Читать книгу Origin of the 'Reorganized' Church and the Question of Succession - Joseph Fielding Smith - Страница 13

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I have now shown that the Temple was completed; that the Saints were diligent in their labors, and they were also hindered by their enemies. I now reaffirm what has previously been said; that it made no difference, so far as the Church and its authority is concerned, even if the Temple had not been completed, or finished, in the technical sense of that word. Some of the embellishments, the ornamentations and fixtures, may not have been placed in the building according to the original intention, and in that technical sense the building may not have been "finished completely." But if so, what difference would it make? The Lord, thank heaven, is not as technical and peevish as men are, or woe be unto all of us. The revelation does not say that the Church would be rejected with its dead if every identical board and plank or fixture was not in the building according to the original design. The thing the revelation does require is that a place be prepared, or built, where the Lord could reveal the Priesthood and its ordinances which had been taken away or that had not been restored. And, too, if the temporary floors had not been replaced by the permanent floors, the Lord could and would have revealed Himself to the Saints and would have accepted of their offering. Now let's see just what the revelation does say about this matter. Beginning at verse 25.

"25. And again, verily I say unto you, let all my Saints come from afar;

26. And send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them; come ye, with all your gold, and your silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities; and with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come, and bring the box tree, and the fir tree, and the pine tree, together with all the precious trees of the earth;

27. And with iron, with copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and with all your precious things of the earth, and build a house to my name, for the most High to dwell therein;

28. For there is not a place found on earth that he may come and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulnesss of the Priesthood;

29. For a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my Saints, may be baptized for those who are dead;

30. For this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me.

31. But I command you, all ye my Saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me, and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me.

32. But behold, at the end of this appointment, your baptisms for your dead shall not be acceptable unto me; and if you do not these things at the end of the appointment, ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God.

33. For verily I say unto you, that after you have had sufficient time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing for the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead cannot be acceptable unto me.

34. For therein (that is in Temples) are the keys of the Holy Priesthood ordained that you may receive honor and glory.

35. And after this time, your baptisms for the dead, by those who are scattered abroad, are not acceptable unto me, saith the Lord.

36. For it is ordained that in Zion, and in her stakes, and in Jerusalem, those places which I have appointed for refuge, shall be the places for your baptisms for your dead.

37. And again, verily I say unto you, How shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name?

38. For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was;

39. Therefore, verily I say unto you, that your anointings and your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn assemblies, and your memorials for your sacrifices, by the sons of Levi, and for your oracles in your most holy places, wherein you receive conversations, and your statutes and judgments, for the beginning of the revelation and foundation of Zion, and for the glory, honor, and endowment of all her municipals, are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house, which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name."

I have read quite extensively from this revelation, now let us examine and see just what is meant. At the time this revelation was given the Saints were baptizing in the Mississippi river for their dead, this was a special privilege that the Lord granted them in their poverty and while they could prepare a place in the Temple for that ordinance. He declares that while that place was being built He would accept of their baptisms in the river, but just as soon as a place could be prepared in the Temple baptisms for the dead in the river should cease. Now you will notice that verse 31 reads:

"But I command you, all ye my Saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me."

Now I wish you to note what follows:

"And during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me."

I take it that this means that the Lord would accept of their baptisms in the river until they could prepare a place where the ordinance could be attended to properly, and that He would not discontinue river baptisms until they had had sufficient time to build such a place. I want to read what the president of the "Reorganized" Church has to say on this point. Said he:

"Baptisms for the dead was a permissive rite."

Of course I do not agree with him that it was a permissive rite, but to continue the quotation:

"Baptism for the dead was a permissive rite; or to write more plainly, the Church was permitted by the Lord to baptize for the dead under certain rules."

Here is the rule:

"By terms stated in the revelation this permissive rite could be performed and would be acceptable if performed in the river while the time given the Church in which the Temple should be built was passing. After the completion of the Temple, baptisms for the dead were to be performed in it." (Saints' Herald, February 17, 1904).

We are certainly safe in saying that the Lord would not break His promise, therefore if we can discover a time when baptisms were discontinued in the river it will be a sign that the sufficient time had expired, so far as baptisms in the river for the dead were concerned. I turn to the minutes of the October conference, 1841, and read from the remarks on baptism for the dead delivered by the Prophet on the third day as follows:

"There shall be no more baptisms for the dead until the ordinance can be attended to in the font of the Lord's house; and the Church shall not hold another general conference, until they can meet in said house. For thus saith the Lord!" (Times and Seasons, Vol. II., page 578).

Remember this was in October, 1841—six months after the first stone of the Temple was laid. Was the Temple finished? No. Was the Church then rejected with its dead? Verily no! for this was 1841, and I have already referred you to the editorial of the Prophet's of May, 1842, wherein he says that never since the formation, or foundation, of the Church was laid, have the Saints been so willing to comply with the requisitions of Jehovah, and manifested a more ardent desire to do the will of God, than in the building of that Temple. Therefore they could not have been rejected. Yet the sufficient time was up.^[13] What must we then conclude? That the Temple had progressed so far that baptisms could be performed in it for the dead in accordance with the revelation, and it did not depend altogether, you will see, on the complete finishing of the building; and as the rooms were finished one by one and dedicated, they too, could be used for the ordinances of the Temple until the whole Temple was built.

Are we right in our conclusion that a font had been built? Yes, a temporary font had been built in the basement of the Temple—a temporary one—but obviously one that answered the requirements of the revelation. Moreover, in this temporary font, which was used by the command of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith, baptisms for the dead were performed from November, 1841, until it was replaced by the permanent font, and then these baptisms continued in that until the Saints were driven from Nauvoo.