hell, is utterly wrong and unscriptural. Yet it has prevailed in Christendom for many centuries, and it remained for the prophet of the 19th century, Joseph Smith, by divine inspiration to bring forth the glorious light in the midst of dense spiritual darkness, and show forth them that are dead who could not hear it while living in the by which every soul of Adam's race, either in the body or out of the body, may learn the way of the Lord, the everlasting gospel, the only plan of salvation. It is to be preached to all them that are dead who could not hear it while living in the flesh, and they can repent and turn unto God and be taught the things of his kingdom. The doctrine of purgatory, which is part of the Roman Catholic creed, is a perversion of this doctrine of Christ, but the idea of the former came from a misunderstanding of the latter. There is an intermediate state in which the spirits of the departed remain between death and the resurrection of the body, and, as will be pointed out in a succeeding chapter, there are works which may be performed by the living in behalf of the dead, but only such as are impossible of performance in the spirit world.

The Apostle Paul declared that Jesus Christ "gave himself a ransom for ALL, to be testified in due time" (I Timothy 2:6). The time has now come. The testimony of this great truth is proclaimed by prophets and apostles raised up in these latter days, and by the voice of angels from heaven, and by the witness of the Holy Ghost, which bears record of the Father and the Son. Let all people rejoice and praise the Lord for this new revelation of his loving kindness and tender mercies extended over all his works, and let his light shine to the uttermost parts of the earth and penetrate to the darkest abode of the regions behind the veil, that truth may triumph everywhere and God be glorified in the obedience and salvation of his children.

RAY NO. 11.

"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?" (I Corinthians 15:29). This was an argument used by the Apostle Paul with the Corinthians, who doubted the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. It is evident that they were familiar with baptism for the dead. For, the apostle was reasoning with them from what they knew. The influence of Greek philosophy affected the minds of the Saints at Corinth, and the apostle found it necessary to write to them his splendid treatise, to convince them that as Christ was actually raised from the dead, so all mankind should be brought forth from their graves, as the Savior himself declared. And appealing to their good sense, he asked the question why they were baptized for the dead, if, as some among them maintained, there was to be no resurrection of the dead.

This doctrine, that the living could be baptized in behalf of the dead, has not been understood in the so-called Christian world for many hundreds of years. It was known to the early fathers, but became obsolete when the authority held by the apostles and their associates was taken from the earth and spiritual darkness settled upon the world. Yet, if that was part of the doctrine of Christ in the Apostolic age, it is part of it now. But who among all the sects of the age teaches it? Who has authority to administer it? Who knows anything of the manner in which the ordinance should be solemnized? It is because of the profound ignorance of modern teachers of religion on this important subject that they endeavor, whenever the text given above is quoted, either to cover it with a cloud of meaningless explanation, or to treat it as unworthy of attention, or to set it aside as something "done away."

In the revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ anew in the present age, baptism for the dead was made known to the Prophet Joseph Smith as a necessary part of the doctrine of Christ. Its purpose, the form of the ordinance, who should administer it, who should receive it, how it would affect both the living and dead and everything to render it acceptable to God and efficacious to the departed, was made known to the prophet of the nineteenth century.

It has already been demonstrated that the gospel preached by our Savior and his apostles to the living was also preached to the dead, that is, to the spirits of those who had once dwelt in the body on earth. Also that such persons are capable of receiving the truth, of faith, of repentance, of obedience and reform. It has been further shown that baptism for the remission of sins and the reception of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, both ordinances to be administered by actual divine authority, are essential to salvation. But it will be evident to the thoughtful reader that while the internal or spiritual requirements of the gospel can be complied with by disembodied persons, the outward and material ceremonies are of the body, and can only be performed on the earth. Water is an earthly element or composition of material elements, and pertains to this mundane sphere. It is for this reason that the living must be baptized for the dead. If those who died unbaptized are to obtain salvation the necessary ordinances will have to be attended to by proxy.

If any professing Christian objects to the idea of salvation by proxy, the all-important fact that the entire plan of salvation hinges on that principle should be sufficient to sweep away the objection entirely and forever. "The wages of sin is death." "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Jesus of Nazareth died instead of sinners. The just was offered for the unjust. The innocent Christ was a substitute for guilty men. The whole doctrine of the atonement rests upon the principle of salvation by proxy. Jesus is called the Captain of our salvation. He is the head of the host of the army of saviors. It was predicted by Obadiah the prophet that, "Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion" in the last days, and "the kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Verse 21). And the inspired writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, speaking of those worthies who through faith performed great wonders and prevailed and obtained a witness from God in olden times, declared: "These all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Heb. 11:39, 40). Thus the work of human redemption is to be carried on until all the people of the earth shall be judged according to the gospel, every soul having had an opportunity of receiving or rejecting it, either in the body or in the spirit state, and of obeying the ordinances thereof, either in person or vicariously, the living acting for the dead.

At the first glance, this doctrine may strike the modern Christian mind as new and dangerous, but the more it is investigated in all its bearings, the clearer its truth is made apparent, and the more glorious it becomes. The thought that those who receive and obey the gospel of Christ in its fulness while in the flesh, can aid in the work of redemption for their ancestors who are in the spirit world, is most delightful to the reverent soul.

It shows the value of those genealogies which Israel, the covenant people of God, were moved upon in olden times to preserve. It stimulates the faithful in Christ to good works that they may become "saviors on Mount Zion." It explains how the nations composed of millions upon millions of souls that never heard the gospel or the name of Christ Jesus, may ultimately be redeemed and made heirs of salvation. It points out the way by which Christ shall eventually obtain the victory over Satan and prove himself "a ransom for all," presenting his perfect work to the Father, not one soul having been lost but the sons of perdition, who sinned unto death and could not be forgiven in this world or in the world to come.

The ordinances for the dead, as revealed from heaven to the Prophet Joseph Smith, must be attended to in the way provided by the Lord or they will not be accepted of him. They must be administered in sacred places, built according to a heavenly pattern, and administered by those who have authority to loose on earth and it shall be loosed in heaven, to seal on earth and it shall be sealed in heaven. Persons who have themselves complied with the requirements of the gospel may be baptized and administered to in other necessary ordinances for and in behalf of their departed kindred and ancestors, as far back as their line of progenitors can be ascertained. This work must be attended to in Zion. This necessitates the gathering of the Saints, "the elect of God," from all parts of the earth. They are commanded of the Lord to come out of Babylon, that they "be not partakers of her sins, and that they receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). In compliance with this requirement they are gathering from all nations, to the "mountain of the house of the Lord, in the tops of the mountains, where they can learn of his ways and walk in his paths," and build up Zion, where they can officiate as saviors and prepare for the coming of the Great King (See Micah 4: 1-4; Isaiah 2:2-5; Psalms 102:16).

The gathering of Judah is also to be accomplished in this dispensation of the fulness of times. Their gathering place is Jerusalem. They will return to the land of their forefathers chiefly in unbelief. A few of that race will begin to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, but the masses of that people will not receive him in that light until he comes and "His feet shall stand again on the Mount of Olives." He will then appear as their Deliverer from the hosts that will assemble against them for a spoil and a prey. They will then look upon him whom their forefathers have pierced, and beholding the scars of the wounds he received when "He came to his own and his own received him not," but hung him upon the cross, will come to the understanding that Jesus is indeed the Son of God as well as the Son of David, and is their Messiah, their Redeemer, and their King. They will then receive his gospel, the only plan of salvation: "a nation will be born in a day unto the Lord" and in the temple that will be reared to his name they will officiate for their dead until all the links in the chain of their ancestry, back to the time when the gospel was on the earth previous to the enunciation of the Mosaic code, the law of carnal commandments, are made complete. All the promises made to Israel and Judah through their prophets will be fulfilled and Christ will "reign in Mount Zion and Jerusalem" and fill the earth with his glory! (Zechariah 14:8-23; Jeremiah 23:3-8; 32:37-44; Ezekiel 34:13-16; 38:8-23; Ezekiel 39; Isaiah 24:23.)

While the house of Judah is to rebuild Jerusalem, in expectation of a Messiah, but in unbelief of the Savior and his atonement, the descendants of the House of Israel which was scattered and dispersed among the nations, will gather as the elect of God to the latter-day Zion upon the land of Joseph in the top of the mountains, where the house of God is "exalted above the hills," and where the revelations of his will are made known and the ordinances of his house for the living and the dead can be administered. The blood of Israel, though mixed with that of the Gentiles, is counted as the seed of Abraham to whom the promises of old were made, and not one of them will fail. Their gathering place is on "the land shadowing with wings" which Isaiah saw in vision "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," where the Lord has "lifted up an ensign on the mountains," and from which his "swift messengers" are now going forth as "ambassadors" of the great King and are bringing Israel from afar to "the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, the Mount Zion" (Isaiah 18). There, in the temple built to his name according to the pattern he has revealed, baptisms and all the ordinances necessary on earth in the work of salvation for the living and the dead, are performed by divine authority, and there the Spirit of God is poured out in rich effusion, bearing witness to the humble of heart and contrite of spirit that they and their labors of love are accepted of him and sealed and recorded in heaven.

There "the wilderness and the solitary place have been made glad" because of them. The parched ground and the thirsty land have brought forth springs of water, the desert is made to "blossom as the rose." There the ransomed of the Lord have come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy. "The place of their defense is the munition of rocks," and they are looking for the time, which is near at hand, when they shall behold "the King in his beauty." (See Isaiah 25; also 32:13-20; 33:15-17; 39:22-23; 42:7-12; Psalm 107:1-7, 33-43; Isaiah 41:18-20.)

From the foregoing it will be seen that our heavenly Father is not bound by the small notions and narrow creeds of modern religious sects and teachers. "His ways are not as man's ways, nor his thoughts as their thoughts." "As high as the heavens are above the earth," so is his plan of salvation above the inventions of the worldly wise. The gospel is to be preached to every responsible and accountable creature. They who do not hear it while in the body will hear it in the spirit world, and even those who through folly and darkness received it not will, after having been beaten with "many stripes" and having paid the "uttermost farthing" of the debt thus incurred, have mercy extended to them when justice has been satisfied, and at length through the ministrations of the holy priesthood of God on earth and behind the veil, and the ordinances performed in person or vicariously, all the sons and daughters of God of the race of Adam will come forth from the grave; and finally "every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the Father." Then Jesus, having finished his work of redemption, will present it to the eternal Father, that he may be all in all.

This glorious work for the salvation of the human family is now in progress under the revelation and authority of the Most High, and no matter how much it may be opposed by ignorance or malice, by Satan or foolish men, it will go on to complete and glorious victory. Evil will be overcome, darkness dispersed, Satan and his hosts be bound, the earth and its inhabitants be redeemed, Paradise will be restored, Eden will bloom again, Christ will reign as King, the Tabernacle of God will be with men, and all things above, beneath, around, will sing praises to the Most High, to whom be glory and dominion forever. Amen.

RAY NO. 12.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?" So said the Savior of mankind (Matthew 7:16). The Latter-day Saints, or "Mormons," as they are commonly called, have been derided and persecuted, and all manner of evil has been spoken against them, even by people who call themselves Christians. That in this, false witness has been borne against them, may be definitely proved if the criterion given by Christ is accepted. Having obeyed the gospel as restored to earth by angelic visitations and administered by divine authority, large numbers of the Saints have congregated in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains in obedience to the command, "Gather my Saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice" (Psalm 1:5). And also: "Come out of her (Babylon), my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).

In the year 1847 a company of pioneers, led by the Prophet Brigham Young, successor of the Martyr Joseph Smith, who was slain for the gospel's sake, marched from the Missouri River across prairies and mountains, and wastes and rivers, through the wilderness known as the Great American Desert, to the place in the mountains where they had been directed by Joseph Smith when living with them in Nauvoo. On July 24th of that year they halted in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, beheld by Brigham Young in vision before they commenced their weary journey. Not a human habitation was to be seen. The sun-baked land brought forth sagebrush and weeds. Rain was almost unknown and the melting snows from the mountain tops came down but in narrow and scanty streams. But they plowed the parched ground and turned upon it the trickling waters; they sowed in faith and trusted in God for the harvest which alone could save them from starvation. The little band was composed of but 148 persons who had left civilization more than a thousand miles behind. Today over five hundred thousand people, gathered from all parts of the world, dwell in peace and harmony in flourishing cities and towns or upon fruitful farms and luxuriant ranches, reaping the results of thrift and industry and the blessings of God upon the land and upon their labors. In the cities are fine residences, comfortable cottages, business establishments, manufacturing enterprises, railroads, telegraphs and telephones, broad streets lined with magnificent trees and with clear streamlets on either side, lighted by electricity and supplied with pure water from works owned by the people. Grand school houses have been erected, spacious places of worship, noble public buildings and splendid temples costing from one million to four million dollars each. All kinds of grains and fruits and flowers are produced in abundance: the rainfalls have wonderfully increased, springs have burst forth in dry spots, grass grows on the hillsides, and in the meadows, cattle and sheep graze on a thousand hills, and the face of nature smiles and shines with beauty.

This marvelous transformation has been brought about by the blessings of Almighty God upon the faith and works of his Saints gathered from afar. Zion that brought good tidings--the everlasting gospel restored to earth--has gone up "into the high mountain." The Spirit has been poured out from on high, and the wilderness has become a "fruitful field." "The people of the Lord dwell in peaceable habitations, in sure dwellings, in quiet resting places." They are sowing "beside all waters." "The wilderness and the solitary place is glad for them, the desert rejoices and blossoms abundantly." They are the "ransomed of the Lord, and have come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy." (See Isaiah 40:9; 32:15-20; 35:1-10.)

Every Sabbath day the children assemble in Sunday Schools under a system which is not excelled in any part of the world. In the afternoon and evening the Saints assemble in their tabernacles and meeting houses, and receive instruction by the voice of inspiration and the reading of holy writ. Societies are organized for the instruction of juveniles, of young men and young women, of ladies of mature age and for all classes of the community. To serve God and keep his commandments is held up as the first duty of his people. To labor for the salvation of the living and the redemption of the dead is placed above all earthly considerations. The Church has now in the mission fields eighteen hundred or more missionaries, traveling "without purse or scrip," without pay of any kind, depending upon God and friends whom he may raise up to them for their daily sustenance. The Church organization revealed from heaven is recognized by all who investigate as the grandest and most complete ever known on earth. The industry, order, devotion, unity and brotherly love displayed by the Latter-day Saints are the admiration and commendation of both friend and foe. The work they have performed under divine direction is a marvel to all who have visited the cities of the Saints or know of their achievements. What is the tree that has brought forth those excellent fruits? It is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Let the tree be judged by its fruits.

It is true that the "Mormons" are a people who have been "everywhere spoken against," but this was a characteristic of the Saints in the original Christian Church. Paul said: "They that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Jesus exclaimed, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you." He prophesied of his disciples: "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake." But there are a number of brave men who, after visiting Utah, have not been afraid to speak their honest sentiments concerning that despised people. Among them are the following, whose published remarks are but samples of others that might be adduced:

Bishop D. S. Tuttle of the Episcopal Church, who resided many years in Salt Lake City, had the following in the New York Sun: "We of the East are accustomed to look upon the Mormons as either a licentious, arrogant, or rebellious mob, bent only on defying the United States government and deriding the faith of the Christians. That is not so. I know them to be honest, faithful, prayerful workers, and earnest in their faith that heaven will bless the Church of Latter-day Saints. Another strong and admirable feature in the Mormon religion is the tenacious and efficient organization. They follow with the greatest care all the forms of the old Church."

Henry Edger says, in the New York Evolution: "Driven by mob violence from one state to another, despoiled of their legitimate possessions --fruits of honest toil--this despised and grossly wronged people found their way at last across the trackless desert and by an almost unexampled perseverance and industry created an oasis in the desert itself."

Elder Miles Grant, editor of the World's Crisis, says: "After a careful observation for some days we came to the settled conclusion that there is less licentiousness in Salt Lake City than in any other one of the same size in the United States; and were we to bring up a family of children in these last days of wickedness, we should have less fears of their moral corruption were they in that city than in any other."

Gov. Safford, of Arizona, wrote as follows: "They have no drones, and the work they have accomplished in so short a time is truly wonderful. All concede that we need an energetic, industrious, economical and self-relying people to subdue and bring into use the vast unproductive lands of Arizona. These Mormons fill every one of the above requirements."