Below you will find Prince’s research excerpts titled, “Temples, 1865.” You can view other years here.
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TEMPLES, 1865.
1865: 4 Feb.: Spontaneous lectures following endowments.
“President Heber C. Kimball presides at the Endowment House at times when we give Endowments & gives lectures and teaches such principles as the Holy spirits brings to his mind.” (Wilford Woodruff diary, 4 Feb., 1865)
6 Apr.: Marriage sealings rejected by RLDS.
6 Apr.: “The First presidency and Quorum of the Twelve declare to the Church that they know of no law teaching or sanctioning the doctrine of sealing relating to Marriage for Eternity.”
1 May: “The question of Sealing was Reconsidered when it was Resolved that the First Presidency of this Church and the Quorum of the Twelve declare to the Church that the doctrine of Sealing as relating to Marriage for Eternity is a heresey.” (Council Meetings of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, RLDS Church, 6 Apr. and 1 May, 1865. RLDS Archives)
1 May: RLDS downplay, but don’t reject, baptism for dead.
“President Smith, Suggested for consideration of Council the subject of Baptism for the Dead, and the expediency of preaching it.
Er Marks said When Joseph stopped the Baptism for the dead He stated that He did not believe it would be practiced any more until there was a fountain built in Zion or Jerusalem. Resolved that it is proper to teach the doctrine of Baptism for the dead, when it is necessary to do so in order to shew the completeness of the plan of salvation, but wisdom dictates that the way should be prepared by the preaching of the First principles.” (Minutes of Council Meeting of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve, RLDS, 1 May, 1865. RLDS Archives)
13 Jul.: Get your endowments before you get married.
“Presidet Young Spoke to the people 58 minutes. He said that the whole Curse of the Earth had got to be taken off from the Earth by the Latter day Saints. We have got to be sanctified & Sanctify all the Earth & we have got to begin by sanctifying our own hearts first & then spread out. How many of the Children of this people are Entitled to the Holy Priesthood & the Blessings of Abraham? All who are born after their parents have received their Endowments & are sealed & all others will have to be adopted to their parents. All who want the Blessings of Abram Isaac & Jacob go & get your Endowments before you get married. Then all your Children will be heirs to the priesthood. Their is no Son has a right to the Priesthood & heirship unless their parents had their Endowments before they were born. Such must be adopted to their Parents or they have no right to heirship. Let no youth get married untill they get their Endowments & get sealed at the Altar. If young men knew what was for their good they would go hundreds of miles to get married right before they would do as many have. Our boys who are guided by a right hand will be mighty men of God in the Earth. . . .
And now I will say to all the people get your Endowments & be sealed. Then your Children Will be legal heirs to the priesthood & Birth right. If this is not the Case with you your Children will have to be sealed to you.” (Wilford Woodruff diary, 13 Jul., 1865)
19 Aug.: First baptism in new font.
“I Baptized Sister Sprague in the New Font for & in Behalf of his first Eliza Caroline Everett Sprague. This was the first Baptism in the Font.” (Wilford Woodruff diary, 19 Aug., 1865)
1 Oct.: Wm. Marks on Endowment/Polygamy.
“{This is not in Marks handwriting, evidently a copy.}
Shabbona Grove
Dekalb Co, Illinois
October 1, 1865
Hyrum Folk and Josiah Butterfield.
Dear Brethren:
I received your kind letter September 26th. It did my soul good to hear from my old friends. I left you at Nauvoo, not expecting to see you again, but the prospects are flattering that we may meet together again. I must give you a short history of my experience at Nauvoo before I left. In a prayer meeting some six months before there was any appearance of polygamy, we were warned by the Spirit that the Lord was going to endow the church with the greatest endowment that was ever bestowed on man, and the Devil was much displeased with it, and was determined to prevent it and would pour out the spirit of adultery upon the whole church, which was the easiest spirit to take there was in the world. And he would veryi near succeed in overthrowing the church, but should not quite succeed, and giving direction how we might know when it began, and ended with a long exhortation to the saints to beware of that spirit. This warning sank deep into my mind, and did keep me on the lookout.
And another thing decided the thing in my mind. Brother Joseph came to me about two weeks before he was killed and says: ‘Brother Marks I want to talk with you. We went by ourselves and he said ‘This polygamy business in the church must be stopped, or the church is ruined and we can’t stay in the United States. I have been deceived in this thing and it must be put down. I thought it would be an advantage to mankind but I find it proves a curse.[‘] I asked him how it could be done? He said I must go into the High Council and he would prefer charges against those in adultery and I must cut them off, and he would go on the stand and preach against it, and thought by so doing we might put it down, but the mob soon commenced gathering and there was nothing done. I told some of my friends what Brother Joseph had told me. ‘O, Bro. Marks has apostatized, it is only some of his lies.’
I thought that was all they cared about it. They might take their course and I would take mine. These are all solemn truths: though there was much other conversation at the time that I have not written. . . .
William Marks.”
(William Marks to Hyrum Folk and Josiah Butterfield, 1 Oct., 1865, typescript; Inez Smith Davis collection, P23 f61)
6 Oct.: On the need for permanent temples.
“When our temple is completed, it will be used for the administering of the holy ordinances of God; it will be for the use of the Priesthood to give endowments to the people. It is just as requisite that that temple should be built as it is that we build houses for our wives and children to dwell in, because the service of our God is no so acceptable to Him in a temporary place of worship when His people can make a permanent one after the pattern which is pleasing to Him.” (Heber C. Kimball, 6 Oct., 1865; JD 11:144)
Fanny Stenhouse’s 2nd anointing.
“Not only after this [the marriage of her daughter, Clara, to John A. Young]. my husband one day told me that a select few had been chosen to receive the Second Endowments, and that we were to be honored with the same privilege. This I was told was one of the highest honours that could be conferred upon us, as the Second Endowments had never been given to anyone since the Mormons left Nauvoo.
When we reached the Endowment House, we ladies were shown into one room and our husband into another. We then proceeded to array ourselves in our robes, caps, and aprons–the same as when we received our first Endowments–and when all was ready we were ushered into another room by one of the brethren, who was also dressed in his Temple robes. There we met our husband and several other brethren, all dressed the same way. We sat down, and oil was then poured upon the head of our husband by two of the brethren–Daniel H. Wells and another–and he was ordained a King and Priest to all eternity. After that, we two wives were anointed in like manner, and ordained Queens and Priestesses, to reign and rule with our husbands over his kingdom in the celestial world.” (An Englishwoman in Utah, by Fanny Stenhouse, 1881 ed, pp. 320-321. This took place around the year 1865. Bergera collection.)