92: Temples Part 2 – Salt Lake Temple and Brigham’s Priorities

This one is a must watch! I was not prepared for what I learned in this research. Please WATCH TO THE END and please share this episode. It might be the most important one yet.

Please consider supporting this podcast:

Links:
Richard E. Bennett paper

Elder Stevenson Conference Talk

Joseph Smith teaching: The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 16:89
Orson Pratt restatements: The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 10: 264

Episode 90: Temples Part 1 – From Solomon to Nauvoo

Brigham Young quotes:
1) Deseret News 3:26 The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star 15:391,
2) JD 1:277-279, MS 16:241-243, [Complete Discourses of Brigham Young vol. 2, Feb 14. 1853]
Complete Discourses of Brigham Young vol 4, June 1 1862

Richard E. Bennet 2nd paper

Scott C. Esplin paper

Complete Discourses of Brigham Young vol 2, May 5 1855
Complete Discourses of Brigham Young vol 5, Sept 4, 1873, Oct 8, 1876
Complete Discourses of Brigham Young vol 2, Dec. 3 1854

Episode 37: Zion vs. Polygamy

Endowment House
Salt Lake Theater

Temple Dedication

Scriptures:
D&C 124:40-42
2 Nephi 28:29-31
D&C 11:24
Helaman 11:23
Jarom 1:4
Alma 26:21-22
Alma 12:9-11
D&C 107:18-19
Mormon 9:7-9. 20
Alma 32:12-16

Transcript:

Welcome to 132 problems revisiting Mormon Polygamy, where we explore the scriptural theological and historical case for plural marriage. As always, I always invite people to listen to these episodes from the beginning. So you can understand the scriptural case that we made at, at the as the foundation. I think that’s the most important part. And from there, feel free to pick and choose which episodes are interesting. And I want to, as always, thank those who have donated and um invite anybody else who feels so inclined. It is appreciated every single time someone helps me make this podcast. So thank you so much. OK. We are finally digging into part two of the temple and we are going to start right in Utah and look at the Salt Lake Temple. There is so much to learn here. I hope you guys find this information all as fascinating and interesting and um I guess challenging as I do so, thank you so much for being here as we take this deep dive into the murky waters of Mormon polygamy and the Salt Lake Temple. All right, we have so much to cover that. We are just going to dive right into the beginning when Brigham arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24th. And right from the beginning, he made a very good showing that building a temple would be a top priority. Um This is historian Richard Bennett, once in the valley, a determined Brigham Young lost little time in di in identifying the spot on which to build a new temple at five in the morning on July 28th, 1847. That was just four days after they got into the valley though, still sick and in a fragile condition from his recent bout with Rocky Mountain fever, Brigham identified a center spot between creeks and declared to his fellow apostles as he waved his hands in the air. Here is the, here is the 40 acres of temple lot. He went on to give instructions on how to build the basement and the baptismal font on the new temple so that 40 acres is still what we have as Temple Square downtown from some records. Um Wilfred Woodruff drove a stick into the ground spot he had said. So I want to address something really quickly. Well, first of all, I want to say this is the story we all grew up on, right. It’s told all the time. In fact, it was just told recently by um I think it was Elder Stevenson in general conference. So it’s something that we have heard often I want to get into it. Now, I do want to address uh something that I’ve seen going around sort of in the anti war in circles. This is something later written much later by an Apostle Anthon H Lund. In his diary, he recorded that a story was passed down that Brigham Young had used Oliver’s Divining Rod to locate the, the to locate Temple Square. And so, um here it is, it’s July 5th 1901 Friday. This is what wrote in his journal. The forenoon was spent with brothers Bh Robert Orson F Whitney and Andrew Jensen in revising or rather comparing the manuscript with, with the sources. Whence it is taken. I thought that was an interesting part of it just because it was another voice speaking to the revising of church history, right at this point in 1901, they were comparing how well it held up. Hint it doesn’t hold up. But um here it goes in the revelation to Oliver Cowdrey in May. Uh in May 9 1829 brother Robert said that the gift which the Lord says he had in his hand meant a divining stick which was like Aaron’s Aaron’s Rod. It is said, brother Phineas Young got it from him. I think he was a brother-in-law and gave it to Brigham Young who was his brother who had it when he arrived in this valley. And that it was with that stick that he pointed out where the should be built. So that’s a story that I’ve seen go around. And, um, I think it’s just an interesting example of how stories get passed down. I cannot find any contemporaneous source to support any of this. I don’t think that it’s likely to be true, but I think it’s interesting to see how stories get passed down and, you know, kind of the folk, they become sort of fables and legends and then they get picked up by um anti Mormons who do very little work to see if any, if there’s any evil to the things that they spread around. So I just thought that was interesting to address. So anyway, Brigham Young claims that work would begin on the temple as soon as possible. Here’s a quote as soon as we get up some Adobe houses for our families, we shall go to work to build another temple and as soon as the place is prepared, we shall commence the endowments long before the temple is built. Ok. Did you catch that? That is so interesting and this is something we’re going to dive into quite a bit in this episode. The claim always is that the temple is necessary for temple work, right? For endowments and for ceilings. But clearly, Brigham from the beginning did not believe that at all because he said we’re going to start in the temple and long before the temple is ready, we will have somewhere to do endowments. So Um That’s I’m gonna, I’m gonna dive into that more. Maybe someone has studied or thought about this more than I have and can provide me further insight. I’ll just share what I have so far. So, um despite Brigham’s claim that quote, we want a temple more than we want dwelling houses, the temple lot would not even be dedicated for another six years. It wasn’t dedicated until Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 1853. So before we get into that, though, I want to refer back to an important point from, from part one on temples. This is actually really important. I find it important. So this is something that might be interesting to share with people. Joseph’s very um crucial teaching that temples needed to be built only by direct commandment and instruction given from God was something we talked about quite a bit and it was important to him and to the saints. So you, you remember from the far West um temple episode, the period that we were talking about when the people started to build a temple on their own initiative, Joseph taught them that a temple could not be built unless it was by direct commandment of God and that God provided instructions. So he explained that to the people and they voted unanimously quote that the building of the house of the Lord be postponed till the Lord shall reveal it. So the Lord shall reveal it to be his will to be commenced. So that was recorded, we have that we know that right? And Orson Pratt repeated it in 1848. He repeated the same teaching. He wrote the house of God could not be built without new revelation to give the pattern of its various apartments. The house of God never was in any age past and never can be in any future age built without express commandments or new revelations being given to the people who built it k central important declaration of, of how God works from um Joseph Smith repeated by Orson Pratt. However, at this February 14th, 1853 temple lot dedication, Brigham’s entire speech seems geared to explain away the need for specific revelation commanding them to build a temple and providing instructions on how to do it. So this sermon was recorded by various different people. I’m going to quote from Wilfred Woodruff’s journal from the Deseret news and from the journal of discourses. So this was February 14th, 1853. Some might query whether a revelation had been given to build a house to, to the Lord, but he is a wicked and slothful servant who doeth nothing but what the Lord commanded when he knoweth his master’s will. I know a temple is needed. And so do you and when we know a thing we do not need a revelation to do when we know a thing? Why do we need a revelation to compel us to do? That thing. If the Lord and all the people want a revelation, I can give one concerning this temple. OK. There’s the um here’s another version, if you should ask, Brother Brigham, have you any knowledge concerning this? Have you ever had a revelation from heaven upon it means about um building the temple. He goes on to say, say that yes, he knows it very well on his own. And then continuing with a quote. If the people and the Lord require it, I would give a revelation. But let the people do the things they know to be right. Permit me to ask a question. Do you know that it is your duty to accumulate your daily bread to cease your wickedness are not those duties required at your hands. Do you not know this of yourselves? There is not any individual in this assembly that does not understand this concerning revelations pertaining to building temples. I will give you the words of our beloved prophet while he was yet living upon the earth. So now he’s speaking for Joseph Smith pretending to, I mean claiming to quote Joseph Smith. Sorry, many of us that are here today were with him from the commencement of the church. He was frequently speaking upon the building of temples in Kirtland, Missouri and Illinois. When the people refused in Kirtland to build a temple unless by special revelation, the people refused. And that’s why Joseph had to give a revelation. It grieved his heart that they should be so penurious in their feelings as to require the Lord to command them to build a house to his name. It was not only grievous to him but to the Holy Spirit. Also, he frequently said that if it were not for the covetousness of the people, the Lord would not give, give revelations concerning the building of temples for we already knew all about them. The revelations given us the or um the revelations, giving us the order of the priesthood make known to us. What is wanting in that respect at our hands? If you should go to work to build a dwelling house, you know, you um you know, you want a kitchen, a buttery sitting rooms, bedrooms, halls, passages and alleys. You might as well ask the Lord to give revelation upon the dimensions and construction, the various apartments of your dwelling houses as upon the erection of temples. For we know beforehand what is necessary? I trust these people do not require commanding every day of their lives to pray to do unto others as they, as they would have others do unto them. I trust that they do not want a special command for this. If not upon the same principle, they will not want any commandment upon the subject of building a temple. OK. There’s more from another account, I will relate some of the sayings of Joseph Smith while in Kirtland, he said concerning that the building of that temple that it grieved him and also the spirit of God to think that the saints were not willing to build a temple by the council of the priesthood without a written revelation and commandment from God. That was it not for the penurious feelings of the people, the Lord would not give um revelations and commandments as he does. Whenever the Lord finds the people willing to do good, build up his kingdom and do good without being commanded, he will be more pleased with them. So revelation is actually a bad sign. Apparently, it actually God wants people who think they don’t need revelation because they can just do it on their own and they’re willing to do it on their own. So interesting. So back to the first account, the prophets feelings were also often wounded because he was under the necessity of giving commandments concerning duties that were already before the people until the temple was completed. But had he not done so the temple would have not been built. He had, he waited until the minds of the people were opened and they were led to see and do their duty without commandment. He would have been slain before the keys of the priesthood could have been committed to others. But the Lord put it in his heart to give this, to give this power to his brethren before the martyrdom. Ok? There is so much tangled up here. So first of all Joseph Smith wouldn’t have given revelations about the temple if the people had been more faithful, but he couldn’t wait for the people to be more faithful because they, that he would have been killed before he could have given the ordinances and the hes the brethren, which didn’t happen in the temple. They don’t claim that even happened in the temple. Oh, there is so much here and so much we’re going to get to a little bit of it in this episode. And then more in an upcoming episode on the temples when we’re going to talk about these claims about the ordinances. So it is incredible to see the contrast between what Brigham claimed. Joseph said and what Joseph actually said, it’s the, the difference between Brigham’s doctrines which he put in the mouth of Joseph Smith to give them validity and the scriptures that came from and through Joseph. So this is a fantastic example of how freely Brigham remade Joseph’s teachings by claiming to speak on his behalf. If anyone claims that like claims to tell you things that Joseph said based on Brigham recounting them, which is where we get pretty much all of Joseph’s teachings about polygamy or that go along with these things. This would be a great, um a great account to point them to because it’s so clear here. We have just the very, very clear and distinct difference between those two things. So, um Brigham claims re revelation is only necessary when people are too foolish, too inexperienced or too faithless to handle it on their own. We shouldn’t need God to give us revelation. I think that is fascinating. The scriptures, Joseph Smith’s scripture. So whether you believe, if you don’t think he was a prophet and you think he, then you think he was just speaking for himself, right? Or if you think he was a prophet, he was God was speaking through him either way, this is what Joseph taught again and again and again, we’re going to um many of the scriptures. But secondly, by 928 0, that cunning plan of the evil 10 the vain and the frailties and the foolishness of men. When they are learned, they think they are wise and they hearken not unto the counsel of God for they set it aside, supposing of them, they supposing they know of themselves wherefore their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not and they shall perish. Could there be a more clear representation of the difference between the teachings of these two men and the teachings of Brigham Young and our own scriptures? So, OK, this, this continues, the groundbreaking was held and the cornerstone was laid very intentionally on April 6th, 1853. They very intentionally did everything on April 6th as you’ll see going forward. So um Brigham had wanted the dedication of the Nabu temple to be on April 6th in 1846 but they couldn’t even just get the first floor sufficiently finished in time. So that had to be postponed until May, which he wasn’t very happy about. So after a few more months to develop his thoughts and arguments about revelation for the temple, and I presume there was some continued unrest about it, at least for him personally, if not from others as well by evidence, by how much he thought about it, by what he’s going to say about it. He again addressed the subject of revelation for a temple at the ground breaking here. I’m quoting him. Now, when the of the of the covenant rested or when the Children of Israel had an opportunity to rest for, they were mobbed and harassed, harassed somewhat like the latter day saints. The Lord through Moses commanded the Tabernacle to be built, wherein should rest and be stationed, the ark of the covenant and particular instructions were given by revelation to Moses, how every part of said Tabernacle should be constructed even to the curtains, the number thereof and of what they should be made and the covering and the wood for the boards and for the bars and the courts and the pins and the vessels and the furniture and everything pertaining to the Tabernacle. Why did Moses need such a particular revelation to build a Tabernacle? Because he had never seen one and he did not know how to build it without revel without a pattern. So he goes on to talk about David. He was beset by enemies on every hand and had to spend his days in war and bloodshed to save Israel. Much like the latter day saints have done only he had the privilege to defend himself and the people from Mabo Crats and murderers while we have hitherto been denied that privilege. And consequently, he had no time to build a house unto the Lord, but commanded his son Solomon who succeeded on the throne to erect the temple at Jerusalem which God had required at his hands. It’s interesting how he spent that, how he twisted it and that David just didn’t have time. Not that he was a man of blood, the pattern of the temple, the length and breadth and height of the inner and outer courts with all the fixtures thereto appertaining were given to Solomon by revelation through the proper source. And why was this revelation pat pattern necessary because that Solomon had never built a temple and did not know that what was necessary in the arrangement of the different apartments any better than Moses did what was needed in the Tabernacle. Soon after the church through our beloved prophet Joseph was commanded to build a temple to the most high in Kirtland, Ohio. And this was the next house of the Lord we hear of uh we hear of on the earth since the days of the so of Solomon’s temple, Joseph. Not only received revelation and commandment to build a temple. But he received a pattern also as did Moses for the Tabernacle and Solomon for his temple. For without a pattern, he could not know what was wanting, having never seen one and have and not having experienced its youth without revelation, Joseph could not what was wanting any more than any other man. And without commandment, the church were too few in number, too weak in faith and too poor in purse to attempt such a mighty enterprise. So I know I’m reading extensively, but it’s so interesting and you can already see how his um excuse is changing before it was that the people were just too faithless to do it without a commandment. Now it was that Joseph was just too inexperienced to do it without a commandment at Navoo. Joseph dedicated another temple the third on record. He knew what was wanting for. He had previously given most of the prominent individuals. Then before him, their endowment again, that claim that we will dive into in the next episode, he needed no revelation. Then of a thing that had that he had long experienced any more than those that than those now do who have experienced the same thing. Here’s the famous quote, it is only where experience fails, revelation is needed. So he had all of that time and basically claimed Joseph was just ignorant. Moses was ignorant. Solomon was ignorant. Joseph was ignorant, but then Joseph wasn’t ignorant and he didn’t have a revelation for the Nabu temple and I don’t need one for the Salt Lake Temple. So let’s again address the claim that Joseph did not have a specific revelation to build the Nabu temple. This is I’ll just quote a bit from Doctor M covenants 124 starting at 27. God says, build a house to my name for the most high to dwell there in going down to verse 40. And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name that I may, may reveal my ordinances there in unto my people. Again, that touches on the claim that most of the prominent men had already received their ordinances without the temple. Um for I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the distance to the dispensation of the fullness of time. And I will show unto my servant Joseph, all things pertaining to this house and the priest had thereof and the place where on it should be built. So the claim that Joseph didn’t need revelation for nou and didn’t receive it falls flat, but he Brigham is still trying to justify this. So um I would just, I want to read, I’m gonna read extensively from the scriptures here because I think it’s important. We have an endless supply of scriptures that directly contradict everything Brigham claimed to justify and defend his lack of revelation. So second Nephi 2829 woe be unto him that shall say we have re received at the word of God and we need no more of the word of God for we have enough, we have experience. We don’t need revelation for behold. Thus, saith the Lord God. I will give unto the Children of men, line upon line, precept on precept here a little and their little. That’s going to play a big role in our episode on the endowments and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts and lend an ear unto my counsel for, they shall learn wisdom for unto him, unto him that receive it. I will give more and, and, and from them that say we have enough from them, them shall be taken away. Even that which they have cursed is he that put his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. Keep going doctrine, covenants 1124 build upon my, which is my gospel, deny not the spirit of revelation nor the spirit of prophecy for woe unto him that deny these things. I think that includes denying needing them or denying that they can be given Hela at 1123 tells us, tells us that Nephi and Lehi had and many of their brethren who knew concerning the true points of God of doctrine, had many revelations daily, Jerem 14. And there, there are many among us who have many revelations for. They are not all stiff naked, the stiff naked that don’t receive revelations. And as many as are not stiff naked and have faith, have communion with the Holy Spirit which maketh manifest unto the Children of men according to their faith. Alma 2621. And now behold my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things I say unto you. There is none that knoweth these things save it. Be the penitent. Yeah. He that repenteth and exercises faith and bringeth forth good works and pray continually without ceasing unto such. It is given to know the mysteries of God. Yeah, unto such. It shall be given to reveal things which have never been revealed. Yeah. And it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance even at as it has been given unto unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance. Alma 12 9. And it is given unto you to many, to know the mysteries of God. Nevertheless, they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of His word, which he doth grant unto the Children of men according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore he that will harden his heart. The same is given the lesser portion of the word. And he that will not harden his heart to him is given the greater portion of the word until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until He know them in full. And they, that will harden their hearts to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries. And they are taken captive by the devil and led by his will down to destruction. Now, this is what is meant by the chains of hell. Um Just two more, Doctor mc Covenants 107 18, the power and authority of the higher or melk priesthood is to hold the keys of all spiritual blessings of the church to have the privilege of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom, to have the heavens opened unto them, to commune with Gene with the general assembly and the church of the firstborn and to enjoy the communion and presence of God, the Father and Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant tells us what that’s so that’s the best definition of keys I have found in scripture of Keys as a whole. There are many other um keys that are spoken about, but this tells us what the keys of the gospel are. And um this is what God had apparently, it sounds like to me, had given and then taken and was giving them the chance to have restored if they could finish the Nabu temple within the allotted period of time. So Mormon 97, and again, I speak unto you who deny the revelations of God and say that they are done away, that there are no revelations nor prophecies, nor gifts, nor healings, nor speaking with tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Behold, I say unto you, he that denies these things, deny these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ. Yeah, he has not read the scriptures. This just seems so clear, right? If so He does not understand them. For, for, do we not read that God is the same yesterday today and forever and in Him, there is no variable, this neither shadow of changing and the reason why He, why He cease to do miracles among the Children of men. I think we could say un cease to give them revelation is because that they dwindle in unbelief and depart from the right way and know not the God in whom they should trust. So this is an in an extremely important part of our history that we all need to know and understand Joseph Smith made it abundantly clear that a temple could not be built unto God without direct commandment and instructions given from God through revelation. Brigham Young made it abundantly clear that no revelation was given for any of the temples he built. And he justified that by claiming no revelation was needed because his wisdom and experience made revelation unnecessary only inexperienced ignorant guys. Like I guess, Moses and Joseph Smith needed revelation. And if anyone wanted revelation or dared to remind him that it was necessary that Joseph had said it was necessary, they were simply slackers who had to be commanded in all things and God would not be pleased with them. So, ok, that is one of the central messages that really stood out to me in this research. I was astonished by how clear that case was. And I think it’s something that’s important for us to know. Ok. So even after the long six year lag between the dedication of the temple lot and the groundbreaking progress continued to be very slow. So he had, he chose the temple lot within four days, but then didn’t dedicate it for six years. And by 1850 85 years later, they had only laid a portion of the sandstone foundation that was um that they had to bury to hide it from Johnston’s army. So which that whole scene that proved to be completely unnecessary. That was when he was going to burn the entire city as well. And, and then when they uncovered it, they found that it, it had been cracked. And I have to tell you, Brigham was not happy about this. I’ve always heard this story talked about in such a faith affirming way that it was actually it was so much work and so sad that they had to bury the temple but it was actually a blessing because it showed them a problem that would have made the temp the foundation not strong. So, because they saw it, they pulled out the entire sandstone foundation and replaced the entire foundation with granite which would stand through the millennium. That’s right, which Brigham said would stand for the millennium. That’s the story that I assume many of us have always heard. And so, um, it’s just not the case. We’re gonna go into that now. So first of all, I guess I assumed that that meant that um finding the crow foundation cracked would be taken somewhat somewhat well or viewed with gratitude at least taken in stride. But reading Bri Brigham’s sermons reveals that this was actually not the case. He was furious and very quick to assign blame. So there are several places where this came up. I’m just going to read from um a sermon on June 1st 1862. Do the elders not know enough to go to go to work and select the rock for building those walls? We have had a sample here on the temple block of how much the elders know. We had a fine sample. The other day, we went to, we went and took up a few of those big granite rocks which are in the foundation of the temple. And we found them wedged and propped with little pebbles and small pieces of sandstone. And still we have men boasting of what they know. What do you think? I think of such men if I were training a class of boys and one of them should come such a gross blunder. I should say he was a poor ignoramus. Just as I feel like calling these men that laid those stones. They really have no idea of the temples of the living God. Or else they are damned rascals. He swore in conference. Oh no, you will excuse me. But I am angry. He he apologizes for swearing. It’s because he’s angry. I feel that I am opposed imposed upon. I wish I never had anything to do with the found. I wish I had never had anything to do with the foundation of this temple for I am ashamed of it. They say they have done the best they could. If so may the Lord grant that no more such may ever come into the church and may those who have such thus set up, set themselves up for a guide guide board, lay down their tools and shame and never attempt to take them up again. These men are just like some that I have about me in their own estimation. They know everything and that which they do. No, they think it is not worthwhile to, for anyone to attempt to learn. They are full of all sorts of ignorant self conceit, pretending to understand and do that which they know nothing about. But let this suffice at the present. Oh, wow. That was interesting hearing Brigham go off. I just, again and again, always see that everything is projection. And if God were of the same temperament, isn’t that exactly what he could say about Brigham claiming that he knew everything that there was to know or that needed to be known. He didn’t need God to tell him anything really interesting. But he says that this will suffice for the present leading you to believe that he’s going to stop railing on these men. And I did, I already say that in some of the other sermons, he names people by names and just goes off on them. But, um, he, he just has this way of winding around saying, ok, I’m gonna stop now and then winding his way and the whole time the tension is building because you know that he has not moved on that he is going to come right back at it at some point. He’s just setting kind of setting the trap and it has this way. Once you read him for a little while, you, you, you feel this tension palpably, like I’m sure that everyone there would just know that he, that they were just waiting for the other shoe to drop that he was gonna come right back around and just thrash them once again, which is exactly what he did after going on a long and winding tangent about a school teacher and her class that were led to ruin instead of to the glorious orchard, she tried to lead them to representing him and the people he comes back with. This is a specimen of the wisdom that is here manifested. There is no one knows how to lay the foundation of the temple of our God. I excuse none. And he continues on and on. So this really is a good example of his tactics like it was perfectly designed to just keep everyone tense and desperate not get on his bad side. It was this sort of manipulative ruling by fear with that very much the stroke slap way of keeping people under control. It’s really interesting to read. And again, just so many of these things I read, make me glad I was not a citizen of early Utah. So there are several other accounts of how angry he was. He said I am ashamed that another recording, I am ashamed that I have had anything to do with it. The foundation, the men who have bossed the laying, who have bossed the laying of those stones are fools or consummate rascals and he made many other remarks upon the subject. So um ok, keep in mind that most of the temple workers were volunteers. Well, they were, they were coerced volunteers, but in any case, most were not paid for their labor. A constant theme of Brigham Young sermons is haranguing the people over donating labor and supplies and money. To whatever cause he was speaking on. And this is often in, I mean, definitely tithing but often in addition to tithing, here’s, here’s just one sample. There are so many, I’m gonna save most of them for my episode. I want to eventually do on Brigham and typing. But here’s one sample. Now, I want to talk to the people a little on another subject. I want you to shell out your $5 or $10 each. I am. And just remember this was in the, you know, mid 18 hundreds. That was a lot of money. I am not going to accept of such a subscription as we have had today. There are hundreds of men that ought to give more than has been given today. The Lord almighty is ashamed of you and I am ashamed of you say you will bring a 10 or $20 note. This is the way to do and don’t stingily dole out a few dollars. I tell you if you see things as they are, you be ashamed of yourselves. And that’s another way they did it. So they would not only um collect money, they would also collect, um, what was it called? Um, subscriptions. So you would like pledge, how much you were going to give because that, I, I don’t know, that seemed easier maybe. And then they would collect on those subscriptions and you would owe that money and they would, they could collect kind of ruthlessly. So anyway, it’s interesting how he goes on said he, um, he said, um, don’t, don’t stingily dole out a few dollars. I tell you, if you see things as they are, you would be ashamed of yourselves. I have not said anything about the temple or the Tabernacle. I will however, say that we intend to build both of them. I now leave these subjects till tomorrow morning. God bless you. Amen. And so another thing that’s interesting and I don’t know if it was the culture or if it was just Brigham because the more I study of Brigham’s doctrine and we’ll get into this at a um in another episode at some point, I’m sure, but Jesus doesn’t play a very big role. It seems to me in Brigham’s doctrine. So it could be that he just doesn’t see a need to end things in, in jesus’ name as we do. Now, maybe that’s part of why we do now, maybe later leaders corrected what they saw as a problem. I don’t know, it’s just interesting, but back to the foundation. So part of that faith affirming story that the in inadequate sandstone foundation was replaced with a granite foundation that was 16 ft thick, that just isn’t true on a variety of levels. I’ve heard it talked about how thick the temple walls are as if that makes it more struct structurally sound. But first, the reason the walls were designed to be so thick is because the original plan was for the temple to be built made out of um Adobe instead of out of stone. And when it, when it was changed to be built out of stone, the plans, they just failed to update the plans. And so our really, it seems to me our faith affirming story is trying to make lemonade out of lemons, the lemons of failing to fix the plans. But in addition, so that’s just one point. But in addition, the foundation is and always has been really pretty bad. So I don’t know if Brigham was giving that sermon um when he saw the original sandstone or when they were claiming to replace the sandstone, whatever it was. But the fact is that we can see it even more now with the renovation that’s being done on the temple, which is going to be an episode of its own that the foundation is really just terrible. It is filled with pebbles and rubble and rocks and tons of sandstone still in it. I don’t know if it’s over half sandstone, but I know that a substantial amount of it is sandstone. And so the idea of a solid granite foundation that could withstand the millennium just never been anywhere close to true as should be clear from the many re renovations and supports the temple has required over the years, I didn’t look into this extensively from, but from what I did see the salt Lake Temple has had a lot more um structural renovations than most buildings its, its age should need. And so, um, I think it’s interesting also that, well, I, I guess it just seems like we can’t escape living, living out what God has prophesized, right? The, the symbols just seem to be there despite our best efforts because like, regardless of all of our many sermons about a solid foundation and talking about the solid granite foundation of the temple, the temple, the Salt Lake Temple literally has a sandy foundation. And that’s really interesting how we just get trapped in it no matter what it seems that, you know, God, God has a way of, of making things come out the way that they are going to come out. So my hunch now after getting into this and studying this, the renovation, and I said, we’re gonna get into that. But my hunch now is that the current renovation that’s being done in the temple isn’t merely to make it withstand the potential of an earthquake, which I had thought was really strange that they were doing that. Now, I’m guessing that that’s just the excuse that the renovation was necessary to keep it standing at all because of how weak the foundation is. So, I think that’s interesting and like I said, that’s gonna be, that’s gonna be a fascinating episode. I’m excited to get to that one. So it was actually going to be included in this episode, but it took on a life of its own and I had to break it off into, it’ll probably be, be probably be part four on the temples because there’s so much there. So um that’s, that’s what I tend to think is happening actually. But ok, so we often want to think that the temple was a high priority for Brigham Young, like he, he announced it in four days or he found the the spot for it in four days. But that was actually not the case. And while we might want to claim that that was just because they were struggling to survive, survive, or the temple was such a huge undertaking that it took 40 years. That also doesn’t hold up man. This has been interesting to study. So the truth is there was almost no focus on temple work for decades in early Utah, it just wasn’t a priority. So reading from um again, several of the different papers I’ve read and most of them are intended to be somewhat apologetic, you know, so they’re trying to minimize or explain away some of these things. But I’ll, I’ll quote from some of them. Um The period from 1847 to 1877 witnessed a comparative wilderness retreat from temple labors. He cites other things that were the issue. But the main one, the unique challenges involved in living, the principle of plural marriage took priority over temple work. That was again, Richard Bennett. So here’s another quote in today’s church, temple attendance and worthiness are synonymous with spiritual rejuvenation and personal obedience. In Brigham’s Day, the spiritual focus was on missionary work. Obedience to the 10 commandments. I very much disagree with that. I don’t think it was obedience to the 10 commandments. I think it was obedience to the leaders, obedience to priesthood. Obedience to counsel if you read through the sermons that comes through very quickly. Um So missionary work, obedience to cos I would say the law of tithing and o and adherence to celestial plural marriage. That’s what all of the focus was. Do, what we say, go on missions, get more converts, pay us your tithing and marry more than one wife. That was the early Utah doctrine in a nutshell. So working for the dead stopped almost completely following the exodus from n even following the opening opening of the endowment house in 1855 this pattern did not change. So this was from the book that I’m going to address heavily in our next episode written by Blaine Jorgenson. And we will get into the endowment house in, in a few minutes. Only there were only three recorded baptisms for the dead. For during the first two decades in Utah, there were only three recorded baptisms for the dead during the first two decades in Utah. Did you catch that after that? Like fervor in navoo? It just was not happening in Utah because it was not part of what they were focused on, that had been the huge priority. But in Utah, it just fell out of, fell out of fashion because they were so focused on these other things. So the lack of priority on temple work is not only revealed in those records, but the lack of you know, any any records of ordinances being done. It’s also revealed by the other buildings they prior prioritized over building the temple. So immediately upon arrival, they first constructed a bowery which was basically a pavilion where they could gather and be, be instructed. They um within two years, they built a second bowery that was twice as large. They have a reconstruction of several of the early buildings that this is the place monument. So it is not surprising that the temple was not begun during the early starving years of Utah. So, but I’m now going to quote from Scott Esb’s paper outlining some of the early buildings he says, however, by 1851 their economic conditions were consider considerably improved. The California gold rush brought material goods to Salt Lake City, which um that Salt Lake became like really the major outfitting center on the way to California, continue to quote, the Saints had worked diligently to improve the land, produce crops and increase their livestock holdings. Thus, they benefited greatly from trade with the gold seekers. So they could have had the means at that point to start building the temple. But um that’s not exactly what they did. So another point that’s good to know is that Brigham Young hired Truman O Angel to be the full time architect for the church um on staff on, you know, on salary. Um So from Angel’s journal journal, the president wished me to devote my time to making out designs and plans to see they were executed saying I need not work further so he could afford a full time architect. Um And he records many of the things he built in addition to nice homes for the leaders, especially Brigham Young had multiple homes, he designed and oversaw many church buildings. So I’m to go over a list of buildings that they did success, successfully build very quickly. And I want to say, and I’m I’m sure I’ll say this again. I am 100% sure that this is not comprehensive because I couldn’t find a comprehensive list everywhere anywhere. So I just had to dig through and I’m just giving you what I was able to find. So the first major building other than the homes of the leaders that angel designed was called the Count House and it was completed in 1850. So that’s even before the money started coming in from the gold rush, it was multi-purpose. It um served the purpose, both of the government headquarters and the church headquarters. And um this was the building where Brigham Young, I believe would have given his horrifically racist January 23rd and February 5th, 1852 speeches to the legislature. Those are in episode 64 and 65 if you don’t know what I’m talking about. So, um it also served as the first established location for the administration of temple ordinances. So we’re going to talk about this more because this is a big issue. Um It was used for temple work until the endowment house was built four years later. And interestingly, it caught fire in an explosion and burned down on in 1883 which means it was only in use for 33 years. That’s a very short lifespan of building. The next building that I’m going to talk about was a building that came to be called the Adobe Tabernacle or the old Tabernacle. It was built on Temple Square where, where the assembly hall now is. So this Tabernacle was twice the size of the Kirtland Chapel. I will talk about that or Kirtland House of the Lord. I’m not any more going to call it the Kirtland temple and it was nearly as large as the never finished Navoo temple. It held 3000 plus an additional even larger bowery that served as an overflow. And so this was a large meeting meeting house that was finished in 1852 just in time for the special conference on polygamy where the revelation was read. So that would have been read at the first or second conference held in this, the old Tabernacle, which at this point when it was read was the new Tabernacle. So that’s interesting. So just like the other efforts, um accounts of Brigham Young sort of bullying people into donations. Um throughout all of these, I just found this one account that I’ll share, this was about this Tabernacle because I found it to be fascinating and telling, this is certainly not an isolated incident or in any way special. It’s just that I found this recording in a journal. So this is March 17th, 1852 President B Young took Thomas Bullock and Daniel H Wells in his carriage to write out for the benefit of his health. In the afternoon, went to several places to get nails for the Tabernacle. And you can, I, I don’t know, maybe I’m reading it too much to what that, what it sounds like that means. The brethren, very busy laying down the floor and commencing, fixing the seats and pulpit. Brigham Young received £7 of nails from a Farnham for the use of the Tabernacle. So there’s a lot here and maybe I’m reading a lot into it. But I I’m gonna continue to from um this article, the fact that President Yang made several personal calls to secure nails is indicative of the interest he took in the building of the Tabernacle. It also emphasizes that nails were very scarce in Utah. That was very true. They were one of the most needed commodities for building. That’s why the Tabernacle was built almost without nails. They did a lot of um shipbuilding techniques and tying rather than using nails because nails were so expensive and hard to come by. It says most of them were handmade from old wagon tires or other scrap iron. Some were imported from the States. But the cost of importation of such a heavy item as nails was almost prohibitive. The co the gift from Mr Farnham therefore represented a generous donation and is indicative of the manner in which much of the material for the Tabernacle was secured. And I have to say that it’s such a euphemism to say the fact that Brigham Young made personal calls to secure nails is indicative of the interest he took. He really um tended, you know, we know so many stories from his history of how he would bully people. Oh, I won’t remember the names, but the older woman who was staying in her little apartment and Brigham came in and just let her have it saying if I had, if I had a house like this and there was a family of five that didn’t, I would hide my head and shave and kicked her out of her own apartment so his family could move in. So knowing what we know about Brigham Young, him making personal house calls to collect nails um is kind of um I don’t like him very much so. Anyway, so um this is quoting from the Scott Eston article. Um a fundamental difference in the method of operation of the two great Mormon leaders of the early days, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He points out that during the leadership of Joseph Smith, the first object wherever the saints settled was to construct a temple. This was true in Kirtland, Far west and Navoo in none of these places, were there adequate meeting facilities for the saints. However, under the leadership of Brigham Young, the Mormons built a substantial place for their regular worship before even death dedicating the cornerstones of their temple. So that’s an interesting story about the old Tabernacle, right? It and it was even it was in use for a much shorter time than even the um council house. It was only used for 25 years before being torn down and replaced with the still standing assembly hall. That’s um on Temple Square. Many of you who’ve been to Salt Lake will recognize the assemble assembly hall and the assembly hall which was the second building built on that same spot was even that was finished 11 years before the temple was finished. So the temple taking 40 years, it starts to come to to um I started to view that very differently after all of this study. So the next year in 1853 they finished the social hall for social and cultural events and performances by the Desert Dramatic Association. The first floor included a dining area with tables, benches and a fully equipped kitchen. And the upper story had a 20 by 40 ft stage and a large dance floor. So that was finished in 1853 just as they were barely coming out of their poverty. And that was prioritized over the temple. It goes on and on. You can see the 1980 replica. It’s the, that’s it. This is the place. And now to the confusing topic of endowments, ordinances and temples in the early church, we’re going to talk about the endowment house. I’m going to explain this the best I can. Somewhere around 2000 endowments had been done in the Council house. And um that was over the four years that they had the council house before the endowment house was finished, which is what I’m going to talk about yet next. And actually that was a very slow pace. Some years, there were none just like we said about the other temple work, baptism for baptisms for the dead. It just was not a priority to the people. There were several years during that, like I think for a year or two, none were done. And then um they just would it up occasionally it sounds like to me and do some ordinances and then be done with it because like I said, it was a multi-purpose building. They had to hang up sheets and change it to try to do some temple work in it. So they decided they needed a dedicated building for endowments and ceilings, but not a temple, right? So they built what they called the temple pro TEM or the temporary temple, which came to be called the endowment house. It was dedicated in 1855. So pretty early on, it was the first building that was to function according to the actual modern or at that point, which is similar to the current Temple endowment instead of just hanging separate curtains, it had separate rooms to be um what, what were they, let’s see, they had a separate room for the creation room, the garden room, the world room, the terrestrial room, the celestial room, the ceiling room and maybe there were others. So we’ll talk about more in a different episode. Why the um Navoo Temple didn’t follow this pattern that Brigham said he was so familiar with. He didn’t need it to be inspired in any way, right? Why it was so different? That would be in a different episode. So um the the the endowment house also, oh, also the council house had none of these. They needed to use makeshift curtains. It wasn’t until the endowment house that you didn’t have to hang up makeshift curtains. I want to talk really quickly about the names of these buildings. And before recording part one, I had not known to focus on the importance and confusion about what temples, chapels, church buildings, houses of the Lord were called um one of my listeners and friends. Thank you Summer pointed out to me correctly that Joseph Smith never referred to the Kirtland chapel as a temple. I had that had not even been on my radar. And some community of Christ listeners told me the same thing. They, they still don’t refer to it as a temple that was surprising for them to hear. So in revelation, it was called the House of the Lord and was usually referred to as the chapel. But in our L Ds cul culture, we have been raised to call all of these things, all of these buildings, temples and to use all of these terms, temple, a house of the house of the Lord house of God, God’s house, all they’re all synonymous and used interchangeably. So I haven’t delved into this fully enough to feel like I really have, have a full grasp of it. But for now, it kind of adds to my hypothesis that temples might actually be a lower law for a somewhat fallen people. Something was taken away apparently between Kirtland and Navoo and the temple seems to have been commanded as an opportunity to try to receive it again, to try to get it back. So in any case, knowing this made me pay much closer attention. When I saw that Brigham Young also seemed to care about building names and um I, I don’t again, know exactly what this means. I tend to think he did it with much less understanding just trying to follow the example of Joseph, but we have reports of him naming these buildings. So at the May 5th, 1855 endowment house dedication, he said we have completed what some call the endowment house though, what I call the House of the Lord in it, you will get your endowments but do not fret about it for you will receive them in time. So don’t be in a hurry, let us build the temple. And when we have finished building that building, we will call it the temple of our God. So the endowment house was going to be called the house of the Lord. And the temple was going to be called the temple of our God. I don’t know if that makes much sense in terms of how Brigham used those terms. I don’t understand very much about it at all. And so from another record, the president remarked, the house was clean and named it the house of the Lord said the spirit of the Lord would be in it for no one would be permitted to go in to pollute it. That was focused mainly on people who didn’t pay tithing. He also said, when the temple is built, we will call that the temple of our God. So again, the house of the Lord was the endowment house, the temple of our God was the temple. I don’t know what he, how he thought that what he thought that meant another record says, President President Young said he would name it the house of God. So this time it was the house of God, not the house of the Lord. And when the temple is built, he would call it the temple of our God. So I just think that that is interesting. I don’t know exactly other than it seems to me, he’s trying to repeat what Joseph had done. I find this entire thing very strange and interesting. Joseph had repeatedly said that God could not reveal more and that more would not be given until the nagu temple was completed. And within the given time frame, which it wasn’t yet, the later leaders make two very contradictory claims. On the one hand, they claim that the temple needed to be completed. So that because the ordinances could not be done other than in a temple. There are many quotes here is just one from for the that 14th February 1853 temple lot dedication. Um Just be just before Brigham explains why it is not necessary to receive a revelation. He says, if you ask, if it is the will of God for us to build a temple, I answer yes, it is the will of God. We should build a temple, we cannot attend to the ordinances of the house of the Lord without it. So there’s so much there. There’s a ton in that small quote. So he equates the temple and the house of the Lord and says, we cannot attend to the ordinances of the house of the Lord without a temple. But just a few years later, he builds what he calls a house of the Lord. The temporary temple or the endowment house to give temple ordinances before what he will call the temple of God is finished. So it’s, I I don’t know if it, it’s supposed to make sense. I don’t know if it made sense to him or I’m gonna like, like I just more and more get the impression that it just kind of makes it up as he goes along. So to further complicate things, Brigham and several other Utah apostles, only the Utah apostles. Um They claimed that who also claimed the temple needed to be done before ordinances could be given. They also claimed that Joseph gave them the ordinances outside of the temple in Navoo in the upper room of the red brick store. So what they claimed Joseph was doing in the red brick store they were actually doing in the council house. Um We’ll get into that and then, uh and then later in the endowment house and again, they gave ordinances in the council house that was not a temple and also in the endowment house also not a temple. And um and, and yet they still want to claim that it’s important to finish the temple. So our modern idea, our way to explain this is that the temple had to be finished. So that all our our common understanding, this isn’t the explanation yet. But our understanding that the temples need to be needed to be finished so that the saints could finally get their endowments. And Brigham did always call it get their end or but anyway, that’s what he called it, that just does not hold up at all. And as you will see going forward, the main function and necessity of the endowment house was actually to carry on polygamy. So I think that’s why it was prioritized because that was the priority in early Utah. So bizarrely and as evidence of its actual purpose, which was polygamy, the temporary temple or the endowment house or the house of the Lord didn’t have a baptismal font. So that one huge thing that was the priority of the saints in n and had been the and, and what Joseph had been extremely clear about, if there was anything he was clear about in the Navoo temple, it was that there needed to be the baptismal font on the backs of 12 blocks and underground level, right? He had been made that very clear. So, but Brigham didn’t even include one in either the council house or the endowment house that served as their first functioning temples. So when people expressed concern after it was built, the church leaders did have one built next door the following year. So it wasn’t in the endowment house. It certainly wasn’t on oxen, it wasn’t underground and they just kind of put it next door to the endowment house and put a little makeshift roof over it. And that was the, that Baptist font was dedicated October 1856. So if you are at all confused about how exactly a temporary temple or endowment house or house of the God, a house of God or house of the Lord was different than an actual temple or temple of our God. You are not alone. It seems that there was a lot of confusion about this. Um Brigham gave, I I think he spoke about it more than once, but I he gave an entire talk about it on Sept in September of 1873 after they had already been using the endowment house for almost 20 years and still no end to the temple in sight, Brigham. Um Some of the people wondered why they even needed a temple, which is a really good question, right? So this is what Brigham said. There are many of the ordinances of the House of God that must be performed in a temple. So again, it’s confusing because he called the endowment house, the house of the Lord or the House of God. But there are many things that have to be in a temple, right? Um The the um that must be performed in a temple that is erected expressly for the purpose. There are other ordinances that we can administer without a temple. We can at the present time, present time, go into the endowment house and be baptized for the dead, well or next to the endowment house, receive our washings and anointings, et cetera. For there we have a font that has been erected dedicated expressly for baptizing people, for the remission of sins, for their help and for their dead friends. In this, the saints have have the privilege of being baptized for their friends. We also have the privilege of sealing women to men without a temple. Note that sealing women to men, we can do that without a temple. That that’s news to us today, right? This we can do in the endowment house. But when we come to other sealing ordinances, ordinances pertaining to the holy priesthood to connect the chain of the priesthood from Father Adam until now by sealing Children up to their parents, sealed for our forefathers, et cetera. They cannot be done without a temple, but we can seal women to men but not men to men without a temple. When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that shall be, that will be erected, men will be sealed to their fathers and those who have slept clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be done because of the chain of the priesthood being broken upon the earth. So he goes on and on. But there is a lot there. I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to unpack all of it right now. But keep in mind he was not, this is not how we would interpret it. He was not speaking of people being sealed to their own ancestors and doing the work for their own dead ancestors that came later with Wilfred Woodruff. This quote is actually in so many ways, a great summary of Brigham’s doctrines and the role his version of the temple played in them. Um He was his doctrine. I’m gonna try to explain it really quickly. It was extremely hierarchical, hierarchical, right? In like we now say that a husband and wife are sealed to each other. That was not how Brigham saw it. There was the man and the women were sealed to him. You’ll remember that I pointed out how he had to change Hiram’s speech, the women were sealed to the man and then the man was sealed to his. But when I was trying to think of the best way to explain this, I actually burst out laughing because really the best explanation is network marketing, your up line. And it was so funny because Utah is like officially the headquarters of network marketing of the entire world. We have more network marketing companies here than anywhere else. And I just was like, of course, we do it in our like religious DNA. This is the doctrine that we, that our ancestors were taught, right? So you were saved by being connected to the right up line, right? So it goes all the way back to Father Adam who is also God, the father. And you had to be, it had to be sealed to someone who was sealed to Him. So you would be so women, we all had to be sealed to her husband, who’s our up line. And then he had to be sealed to an up line who was sealed to either Joseph Smith by proxy or sealed to Brigham Young, who would, who was sealed to Jesus or eventually was sealed to Adam, who was God the father. That’s kind of my understanding at this point of how his doctrine worked and that’s what he said had to be done in the temple. So we were fine to do, you know, the more the the ceilings that had more immediate benefits, I guess of women being sealed to their God husband, their savior, right? Their husband was literally their savior. That could be done right now. But we couldn’t do the big guns, which was sealing men to their spiritual up line until we had the temple. And it’s interesting because that’s not what we do in temples, right? So, so there’s not any consistency in these ideas and it’s also, well, I’ll get to that in a minute. So anyway, there’s a, there’s a lot that goes on to this, oh, that was the other thing I was going to say and when he goes on to say there are further or that says we can’t do. I think it’s worth noting that many people had their second anointing in the endowment house. And so that’s something that’s not even that well known that I believe is still done in temples. However, which is basically as I understand it. Having your calling an election made sure I’m being told that there’s nothing save the shedding of innocent blood, which I think Brigham Young even had workarounds for that for himself. But there’s nothing save that that could separate you from your exaltation. So none of this makes sense to me. How could you have your second anointing and be told that you were, your exultation was insured if you didn’t have your spiritual up line in place or maybe only people who had had their spiritual up line in place. But that couldn’t, I, I mean, maybe they were the only ones that could have their exultation in short. I just, I don’t know that there was many to be any consistency. I don’t know that Brigham Young was really a thinker in these ways, in terms of consistency in his doctrines. So it’s hard to make much sense of it. The second anointing goes along that, that teaching that saved the shedding of innocent blood, your exaltation is ensured that also comes right out of section 132 and has not found anywhere in any of Joseph Smith’s teachings. So, if that could be done in the endowment house, what, why did we need a temple? And how do we explain this today? So anyway, most people just don’t know any of this. And for those who do know much about it, the, the explanation now seems to be that what they couldn’t do was the endowments for the dead. That’s what they needed. That was like the missing part in the temple because endowments for the dead weren’t done in the endowment house. Some ceilings for the dead were but um no endowments for the dead. So that’s kind of how we explain it. Now, that’s what they needed the temple for, which is a kind of anticlimactic, you know, like after they were doing all of this. So anyway, and that’s not what Brigham was teaching and, and what the early leaders were teaching. So anyway, it’s, it’s a big, you know, if somebody has this all figured out and it makes sense that is consistent. I would be happy to hear it explained to me because right now it just looks like, wow, I, they really like, he really just seemed to be making it up as he went, right? And so the last year of his life um after the Saint George temple was finished, Brig Young had a different message. So we’re going to get into the Saint George Temple on our the part on temples we do on the endowments because that on the endowment that plays into that. So, but after the Saint George Temple was, was built, he had a different message. This is a quote. The question may be asked, are you going to discontinue to give ments here? I think he’s talking about the endowment house. I think it is very probable that you will have to go to where there is a temple or go without in consequence of our having been driven from our homes. And because of our destitute circumstances, the Lord has permitted us to do what we have done, namely to use this endowment house for temple purposes. But since through the mercies and blessings of God, we are able to build temples. It is the will and commandment of God that we do. So. So if anyone has not watched episode 37 Zion versus Polygamy, I strongly recommend that episode just like if you haven’t watched the ones I mentioned before on racism, I’d recommend those at all. These are important things to understand. But in this quote, Brigham claimed that the endowment house was allowed because of their poverty at a time when he owned over a dozen mansions. So again, that episode on Zion versus polygamy, I go into this quite a bit, but I’ll just give some highlights here and point out a few other things throughout his entire presidency. Brigham Young built numerous homes mansions while many of the people were literally starving to death in dugouts. And while very little progress was made on the temple. So um this was a speech that was given December 3rd 1854 that I found to be particularly interesting. He Brigham said last Sabbath, we had an excellent discourse from brother Aaron Farr. His spirit is good and so his, so his brother Washington, Jolly brother Far closed his remarks and that, you know that feeling of that tension, you’re like, oh no, what’s coming? You know, like I’m starting to feel that because I’ve read enough of his talks when he’s, when he compliments someone just wait to see why. Um Brother Far closed his remarks by saying that we were building fine houses and neglecting the temple of the Lord. And Brother Jolly referred to the same thing in his remarks. If it would not hurt their feelings, I would say it is none of your business. If we do not build the temple here for years, I know they feel anxious to have a place for us to administer the endowments. And so do I then he talks at length about how they administered the endowment to some who were devils in. So he calls them to like he goes on this big seeming sidetrack about, do you not think there were people in navoo that got their endowments who turned out to be devils as soon as they build a temple? He says miserable beings who are full of the devil will want their endowments and then they will go to California and reveal things and stir up wickedness and prepare himself for hell. That’s what he says that people will do as soon as the temple is done. So apparently it’s not good to finish the temple because that might happen. And then he goes on, I would rather see this people cleansed and give the righteous their endowments. After they have waited a while. I will venture to say that brother Far and Jolly never counseled their brethren where they have been laboring to come up here and pay their tithing and yet they look at me and my brethren to do it all, to send the gospel to all the nations, to build temples, to watch and watch day and night over the interests of this kingdom. And they have not even mouthed tithing or if they have, they have merely touched upon it. I wish you to understand me wait until those people have paid their tithing before there is any demand made upon the Lord or upon his servants for a temple. If this people will rise up and make demands on me for anything that has not been done or complain about anything that they have not that they have done. I am ready to post up the books and strike a balance sheet and show whether it is you or your president. That is the defaulter again, I’ll show you the books, I’ll prove it to you and yet he never, ever, ever did that, right? Like these are those threats that are hollow or those offers, right? So the criticism that the brethren who are employed by the church and paid only by church funds and then, and their investments are made using church funds, are building mansions and not finishing the temple. That’s what the accusation is, right? What does anything he goes on to say have to do with any of that. It’s interesting to listen how he how he does this. So he goes on my policy is to get rich. I am a miser eternal things. Do I want to become rich as to the things of the earth? Yes, if the Lord wishes me to have such riches and I can use them to good advantage. My policy is to keep every man woman and child busily employed that they may have no idle time for hatching mischief in the night and for making plans to accomplish their own ruin because everybody left to their own. You know, there’s, there’s nobody that um wouldn’t just cause problems if it wasn’t commanding them. What to do. My policy is to keep everybody busy and building up this kingdom. There are hundreds of young men who here here who can go to school, which is far better than to waste their time, study languages, get knowledge and understanding and while doing this get wisdom of God and forget it not and forget it not and learn how to apply it that you may do good with it all the days of your life. May God bless you. Amen. So again, this tactic that he has and I think it, he, he’s very gifted at this like narcissistic tactic of misdirection, redirecting, diffusing, muddying the waters and clotting, cluttering the conversation to make it impossible to focus on the actual issue at hand. So keeping people busy and sending boys to school has absolutely nothing to do with the very valid concern expressed that the leaders are building multiple very lush mansions while barely working on the temple. But he did this pivot and and and and got, you know, it was able to get passionate about it in order to pretend that he somehow adequately defend, defended himself against those very valid accusations. So it’s just interesting, the more I read of him, the more I kind of start to sense at least what I sense of his character of how he did these things. So I’m gonna go over this really quickly. So his first mansion, he already had several houses in log row, but he built the White mansion or the ma mansion house finished in 1854 much nicer than anywhere anybody else was living. At the same time. He was working on both the Beehive house, also finished in in 1854 and the Lion House finished in 1856. And then you can see two sides. This picture of the lighthouse is older, but I really like it because it shows just how big and deep and weird it was, it really was a harem house. And so plus he built the huge stone wall that had, that goes all the way around Temple Square. It’s still there, this a massive undertaking and with a huge eagle gate and that wall was there to protect his entire compound. There were many reports of people in Utah that his wives were rarely if ever seen outside of the of the wall of his compound. Then he had his farmhouse in 1863 and then the Saint George mansion house, which was his summer home in 18, he that was finished in 1871. And culminating and again, there were others. These are just the ones that I was able to draw out in my research quickly. I know there were many, he owned many other homes just in Saint George, not to mention everywhere else, but culminating in the embarrassment of the Gardo house called Amelia’s Palace, which was begun in 1873. And again was the grandest house between Chicago and the West Coast. So that’s what he was doing while the temple was not being built or completed at the time of his death. Um Brigham’s estate, which really was just entirely mingled with the church was over $1,600,000 which is the equivalent of over $46 million today. And so, um, he had mingled his personal wealth with the church money. That’s what we say. But the truth is the only money he had was church money. Um, he, I mean, he did have a lot of businesses, but again, he built those all with church money right after his death in the confusion of what was theirs and what was the churches? Brigham’s family actually sued the church. Amelia, the um his last favorite wife and Marianne Angel tried to claim possession of the Gardo House by occupying it and refusing to leave, even though it wasn’t finished, they each finally left when they were given $20,000 which is almost $600,000. Today, Brigham had tried to keep the money and power in his family by secretly ordaining three of his sons as apostles in 1864 to try to put them ahead in the order of succession, but it didn’t work. So, um so the transition was a more complicated was this complicated, messy lawsuit. Um The church decided, I think very generously to allow Brigham’s um to charge the state a million dollars allowing the family to keep the other 600,000, which equals over 17 and a quarter million dollars today. So that was the situation with Brigham Young and in any case, it is something for a man worth over $46 million. Building one of the nation’s largest mansions to add to his large collection of homes, to claim poverty as the reason he was unable to finish the temple. So back to the endowment house, the more you read, the more clear it becomes that the real purpose of the endowment house was plural marriage. That’s the main thing that would, that was done there. And it’s definitely what it represented and what it stood for and stood for. In fact, when the pressure really started to mount against polygamy, that Wilfred Woodruff was having to deal with. And when he wanted to step away from polygamy, the decision was made to pull down the endowment house in 1889. Just before the man, the first manifesto was written as a very profound physical symbol of the churches of the churches, like abandoning polygamy. That was the most um the the most clear message they could send that they were not going to do polygamy anymore. So that was actually a really big deal that they had the, the um endowment raised. It was actually well raised to the ground razed. It was actually Brigham Young junior who was the apostle called by his father in in secret. He was the oldest of Brigham’s sons that were called that he called his apostles who made the motion to um destroy the endowment house. And it was sustained by the all the rest of the 15 who were there And so, um it, within less than a month, it was almost done, if not completely done. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on November 17th, 1889 that the endowment house which was the main symbol of L Ds polygamy was quote being raised and will be a thing of the past. So it is interesting because the endowment house was destroyed in 1889 and the Salt Lake Temple wasn’t dedicated until nine and 8, 1893. So it left me wondering what they did for ordinances or endowments or ceilings in that four year interim. But I I don’t know, but I don’t know how strict they were about it before anyway. So they probably just carried on as normal. But I know there was, it was a confusing time with polygamy happening in secret. So it was probably happening in secret locations, not officially in any building, right? So this idea that it has to be in the right building just gets really complicated. So um I’m going to quote from this paper by I think it’s LG Brown or Liso, it’s Lisle, but this is what the paper says for 44 years, for 34 years. The endowment house admirably fulfilled its purpose as a temporary as a temporary temple. The primary ordinance is performed in the endowment house which included ceilings of living couples ceilings by proxy for the dead ceilings between couples in which one partner was living and the other dead Endowments for the Living and second anointings. So that tells us what it was about and what it was doing. Right. And it is an interesting story in our history that I think we should know more about and try to make sense of because our history is more complicated than we, you know, we always want it just like simplified, dumbed down, correlated tied up with a bow. And here’s your understanding, it’s much more complicated than that. So, um I do want to just go on. I’ve already talked about some of Brigham’s homes and some of the other buildings they built. But there were so many more buildings that were successfully built, finished and dedicated while the Salt Lake Temple was left languishing. And so Brigham Young had church offices built in 1852. This was the first church office building, right? And um in addition to the council house that he has, he had built then, um the Salt Lake City Hall dedicated in 1866 was the new government building which also was built before the council house was burned. It was still there and this is a pretty, pretty impressive building, right? It’s still standing today. Um The new Tabernacle, the one that’s still on Temple Square was built and dedicated um in 1867 at the time, it was the largest assembly hall in the United States and it boasted to have one of the largest organs in the world. So they were doing some pretty impressive things that weren’t the temple, right? And um this was far from all in his assistance that quote, the people must have amusement as well as religion. And despite the harsh criticism and disagreement, even among church leaders, Brigham built a very luxurious posh theater which also came from church money. It was finished in March 1862. I should clarify all of these projects were built by the church, right, with church funds and church effort. So the idea of um this is a quote, the idea of erecting a playhouse when the temple of the Lord was incomplete seemed to be a question merit. Some authorities argued that if they build a theater before a temple, it would invite condemnation both locally and nationally. Brigham Young was resolute, however, and the theater became a priority. So this is all just this amazed me learning all of this. I honestly have no idea how many other structures or buildings were completed before the temple. I am certain that I only have a partial list. Like I said, I couldn’t find a comprehensive list really wish there were one. Just the more I looked, the more I turned up there, it was so many things that were built. And I think that would be another fantastic project for somebody to do is give us some kind of comprehensive list of all of the buildings that were built by the church by Brigham Young before his death, before the Salt Lake Temple was finished. So here are a few others. He had so many buildings and so many businesses. These are just some that I learned about that I know of. So ZCM, I remember ZCM from when I was young, Zion’s Cooper Mercantile Institution that was still around, I think up until I didn’t look at what year it closed. But I want to guess it was around 2000 or, or maybe a little earlier or something like that. But this was the ZCM building that was finished in 1876. So even before the, the Saint George Temple was finished and definitely before the Salt Lake Temple, even much progress was made on it. That’s a pretty impressive building, right? And then also there was the Zs Cooper to banking institutions. I knew about ZCM I, but this was like a ZCB I and it became the Bank of Deseret and then the Deseret National Bank and they were able to finish that building in 1875 another very impressive building. So the banking building and the mercantile building were finished while Salt Lake Temple was did not progress much. Plus there were so many other buildings and businesses and homes and just a couple that I know of there were mills and wineries, breweries, a distillery up at the mouth of one of the canyons. Brigham Young build a big distillery where they made Mormon whiskey. It had the nickname of Valley Town. Um Plus Brigham owned, built and owned the first s saloon in Utah for so many more things. It’s fascinating to study, study, to embark on. So, from all of this, I think I’ve shown you enough to give to explain my hunch that I started to feel like Brigham really just didn’t want to finish the temple. I think he didn’t want to finish the temple. The only way I can explain this, the thought came to me that perhaps he saw himself somewhat as David and his son, Brigham Young junior, who he hoped to be his successor, like Solomon, who would build the temple. If you remember, David couldn’t build the temple because he had too much blood on his hands, which from some of the things I’ve studied, haven’t done episodes on yet. That could be the case. But um there might be something to that. But then I read some things that gave me another insight. So at the 1853 dedication of the temple lot Brigham Young said, I pray my father in heaven to encircle you in the arms of his love and mercy, protect us until we have finished this temple. Receive the full, until we have finished this temple, receive the fullnesses of our endowments there in and built many more. And I pray also that we will live to see the great temple in Jackson County, Missouri. So that was interesting Right. That seemed like kind of strange to be dedicated one temple lot but be praying to finish a different temple from, you know, Jackson County, Missouri. I didn’t realize I looked into this a little bit more and I hadn’t realized before this, that Brigham Young thought that Salt and Utah was just temporary was just a temporary respite until the Saints went back to Jackson County. I, I just didn’t know that he spoke multiple times about it and he also spoke multiple times about um leaving or losing the Salt Lake temple as well. So um here’s just one example. So this was in August, this is August 22nd of 1862 where he was again speaking about redoing the foundation. He says, if we do not hurry with this, I am afraid we shall not get it up until we have to go back to Jackson County, which I expect will be in seven years. I do not want to quite finish this temple for there will not be any temple finished until the one in is finished in Jackson County. He said that Joseph had taught that keep this secret to yourselves lest some may be discouraged. Something should be kept to ourselves. So we wanted the Saints to keep working on the temple, but he thought that they would have to leave it and go back to Jackson County before it was finished. Apparently, that’s really interesting, I guess from, from reading some more on this. It sounds like, especially during the civil war, Brigham became quite convinced that the return to Jackson County was imminent. So that idea continued on even it seemed to have settled down a little bit because Brigham decided to build the um Saint George Temple and then he was building all of these other buildings. So I don’t know how committed he was to that idea. But, um, it, the, the idea carried on even till the Salt Lake Temple dedication when um Wilfred Woodruff said some similar things and maybe we’ll read that going forward a little bit. But um anyway, so that became another indication of maybe that had something to do with it. So I think maybe the that idea of going back to Jackson County combined with the ability to perform endowments and s ceiling since they had the um the endowment house and those were his gospel priorities. So they were already taken care of and um as well as well. II I started to think maybe those were the things that just completely squelched any urgency he may have felt otherwise to finish the temple. And so in any case, it becomes, in my opinion, remarkably clear that Brigham Young just did not care about finishing the Salt Lake Temple. I, I also had the thought that maybe he was so discouraged by the foundation that he just was like, oh, I don’t know what to do with this. And kind of was less motivated for that reason. That’s a possibility to want to build a temple that he knew would fall. But in any case, for whatever reason, he was not a, he, he didn’t finish the Salt Lake temple. So I’m gonna talk about some of the things he was able to do again. He did start and finish the Saint George temple near the end of his life. As I said, we’ll talk about that more in the next episode. That’s a pretty impressive building to put up in just a couple of years in the desperate poverty in Saint George, which was nothing like Salt Lake, right? And um then he let’s see all this picture. I, so I, I really wish I could find some kind of a um year by year progress report on the temple, either with pictures or even just descriptions. I wasn’t able to find anything like that and I really wish it existed. So if there’s any like graduate student studying history that is looking for a thesis or a project, I think that would be an excellent one. I would love someone to work on putting together all of the buildings built by the church under Brigham Young. And I would also love to have a list of or a year by year progress report of the temple. So we can see exactly what was done each year. So from the best I could find out this was the extent of the temple’s progress near the death of Brigham Young. So you can see the Tabernacle in the background and then those men standing on the temple walls such as they were um maybe this was earlier, I don’t know as I said, but I looked to try to find something and this is the best I could get. So I cannot be exactly certain how much progress was made before Brigham’s death. But we do know when it was finished and we do know at some points the progress. So John Taylor, he lived most of his presidency in hiding. And so um I thought, well, maybe that’s why he couldn’t work on the temple. But um he also was fighting with the government trying to keep the church property, trying to not go to prison. So I was gonna going to give him a pass for his 10 years of presidency from 1877 to 1887. However, when I realized that he did manage to build the assembly hall, which was that beautiful building that replaced the old Tabernacle. And um he also was able to build and dedicate other temples. So he this is the Logan temple that was dedicated, that was finished in 1884. So during the middle of that time and he did a lot of work on the Manti temple that was um I think it was dedicated one year after his death in 1888. So it’s hard to say he couldn’t have done something on the Salt Lake Temple. I don’t know. I, I’m more and more thinking maybe that faulty foundation was the reason that they just didn’t want to have anything to do with it. But from what I can see, he didn’t necessarily prioritize things like theaters. Audacious mansions banks and saloons over building the temple, maybe in part because those were already done. But, but he did definitely prioritize other things over the temple. And absolutely, he prioritized polygamy over finishing the temple. And so, um but once Wilfred Woodruff took over in 1887 and began seriously distancing the church from polygamy, like in destroying the endowment house and issuing the first manifesto. So things began to change and I think he became really dedicated to um he, he started to feel an urgency to finish the temple. So the more I studied again, I started to get an indication of why that may be that we’ll talk about. But you can see how quickly progress began to be made in the, in the um eight, late eighties as he took over leading up until April 6th, 1892 when they had the capstone ceremony when that was just slammed with tens of thousands of people. They came to see Angel moron. I being put in place. And we’re also going to talk about Angel moron in a, in a later episode. But um at that temple ceremony Wilfred Woodruff said he wanted quote to place the Saints under covenant to hasten the temple’s completion. So Apostle Fran Francis Lyman followed through with this res resolution that, um President Woodruff wanted. And so this is the quote believing that the instructions of President Woodruff respecting the early completion of the Salt Lake Temple is the word of the Lord unto us. I propose that this assemblage pledge themselves collectively and individually to furnish as fast as it may be needed. All the money that may be required to complete the temple at the earliest time possible so that the dedication may take place on April 6th, 1893. So they wanted to dedicate the temple exactly one year later and it seemed to work despite a lot of stress and urgency and concern. It, it reminded me a lot like of the Nabu temple. There was just so much stress that it wasn’t going to be done in time, even up until 12 hours before the first dedication was scheduled. They still were trying to get things finished up. And I’m pretty sure for what I’ve read that even after it was dedicated, there was still work to do, but um they did manage to hold the first dedication, April 6th, 1893 exactly 40 years after the first groundbreaking ceremony. So that was really interesting. Uh You can see the, the focus on the April 6th date and I think that that he probably also really wanted that 40 year time span. So I used to think that it was 40 years after entering the valley that they finished the temple. But it wasn’t, it was 40 years after the temple after the um groundbreaking, which was, which happened later on, right. And so that’s how they dated it. So it really is a remarkable building. It’s just beautiful and iconic and I’ve always just been just so impressed and overwhelmed that our ancestors built it in their poverty. That’s what I’ve always believed. Although I have to admit that doing this research has really taken the shine off of that story. I’m not so naive anymore, right? I always imagined the temple sort of rising out of the desert surrounded by nothing but just small frontier homes by, you know, people with chisels just like like almost one of the wonders of the world. I mean, I know not quite but kind of, that’s how I always thought about it. That’s just not the case at all at oh Salt Lake was pretty much built. Most of those really impressive buildings that are in Salt Lake that well, that were, you know, when I was a girl, were there long before the temple was long before the temple. It was kind of like Salt Lake was completely finished and then the temple finally joined, joined the party, right? And um and I also, you know, we always talk about the temple taking 40 years to build as if that is as if it’s a statement of what a huge and remarkable accomplishment. It was as if it required um as if it required 40 years of work and struggle and effort in order to build the temple. And again, after this research, I just see that that was not the case at all. It’s, it’s more like saying the temple took 40 years to build is more like saying it took my kids a month to clean their room or it took my kids a week to pick up their socks, right. It’s not that they needed that much time to put full effort in. It’s just that they didn’t do it for that long, right? They had met, it was 40 years of stalling and delays and focusing on other priorities like mansions, theaters, social halls, a distillery and mainly polygamy that they focused on those things instead of getting it done. And so, um I guess being able to turn it into the 40 years in the wilderness story to match Moses made at least at least seem meaningful. But I have to admit, I have actually always found that curious, like why was that a good association? The Children of Israel were forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because they weren’t faithful enough to enter the promised land. And as, as it’s, as it was always explained to me, they had to wait for that older generation to die off so that the Children who, you know, could, could start a new society would enter. And so I’m like, why is that, why is that a good thing? I don’t know exactly how that was supposed to play out. And also it’s just interesting because I also had this idea that, like, they worked for 40 years to finish the temple so they could finally have their temple work and that was what it was all for. And then learning that like, no, they have the endowment house and they were doing everything they wanted to do there, mainly polygamy, right? Like that was a little anti climactic. And then they built the Saint George temple, which for anything they claimed that couldn’t be done in the endowment house. Although later on that story changed as well, it wasn’t really Brigham’s idea. It certainly isn’t now. So in a lot of ways the Salt Lake Temple was kind of anticlimactic, you know, and I have to think that maybe they just, a lot of the lead were like, we’re not messing with this foundation. We’re, you know, we don’t know what to do with this mess. And um until Wilfred Woodruff really had his motivations, which I think I’ll go into a little bit. But if anyone’s not convinced that um the Salt Lake Temple wasn’t, if anyone still is thinking that it just took 40 years to build because of the hardships, let me just show you one more thing after I’d already been studying this for quite a while, I didn’t need much more convincing. But this really drove the point home for me, this was the original salt air at Salt Lake and I’ve heard of it before, but I had no idea that it was actually funded and built by the church. And at the same time that they were finishing and dedicating the temple, it was sold to businessmen within five years, but it was the church that built it and started it. So it was opened Memorial Day just one month after the temple was dedicated. And its construction also included a special railway line to get people there. It claimed to have the largest dance floor in the West and doing a little more research. I learned that it was built in only three months. They started it in January and dedicated it. Well, I guess the end of Jan anyway, three months and it was dedicated on Memorial Day. So it’s not because it was a small or minor project. 300 tons of steel girders supported a large dome rough roughly the size of the salt lake Tabernacle over the dance floor. And that was just one part of it. The entire thing was built, built directly over the surface of the Great Salt Lake. It was supported by 2500 steel piles driven 14 ft into the lake bottom. So this was a massive undertaking, right? And it was done in three months at the same time that the temple was finished. And so driving the pilings into the lake bottom, which covered, which was covered with 12 inches of loose sand was the first challenge. The engineers forced steam through pipes to displace the sand and temporarily dissolve the dense sodium sulfate that made up, that makes up the lake, the lake bed um where the post would be placed. After a few hours, the sodium hardened around the posts, locking them into, into place. The top of the main tower stood 100 30 ft above the water surface. The pavilion was 1200 ft long and 350 ft wide at its widest point, the area of about four New York City blocks. So, you know, that was a big thing. If they could do that in three months, they absolutely did not need 40 years to build the temple. That’s just a really good little final capstone to put on this point, right? So as I’ve said, I have no idea how many other buildings there were. These are just the ones I happened upon on my research. So I am confident that there were many others that this is just a partial list. So as we go on to the last topic, the dedication of the temple, I have to share an important realization and um this is really changing lanes here. So the Salt Lake Temple, so doing all of this research, I started to feel kind of like um maybe hard feelings against the Salt Lake Temple in some ways, you know, I I’m trying to think, I’m trying to stay open minded and really just allow the Lord to teach me. I’m getting all of these facts through my study, but I want to allow the Lord to tell me what they all mean or what I need to do with them, right? But one thing that really, that just occurred to me and really struck me is that the Salt Lake Temple was not finished and dedicated. Ah see, I mean, I um until the church had officially abandoned polygamy and I think that that’s an interesting point that really kind of helped redeem some of this for me and and I guess complicated. I can’t just say, oh, it’s bad, right? Because I just all through the scriptures that God’s people are doing things wrong and are being punished by God and under condemnation and rejected by God. Yet there’s still God’s people, right? I’ve talked about that a little bit before and I see this playing out potentially in the Salt Lake Temple. And so um let’s see, um they, yeah, it was not finished until they had both rejected plural marriage and made the big huge symbolic gesture of tearing down the endowment house. So whatever was ha might have been happening in secret off the books on the official records of the church there was no more plural marriage and um it seems worth noting that whatever might have been happening, not recorded off the books. Right. No official plural marriage took place in the Salt Lake Temple. At least nothing that was recorded. There were no records made of plural marriages in the Salt Lake Temple. So, so that’s actually interesting because I think it’s easy to think of the Salt Lake Temple as a symbol of polygamy, right? It’s actually the opposite. I’ve realized the Salt Lake Temple is actually a symbol of the rejection of polygamy. I guess we could even look at it as like God’s victory over the abomination of polygamy among his people. And there’s something interesting in that I would love to hear your thoughts. That’s something I definitely need to think about more because I, I know it doesn’t redeem everything but it redeems something, right? That’s really important that it wasn’t until the people turned away from polygamy that they were finally inspired and enabled to finish the temple. Similar to how Abraham Gwendolyn talks about this, how Abraham to turn away from polygamy before he was given the new name and given the covenants, there’s something there that seems important to me. So, yeah, I think, II I think that while this is definitely a complicated story, I absolutely still see God’s hand in it. And so um so now I’m gonna go on to talk about the dedication. I was I again I welcome hearing your thoughts on that point because it really did hit me hard, obviously. So the last topic we’re going to cover is the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, which also was brand new to me and very interesting. So unfortunately, the journal of discourses, which has just been such a great source, it ended in 1885 and there’s nothing that I have found to replace it. So I haven’t been able to find accessible records of the speeches um at the many 20 days worth of dedication sessions for the Salt Lake Temple, I did find some good papers that provide some insight. So here’s one summary, summarizing the basic message of all of the speeches. The Lord has accepted this house as an offering from the saints was the common theme of the discourses and he has forgiven his penitent people. This theme of acceptance and forgiveness was consoling to the saints. Many of whom harbored lingering feelings of confusion and anxiety regarding the Woodruff. Woodruff manifesto, banning plural marriage. So that’s right. That’s the time period that this was right. They tore down the endowment house in 89 issued the first manifesto in 90 finished the temple in 93. So this was this chaotic huge time and I can’t remember if I’m going to talk about it later, but I’ll talk about it now. Instead I started to think, oh my word, this is why Wilfred Woodruff was so motivated to finish the temple where none of his predecessors had been. He needed a new way to galvanize the saints, a new symbol of who they were and what they stood for, right? He needed something to build to tell them that he was their prophet, that they were God’s people. And I think that, that, that, that finishing the Salt Lake Temple became the perfect um vehicle for him to do that. And I think it was enough to overlook the problems in the foundation that this is just my own hunch. But I think that’s part of what dissuaded the previous um presidents of the church as well. So he just went ahead and did it anyway because he needed to. That’s, that’s how I look at it. So of course, polygamy was a huge part of the messages given at the many sessions of the temple dedication. I think they had something like 20 days of de many of the saints who had spent the last 40 plus years being constantly just harangued, bashed over the head with the doctrine of polygamy being told in no uncertain terms that the church could never abandon polygamy or it would be an apostasy and be rejected by God and being told that they could only be exhausted if they were polygamists and too many of whom had made incomprehensible sacrifices to this awful law living this way. They still believed it to be the most central essential part of their faith and did not believe manifest um that Wilfred’s manifesto could possibly be of God. They didn’t see how that was possible. And so Wilfred Woodruff’s promise that the Lord would never allow the president of the church to lead the church astray, which was born out of his desperate need to justify going against the unyielding statements of the two previous polygamist presidents, Young and Taylor. That statement was still up for debate. They didn’t know if they believed it. So some apostles, most notably, the extremely popular John W Taylor was still preaching polygamy and performing polygamous ceilings in secret. There were other apostles doing it as well and I did say the two previous polygamist um prophets because Joseph Smith wasn’t right. Wilfrid Wood was the fourth president of the church, but I believe the third polygamist president of the church. So at this time, the church was reeling with confusion trying to make sense of what this all meant and what they should do with any of it. So the confusion and discontent over polygamy is visible in the records that I was able to find of the sermons just from some papers that I was able to track down. So Joseph F Smith addressed plural marriage and claimed it was the people’s disobedience and lack of dedication to the principle that got caused the Lord to withdraw it. So it’s bad that it’s gone and it’s our fault, right? And um let’s see, what he said, he compared it to the law of consecration which the people had also rejected. And so there, I’ve, I’ve read other speech where they made like the saints were commanded to build a temple in um in Zion. But then that commandment was rescinded because they weren’t able to do it. And you know, there are different explanations to help the people try to understand how this could be possible. But that there was also not infrequently blamed on the people or on the church as a whole because not enough lived it, they weren’t faithful enough to it. I was thankful to read that. He said, quote, now, if any man shall forsake and abandon his loved ones, he shall wither away and die. Obey the laws of the land, but do not forsake your covenants. This echoes President Woodruff statement to the man. I did not, could not and would not promise that you would desert your wives and Children. This you cannot do in honor. So I was glad to hear, I, I think that is the best answer for anyone who awakens to the falsehood of polygamy that to not abandon their um, wife and Children or wives and Children, especially to have to fend for themselves. Sadly, I think many did. Men did abandon their wives, but that really probably wasn’t that new since it had really been happening the entire time. But um President Woodruff restated all of his previous claims that destruction would have come, but that He would, that he would have allowed it to come. If God had not commanded him to do what he had done, issuing the manifesto, he also repeated, repeatedly, restated his claim that God would not allow him to do anything contrast to his will. God would not allow him to lead the church astray. Those really were his central messages in all of his many, many speeches Like this is what God wants us to do and God wouldn’t let me do it if it were wrong. And so he really emphasized that in some profound ways um in some of the meetings. So like, I really do think that this division, this claim he was having to make motivated the finishing of the temple, having this opportunity to have all of the saints come to these dedicatory sessions and hear him say these things really seemed like what he needed to do at this difficult time. So um like, and to show that in every one of these sessions, one of his main points of focus with that was that he was indeed the prophet inspired by God and that the church was still led by God. Um In every record we have of his speeches, records that he emphasized his connections to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. And by talking about how much time he spent with them, how well he knew them, right? So he was drawing on them for his authority and his connection to the spirit of God by telling, um by telling of multiple visionary and miraculous experiences he claimed to have had throughout his life. So there were lots of them and, and they varied from session to session somewhat again, I haven’t been able to read, but just from the records, I mean, from the people’s journals and things he claimed he had had a vision 50 years before for showing him that in 50 years, he would live to dedicate the Salt Lake Temple. That this was the reason his life had been repeatedly miraculously preserved. So I and that this was the central purpose of his life. I haven’t been able to find any records where he any any place where he records this in his journal 50 years earlier. So I tend to think it was a story born out of necessity like uh many of these might have been, I don’t know. But on the second day of dedications, he said that the previous night, quote, I saw President Joseph Smith, Brigham young John Taylor and all the heavenly hosts who have died in this dispensation, shouting praises to the Lord. The Hosanna shout was re echoed to Christ and the saints up to the throne of God that the Lord accepted this temple. So that was where he was going with this. Like I am standing with God with Jesus Christ, with Joseph Smith and with Brigham Young, we’re all here together, right? Oh And, and John Taylor, I can’t forget him in another session. He said, our savior accepted unto me that oh, our savior appeared unto me in the east room of the Holy of Holies and told me that he had accepted of the temple and of the dedication services and that the Lord forgave us his saints who had assisted in any manner toward the erection and completion of the temple. So anyone who had worked on the temple had been forgiven by the Lord. Again, this forgiveness message was a big one. And we’re gonna talk about that in a minute. He claimed he had seen multitude of lame, multitudes of Lamanites coming to the temple in vision. He’s, he’s talked about how they could do more in one day than 10 men could 10 other men could do in one day. I think that was at the Saint George temple that he, he claimed that that had happened at the Saint George Temple. It was at these um Salt Lake dedication sessions. He also claimed that all the founding fathers had come to him in vision in the Saint George temple there. Um So many of you will know that the book um the Many em, the eminent men of Wilford Woodruff or something like that, talks about that experience that he talked about in these dedication services. So there are, there are many other examples. This is really what he was trying to accomplish. So, um quote through these experiences, woodruff sought in nearly every session of which he spoke to reconfirm to the saints, his position as prophets and revelator of the church. He hoped that the dedication would manifest to the saints that the church was still under the guidance of the Lord. So um there was also in addition to this central purpose and central focus, there was also a lot of focus on the return of the savior and the saints returned to Jackson County as I mentioned before which um so just like Brigham Young, they saw this is imminent. So here are just a few snippets from Wilfred Woodruff. The savior is here and rejoicing with us and many of the new now born will live to see him in the flesh. And another quote, Christ is near and the work must be hastened. We are approaching the time for Jesus to come and be in our midst. Lorenzo Snow said, I dare say that there are, I dare say there are men under the sound of my voice who will be present in Jackson County. Some of you will give this Hosanna shout in the great temple to be built in Jackson County, George Kuchan and said, we are approaching the time when the saints will go back to Jackson County and they build up the the centers stake of Zion and redeem the land of Zion. So that’s all really interesting, right? I I just haven’t heard those claims recently. Maybe they wouldn’t go over very well if Utah’s were making those claims about Missouri. Well, I guess, or even just Mormons now because now we’re not doing the gathering to Utah either that was still being done at this time. So as further evidence of the desperate desire to ensure unity and affirmation and to embed this new direction for the church. Two days of leadership m meetings were held on April 19th and 20th and also maybe even more impactful two days of children’s sessions were held on the 21st and 22nd of April. So four days in a row is the leadership session and then the Children sessions. I’m going to talk about the Children sessions first, you can see them coming. These are great pictures from the um I think it was the Sugar House Ward, the Children coming. Um Any Children enrolled in Sunday school were invited to come up to the age of 16. There wasn’t a minimum age, they were as long as they were en enrolled in Sunday school. And so one source says that 12,000 Children attended, another source says between 1314 100 I don’t know what to make of that or how to get to the bottom of it. But in any case, any Children that were in anywhere where they could come, they were invited to come. So I’m going to read from somebody’s journal, what they wrote about one of these sessions, President Lorenzo Snow showed the Children a lock of the prophet prophets, auburn hair at each session. And again, in this, they filled in Joseph for the prophet. But when they said the prophet at this point, it meant Joseph. So they showed him a lock of his hair. Um Apostle Franklin D Richards testified. He had seen the prophet Joseph Smith and heard him speak at many a meeting and on one occasion when his face shone bright as the sun and how great was this manifestation and so on. At all the sessions, most of the first presidency arose and spoke briefly. So all the Children had a personal introduction to all of the general authorities of the church and heard their voices in the temple. All bore fervent testimony of the greatness and majesty and power possessed by the prophet Joseph Smith, as the prophet who restored or who was the medium through whom was restored all the keys of power, also the priesthood of all the former holders thereof and of and of the place he will occupy in the future of this great work. So that was the quote of what happened at these sessions. Then the Children participated in their own Hosanna shout. So you can imagine this must have deeply affected these Children. Um As just one example, Lagrande Richards who was seven when he attended, spoke of this meeting as an important event in his life. As a much later, I mean, as a much older man as an apostle. And so it helped me understand how the faith of this new generation was developed. And a lot of what has been handed down to us, right? How the new central teaching that the prophet could never lead us astray was embedded. These Children experience this in their youth, going to this fabled temple, hearing the prophet and all of the leaders tell you these things and then doing the Hosanna shout, I imagine that impacted that entire generation profoundly. And so now we’ll talk about the leadership meetings. These included all of the state leaders, presidents of the seventies, presiding bishopric and the first presidency and apostles. And so after the open songs and prayer, President Woodruff said he wanted each of the leaders there present to express whether they endorsed what had been said and done at the dedicatory services and how they felt toward the first presidency and apostles. So he like, like, wow, it’s just so amazing. He wanted each leader individually to affirm to that they were on board with this new direction, right? Um This is a quote. He wanted to know if the saints harbored any lingering doubts as to his leadership and the direction he was taking the church. So after each of them individually stood up and bore their testimony, assenting to these things and saying that they were on board. He stood and said, the God of heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ and the heavenly hosts. I say this to you in the name of Jesus Christ. The Son of God have accepted the dedication of this temple at your hands. The God of heaven has accepted his people has accepted the people who have assembled here. The God of Heaven has forgiven the sins of those latter day saints and those that bear the priesthood in this house and those who have been humble before the Lord and have attended this conference, their sins are remitted and they and will be remitted by the power of God and will not be remembered any more against his people unless we sin further. So when I read this, it gave me another entirely new insight. I saw the what feels to me like the truth. I was gonna say the possibility, but it feels to me like it’s true that Wilfred Wilfred Woodruff was speaking truth by the power of God and the strength of those words. I think that he felt the truthfulness of them. I just think just like Caiaphas when he prophesized in the, in his position as the um high priest of that year in his calling, he testified of truth that he didn’t fully, that he didn’t understand. I think that that’s what Wilfred Woodruff did here as well. He said he promised that the saints would be forgiven of their sins, everyone in that temple as long as they didn’t sin further. They understood that to mean the sin of abandoning polygamy. I think there is so much power in this. If you understand it as they were being forgiven for the sin of participating in and allowing and believing in polygamy, it’s so powerful when you read it that way, their willingness to humbly follow what uh Woodruff’s humble example of abandoning this doctrine, redeemed them from the cursing they had suffered under for so long. I really believe this during his opening remarks of the dedications, Woodruff had prophesized that a better day was dawning that the saints would be blessed with greater peace and abundance going forward. That prophecy proved to be very true. And it aligns with the promises in the book of Mormon, the warnings of what would happen to the people who embraced polygamy compared to how they would be blessed if they didn’t. Right. I think there’s a lot of truth in that. That again, just gives me so much to think about and see that God is always there willing to accept any small step we will make in his direction. I’m gonna talk a little bit more about that going forward. But um so there were 20 days of dedicatory sessions and while much of my study has made me extremely leery about the temple, learning these parts has made me appreciate the Salt Lake Temple more. And it’s, as I said, complicated my feelings about it, but mainly the realization that it is not at all a symbol of polygamy, but a testimony of the peoples, even albeit unintentional repentance and the Lord’s forgiveness and acceptance of their willingness to abandon polygamy. That’s how I see it now. And so um quotes from this picture in a different light take on, I mean, from this paper that I’ve been uh um reading from in this light take on much more meaning. So I’m going to read some of the quotes, understanding how they meant them, but how I how I interpret them, the Salt Lake Temple became in essence a symbol and token of the saints penitence to the Lord and the message of the leaders to the saints was that the Lord had accepted their sacrifice. The Lord had forgiven the sins of the people. Woodruff assured the saints and accepted our offering of broken hearts and contrite spirits. Another quote, the dedication became a time of rebirth both for the church as a whole and for the individuals who constituted its membership throughout the dedicatory services. President Woodruff sought to convey to the saints, the Lord’s forgiveness of the church as a people, the Salt Lake Temple became, in fact, a sac uh a sacrifice presented to the Lord to obtain collective forgiveness of sins. Is that not amazing? I just think it’s, it’s incredible to see the truth in this as, as I see it in this way, the Lord quote has forgiven his penitent people with something that was said, the dedicatory services thus became a time of re recommitment to the laws and covenants of God, the true laws and covenants of God given from the beginning that they should have followed from the beginning. And many saints came, many saints came prepared to receive divine confirmation that they and the church were accepted of the Lord. I think that there is this is actually profound and amazing and gives me a lot of insight into the workings of the Lord with all of the Lord people everywhere, all of us fallen corrupted people, right? Trying to learn what we can and do what we can to do what is right. Um So one very last interesting, one last very interesting element of the dedication that I really want to touch on is on the happened on the first day of dedications. So here’s the quote, a quote from a journal, a strong breeze began blowing upon our and our upon our entering the grounds at nine o’clock AM and increased to a hurricane of great violence. At the precise time, the dedicatory prayer was being offered by President Wilfred Woodruff. So here’s another quote, the peace and tranquility of the dedicatory session being oh, this is from the desert news, the peace, peace and tranquility of the dedicatory session being conducted inside the assembly room stood in sharp contrast to the terrible windstorm then raging outside the temple. The worst windstorm perhaps which ever visited Salt Lake prevailed between 1030 12 o’clock noon. Declared the desert news in describing the storm the destruct. The destruction was beyond pre precedent here, the air was filled with dust, gravel and debris of many kinds and pedestrians. Shelter in the nearest buildings, outhouses and small barns were blown down and trees uprooted in all parts of the city. Many fences were badly damaged by falling trees, um, by falling shade trees. Ok. That was so interesting to me. It immediately reminded me of the tornado, the Salt Lake tornado that was in August 8, 1999. I had to look up when it happened. It happened almost just over 100 years later. I remember because my then brother in law was working on the, um, was doing construction on the conference center at the time and I remember there were cranes that they were really worried about the guys up at the cranes right when the tornado hit. So apparently it hit pretty much the exact same spot you can see in the footage from people at the Salt Lake Temple over 100 years later. So some of the saints tried to spin the tornado as Satan raging against the finishing of the temple. I, that didn’t ring true to me. And, and first when I was studying this, I really tended to see it in a similar way as like the tornado at the Nabu temple. And you’re like, ok, there’s something here. This is a big deal. We can’t, we shouldn’t just ignore this. Right. Like, I mean, the, the last, the 1999 tornado being during the construction of the conference center. I, I mean, I don’t know. And I know a lot of people just think, oh, this is silly. There’s nothing to it and that’s totally possible. But I always come from the belief of air on the side of faith and things feel important to me and feel like there might be something to them. So I think that we do believe in signs in the heavens and then on on the earth, I don’t know that I can always or ever interpret them correctly. But I do believe that God speaks to us in those ways. So, but after this realization that I’ve been talking about about what these meetings really actually stood for, what the Satans were actually being forgiven of. Um I, what I had the thought that maybe, maybe a better interpretation would be that God through the elements was cleansing his people’s lands of the abomination that had. So for so many decades, kept them in darkness, poverty, enslavement and under condemnation. Maybe God was blowing away the abomination and curse of polygamy. I, I can’t prove that, of course. So I just throw that out there. People can make fun of it. But I actually really like that interpretation. So this massive wind blowing during the first dedication of the temple completed um the temple that was completed to unify the people under a new commitment to follow God’s eternal law of marriage as established from the beginning, might actually be a confirming sign that God did indeed accept the repentance of the people and honor their willingness to finally turn back to truth, even if they only did so because they had been compelled. And as I was thinking of this, it just reminded me of Alma 32 when he’s talking to the people um that had been kicked out of their synagogues starting at verse 12, I say unto you, it is well that you are cast out of your synagogues or that you’ve been cast out of your country and had your temples taken away and threatened again to have another temple taken away. That ye may be humble, that ye may learn wisdom for. It is necessary that you should learn wisdom for it is because ye are cast out. It was because of these things happening. Ye are despised of your brethren because of your exceeding poverty that ye are brought to a lowliness of heart. If those things hadn’t been the case, they would not have abandoned polygamy for ye are necessarily brought to be humble. You are, you’ve been forced to be humble. And now because you are compelled to be humble, blessed are ye for a man? Sometimes if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance and now surely who soever repentance shall find mercy and he that find mercy and endure to the end, the same shall be saved. And now, as I said unto you that because ye were compelled to be humble, ye were blessed. Do ye not suppose that ye are that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? That’s um, oh, that sounds a little. But I think that’s us. We in our, they are not being forced, we’re not being compelled to um follow the W word and to be humble enough to accept the truth that God is trying to show us. And I think we are more blessed. We are happy to be chased out of our homes and despised by everyone. In fact, we may face a little bit of that from our community when we do accept this truth that God is trying to show us yay. He that truly bleth himself and repenteth of His sins and endures to the end. The same shall be blessed. Yeah, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty. We have the opportunity to do that. Therefore, blessed are they who are humble themselves without being compelled to be humble or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God and is baptized without stubbornness of heart. Yeah, without being brought to know the word or even compelled to know before they will believe and reading that right now, it just struck me again that I do hope and pray that our church as a whole can hear. This, can understand this message that is being taught in these beautiful verses about how much more blessed we will be as a people. If we can accept the truth and humble ourselves and repent and abandon these false doctrines without being compelled to as our forefathers were I believe. And that is my sincere, sincere and humble prayer that more and more of us and ideally that we as a whole, people will be willing to do that. So thank you for joining me. I feel like I should end this in the name of Jesus Christ because it was a bit of sermon. So I will say that. But thank you for joining me and amen.