Susa Young Gates and Joseph F. Smith’s Vision of the Redemption of the Dead (D&C 138)

On the evening of Friday, November 5, 1918, Susa Young Gates and her husband, Jacob, stopped by the home of close friends to pick up a box of apples. That home was the Beehive House, on the corner of State Street and South Temple in Salt Lake City, and those friends were Joseph F. Smith, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife Julina. Susa and Joseph had known each other since Susa's childhood in the 1860s, when he was a frequent visitor in the home of her father, Brigham Young. The Gateses and the Smiths had served together as missionaries in Hawaii in the 1880s and remained close friends ever since. She called him "My Beloved and Honored Friend and Brother"; he called her his "beloved Sister" and expressed "the truest brotherly love" for her. What happened during her visit that evening became a crowning expression of that friendship and a deeply personal affirmation of Susa's tireless efforts in what she called the "work of redeeming the dead."

Susa Young Gates was one of the most prominent Latter-day Saint women of her time. A woman of indomitable energy, she had worked for decades as a writer, editor, educator, and leader in the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association, the Relief Society, and national women's organizations. But in 1918 her driving interest was genealogy and temple work, in which she had been a leading Church advocate for over a decade. Her sense of mission dated to 1902, when, seriously ill in London after a meeting of the International Council of Women, she received a priesthood blessing from Elder Francis M. Lyman, president of the European Mission: "You shall live to perform temple work, and you shall do a greater work than you have ever done before." That commission became a driving force in her life. "I had been interested in Temple work before," she said, "but now I felt that I must do something more, something to help all the members of the Church."

She went on to write countless newspaper and magazine articles on family history, taught classes across many stakes and wards, visited genealogical libraries in the eastern United States and England, and corresponded with genealogists in many countries. Serving on the general board of the Relief Society, she succeeded in having genealogy lessons—most of which she wrote herself—incorporated into the curriculum, and she published a 600-page reference book on surnames while serving for decades as a temple ordinance worker. She worked closely with Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, the "Apostle to the spirits in prison" and secretary of the Utah Genealogical Society, providing practical instruction in methodology while he laid out the theological foundations of the work. Yet she often felt she was waging an uphill battle against Latter-day Saints' "very general indifference" toward the work. "Not even an angel from heaven could induce some of these club women and these successful business men to set aside a portion of their time for temple work," she wrote to a friend. In 1918 members of the Relief Society general board had nearly voted to discontinue genealogy lessons, and at the October 1918 Relief Society conference stake leaders reported the lessons were too difficult. "All the desired inspiration in the world will not save our dead," Susa declared. "We must also have information in order to consummate that noble work."

President Smith, meanwhile, was elderly, frail, and declining rapidly. His ailments were compounded by heavy grief: in January 1918 his beloved eldest son, Elder Hyrum M. Smith, died suddenly of a ruptured appendix. "My soul is rent, my heart is broken! O God, help me!" President Smith exclaimed. In February a young son-in-law died after an accidental fall, and in September Hyrum's wife, Ida, died just days after giving birth, leaving five orphaned children. World War I was dragging to a close amid unimaginable carnage, and a worldwide influenza pandemic was claiming millions. At the October 1918 general conference, mustering his failing strength, President Smith made a surprise appearance: "I have been undergoing a siege of very serious illness for the last five months. Although somewhat weakened in body, my mind is clear with reference to my duty." He hinted at a message he was struggling to find words to express: "I will not, I dare not, attempt to enter upon many things that are resting upon my mind this morning... I have not lived alone these five months. I have dwelt in the spirit of prayer, of supplication, of faith and of determination; and I have had my communication with the Spirit of the Lord continuously."

His remarks referred in part to the events of October 3, 1918, when he experienced the remarkable vision now recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 138. "On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures... As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great." He saw the righteous dead awaiting the Savior's arrival in the world of spirits. Wondering how Christ could have ministered among the dead in the brief time between His crucifixion and resurrection, President Smith saw that the Savior "organized his forces and appointed messengers" from among the righteous spirits, spending His time "instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the prophets who had testified of him in the flesh" to carry the message of redemption to the spirits who had not received the gospel in mortality—so that they could be redeemed through proxy ordinances performed in temples. Ten days after conference he dictated the vision to his son Joseph Fielding Smith, and on October 31 it was read to the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in the temple, where it was "fully endorsed by all the brethren" and slated for the December Improvement Era.

A week later, the Gateses visited the Smith home. "I comforted him all I could in his severe illness," Susa wrote. President Smith told her, "You are doing a great work, greater than you know anything about." Then he gave her a paper to read—a transcript of the vision. "How blest, O how blest I am to have the priviledge!" Susa wrote in her journal that night. "To be permitted to read a revelation before it was made public, to know the heavens are still opened. In it he tells of his view of Eternity; the Savior when He visited the spirits in prison—how His servants minister to them; he saw the Prophet and all his associate Brethren laboring in the Prison Houses; Mother Eve & her noble daughters engaged in the same holy cause!"

Long an advocate for women, Susa rejoiced that the revelation specifically mentioned women laboring in the spirit world—"This is unusual—the mention of women's labors on the Other Side"—affirming what she called "the noble standard of equality between the sexes which has always been a feature of this Church." Above all, she rejoiced in its timing: "to have this given at a time when our Temple work and workers & our genealogy need such encouragement. No words of mine can express my joy and gratitude." "Think of the impetus this revelation will give to temple work throughout the Church!" she wrote to a friend.

Two weeks later, on November 19, 1918, President Joseph F. Smith died. In the Relief Society Magazine, editor Susa Young Gates published a lengthy tribute, including the full text of the "Vision of the Redemption of the Dead," without disclosing her own experience with it. "The Vision's principal message to this people is a clarion call for them to awake to the immediate necessity of looking after their dead," she wrote. To her, the vision was "an exquisite joy and comfort." Seven decades earlier, Joseph Smith had written to the Saints on the same subject, "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?" Now Susa Young Gates, with renewed vision and commitment, continued the call: "May the people, and especially our sisters, rise to the measure of fulness in response to this heavenly manifestation!"