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com

tally unknown in the two former Temples, namely, endowments for the dead. Again, by and by, we build a Temple in Jackson County, Missouri. Will it be built according to the pattern of our present Temples? No. There will be, according to the progress of this people, and the knowledge they receive, and the greatness of the work that is before them, many things, pertaining to the pattern, that will then be given, which will differ materially, or will be, at least, in addition to that which is in these Temples now built. I (Journal, bk. 94B, p. 19, 2nd numbering, Church Historical think if you will go and search in the Church Archives) Historian's office, you will find a plan of a #2 Orson Pratt: "By and by we will Temple, that is to be built in Jackson County, which will be very different from the little have Temples, with a great many things contained in them which we Temples we now build" (Journal of Discourses, 19:19) now have not; for with them, as #3 Frederick G. Williams: We went with all other things, the Lord beupon our knees, called on the Lord, gins little by little; he does not reveal everyand the Building appeared within thing all at once. He gave the pattern of viewing distance: I being the first to these things in Kirtland, Ohio, as the begindiscover it. Then all of us viewed it ning; but there were not rooms for the together. After we had taken a good look at washings, no rooms such as we have now, the exterior, the building seemed to come and such as were prepared in the Nauvoo right over us, and the Makeup of this Hall Temple; and in other respects, there was seems to coincide with what I there saw to a something added to the Nauvoo Temple. minutia (quoted in Truman O. Angell, Journal, MS, Special Why; Because we had greater experience, Collections, Lee Library, Brigham Young University, 4). and were prepared for greater things. There was no font in the basement story of the #4 Lucy Mack Smith: In this counKirtland Temple, for baptismal purposes in cil, Joseph requested that each of behalf of the dead? Why not! Because that the brethren should give his views principle was not revealed. But in the Nauwith regard to the house; and voo Temple this font was prepared, which when they had all got through, he would was something in advance of the Kirtland Temple. We have, of late, constructed a Temple at St. George. Blessings have been administered in that Temple, that were to#1 Heber C. Kimball: The church was in a state of poverty and distress in consequence of which it appeared almost impossible that the commandment (to build the Kirtland temple) could be fulfilled, at the same time our enemies were raging and threatening destruction upon us, and we had to guard ourselves night after night, and for weeks were not permitted to take off our clothes, and were obliged to lay with our fire locks in our arms to preserve brother Josephs life.

give his opinion concerning the matter... Some were in favor of building a frame house, but the majority were of a mind to put up another log house. Joseph reminded them that they were not building a house for a man, but for God; and shall we, brethren, said he, build a house for our God, of logs? No, I have a better plan than that. I have a plan of the house of the Lord, given by Himself; and you will soon see by this, the difference between our calculations and His idea of things. He then gave them a full pattern of the house of the Lord at Kirtland, with which the brethren were highly delighted, particularly Hyrum, who was much more animated than if it were designed for himself. (History of Joseph Smith, 217) #5 Eliza R. Snow: The Saints were few in number, and most of them very poor; And, had it not been for the assurance that God hath not only revealed the form, but also designated the dimensions, an attempt towards building that Temple, under the then existing circumstances, would have been, by all concerned, pronounced preposterous (An Immortal: Selected Writings of Eliza R. Snow,

ever most needed; with laborers on the walls, holding the sword in one hand to protect them selves from the mob, while they placed the stone and moved the trowel with the other (JD 2:31). #7 Jared Carter: Found while we were here the Lord had mercy upon a lame man who had been lame for months but we found he was a believer in the Book of Mormon I then took him by the hand and commanded him in the name of Christ to walk. He rose to his feet, threw down his crutches, and walked 3/4 of a mile to a lake where he was baptized by Simeon Carter, Jareds mission companion and brother. (http://
www.rootcellar.us/tanconvr.htm )

#8 In December 1834 John Tanner received an impression by dream that he was needed and must go immediately to the Church in the West. ...When he reached Kirtland, about a month later, he learned that at the time he received the impression the Prophet Joseph Smith and some of the other brethren met in prayer meeting and asked the Lord to send them a brother with means to assist them in lifting the mortgage on the farm upon which the tem1957, p. 54) ple was then building. On the second day of his arrival in Kirtland, ...he was informed #6 Brigham Young: The Church that the mortgage on the temple block was was too few in numbers, too about to be foreclosed He loaned the weak in faith, and too poor in Prophet $2,000, and took the Prophets note purse, to attempt such a mighty at interest. With this amount, the block or enterprise. But by means of all these stimulants, a mere handful of men liv- farm was redeemed. He loaned the temple committee $13,000 dollars, signed a note for ing on air, and a little hominy and milk and $30,000 dollars with the Prophet and others often salt or no salt when milk could not be for goods purchased in New York, and made had; the great Prophet Joseph, in the stone liberal donations toward the building of the quarry, quarrying rock with his own hands; and the few then in the Church, following his temple. There is no evidence that any of these loans were repaid. example of obedience and diligence wher-

By 1838 he had sold, loaned, lost, or given to others nearly all of his money and property At the time of the exodus he was so poor that he had to borrow some of the necessities for the journey. In 1844, John Tanner was called to take a mission Before starting he went to Nauvoo to see the Prophet, Joseph Smith, whom he met in the street. He held the Prophets note for $2,000 loaned in 1835, to redeem the Kirtland Temple farm The Prophet asked what he would have him do with it and [he] replied: Brother Joseph you are welcome to it. The Prophet then laid his right hand heavily upon [his] shoulder and said, God bless you, ...your children shall never beg for bread. (Milton V. Backman, The Heavens Resound: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 18301838, 351)

four children. In short he, along with numerous others, gave everything he had to the building of the temple. (Learning to Love the Temple ... Even More, BYU Idaho Devotional, Mar. 17, 2009 )

#9 Elder Cree L. Kofford: At the time of the commencement of work on the Kirtland Temple my great-great-grandfather, Artemus Millet, was a wealthy construction contractor living in the area of Toronto, Canada. He was also a non-member of the Church. It has been said that he was surprised to find Brigham Young at his door saying that he had been sent by Joseph Smith to convert him to the Church and that he was to leave his business and come to Kirtland to assist in the construction of the temple. Brigham also said that Joseph wanted him to bring $1000 so they could buy supplies. Artemus was baptized, left his business in the hands of employees, and went to Kirtland where he worked tirelessly on the temple. Accidents and fatigue weakened him physically; he gave liberally of his funds and in the end had little of economic worth left. His wife died leaving him with

#10 President Lorenzo Snow: There we had the gift of prophecythe gift of tonguesthe interpretation of tonguesvisions and marvelous dreams were relatedthe singing of heavenly choirs was heard, and wonderful manifestations of the healing power, through the administrations of the Elders, were witnessed. The sick were healedthe deaf made to hearthe blind to see and the lame to walk, in very many instances. It was plainly manifest that a sacred and divine influencea spiritual atmosphere pervaded that holy edifice. (Eliza R. Snow, Biography and Family Record of
Lorenzo Snow (1884), 11.)

#11 President Brigham Young: We are enjoying a privilege that we have no knowledge of any other people enjoying since the days of Adam, that is, to have a temple completed, wherein all the ordinances of the house of God can be bestowed upon his people. Brethren and Sisters, do you understand this? (JD 18:314)

#12 William Wolf: At the time of my fathers death iin 1979, I was not very active in church work and left the task of having his [temple] work done to my daughter. However, by July 1986 I had come to my senses and performed the temple ordinances for my grandfather and sealed my father to him. As I came through the veil and entered the celestial room, the thought came

to my head, as clear as if my father had been at my side and talking to me, ITS ABOUT TME, YOU ORNERY PECKER WOOD a phrase that I had not heard nor thought of for years. This is what my father would call one of us kids when we went astray. There will never be any doubt that my father was talking to me that day.
(Ed J. Pinegar, Richard J. Allen, and Karl R. Anderson, Teachings and Commentaries on the Doctrine and Covenants, 232)

The Temple and the Atonement

Abridged from a lecture delivered in Saratoga, California, October 16, 1994. We have been in Israel on and off, for nearly six-and-a-half years. It was evocative in ways I cannot put in words. We came daily, my wife and I, for two years to that magnificent building on Mount Scopus, the Jerusalem Center, your center. We walked into an office which is all glass on the west side and looked out early in the morning upon descending gold, because as the sun rises it strikes the taller buildings first and then moves down. Golden Jerusalem, the place of the most ancient temple and the place of the great future temple. Having been associated with BYU for three decades, I have had the privilege of knowing and for a period even being next door in an office building to a young man named Hugh Nibley. You may have heard that name. As you look at the materials in the foyer, you will see his name prominently. Part of the great mission of FARMS is to see that all this man has written is pulled together in collected worksfifteen volumes so far. If there is a major preoccupation in his life, certainly over the last twenty to twenty-five years, it has been the temple. His task has been to study world ritual, to look at ceremony as it relates to temples all over the world, going as far back as possible in antiquity. Experience has taught me that this man loves what he is writing about. We occasionally have the opportunity to go to the temple with him and even to have a word or two with him afterward over a meal or sometimes within the temple itself. He is always focused and full of concentration during that experience. Someone said to me, "It's probably written in memory, so he could practically go to sleep and still get through it." He doesn't do that. He listens and he comes out as ebullient, joyous, and radiant as a child would be after the morning of Christmas. He is proof that there are depths beyond depths, insights beyond insights, glories beyond glories in the temple, which many of us have not yet plumbed. Now go with me to a place called Kirtland, Ohio, and recall that on one occasion when the people are asking "Why, O why when we hardly have enough for hominy and milk do we have to build a temple? What is a temple? And why at

Truman G. Madsen

such great cost?" At one point the prophet replied, "The Angel Gabriel couldn't explain it to you now. But have faith and continue and the Lord will make it plain."1 Well, according to the late Elder John A. Widtsoe, the cost of that building, using the measuring rod of the widow's mitewhat they had proportional to what they gavethe Kirtland Temple cost more per capita than any building in American religious history. An unprecedented sacrifice! That sacrifice was met, as you all know, with an unprecedented outpouring of the Lord's Spirit. They actually met in the temple, and as they put it, "waited on the Lord" at candlelight all night. I have found no record of anyone falling asleep. There was such a jubilee of feeling close to the Lord and being filled with joy that the people went from house to house to visit each other. They would share their experiences. Then they would give blessings to each other. One of them wrote in his journal that he thought the Millennium had come. He thought all temptation and all trial was past, even the desire for sin. 2 The prophet had to stand up on one occasion and say, in effect, "Brothers and sisters, this is all of God, but the opposite will come. There will be new onslaughts of trial." To the twelve he said specifically, "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." 3 That was all too prophetic. You know the sequel. Within months there were new seeds of apostasy and bitterness: the failure of the Kirtland bank and the assigning of blame. One-half of those who were at the time faithful fell away. One-half of the Council of the Twelvesix menapostatized. Of the remaining six, four had times of trouble and disaffection. The wrench came. After great tribulations, our scriptures tell us, come the blessings. On the other side of that, after great blessings come further trials. That's the nature of life. You can all testify from your own experience. So after that sacrifice they were driven out. They tried three different times in Missouri to dedicate places for temples, but they were never able to get a shovel into the ground to start building. The prophet Joseph made a special trip to the very center, Independence, and dedicated land there. They dedicated Adam-ondi-Ahman for a temple. They dedicated a site in Far West. Not until Nauvoo, after having been through the crucible again, were they able to undertake the actual construction of the temple. That one took all the people's time and energies for nearly three years. How long was it actually used? Less than six weeks after its formal dedication. And it cost about a million dollars. Genuine sacrifice! How could the Prophet have led them to make this tremendous sacrifice for just six weeks? That temple was ripped as it were from its roots, destroyed by fire and then a cyclone. When they came across the plains to the alkali soil of the West (you know the story), Brigham with his cane said, "Here we will build a temple of our God." Yes, it's there. It took forty years of building. Three other temples were finished before it was. Why all this? Some glimpses: Do you realize that the Prophet in one temple sermon in Nauvoo was addressing a woman, a mother, who had been bereft of her son through death? He said to her, "You shall have glad tidings today." This sister believed the scripture that talks about rebirth, that there is no access to the kingdom of God except through baptism. Her child had not been baptized. And the Prophet introduced the principle of baptism for the (we always say) dead. But there are no dead. Those who are in the spirit world are very much alive, in fact perhaps more alive than we are. "This is your privilege: You can go into the waters of baptism for your loved ones." He added another phrase, "and for those whom we have much friendship for."4 The instant reaction to that sermon was that people rushed down to the Mississippi (the temple wasn't finished, and the font wasn't finished), and began baptisms for about a hundred people. No witnesses, no records, women were baptized for men, men for women, and the Prophet literally had to run down to the river and say, "Wait, wait, we have to do this in order."5 It is the desire I want to describe. Do you care about those you truly love? Do you want to bring to them the same blessings you have received? Of course. There is much more. The prophet taught in a sermon in Nauvoo that "we need the temple more than we need anything else."6 Why? The following verses in section 84 of our Doctrine and Covenants help provide the answer. They tell of Moses and about how he tried and tried in vain for forty years to prepare the children of Israel to go with him up onto the mountain, so to speak, and to have face-to-face communion with God. He failed. Tradition says Moses became unworthy of the Jewish people, the Israelites. Our scriptures say just the opposite. They became unworthy of him. The Lord swore in his wrath, so it says, that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness. Entering into his rest doesn't mean cessation of all activities. It means the rest that comes to your soul when you get out of the spiritual wilderness and are able to know and commune with the living God. Moses was taken out of their midst, says the passage, and the holy priesthood also. Verses 2021 say, "In [that higher priesthood and in] the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest [unto man (including women) in the flesh]. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the

power of godliness is not manifest unto man in the flesh." A categorical statement. Whatever the powers of godliness are, they come to us in the flesh through ordinances and in no other way. The highest ordinances are the ordinances of the house of God. All else is preparatory to them. So, the Prophet taught, it was not Moses with the higher priesthood, but Joshua with the lesser priesthood who crossed the Jordan and went into the promised land. Moses remained on Mount Nebo. History repeats itself. The prophet Joseph Smith yearned with his whole soul to be the modern Joshua and lead at least the first company of Saints to sanctuary, to "the mountain of the Lord's house" which he had prophesied would one day be. He was denied that privilege in part because his own people could not believe he was a prophet when he said "all they want is me and my brother Hyrum, they won't touch you, they won't a hair of your heads." They were not fully worthy of the Prophet, as the ancients were not. But the Prophet did live to confer upon the Twelve all of these higher ordinances in late March 1844. The temple wasn't finished, so it was done in the upper room of his store. 7 In a meeting which was certainly the most important summary meeting of his life, he conferred everythingkeys, authorities, powersand then commissioned Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff to see that these truths were systematized and eventually presented as they are in the temple. He then told those twelve men that upon them now rested the charge to lead the Saints to what they needed the most and eventually to prepare the whole world for temples, the privilege of communion with the living God, every man and every woman. Wilford Woodruff said fifty years later, "That charge is still ringing in my ears." They did it. You and I are the blessed recipients. Aside from work for those we love and aside from our own privileges, brothers and sisters, the temple is a place of learning and the only place for some kinds of learning that go directly to our spirits, to our core, to our very depths. "A house of learning" says section 88. One who has written brilliantly about this is the late Elder John A. Widtsoe. Born in Norway in the last century (and born incidentally with his hand attached to his head, requiring a delicate surgical operation), he was told in a patriarchal blessing as a mere boy, "Thou shalt have great faith in the ordinances of the Lord's house." He became the author of what was then the Temple Index Bureau, updated now with computers. He became one of the leading directors of the Genealogical Society of Utah. He became a member of the Council of the Twelve. In an article titled "Temple Worship," he says, "The endowment is so richly symbolic that only a fool would attempt to describe it; it is so packed full of revelations to those who exercise their strength to seek and see, that no human words can explain or make clear the possibilities. . . . the endowment which was given by revelation can best be understood by revelation."8 Thus we may come to know the mysteries of godliness. Mystery is a word that we use negatively, usually for things that don't matter and are presently beyond our ken. Such mysteries we are counseled to avoid. In contrast, "the mysteries of godliness" are, we know from modern scholarship, the ordinances of godliness. "O, I beseech you," says Joseph Smith, "go forward and search deeper and deeper into the mysteries of godliness." 9 It is a commandment. Where are we to search? In the house of God. Why there? Because the temple is dedicated to that purpose, because there we make covenants to be true to what we understand, not just learning out of curiosity but absorbing into our souls what we most need to understand. And there we covenant to keep these sacred things sacred. Joseph Smith wrote from Liberty Jail, "The things of God are of deep import and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind O man if thou wilt lead a soul into salvation must search into and contemplate the darkest abyss and the broad expanse of eternity, thou must commune with God." 10 He had time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts in that jail, for he yearned for the same privilege within the sanctuary. He was denied it. He did not live to see the Nauvoo Temple finished. "O Lord," he said in one of his prayers, "If I can only live to see the temple finished, then I will say, it is enough. " 11But it didn't happen. Parley P. Pratt dedicated a cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple. He talked about communion with those who are beyond. "There are," he said, "peepings and mutterings and superstitions and Halloween kinds of activities in the world. But then there is authentic, intimate, revelatory experience with those who are tied to us by family ties and by the sacrifices they have made in their lives for us." Now, perhaps according to covenant, we are here to respond by doing in the temple what we can do for them. Asked about the spirit world, the prophet Joseph replied, "Enveloped in flaming fire [he's talking about disembodied spirits], they are not far from us. They know our thoughts, motions, and feelings and are often pained therewith."12 Elsewhere he says they are likewise often rejoiced therewith: "The heavens weep for joy."13 They are not idle spectators. Somehow there are laws that enable them to have some influence upon us and we upon them. In the temple these laws are fulfilled. Parley P. Pratt taught that for the pure in heart, "soul meets soul, thought meets thought, love meets love."14 We do not comprehend what a blessing to them these ordinances are. In the resurrection, Joseph taught Horace Cummings, they will fall at the feet of those who have done their work, kiss their feet, embrace their knees, and manifest the most exquisite gratitude.

Wilford Woodruff who dedicated the Salt Lake Temple taught that "there will be few if any who will not receive the ordinances of the temple when they are performed for them."15 Elder John W. Taylor, while attending the Manti Temple dedication, concluded that only one in ten would refuse the ordinances. He added, "how many who are kept in prison are not ready to come out?"16 What an assurance, when I go with my wife through a magnificent, two-hour experience in the temple, that we may have brought two converts into the kingdom of God. In two hours! With Wilford Woodruff I testify that this work can only be understood by the spirit of revelation. "There is nothing made known," said Joseph Smith, speaking of the day he taught the Twelve the ordinances of the temple, "but will be made known to all saints of the last days as soon as they are prepared to receive." 17 But, know this, he said, they are only to be received by the spiritually-minded. The temple is also the most practical of places. Melvin J. Ballard taught that each one of us should be willing to take to the temple our worst problems, and he was talking about hard, down-to-earth, even physical problems. You pray, you fast. But if you don't get your answer, he said, I'll tell what to do: go to the house of the Lord, and in the silence of those precincts, as you are serving others, the Lord will bless you. 18 Similarly, as a soil chemist, John A. Widtsoe reports a laborious struggle trying to draw a mountain of data together and make it applicable. It did not work. He finally called his wife. "Let's go to the temple and forget the failure." In the temple it came. That resulted in two books and in a revolution in agrarian practice. I know people who have had the most wrenching soul trials, like in my own life when my brother went down in a plane crash. I know for myself and for them that the place of the most tangible comfort is the house of the Lord. When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were at the pulpit at the east end of the Kirtland Temple, they heard from the Lord himself the words, "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" (D&C 110:7,10). Notice "my name shall be here." Solomon plead for that when he dedicated the ancient temple. What does it mean? There are depths beyond depths. You are required as disciples of Christ to come once in seven days and covenant anew to take upon you the name of Jesus Christ. In the house of the Lord you come to take upon you his name in the fullest sense. Why all the emphasis on fullness? Well there is a promise that we will one day have a fullness of truth. That is temple-related. We are promised the fullness of the Holy Ghost. Joseph Smith prayed for that at the Kirtland Temple dedication. And we are promised within the temple the fullness of the priesthood. Likewise, we are promised that in the temple the Lord's name will be put upon us. It means at root that we become his. The answer to "Who am I?" can never be complete unless it answers "Whose am I?" You are the son or daughter of a king. The Father himself. Through the ordinances you are begotten spiritually through his Son. You become heir to his throne. That is a worldly way of saying it. But it is true. An old Jewish proverb says that the worst thing the evil inclination can ever do to you is to make you forget that you are the son or daughter of a king. I don't know how you can forget that in the temple. You take his name. To receive him fully is to receive the fullness of his atonement. Think about it the at-one-ment that Jesus Christ wrought by the shedding of his own blood. The atonement was, and is, to enable us to overcome through his grace and healing power three things: Ignorance, sin, and death. Hence I often say the temple is a matter of life and death. "A man cannot be saved in ignorance." This passage refers to a specific kind of ignorance. The preceding verse is talking about sealing, about coming to know by revelation through the power of the Holy Priesthood not only that Jesus is the Christ, but also that a relationship has been forged between you and Jesus Christ. It is a testimony that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that he is making you his. How do you come to know that? I can only tell you that the promise does pertain to the temple. And we may come to a like testimony about temple sealings to our progenitors and our children. The Savior said that he came that men might have life, and have it more abundantly. Life, abundant life, is pluralized in the teachings of Joseph Smith as "eternal lives." You are all alive in several ways and to certain degrees. You are alive intellectually; you think, you study, you teach. There is, no matter what else we do each day, the life of the mind. Then there is the life of the heart. The word in Hebrew is leb, "heart," the inmost throbbing center. A hard heart is different than a malleable, tender heart. Christ's heart is tender. Those who come to him feeling mercy and gratitude for his mercy are tenderized in the very center of their being. We seek life in another way. It is the creative life. It is lodged in the cry of ancient Israelite fathers and mothers: "Give me children, or I die." This is the life of creation and procreation. I testify that in the house of the Lord all three of these modes of life are enhanced and magnified and increased. Therein we are promised that whatever our age or the decline and disabilities that we experience here, we will one day

enter in at the gate to eternal lives. On that day of renewal, we will emerge into a celestial condition, into the "fulness of the glory of the Father." There the glorious privilege of priesthood, parenthood, and godhood come together as one. There will be the reunion of the separated forever. As this is the crowning ordinance of the house of God, it is also the crowning truth of the gospel. Brother Brigham Young was once approached by two sisters, each of whom wanted a divorce. I paraphrase his response: "If you could only see your husband as he will be in the glorious resurrection, this very husband you now say you despise, your first impulse would be to kneel and worship him." He said the same thing to husbands who had "fallen out of love" with their wives. Those are mighty words. That leads me to the main and final point. I haven't yet used the expression "fullness of love." Consider this passage in section 88. For intelligence cleaveth unto intelligence; wisdom receiveth wisdom; truth embraceth truth; virtue loveth virtue; light cleaveth unto light; mercy hath compassion on mercy and claimeth her own; justice continueth its course and claimeth its own; judgment goeth before the face of him who sitteth upon the throne and governeth and executeth all things. Only the virtuous know true love. In religious tradition much is said and even canonized about how God is "absolutely other." Not one sentence you can utter about human being applies in any way whatever to God; God must be absolutely different, say they, or we could not love and worship him. Joseph Smith died to get back in the world the truth that we are in fact in the image of God. In fact. That means that as a statue exactly resembles the person it represents, so man exactly resembles the nature of the Father and the Son. That's the great and glorious secret. Man and woman are theomorphic; they are in the form of God. That is the foundation of divine-human love. In some patterns of worship, it is thought that the way to convey proper relationships to God is to cultivate darkness, magnify distance, use only the kinds of music, or words, or ceremonial procedure which invoke awe and even irrational fear. The testimony of the restored temple is that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ yearn not to widen that gap, but to close it. In the house of the Lord we may come to him in light, in intimacy, and in holy embrace. And he will, I quote again from the prophet, "manifest himself in mercy in his house." That is love. I testify, speaking as one who had to be converted to this, the temple is many things: a house of faith, a house of study, a house of learning, a house of order, a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of glory. But surrounding all of those, it is a house of love. None of us receives enough love in this world, none of us. We're all in a measure lovestarved and love-anxious. The Father and the Son call us to come in the spirit of sacrifice and be surrounded by that holy environment which embraces us in love. Remember that Jesus looked out, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft I would have gathered you, as a hen gathereth her chicks and ye would not." He repeated those words to the Nephites, using three tenses: I have gathered you, I would have gathered you (speaking of those who were wiped away in a terrible earthquake), and I will gather you. I suggest to you that here is another symbolic allusion to the temple. The wings of a mother hen are intimate, and protective, and warm. In 3 Nephi the Savior adds another phrase about the hen and her wandering chicks: "I would have nourished you." The Jews speak of the temple as the navel, the emphallos, of the earth, the very place that heaven brings nutriment to earth. Jesus wept because he had been unable to gather his people. Modern revelation tells us he wanted to gather them in order to bring them into his sanctuary and reveal to them and pour out upon them the glories of his temple. But they would not. They hated their own blood. Our generation is slipping more and more into the same mud. I have stood on the Mount of Olives. There came down on me a prophetic and anticipatory sense. A day will come when he will descend in like manner as he once ascended from that very mount. Angels heralded his birth into the world. So I speculate that a choir welcomed him home. We have been promised that some of us may be present to welcome him as he descends. We will sing a new song. He has already given us the words. Inspired knowledge and maybe even memory will enable us to sing to his glory on that occasion The very touch of his foot, his glorified and celestial foot, will change the world and eventually the whole human family. A temple will be in place by then, perhaps more than one. There and elsewhere, worthy people will recognize him and glory in his presence. This time there will be no tears except tears of joy. I testify that this is true. I testify that temples have been built by the sacrifice of our friends and loved ones to enable us to reach them as well as the deepest part of ourselves. Beyond that I testify that in the house of the Lord, he, the Lord himself will manifest himself in mercy and in love and give us the fullness of those blessings we all earnestly yearn for. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

D&C LESSON 18 OUTLINE

There has always been a lot asked of the Latter-day Saints. I was going to begin this lesson by brainstorming with you all the things we are asked to do, from eagle projects to genealogy, but the more I thought about it, the more my spirits sank at my own inadequacies, and thats not my purpose here. So instead, let me just mention a few things that were going on at the time the Saints were commanded to build the Kirtland temple. -The date was Dec. 28th, 1832 (see section 88) -In Feb. 1833, Joseph received the Word of Wisdom. -In March he was instructed to organize the First Presidency. -In May he was told to hasten to translate my scriptures (D&C 93:53) -In May he also was commanded to build what we might call a church head quarters and a house for printing, as well as a schoolhouse, and form a committee to raise funds. -Church leaders were also busily engaged in establishing the United Order by purchasing propertiesa tannery, an Inn, and a farm. -Meanwhile in Missouri, large mobs were beginning to form against those Saints There really was a lot going on in addition to the chores of every day life. So to me its understandable that in the five months following the command to build the temple nothing was done except to purchase the land. ~Was it acceptable to the Lord? ~Knowing what we know about our Father in Heaven...why was He so anxious for them to get going on that temple? (they needed the blessings) ~How many Saints do you think were living in Kirtland at this time? (100) ~Were they people of means? Benjamin F. Johnson wrote: there was not a scraper and hardly a plow that could be obtained among the Saints to prepare the ground for the foundation of the temple.
(My Lifes Review, 1947, p. 16)

And we havent even touched on what the enemies of the church in Kirtland were doing: Quotation #1 Even so, lets read the Lords response to their procrastination: D&C 95: 1-4, 8 (with interruptions) V. 1: ~Why does Heavenly Father chastise them? What does He want to do for them? (deliver them) V. 4: ~What is He talking about here? What will completing the temple do? (enable missionary work to begin in earnest) V. 8: ~Is He talking about the endowment as we know it in our temples today?

~Was the Kirtland temple used for higher priesthood ordinances? (no, those 2 werent revealed until Nauvoo in 1842. Priesthood members in Kirtland did participate in a partial endowment, though, which included washings and anointing, and the washing of feet. The Lord also poured out his spirit as in the day of Pentecost) ~So why was the Kirtland temple built? (So that the keys for the three-fold mission of the church could be restored.) ~What is that mission, and who restored the keys? -proclaim the gospel (Moses: keys of gathering) -perfect the Saints (Elias, blessings of Abraham, or the keys of eternal in crease) -redeem the dead (Elijah: keys of the sealing power) Quotation #2 D&C 95:11 ~What is Heavenly Father saying here? Had their circumstances changed? (no, they were still poor as church mice and severely persecuted) ~Did they have any idea where to begin? (no, it would be akin to our ward at tempting to build a temple) ~But if Heavenly Father commanded us, could we do it? (yes!) ~Does He require us to know HOW to accomplish His will before we obey? What exactly does He ask of us? (think of Nephi and getting the plates from Laban. He requires a mindset, an attitude, a decision to simply obey in faith, believing He will open the was for us to accomplish His will) D&C 95:14 ~Who were the three? (Joseph and his counselors, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams) Frederick G. Williams described their experience: Quotation #3 Joseph then called a meeting to discuss constructing the temple. Lucy Mack Smith described the meeting: Quotation #4 Lucy went on to say that Hyrum declared that he would strike the first blow towards building it Hyrum ran to the house and caught the scythe and was about returning to the place without giving any explanation, but I stopped him and asked his where he was going with the scythe. He said, We are preparing to build a house for the Lord, and I am determined to be the first a work? In a few minutes the fence was removed, the young wheat cut and the ground in order for the foundation of the wall, and Hyrum commenced digging away the Earth where the stone were to be laid (History of Joseph Smith, 321).

So the vision of the temple, the meeting to discuss temple construction, the 3 digging of the foundation trench, and the hauling of the first load of stone from the quarry all occurred within 5 days of the revelation in section 95. ~Again, had their circumstances changed? Lets read what Eliza R. snow had to say about it: Quotation #5 ~What is Heavenly Father teaching them, and us, as He asks us to do the im possible? Remember when Paul went to the Lord with his weakness, his thorn in the flesh? ~What was the Lords response? (My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness II Corinthians 12:7-9. In other words, we are weak, but He is able!) ~Does He ask us to do His work, or does He ask us to have faith that He can do His work through us? One of my favorite Old Testament stories is about Joshua, who took over from Moses and was commanded to lead the Israelites into the promised landanother one of those daunting tasks. ~Do you remember what lay between the Israelites and Canaan? (the Red Sea) Joshua told them that God would again part the Red Sea for them, although none of these Israelites were there the first time) ~Did it part as they approached it? (no, the 12 men who bore the ark of the covenant had to put their feet in the water first, see Joshua 3:15-16, p. 312) We, too, have to exercise our faith by getting our feet wet, which is what the Saints did when they began to build the temple. Quotation #6 Just think, if you will, of something you may have been putting off that you know you shouldnt. Maybe its time to test the Lord! To see if He will open the way! Meanwhile, the Lord opened the way for these faithful Saints. Ill give two examples. #1: John Tanner. In 1832 the Lord called Jared Carter on a mission. A lame man (John Tanner), attended one of their meetings with the intent to prove Mormonism false. He was touched by their preaching and took a Book of Mormon home. Heres what Jared Carter wrote in his journal: Quotation #7 Two years later Brother Tanner dreamed that he was needed and must go immediately to Kirtland. So he sold his property and travelled 500 miles. Quotation #8 #2: Artemus Millet. His great-great grandson spoke of him during a BYU Idaho devotional in 2009: Quotation #9

You get the idea. God can do His work, and if we are but willing, He will use us 4 to do it! They began with 100 people, and by the time of the dedication there were about 1,300. The Kirland temple cost more per capita than any building in American religious history. It was an unprecedented sacrifice, and it was met with an unprecedented outpouring of the Lords Spirit. Quotation #10 The Savior appeared in five different meetings held in the temple, and youll just have to read Truman Madsens talk at the end of the handout if youd like to know more. Suffice it to say that without the keys restored to the earth in the Kirtland temple, we would not have temples today. Quotation #11 Do we? There are two things I hope we walk away from this lesson with: The first is the understanding that in whatever were asked to do all we have to do is our best, believing that Heavenly Father will open the way before us. The second is the importance of doing temple work. Im hoping well have another lesson to get more into that. Let me end with this thought by Karl Anderson who was assigned to visit the Louisville Kentucky Stake. He said that in the priesthood meeting a brother named William Wolf shared this experience: Quotation #12 That we will not be ornery pecker woods is my prayer...