James E. Talmage

“ Confirm upon us the spirit of Elijah, we pray thee, that we may thus redeem our dead and also connect ourselves with our fathers who have passed behind the veil, and furthermore seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection, that we who dwell on earth may be bound to those who dwell in heaven. We thank thee for their sake who have finished their work in mortality, as well as for our own, that the prison doors have been opened that deliverance has been proclaimed to the captive, and the bonds have been loosened from those who were bound. ”

“ Many things have been said and done which have wounded the feelings of the humble and the meek, and which have been a cause of offense. We beseech thee, in thine infinite mercy and goodness, to forgive thy people wherein they have sinned in this direction. Show them, O Father, their faults and their errors, that they may see the same in the light of the Holy Spirit, and repent truly and sincerely, and cultivate that spirit of affection and love which thou art desirous that all the children of men should entertain one for another, and which thy Saints, above all others, should cherish. ”

“ Strengthen the weak, we pray thee, and impart thy Spirit unto all.
"Our Father, may peace abide in all the homes of thy Saints; may holy angels guard them; may they be encompassed by thine arms of love; may prosperity shine upon them, and may the tempter and the destroyer be removed far from them. May the days of thy covenant people be lengthened out in righteousness, and sickness and disease be rebuked from their midst. May the land they inhabit be made fruitful by thy grace, may its waters be increased and the climate be tempered to the comfort and need of thy people ”

“ We praise thee that our fathers, from last to first, from now, back to the beginning, can be united with us in indissoluble links, welded by the holy Priesthood, and that as one great family united in thee and cemented by thy power we shall together stand before thee, and by the power of the atoning blood of thy Son be delivered from all evil, be saved and sanctified, exalted and glorified. ”

“ O God of Israel, turn thy face, we pray thee, in loving kindness toward thy stricken people of the house of Judah. Oh, deliver them from those that oppress them. Heal up their wounds, comfort their hearts, strengthen their feet, and give them ministers after thine own heart who shall lead them as of old, in thy way. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Now pray we for the youth of Zion—the children of thy people; endow them richly with the spirit of faith and righteousness and with increasing love for thee and for thy law. Prosper all the institutions that thou hast established in our midst for their well-being. Give to our Church Schools an ever-increasing power for good. ”

“ And bless, we beseech thee, most merciful Father, the poor of thy people, that the cry of want and suffering may not ascend unto thee from the midst of thy Saints whom thou hast blessed so abundantly with the comforts of this world. Open up new avenues by which the needy can obtain a livelihood by honest industry, and also incline the hearts of those blessed more abundantly, to give generously of their substance to their, in this respect, less favored brethren and sisters, that thou mayest not have reason to chide us for the neglect of even the least among thy covenant children. ”

“ We feel now that a time for reconciliation has come; that before entering into the Temple to present ourselves before the Lord in solemn assembly, we shall divest ourselves of every harsh and unkind feeling against each other; that not only our bickerings shall cease, but that the cause of them shall be removed, and every sentiment that prompted and has maintained them shall be dispelled; that we shall confess our sins one to another, and ask forgiveness one of another; that we shall plead with the Lord for the spirit of repentance, and, having obtained it, follow its promptings ”

“ The action is significant as showing the faith, reliance, and determination of the people. The Temple they were about to rear should be in every particular the best the people could produce. This modern House of the Lord was to be no temporary structure, nor of small proportions, nor of poor material, nor of mean or inadequate design. It was known at the outset that the building could not be finished for many a long year, for decades, perhaps, and by that time this colony would have become a commonwealth, the few would have grown to a multitude of souls. ”

“ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds as a fundamental doctrine, attested and proved by scripture both ancient and modern, that compliance with the laws and ordinances of the Gospel is an absolute and irrevocable requirement for admission into the Kingdom of God, or in other words, for the securing of individual salvation to the souls of men, and that this requirement is universal, applying alike to every soul that has attained to age and powers of accountability in the flesh, in whatever period or dispensation that soul has lived in mortality. ”

“ 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. ”

“ May an ever-widening way be opened before them until they shall have raised the Gospel standard in every land and proclaimed its saving truths in every tongue, that all the islands and the continents may rejoice in the testimony of the great work thou art in these latter days performing on the earth. ”

“ David, king of Israel, though in many respects a man after God's own heart, had sinned; and his sin had not yet found atonement. Thus spake the king: "I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood." [10] Nevertheless, David was permitted to gather material for the House of the Lord, which edifice not he, but Solomon, his son, should build. ”

“ At the bar of God the distinguishing feature of Divine mercy will be, as in the affairs of mortal life it now is, not an arbitrary forgiveness of sin nor unearned annulment of the debts of guilt, but the providing of a way whereby the sinner may be enabled to meet the requirements of the Gospel, and so in due course pass from the prison house of sin to the glorious freedom of a righteous life. ”

“ Show unto them that we are their friends, that we love liberty, that we will join with them in upholding the rights of the people, the Constitution and laws of our country; and give unto us and our children an increased disposition to always be loyal, and to do everything in our power to maintain constitutional rights and the freedom of all within the confines of this great Republic. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Some time after His own baptism Jesus affirmed, in words at once forceful and unequivocal, that baptism is required of all men as a condition of entrance into the kingdom of God. To Nicodemus, a ruler among the Jews, who came by night professing some measure of faith, Jesus said: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." ”

“ We also thank thee, our Father in heaven, that thou didst inspire thy servant and give him power on the earth to organize thy Church in this goodly land, in all its fulness, power and glory, with Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, and Teachers, with all the gifts and graces belonging thereto, and all this by the power of the Aaronic and Melchisedek Priesthood, which thou didst bestow upon him by the administration of holy angels, who held that Priesthood in the days of the Savior. ”

“ In the course of a glorious manifestation to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio, April 3rd, 1836, there appeared unto them Elijah, the prophet of old, who had been taken from earth while still in the body. He declared unto them:
"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. ”

“ May they be full of blessings for thy people Israel. May they bear with them the seeds of comfort and consolation, of encouragement and blessing. Fill them with the Holy Spirit of promise, and be graciously pleased to fulfil their words of prophecy, that thy name may be extolled in the people of thy Church and their faith in thee and in the promises of thy ministering servants be increasingly strengthened. ”

“ No member of the Church who would be deemed worthy to enter that sacred house can be considered ignorant of the principles of the Gospel. It is not too much to presume that every one knows what his duty is to God and to his fellowman. None is so forgetful as to have lost sight of the admonition that we must be filled with love for and charity toward our brethren. ”

“ It cannot be denied that myriads had lived and died before the meridian of time, and of these multitudes, as of the many since born, unnumbered hosts have died without a knowledge of the Gospel and its prescribed plan of salvation. What is their condition, as indeed what shall be the state of the present inhabitants of earth, and of the multitudes yet future, who shall die in ignorance and without the faith that saves? ”

“ At last he learned that the new birth referred to was baptism by water and the baptism of the Spirit. With equal pertinency it may now be asked: How can a man be baptized when he is dead? Can he enter the second time into his body of flesh and be immersed in water by human agency? The answer is that the necessary ordinances may be performed for the dead by their living representatives, the mortal subject acting as proxy for the departed one. Thus, even as a man may be baptized in his own person for himself, he may be baptized as proxy for and in behalf of the dead. ”

“ Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; (2) Repentance; (3) Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; (4) Laying-on of hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost." [2]
{66} Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the fundamental principle of the Gospel, the first letter in the alphabet of salvation with which are spelled the words of life eternal. Yet who can have faith in aught of which he knows nothing? Knowledge is essential to faith, and faith impels its possessor to seek further knowledge, and to make of that knowledge, wisdom, which is but knowledge applied and put to use. ”

“ THE GREAT TEMPLE AT SALT LAKE CITY—EXTERIOR
{172} Before us stands the completed structure, the visible result of four decades of devoted toil,—a period marked in the beginning by poverty and penury followed by relative prosperity and plenty. The impression produced by a first view of the exterior is that of massiveness coupled with a sense of assured stability. Closer examination and more intimate acquaintance serve to intensify this early impression, while revealing numerous details of uniqueness in plan and of excellence in construction. ”

“ The vicarious effect of the atonement of Christ is twofold; it has wrought a universal redemption of all men from the mortal death incident to the transgression of Adam; and it has provided a means of propitiation for individual sin whereby the sinner may attain salvation through obedience. It is by His mortal life and sacrificial death in behalf of others,—and those others, all who have lived or shall live,—that Jesus the Christ earned His title, Savior and Redeemer of mankind. ”