Pilgrimage to the Temple

Pilgrimage to the Temple By Archer Willey, of the 177th Quorum of Seventy There are three reasons why this quorum should continue its journey each year to the temple, as it has determined upon : 1. The first, but by no means the greatest, is that it makes an outing pleasurable and enjoyable and gives the friend in Idaho a chance to clasp hands with the friend and relatives in Utah, for the gospel permits no geographical boundaries. 2. This journey, aside from its physical enjoyment, tends spiritually to unite a quorum more than any other factor. It is the one door each should go through to the room of humility. Temple work is not only a savior to a quorum collectively; but is a savior to a man and his family. No man and woman will get very far away from the pales of the Church who will go to the Lord's House and renew their covenants, nor will they get very far astray. 3. The third and greatest reason is found in section 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants, beginning with the 15th verse, to and including the 18th, which you are asked to read. It is baptism for the dead, the welding link between the fathers and the children, without which the earth would be smitten with a curse. It seems peculiar that we should pay much attention to, and lay much stress upon, the baptism of our children at the age of eight and the baptism of our converts, while we go along with sleepy placability about our dead. Baptism is symboli- cal of the coming forth from the grave. But why use this sym- bol on the living alone, and let the dead wait? Don't imagine that it will be an easy life over there. Tasks greater than mortal ever dreamed of await us there, calling for more skill, more humility, more faith, more love, more intelligence. These are waiting for you and me and our dead. Imagine some worker asking the Recorder of God, (and we certainly have one, for it is written in Matthew 16:19, in the word of Christ to Peter, "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven")— asking God's Recorder if his kinsfolk on earth have unlocked his apartment to let him in. "No," says the Recorder, and the waiting soul goes back into

1026 IMPROVEMENT ERA the shadow for years, comes up again and again, and nothing is done. Can you picture the myriads of souls who are so knocking to our deaf ears? This our journey is to he only an annual event. Ah! it's a pity it cannot be a monthly journey, for ten thousand times ten thousand are in the waiting line for you to send them their pass- ports. This — one of the most glorious of all subjects belonging to the everlasting gospel — has been more neglected than any other. Wiry neglect our dead? Wake up, ye Saints of Idaho. "Knock and it shall be opened, ask and ye shall receive." Rouse ye, quorums of Fremont stake, 'tis time to let in the weary who have gone on before. Can ye not hear the glad hosannas of thousands of your kin who cry, "Glory to God in the highest," as ye set them free! Wake up, 177th Quorum! Every journey to the Lord's House means a congregation of souls. Every congregation means a link in the chain reaching from Jehovah's celestial courts to earth, to draw us to heaven, where in time our dim eyes, clear of mists, shall see God. I feel it the duty that some one of our Quorum should have a temple mission during the winter months. Why cannot one or two of our presidency and one or two of our members go and labor from January to April, of each year, for the good of the Quorum membership? Let us take the dry wax of doubt from our ears; that we may hear the calls from afar, even the voices of our dead; and, answering, each of us shall journey to the temple, to the Lord's^ House, and purchase liberty and freedom for some waiting soul. If we do this, some day, as we pass into the beyond, thankful souls will clasp our hands and call our names blessed. Sugar City, Idaho Order a New Y. M. M. I. A. Hand Book A new Y. M. M. I. A. Hand Book is being printed ready for the Fall opening of the associations. Mr. Charles F. Smith, Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York, writes un- der date of July 19, 1921: "My dear Mr. Kirkham: — -The other day I picked up a copy of the Y. M. M. I. A. Hand Book and did not stop reading until I had completed it. You should congratulate yourself for being connected with such a wonderful institution."