The reader will have observed, doubtless, that according to the history of the gospel, as given in the last chapter, there have been long periods of time when it has not been upon the earth.

One of these periods was from the time that Moses and the Holy Priesthood, together with the fullness of the gospel, were taken from among the children of Israel, until the restoration of the gospel in the days of Messiah's ministry in the flesh. Another such period was from the time the gospel was corrupted, in the first two or three centuries of the Christian era, and its restoration in the present dispensation, through the Prophet Joseph Smith.

What became of those who lived in those long periods of time—those untold millions, who never so much as heard the gospel?—I might push the inquiry still further, by calling attention to the fact that even when the gospel has been upon the earth, there are countless millions who lived and died without having an opportunity of obeying it. What is their fate?

In order that the force of these remarks may appear more clearly, I will refer to the present state of the religious world, that is, to the strength of the respective religions, as represented by numbers:

According to the latest and best information on the subject, there are throughout the world:

Roman Catholics—206,588,206

Protestants—89,825,348

Greek and Russian Churches—75,691,382

Oriental Churches—6,770,000

Making the total of all Christians—378,874,936

The other religions stand as follows:

Brahminical Hindoos—120,000,000

Followers of Buddha, Shinto and Confucius—482,600,000

Mohammedans—169,054,789

Jews—7,612,784

Parsees (fire worshipers in Persia)—1,000,000

Pagans, not otherwise enumerated—227,000,000

Making a total of—1,007,267,573^[A]

[Footnote A: These statements are taken from a recent work published by Gay Bros. & Co., New York, entitled, "What the World Believes"]

From this showing it is seen that only a little more than one-third of the world's population are even professing Christians; the other two- thirds know nothing of Christ or of salvation through his Gospel. No one, however, will contend that all professing Christianity will be entitled to salvation, for the very good reason that they do not adopt its precepts in the practices of their lives; so that the one-third that are enumerated as Christians would be reduced to much less than that fraction of the world's population if this consideration is taken into account.

Even if you grant that the gospel of Christ has been upon the earth for the past eighteen centuries, as the Christian world claim, here is a serious question confronting them, viz.: What is to be the fate of this greater part of the children of God who have never heard of Christ, and know nothing of the Christian religion?

This is a question which confronted those who declared that the gospel and authority to administer in its ordinances had not been upon the earth for a number of centuries. It is a question which confronts them today; but it also may be asked of Christians generally, for even if you allow that they and their fathers before them have had and still have the gospel, here is the great majority of the human race—the children of God —who have not had it in the past generations, and do not have it even now. What becomes of the neglected ones?

To this question the Saints used to reply, in one of their hymns—

"God is just is all we say,
Seek no crop where 'twas not planted,
Nor the day where reigns the night;
Now the sunshine bright is beaming.
Let all creatures see aright."

Since those days, however, further light has been revealed from heaven, which gives enlarged views in respect to the plan of human redemption, and brings out in strong relief the justice and mercy of God; enlarges the hope, and dispels the gloom of wretchedness that man-made systems of theology have cast over religion.

The principle which has performed all this, a principle which is permeating all religious thought and shattering to their foundations the old schools of theology, was first revealed by the prophet Elijah, in the Kirtland Temple, in 1836.

It is written in Malachi: "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."^[B]

[Footnote B: Mal. iv: 5, 6. The manner in which Moroni quoted this scripture to the prophet Joseph Smith was, "Behold I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible 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 the fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at His coming." (Pearl of Great Price.)]

This prophecy, for so long before the people in the Jewish scriptures, yet no one knowing the meaning thereof, was fulfilled by the aforesaid coming of Elijah to the Kirtland Temple, on the 3rd of April, 1836.

This appearance of Elijah is described as follows—by the way, however, his appearance was preceded by a vision of the Lord Jesus, then of Moses, then of Elias, who committed the keys of the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham—"After this vision had closed," says the prophet, "another great and glorious vision burst upon us, for Elijah the prophet, 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 come, 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 that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the door."^[C]

[Footnote C: Doc. and Cov. sec. cx.]

The key of knowledge this prophet revealed was in relation to salvation for the dead; the means by which the principles and ordinances of salvation could be applied to those who had lived in those periods of time when the gospel was not upon the earth; and also to those who had lived when the gospel was on the earth, but who had not the privilege of hearing it; aye, and even to those who had heard and rejected it; though the spirits of this last class of persons must go to the prison house where they will be required to pay the utmost farthing for their wickedness in rejecting the mercies of God; and will, through their disobedience, have shut themselves out from the heights of glory and exaltation they might have attained unto had they but accepted the truth in the love of it, and walked in harmony with its teachings.

This key of knowledge, I say, gives enlarged views of the mercies of God, and reveals the fact that every man, both in time and eternity, will always have the privilege of doing right, and reaping the reward of his righteousness. It brought to light the grand truth that this earth was not the only place where men could hear the gospel and give assent to its doctrines. On the contrary it gives us to understand that in the spirit world the gospel is preached to the departed spirits of men, that is, to those who have departed from this life and that there they are instructed in the way of salvation.

These facts give life and meaning to the scripture which says: "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometimes were disobedient, when the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved by water."^[D]

[Footnote D: I. Peter iii: 18-20.]

In the chapter following the one I have quoted, the apostle remarks: "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."^[E] This last quotation proves as plainly as plain statement of holy writ can prove anything, that the gospel is preached also to the dead, as well as to the living; and not only that, but likewise assigns the reason why it is preached to them, viz.: that those to whom it is thus preached might live according to God in the spirit—that is, live in harmony with the precepts of the gospel taught to them, that they may be judged as men will be who have the gospel preached to them in the flesh.

[Footnote E: Verse 6.]

The first passage quoted gives us to understand that the spirit of Jesus went to those spirits that were in prison—to those who had rejected the gospel in the days of Noah, and who from the time of the flood until Jesus visited them, had been paying the penalty of their disobedience in the prison-house prepared for such characters.

In the light of these facts several other scriptures are made plain. We can understand now more clearly the words of Jesus to his apostles, when he said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."^[F] And also the words of Isaiah, when speaking of the mission of the Son of God, wherein he tells us that not only is Jesus to be a covenant unto the people, and a light unto the gentiles, but he is also to bring out the prisoners from the prison house. This is the passage: "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, out of the prison house."^[G]

[Footnote F: John v: 25.]

[Footnote G: Isaiah xlii: 6, 7.]

And, as it was with those who rejected the gospel in the days of Noah, so will it be with those who reject the gospel in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. Such is the prediction of the prophet Isaiah. After describing the judgments that will attend the glorious coming of the Son of God, and the punishment that shall overtake the ungodly, he says: "And it shall come to pass, in that day, that the Lord shall punish the hosts of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth, upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days they shall be visited."^[H]

[Footnote H: Isaiah xxiv: 21, 22.]

But while the gospel is preached in the spirit world, it appears from all that can be learned upon the subject, that all the outward ordinances, as baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, anointings, sealings, etc., etc., must be performed vicariously here upon earth for those who accept the gospel in the world of spirits. This is the work that children may do for their progenitors, and upon learning this, the hearts of the children are turned to their fathers; and the fathers in the spirit world, learning that they are dependent upon the action of their posterity for the performance of the ordinances of salvation, their hearts are turned to the children; and thus the work that was predicted should be performed by Elijah—turning the hearts of the children to the fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to the children, was accomplished in restoring the key of knowledge respecting the salvation for the dead.

This, however, is no new doctrine. We have already seen that Peter understood that the Messiah went and preached to the spirits who had rejected the gospel in the days of Noah; and also that the gospel was preached to the dead— without confining it to those who lived in the days of Noah or any other period.

Nor is this all, for Paul says to the saints at Corinth: "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] And why, I ask, does Paul make this very plain allusion to baptism for the dead, if there is no such ordinance connected with the gospel? No other passage of scripture perplexes the theologians more than this one, and they have exhausted their ingenuity in trying to explain away the evident meaning of it, because it is destructive of some of their horrible dogmas in respect to the eternal damnation of those who do not have the good fortune to become acquainted with the truth in this probation.

[Footnote I: I. Cor. xv: 29.]

"From the wording of the sentence"—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?—"the most simple impression certainly is, that Paul speaks of a baptism which a living man receives in the place of a dead one. This interpretation is particularly adopted by those expounders with whom grammatical construction is of paramount importance, and the first thing to be considered."^[J] To this rendering of the passage could be drawn up a long list of respectable authorities, among them Erasmus, Scaliger, Grotius, Calixtus, Meyer and De Wette.

[Footnote J: Biblical Literature (Kitto) Art. Baptism.]

Epiphanius, a writer of the fourth century, in speaking of the Marcionites, a sect of Christians to whom he was opposed, says: "In this country —I mean Asia—and even in Galatia, their school flourished eminently; and a traditional fact concerning them has reached us, that when any of them had died without baptism, they used to baptize others in their name, lest in the resurrection they should suffer punishment as unbaptized."^[K] This proves beyond controversy the fact that vicarious baptism for the dead was practiced among some sects of the early Christians.

[Footnote K: Heresies, xxiii: 7.]

Another fact proves it still more emphatically than this statement of Epiphanius. The Council of Carthage, held A. D. 397, in its sixth canon, forbids the administration of baptism and the holy communion for the dead; and why would this canon be formed against these practices if they had no existence among the Christians of those days?

We have now seen, not only that baptism for the dead is a principle known to and doubtless practiced by the Corinthian saints, in the days of Paul—and evidently with his approval—and by some of the Christian sects for two or three centuries after his time; but we have also seen that it was forbidden by the council of an apostate church in the fourth century.

In the dispensation in which we now live, however, the knowledge of the ordinance, with a commandment to practice it, and with instructions necessary to its practice, has been restored; and the erection of costly temples, in which this and other ordinances for the dead may be administered, testifies to the zeal with which the Latter-day Saints enter into this work; and is a living testimony to the world that there was virtue in the mission of Elijah. He succeeded in turning the hearts of the children to the fathers; and we may reasonably conclude that the hearts of the fathers have been turned to the children, for they without us cannot be made perfect.

This doctrine of salvation for the dead strikes a deadly blow to the horrible dogmas formulated by uninspired men in the dark ages of apostasy, in relation to the eternal punishment of those who die unconverted and in an impenitent condition. According to the aforesaid dogmas such persons are damned to all eternity, without the least hope for redemption; and ingenuity has exhausted itself to present to the mind the duration of their sufferings.

In the month of March, 1830—six years before the coming of Elijah—the Lord explained, through the Prophet Joseph Smith, the meaning of the terms eternal punishment and endless punishment, in regard to which men have gone astray. In that explanation it is said: "Behold the mystery of godliness, how great is it? For, behold, I am Endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand, is endless punishment, for Endless is my name; wherefore

"Eternal punishment is God's punishment.

"Endless punishment is God's punishment."^[L]

[Footnote L: Doc. and Cov., sec. xix: 10-12.]

The punishment takes its name from him who administers it; and, since God is Endless, the punishment he inflicts is called endless or eternal.

And, indeed, the punishment exists eternally, and stands ready to be applied to those who violate the laws of righteousness. But because the penalty stands ever ready to vindicate any law which may be broken, it does not necessarily follow that persons violating the law will for ever have to endure punishment. Mercy, though not allowed to rob justice, somewhere, and at some time, will step forward and claim her own; permitting the violator of law to endure punishment no longer than is necessary to vindicate the law, and satisfy the reasonable claims of justice. Hence we may conclude, that while the actions of men in this probation will greatly affect their standing in the life that is to come, those actions do not, in every case, fix the status of men for eternity.

This doctrine of salvation for the dead not only enlarges the hope of man, but it gives him nobler conceptions of the character of the Deity, and increases his admiration for him. In fact, to my thinking, this doctrine strips the character of God in the inhuman and vindictive cruelty which men, in the past, have delighted to represent him as possessing; and gives new force, and, perhaps, new meaning to the expression, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable."

It also vindicates the wisdom of Deity; for it must be a very imperfect wisdom that would construct a plan for the redemption of mankind so imperfect in its operations, so limited in its application as to miss the great majority of mankind, and leave them without redemption throughout the countless ages of eternity. But when one is given to understand, and surely such an understanding is given one in the revelations of God to which the reader's attention has been directed—when one learns that sometime in the eternities, somewhere in the numberless creations of God, the proclamation of the gospel will overtake all the children of our Father, and they have the privilege of accepting it, and will be saved by it, and permitted to enjoy all the happiness and glory their nature and degree of development enables them to encompass—the wisdom, mercy, justice and love of God all stand out in bold relief; and man's heart is warmed with increased admiration and devotion to him: for it teaches him that he worships not a tyrant who delights in the miseries and damnation of his children, but one whose great pleasure and design it is to bring to pass the eternal happiness of man.