y the living
for the dead, in the ordinances essential to salvation; so that all who
in the spirit-world accept the word of God as preached to them, develop
true faith in Jesus Christ as the one and only Savior, and contritely
repent of their transgressions, shall be brought under the saving effect
of baptism by water for the remission of sins, and be recipients of the
baptism of the Spirit or the bestowal of the Holy Ghost.[1350] Paul
cites the principle and practise of baptism by the living for the dead
as proof of the actuality of the resurrection: "Else what shall they do
which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are
they then baptized for the dead?"[1351] Free agency, the divine
birthright of every human soul, will not be annulled by death. Only as
the spirits of the dead become penitent and faithful will they be
benefited by the vicarious service rendered in their behalf on earth.

Missionary labor among the dead was inaugurated by the Christ; who of us
can doubt that it has been continued by His authorized servants, the
disembodied, who while in the flesh had been commissioned to preach the
gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof through ordination in
the Holy Priesthood? That the faithful apostles who were left to build
up the Church on earth following the departure of its divine Founder,
that other ministers of the word of God ordained to the Priesthood by
authority in the Primitive as well as in the Latter-day Church, have
passed from ministerial service among mortals to a continuation of such
labor among the disembodied, is so abundantly implied in scripture as to
be made a certainty. They are called to follow in the footsteps of the
Master, ministering here among the living, and beyond among the dead.

The victory of Christ over death and sin would be incomplete were its
effects confined to the small minority who have heard, accepted, and
lived the gospel of salvation in the flesh. Compliance with the laws and
ordinances of the gospel is essential to salvation. Nowhere in scripture
is a distinction made in this regard between the living and the dead.
The dead are those who have lived in mortality upon earth; the living
are mortals who yet shall pass through the ordained change which we call
death. All are children of the same Father, all to be judged and
rewarded or punished by the same unerring justice, with the same
interposition of benign mercy. Christ's atoning sacrifice w