1. Members of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Members of the original Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Top row, left to right: Thomas B. Marsh (no picture available), David W. Patten (no picture available), Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball. Middle row: Orson Hyde, William E. Mc’Lellin, Parley P. Pratt, Luke S. Johnson. Bottom row: William B. Smith, Orson Pratt, John F. Boynton, Lyman E. Johnson (1835).

2. Kirtland

3. Original plans

4. More original plans

5. More plans

6. Kirtland Temple Side View

7. Kirtland Temple rear view
Kirtland Temple rear view. The central panel of the lower windows (the arched window) is the window of the Holy of Holies of the temple. It was inside this window that Jehovah, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery (110). The most upper room (third floor) open into the fifth room where the vision of the Celestial Kingdom was given (137).

8. Kirtland Temple Front View

9. Melchizedek Pulpits: Located on the west end of the first floor.

10. Melchizedek Pulpits and Veil

11. On April 3, 1836, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery dropped the veil that separated the pulpits from the rest of the room and offered prayer.  In response to that prayer, one of the most important events of the restoration took place.  First, Jesus Christ, calling himself Jehovah, appeared.  After his appearance, Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared committing the necessary keys to perform temple ordinances (D&C 110).

12. Across the front of the pulpits is a folding sacrament table shaped like an oxen yoke. The Melchizedek Priesthood pulpits represent the line of authority in the Melchizedek Priesthood.

13. P. E. M. = Presidency Elders Melchizedek = Elders (bottom row) M. H. P
P.E.M. = Presidency Elders Melchizedek = Elders (bottom row) M.H.P. = Melchizedek High Priesthood = High Priests (second row from bottom) P.M.H. = Presiding Melchizedek High Priesthood = Quorum of the Twelve (third row from bottom) M.P.C. = Melchizedek Presiding Council First Presidency (top row)

14. This is an inside view of the translating room, president’s office
This is an inside view of the translating room, president’s office. Hebrew School was held here in Jan. and March of Anointing heads with oil was done here.

15. Doctrine and Covenants 137 (vision of the celestial kingdom) was received in that room.
Joseph also beheld the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb who were then on the earth, who held the keys of this last ministry, in foreign lands, standing together in a circle, much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold Him. The Savior looked upon them and wept.

16. Joseph beheld Elder McLellin in the south, standing upon a hill, surrounded by a vast multitude, preaching to them, and a lame man standing before him supported by his crutches; he threw them down at his word and leaped as a hart, by the mighty power of God. Also, I saw Elder Brigham Young standing in a strange land, in the far south and west, in a desert place, upon a rock in the midst of about a dozen men of color, who appeared hostile. He was preaching to them in their own tongue, and the angel of God standing above his head, with a drawn sword in his hand, protecting him, but he did not see it. And I finally saw the Twelve in the celestial kingdom of God. I also beheld the redemption of Zion, and many things which the tongue of man cannot describe in full (HC, 2:380-81).

17. The third level was divided into five rooms
The third level was divided into five rooms. Windows on both the north and south sides of each room. The fifth or last room on the west side was the translating room.

18. Glorious Days in Kirtland
The Egyptian Mummies:
Joseph purchased them (4) in July of 1835 from a man named Michael Chandler who lived in Philadelphia.
The mummies came from tomb #22 in the “Valley of the Kings” in Egypt (King Tutt’s tomb is #62).
The scroll of Abraham was never translated in it’s entirety.
It was purchased for somewhere in the range of $2,000- $2,400 dollars.
W.W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery scribed as Joseph began translating the papyri in 1835.

19. The mummies had been discovered on the west bank of the Nile River across from the ancient city of Thebes by Antonio Lebolo, and Italian who was licensed by the French government to deal I artifacts. In 1830, following Lebolo’s death in Italy, eleven of the mummies and some of the ancient papyri were shipped to the United States; and in the spring of 1833 they were claimed by Chandler, Lebolo’s nephew. A man at the customs house told Chandler that no one in Philadelphia could translate the papyrus, but he referred Chandler to Joseph Smith, who “possesses some kind of power or gifts, by which he had previously translated similar characters” (HC, 2:349). Mr. Chandler, gave Joseph by way of a test, to see if he could translate the characters. The Prophet translated the characters and returned them, to Mr. Chandler (JD 20:65).

20. After seeing the characters that Joseph translated, Chandler gave the following account: Kirtland, July 6, 1835 This is to make known to all who may be desirous, concerning the knowledge of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jun., in deciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic characters in my possession, which I have, I in many eminent cities, showed to the most learned; and, from the information that I could ever learn, or meet with, I find that of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jun., to correspond in the most minute matters. Michael H. Chandler, Traveling with, and proprietor of, Egyptian Mummies (HC, 2:235). Chandler subsequently settled near Kirtland, in Parkman, Ohio.

21. Oliver Cowdery gave a vivid description of the records of Abraham and Joseph. “The record is written in papyrus with black, and a small part, red ink or paint, in perfect preservation. The characters are such as you find upon the coffins of mummies, hieroglyphics and etc. with many characters or letters exactly like the present, though perhaps not quite so square form of the Hebrew without points” (Oliver Cowdery to Mr. Wm. Frye, Esq., December 22, 1835, in Stanley R. Gunn, Oliver Cowdery, Second Elder and Scribe (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962, ). A certificate signed by six Philadelphia doctors described the mummies and also the writing: “The features of some of the mummies are perfect expression. The papyrus covered with black or red ink, or paint, in excellent preservation, are very interesting” (Oliver Cowdery to Mr. Wm. Frye, Esq., December 22, 1835, in Stanley R. Gunn, Oliver Cowdery, Second Elder and Scribe (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962, 237).

22. “Much to our joy found that one of the rolls contained the writings of Abraham, another the writings of Joseph of Egypt (HC, 2:236). The Prophet translated the scrolls at home until January 1836, when the upper west room in the temple was designated as a translating room. During the translation, Joseph “engaged in translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients” (HC, 2:238). Unexpected knowledge came as a by-product of these efforts, for he stated that he learned principles of astronomy from the writings of Abraham and “many things concerning the dealing of God with the ancients, and the formation of the planetary system” (HC, 2:334).

23. The artifacts were later put on display in the translating room in the temple. Wilford Woodruff, who visited the room, said: “We…viewed four Egyptian mummies and also the Book of Abraham written by his own hand and not only the hieroglyphics but also many figures that this previous treasure contains are calculated to make a lasting impression upon the mind which is not to be erased” (Kirtland Diary of Wilford Woodruff, 371).

24. First Two Stakes of the Church:
1. Kirtland Stake - Joseph Smith Jr.
2. Liberty Stake - David Whitmer
Oliver Cowdery served as assistant to the President of the Church.
Keep in mind that the men on the High Council were viewed like today’s General Authorities.

25. Future Presidents of the Church:
It was in Kirtland that Joseph Smith groomed four future presidents of the Church for responsibilities to come. Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow were baptized during the Kirtland years and led the Church, in succession, until 1901.
In addition, the next three presidents --- Joseph F. Smith, Heber J. Grant, and George Albert Smith, whose administrations lasted until were direct descendants of stalwart Kirtland pioneers.

26. Seven months after his baptism, Brigham Young met the Prophet
Seven months after his baptism, Brigham Young met the Prophet. He described the experience.
In September, 1832, Brother Heber C. Kimball took his horse and wagon, Brother Joseph and myself accompanying him, and started for Kirtland to see the Prophet Joseph. We visited many friends on the way, and some branches of the Church….We proceeded to Kirtland and stopped at John P. Greene’s, who had just arrived there with his family. We rested a few minutes, took some refreshments and started to see the Prophet. We went to his father’s house and learned that he was in the woods chopping. We immediately repaired to the woods, where we found the Prophet, and two or three of his brothers, chopping and hauling wood. Here my joy was full at the privilege of shaking the hand of the Prophet of God, and receiving the sure testimony, by the spirit of prophecy, that he was all that any man could believe him to be as a true prophet (Millennial Star 25:439, in History of the Church 1:297).

27. John Taylor, who had been a Methodist preacher in Canada, first came to Kirtland in 1837, almost one year after he was converted by Elder Pratt. Although hesitant at first to listen to Elder Pratt, John gradually warmed up to the message brought from Kirtland. He boldly told a group of friends, “I desire to investigate his doctrines and claims to authority, and shall be very glad if some of my friends will unite with me in this investigation. But if no one will unite with me, be assured I shall make the investigation alone. If I find his religion true, I shall accept it, no matter what the consequences may be; and if false, then I shall expose it (B. H. Roberts, The Life of John Taylor, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1963, 37-38).

28. Lorenzo Snow, who lived near Kirtland, experienced a spiritual conversion similar to that of the other future prophets. He first met Joseph Smith at the John Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio: As I looked upon him and listened, I thought to myself that a man bearing such a wonderful testimony as he did, and have such a countenance as he possessed, could hardly be a false prophet. He certainly could not have been deceived, it seemed to me, and if he was a deceiver he was deceiving the people knowingly; for when he testified that he had a conversation with Jesus, the Son of God, and had talked with him personally, as Moses talked with God upon Mount Sinai, and that he had also heard the voice of the Father, he was telling something that he ether knew to be false or to be positively true. There for the first time I heard his voice. When I heard his testimony in regard to what the Lord had revealed to him, it seemed to me that he must be an honest man. He talked and looked like an honest man. He was an honest man (LeRoi C. Snow, “How Lorenzo Snow Found God,” 83).

29. At a meeting at the schoolhouse on the hill above the Morley Farm, Wilford Woodruff heard the Prophet make an astounding prophecy: On Sunday night the Prophet called all who held the Priesthood to gather into the little log school house. I was a small house, perhaps 14 feet square. It held the whole of the Priesthood of the Church in who were then in town. The Prophet said, “Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight. But I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon it’s mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it.” I was rather surprised. He said, “It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America – it will fill the world….This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High. They will raise up a posterity there” (Conference Report, April 6, 1898, 57).

30. Though Wilford Woodruff recorded the instruction and prophecy, he did not understand it at the time. Sixty-four years later, however, standing in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, he declared: “I want to bear my testimony before God, angels and men that mine eyes behold the day, and have beheld for the last fifty years of my life, the fulfillment of the prophecy. I never expected to see the Rocky Mountains when I listened to that man’s voice, but I have, and do today” (Conference Report, April 6, 1989, 57).

31. The Steve Young Story
22,000 cars passed through the street every day that separated the different Church Historical sites in Kirtland.
President Kimball was almost hit by a car while crossing the street during a visit.
Karl Anderson was asked by the “Brethren” to try and convince the City Council to change the roadway so it would be safer.
The council met on the subject, but voted it down.

32. The Church paid for all the work that was done.
Later that same month Steve Young and Joe Montana were pictured in the May 31st, 1993 Sports Illustrated.
Steve Young just happened to be wearing his lucky “Kirtland t-shirt” that read “Kirtland, City of Faith and Beauty.”
In the article Steve Young mentioned that he wore the t-shirt under his shoulder pads for all of his games and that it was his lucky t-shirt.
Some of the locals in Kirtland saw the picture and were pretty excited about it.
By chance (?) Steve Young was scheduled to play an exhibition football game in Ohio later that month and was asked by the “Brethren” to pitch the idea again of changing the street so it would be safer. Amazingly, this time it passed 7-0.
The Church paid for all the work that was done.

33. Newel K. Whitney Store and Home

34. Newel K. Whitney Store

35. The Kirtland Temple D&C 108-109
Dedicatory prayers are always read (Some members left the Church over it).
The dedicatory prayer was pronounced by Joseph Smith in the afternoon.
Joseph announced that Peter the Apostle had been in their midst to accept the dedication.

36. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Warren Cowdery and Elder W
Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Warren Cowdery and Elder W. Parrish, and myself assisted in writing a prayer for the dedication of the house (Oliver Cowdery’s Journal).
The Kirtland Temple cost $70,000 dollars and took three years to build at great sacrifice to the people.
Neither the Church not its poverty-stricken members had ever undertaken such a task. The cost of the building, estimated at about $40,000, was a staggering sum for the 1830’s (This $40,000 figure is used by many early sources, including John Corrill, A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day (St. Louis, 1839), 21; Christopher Crary; James Eells; Frederick Mather; and History of Lake and Geauga Counties.

37. Relative to the meager resources of the Saints at the time, the Kirtland Temple is probably the most costly temple ever constructed by the Church.

38. The Church still owed $13,000 dollars on the Kirtland Temple and took collections at the door on the day of the dedication.
They raised $1,000 dollars that day.
Frazier Eaton donated $700 dollars and was not allowed in the Temple because he arrived late and no seating was available.
Frazier felt like his substantial donation guaranteed him a “saved seat” for the dedication.
He left the Church because of it.

39. The Kirtland Temple was dedicated on March 27th, 1836.
It was never intended to be a full endowment house.
The First Presidency provided the ushering at the dedicatory service.
The “Spirit of God” was sung by the Saints and it is still sung today at every Temple dedication.

40. The Service lasted 7 hours and no one left.
About 800 Saints were turned away and went to the school house and conducted a meeting of their own.
The Sacrament was passed. Frederick G. Williams saw the Savior, Peter attended and sat by Joseph Smith Sr.
Joseph blessed the congregation, and the meeting concluded with the Hosanna Shout.
That evening 416 bearers of the priesthood gathered and witnessed more marvelous manifestations.

41. Of these days in Kirtland Elder Heber C. Kimball in his Journal said:
“The Church was in a state of poverty and distress, in consequence of which it appeared almost impossible that the commandments could be fulfilled relative to the Kirtland Temple; at the same time our enemies were raging and threatening destruction upon us, and we had to guard ourselves night after night, and for weeks were not permitted to take off our clothes, and were obliged to lay with our fire locks in our arms” (Times and Seasons, vol. vi, 771).
Though many contributions were collected, at least fourteen thousand dollars had to be borrowed to finance the temple (Messenger and Advocate 3 April, 1837: 488; John Corrill, A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, 21).

42. At a meeting in Kirtland, Joseph Smith asked the brethren for their views about how the temple was to be constructed. Lucy Mack Smith described their responses: “Some were in favor of building a frame house, but others were of a mind to put up a log house. Joseph reminded them that they were not building a house for a man, but for God; ‘and shall we, brethren,’ said he, ‘build a house for our God, of logs? No, I have a better plan than that. I have a plan of the house of the Lord, given by himself; and you shall soon see by this, the difference between our calculations and his idea of things’” (Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith, 230).

43. Initially the brethren desired to construct the temple out of brick
Initially the brethren desired to construct the temple out of brick. The Stannard Stone Quarry was only two miles away. Joseph himself helped quarry the stone. The height of the building was 110 feet to the dome of the steeple, so scaffolding was erected. It was very dangerous. Daniel Tyler described the results of one accident: Father Fisher fell from the scaffold, and was disabled for performing manual labor. He had no way of making money and Joseph told him to get a subscription paper and present it to those who were best able to donate. He did as he was directed, and received the full sum of seventy-five cents. One person gave fifty and another gave twenty-five cents.

44. This so disgusted the Prophet that he preferred a charge against them before the High Council “for a lack of charity to the Church, and benevolence to the poor.” One of them made a humble acknowledgment, and the other was dis-fellowshipped (Juvenile Instructor, January 15, 1880, 283).

45. One apparently apocryphal story was that the women furnished their finest glass and crockery to be mixed with the stucco for the outside walls. And when it was finished, the temple did sparkle when the sun shone on it. The biography of Artemus Millet explained: “When the wall of the Temple was finished, Artemus sent men and boys to the different towns and places to gather old crockery and glass to put in the cement which he had invented. Not the glass and crockery had any adhesive property but it had its use….Many ladies would smooth their hands over the plaster, which looked smooth, then look at their hands and tell where the fine glass had cut them and made them bleed” (Biography of Artemus Millet, Millet Family Book, 93-95).

46. Why Temples?

47. D&C 109:5
That the Son of Man might have a place to manifest himself to his people.
D&C 109:6-9
A House of learning!
D&C 109:10-14
When dedicating a building, we present if officially as our gift to the Lord. This means tomorrow morning when anyone enters this building, they come here as guests of the Lord. It then belongs to him (Boyd K. Packer).

48. D&C 109:44 “Thy will be done” D&C 109:79-80 “Hosanna”
D&C 109: “Thy Lord’s Acceptance”
D&C 109:44 “Thy will be done”
D&C 109: “Hosanna”
The word hosanna as we know it, originated from two Hebrew words found in Psalm 118:25, and roughly means, “save us, we beseech thee.”

49. D&C 110
After this meeting, Fast days began and were held on the first Thursday of every month. It was an all day event.
The Kirtland Temple was used for many meetings besides the performance of sacred ordinances.
Active and worthy Saints as well as less active Saints were invited to attend the meetings held.
Children were also allowed to enter the Temple.

50. On April 3rd, 1836, the Jews were expecting Elijah to come and he came
On April 3rd, 1836, the Jews were expecting Elijah to come and he came. It was Easter Sunday --- Passover Sunday.
President Joseph Fielding Smith noted an interesting aspect of Elijah’s return to the earth on April 3rd 1836.
“Edersheim in his work, the Temple says: ‘To this day, in every Jewish home, at a certain part of the Paschal service (i.e., when they drink the “third cup”)- the door is opened to admit Elijah the prophet as forerunner of the Messiah, while appropriate passages are at the same time read which foretell the destruction of all heathen nations. It is a remarkable coincidence that, in instituting his own Supper, the Lord Jesus connected the symbols, not of judgment, but of his dying love, with his “third cup.’”

51. “It was, I am informed, on the third day of April, 1836, that the Jews in their homes at the Paschal feast, opened their doors for Elijah to enter. On that very day Elijah did enter – not in the home of the Jews to partake of the Passover with them but he appeared in the house of the Lord in Kirtland, and there bestowed his keys to bring to pass the very things for which these Jews, assembled in their homes, were seeking” (Doctrine of Salvation, 2:100-01).

52. D&C 110:1-10
“The Lord’s Acceptance”
Although we do not normally think of the Lord as bestowing keys on this occasion, as did the other heavenly visitors, Orson Pratt informs us that He did indeed give “keys of instruction and counsel and authority to his servants.”
Moses:
The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose (Temple Ordinances).

53. Elias:
The gospel of Abraham was one of Celestial Marriage. This power and commission is what Elias restored (Mormon Doctrine, ).
A man called Elias apparently lived in mortality in the days of Abraham, who committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple on April 3rd, We have no specific information as to the details of his mortal life of ministry (Bible Dictionary, 663).
Elijah:
Elijah restored the sealing power that comes with the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood (Teachings, 330).

54. Three-fold Mission of the Church:
1. Perfect the Saints Gospel of Abraham
(Elias) - Endowment
2. Missionary Work - Gathering of Israel
(Moses) - Aaronic Priesthood
3. Redeem the Dead Sealing Power
(Elijah) - Calling and Election

55. D&C 110:11-16
All of this brings us to a most interesting comparison between the activities that took place at the Kirtland Temple pulpits during the visions we have discussed and those that transpired on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-9, Mark 9:2-9, Luke 9:28-36).

56. The location was a secluded and high mountain.
The Savior was engaged in prayer.
The Savior’s clothing was white.
The angels who appeared on the holy mountain were the very same ones that visited the Kirtland Temple.
A cloud appeared that veiled the Father and through which his voice was heard.

57. The Father gave his Son “honor and glory,” which may have reference to the keys of the priesthood (D&C 124:34, 95).
The Savior received the “More Sure Word of Prophecy.”
A vision was seen of the earth in its paradisiacal state.
A charge was given by the Savior not to reveal what had been experienced.
If one considers that the Kirtland Temple pulpits somewhat resemble a miniature mountain, then the parallels are even more striking.

58. John Tanner and His Generosity
According to today’s standards John Tanner would be considered a multi-millionaire.
Jared and Simeon Carter taught and baptized him.
It took John Tanner two years to liquidate all of his assets and join the Church.
In 1834 the Church was $2,000 dollars in debt for the Temple property and John Tanner gladly paid it.

59. Shortly after he had bailed the church out with $2,000 dollars for the temple property, the Prophet again, needed more money for the Church.
John Tanner gave him $15,000 dollars. Joseph gave him a note stating that the Church would pay him back in full.
Ten years later on the streets of Nauvoo, Joseph came upon across John Tanner. He was embarrassed and apologized for not having paid back the money he owed.
John Tanner said, “you owe me nothing.” He then took the promissory note Joseph had given him in Kirtland and burned it in the fire.

60. Joseph began to weep and asked if he could give him a blessing
Joseph began to weep and asked if he could give him a blessing. John accepted his request and Joseph placed his hands on his head and blessed him saying, “Because of your faith and obedience, there will never come a time when your family will want for temporal things.”
John Tanner was a faithful man and was blessed with many descendants (N. Eldon Tanner and O.C. Tanner, to name a few).
My mother comes from the Tanner line!

61. Appearance of the Father and the Son: The visions and appearances of Deity in the Kirtland area that have been documented number at least into the teens and took place at four separate sites: Joseph Smith, Lyman Wight, and Harvey Whitlock received a vision of both God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, in the log schoolhouse on the Isaac Morely farm during a conference held from June 3-6, Levi Hancock recorded that the Prophet was speaking to the elders when he “stepped out on the floor and said, ‘I now see God, and Jesus Christ at his right hand, let them kill me, I should not feel death as I am now’” (The Life of Levi Hancock, 33).

62. On February 16, 1832: In an upper room of the John Johnson home at Hiram, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon received a glorious vision in which they beheld the Father and the Son as well as “the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne” (D&C 76:21). At this time, both Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were permitted to see in vision the fall of Lucifer, which gave them an understanding of Lucifer’s role as well as the role of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

63. John Murdock experienced a vision of the Savior similar to that of John the Revelator: I saw the form of a man most lovely! The visage of his face was sound and fair as the sun. His hair, a bright silver grey, curled in most majestic form, His eyes, a keen penetrating blue, and the skin of his neck a most beautiful white (Murdock, “A Brief Synopsis of the Life of John Murdock, 14). Zebedee Coltrin related that he also saw the Savior, following which he saw God the Father, who “was surrounded as with a flame of fire, which was so brilliant that I could not discover anything else but His person. I saw His hands, His legs, His feet, His eyes, nose, mouth, head and body in the shape and form of a perfect man. I felt it in the marrow of my bones” (School of the Prophets, October 3, 1883).

64. D&C 137:. The Vision of the Celestial Kingdom. The blazing
D&C 137: The Vision of the Celestial Kingdom. The blazing throne of God, whereon was seated the Father and the Son.
April 3, 1836: Oliver and Joseph saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit.
Orson Pratt recalled, “In that house the veil was taken away from the eyes of many of the servants of God and they beheld his glory” (JD, 14:273).
According to one estimate, “hundreds of others” had such experiences (JD, 25:158).
Joseph Smith promised, “All who are prepared, and are sufficiently pure to abide the presence of the Savior, will see him in the solemn assembly in the temple” (HC, 2:310).

65. January 21, 1836 In the presence of about 10 Church leaders, Joseph Smith “saw the Twelve….and Jesus standing in their midst….The Savior looked upon them and wept.” Later, in a meeting of about thirty some “saw the face of the Savior” (HC, 2:381-82). January 28, 1836 Some one hundred Melchizedek Priesthood members --- high priest, seventies, and elders – were assembled when Zebedee Coltrin “saw the Savior extended before him, as upon a cross, and a little after, crowned with glory upon his head above the brightness of the sun” (HC, 2:387). Those present also heard Joseph exclaim aloud, “I behold the Savior, the Son of God” (HC, 2:387).

66. March 30th, 1836 With three hundred priesthood leaders assembled in the temple, “the Savior made his appearance to some, while angels ministered to others” (HC, 2:432). Warren Snow declared: “I have seen the power of God manifested….I remember when receiving my endowments in the Temple at Kirtland, I heard the voice of God as plain as I hear my own, and this testimony I have borne for thirty-one years” (Millennial Star, 26 January 23, 1964: 51).

67. The Savior’s presence was felt by many who were not privileged to see him in Kirtland. Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner described one such experience that occurred at the Morley farm in 1831: Said he, [Joseph Smith,] “There are enough here to hold a little meeting.” Joseph looked around very solemnly. It was the first time some of them had ever seen him. They got a board and put it across two chairs to make seats. Martin Harris sat on a little box at Joseph’s feet. They sang and prayed. Joseph got up and began to speak to us. As he began to speak very solemnly and very earnestly all at once his countenance changed and he stood mute. Those who looked at him that day said there was a search light within him, over every part of his body. I never saw anything like it on earth. I could not take my eyes off of him. He got so white that anyone who saw him would have thought he was transparent. I remember I thought I could almost see the bones through the flesh. I have been through many changes since, but that is photographed on my brain.

68. I shall remember it and see in my mind’s eye as long as I remain upon the earth. He stood some minutes. He looked over the congregation as if to pierce every heart. Said he: “Do you know who has been in your midst?” Martin Harris said: “It was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Joseph put his hands down on Martin and said: “God revealed that to you. Brothers and Sisters, the spirit of God has been in your midst. The Savior has been here this night and I want to tell you to remember it. There is a veil over your eyes for you could not endure to look upon Him.” …Then he knelt down and prayed. I have never heard anything like it before or since. I felt that he was talking to the Lord and that power rested down upon us in every fiber of our bodies, and we received a sermon form the lips of the representative of God (Lightner, address at Brigham Young University).

69. The dispensation of the fullness of times was launched by the Father and Son themselves, and they personally prepared Joseph Smith and others for their leadership roles in the restored church. Like Moses, who was told, “put off thy shoes… [for] the place whereon thou standest is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5), these modern leaders truly stood on holy ground in “the Ohio.”

70. Many Manifestations
In a fifteen week period starting in January 1836, there were more revelations given than any other similar time frame in the History of the Church.
Jan. 21, 1836, Joseph received section 137, “a vision of the Celestial Kingdom.” He said he saw resurrected beings, mortals, and departed spirits.
On Jan. 22, 1836 many people saw visions and experienced the gift of tongues. Angels mingled their voices with those of mortals. It lasted for over an hour and a half.
On Jan. 28, 1836 Roger Orton saw six angels, one was riding a beautiful white horse outside of the temple with the assignment to keep the legions of evil spirits away.

71. Several non-members of the Church saw the temple with a beautiful glow
Several non-members of the Church saw the temple with a beautiful glow. Some saw angels walking back and forth along the roof acting as sentinels to ward off evil spirits hovering in the air, trying to get in to the temple.
Zebedee Coltrin saw the Savior in the Kirtland Temple in all of His glory. In his journal he wrote that he had viewed the crucifixion of Christ. He said that they wrapped a white sheet around his waist and then drove into his hands metal spikes similar to railroad spikes today.

72. Others have had that same vision (Orson F. Whitney and David B. Haight).
On March 27th 1836, (Sunday and also the dedication), Peter entered the temple and sat by Frederick G. Williams and Joseph Smith Sr. on the stand.
Heber C. Kimball described Peter as being tall, with “black eyes, white hair, and stoop shouldered; his garment was whole, extending to near his ankles; on his feet he had sandals. He was the one sent to accept the dedication of the Kirtland Temple (Heber C. Kimball, JD 9:376).
Father Smith calmed a mother who was nervous about having her baby at the dedication. He assured her that it would be okay. He later recorded that the two month old baby joined in when the congregation when they gave the Hosanna Shout. (Truman Madsen).

73. Jesus Christ came later.
David Whitmer saw three other angels at the dedication though they were not identified.
Jesus Christ came later.
During the Priesthood meeting (316 present) that night angels came down through the ceiling and the temple was filled with the hosts of heaven. This was the same evening that a strange light rested upon the outside of the temple which people could see from a distance and knew that it was filled with the glory of God.
Even those outside the temple could hear the heavenly choirs.

74. The Kirtland Dedication Program:
It started at 9:00 a.m. (the doors opened at 8:00 a.m.)
Joseph estimated that by 7:00 a.m. more than 1,000 persons waited near the temple doors. After the temple filled, hundreds were turned away.
President Rigdon read Psalms 96 and 24 followed by the congregation singing “Ere Long the Veil will Rend in Twain.”
Sidney Rigdon offered the invocation.
They sang “O Happy Souls who Pray Where God Appoints to Hear.”
Sidney Rigdon read and preached from Matthew 8: He spoke for two and a half hours.

75. Joseph said that Sidney’s talk was eloquent.
A repeat of the dedicatory services was also scheduled for the following Thursday.
The choir and congregation sang “Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation.”
They took a fifteen to twenty minute intermission. Most remained in the building.
The service continued with another song, “This Earth Was Once a Garden Place,” also know as “Adam-ondi-Ahman.”

76. After some brief remarks by Joseph Smith, Church officers were sustained. It was unanimous to the affirmative.
The service then continued with another song, “How Pleased and Blessed Was I.”
Joseph then read the dedicatory prayer which had been revealed to him.
They then sang “The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning.”
The quorums accepted the dedicatory prayer and the sacrament was passed to members of the Church.
Testimonies were born by many and then the congregation gave the Hosanna Shout three times.

77. Brigham Young then arose and spoke briefly in tongues while David W
Brigham Young then arose and spoke briefly in tongues while David W. Patton interpreted, and David W. Patten delivered a short exhortation in tongues. At about four o’clock, the Prophet concluded the seven-hour dedicatory service by blessing the congregation. Eliza R. Snow testified that a babe in arms participated in the Hosanna Shout (Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 95). Summarizing this extraordinary event, she said, “As marvelous as that incident may appear to many, it is not more so than other occurrences on that occasion. It was reported that hundreds spoke in tongues, prophesied, or saw visions

78. It is interesting that Sidney carried the bulk of the meeting
It is interesting that Sidney carried the bulk of the meeting. We need to remember that he was a gifted man (The Lord would not have allowed him to do that had he been out of harmony).
On March 30th, 1836 many saw angels and the Savior.
John the Beloved was in attendance and Joseph stood up at the end of the meeting and apologized to him for failing to recognize him earlier.
Joseph was so familiar with these men that he sometimes forgot to recognize them in the presence of others.
On April 6th, 1836 Joseph saw angels administering unto many.
It was a day of Pentecost.
It is not hard to understand why it has been called the “Glorious Days of Kirtland?”

79. Unseen forces also protected the Saints and their efforts
Unseen forces also protected the Saints and their efforts. In January 1836, prior to completion of the temple, Joseph Smith reported: “Elder Roger Orton saw a mighty angel riding upon a horse of fire, with a flaming sword in his hand, followed by five others, encircle the house, and protect the Saints, even the Lord’s anointed, from the power of Satan and a host of evil spirits, which were striving to disturb the Saints” (History of the Church 2:386-87). Many journals of the Saints testify that the year 1836 was indeed the “year of jubilee,” a “time of rejoicing,” when communication with the heavens was constant and real.

80. Missionaries go forth from Kirtland: Joseph taught the priesthood holders in Kirtland that “the greatest and most important duty is to preach the gospel.” Steamships, which averaged about twenty miles an hour, were a favorite mode of travel. For most missionaries, travel was by foot, carrying cloth knapsacks or leather valises. Walking for thirteen or fourteen hours, they could go about forty miles a day if the weather was favorable and the roads were good. Joseph often gave this advice to missionaries, “Preach short sermons, make short prayers, and deliver your sermons with a prayerful heart” (Memoirs of George A. Smith, 29).

81. Many men would serve on their missions for as long as possible, return to Kirtland to accomplish necessary tasks at home and receive further inspiration and instruction from the brethren, and then leave on another mission.

82. Hebrew School
In January 1836, at the Kirtland Temple, the Hebrew School was started.
Joseph indicated that the members of the Church needed to meet “the learned” on their ground.
Joseph had a gift for Hebrew and learned a lot on his own.
As many as 150 attended sessions of the school held in the winter of in the temple.

83. Orson Pratt was also very good at it.
There were eventually four Hebrew Schools with forty students per school.
Joshua Seixas was hired to teach the class. He was a brilliant man who knew many languages. We don’t know if he ever joined the Church or not.
He was an instructor at a seminary in Hudson, Ohio. He was hired for seven weeks at a salary of $ dollars and was given an office in the Temple. Forty-five students initially enrolled for the series of one-hour lectures.
On January 1836, the School of the Prophets moved into the Temple.
Brigham Young had a hard time learning Hebrew.

84. The Spirit of God Like A Fire is Burning
The following two verses were taken out of the original hymn written by William W. Phelps for the temple dedication:
We’ll wash and be wash’d, and with oil be anointed
Withal not omitting the washing of feet
For he that receiveth his penny appointed,
Must surely be clean at the harvest of wheat.
We’ll sing and we’ll shout, etc.

85. Must come with the cloud and the pillar, amain:
Old Israel that fled from the world for his freedom,
Must come with the cloud and the pillar, amain:
A’Moses, and Aaron, and Joshua lead him,
And feed him on manna from heaven again.
We’ll sing and we’ll shout, etc.

86. Other Interesting things that took place in Kirtland!
Lorenzo Young was called out of the congregation to serve on the Kirtland High Council. He declined the calling and was never called to another calling while Joseph was alive.
Lorenzo Young did go on the exodus to Salt Lake City and would serve in many capacities of the Church.
Martin Harris made the comment that he knew more about the Book of Mormon than Joseph Smith ever would.
Joseph was called to a hearing (Church Discipline) because of Sylvester Smith and his accusations from Zion’s Camp.

87. Other Interesting things that took place in Kirtland!
In 1834 Joseph received “Lectures on Faith” (School of the Elders).
On Feb. 7th, 1835 Brigham and Joseph Young sang to Joseph at Joseph’s request. After they finished Joseph told Brigham Young that he would be called as one of the Twelve the next week and that Joseph Young would preside over the 70’s. This was the same time period in which Joseph received a revelation about the status of those who died from cholera in Zion’s Camp and the reward they would received in heaven (almost a year later).

88. Church government began to unfold during the Kirtland period.
On Feb. 14th, 1835 the calling of the Twelve took place. They were called right out of the congregation.
Seniority among the Twelve was determined by age.
The three witnesses had been called to choose the twelve. They had six years to prepare for it (D&C 18:37).

89. Thomas B. Marsh D&C 31:9, 12 Govern Your House!
The wife of Thomas B. Marsh (President of the Twelve Apostles) and Sister Harris concluded they would exchange milk in order to make a little larger cheese than they otherwise could. To be sure to have justice done, it was agreed that they should not save the strippings, but that the milk and strippings should all go together (the strippings were the part of the milk richest in cream).

90. Mrs. Harris, it appeared, was faithful to the agreement and carried to Mrs. Marsh the milk and strippings, but Mrs. Marsh, wishing to make some extra good cheese, saved a pint of strippings from each cow and sent Mrs. Harris the milk without the strippings.
Mrs. Harris learned that Mrs. Marsh had saved the strippings, and it became a matter to be settled by the Teachers. They examined the matter and it was proved that Mrs. Marsh had saved the strippings…

91. An appeal was taken from the Teachers to the Bishop, and a regular Church trial was held.
President Marsh did not consider that the Bishop had done him and his lady justice, for they (the Bishop’s court) decided that the strippings were wrongfully saved, and that Sister Marsh had violated her covenant.
Marsh immediately took an appeal to the High Council…, but the High Council confirmed the Bishop’s decision (Mrs. Harris’s husband George, was on the High Council).

92. Marsh not satisfied, made an appeal to the First Presidency of the Church.
Joseph and his counselors sat upon the case and they supported the decision of the High Council.
This little affair kicked up a considerable breeze, and Thomas B. Marsh then declared that he would sustain the character of his wife, even if he had to go to hell for it.
Heber C. Kimball wished him well on his way.
Thomas B. Marsh would later sign a document that brought mobs against the Saints which caused deaths to the Saints and much suffering.

93. The then President of the Twelve Apostles, the man who should have been the first to do justice and cause reparation to be made for wrong, committed by any member of his family, took that position (JD 3:283-84).
David W. Patton returned after his death from the Spirit World and asked Thomas, “How could you have forgotten so soon?”
Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patton had made a covenant to keep each other in line while in mortality.

94. President Gordon B. Hinckley
Pres. Hinckley repeated the story in General Conference and then commented:
“The man who should have settled this little quarrel, but who, rather, pursued it,… literally went through hell for it. He lost his standing in the Church. He lost his testimony of the gospel. For nineteen years he walked in poverty and darkness and bitterness, experiencing illness, and loneliness. He grew old before his time. Finally, like the prodigal son in the parable of the Savior, he recognized his foolishness and painfully made his way to this valley (Salt Lake), and asked Brigham Young to forgive him and permit his re-baptism into the Church.

95. He had been the first President of the Council of the Twelve, loved, respected, and honored in the days of Kirtland, and the early days of Far West. Now he asked only that he might be ordained a deacon and become a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord (C.R. April, 1984, 111).

96. Path to Apostasy
You that don’t know him, have heard of Thomas B. Marsh, who was formerly the President of the Twelve Apostles, but who apostatized some years ago, in Missouri. He is on his way here, a poor, decrepit, broken down, old man. He has had a paralytic stroke --- one of his arms hangs down. He is coming out here as an object of charity, destitute, without wife, child, or anything else. He has been an apostate some eighteen years. Most of you know his history..

97. In meeting with some of the apostates, Thomas B
In meeting with some of the apostates, Thomas B. Marsh said to them, “You don’t know what you are about; if you want to see the fruits of apostasy, look on me…”
Many have said to me, “How is it that a man like you, who understood so much of the revelations of God as recorded in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, could fall away?” I told them not to feel to secure, but to take heed lest they also should fall; for I had no scruples in my mind to the possibility of men falling away.
I can say, in reference to the Quorum of the Twelve, to which I belonged, that I did not consider myself a whit behind any of them, and I suppose that others had the same opinion; but, let no one feel too secure; for, before you think of it, your steps will slide. You will not think for a moment as you did before you lost the Spirit of Christ; for when men apostatize, they are left to grovel in the dark.

98. I have sought diligently to know the Spirit of Christ since I turned my face Zion-ward, and I believe I have obtained it. I have frequently wanted to know how my apostasy began, and I have come to the conclusion that I must have lost the spirit of the Lord out of my heart.
The next question is, “How and when did you lose the “Spirit?”
I became jealous of the Prophet, and then I was double, and overlooked everything that was right, and spent all my time in looking for evil; and then, when the Devil began to lead me, it was easy for the carnal mind to rise up, which is anger, jealousy, and wrath. I could feel it within me; I felt angry and wrathful; and the Spirit of the Lord was gone, as the scriptures say, I was blinded, and I thought I saw a beam in brother Joseph’s eye, but it was nothing but a mote, and my own eye was filled with the beam… (Thomas B. Marsh, J.D., vol. 5, 115, 206-7).

99. The School of the Elders
The School of the Elders started in December, 1834 to prepare Elders to become full-time missionaries. They studied history, geography, literature, philosophy, politics, grammar and theology.
They were given “7 major lectures.”
Hiram Page was the teacher.
Joseph taught grammar and Hebrew before Joshua Seixas became their teacher.

100. We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker, and is caught up to dwell with Him (Joseph Smith, HC, vol. 2, 8).

101. The Twelve Apostles called in 1835
1. Thomas B. Marsh, (age 35, apostatized and came back).
2. David W. Patton, (age 35, didn’t know his birth year, martyred).
David rode a white mule and had the gift of healing. He is the one who President Spencer W. Kimball in Miracle of Forgiveness mentioned his encounter with Cain. He said that Cain was dark and covered with hair and had no clothing on. Cain told David that he was seeking death.

102. David asked God if he could die as a martyr.
His reason may have been because he had rebelled and caused some degree of trouble for the Church. We don’t know what he did.
Joseph later said after David’s death, “There lies a man who did what he said he would do, give his life for God.”
David once threw a heckler at a meeting over 10 feet in the air into a wood pile after the heckler said, “I understand Mormons kick out devils, is that true?” The people in the building who saw it said it was true after David threw him. He possessed great strength.
Later in vision, Joseph Jr. said that David Patton was welcomed with great excitement into the Spirit World as he had been commissioned to teach the John Wesley family.

103. 3. Brigham Young:
Age 33, faithful to the end! He presided over the Church for 33 years, no one has served as Prophet longer in this dispensation (June ), he was formally sustained in 1847.
4. Heber C. Kimball:
Age 33, faithful to the end! Joseph said that if he ever needed someone to prophesy it was Heber. He once rebuked the wind at the bowery on Temple Square and commanded it to be silent, and it was done. Moroni visited him two weeks before he died and told him the Savior was pleased with him.
5. Orson Hyde:
Age 30, faithful. Dedicated the Holy Land, learned the German language in eight days, learned Hebrew and memorized the Bible in English. Later in his life he got a disease that caused him to become obese. He was so large that he couldn’t roll over by himself which caused him constant pain.

104. 6. William E. McLellen:
Age 29, not faithful, became a bitter enemy to Joseph and the Church. He was an evil man who later sought the blood of Joseph. He tried to write a revelation but failed. He was excommunicated in 1838 and never returned.
7. Parley P. Pratt:
Age 27, martyred in Arkansas at the age of 50 in May of He was the second Apostle killed in this dispensation.
8. Luke S. Johnson:
Age 27, faithful. He lost his membership but came back. However, Brigham Young would not put him back in the Twelve. He died in Tooele, Utah while serving as a Bishop. He helped convert his friend Ezekiel in the middle of the night.

105. Age 23, not faithful. 10. Orson Pratt:
9. William Smith:
Age 23, not faithful.
10. Orson Pratt:
Age 23, faithful. First to view the Salt Lake Valley, and was the first President of the Elders Quorum. Brigham Young said once of him, “You can cut him up into little tiny pieces and every piece would cry out saying, ‘Mormonism is true!’” He crossed the ocean 16 times serving missions for the Church.
11. John F. Boynton:
Age 23, not faithful. Great Scientist, invented the soda fountain and some small electrical appliances. He left the Church in 1837 and said, “I have never seen a happy moment since I joined the Church.” He was with Warren Parrish and Lyman Johnson when they took 100,000 dollars from a bank through fraud. He was excommunicated and never returned.

106. 12. Lyman E. Johnson:
Age 23, not faithful. Excommunicated and never returned. He cursed Joseph Smith at the top of his lungs until his face went black.
The Apostolic Charge was given to the Twelve by Oliver Cowdery.
In the meridian of times, the Savior himself gave that charge.
This should give you and idea of the importance and the strength of Oliver Cowdery.

107. A Home Teaching Experience in Kirtland
In Kirtland, members of the priesthood were assigned to visit the homes of the Saints and teach them. D&C 20:47 was given about nine months before Joseph moved to Kirtland. William Cahoon, one of the earliest Ohio converts, later recalled his experience as home teacher to the Prophet’s family: I was called and ordained to act as a teacher to visit the families of the Saints. I got along very well till I found that I was obliged to call and pay a visit to the Prophet. Being young, only about seventeen years of age, I felt my weakness in visiting the Prophet and his family in the capacity of a teacher. I almost felt like shrinking from duty. Finally I went to the door and knocked, and in a minute the Prophet came to the door. I stood trembling, and said to him:

108. “Brother Joseph, I have come to visit you in the capacity of a teacher, if it is not convenient for you.” He said, “Brother William, come right in, I am glad to see you; sit down in that chair there and I will go and call my family in.” They soon came in and took seats. He then said, “Brother William, I submit myself and family into your hands,” and then took his seat. “Now Brother William,” said he “ask all the questions you feel like.” By this time all my fears and trembling had ceased, and I said, “Brother Joseph, are you trying to live your religion?” He answered “Yes.” I then said “Do you pray in your family?” He said “Yes.” Do you teach your family the principles of the gospel?” He replied “Yes, I am trying to do it.” “Do you ask a blessing on your food?” He answered “Yes.” “Are you trying

109. to live in peace and harmony with all your family
to live in peace and harmony with all your family?” He said that he was. I then turned to Sister Emma, his wife, and said “Sister Emma, are you trying to live your religion? Do you teach your children to obey their parents? Do you try to teach them to pray?” To all of these questions she answered “Yes, I am trying to do so.” I then turned to Joseph and said, “I am now through with my questions as a teacher; and now if you have any instructions to give, I shall be happy to receive them.” He said “God bless you, Brother William, and if you are humble and faithful, you shall have power to settle all difficulties that may come to you in the capacity of a teacher

110. I then left my parting blessing upon him and his family, as a teacher, and took my departure (Elder William Farrington Close, Juvenile Instructor 28 August 15, 1892: ).

111. Visitors in 1835
By the mid-1830's, Joseph was spending hours each week with visitors. He said, “I have been hindered by a multitude of visitors.”
Joseph created a Tran biblical world unlike anything known in Christian churches and had no interest in forming alliances with less venturous souls.
Matthias:
Joshua the Jewish Minister came to Kirtland. Some speculated that he was the notorious Robert Matthias, who had recently stood trial for murder in New York and served time for whipping his adult daughter. Later he admitted that he was Matthias and claimed he was a descendant of the apostle Matthias who was chosen to replace Judas. He taught that Matthias’s spirit was resurrected in him.

112. Joseph told Matthias that “his doctrine was of the Devil and that he was in reality in possession of a wicked and depraved spirit.” Joseph told him to leave and as he reflected in his journal, “cast our the Devil in bodily shape.”
Joseph’s historical role, as he understood it, was to give God a voice in a world that had stopped listening.

113. Texts
William E. McLellin, was chosen as an apostle in February He left the church a year later, disillusioned by his failure to receive a manifestation at the Kirtland temple dedication. The journal he kept of a missionary journey with the Twelve from may through September 1835 is the best account we have of Mormon missionary work in the early years.
Missionaries had no plan, no pamphlet for investigators to study, no standard message. The Book of Mormon was the only printed literature they carried with them.

114. The 1835 Doctrine & Covenants was meant to summarize the Church’s major beliefs and provide a handbook of its policies.
The “Lectures on Faith” were a perfect example of orderly presentation. Given in the fall of 1834 by Sidney Rigdon and others, with input from Joseph Smith, the lectures were included in every edition of the Doctrine & Covenants from

115. Abraham
In 1835 Michael Chandler came to Kirtland with four mummies and some rolls of papyrus. Chandler’s account of the mummies was full of contradictions. He claimed he inherited the artifacts from his uncle, Antonio Lebolo. Lebolo had indeed obtained Egyptian artifacts around 1829 but never mentioned Chandler. Lebolo sold eleven mummies to a Trieste merchant in new York. Chandler probably purchased them in New York.

116. Joseph announced that one roll contained the writing of Abraham of Ur and the other the writings of Joseph of Egypt. He purchased the four mummies and the papyri for $2,400, a huge sum when money was desperately needed for other projects.
Joseph would continue to show the relics until his death.
The reader was suddenly dropped into Abraham’s mind and world, and Joseph the translator was entirely invisible.

117. The exclusion of black men from the priesthood was publicly stated only after his death.
Except for a brief lapse in early 1836, Joseph advocated taking the gospel to “both bond and free,” ignoring race.
Nothing was done during Joseph’s lifetime to withhold priesthood from black members.
Joseph knew Elijah Abel, a black man who was ordained as a seventy, and was said to have entertained him.
Blacks “come into the worlds slaves, mentally and physically,” he once said in private conversation. “Change their situation with the whites and they would be like them.” He favored a policy of “national Equalization,” though he retained the common prejudice against intermarriage and blending of races.

118. Translating
Now with the Egyptian papyri before them, Joseph again let the men with the greatest interest in such undertakings — Oliver Cowdery, William W. Phelps, Warren Parrish, and Frederick G. Williams —attempt translations. Parrish was told he “shall see much of my ancient records, and shall know of hidden things, and shall be endowed with a knowledge of hidden languages.”

119. Eventually they pulled their work together into a collection they called “Grammar & Alphabet of the Egyptian Language,” written in the hands of Phelps and Parrish.
Of all the men working on the papyri, only Joseph produced a coherent text.
In 1967, that view of translation suffered a blow when eleven scraps of the Abraham papyri, long since lost and believed to have been burned were discovered in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and given to Latter-day Saint leaders in Salt Lake City.

120. Color pictures were printed and scholars went to work
Color pictures were printed and scholars went to work. The texts were thought to be the Abraham papyri because Joseph had published facsimiles from the papyri with his translation, and the same pictures appeared on the museum fragments. The translation of these texts by expert Egyptologists would finally prove or disprove Joseph’s claims to miraculous translating powers. Would any of the language correspond to the text in his book of Abraham?

121. Some Mormons were crushed when the fragments turned out to be rather conventional funerary texts placed with mummified bodies, in this case Hor’, to assure continuing life as an immortal god. According to the Egyptologists, nothing on the fragments resembled Joseph’s account of Abraham.

122. Some Mormon scholars, notably Hugh Nibley, doubt that the actual texts for Abraham and Joseph have been found.
His book of Abraham picked up themes found in texts like the Book of Jasher and Flavius Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews.
Dr. Daniel L. M. Peixotto, a professor of medicine at Willougby University four miles from Kirtland, was hired to teach Hebrew in the School of the Prophets. When Peixotto could not come, the brethren hired Joshua Seixas, a Jewish convert to Christianity then teaching at the Western Reserve College.

123. Joseph proudly recorded Seixas’s comment that “they were the most forward of any class he had ever taught.” Joseph was one of ten to meet for extra sessions with the professor. Seixas called Joseph and “indefatigable” student. Excited by his learning, Joseph resolved “to pursue the study of languages until he should become the master of them, if he were permitted to live long enough.” The Hebrew classes continued until the dedication of the temple in March, when Seixas dropped from sight.

124. Every attempt to regularize belief was diffused by new revelations
Every attempt to regularize belief was diffused by new revelations. Who could tell what would be revealed next—what new insights into the patriarchal past, what stories of Abraham, Moses, or Enoch, what glimpses into heaven?
Joseph himself could not predict the course or Mormon doctrine. All he could say he summed up [in a later article of faith: “We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does not reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great an important things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

125. Strife August — December 1835
Be assured brethren I am willing to stem the torrent of all opposition, in storms in tempests in thunders and lightning by sea and by land in the wilderness or among false brethren or mobs or wherever God in his providence may call us and I am determined that neither heights nor depths, principalities nor powers, things present or to come, nor any other creature shall separate me from you (Joseph Smith to the Twelve Apostles, January 1836).

126. Joseph’s journal for September 22, 1835, through April 3, 1836 was the most extensive, comprehensive, and revealing he ever kept. The journal contains almost daily entries for six months.
Like everyone raised in the culture, the Smiths had a clannish loyalty to one another and a fiery resentment against the slightest derogation of their worth. In the culture of honor, one would battle to the death in defense of reputation. An honorable man who suffered an insult would spare nothing to get even.

127. Through the fall of 1835, he engaged in a series of small quarrels, domestic disturbances, and squabbles. He did not rise above the fray in the serene majesty of his calling.
While Joseph was sensitive to the spirit of others, he may have been tone-deaf to the spirit of his own words. Unable to bear criticism, he rebuked anyone who challenged him. Benjamin Johnson, a great admirer, said, “Criticism, even by associates, was rarely acceptable, and contradiction would rouse in him the lion at once, for by no one of his fellow would he be superseded or disputed.”
Joseph admitted sometimes being too “harsh from the impulse of the moment.” Then his affection returned. “In as much as I have wounded your feelings, he implored the Twelve, “I ask your forgiveness, for I love you and will hold you up with all my heart in all righteousness before the Lord.” A flood of pledges followed.

128. Once people gave way, Joseph forgave and forgot the matter
Once people gave way, Joseph forgave and forgot the matter. When he could not have his way, Joseph sometimes rained down curses on his opponents.
Once Joseph said that William was as ugly as the devil. At this, William rushed Joseph, who had pulled off his coat to defend himself. Joseph had to be rescued from William’s blows. When he got home, he could not sit or stand without help. Ashamed at being beaten, Joseph explained why his younger brother had won the fight.

129. Joseph had been “marred” by mobbers who had debilitated his body, he reminded William.
Joseph often complained of injuries to his hip and back spasms
On the other hand, he warmly welcomed them back when they were contrite.
In a remarkable passage in his journal, he moved from simple gratitude to exaltation of the woodcutters who had cut his winter’s wood in December.

130. In the name of Jesus Christ I invoke the rich benediction of heaven to rest upon them and their families, and I ask my heavenly Father to preserve their health, and those of their wives and children, that they may have strength of body to perform their labors in their several occupations in life, and the use of activity of their limbs, also powers of intellect and understanding hearts, that they may treasure up wisdom, understanding, and intelligence, above measure, and be preserved from plagues, pestilence, and famine, and from the power of the adversary, and the hands of evil designing men and have power over all their enemies; and the way be prepared before them, that they may journey to the land of Zion and be established on their inheritances, to enjoy undisturbed peace and happiness forever, and ultimately to be crowned with everlasting life in the Celestial Kingdom of God, which blessings I ask in the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

131. Joseph prayed for 800 to 1,000 well-armed men to accomplish the work of going back and taking Jackson County. David Whitmer was appointed “Captain of the Lord’s Host.” In September Joseph challenged the Kirtland High Council that “we go next season to live or die in Jackson County.”

132. The Order of Heaven January — April 1836
The winter and spring months of 1836 were among Joseph’s happiest. For a time, everything went right.
Life in Kirtland
How the Smiths paid the bills in those years was a mystery. Joseph’s journal showed no evidence of working for money. He opened a store in Kirtland, but the store was not profitable. The Smith’s never lived well, but in their small house on the hill neither did they starve.

133. The temple committee was so far in debt it appealed constantly for contributions in order to pay the workers. Joseph negotiated loan after loan until the size of the debt drove him to pleading and bargaining with the Lord.
Heber C. Kimball later estimated final construction cost at between $40,000 and $50,000, a huge sum when a laborer was lucky to receive $400 a year. A large part was paid by one wealthy convert, John Tanner, who donated $13,000 and may have loaned another $30,000.

134. Endowment
The elders were meeting in the temple primarily to prepare for the “endowment of power.” Spiritual blessings, much like an endowment, were received at first session of the school of the Prophets in 1833.
Oliver Cowdery told the Twelve, when they were ordained in February 1835, that they were “not to go to other nations till they received their endowments.” Because they had not known Jesus in mortality, these modern apostles had to know Him by revelation. “Never cease striving until you have seen God face to face,” Cowdery told them.

135. Joseph was preoccupied with the right order of everything
Joseph was preoccupied with the right order of everything. Church councils had to follow the pattern of the ancients. His history said the cornerstones of the Kirtland temple were laid “after the order of the priesthood,” which was to divide twenty-four priesthood holders into four groups of six and assign each to a corner.

136. Beginning at the Southeast
A variant of this assemblage of authorities, called “the Grand Council,” William W. Phelps wrote his wife that the “Grand Council” was “one of the most interesting meetings he ever saw.”
Women remained invisible in the organization and were absent from most ritual events. Some resented it. But in this spiritual season, weddings and dinners involving women were turned into holy celebrations.

137. During the winter, a small committee under Joseph’s direction worked out rules for temple conduct:
No going up the stairs during worship.
No marring the house with knife or pencil.
No children playing in the rooms.
Speakers were not to be interrupted by laughter, whispering, or “menacing gestures.”
Presiding officers were not to be insulted.

138. Decorum apparently had to be perfect for the Saints to receive the outpouring of heaven.
Later the Saints removed their shoes and dressed in white on entering the temple.
In January 1833, Joseph had washed the feet of thirteen brethren following the example of Jesus Christ in the gospel of John. In 1836, a new kind of washing, one for the whole body, was instituted, following Old Testament practices.

139. Oliver Cowdery gave a full description of washings performed the previous Saturday.
Met in the evening with Brother Joseph Smith Jr. at his house, in company with Brother John Corrill, and after pure water was prepared, call upon the Lord and proceeded to wash each other’s bodies, and bathe the same with whiskey, perfumed with cinnamon. This we did that we might be clean before the Lord for the Sabbath, confessing our sins and covenanting to be faithful to God. While performing this washing unto the Lord with solemnity, our minds were filled with many reflections upon the propriety of the same, and how the priests anciently used to wash always before ministering before the Lord. As we had nearly finished the purification. Brother Martin Harris came in and was also washed.

140. When the brethren met the following Thursday, they added an anointing with oil. While the high councils from Kirtland and Missouri waited in two adjoining rooms, Joseph and six other men attended to “the ordinance of anointing our heads with holy oil.” Joseph Sr. rose and anointed the others in order of age.
One searches in vain for such rituals among Joseph’s Protestant contemporaries. Joseph drew upon ceremonies in Exodus. Later the Saints clothed themselves in holy garments like Aaron.

141. After Joseph’s anointing, he wrote, “the heavens were opened upon us and I beheld the celestial kingdom of God (D&C 137). He saw the Twelve Apostles in a foreign land “standing together in a circle much fatigued, with their clothes tattered and feet swollen, with their eyes cast downward, and Jesus standing in their midst, and they did not behold him, the Savior looked upon them and wept.” All through the night, Joseph saw visions: Elder McLellin in the south healing a lame man, and Brigham Young in a southwest desert preaching from a rock to a “dozen men of color, who, appeared hostile.” Young was protected by an “angel of God standing above his head with a drawn sword.” Joseph said that many of the brethren “saw glorious visions also.”

142. Washings and anointings were done from oldest to youngest.
Through January and February, the brethren read Hebrew by day, and washed, anointed, prayed, and beheld visions by night.
Joseph’s method for bringing his people to holiness differed from the approach of evangelical preachers. Rather than convicting people of their sins, thus humbling them before God, Joseph relied upon the power of ritual to arouse their spirits.
Joseph said nothing about a revelation on washings and anointings. The only scriptural authorization came from Exodus. Yet Joseph assured the brethren that the orders were “according to the mind of God.” He introduced the washings, anointings, and sealings as rigorously as any commandment.

143. Aftermath
After the seven-month suspension, the missionaries were to return to the field to gather Israel, empowered now by their spiritual experiences.
The next Sunday, about a thousand people attended the morning service and returned in the afternoon for the sacraments. At the conclusion, Joseph and Cowdery went into one of the pulpits and had the veil dropped, cutting them off from view of the congregation. In seclusion, they experienced one of Joseph’s most spectacular visions, later recorded by Warren Cowdery, Joseph’s clerk and Oliver’s brother (D&C 110).

144. The frequency of announced revelations slowed in ensuing years
The frequency of announced revelations slowed in ensuing years. Doctrine came through sermons. The revelation behind the veil suggested that Joseph was moving ahead of his followers. He began to speak of revelations they could not bear.

145. Daniel Tyler: “I had the inestimable blessing of receiving my endowments and teachings given in the temple. George A. Smith: “I passed through the ordinances of endowments and received much instruction and many manifestations of the spirit. Artemus Millet: “I was then ordained an Elder, and got my endowments in the Temple and in 1836 went on a mission. Heber C. Kimball: “I….received my washings and anointings…and…all the blessings and ordinances of endowment which were then administered.”