Chapter IV: Modern Temple Ordinances

{89} A more detailed consideration of modern temple service now claims our attention. The ceremonial work comprises:

1. Baptism, specifically Baptism for the Dead.

2. Ordination and associated Endowments in the Priesthood.

3. Marriage Ceremonies.

4. Other Sealing Ordinances.

As will be understood from what has been already written, each of these ceremonies or ordinances may be performed either for the living, present in person, or for the dead who are represented each by an individual living proxy. The living are but few compared with the dead; and it follows of necessity that the ordinance-work for the departed exceeds by a great preponderance that done for the living. The temples of today are maintained largely for the benefit and salvation of the uncounted dead.

BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD

As demonstrated in the preceding pages, the law of baptism is of universal application; in short, baptism is required of all who have lived to the age of accountability. Only those who die in infancy are exempt. Children, having no sin to expiate, and being unable to comprehend {90} the nature of the baptismal obligation, are not to be baptized while living, nor is the ordinance to be performed for them should they die before reaching a responsible age and state. As to the child's part in the heritage of mortality incident to the transgression of Adam, the atonement of Christ is of full effect, and the redemption of the child is assured.[1] Regarding the general applicability of the law prescribing baptism as essential to salvation, the scriptures make no distinction between the living and the dead. The atoning sacrifice of Christ was offered, not only for the few who lived upon the earth while He was in the flesh, nor for those alone who were born in mortality after His death, but for all inhabitants of earth then past, present, and future. He was ordained of the Father to be a judge of both quick and dead;[2] He is Lord alike of living and dead,[3] as men speak of dead and living, though all live unto Him.[4]

Among the pernicious dogmas taught by a perverted and mis-called Christianity, is the heinous doctrine that never-ending punishment or interminable bliss, unchanging in kind or degree, shall be the destiny of every soul,--the award being made according to the condition of that soul at the time of bodily death; a life of sin being thus nullified by a death-bed repentance, and a life of honor, if unmarked by the ceremonies of established sects, being followed by the tortures of hell without a possibility of relief. Such a dogma is to be ranked with the dread {91} heresy which proclaims the condemnation of innocent babes who have not been sprinkled by man's assumed authority. In the justice of God no soul shall be finally condemned under a law of which he has had no chance to learn. True, eternal punishment has been decreed as the lot of the wicked; but the real meaning of the punishment so decreed has been made known by the Lord Himself.[5] Eternal punishment is God's punishment; endless punishment is His; for "Endless" and "Eternal" are among His names, and the words are descriptive of His attributes. No soul will be punished for sin beyond the time requisite to work the needed reformation and to vindicate justice, for which ends alone punishment is imposed. And no one will be eligible to enter any kingdom of glory in the abode of the blessed to which he is not entitled through obedience to law.

It follows as a plain necessity that the Gospel must be proclaimed in the spirit world; and that such ministry is provided for, the scriptures abundantly prove. Peter, defining the mission of the Redeemer, thus declares this solemn truth: "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."[6] As already shown, the inauguration of this work among the dead was wrought by Christ in the interval between His death and resurrection.

In his first epistle to the Saints in Corinth, Paul presents a brief yet comprehensive treatment of the doctrine of the resurrection,--a subject which at that time and among those to whom he wrote, had given rise to much {92} contention and debate;[7] and, having shown that through Christ the resurrection of the dead had been made possible, and that in due course all mankind shall be redeemed from bodily death, the apostle asks, "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why then are they baptized for the dead?"[8] As the question is put by way of finality and climax to the preceding argument, it is evident that the subject so introduced was no new or strange doctrine, but on the contrary, one with which the people addressed must have been familiar, and which to them required no argument. Baptism for the dead was, therefore, both known as a principle and practised as an ordinance in apostolic times. That the practise was continued in some form for a century or more after the apostles had passed from the earth is evidenced by numerous passages in the writings of the early Christian Fathers, and by later authorities on ecclesiastical history.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims the present as the dispensation of the {93} fulness of times, in which shall be gathered and re-established all the saving principles and essential ordinances of earlier dispensations, and during which the great plan of universal redemption shall be fully revealed. The Church, therefore, provides for the actual work of baptism for the dead, and in the temples of today this sacred labor is in uninterrupted progress. As will be seen, each of the temples is provided with a baptismal font, with every necessary provision for the administration of this ordinance.[9]

The rite of water-baptism in behalf of the dead is followed by that of the laying-on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost; and in this as in the preceding, the dead person is represented by the living proxy. The imposition of hands for the conferring of the gift of the Holy Ghost constitutes the higher baptism of the Spirit required alike of all, and includes the rite of confirmation by which the person becomes a member of the Church of Christ. In all essentials the ordinances of baptism and confirmation are identical, whether administered to the living for themselves or as proxy for the dead. As these ordinances are administered in existing temples it is required that, beside the recorder and the officiating elder, two witnesses be present, and that they attest the ceremony as duly performed.

ORDINATION AND ENDOWMENT

Water-baptism, and the higher baptism of the Spirit by the authorized imposition of hands for the conferring of the Holy Ghost, constitute the two fundamental ordinances of the Gospel. The repentant soul who has thus {94} entered the Church of Christ may afterward attain to position and authority in the Holy Priesthood--not as an earthly honor, not as a title of personal aggrandizement, not as a symbol of power to rule and possibly to oppress,--but as an endowment bespeaking authority and the express responsibility to use that authority in the service of his fellows and to the glory of God. In the temple service, the man who appears as proxy for his dead relative must be ordained to the Priesthood before he can pass beyond the baptismal font.

It is a precept of the Church that women of the Church share the authority of the Priesthood with their husbands, actual or prospective; and therefore women, whether taking the endowment for themselves or for the dead, are not ordained to specific rank in the Priesthood. Nevertheless there is no grade, rank, or phase of the temple endowment to which women are not eligible on an equality with men. True, there are certain of the higher ordinances to which an unmarried woman cannot be admitted, but the rule is equally in force as to a bachelor. The married state is regarded as sacred, sanctified, and holy in all temple procedure; and within the House of the Lord the woman is the equal and the help-meet of the man. In the privileges and blessings of that holy place, the utterance of Paul is regarded as a scriptural decree in full force and effect: "Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord."[10]

Faith and sincere repentance, followed first by water-baptism and then by the laying-on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, are the prescribed means of {95} admission into the Church of Christ and prospective salvation in the Kingdom of God. But there is a distinction between salvation and exaltation. At this point it may be well to consider this distinction, and to set forth the doctrines of the restored Church as to the graded degrees of exaltation beyond the grave.[11]

_Salvation and Exaltation:_--Some degree of salvation will come to all who have not forfeited their right to it; exaltation is given to those only who by active labors have won a claim to God's merciful liberality by which it is bestowed. Of the saved, not all will be exalted to the higher glories; rewards will not be bestowed in violation of justice; punishments will not be meted out to the ignoring of mercy's claims. No one can be admitted to any order of glory, in short, no soul can be saved, until justice has been satisfied for violated law. In the Kingdom of God there are numerous degrees of exaltation provided for those who are worthy of them. The old idea, that in the hereafter there will be but two places for the souls of mankind,--a heaven and a hell, with the same glory in all parts of the one, and the same terrors throughout the other,--is wholly untenable in the light of Divine revelation.

_Degrees of Glory:_--That the privileges and glories of heaven are graded to suit the various capacities of the blessed, is indicated in Christ's teachings. To His apostles He said: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that {96} where I am, there ye may be also."[12] This declaration is supplemented by that of Paul, who speaks of the graded glories of the resurrection as follows:

"There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the
glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is
another.

"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another
star in glory.

"So also is the resurrection of the dead."[13]

A fuller knowledge of this subject has been imparted in the present dispensation. From a revelation given in 1832[14] we learn the following: Three great kingdoms or degrees of glory are established for the future habitation of the human race; these are known as the Celestial, the Terrestrial, and the Telestial. Far below the last and least of these, is the state of eternal punishment prepared for the sons of perdition.

_The Celestial Glory_ is provided for those who merit the highest honors of heaven; in the revelation referred to, we read of them:

"They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed
on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial,
being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the
commandment which he has given, that by keeping the commandments
they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive
the Holy Spirit by the laying on of the hands of him who is
ordained and sealed unto this power, and who overcome by faith, and
are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds
forth {97} upon all those who are just and true. They are they who
are the Church of the First-born. They are they into whose hands
the Father has given all things--they are they who are Priests and
Kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory, and are
Priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchisedek, which was
after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only
Begotten Son; wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even
the sons of God--wherefore all things are theirs, whether life or
death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and
they are Christ's and Christ is God's. * * * * These shall dwell
in the presence of God and his Christ for ever and ever. These are
they whom he shall bring with him, when he shall come in the clouds
of heaven, to reign on the earth over his people. These are they
who shall have a part in the first resurrection. These are they who
shall come forth in the resurrection of the just. * * * These are
they who are just men made perfect through Jesus the mediator of
the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through
the shedding of his own blood. These are they whose bodies are
celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God,
the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written
of as being typical."[15]

_The Terrestrial Glory:_--This, the next lower degree, will be received by many whose works do not merit the highest reward. We read of them:

"These are they who are of the terrestrial, whose glory differs
from that of the Church of the First-born who have received the
fulness of the Father, even as that of the moon differs from the
sun in the firmament. Behold, these are they who died without law,
and also they who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the
Son visited, and preached the Gospel unto them, that they might be
judged according to {98} men in the flesh, who received not the
testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it. These
are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by
the craftiness of men. These are they who receive of his glory,
but not of his fulness. These are they who receive of the presence
of the Son, but not of the fulness of the Father; wherefore they
are bodies terrestrial, and not bodies celestial, and differ in
glory as the moon differs from the sun. These are they who are not
valiant in the testimony of Jesus; wherefore they obtain not the
crown over the kingdom of our God."[16]

_The Telestial Glory:_--The revelation continues:

"And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that
of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of
the glory of the moon in the firmament. These are they who received
not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus. These are
they who deny not the Holy Spirit. These are they who are thrust
down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the
devil, until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the
Lamb shall have finished his work."[17]

We learn further that the inhabitants of this kingdom are to be graded among themselves, comprising as they do the unenlightened among the varied opposing sects and divisions of men, and sinners of many types, whose offenses are not those of utter perdition:

"For as one star differs from another star in glory, even so
differs one from another in glory in the telestial world; for these
are they who are of Paul, and of Apollos, and of Cephas. These are
they who say they are some of one and some of another--some of
Christ and some of John, and {99} some of Moses, and some of Elias,
and some of Esaias, and some of Isaiah, and some of Enoch; but
received not the gospel, neither the testimony of Jesus, neither
the prophets, neither the everlasting covenant."[18]

The three kingdoms of widely differing glories are organized on an orderly plan of gradation. We have seen that the telestial kingdom comprises several subdivisions; this also is the case, we are told, with the celestial;[19] and, by analogy, we conclude that a similar condition prevails in the terrestrial. Thus the innumerable degrees of merit amongst mankind are provided for in an infinity of graded glories. The celestial kingdom is supremely honored by the personal ministrations of the Father and the Son. The terrestrial kingdom will be administered through the higher, without a fulness of glory. The telestial is governed through the ministrations of the terrestrial, by "angels who are appointed to minister for them."[20]

Exaltation in the kingdom of God implies attainment to the graded orders of the Holy Priesthood, and with these the ceremonies of the endowment are directly associated.

_The Temple Endowment_, as administered in modern temples, comprises instruction relating to the significance and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the present as the greatest and grandest era in human history. This course of instruction includes a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their {100} disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned, the period of the great apostasy, the restoration of the Gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges, the absolute and indispensable condition of personal purity and devotion to the right in present life, and a strict compliance with Gospel requirements.

As will be shown, the temples erected by the Latter-day Saints provide for the giving of these instructions in separate rooms, each devoted to a particular part of the course; and by this provision it is possible to have several classes under instruction at one time.

The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King,--the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.

No jot, iota, or tittle of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and sanctifying. In every detail the endowment ceremony contributes to covenants of morality of life, consecration of person to high ideals, devotion to truth, patriotism to nation, and allegiance to God. The blessings of the House of the Lord are restricted to no {101} privileged class; every member of the Church may have admission to the temple with the right to participate in the ordinances thereof, if he comes duly accredited as of worthy life and conduct.

SEALING IN MARRIAGE

The Latter-day Saints regard the marriage ceremony performed exclusively within temple precincts, as the one and only perfect contract of matrimony.[21] They recognize the full legal validity and moral obligation of any marriage entered into under the secular law; but civil marriages and indeed all marriages made without the binding authority of the Holy Priesthood they regard as contracts for this life only, and therefore lacking the higher and superior elements of a complete and perpetual union. They hold that the family relationships of earth may be made lasting and binding beyond the veil of death. They say that under the perfect law operative in the celestial worlds, the earthly relation of husband and wife, parent and child, will endure in full force and effect, provided such relationship has been sealed on earth by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood. The ordinary rite of matrimony as established by secular law, and as prescribed by sectarian rule, unites the man and the woman for this world only; the higher law of marriage as divinely revealed joins the parties for time and eternity.

"Celestial Marriage" is a term in current use among the Latter-day Saints, though it does not occur in any revelation contained in the standard works of the Church. {102} The Church adopts and validates the scriptures of earlier dispensations with respect to marriage. It holds that marriage is honorable[22] and ordained of God.[23] Under the teachings of the Church, marriage is the duty of all who are not debarred by physical or other effective disability from assuming the responsibilities of the wedded state. The Latter-day Saints declare that part of the birthright of every worthy man is to stand at the head of a family as husband and father; and equally strong is the right of every worthy woman to be an honored wife and mother.

The Church denounces as false and pernicious the teachings of misled and morbid men who say that the union of the sexes is but a carnal necessity inherited by man as an incident of his degraded nature; and it repudiates the thought that celibacy is a superior condition more pleasing to God. Concerning such false teachers the Lord has spoken in this day:

"Whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is
ordained of God unto man * * * that the earth might answer the end
of its creation, and that it might be filled with the measure of
man, according to his creation before the world was made."[24]

The Latter-day Saints affirm that perfect marriage provides for the eternal relation of the sexes. With this people marriage is not merely a contract for time, effective only as long as the parties shall live on earth, but a solemn covenant of union which shall endure beyond the {103} grave. In the complete ceremony of marriage as ordained by the Church and as administered only within the temple halls, the man and the woman are placed under covenant of mutual fidelity, not until death do them part, but for time and for all eternity.

A contract as far-reaching as this, a covenant declared to be effective not only throughout the period of mortal life, but in the realm of the hereafter, of necessity requires for its validation an authority superior to any that man may originate. It is admitted without argument that men have the right to form among themselves associations and communities, to organize sects, parties, companies, churches, clubs, or any other union they may choose to create, provided, of course, such bodies are not inimical to law and order. It is further admitted that any established association of men may enact laws and ordain rules for the government of its members, provided the rights of individual liberty are not infringed thereby. Both church and state, therefore, may enact, prescribe, and ordain, lawful regulations as to marriage or as to any other form of contract; and such regulations are acknowledged to be of full effect within the domain of actual jurisdiction. Thus, marriages may be legally and properly authorized by states and nations, and the contracts of marriage so made are effective during the life of the parties thereto.

But, can it be said that any association of men may create and establish an authority that shall be effective after death? Can any power legislate beyond its lawful jurisdiction? Can a man sitting in his own home prescribe family rules for the household of his neighbor? Can our nation ordain laws that shall be valid in a foreign {104} realm? Can man enact laws to regulate the affairs of the Kingdom of God?

Only as God delegates authority to man, with the assurance that administration under that authority shall be acknowledged in heaven, can any contract be made on earth and be of assured effect after the death of the parties concerned. Authority to act in the name of the Lord is the distinguishing characteristic of the Holy Priesthood. As the Lord hath said:

"All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows,
performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that
are not made, and entered into, and sealed, by the Holy Spirit of
promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all
eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment
through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on
the earth to hold this power, * * * are of no efficacy, virtue
or force, in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all
contracts that are not made unto this end, have an end when men are
dead."[25]

In application of this principle to the covenants of matrimony, the revelation continues:

"Therefore, if a man marry him a wife in the world, and he marry
her not by me, nor by my word; and he covenant with her so long as
he is in the world, and she with him, their covenant and marriage
are not of force when they are dead, and when they are out of the
world; therefore, they are not bound by any law when they are out
of the world.

"Therefore, when they are out of the world, they neither marry, nor
are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which
angels are ministering servants, to minister {105} for those who
are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight
of glory;

"For these angels did not abide my law, therefore they cannot be
enlarged, but remain separately and singly, without exaltation, in
their saved condition, to all eternity, and from henceforth are not
gods, but are angels of God, for ever and ever."[26]

This system of holy matrimony, involving covenants for both time and eternity, is known distinctively as _Celestial Marriage_, and is understood to be the order of marriage that exists in the celestial worlds. This sacred ordinance is administered by the Church to those only who are adjudged to be of worthy life, fit to be admitted to the House of the Lord; for this holy rite, together with others of eternal validity, may be solemnized only within the temples reared and dedicated for such exalted service.[27] Children born to parents thus married under the celestial law are heirs to the Priesthood; "children of the covenant" they are called; no ordinance of adoption or sealing is required to give them place in the blessed posterity of promise.

The Church, however, sanctions and acknowledges legal marriages for time only, and indeed solemnizes such unions between parties who may not be admitted to the House of the Lord, or who voluntarily choose the lesser and temporal order of matrimony.

Within the temple and not elsewhere, are marriages solemnized for and in behalf of parties who are dead. Husbands and wives who have lived in mortality together and now are dead, may be sealed under the authority {106} of the Priesthood, provided, of course, the preliminary temple ordinances have been administered in their behalf. In the marriage rite for the dead as in other ordinances, the parties are represented by their living descendants acting in the capacity of proxy.

The ordinance of celestial marriage, whereby the contracting parties, whether living or dead, are united under the authority of the Holy Priesthood for time and eternity, is known distinctively as the ceremony of _Sealing in Marriage_. Husband and wife so united are said to be sealed, whereas if united under the lesser law for time only, either by secular or ecclesiastical authority, they are only married.

Husband and wife who have been married for time only, either by secular or ecclesiastical ceremony, may afterward be sealed for time and eternity, provided they have become members of the Church, and are adjudged worthy to enter the temple for this purpose; but no such confirmation of an existing union, nor any sealing of married persons is possible unless the parties furnish proof that they have been legally and lawfully married. No marriage of living persons is performed in any of the temples except under license duly issued as required by the laws of the state. The sealing ordinance extends to other associations than those of matrimony as will be shown.

The actuality of the sealing ordinance in marriage finds an illustration in the personal teachings of the Savior. On one occasion there came unto Him certain Sadducees,[28] and these, be it remembered, denied the possibility of the {107} resurrection of the dead. They sought to entrap Him by a difficult question. They thus stated their case:

"Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother
shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother.

"Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had
married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto
his brother:

"Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh.

"And last of all the woman died also.

"Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the
seven? for they all had her."

Note the sequel:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the
scriptures, nor the power of God.

"For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in
marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."

It is evident that in the resurrected state there could be no contest among the seven brothers as to whose wife the woman was,--for after death there was to be no marrying nor giving in marriage. The question of marriage between individuals was and is to be settled before that time. The woman would and could be the wife of but one in the eternal world, and that one the man to whom she was given by the authority of the Holy Priesthood on earth, as a consort for time and eternity. In short, the woman would be the wife of the man with whom she entered into covenant for eternity under the seal of Divine authority; and no contract or agreement for time only would be effective in the resurrection.

{108} This exposition seems to have been convincing; the multitude were astonished, and the Sadducees were silenced;[29] moreover some of the Scribes declared: "Master, thou hast well said."[30] Our Lord added what appears to have been a supplementary question, coupled with instruction of the greatest import:

"But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read
that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,

"I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."[31]

OTHER SEALING ORDINANCES

Children born outside celestial marriage, yet within legally established wedlock, are the lawful and legitimate heirs of their parents in all affairs of earth. They are the offspring of an earthly union that is in every respect a legal, moral, and proper relation under the laws of man. That these children will belong to their parents in the hereafter is as uncertain as that the parents will belong to each other. The parents have been but temporally and temporarily married, and the offspring are theirs for the period of their own contract only. Even as husband and wife though legally wedded under the secular law must be sealed by the authority of the Holy Priesthood if their union is to be valid in eternity, so must children who have been born to parents married for time only be sealed to their parents after father and {109} mother have been sealed to each other in the order of celestial marriage.

The Church affirms the eternal perpetuity of all family relationships existing on earth under the seal and authority of the Priesthood; and declares that none other relationship will be binding after death. The offspring of parents not joined in celestial marriage are thus sealed to or adopted by their parents as members of the family organization which shall endure through eternity; thus, husbands and wives who are dead are married or sealed to each other by proxy ministration, and their children are similarly sealed to them in the family relationship.

It will be seen, therefore, that the vicarious labor of the living for the dead, as performed in the temples of the present day, comprises more than baptism and confirmation. The work is completed on earth only when the parties, in the persons of their living representatives, have been baptized, confirmed, endowed, and sealed both in the relationship of husband and wife as once existent and in the family union of parents and children.

FOOTNOTES

1. For a concise treatment of Infant Baptism, see the author's "The Articles of Faith," Lecture VI, 13-17; and for treatment of Baptism for the Dead, see Lecture VII, 18-33.

2. Acts 10:42; II Tim. 4:1; I Peter 4:5.

3. Rom. 14:9.

4. Luke 20:36, 38.

5. Doctrine and Covenants 19:10-12.

6. I Peter 4:6.

7. I Cor. chap. 15; see specifically verse 29.

8. This passage has been the subject of much controversy. Dr. Adam Clarke, in his masterly Commentary of the Scriptures, says: "This is certainly the most difficult verse in the New Testament; for, notwithstanding the greatest and wisest men have labored to explain it, there are to this day nearly as many different interpretations of it as there are interpreters." Yet, notwithstanding its enigmatic meaning, this passage of scripture is part of the prescribed burial service in the Episcopal Church, and is duly spoken by the priest at every funeral. But wherein lies the difficulty of comprehension? The passage is of plain import, and only when we attempt to make it figurative do difficulties arise. It is plain that in Paul's day the ordinance of baptism for the dead was both understood and practised, and the apostle's argument in support of the doctrine of a literal resurrection is sound: If the dead rise not at all, why then are they baptized for the dead?

9. Read Doctrine and Covenants 128:12, 13.

10. I Cor. 11:11.

11. See the author's "The Articles of Faith," Lectures IV and XII, portions of which are included in the present treatment.

12. John 14:1-3.

13. I Cor. 15:40-42.

14. Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 76.

15. Doctrine and Covenants 76:51-70.

16. Doctrine and Covenants 76:71-79.

17. Doctrine and Covenants 76:81-86.

18. Doctrine and Covenants 76:98-101.

19. Doctrine and Covenants 131:1; see also II Cor. 12:1-4.

20. See Doctrine and Covenants 76:86-88.

21. See the author's treatment of "Marriage" in "The Articles of Faith," Lecture XXIV, pp. 455-460.

22. Heb. 13:4.

23. Gen. 2:18, 24; 1:27; 5:2; 9:1, 7; Lev. 26:9.

24. Doctrine and Covenants, 49:15-17.

25. Doctrine and Covenants 132:7.

26. Doctrine and Covenants 132:15-17.

27. Doctrine and Covenants 124:30-34.

28. See Matt. 22:23-33; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-40.

29. Matt. 22:33, 34.

30. Luke 20:39.

31. Matt. 22:31, 32.