Genealogical and Temple Activity

GENEALOGICAL AND TEMPLE ACTIVITY By Susa Young Gates The Prophet Joseph Smith received marvelous instructions on that wonderful night when the Angel Moroni appeared three times before him. Numerous points of doctrine, and of prophecy, were presented to the mind of the Prophet by this glorious personage. One particular promise made concerned the fulfilment of the prophecy given by Malachi in the last chapter and verse of the last book of the Old Testament. Moroni re-worded the paragraph, and its significance was emphasized. Those who study the phraseology given through the Pro- phet discover a marvelous import in the changes made. The re- translation of the fifth and sixth verses reads as follows: "Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. "And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promise made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming." When one recalls that up to that time practically no effort had been made for the collection and printing of personal genealogical informa- tion, this passage teems with meaning. It is true that during the ages there has been systematic efforts put forth by every civilized nation to preserve the vital statistics, especially of the higher orders of society. This became necessary because of civil and inherent social rights. With- out records it is impossible to transfer property, to identify soldiers, scholars, or individuals in families; consequently, there are excellent records found in churches and government repositories everywhere in Europe, which carry lines back in aristocratic families at least a thousand years. The common people as a rule had their records made and preserved in churches, where marriages, christenings, and burials were performed by orthodox clergy. It is these records which form so valuable a source of information today; yet not until after the Angel Moroni delivered this prophecy, and especially after the coming of Elijah to the Prophet in the Kirtland temple, April 3, did the world wake up as individuals to carry out the details of this command. After the visit of Moroni, the Lord certainly planted in the hearts of the children the promises made to their fathers, and the "hearts of the children have turned to their fathers." Scores of genealogical societies have been formed in Europe and America, the first one being in Boston, which was organized three months after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Tens of thousands of people are today searching eagerly and paying great sums of money to carry their records back to the earliest possible generation. Why they do this none of them seem able to say, except that it satisfies a yearning for antiquarian lore, and a laudable desire to discover one's forefathers.

1102 IMPROVEMENT ERA The mind reaches out in fancy to the possibilities of such a prom- ise being made without any means provided whereby it could be fulfilled. If the governments of the world had made no effort in the past ages to collect and preserve records in churches and govern- ment offices, it would be impossible for the people today to carry on this popular and fashionable activity. If we conceive, in our fancy, the existence of a world peopled with intelligent beings who have developed homes, cities, governments, and great institutions, of what value would be their lives without, possibility of eternal duration? Once the principle of eternal duration is accepted, how could man be satisfied with a plan of salvation which should include himself and leave many others outside the pale of deliverance? All these thoughts focus around the visit of the majestic figure of Moroni, who announced to the youthful Prophet a fact of which the Prophet himself at the time was unaware, and of which he was for some years ignorant as to its application and its significance. Over all these United States of ours the true American is con- cerned with his progenitors, not because he knows why, but because he is an American, and he must needs receive assurance of that fact through the recorded facts and data preserved for him by his town, county, and state archives. The swift march of events led the Prophet Joseph Smith to open the door of baptism for the dead, in the Mississippi river in 1842, which culminated when he instructed the people to build a font and erect a temple to the name of the living God in Nauvoo where the baptism for the dead could be performed, and where the records should be kept; now, all this seems to the present generation like a dream which has passed in the long ago. Among the most beautiful and hopeful signs of the times in temple and genealogical work in this Church is the swinging tread of boys and girls in the Primaries, of boys in the Aaronic priesthood quorums, and in the Mutual Improvement Associations, who are enter- ing the temple courts by the hundreds and thousands to perform bap- tisms for their kindred dead. Forty years ago it was a wonderful thing to read that twenty thousand names of the dead had been baptized for in the three temples which were then open for services among this people. Today, we are not surprised to read that over a million bap- tisms have been performed in one year in the six temples which are now crowded by the Latter-day Saints. And women take leading part. Woman is admitted not only into public courts of worship and activity, symbolically and equally in religious and civic affairs, but in temples, which are the most sacred places maintained by the Church, side by side with her father, or her husband, she is given her place and position in all sacred ordinances. Indeed, to receive his high- est blessings a man must be accompanied by his wife. Women share the gifts, blessings and labors of the priesthood, within and without the

GENEALOGICAL TEMPLE ACTIVITY 1103 temple. Yet, men preside and hold the priesthood. Women do not. The home and family require their care and labors. Perhaps no more beautiful recent development can be named than the application of our genealogical activity to the missionary lesson work given the missionaries in the L. D. S. Missionary Home, leaving for their fields of labor. Each group is given an hour's instruction with blackboard illustrations of methods of securing. and preparing genealogical information. This enables them to answer questions of converts, to instruct them where to secure information, and how to prepare it before they leave their homes and come to Zion. The visit of the Angel Moroni one hundred years ago brought no greater message of freedom and light than that which illumined the promise that the "hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers" and that the promises made to the fathers shall awaken in the hearts of the children a longing to redeem their kindred dead. It has been and is being demonstrated by active genealogical and temple activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My After-Home Within the gates of Paradise, Through faith there oft appears A vision of my after-home Eternal through the years. Within this after-home I'll dwell With loved ones face to face, My Savior's love advancing me In his celestial grace. My after-home, dear after-home, Where I shall welcome be; The home my Savior has prepared Through his great love for me! Chorus: Chorus: My Teacher here, my Teacher therer, — My heart with rapture feels The joyful holiness of love His love for me reveals, — Oh, what is earthly wealth and power, Compared with faith I own, That brings the virtues fitting me To dwell near heaven's throne! My after-home, dear after-home, Where I shall welcome be; The home my Savior has prepared Through his great love for me! Joseph Longking Townsend