Baptism for the DeadJoseph Smith

(1805-44)

President of the Church

Times and Seasons, April 15, 1842 (Vol. 3, No. 12) pp. 759-761.

(Note to the Reader: Italics are original; longer scripture quotations have been placed within double indented paragraphs; scripture referencesappearing in the original have been placed within parenthesis and Roman numerals normalized into common numbers; scripture references thatare not in the original have been placed in brackets; other bracketed statements are original; underlining is not in the original but has beenadded.)

The following is an editorial published by the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, at that time, was editor of the Times andSeasons, a journalistic newspaper published by the Church when it was headquartered in Nauvoo, Illinois. The firsttime the Prophet publically taught the doctrine of baptism for the dead was at the funeral of Seymour Brunson onAugust 10, 1840. This editorial offered greater understanding of the doctrine of baptism for the dead in God’s eternalplan.

THE great designs of God inrelation to the salvation of thehuman family are very little

understood by the professedly wise,and intelligent generation in whichwe live; various and conflicting arethe opinions of men concerning theplan of salvation; the requisitions ofthe Almighty; the necessarypreparations for heaven; the stateand condition of departed spirits;and the happiness, or misery that isconsequent upon the practice ofrighteousness and iniquityaccording to their several notions ofvirtue, and vice. The Mussulmancondemns the Heathen, the Jew, andthe Christian, and the whole worldof mankind that reject his Koran asinfidels, and consigns the whole ofthem to perdition. The Jew believes that the whole worldthat reject his faith, and are not circumcised, are gentiledogs, and will be damned. The Heathen are equally astenacious about their principles, and the Christianconsigns all to perdition who cannot bow to his creedand submit to his ipse dixit [Latin, meaning an unproven dogma

or statement]. But while one portion of the human race arejudging and condemning the other without mercy, thegreat parent of the universe looks upon the whole of thehuman family with a fatherly care, and paternal regard;he views them as his offspring; and without any of thosecontracted feelings that influence the children of men,causes “his sun to rise on the evil and the good; and

sends his rain on the just andunjust.” [Matt. 5:45] He holds thereins of judgment in his hands; he isa wise lawgiver, and will judge allmen, [not according to the narrowcontracted notions of men, but]“according to the deeds done in thebody whether they be good or evil;”[JST 2 Cor. 5:10] or whether thesedeeds were done in England,America, Spain, Turkey, India: hewill judge them “not according towhat they have not, but according towhat they have;” those who havelived without law, will be judgedwithout law, and those who have alaw, will be judged by that law; weneed not doubt the wisdom andintelligence of the great Jehovah, hewill award judgment or mercy to all

nations according to their several deserts, their means ofobtaining intelligence, the laws by which they aregoverned; the facilities afforded them of obtainingcorrect information; and his inscrutable designs inrelation to the human family: and when the designs ofGod shall be made manifest, and the curtain of futuritybe withdrawn, we shall all of us eventually have toconfess, that the Judge of all the earth has done right.

The situation of the Christian nations after death is asubject that has called forth all the wisdom, and talent ofthe philosopher, and the divine; and it is an opinion

which is generally received, that the destiny of man isirretrievably fixed at his death; and that he is made eithereternally happy, or eternally miserable’ that if a man dieswithout a knowledge of God, he must be eternallydamned; without any mitigation of his punishment,alleviation of his pain or the most latent hope of adeliverance while endless ages shall roll along. Howeverorthodox this principle may be, we shall find that it is atvariance with the testimony of holy writ; for our Savioursays that all manner of sin, and blasphemy shall beforgiven men wherewith they shall blaspheme; but theblasphemy against the Holy Ghostshall not be forgiven, neither inthis world, nor in the world tocome; [Matt. 12:31-32] evidentlyshowing that there are sins whichmay be forgiven in the world tocome; although the sin ofblasphemy cannot be forgiven.

Peter also in speakingconcerning our Saviour says, that

“he went and preached untospirits in prison, whichsometimes were disobedient,when once the long, sufferingof God waited in the days ofNoah.” (1 Pet. 3:19-20)

Here then we have an account ofour Saviour preaching to the spiritsin prison; to spirits that had beenimprisoned from the days of Noah;and what did he preach to them?that they were to stay there? certainly not; let his owndeclaration testify;

“he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preachdeliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight tothe blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke4:18)

Isaiah has it–

“To bring out the prisoners from the prison, and themthat sit in darkness from the prison house.” (Isa. 52:7)

It is very evident from this that he not only went topreach to them, but to deliver, or bring them out of theprison house. Isaiah in testifying concerning thecalamities that will overtake the inhabitants of the earthsays,

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, andshall be removed like a cottage; and the transgressionsthereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall and notrise again.

And it shall come to pass in that day; that the Lordshall punish the hosts of the high ones that are on high,and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

And they shall be gathered together as prisoners aregathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and aftermany days shall they be visited.” [Isa. 24:20-22]

Thus we find that God will deal with all the human familyequally; and that as the antediluvians had their day ofvisitation; so will those characters referred to by Isaiah, havetheir time of visitation, and deliverance, after having beenmany days in prison.

The great Jehovah contemplated the whole of the eventsconnected with the earth, pertaining to the plan of salvation,before it rolled into existence, or ever the “morning stars sungtogether for joy,” [Job 38:7] the past, the present and the

future, were, and are with him oneeternal now [see D&C 38:1-2;Moses1:6; Abr. 2:8; 1 Ne. 9:6; 2 Ne. 9:20;Moro. 7:22] he knew of the fall ofAdam, the iniquities of theantediluvians, of the depth of iniquitythat would be connected with thehuman family; their weakness andstrength, their power and glory,apostasies, their crimes, theirrighteousness, and iniquity; hecomprehended the fall of man, and theirredemption; he knew the plan ofsalvation, and pointed it out; he wasacquainted with the situation of allnations; and with their destiny; heordered all things according to thecouncil of his own will, he knows thesituation of both the living, and thedead, and has made ample provision fortheir redemption, according to theirseveral circumstances, and the laws ofthe kingdom of God, whether in this

world, or in the world to come. The idea that some men formof the justice, judgment, and mercy of God, is too foolish foran intelligent man to think of; for instance it is common formany of our orthodox preachers to suppose, that if a man is notwhat they call converted, if he dies in that state, he must remaineternally in hell without any hope:

“Infinite years in torment must he spend;”“And never, never, never, have an end.”

And yet this eternal misery is made frequently to rest upon themerest casualty; – The breaking of a shoe string; the tearing ofa coat, of those officiating; or the peculiar location in which aperson lives, may be the means indirectly of his damnation: orthe cause of his not being saved. I will suppose a case which isnot extraordinary:–Two men who have been equally wicked,who have neglected religion, are both of them taken sick at thesame time; one of them has the good fortune to be visited by apraying man, and he gets converted a few minutes before hedies; the other sends for three different praying men, a tailor, ashoemaker, and a tinman. The tinman has a handle to solder onto a can; the tailor has a button-hole to work on some coat thatis needed in a hurry; and the shoemaker has a patch to put onto somebody’s boot; they none of them can go in time, the man

A Temple Baptismal Font–Temple baptismal fonts are patterned after the “molten sea” inSolomon’s Temple (see 1 Kings 7:23-26; 2 Chron. 4:2-5)–a massive bronze basin of waterdecorated with foliage. The Biblical text does not explain the symbolism of the “molten sea.” Butthere are possible hints. First, the first two verses of Psalms 24–a noted temple psalm–states:“the “earth is the Lord’s . . . he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods”,reflecting day one and three of the creation account in Genesis 1 (vss 2, 9-10). Therefore, itseems to be a symbol of the earth. In Revelation 4:6, it is called the “sea of glass” which

symbolized “the earth in its sanctified, immortal, and eternal state” (D&C 77:1; 130:9).

dies and goes to hell: one of these is exalted to Abraham’sbosom; he sits down in the presence of God, and enjoys eternal,uninterrupted happiness; while the other who was equally asgood as him, sinks to eternal damnation; irretrievable misery,and hopeless despair; because a man had a boot to mend, thebutton hole of a coat to work, ora handle to solder on to asaucepan. The plans of Jehovahare not so unjust; the statementsof holy writ so visionary; nor theplan of salvation for the humanfamily so incompatable withcommon sense; at suchproceedings God would frownwith indignance, angels wouldhide their heads in shame; andevery virtuous, intelligent manwould recoil. If human lawsaward to each man his deserts,and punish all delinquents,according to their several crimes;surely the Lord will not be morecruel than man, for he is a wiselegislator, and his laws are moreequitable, his enactments morejust, and his decisions moreperfect than those of man: and asman judges his fellow man bylaw, and punishes him accordingto the penalty of that law; so doesthe God of heaven judge“according to the deeds done inthe body.” To say that theheathen would be damnedbecause they did not believe thegospel would be preposterous;and to say that the Jews would allbe damned that do not believe inJesus, would be equally absurd;for, “how can they believe on himof whom they have not heard;and how can they hear without a preacher; and how can hepreach except he be sent;” consequently neither Jew, norheathen, can be culpable for rejecting the conflicting opinionsof sectarianism, nor for rejecting any testimony but that whichis sent of God, for as the preacher cannot preach except he besent, so the hearer cannot believe without he hear a sentpreacher; and cannot be condemned for what he has not heard;and being without law will have to be judged without law.

When speaking about the blessings pertaining to the gospel,and the consequences connected with disobedience to itsrequirements, we are frequently asked the question, what hasbecome of our Fathers? will they all be damned for not obeyingthe gospel, when they never heard it? certainly not. But theywill possess the same privilege that we here enjoy, through themedium of the everlasting priesthood, which not onlyadministers on earth but in heaven, and the wise dispensationsof the great Jehovah; hence those characters referred to by

Isaiah will be visited by this priesthood, and come out of theirprison, upon the same principle as those who were disobedientin the days of Noah, were visited by our Saviour, [whopossessed the everlasting, Melchizedec priesthood,] and hadthe gospel preached to them, by him in prison; and in order that

they might fulfil all therequisitions of God, their livingfriends were baptized for theirdead friends, and thus fulfilled therequirements of God which says,“Except a man be born again ofwater, and of the spirit he can inno wise enter into the kingdom ofheaven;” [John 3:5] they werebaptized of course, not forthemselves, but for their dead.Crysostum says that theMarchionites practised baptismfor the dead, “after a catachumenwas dead they hid a living manunder the bed of the deceased;then coming to the dead man theyasked him whether he wouldreceive baptism; and he makingno answer, the other answered forhim, and said that he would bebaptized in his stead; and so theybaptized the living for the dead.”

The church of course at thattime was degenerate, and theparticular form might beincorrect, bnt the thing issufficiently plain in the scriptures,hence Paul in speaking of thedoctrine says, “Else what shallthey do who are baptized for thedead? If the dead rise not at all,why are they then baptized for thedead?” (1 Cor. 15:29)

Hence it was that so great aresponsibility rested upon the

generation in which our Savior lived; for says he “That uponyou may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth fromthe blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, sonof Barachias whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.Verily I say unto you all these things shall come upon thisgeneration” (Matt. 23:35-36). Hence as they possessed greaterprivileges than any other generation, not only pertaining tothemselves but to their dead, their sin was greater; as they notonly neglected their own salvation but that of their progenitors,and hence their blood was required at their hands. And now asthe great purposes of God are hastening to theiraccomplishment and the things spoken of in the prophets arefulfilling, as the kingdom of God is established on the earth,and the ancient order of things restored, the Lord hasmanifested to us this duty and privilege, and we arecommanded to be baptized for our dead thus fulfilling thewords of Obadiah when speaking of the glory of the Latter

Day. “And saviours shall come up upon mount Zion to judgethe remnant of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lords”[Obadiah 1:21]. A view of these things reconciles the scripturesof truth, justifies the ways of God to man; places the humanfamily upon an equal footing, and truth. We will conclude with

the words of Peter: “For the time past of our life may suffice usto have wrought the will of the Gentiles” .... “For, for this causewas the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that theymight be judged according to men in the flesh, but liveaccording to God in the spirit.” [1 Pet. 4:3-6]—Ed.