The Kirtland Temple and temple worship–often, the question has been raised,
how early in the Prophet’s consciousness
did the idea germinate that God would require
the building and dedicating of temples and
would reveal his ordinances to be performed
in them? One way of reading our history is
that the first and last revelations in the
Doctrine and Covenants that Joseph received
concerned the temple, though at first he may
not have fully understood this. When the promise
about priesthood which is part of section
2 of the Doctrine and Covenants began to be
fulfilled through John the Baptist’s conferral
of priesthood authority, Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery were told, “And this shall
never be taken again from the earth until
the sons of Levi do offer again an offering
unto the Lord in righteousness.” Oliver
Cowdery’s wording of that statement is “that
the Sons of Levi may yet offer an offering
unto the Lord in righteousness.” The Prophet
later came to understand that this offering
relates to the temple.
Elijah is a character whose life and promises
apparently were reviewed when Moroni taught
the Prophet over successive years. The passages
about Elijah in the book of Malachi were quoted
to the Prophet at least four times in two
successive days in 1823. Somehow the hearts
of the fathers would turn to the children
and the hearts of the children to the fathers.
And this was a key or power which Elijah would
reconfer.
Kirtland became the preparatory location for
the full restoration of those keys and ordinances.
It was a revelatory moment when the Prophet
was told that a house must be built, the exact
dimensions were spelled out, and he was told
that it must be built by the sacrifice of
the people—meaning, among other things,
that it would not be easy—and that great
blessings depended upon the completion of
that work. The Church at the time was feeble,
struggling, impoverished.
Since the Prophet and the other New York Saints
had come to Kirtland, divisions and misunderstandings
had developed. A meeting he attended was influenced
by the “peepings and mutterings,” as it
were, of false spirits. Philo Dibble recalled
that Joseph said, “God has sent me here,
and the devil must leave here, or I will.”
After counsel and ministration, there came
a reunion of faith and understanding, and
the Saints were given a revelation on how
to discern the Spirit of the Lord and other
spirits.
The core questions the Prophet asked then
and later are still applicable today. “Is
there any intelligence communicated?” Just
babbling or speaking in an unknown tongue
is not a communication of truth. Only when
it is interpreted by a proper spirit is it
so. So, “Is there any intelligence communicated?”
The other question: Is there anything indecorous
in the experience? The bouncing, the violent
movements, the hysteria that sometimes attended
what people thought were “religious experiences”
were condemned by the Prophet as not of God.
God’s Spirit is a refining and glorifying
spirit, not a demeaning one.
The Prophet had begun to establish the orders
and patterns of Church organization, as he
had been taught them, when the commandment
came to build a temple. Financially the people
were in severe straits. Sickness was not uncommon.
Just to obtain the basic means of survival
was difficult for most of the Saints. Nevertheless,
soon “great preparations were making to
commence a house of the Lord.” But in early
June 1833 another revelation came in which
the Saints were told, “Ye have sinned against
me a very grievous sin, in that ye have not
The Lord said, "I have given you a commandment, and if you have faith and go forward,
you shall have power to build the temple. If you do not,
the love of the Father shall not continue
with you, therefore you shall walk in darkness.”
Note that in this passage love is made a synonym
for light, and darkness follows the absence
of love. It seems to me that the scriptures
show such a close kinship if not identity
between light and love in the divine equation
that it is impossible to have the one without the other.
In any case, he [Joseph] repented, and laid the burden upon the people.
Many of our enemies had already become active and had said, when they learned
of the intent to build a temple they vowed
that it would never be finished—they would
see to that! Hence, as the work progressed,
enemies made attempts to prevent it. George
A. Smith records that for every one man working,
the brethren sometimes had three men guarding,
some of them armed with pistols. Nevertheless,
the work went forward. The Prophet himself,
not a skilled workman, could contribute at
least his energy and muscle. Wearing his old
smock he went into the stone quarry and with
his bare hands helped to quarry the stone.
By careful organization it was arranged that
each seventh day, in this case every Saturday,
every wagon the Saints had in the Kirtland
area was summoned to haul stone to the temple
site. Artemus Millett, a convert from Canada,
supervised the construction. Truman O. Angell
was the brilliant and inspired architect.
He planned and organized every element of the building.
The late Elder John A. Widtsoe, who was one blessed to love the temple. He was in fact promised by a patriarch,
"Thou shalt have great faith in the ordinances of the Lord's House."
[Elder Widtsoe] estimated that "This building, if you use the measuring rod of the widows mite,"— that is to say,
if you estimate cost in terms of what the saints actually had, this building, the Kirtland Temple,
cost more, per capita, than any religious building in American history.
It was, in that sense, an unprecedented sacrifice. Several of our historians, Wilford Woodruff included,
feel that, though the Nauvoo Temple cost much more, it did not constitute the same level of sacrificial effort.
It was an unprecedented sacrifice, and it was met with an unprecedented divine outpouring.
Thereby hangs a tail, but let me talk about the
preparatory events, just to lay the cornerstones
under crisis conditions was a major problem.
Twenty-four Melchizedek Priesthood holders
were required for the purpose, and at the
time there apparently were not that many in
the Kirtland area. Accordingly a few young
men of fifteen and sixteen had their ordinations
to the higher priesthood hastened, as they
were made elders specifically for the purpose.
A few older men, somewhat infirm, served as
officers in the ceremonies.
The Lord’s house is a house of order, and
the Prophet Joseph Smith had received a revelation
as to the order even of laying cornerstones.
Years later, at the laying of
the cornerstones of the Manti Temple, Brigham
Young arranged (and he said this was according
to instruction) that the first stone be laid
at the southeast corner, the point of greatest
light, and at high noon, the time of the greatest
sunlight, on the day of the spring equinox, the season of maximum extent of sunlight.
All that is to remind us, we would
assume, that the temple is indeed a house
of light where the heavenly and the earthly combine.
Several people who lived in Kirtland during
the temple-building period have left us their
accounts. One was Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner,
then a young convert. She and her mother were
­living in Kirtland, and when she discovered
the whereabouts of one of the rare copies
of the Book of Mormon in that city, she went
to the owner’s home and asked to borrow it.
He agreed, on the condition that she return it the next day as the Prophet would be coming to collect it.
She did as was asked, but he learned that she had spent the entire night awake reading it.
He was so touched by that he said, "When the Prophet comes, I'll tell him you still have it."
The Prophet came, he told him of Mary. "I would like to meet this young lady," said the Prophet.
They were introduced at the Smith home, her mother and herself, where others were already assembled.
Soon Joseph came in and they held
a meeting, the people mostly sitting on boards
put across chairs. The Prophet began addressing the group. Present were his brother, Hyrum, his father,
his mother, two of the three witnesses, one of them Martin Harris, and others.
The testimony of this woman, and she lived to a ripe old age past 90,
the testimony of this fourteen year old, is that as the Prophet spoke that night, it seemed as if the light that
emanated from his face, was brighter than the candles mantlepiece.
"It was as if," she says, "a light had been turned on within him." He bore his testimony in power.
Then they knelt in prayer, which he led. His
prayer was so long, Mary records, that several
of the people rose and rested and then knelt
back down to endure to the end.
“Such a prayer,” she said, “I have never heard before or since." Then he arose and said, in effect,
"Brothers and Sisters, do you know who has been in your midst tonight?"
Someone replied, "Was it an angel, Joseph?" No.
Then Martin Harris said, "It was the Savior."
The Prophet put his hand on his head and said, "You were inspired to say that Brother Harris. Yes,
the Savior has been in our midst. He has told me something of you, He has command me to say certain
things to you," which the Prophet then did. Later he gave a blessing to this dear sister [Mary]. She became one of
the faithful, who in her ninety-plus years of life endured
incredible trials for the faith.
I recount the above story about one of many
prayer meetings—John Murdock records several,
Eliza R. Snow still others—to show that
the outpouring of the Spirit which sometimes
attended the Prophet’s words was but a foretaste
of what was to come through the sacrificial
building of the temple.
We have also the testimony of Zera Pulsipher,
who was a convert to the Church at this time.
He said that when old Father Smith came into
the temple (presumably this would have been
after its completion, but perhaps it also
was before) he looked just like an angel.
We have spoken often of the Prophet’s likenesses,
but the venerable, aged father of the Prophet,
seasoned and mellowed through much affliction,
was a man who commanded the respect of the
Saints. The Prophet often put him in charge
of fast meetings, and in those days they held
them quite often on Thursdays, people putting
away their implements, leaving their work
where it was, and gathering in the spirit
of fasting for testimony meetings. In such
meetings prayers were often offered, both
in private and in public, for the completion
of the temple. And one of Father Smith’s
frequent petitions was that it would be fulfilled
upon that temple as on the Day of Pentecost;
that is, that the Spirit of God would descend
upon it as a rushing, mighty wind, accompanied
by tongues of fire. In due time that prayer was heard.
Another witness to this period was a man named
Daniel Tyler. He understood from the earliest
Kirtland days that the priesthood which was
bestowed in order to give ordinances the efficacy
of authority had several branches and ramifications;
that the patriarchal priesthood ultimately
was the most inclusive and important priesthood,
which could only be conferred in a sacred
place; that exaltation, as it became clarified
in subsequent revelations—which priesthood
holders and their wives could only receive
together—was in effect the extending, magnifying,
and intensifying of the patriarchal priesthood
throughout the expanding of eternal lives;
and that God himself is the sovereign patriarch.
Hints of that understanding came at Kirtland,
but not until Nauvoo did the full scope of
the patriarchal priesthood, the temple, and
temple marriage become
common knowledge to the Saints.
We turn to a brief outline of the actual dedicatory
services. Naturally, everyone who had done
anything to help with the temple would want
to be there at the dedication; and many others
who might have been slow or critical or distant
would still, out of curiosity, want to be
present. The actual capacity of the room is
variously estimated. One count of those who
came that morning is that there were over
930.
The Prophet had said that if children who
would be orderly and were willing to sit on
their parents’ laps wanted to come, they
could come. That suggestion caught on. It
is reported that in the opening session there
were two persons in each seat.
The Prophet had held meetings to prepare the
Saints, and especially the priesthood brethren,
for what was to come. He told them that they
must come in purity, come having studied and
pondered prayerfully the revelations given
on the subject. In section 88 of the Doctrine
and Covenants the Lord said the temple was
to be a house of glory, a house of order,
a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house
of God. Some specific commandments accompany
those general ones.
First, those coming into the temple were to
be solemn; they were to cast away all light-­mindedness.
Light-mindedness, in the dictionary sense,
is a lack of seriousness, and in the ­present
context can include such attitudes as lack
of interest in, making light of, betrayal
of, flippant or frivolous approach to, even
a ridiculing of sacred things. Nowhere in
the scriptures is lightheartedness condemned,
nor again does scripture anywhere forbid a
genuine, gentle humor that shows an appreciation
for the foibles of ourselves and others. But
light-mindedness clearly is inappropriate
for Latter-day Saints, especially in the temple
setting. In spite of the admonition, however,
some found themselves upset, not thinking,
for example, that it could be appropriate
that men should wash one another’s feet
in the name of the Lord. They thought “some
mischief was going on.” The Saints had been
warned: be solemn, avoid light-mindedness.
Second, a series of commandments in section 88
warned the Saints to come as far as possible
purified, to sanctify their hearts and hands,
to cleanse their lives, to be clean in preparation
for bearing the vessels of the Lord and, as the prophet later taught, becoming the very vessels of the Lord.
Third came an admonition to study, in effect
to read the revelations and to ponder and
pray over them. On one occasion, as the climactic
promise, the Prophet said to the brethren,
“Brethren, all who are prepared, and are
sufficiently pure to abide the presence of
the Savior, will see Him in the solemn assembly.”
What a promise!
So between nine hundred and a thousand people
assembled early in the morning of March 27,
1836, the Prophet and other authorities of
the Church on the stand, and the dedication
­services began. The Saints had begun gathering
at about 7:00 a.m. Joseph the Prophet presided,
and Sidney Rigdon conducted. President Rigdon
first read two of the Psalms—the ninety-sixth
and the twenty-fourth. Then the choir sang
a hymn, written by Parley P. Pratt, called
“E’er Long the Veil Will Rend in Twain.”
President Rigdon offered an opening prayer.
The congregation then sang a William W. Phelps
hymn called “O Happy Souls Who Pray.”
President Rigdon then gave a sermon, based
on Matthew 8:20, where the Master says: “The
foxes have holes, and the birds of the air
have nests; but the Son of man hath not where
to lay his head.” He expanded on that theme
and gave it a modern interpretation: Anciently
the house of the Lord in Jerusalem had been
left desolate, the priesthood had become apostate,
and Jesus himself had had to drive out of
the temple the money changers, abusers, and
blasphemers, saying: “It is written, My
house shall be called the house of prayer;
but ye have made it a den of thieves.” But
now, following the dedication, the Kirtland
Temple would be the house of the Lord. The
address was appropriate and memorable, and
President Rigdon spoke at length. There followed
the sustaining of Joseph Smith as Prophet
and Seer, and then the hymn “Now Let Us
Rejoice.” That ended the morning service.
A brief intermission followed, fifteen ­minutes,
long enough for a few of the sisters to take
care of their children. But hardly anyone
left.
Then came the moment for which they had all waited.
The Prophet arose and gave the dedicatory
prayer, a prayer which has been the pattern
for all subsequent dedicatory prayers for
temples down to the present. That prayer,
which now constitutes section 109 of the Doctrine
and Covenants, was given the Prophet by revelation.
That has been the pattern of all subsequent dedicatory prayers down to the present moment.
That was a puzzlement to some
of the Saints. Strange that God, to whom we
pray, should give a revelation telling the
Prophet what to pray! But so crucial was that
prayer, and so important, that it was given
word for word through revelation. And it is
magnificent! Students of Hebrew who know little
of Latter-day Saints and less of temples comment
that this prayer seems to partake of the Hebraic
dualism, the balancing of phraseology and
the insights of ancient Israel, that it has
echoes and kinship with the prayer fragments
we have in the Old Testament relating to the
temple of Solomon. And so it does. That is
to be accounted for on the ground that the
ultimate source of temple worship is not man
but God.
“O hear, O hear, O hear us, O Lord,” the
prayer finished, “that we may mingle our
voices with those bright, shining seraphs
around thy throne.”
With the prayer completed, the choir sang
that magnificent hymn by William W. Phelps,
“The Spirit of God.” The dedicatory prayer
was accepted by vote, and the sacrament was
administered. Then came testimonies from the
Prophet, Don Carlos Smith, Oliver Cowdery,
Frederick G. Williams, David Whitmer, and
Hyrum Smith.
Finally came the thrice-repeated Hosanna Shout—the
first time, so far as I know, that it was
used in this dispensation. The Prophet taught
them how to do it, and they did it, “sealing
it each time with amen, amen, and amen.”
A shout! Does God want us to shout?
The hymn, written with the light of understanding,
says, “We’ll sing and we’ll shout with
the armies of heaven, Hosanna, hosanna to
God and the Lamb.” Meaning what? Anciently,
crying “Hosanna!” with palm branches raised
up was, in effect, a two-way reaching. On
the one hand it was a plea: “O, save us”—a
plea for redemption. On the other hand—as
it was in the hearts of those who welcomed
Jesus triumphantly into Jerusalem—it was
a plea that he enter, that he come; it was
an invitation that Christ accept and visit
this holy house. To put it in still another
way, out of their depths the congregation
expressed their need for Christ, and from
the same depths they prayed for him to come.
That was done in a shout with the raising
of their arms in prayer.
Eliza R. Snow records this remarkable detail.
One mother had been turned away at the door
because her child was so small, only [six weeks old]. No one felt that he could endure through
the entire day. But Father Smith welcomed
the woman and said, “You come, and I promise
you all will be well.” Psychologists today
tell us that children have two instinctive
fears (all others they learn): one, the fear
of loud noises; the other, the fear of falling.
But when this mother rose 
to join in the Hosanna Shout, the [six-week-old]
child pushed back his coverlet and joined
in the shout.
Immediately after the hosannas the Spirit
of the Lord descended upon Brigham Young and
he spoke in tongues, while another Apostle,
David W. Patten, arose and gave the interpretation,
then himself gave a short exhortation in tongues.
Although there exists hardly a note about
the content, these messages were, in essence,
words of admonition and of divine approval.
The Prophet then arose and left his personal
blessing on the congregation, and the service
ended at just a little past 4:00 p.m.
What occurred in Kirtland following the dedication
was something like a jubilee. The fact that
every Saint who could had participated in
the dedication either in person or in secondhand
awareness drew the Church together into oneness.
So intense was that feeling for some days
and even weeks that many present thought the
Millennium had come, that all tribulation
and temptation was past. Such peace was in
their hearts that they had no will to do evil.
None of the standard battlements were in their
lives. The Prophet had to warn them more than
once that all they were experiencing was of
God but that, soon enough, opposite experiences
would come—the struggles with the adversary
and with darkness would be renewed—and that
they would know again all the trials that
are at the core of saintliness. This was difficult
for them to believe. They went from house
to house, for example, men, women, children,
and would meet together, almost as we do on
a beautiful Christmas morning, and would share
their impressions, their experiences, each
one having his own to report. And often the
visitors would say, “I have a blessing for
you, Brother,” and would bless the other.
And the person receiving would say, “I now
have a blessing for you,” and he would
bless the visitor.
Outside the temple, there were both Church
members and nonmembers who sensed that something
sacred was happening. Even little children.
For example, in one case, playing on the porch of a
nearby home, ran to their mother and said, "Mother look! There are men on the temple!"
She came out and squinted. They were not men, they were white personages. When her husband came home
to report that the Prophet had said that angels were present in the temple, she understood.
Some said there was a light—some used the
word fire—that emanated from that building,
and that at night it still seemed to be illumined.
Others, even nonmembers, feeling this outpouring,
this Pentecost, were interested enough, that they enquired.
Some even helped in the processes of the work of the church. Not because they were members, but because
they were simply caught in the waves of love and light.
It seems an almost bitter contrast that Joseph should have to say to the Twelve in one of their meetings,
"Brethren, God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings,
and if you cannot stand it you will not be
fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God."
How prophetic! [Nine] of the original Twelve
became embittered in varying degrees by that
wrenching that eventually came. But in the
meantime, and before that darkness,
there was more light.
The journals of many who were living in Kirtland
at the time describe their activities in this
period. They record things like this: that
a time or two the Prophet would ask them to
come, after fasting, and meet late in the
day in the temple, and then would say, “We’re
going to be here in worship all night.”
He would instruct them as to the proper order
for the meeting, and appropriate prayers would
be offered. And then he would tell them to
pray silently and then rise and speak as they
were impressed by the Spirit. Some spoke prophetically
and in tongues, some rose to say they had
heard heavenly music, and others rose and
said, “I, too, heard it.” These were celestial
choirs, literally. And there was the remarkable
meeting in which a man and a woman arose spontaneously on the impression of the Spirit,
sang in beautiful harmony in language they did not understand to a “song of Zion,” beginning and ending
each verse together, and then sat down.
Then another arose with the gift of interpretation and explained what they had revealed in that song.
We would do well to ponder the harmony of
soul that is presupposed in such an experience.
Perhaps that is one way in which the promise
of the Lord could be fulfilled that we shall
one day “see as we are seen and know as
we are known.”
Records of that day speak of remaining in
meeting through the night, no one tiring,
no one falling asleep, feasting on what the
Prophet called the fat things of the Spirit.
The effect produced by these was, in many
of the Saints, overwhelmingly faith-promoting.
But there were some who, instead of being
lifted and inspired, felt that somehow this
kind of thing was not what was to be expected—as
if they had expected either more or less than
this. Shortly after these developments, some left the church.
I have from Brother Phelps, who wrote four of the hymns that were made classical in this dedication,
the testimony that Brother Kimball, as well as Brother Williams, both, while on the stand, became aware
of glorified persons present. In one instance, it was identified as John the Revelator.
The Apostle Peter also was named. Eliza R.
Snow, herself something of a master of language,
wrote: “No mortal language can describe
the heavenly manifestations of that memorable
day. Angels appeared to some, while a sense
of divine presence was realized by all present,
and each heart was filled with joy inexpressible
and full of glory.”
In fulfillment of a promise by Joseph Smith,
George A. Smith arose in the evening meeting
and began to prophesy. “A noise was heard
like the sound of a rushing, mighty wind,
which filled the Temple, and all the congregation
simultaneously arose, being moved upon by
an invisible power; many began to speak in
tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious
visions.” Joseph recorded: “I beheld
the Temple was filled with angels.”
Oliver B. Huntington later recalled: “Father
Smith started up and spoke aloud, ‘What’s
that—is the house on fire?’ Some one answered
by asking, ‘Did not you pray, Father Smith,
that the Spirit of God might fill the house
as on the day of Pentecost?’”
Now a word about the aftermath. Among the
programs established in the midst of the Saints
was what was known as the Kirtland Safety
Society—which, ironically, turned out to be unsafe.
It was established on sound principles, but one of its leading officers fraudulently issued notes,
contrary to the instruction of the Prophet Joseph before he left for a trip to Canada.
By the issuing of those notes, and by a panic which took over 150 other banks down in the same period.
The Kirtland Bank failed.
It has been said that no part of man’s anatomy
is more sensitive than his pocketbook.
The spirit of speculation had become rampant at this time. Land speculation and other kinds.
Many of the saints, perhaps with a glimmer of inspiration, but the rest, I'm afraid, something else,
really thought that it was intended now that they become wealthy. They took risks, they made foolish decisions.
Many of them had paper from the Kirtland Bank, which when it failed, left them without whatever savings they
had. The result, as you could expect, was terrible bitterness. The blame, of course, placed
not where it belonged, but upon the head of the Prophet.
The trial that came, as had been prophesied,
had its effect in purging. It purged the Church
of some who had been fair-weather members,
and it purged many of the faithful of their
more greedy and selfish impulses. Another instance where the Lord overturned a catastrophe, to good.
For  many years, scholars critical of the Mormon
historical past assumed that, since the stock
ledger of the Kirtland bank was not available,
it had contained a record of illicit transactions and had been destroyed.
I'm happy to report that one of our students at the University of Chicago found in their library,
the Kirtland ledger book. It is now in our archives. It has been studied carefully by economists and historians.
There is no illicit transaction in it. Sooner or later, we will acknowledge that Joseph Smith was an honest,
well intentioned, and good man. No bank in the United States was ever established on a better foundation
than the Kirtland Society Bank, and had those who were in charge followed council, it might have survived.
The end of what happened with the Kirtland Temple is that it was turned by its enemies,
some of them under the direction of John Boynton, who had become a bitter apostate, it was turned into a barn.
A platform was built so that cattle and swine could be herded into it.
The very pulpits, including that special pulpit which Truman O. Angell built with such care,
were filled with hay and straw. Contrast.
It was to that pulpit, you remember, that the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery were paired with the curtains let down at
each of the sequential pulpits and with all of the saints still present in the temple,
and prayed as they knelt, that they could receive a testimony that the Lord accepted the dedicatory prayer.
I believe, as a personal insight, that what then occurred, was one of the three highest moments
in the life of the Prophet, Joseph Smith. As they knelt, the record says, the veil was taken from their minds,
and they saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit before them,
not exactly on it, for under His feet, says the record, was a paved work of pure gold.
Strange, but is it the case that a glorified and resurrected Christ will not again touch directly this inferior planet,
until He descends on the Mount of Olives, touches with His glorified, celestial foot that Mount and thus illicits
the transformation and earthquake that should prepare the Earth for the Millenium. Perhaps so.
In any case, the Prophet records, His eyes were as a flame of fire. His countenance shone above
the brightness of the sun. His hair was white as the pure snow, and His voice was as the sound
of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying—What did He say?
He said who he was. “I am the first
and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he
who was slain; I am your advocate with the
Father.” And now the phrase that must have
meant more to Joseph and Oliver than any phrase
up until that day: “Behold, your sins are
forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore,
lift up your heads and rejoice.” They did.
“All who are prepared, and are sufficiently
pure to abide the presence of the Savior,
will see Him in the solemn assembly.” They
had now been declared sufficiently pure.
Then came that series of statements accepting
the temple by Christ himself. “Behold, I
have accepted this house, and my name shall
be here; and I will manifest myself to my
people in mercy in this house. . . . And
this is the beginning of the blessing which
shall be poured out upon the heads of my people.
Even so. Amen.”
With that promise made, the Lord having prepared
the way for those who were bringing keys from
former dispensations, Joseph and Oliver as
joint witnesses saw Moses. He conferred upon
them the keys of the gathering of Israel and
the restoration of the Ten Tribes. Then they
saw Elias, who came with what is recorded
as the gospel of Abraham, promising both Joseph
and Oliver that through them all subsequent
generations should be blessed: the same promise
that had been made to Abraham. And then, to culminate it all, Elijah.
And with all that, the warning that was at the core of the Prophet’s first visit from the angel Moroni, also the
promise. “By this ye may know”—now that
this has happened, now that Malachi’s prophecy
is literally fulfilled, you may know that
the coming of the Lord is nigh, even at the very doors.
These visitations constitute the most sublime
expression of the entire Kirtland period.
Within weeks, they had turned that place into a barn.
Thusfar, we then have a glimpse of both the high and low water marks of the Kirtland Era.
For the next hour, we will move to Nauvoo.
