Below you will find Prince’s research excerpts titled, “Temples, 1863.” You can view other years here.
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TEMPLES, 1863.
1863: 22 Feb.: Loud laughter is offensive to the angels.
“In regard to our Theatre there are several evils complained of, which are no doubt the effects of tradition, and contact with the usages of the world. . . . Another evil is the practice of stamping and shouting applause when something pleases them. When listening to such uproarious noises and exhibitions of pleasure, I often think of the cautions we used to receive in such matters years ago in Nauvoo. Brother Joseph used to tell us that were there an assembly of saints and the angels of God present, if one of the saints even laughted aloud the angels would immediately take their departure. Loud laughter and stamping of feet is to say the least very unbecoming in the saints and ought to be studiously avoided. The clapping of hands in token of approval is not objectioned, for I believe we read of angels clapping their hands for joy, and sometimes we read of good men shouting for joy, but not the manner we see in our theatre.” (William Clayton to George Q. Cannon, 22 Feb., 1863; William Clayton Letterbook, Bancroft Library; microfilm)
1 Mar.: Freemasonry one of strongest binding contracts.
“Freemasonry is one of the strongest binding contracts that exists between man and man.” (John Taylor, 1 Mar., 1863; JD 10:125)
6 Apr.: This temple is little more than a play thing.
“Here, then, is a Temple to be built, the foundation of which is laid, and considerable rock has been hauled for the walls, and large amounts of hewing done. This work must be consummated, and in doing that, we are learning to listen to the word of the Lord to us and becoming used to the harness. It is a nice thing to get our endowments, and there is something yet to be got which we have not yet received. The Scripture says, ‘First temporal and then spiritual,’ and the temporal things are mixed up with spiritual things; but before we are worthy of the one we must take hold of the other. . . .
By and bye you will go into that Temple, and when you have received your endowments in it and the spiritual blessings that you can get, you will learn more about building another Temple, and then will come temporal things again. The Temple we are now building, in comparison, is no more than a little plaything, but in ding it we shall learn better how to perform temporal things and spiritual things.” (John Taylor, 6 Apr., 1863; JD 10:149-150)
6 Apr.: One endowment after another.
“There are but few here who received the endowment that was given in the Temple at Kirtland; many of those who did receive it are dead, quite a number are turned away, for the apostacy was very great in those days considering the number of the people, hence there are but few now with us who partook of that endowment. There are still other endowments that were given to a very few in Nauvoo, and which we do not give here at present, but which will be given to the faithful when that Temple is finished, if not before. . . .
Have you not had your endowments, sisters, and been sealed to your husbands? Yes, many of you have, and now let me ask if there is anything more than what you have received, any further ordinances to be received? Yes, lots of them. there were but a hundred and thirty who received a part in advance of the ordinances of endowment that were revealed by the Prophet Joseph. Bless you, it will be one endowment after another till we pass through the vail into the other world, and until we have passed all the ordeal requisite to prepare us to enter into celestial glory and exaltation.” (Heber C. Kimball, JD 10:165, 166; 6 Apr., 1863)
6 Apr.: Jesus has a place to stay.
“If the Lord should come to visit his people, where has he got a place to stay and rest himself while he communicates his will to his sons and daughters? That man that has engaged and is working for the accomplishment of such a great design as this is, to prepare a place that will be fit and suitable for the Almighty to dwell in for a short time when he comes to visit his servants, ought to feel highly honored and favored of the Almighty.” (Heber C. Kimball, 6 Apr., 1863; JD 10:166)
7 Apr.: Jesus has a place to stay.
“If the Lord comes down to visit that Temple, he will come down to bless his people and not to benefit himself. Suppose he should come now, who are prepared to receive him? And who would share the greatest good and be the most accommodated by the building of this Temple? Why the blessings would be the people’s; the happiness and the benefits thereof would be for the people, and the glory that it would afford to the Almighty would only be that which the blessing would afford him of seing his children happy in the enjoyment of the benefits of his mercy. This would be his blessing, and he would also enjoy the shelter that was made for him in the Temple of our God. Now, let us go to work with this feeling, remembering that we have a great deal of responsibility and care upon us; let us not cease to be active, for we have always plenty to do; we have always enough responsibility to keep us budy and to keep the great stone of the kingdom of God rolling onward.” (Amasa M. Lyman, 7 Apr., 1863; JD 10:185)
7 Apr.: Endowments preceding the temple endowments.
“We are all looking forward to a time when we shall receive in that Temple that is to be built, but which we do not expect to see finished for a short time to come, all the blessings of endowments and Priesthood that have been promised unto the faithful. We are called upon to engage in this all-important work; and while we are laboring at this, let us consider well the endowments that we have so much need of between this and the time the Temple of our God is finished and made ready for the additional outpouring of the Spirit of the Most High. If we do not gain experience and obtain the necessary endowments as we pass along, we shall find ourselves very poorly prepared for the great and glorious endowments that are to be received in that Temple. If we do not prepare ourselves, those endowments, if we are permitted to receive them at all, will be no better for us than the endowments given to some men in Nauvoo–that is, they will prove a curse instead of a blessing.” (Charles C. Rich, 7 Apr., 1863; JD 10:162)
9 May: Nobody yet ready to return to Jackson County.
“Prest. B. Young expressed his satisfaction at meeting with the Saints in St. George. Said he did not expect to preach many spiritual sermons, as he considered the people were united in matters of principle and doctrine, but thought several temporal discourses would be delivered during the meetings, as the people were much in need of that kind of instruction. In speaking of the necessity of the Saints having teachers in their midst to instruct them in their every-day duties, the President referred to the progress made in the Territory, and attributed the same to the willingness of the Saints to obey counsel, but said they had a great deal to learn yet, before any one would be prepared to return to the centre stake of Zion, as he was not acquainted with one man who was ready to go there at the present.” (Minutes of a meeting held at St. George, 9-10 May, 1863; DN 12(49):392, 3 Jun., 1863)
24 May: What enables us to pass the porters into the Celestial Kingdom.
“Those who are counted worthy to dwell with the Father and the Son have previously received an education fitting for that society; they have been made fully acquainted with every password, token and sign which has enabled them to pass by the porters through the doors into the celestial kingdom.” (Brigham Young, 24 May, 1863; JD 10:172)
27 Jun.: Creation imitated in endowment.
“Father Adam was instructed to multiply and replenish the earth, to make it beautiful and glorious, to make it, in short, like unto the garden from which the seeds were brought to plant the garden of Eden. I might say much more upon this subject, but I will ask, has it not been imitated before you in your holy endowments so that you might understand how things were in the beginning of creation and cultivation of this earth? God the Father made Adam the Lord of this creation in the beginning, and if we are the Lords of this creation under Adam, ought we not to take a course to imitate our Father in heaven? Is not all this exhibited to us in our endowments? the earth made glorious and beautiful to look upon, representing everything which the Lord caused to be prepared and placed to adorn the earth.” (Heber C. Kimball, 27 Jun., 1863; JD 10:235)
19 Jul.: The apostles received the endowment from Jesus.
“Jesus says, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ It is very easy to understand that a man can see very little of a kingdom unless he goes into it, and a man to see and understand the kingdom of God must first become a member of the Church of Christ, and then he progresses until he has an opportunity of looking into the kingdom, of becoming acquainted with its officers and laws, and hence it is that Jesus says, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ When the kingdom of God is organized upon the earth, it is done to protect the Church of Christ in its rights and privileges, so that you see the Church makes a government to protect itself, but who knows what that government is? All those to whom it has been revealed, and no others. Let the Saints reflect upon these matters which I am laying before them. Think of your holy endowments and what you have been anointed to become, and reflect upon the blessings which have been placed uopn you, for they are the same in part that were placed uopn Jesus; he was the one that inducted his Apostles into these ordinances; it was he who set up the kingdom of which we are subjects. This is the kingdom of which all the Prophets spake, and to which Daniel alluded when he said, ‘And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.’ It is a blessing to have the privilege of entering into the kingdom of God and partaking of the privileges and blessings that are bestowed upon its members.” (Heber C. Kimball, 19 Jul., 1863; JD 10:240-241)
6 Oct.: Exalt a man to the Godhead.
“It [our religion] is the only system of religion known in heaven or on earth that can exalt a man to the Godhead, and this it will do to all thos who embrace its laws and faithfully observe its precepts.” (Brigham Young, JD 10:251, 6 Oct., 1863)
6 Oct.: A house where the Lord can dwell.
“The earth, the Lord says, abides its creation; it has been baptized with water, and will, in the future, be baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost, to be prepared to go back into the celestial presence of God, with all things that dwell upon it which have, like the earth, abided the law of their creation. Taking this view of the matter, it may be asked why we build temples. We build temples because there is not a house on the face of the whole earth that has been reared to God’s name, which will in anywise compare with his character, and that he can consistently call his house. There are places on the earth where the Lord can come and dwell, if he pleases. They may be found on the tops of high mountains, or in some cavern or places where sinful man has never marked the soil with his polluted feet.
He requires his servants to build him a house that He can come to, and where He can make known His will. This opens to my mind a field that I shall not undertake to survey to-day. I will just say, when I see men at work on that Temple who nurse cursings in their hearts, I wish they would walk out of the Temple-block, and never again enter within its walls, until their hearts are sanctified to God and his Work. This will also apply to men who are dishonest. But we have to put up and bear patiently with many things that we cannot help under present circumstances, and in our present imperfect state. We would like to build a substantial house, suitably arranged and embellished–a permanent house–that shall be renowned for its beauty and excellency, to present to the Lord our God, and then lock and bar it up, unless he shall say, ‘Enter ye into this my house, and there officiate in the ordinances of my Holy Priesthood, as I shall direct.’ We have already built two Temples: one in Kirtland, Ohio, and one in Nauvoo, Illinois. We commenced the foundation of one in Far West, Missouri. You know the history of the one we built in Nauvoo. It was burnt, all the materials that would burn, and the walls have since been almost entirely demolished and used for building private dwellings, &c. I would rather it should thus be destroyed than remain in the hands of the wicked. If the Saints cannot so live as to inherit a Temple when it is built, I would rather never see a Temple built. God commanded us to build the Nauvoo Temple, and we built it, and performed our duty pretty well. There are Elders here to-day who labored on that house with not a shoe to their feet, or pantaloons that would cover their limbs. or a shirt to cover their arms.
We performed the work, and performed it within the time which the Lord gave us to do it in. Apostates said that we never could perform that work; but, through the blessing of God, it was completed and accepted of him. Apostates never build Temples unto God, but the Saints are called to do this work.” (Brigham Young, 6 Oct., 1863; JD 10:252-253)
6 Oct.: Must pay tithing to enter Temple when completed.
“Has the Lord required of us to pay Tithing? He has–namely, one-tenth of our increase. Now, if we withhold our Tithing, and the Temple, nevertheless, is completed and ready for the ordinances of the Holy Priesthood to be performed therein, can those who have withheld their Tithing enter that Temple to pass through the ordinances of salvation for their dead, and be just before God? If they can, I must confess that I do not understand the nature of God’s requirements, nor his justice, nor his truth, nor his mercy.” (Brigham Young, 6 Oct., 1863; JD 10:253)
6 Oct.: Some ordinances can’t be given in Endowment House
“There are some of the sealing ordinances that cannot be administered in the house that we are now using; we can only administer in it some of the first ordinances of the Priesthood pertaining to the endowment. There are more advanced ordinances that cannot be administered there; we would, therefore, like a Temple, but I am willing to wait a few years for it. I want to see the Temple built in a manner that it will endure through the Millennium. This is not the only Temple we shall build; There will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord. This Temple will be known as the first Temple built in the mountains by the Latter-day Saints. And when the Millennium is over, and all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, down to the last of their posterity, who come within the reach of the clemency of the Gospel, have been redeemed in hundreds of Temples through the administration of their children as proxies for them, I want that Temple still to stand as a proud monument of the faith, perseverance and industry of the Saints of God in the mountains, in the nineteenth century.” (Brigham Young, 6 Oct., 1863; JD 10:254)
6 Oct.: We have all endowments we can get in this life.
“Some of us are not dependent on the Temple for our endowment blessings, for we have received them under the hands of Joseph the Prophet, and know where to go to bestow the same on others. You may ask me whether the leaders of this Church have received all their endowment blessings. I think that we have got all that you can get in your probation, if you live to be the age of Methuselah; and we can give what we possess to others who are worthy. We want to build that temple as it should be built, that when we present it to the Lord we may not have to cover our faces in shame.” (Brigham Young, JD 10:254, 6 Oct., 1863)
9 Oct.: Some ordinances can’t be done outside temples.
“There are some of the sealing ordinances that cannot be administered in the house that we are now using; we can only administer in it some of the first ordinances of the priesthood pertaining to the endowment; there are more advanced ordinances that cannot be administered there, we would, therefore, like a temple, but I am willing to wait a few years for it. I want to see that temple built in a manner that it will endure through the millennium. This is not the only temple we shall build; there will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord. This temple will be known as the first temple built in the mountains by the Latter Day Saints. And when the millennium is over, and all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, down to the last of their posterity, who come within the reach of the clemency of the gospel, have been redeemed in hundreds of temples through the administration of their children as proxies for them, I want that temple still to stand as a proud monument of the faith, perseverance and industry of the saints of God in the mountains, in the nineteenth century.
I told you, thirteen years ago, that every time we took up our tools to progress with that temple, we should see opposition. Our enemies do not love to see it progress, because we are building it for God, and they do not love him. If it is necessary, I am willing to drop the work on the temple; but if you require at our hands tht the temple be built, you should be as willing to pay your tithing as you are to have us build the temple. Some of us are not dependent on the temple for our endowment blessings, for we have received them under the hands of Joseph the prophet, and know where to go to bestow the same on others. You may ask me whether the leaders of this church have received all their endowment blessings. I think we have got all that you can get in your probation, if you live to be the age of Methusalah; and we can give what we possess to others who are worthy. We want to build that temple as it should be built, that when we present it to the Lord we may not have to cover our faces in shame.” (Brigham Young, 9 Oct., 1863; DN 13(13):97, 14 Oct., 1863)
27 Nov.: Temples can’t be built without money.
“Do not think it strange my urging attention to these business matters. They are a very important part of our religion. We cannot either eat or travel or build Temples or build up the Kingdom of God without money, and it is just as right and honorable to collect from the nations that which is the just due of our brethren and sisters as it is to do any other good work. The brethren and sisters who have money due them in the old countries need it, and it will do them good, and I shall do all I can to help get it for them.” (William Clayton to Paul A. Schettler, Geneva, Switzerland, 27 Nov., 1863; in Clayton Letterbooks, Bancroft Collection)
Second anointing in Historian’s Office.
“Cyrus Standford and wife get second anointing in the Historian’s Office.” (Antoine W. Ivins Journal 13:109; 1863. Bergera collection.)