Below you will find Prince’s research excerpts titled, “Temples, 1868.” You can view other years here.
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TEMPLES, 1868.
1868: 21 Jan.: Instructions on temple ordinances.
“The school of the prophets met in the 14th Ward School House. Pres. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells and the Twelve Apostles and others were present. Pres. Brigham Young and counselors spoke; also Hiram B. Clawson, Bp. Edwin D. Woolley, Daniel Evans and Erastus Snow. Prests. Young, Kimball, and Wells spoke on the impropriety of the youth of Zion marrying instead of getting sealed.
He also spoke of cleanliness of person, before going to get their endowments; a woman should not go for a week after her menses were upon her, a man should not have intercourse with his wife for several days, but should be clean in body and exercised in spirit previous thereto; his clothing should be changed once or twice before going there.” (JH 21 Jan., 1868)
24 Jan.: All ordinances required for redemption.
“Again in regard to the redemption of the dead I believe it will take all the ordinances of the gospel of Christ to save [one] soul as much as another. Jesus himself obeyed all the ordinances of the Gospel that he might fulfill all righteousness. Therefore those who have died without the gospel will have to receive the gospel in the spirit world from those who preach to the Spirit in Prision, & those who dwell in the flesh will have to attend to all the ordinances of the gospel for & in their behalf by Proxy & it will take 1,000 years with Jesus Christ at the head of all the Prophets & Apostles before the work will be finished attending to all the ordinances for all the dead who have died without the gospel.” (Wilford Woodruff addressing the School of the Prophets, in Wilford Woodruff diary, 24 Jan., 1868)
31 Jan.: No intercourse several days before going to temple.
“The school of the prophets met in the 14th Ward School House. Pres. Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells and the Twelve Apostles and others were present. Pres. Brigham Young and counselors spoke; also Hiram B. Clawson, Bp. Edwin D. Woolley, Daniel Evans and Erastus Snow. Prests. Young, Kimball and Wells spoke on the impropriety of the youth of Zion marrying instead of getting sealed. He also spoke of cleanliness of person, before going to get their endowments; a woman should not go for a week after her menses were upon her, a man should not have intercourse with his wife for several days, but should be clean in body and exercised in spirit previous thereto; his clothing should be changed once or twice before going there.” (JH 31 Jan., 1868)
16 Feb.: Saints abroad must be gathered and blessed.
“It is absolutely necessary that the Saints should receive the further ordinances of the house of God before this short existence shall come to a close, that they may be prepared and fully able to pass all the sentinels leading into the celestial kingdom and into the presence of God. Our brethren and sisters who are scattered abroad must be gathered to be tried, and then to be blessed with a preparation for a glorious reward.” (Brigham Young, 16 Feb., 1868; JD 12:163-164)
16 Feb.: Sealing of man to man, woman to man.
“The ordinance of sealing must be performed here man to man, and woman to man, and children to parents, etc., until the chain of generation is made perfect in the sealing ordinances back to father Adam; hence, we have been commanded to gather ourselves together, to come out from Babylon, and sanctify ourselves, and build up the Zion of our God, by building cities and temples, redeeming countries from the solitude of nature, until the earth is sanctified and prepared for the residence of God and angels.” (Brigham Young, 16 Feb., 1868; JD 12:165)
19 Sep.: Rules for School of the Prophets.
“The School of the Prophets met as usual in Salt Lake City. Orson Pratt, Geo. B. Wallace, Geo. D. Watt, Edwin D. Woolley and Amos Fielding spoke. By direction of Geo. A. Smith the rules of this class were read and a copy of them filed. They are as follows:
RULES TO BE OBSERVED BY THE FIRST CLASS OF THE SCHOOL OF THE PROPHETS.
1st. All members must be at the School punctually at the hour appointed, unless excused by the President, or can afterwards show good and sufficient reasons for their absence.
2nd. They must not take the name of the Deity in vain, nor speak lightly of His character.
3rd. They must observe and keep the ‘Word of Wisdom,’ according to the spirit and meaning thereof.
4th. They must pray with their families evening and morning and also attend to secret prayer.
5th. They must provide for their families and not abuse them, nor be quarrelsome with, or speak evil of each other or their neighbors.
6th. They are required to observe personal cleanliness, and must preserve themselves in all chastity by refraining from adultery, whoredom, and lust.
7th. They must not go after hay, go to the canyons, nor hunt their animals, nor perform any other labor on the Sabbath day, but must rest and attend meeting in the Tabernacle, in their wards, and the Fast Day meetings, and observe the Fast days, and make their offering to the poor on those days.
8th. They must pay their tithing.
9th. If any member of this school has any difficulty with another member, he must go and be reconciled with him before attending the school.
10th.They must not find fault with, nor rebuke any of the members of the School, this being the province of the President only.
11th.In all matters, their dealings should be as much as possible with those in full fellowship in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but they must not deal with their enemies, and in all their dealings, conduct and conversation, they must strive to do as they should be done by.
12th.They should not hereafter, incur any debt beyond their means for paying as they agree, and must honestly pay their debts, already incurred, if they have the means wherewith to do so.
13th.That which is not their own, they must not take.
14th.That which they borrow they must return according to promise, and that which they find they must not appropriate to their own use, but seek to return it to its lawful owner, and if the owner cannot be found, it must be deposited in the place designated for lost property.
15th.They must not let down their bars, open their gate, nor make gaps in their fences, through which their animals can pass to the injury of their neighbors; neither must they let down his bars, or fence, or open his gate, to let their animals trespass upon him, and in all cases they must pay for the damage done by their animals.
16th.No member of this School has the privilege of inviting his friends to attend, without being permitted to do so by the President.
17th.Whatever passes in the School must be preserved inviolate.”
(JH 19 Sep., 1868)
8 Oct.: Thos. Kane reminiscence of Nauvoo Temple.
“They [the Anti-Mormons who had taken possession of Nauvoo] also conducted me inside the massive sculptured walls of the curious Temple, in which they said the banished inhabitants were accustomed to celebrate the mystic rites of an unhallowed worship. They particularly pointed out to me certain features of the building which, having been the peculiar objects of a former superstitious regard, they had, as a matter of duty, sedulously defiled and defaced. The reputed sites of certain shrines they had thus particularly noticed; and various sheltered chambers, in one of which was a deep well, constructed, they believed, with a dreadful design. Beside these, they led me to see a large and deep chiselled marble vase or basin, supported upon twelve oxen, also of marble, and of the size of life, of which they told some romatic stories. They said the deluded persons, most of whom were emigrants from a great distance, believed their Deity countenanced their reception here of a baptism of regeneration, as proxies for whomsoever they held in warm affection in the countries from which they had come. That here parents ‘went into the water’ for their lost children, children for their parents, widows for their spouses, and young persons for their lovers; that thus the Great Vase came to be for them associated with all dear and distant memories, and was therefore the object, of all others in the building, to which they attached the greatest degree of idolatrous affection. On this account, the victors had so diligently desecrated it, as to render the apartment in which it was contained too noisome to abide in.” (Thomas Kane account of Nauvoo Temple, related by George A. Smith, 8 Oct., 1868; JD 13:116-117)