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Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 March 1836 [D&C 109]

Source Note

Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, , Geauga Co., OH, 27 Mar. 1836. Featured version published in “Kirtland, Ohio, March 27th 1836,” Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate, Mar. 1836, 2:274–281. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Oliver Cowdery, Dec. 1834.

Historical Introduction

The dedication of the in , Ohio, on 27 March 1836 was the result of years of devoted effort. In summer and fall 1835, men and women worked side by side to complete the temple. Men generally did masonry work, drove cattle, and hauled rock, while women generally spun, knit, and wove clothes for workers, “us[ing] every exertion in their power to forward the work.” Women also worked on the veils, or curtains, that hung in the House of the Lord, and JS “pronounced a blessing upon the Sisters for the liberality in giving their servises so cheerfully.” Men likewise found great satisfaction in their work building the religious edifice. , for instance, rejoiced in his labors because it had been “a long time since the Lord had a house on the Earth” and he believed that in the House of the Lord, the Saints would receive the promised of divine power.
By late March 1836, the and the members were prepared for a dedicatory meeting. On 26 March, the day before the dedication, JS, , , and JS’s two scribes, and , met in the president’s room on the attic floor of the temple to prepare for the dedication. Oliver Cowdery noted in his diary that at this meeting he “assisted in writing a prayer for the dedication of the house.” The text of the prayer, likely set in type on the printing press of the Messenger and Advocate that night, was printed as a broadside for JS to read at the dedication the following day.
On Sunday morning, 27 March, a crowd of approximately one thousand people filled the to capacity. Some of those unable to enter held a meeting in the adjacent while others returned home to await a second dedicatory event. At nine o’clock, commenced the meeting with an opening prayer and preliminary remarks. Following a hymn, Rigdon addressed the congregation for two and a half hours on a variety of topics. Rigdon then presented JS’s name to the congregation as “Prophet and ,” followed by a systematic vote by each of the church and others in attendance. All voted unanimously in the affirmative. In the afternoon session, JS addressed the congregation first. He presented the names of the church’s “as Prophets and Seers” and the “as Prophets and Seers and special witnesses to all the nations of the earth,” and he invited the congregation to signify their support for these officers by rising. He then similarly presented the other quorums and officers. Each group was upheld separately by a systematic vote similar to the vote Rigdon presented in the morning session. After another hymn, JS stood at the pulpit and read the prayer of dedication—the first dedication of a temple in Latter-day Saint history.
The dedicatory prayer alluded to earlier revelations and events and petitioned both God and Jesus Christ for blessings, mercy, and deliverance for the Saints. In particular, the prayer referenced JS’s late December 1832 revelation commanding the Saints to build the “house of God,” and it also recounted the 1833 violence against the Latter-day Saints in , Missouri. In the prayer, JS asked that the be accepted and that it be a place where the glory of God could rest down upon his children. JS also requested that God remember the oppression the Saints had faced in their efforts to follow his commandments. He pleaded for priesthood holders to be protected and empowered with spiritual gifts and power so that they might be better equipped to go out preaching. The prayer also expressed desire that the Saints might be blessed to grow up in the ways of God. All those in attendance unanimously accepted the prayer by vote.
Both the minutes of this meeting and accounts by Latter-day Saints who attended the dedication report miracles, heavenly visitations, and a spiritual outpouring. reported that a “Holy Angel of God” entered the during the prayer of dedication. Following the prayer, “gave a short address in tongues.” At the conclusion of the day’s events, JS “blessed the congregation in the name of the Lord” and ended the meeting “a little past four P. M.”
The importance the Saints placed on attending the dedication of the is manifest in participant accounts. For example, according to and , one woman could not find anyone with whom to leave her two-month-old child so that she could attend the dedication. She implored to allow her to enter the House of the Lord with her child even though young children were not allowed at the meeting. Upon this request, Joseph Smith Sr. reportedly said to the doorkeepers on duty, “Brethren we do not Exercise faith[;] my faith is this child will not cry a word in the House to day.” Brown observed, “On this the woman & child entered and the child did not cry a word from 8 till 4 in the after noon. But when the saints all shouted Hosana the child was nursing But let go & shouted also when the saints paused it paused when they shouted it shouted for three times when they shouted amen it shouted also for three times then it resumed its nursing without any alarm.”
According to participants, the events following the dedicatory meeting included an outpouring of spiritual gifts similar to that experienced by the apostles in the New Testament on the day of Pentecost. JS requested that “all ,” meaning men who had been to the , meet again in the that evening for instruction “respecting the of .” That evening meeting “was designed as a continuation of our pentecost,” wrote participant , and according to his journal, “Angels of God came into the room, cloven tongues rested upon some of the servants of the Lord like unto fire, & they spake with tongues and prophesied.” In another description of the evening meeting, wrote, “The spirit was poured out—I saw the glory of God, like a great cloud, come down and rest upon the house, and fill the same like a mighty rushing wind. I also saw cloven tongues, like as of fire rest upon many, (for there were 316 present,) while they spake with other tongues and prophesied.” similarly declared, “I believe that as great things were heard and felt and seen as there was on the day of Pentecost with the apostles.” Writing to his wife, Sarah Brown, recorded that on the evening of the dedication, “one saw a pillar or cloud rest down upon the house bright as when the sun shines on a cloud like as gold, two others saw three personages hovering in the room with bright keys in their hands.”
On Thursday, 31 March, JS and the again performed the dedicatory ceremonies “for the benefit of those who could not get into the house on the preceeding Sabbath.” According to JS’s journal, the services that day were “prosecuted and terminated in the same manner as at the former dedication and the spirit of God rested upon the congregation and great solemnity prevailed.”
There are two extant versions of the minutes of the 27 March dedication, one in manuscript and the other in print. JS’s scribe made a record of the meeting that he copied into JS’s journal. Though not credited, created the official minutes, featured here, which were then published in the Messenger and Advocate. The original minutes are no longer extant, and, unlike other minutes Oliver Cowdery kept in this period, these minutes were never copied into Minute Book 1. The lack of an original copy and minute book entry may be accounted for by the timely publication of the minutes. Substantive differences between the two extant versions are noted below.

Footnotes

  1. [1]

    Kimball, “History,” 26; Helen Mar Whitney, “Life Incidents,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Aug. 1880, 9:42.

    Kimball, Heber C. “History of Heber Chase Kimball by His Own Dictation,” ca. 1842–1856. Heber C. Kimball, Papers, 1837–1866. CHL. MS 627, box 2.

    Woman’s Exponent. Salt Lake City. 1872–1914.

  2. [2]

    JS, Journal, 23 Feb. 1836; see also Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833.

  3. [3]

    Knight, Autobiographical Sketch, [4].

    Knight, Joseph, Jr. Autobiographical Sketch, 1862. CHL. MS 286.

  4. [4]

    Cowdery, Diary, 26 Mar. 1836; JS, Journal, 26 Mar. 1836; George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 15 Nov. 1864, 11:9; Prayer, 27 Mar. 1836, in Prayer, at the Dedication of the Lord’s House in Kirtland, Ohio, March 27, 1836 (Kirtland, OH: 1836), copy at CHL [D&C 109].

    Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.

    Journal of Discourses. 26 vols. Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855–1886.

  5. [5]

    JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836; Post, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.

    Post, Stephen. Journals, 1835–1879. Stephen Post, Papers, 1835–1921. CHL. MS 1304, box 6.

  6. [6]

    JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836; Post, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.

    Post, Stephen. Journals, 1835–1879. Stephen Post, Papers, 1835–1921. CHL. MS 1304, box 6.

  7. [7]

    Revelation, 27–28 Dec. 1832 [D&C 88:1–126].

  8. [8]

    JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.

  9. [9]

    Benjamin Brown to Sarah Mumford Brown, [ca. Apr. 1836], Benjamin Brown Family Collection, CHL; Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 94–95.

    Benjamin Brown Family Collection, 1835–1983. CHL. MS 17646.

    Tullidge, Edward W. The Women of Mormondom. New York: Tullidge and Crandall, 1877.

  10. [10]

    See Acts 2:1–18.

  11. [11]

    JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.

  12. [12]

    Post, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.

    Post, Stephen. Journals, 1835–1879. Stephen Post, Papers, 1835–1921. CHL. MS 1304, box 6.

  13. [13]

    Cowdery, Diary, 27 Mar. 1836.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.

  14. [14]

    Jackman, Diary, 17.

    Jackman, Levi. Diary, 1835–1844. Microfilm. CHL.

  15. [15]

    Benjamin Brown to Sarah Mumford Brown, [ca. Apr. 1836], Benjamin Brown Family Collection, CHL; see also Harper, “Pentecost Continued,” 4–22.

    Benjamin Brown Family Collection, 1835–1983. CHL. MS 17646.

    Harper, Steven C. “Pentecost Continued: A Contemporaneous Account of the Kirtland Temple Dedication.” BYU Studies 42, no. 2 (2003): 5–22.

  16. [16]

    JS, Journal, 31 Mar. 1836.

  17. [17]

    JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.

  18. [18]

    Cowdery, Diary, 27 Mar. 1836.

    Cowdery, Oliver. Diary, Jan.–Mar. 1836. CHL. MS 3429. Also available as Leonard J. Arrington, “Oliver Cowdery’s Kirtland, Ohio, ‘Sketch Book,’” BYU Studies 12 (Summer 1972): 410–426.

Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation. Journal, 1835–1836 History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] Prayer of Dedication, 27 March 1836 [D&C 109] Journal, 1835–1836
*Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 March 1836 [D&C 109]
History, 1838–1856, volume B-1 [1 September 1834–2 November 1838] “History of Joseph Smith”

Page 274

, Ohio, March 27th, 1836.
Previous notice having been given, the met this day in the to dedicate it to him. The congregation began to assemble before 8 o’clock A. M. and thronged the doors until 9, when the of the church who assisted in seating the congregation, were reluctantly compelled to order the door-keepers to close the doors; every seat and aisle were crowded.— One thousand persons were now silently and solemnly waiting to hear the word of the Lord from the mouth of his servants in the sacred desk. President began the services of the day, by reading the 96th and 24th Psalms. An excellent choir of singers, led by sung the following Hymn:
tune—Sterling.
 
Ere long the vail will rend in twain,
The King descend with all his train;
The earth shall shake with awful fright,
And all creation feel his might.
 
The trump of God, it long shall sound,
And raise the nations under ground;
Throughout the vast domain of heav’n
The voice echoes, the sound is given.
 
Lift up your heads ye saints in peace,
The Savior comes for your release;
The day of the redeem’d has come,
The saints shall all be welcom’d home.
 
behold the church, it soars on high,
To meet the saints amid the sky;
To hail the King in clouds of fire,
And strike and tune th’ immortal lyre.
 
Hosanna now the trump shall sound,
Proclaim the joys of heav’n around,
When all the saints together join,
In songs of love, and all divine.
 
With Enoch here we all shall meet,
And worship at Messiah’s feet,
Unite our hands and hearts in love,
And reign on thrones with Christ above.
 
The city that was seen of old
Whose walls were jasper, and streets gold
We’ll now inherit thron’d in might:
The Father and the Son’s delight.
 
Celestial crowns we shall receive,
And glories great our God shall give,
While loud hosannas we’ll proclaim,
And sound aloud the Saviors name. [p. 274]
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Document Information

Related Case Documents
Editorial Title
Minutes and Prayer of Dedication, 27 March 1836 [D&C 109]
ID #
9648
Total Pages
8
Print Volume Location
JSP, D5:188–209
Handwriting on This Page

    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      According to JS’s journal, the congregation began to assemble “at about 7 oclock,” one hour before “the doors were to be opened.” (JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836.)

    2. [2]

      Psalm 96 admonishes its hearers to praise the Lord, for “strength and beauty are in his sanctuary,” and to “come into his courts.” Latter-day Saints called the main floors of the House of the Lord “courts,” as with the courts of Solomon’s temple. Psalm 24 states that only those with “clean hands, and a pure heart” should enter the Lord’s “holy place,” where “the King of glory shall come in.” (Psalms 24:3–7, 96:4–8; Revelation, 1 June 1833 [D&C 95:15–17]; see also 2 Chronicles 4:9.)

    3. [3]

      This hymn, Hymn 19 in the recently published Latter-day Saint hymnal, was written by apostle Parley P. Pratt. According to JS’s journal, the choir sang the “hymn on the 29th page of Latter day Saints collection of hymn’s.” Page 29 contains the beginning of Hymn 23, “Adam-ondi-Ahman,” which actually opened the second session of the services. (JS, Journal, 27 Mar. 1836; Hymns 19 and 23, Collection of Sacred Hymns, 25–27, 29.)

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