=4. The Fathers and the Children.=--"The revelation in our day of the doctrine of baptism for the dead may be said to have constituted a new epoch in the history of our race. At the time the Prophet Joseph received that revelation, the belief was general in Christendom that at death the destiny of the soul was fixed irrevocably and for all eternity. If not rewarded with endless happiness, then endless torment was its doom, beyond all possibility of redemption or change. The horrible and monstrous doctrine, so much at variance with every element of Divine justice, was generally believed, that the heathen nations who had died without a knowledge of the true God, and the redemption wrought out by His Son Jesus Christ, would all be eternally consigned to hell. The belief upon this point is illustrated by the reply of a certain Bishop to the inquiry of the king of the Franks, when the king was about to submit to baptism at the hands of the bishop. The king was a heathen, but had concluded to accept the form of religion then called Christianity. The thought occurred to him that if baptism were necessary for his salvation, what had become of his dear ancestors who had died heathens? This thought framed itself into an inquiry which he addressed to the bishop. The prelate, less politic than many of his sect, bluntly told him they had gone to hell. 'Then, by Thor, I will go there with them,' said the king, and thereupon refused to accept baptism or become a Christian."--Geo. Q. Cannon's _Life of Joseph Smith_, p. 510.
=5. Temples and Sacred Places.=--"When the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, determined to make that people a nation to Himself, as soon as they had arrived at a safe distance from surrounding peoples, He required them to build a Tabernacle, which is sometimes called the Temple, wherein He could institute certain ordinances and regulations for their guidance and worship. This, at the commencement of their pilgrimage in the wilderness, was made portable, and of the costliest and best material within their reach; and one of the tribes was set apart to have charge of it and its appurtenances. Such has ever been the purpose of the Lord. This served them through their journey and in the promised Canaan, until suitable wealth enabled Solomon to erect a magnificent Temple on Mount Moriah, since called 'The Hill of Zion,' to which all Israel came annually to worship or attend conference. The Lord has informed us (Doc. and Cov. cxxiv, 39) that His people are always commanded to build Temples, or holy houses, unto His holy name. This accounts for our reading in the Book of Mormon of so many Temples having been erected on this continent. It also explains why the Prophet Joseph so early taught the commencement of a Temple in every important location of the Saints."--_Compendium_, F. D. Richards and J. A. Little, pp. 301-302. Consult: Exo. xxv-xxviii; I Kings vi-viii; Ezra vi; II Nephi v, 16; and compare Jacob i, 17; ii, 2-11; Mosiah i, 18; ii, 6-7; Alma xvi, 13; xxiii, 2; xxvi, 29; Helaman iii, 9; x, 8; Doc. and Cov. i, 7-9; lxxxiv, 3-5, 31; xcvii, 10; cxxiv, 29-51, 55. See also _Temples_, J. M. Sjodahl, Salt Lake City, 1892. See "The House of the Lord, a Study of Holy Sanctuaries, Ancient and Modern," by James E. Talmage, Salt Lake City, 1912.