m."[1548]

Within sacred temples, the living are officiating vicariously in behalf
of the dead; and the hearts of mortal children are turned with
affectionate concern toward their departed ancestors, while disembodied
hosts are praying for the success of their posterity, yet in the flesh,
in the service of salvation.[1549] The saving gospel is offered freely
to all, for so hath its Author commanded. Through the medium of the
press, and by the personal ministrations of men invested with the Holy
Priesthood whom the Church sends out by thousands, this Gospel of the
Kingdom is today preached throughout the world. When such witness among
the nations is made complete, "then shall the end come"; and the nations
"shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and
great glory."[1550]

NOTES TO CHAPTER 41.

1. The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times.--"Now the thing to be known
is, what the fulness of times means, or the extent and authority
thereof. It means this, that the dispensation of the fulness of times is
made up of all the dispensations that ever have been given since the
world began, until this time. Unto Adam first was given a dispensation.
It is well known that God spake to him with His own voice in the garden,
and gave him the promise of the Messiah. And unto Noah also was a
dispensation given; for Jesus said, 'As it was in the days of Noah, so
shall it be also in the days of the coming of the Son of Man;' and as
the righteous were saved then, and the wicked destroyed, so it will be
now. And from Noah to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses, and from Moses
to Elias, and from Elias to John the Baptist, and from then to Jesus
Christ, and from Jesus Christ to Peter, James, and John, the Apostles
all having received in their dispensation by revelation from God, to
accomplish the great scheme of restitution, spoken by all the holy
Prophets since the world began; the end of which is, the dispensation of
the fulness of times, in which all things shall be fulfilled that have
been spoken of since the earth was made."--See _Millennial Star_, vol.
16, p. 220.

2. Limitations of the Aaronic Priesthood.--After conferring the Lesser
or Aaronic Priesthood upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the
officiating angel, who had been known while a mortal being as John the
Baptist, explained that the authority he had imparted did not extend to
the laying-on of hands for the bestowal of the Holy Ghost, the latter