XIX
THE TEMPLE
1.
Legends of secrecy about the Mormon temples are the products of superstitious minds that seek to invest with weird or occult characteristics anything which they fear or cannot understand. There are no Mormon temple secrets. The nearest thing to secret rites that transpires within a temple is the bestowing of endowments upon qualified adult members of the church. When he takes his endowments, the church member enters into an agreement or contract with God for the fulfillment of his duties in return for the rewards of the kingdom of God. At that time, God's great plan of salvation is explained to the church member. Except for a matter of revelation that might pertain to that particular church member, there is very little imparted at the time of the giving of endowments that cannot be gleaned or deduced from Mormon writings and from knowing Mormon people.
The temples are sacred, however, and are the Latter-day Saint holy of holies where a man or a woman after demonstrating fitness by living a clean and wholesome life, may enter, to be in a place especially set apart and dedicated for communion with God. The basic idea underlying the construction, dedication and use of temples of worship is not a new one, nor peculiar to the Mormons. The Old Testament is full of references to the ancient Hebrew Holy of Holies, into which only qualified priests could enter to commune with God.
Mormons today have eight temples, which are located at Salt Lake City, Logan, Manti and St. George in Utah; Mesa, Arizona; Cardston, Alberta, Canada; Laie, Hawaii; and Idaho Falls, Idaho. A ninth temple has been proposed for southern California. A perspective drawing of it hangs on the walls of the church office building at Salt Lake City. Its construction probably will get under way during the next decade.
There are a few basic ordinances which Mormon law says must be performed in temples. These are three: bestowal of endowments, marriage for eternity and baptism for the dead.
The complete list of functions of the temple is set out in Section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which reads, in part: (God is speaking in command to His people): "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.
"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 revelations 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."
Parley P. Pratt, one of the most eloquent preachers in history and a missionary partner of Brigham Young, explained the purpose of the Mormon temples in these words: "The Lord has ordained that all the most holy things pertaining to the salvation of the dead, and all the most holy conversations and correspondence with God, angels, and spirits, shall be had only in the sanctuary of His Holy Temple on earth, when prepared for that purpose by His Saints; and shall be received and administered by those who are ordained and sealed unto this power, to hold the keys of the sacred oracles of God."
As holder of the keys to the sealing power, which is the authority of the Mormon priesthood for performing rites that are binding in all eternity, the president of the church directly supervises all temples. He may delegate the sealing power, however.
Temples are administered by a temple president, who has two counselors and a corps of workers big enough to perform all necessary work. All male ordinance workers at the temples usually are ordained to the office of high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood. An astounding amount of "temple work" is done by Mormons.
Mormondom is roughly divided into temple districts. The saints are encouraged to go to the temples within their districts, both to minimize for themselves the travel costs of the pilgrimage, and to permit a more orderly flow of traffic through the holy places. The temple at Laie, Hawaii, serves the least populous district of Mormondom. More of the devout are cared for by the Salt Lake City temple than by any other. The international character of Mormonism is illustrated by the fact that church members in the northwestern part of the United States, including Washington, Oregon and Montana, are encouraged to do their temple work at Cardston, Alberta. To a group of people who are setting out to chart a course through eternity, a mere international boundary is nothing!
The temples are sacred, however, and are the Latter-day Saint holy of holies where a man or a woman after demonstrating fitness by living a clean and wholesome life, may enter, to be in a place especially set apart and dedicated for communion with God. The basic idea underlying the construction, dedication and use of temples of worship is not a new one, nor peculiar to the Mormons. The Old Testament is full of references to the ancient Hebrew Holy of Holies, into which only qualified priests could enter to commune with God.
Mormons today have eight temples, which are located at Salt Lake City, Logan, Manti and St. George in Utah; Mesa, Arizona; Cardston, Alberta, Canada; Laie, Hawaii; and Idaho Falls, Idaho. A ninth temple has been proposed for southern California. A perspective drawing of it hangs on the walls of the church office building at Salt Lake City. Its construction probably will get under way during the next decade.
There are a few basic ordinances which Mormon law says must be performed in temples. These are three: bestowal of endowments, marriage for eternity and baptism for the dead.
The complete list of functions of the temple is set out in Section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants, which reads, in part: (God is speaking in command to His people): "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.
"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 revelations 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."
Parley P. Pratt, one of the most eloquent preachers in history and a missionary partner of Brigham Young, explained the purpose of the Mormon temples in these words: "The Lord has ordained that all the most holy things pertaining to the salvation of the dead, and all the most holy conversations and correspondence with God, angels, and spirits, shall be had only in the sanctuary of His Holy Temple on earth, when prepared for that purpose by His Saints; and shall be received and administered by those who are ordained and sealed unto this power, to hold the keys of the sacred oracles of God."
As holder of the keys to the sealing power, which is the authority of the Mormon priesthood for performing rites that are binding in all eternity, the president of the church directly supervises all temples. He may delegate the sealing power, however.
Temples are administered by a temple president, who has two counselors and a corps of workers big enough to perform all necessary work. All male ordinance workers at the temples usually are ordained to the office of high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood. An astounding amount of "temple work" is done by Mormons.
Mormondom is roughly divided into temple districts. The saints are encouraged to go to the temples within their districts, both to minimize for themselves the travel costs of the pilgrimage, and to permit a more orderly flow of traffic through the holy places. The temple at Laie, Hawaii, serves the least populous district of Mormondom. More of the devout are cared for by the Salt Lake City temple than by any other. The international character of Mormonism is illustrated by the fact that church members in the northwestern part of the United States, including Washington, Oregon and Montana, are encouraged to do their temple work at Cardston, Alberta. To a group of people who are setting out to chart a course through eternity, a mere international boundary is nothing!
2.
In the seventh year of my life, my mother took me to the funeral of her grandmother, who was being buried in a Little Rock, Arkansas, cemetery. All our family gathered. Living to an advanced age, my great-grandmother had been the one influence that had held together a numerous progeny that had forsaken the simple Methodist faith that she and her husband had brought over from England.
Standing beside her open grave, a crippled old veteran of the Civil War, who had been the lifelong friend of my great-grandmother and her husband, lifted up his weary old voice in a solo.
"In the sweet bye-and-bye," he sang, "We shall meet on that beautiful shore." In the words of this old camp-meeting hymn, sung at the grave, was to be found the assurance, held and often reaffirmed by all Christian peoples, that we can look forward with hope to an eternal life "On that beautiful shore."
Standing beside her open grave, a crippled old veteran of the Civil War, who had been the lifelong friend of my great-grandmother and her husband, lifted up his weary old voice in a solo.
"In the sweet bye-and-bye," he sang, "We shall meet on that beautiful shore." In the words of this old camp-meeting hymn, sung at the grave, was to be found the assurance, held and often reaffirmed by all Christian peoples, that we can look forward with hope to an eternal life "On that beautiful shore."
* * * * *
But what will that life be like?
At this point, where most churches wander off into ambiguity, or into discussions of paradise, gehenna, purgatory, Valhalla, not to mention just plain common old Hell, the Mormons advance a belief so beautiful, so philosophically satisfying, and so complete, as to sweep all other beliefs about the hereafter before it as being but poor ineffectual attempts to fathom the greatness of God's plan for eternity.
Mormons believe that life on earth is but a testing ground in which man can prove his worth to greater or less glory in the life herafter. It is a field in which he may exercise and develop his spiritual, physical and intellectual talents, if he will, that he might continuously advance to glory after glory and eventually become like God himself.
While they believe in eternal punishment for the unsaved, the Latter-day Saints have almost completely abolished the terrifying, Reformation style Hell. They have made the desired state of future life appear so glorious that merely to be deprived of it could be punishment enough for anybody. For this, I could have been very grateful to them, had I known about it when I was ten to fourteen years old, and listening to the awful depictions of a Calvinistic hell, where the damned writhed in torment that had no equal in its varieties of hideousness, and no end to its existence. At that age in my life, a healthy Mormon philosophy could have saved me many nightmares. And here is a main point of difference between Protestantism and Mormonism - Protestantism seeks to scare a person into being good by holding out the certainty of everlasting punishment for doing otherwise, whereas, Mormonism encourages a person to be good because to do so is not only pleasing to God, but a definite progressive step toward becoming like God.
Mormons don't grovel before God, prating their unworthiness and imploring mercy. They are not slaves! They are men, made in the image of God! They proudly stand, hold their heads high, and put out their hands to shake that of God in greeting, as any worthy son would be expected to respectfully but proudly stand before a wise and good father.
The Mormons say that all living things have existed with God in the spiritual world since the beginning of existence itself. It is part of God's plan that those who now live in the spiritual world are to be born onto this earth and given a chance to prove themselves worthy to enjoy the fullness of future life after this earth.
Of course, a soul may choose to forego the trip to earth, because all of God's plan of salvation may be accepted or rejected at any time, in the full ability of man to exercise his free will. There are, no doubt, mossbacks in the celestial world, also, who prefer to enjoy the limited boundaries of their present existence, rather than take a chance on something new and untried!
When a soul decides to be born in a body on earth, he agrees with God that all memory of his previous state of existence shall be taken away from him. That this memory is not always completely removed is attested to from time to time by occasional people who have spiritual conviction that they have known another person, or a particular set of circumstances, in some previous existence. This idea has cropped out in literature so often as to warrant the assumption that it has some basis in fact. This is one of the many points at which Mormonism rubs shoulders with spiritualism.
When they were in the spirit world, the souls of men met the conditions and performed the duties that permitted them to come to earth and obtain a body. Likewise, when a person is upon this earth, he has the chance to accept or reject the Restored Gospel, which is the principle condition that, if met, permits him to move forward into the marvelous glories that eternity holds out for him. Maybe he lives all his life on earth and dies without ever having heard about Joseph Smith and the last dispensation from God. Or, maybe he hears about it but dies before he has an opportunity to fully make up his mind. What happens to him? His body dies, but his soul passes on, in the words of Jesus, to reside with "The souls in prison," until some one comes along on the earth who thinks enough of him to "bail him out" by being baptized for him by proxy in the temple.
I hope I have been able to explain to you the principle that underlies the Mormon practice of baptism for the dead.
To Mormons, almost no one is damned forever, whether he is the little child which the Bible Belt preacher says is destined to eternal hellfire and brimstone because its parents neglected to have it baptized, or whether he is a hardened criminal who died on the gallows six or a dozen centuries ago. However, curses have been placed upon men and their decendants, in some instances for many generations and many centuries, for wanton crimes against the Holy Ghost. For, to Mormons, the most precious of all things on earth is human life in any of its stages, from the moment of conception in the womb until the last breath is drawn on earth, and on after that, forever.
The final results of the work of faithful spreaders of the gospel on this earth are attained when all persons ever born, from the latest babe back to Father Adam, have been baptized into the gospel, either in person or in proxy, and have been given a chance, or even many chances, to accept the next step for advancement in God's plan.
While a baptism performed by proxy in the temple by a member of the Mormon priesthood is a binding and effective contract between God and the person in whose name the baptism is performed, it becomes effective only if the latter accepts it. By going to the temple and being baptized in proxy for Great-great-grandfather Blackthorn who died an unrepentant sinner, I cannot thereby FORCE him to accept the gospel if he still is as unrepentant as he was when he stopped breathing on this earth.
This baptism for the dead is not an idea peculiar to the Mormons, although no other body of believers has ever practiced it so diligently. In the early history of the universal Christian church, before the council of Nicea, the rite of baptism for the dead was a regular practice among several groups of Christians. At no time in all history, however, does the philosophy appear to have been so fully developed as in Mormonism. The Mormons claim that their authority in this matter is derived from a direct revelation given to them in a visitation by the prophet Elijah.
Christian people who have formed the habit of referring to their Bibles for guidance in moral and religious matters, a habit that appears to be rapidly dying out with the decay of Protestantism in this century, will be interested to know that the Mormons base their belief in the efficacy of baptism for the dead, also, upon the example of Christ himself, who, according to his own words, spent the three days between his death and resurrection in preaching to the spirits in prison.
Another authority quoted to support this Mormon doctrine also can be found in every family Bible. It is Saint Paul, who speaks of the matter in the twenty-ninth, forty-sixth and forty-eighth verses of I Corinthians. The twenty-ninth verse, written by Paul himself, reads, "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?"
Mormons believe literally that they have a divine commission to carry the Restored Gospel to all persons, all families, all tribes, all nations, throughout ALL AGES.
At this point, where most churches wander off into ambiguity, or into discussions of paradise, gehenna, purgatory, Valhalla, not to mention just plain common old Hell, the Mormons advance a belief so beautiful, so philosophically satisfying, and so complete, as to sweep all other beliefs about the hereafter before it as being but poor ineffectual attempts to fathom the greatness of God's plan for eternity.
Mormons believe that life on earth is but a testing ground in which man can prove his worth to greater or less glory in the life herafter. It is a field in which he may exercise and develop his spiritual, physical and intellectual talents, if he will, that he might continuously advance to glory after glory and eventually become like God himself.
While they believe in eternal punishment for the unsaved, the Latter-day Saints have almost completely abolished the terrifying, Reformation style Hell. They have made the desired state of future life appear so glorious that merely to be deprived of it could be punishment enough for anybody. For this, I could have been very grateful to them, had I known about it when I was ten to fourteen years old, and listening to the awful depictions of a Calvinistic hell, where the damned writhed in torment that had no equal in its varieties of hideousness, and no end to its existence. At that age in my life, a healthy Mormon philosophy could have saved me many nightmares. And here is a main point of difference between Protestantism and Mormonism - Protestantism seeks to scare a person into being good by holding out the certainty of everlasting punishment for doing otherwise, whereas, Mormonism encourages a person to be good because to do so is not only pleasing to God, but a definite progressive step toward becoming like God.
Mormons don't grovel before God, prating their unworthiness and imploring mercy. They are not slaves! They are men, made in the image of God! They proudly stand, hold their heads high, and put out their hands to shake that of God in greeting, as any worthy son would be expected to respectfully but proudly stand before a wise and good father.
The Mormons say that all living things have existed with God in the spiritual world since the beginning of existence itself. It is part of God's plan that those who now live in the spiritual world are to be born onto this earth and given a chance to prove themselves worthy to enjoy the fullness of future life after this earth.
Of course, a soul may choose to forego the trip to earth, because all of God's plan of salvation may be accepted or rejected at any time, in the full ability of man to exercise his free will. There are, no doubt, mossbacks in the celestial world, also, who prefer to enjoy the limited boundaries of their present existence, rather than take a chance on something new and untried!
When a soul decides to be born in a body on earth, he agrees with God that all memory of his previous state of existence shall be taken away from him. That this memory is not always completely removed is attested to from time to time by occasional people who have spiritual conviction that they have known another person, or a particular set of circumstances, in some previous existence. This idea has cropped out in literature so often as to warrant the assumption that it has some basis in fact. This is one of the many points at which Mormonism rubs shoulders with spiritualism.
When they were in the spirit world, the souls of men met the conditions and performed the duties that permitted them to come to earth and obtain a body. Likewise, when a person is upon this earth, he has the chance to accept or reject the Restored Gospel, which is the principle condition that, if met, permits him to move forward into the marvelous glories that eternity holds out for him. Maybe he lives all his life on earth and dies without ever having heard about Joseph Smith and the last dispensation from God. Or, maybe he hears about it but dies before he has an opportunity to fully make up his mind. What happens to him? His body dies, but his soul passes on, in the words of Jesus, to reside with "The souls in prison," until some one comes along on the earth who thinks enough of him to "bail him out" by being baptized for him by proxy in the temple.
I hope I have been able to explain to you the principle that underlies the Mormon practice of baptism for the dead.
To Mormons, almost no one is damned forever, whether he is the little child which the Bible Belt preacher says is destined to eternal hellfire and brimstone because its parents neglected to have it baptized, or whether he is a hardened criminal who died on the gallows six or a dozen centuries ago. However, curses have been placed upon men and their decendants, in some instances for many generations and many centuries, for wanton crimes against the Holy Ghost. For, to Mormons, the most precious of all things on earth is human life in any of its stages, from the moment of conception in the womb until the last breath is drawn on earth, and on after that, forever.
The final results of the work of faithful spreaders of the gospel on this earth are attained when all persons ever born, from the latest babe back to Father Adam, have been baptized into the gospel, either in person or in proxy, and have been given a chance, or even many chances, to accept the next step for advancement in God's plan.
While a baptism performed by proxy in the temple by a member of the Mormon priesthood is a binding and effective contract between God and the person in whose name the baptism is performed, it becomes effective only if the latter accepts it. By going to the temple and being baptized in proxy for Great-great-grandfather Blackthorn who died an unrepentant sinner, I cannot thereby FORCE him to accept the gospel if he still is as unrepentant as he was when he stopped breathing on this earth.
This baptism for the dead is not an idea peculiar to the Mormons, although no other body of believers has ever practiced it so diligently. In the early history of the universal Christian church, before the council of Nicea, the rite of baptism for the dead was a regular practice among several groups of Christians. At no time in all history, however, does the philosophy appear to have been so fully developed as in Mormonism. The Mormons claim that their authority in this matter is derived from a direct revelation given to them in a visitation by the prophet Elijah.
Christian people who have formed the habit of referring to their Bibles for guidance in moral and religious matters, a habit that appears to be rapidly dying out with the decay of Protestantism in this century, will be interested to know that the Mormons base their belief in the efficacy of baptism for the dead, also, upon the example of Christ himself, who, according to his own words, spent the three days between his death and resurrection in preaching to the spirits in prison.
Another authority quoted to support this Mormon doctrine also can be found in every family Bible. It is Saint Paul, who speaks of the matter in the twenty-ninth, forty-sixth and forty-eighth verses of I Corinthians. The twenty-ninth verse, written by Paul himself, reads, "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?"
Mormons believe literally that they have a divine commission to carry the Restored Gospel to all persons, all families, all tribes, all nations, throughout ALL AGES.
3.
To Mormons, the idea of the resurrection of the body is not merely a phrase in a creed. It is a very real thing. If God has body, parts and passions, and if it is possible for man, in continual progress through the ages, to become like God, then the human being in the life hereafter will also possess body, parts and passions, and be physically capable of continuing all earthly associations forever.
A Mormon literally believes that when he dies he is "going to meet his ancestors," that he will have the opportunity to shake hands with Father Abraham, discuss with Mother Eve the comparative flavors of fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden, and even ask Jesus himself for a personal demonstration of how he cast out devils and cured illnesses of the body while he was on earth.
All the people of heaven will be organized into huge family groups, or tribes, with even the person who was last born on earth able to recognize and personally associate with his forebears all the way back to Adam. Thus it can be seen how literal are the Mormons in their belief that all humanity is one family, that all the nations of the world are in truth brothers, but merely descendants of different branches of the family and identified with different tribal units of the same essential blood strain.
This ultimate assembly of the clans in heaven, however, will only come to pass when the conditions for reaching it have been complied with on earth. It is part of God's plan that everyone who is to enjoy eternal life must be baptized in a ceremony performed on earth, and that every marriage that is to endure through eternity must be sealed in a ceremony performed on earth.
Therefore, it is the duty of those who are living to seek out the identities of all their family who have preceded them, and to perform in the temples these necessary baptisms and sealings. In this respect, the Mormons are members of a great priestly tribe that has been ordained by God to do all the preliminary work, the ground-breaking, the foundation-laying, the preparation of people, things and events for that great day in the future when all tribes, and all nations, shall go up to the temples of Zion and of Jerusalem to receive their washings, anointings and endowments.
It is with this general picture as a background that the Mormons quite naturally conceive of the human family as being a patriarchal entity established by God himself that, in its broader aspects, is greater than all communities, all tribes, all nations, all empires. As an interesting sidelight on one of the classic points of friction between Mormons and anti-Mormons, it is not difficult for even the straightest of Calvinists to see the logic behind the early-day sanction of polygamy. If a man of the Nineteenth century were to enter heaven and, as it were, become a contemporary of King Solomon and sit down with Cousin Sol and his many wives, why must the man of the Nineteenth century have only one wife? They are all part and parcel of the same great patriarchal order, operating under the same law, which was laid out by God himself.
It can be seen that Mormons mean a different thing when they speak of the "salvation of mankind" than to Protestants who speak of being "saved." To Mormons, the saving of mankind is to guide all people safely to the security, beauty, everlasting joy of the permanent glorified family reunion in heaven.
The number of people who are yet to be born on this earth is already determined by God. These people now live with God in the spirit world. In order to take their part in the Lord's grand plan of salvation, they must be born of woman on earth and live out their alloted span of years in the possession of a human body. They are denied their chance of eternal happiness until some woman on the earth is willing to undergo the necessary pain to give them birth. To Mormons, then, the institution of motherhood assumes an opportunity for woman to participate in God's plan for the ages. With the men, possessors of the priesthood, lie the opportunity and responsibility for seeking out and baptizing the foregoing generations into the gospel. But all the thousands of generations yet to come onto the earth are eagerly waiting their turn to accept the path to eternal glory that can be had in no other way than through the sacrifice and suffering of a woman. This, surely, is no petty view to take of motherhood!
Fundamental in the Mormon philosophy is the idea of the necessity for orderliness and organization. Chaos and disorganization are of hell, and lead to disintegration and destruction. Organization and progress are of God, and lead forward to the acquisition of security, intelligence, and a glorified existence. God has ordained a time and a place for everyone and everything, and it remains with man to accept this plan, and fit his talents properly into the course of progress, or to reject it and thereby delay the arrival of eventual glory.
A Mormon literally believes that when he dies he is "going to meet his ancestors," that he will have the opportunity to shake hands with Father Abraham, discuss with Mother Eve the comparative flavors of fruit that grew in the Garden of Eden, and even ask Jesus himself for a personal demonstration of how he cast out devils and cured illnesses of the body while he was on earth.
All the people of heaven will be organized into huge family groups, or tribes, with even the person who was last born on earth able to recognize and personally associate with his forebears all the way back to Adam. Thus it can be seen how literal are the Mormons in their belief that all humanity is one family, that all the nations of the world are in truth brothers, but merely descendants of different branches of the family and identified with different tribal units of the same essential blood strain.
This ultimate assembly of the clans in heaven, however, will only come to pass when the conditions for reaching it have been complied with on earth. It is part of God's plan that everyone who is to enjoy eternal life must be baptized in a ceremony performed on earth, and that every marriage that is to endure through eternity must be sealed in a ceremony performed on earth.
Therefore, it is the duty of those who are living to seek out the identities of all their family who have preceded them, and to perform in the temples these necessary baptisms and sealings. In this respect, the Mormons are members of a great priestly tribe that has been ordained by God to do all the preliminary work, the ground-breaking, the foundation-laying, the preparation of people, things and events for that great day in the future when all tribes, and all nations, shall go up to the temples of Zion and of Jerusalem to receive their washings, anointings and endowments.
It is with this general picture as a background that the Mormons quite naturally conceive of the human family as being a patriarchal entity established by God himself that, in its broader aspects, is greater than all communities, all tribes, all nations, all empires. As an interesting sidelight on one of the classic points of friction between Mormons and anti-Mormons, it is not difficult for even the straightest of Calvinists to see the logic behind the early-day sanction of polygamy. If a man of the Nineteenth century were to enter heaven and, as it were, become a contemporary of King Solomon and sit down with Cousin Sol and his many wives, why must the man of the Nineteenth century have only one wife? They are all part and parcel of the same great patriarchal order, operating under the same law, which was laid out by God himself.
It can be seen that Mormons mean a different thing when they speak of the "salvation of mankind" than to Protestants who speak of being "saved." To Mormons, the saving of mankind is to guide all people safely to the security, beauty, everlasting joy of the permanent glorified family reunion in heaven.
The number of people who are yet to be born on this earth is already determined by God. These people now live with God in the spirit world. In order to take their part in the Lord's grand plan of salvation, they must be born of woman on earth and live out their alloted span of years in the possession of a human body. They are denied their chance of eternal happiness until some woman on the earth is willing to undergo the necessary pain to give them birth. To Mormons, then, the institution of motherhood assumes an opportunity for woman to participate in God's plan for the ages. With the men, possessors of the priesthood, lie the opportunity and responsibility for seeking out and baptizing the foregoing generations into the gospel. But all the thousands of generations yet to come onto the earth are eagerly waiting their turn to accept the path to eternal glory that can be had in no other way than through the sacrifice and suffering of a woman. This, surely, is no petty view to take of motherhood!
Fundamental in the Mormon philosophy is the idea of the necessity for orderliness and organization. Chaos and disorganization are of hell, and lead to disintegration and destruction. Organization and progress are of God, and lead forward to the acquisition of security, intelligence, and a glorified existence. God has ordained a time and a place for everyone and everything, and it remains with man to accept this plan, and fit his talents properly into the course of progress, or to reject it and thereby delay the arrival of eventual glory.
4.
Mormons go about their temple work of baptizing and sealing for the generations that have already lived upon the earth in an orderly manner.
The study of genealogy has developed into a science in which Mormons easily lead the world. While the study of genealogy and the temple work connected with it are primarily the preoccupation of the older members of the Mormon commmunity, this probably is true only because it is the older members who, as a class, have more leisure than others to pursue this fascinating type of exploration.
A body of competent, trained and certified genealogical workers has accumulated around each Mormon temple, and Mormondom has the fastest-growing genealogical libraries to be found anywhere, although some of the eastern libraries are perhaps more complete.
Missionaries, who often are sent to duty in the countries from which their forebears migrated, have aided the growth of these libraries by sending back records of births, deaths, marriages and other facts of family history from all parts of the earth.
If you have a distant relative who is a Mormon, it is very likely that he possesses a record of your family for many generations back beyond the common ancestor that you share with him.
Church leaders have assembled every verifiable fact or practice known to genealogists, have organized all this material into a workable science, and have produced textbooks from which regular classes are taught throughout the church. Genealogy classes are held by the priesthood, by Relief Society, in Sunday school, and in the Mutual Improvement Association.
Many families who can afford to do so, but have little time themselves to devote to the work, hire genealogists to perform researches in order to secure for them the identities of ancestors.
Baptism for the dead is not performed on a hit-or-miss basis. The name of the dead person must be verified. His birth, death and family relationship to the person requesting baptism for him are all recorded in books of the temple, after careful genealogical research has developed all pertinent facts.
To prevent a duplication of effort, a central index file of all persons so baptized is kept in Salt Lake City. In 1939, it was reported that this file at that time contained more than eight million names, and had by then become what was believed to be the greatest of all genalogical indexes.
Some Mormons have compiled genealogical records of their families back for many generations, and as a community, the Mormons, more than any other group of people anywhere, are aware of the exploits, foibles and conquests of their predecessors in the blood line.
Since 1894, the Genealogical Society of Utah has functioned under the direction of the president of the church as a central power to assist in obtaining the vital information necessary for carrying on temple work. This society is incorporated. It is headed by a president, who is assisted by a seven-man board of directors, a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer and a librarian. Honorary memberships are granted to general authorities of the church, temple presidents and recorders, and to the church historian. Life memberships cost ten dollars and annual membership costs one dollar. The society occupies the Joseph F. Smith Memorial building opposite Temple Square, in Salt Lake City. Its official organ is the Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine.
On the stake and ward levels, genealogical work is coordinated by a unit of the priesthood set up for that purpose.
Next: Polygamy
The study of genealogy has developed into a science in which Mormons easily lead the world. While the study of genealogy and the temple work connected with it are primarily the preoccupation of the older members of the Mormon commmunity, this probably is true only because it is the older members who, as a class, have more leisure than others to pursue this fascinating type of exploration.
A body of competent, trained and certified genealogical workers has accumulated around each Mormon temple, and Mormondom has the fastest-growing genealogical libraries to be found anywhere, although some of the eastern libraries are perhaps more complete.
Missionaries, who often are sent to duty in the countries from which their forebears migrated, have aided the growth of these libraries by sending back records of births, deaths, marriages and other facts of family history from all parts of the earth.
If you have a distant relative who is a Mormon, it is very likely that he possesses a record of your family for many generations back beyond the common ancestor that you share with him.
Church leaders have assembled every verifiable fact or practice known to genealogists, have organized all this material into a workable science, and have produced textbooks from which regular classes are taught throughout the church. Genealogy classes are held by the priesthood, by Relief Society, in Sunday school, and in the Mutual Improvement Association.
Many families who can afford to do so, but have little time themselves to devote to the work, hire genealogists to perform researches in order to secure for them the identities of ancestors.
Baptism for the dead is not performed on a hit-or-miss basis. The name of the dead person must be verified. His birth, death and family relationship to the person requesting baptism for him are all recorded in books of the temple, after careful genealogical research has developed all pertinent facts.
To prevent a duplication of effort, a central index file of all persons so baptized is kept in Salt Lake City. In 1939, it was reported that this file at that time contained more than eight million names, and had by then become what was believed to be the greatest of all genalogical indexes.
Some Mormons have compiled genealogical records of their families back for many generations, and as a community, the Mormons, more than any other group of people anywhere, are aware of the exploits, foibles and conquests of their predecessors in the blood line.
Since 1894, the Genealogical Society of Utah has functioned under the direction of the president of the church as a central power to assist in obtaining the vital information necessary for carrying on temple work. This society is incorporated. It is headed by a president, who is assisted by a seven-man board of directors, a vice-president, a secretary, a treasurer and a librarian. Honorary memberships are granted to general authorities of the church, temple presidents and recorders, and to the church historian. Life memberships cost ten dollars and annual membership costs one dollar. The society occupies the Joseph F. Smith Memorial building opposite Temple Square, in Salt Lake City. Its official organ is the Utah Genealogical and Historical Magazine.
On the stake and ward levels, genealogical work is coordinated by a unit of the priesthood set up for that purpose.
Next: Polygamy
