Temple-line upon line

As Dorothy, Wendy, and I drove to Glenwood and back, we spent a lot of time reading and discussing two articles about the history of temple work and about the influence of Wilford Woodruff on the temple ceremonies as we know them today. We found this material quite informative and inspirational. Wendy said that it made her want to stop the car and find a temple and attend a session right now. And we were able to attend a session at the Boise temple on Friday traveling up and the Twin Falls temple on the following Tuesday as we returned home.

I have viewed Wilford Woodruff as our family’s special prophet since I learned of his association with our ancestor James Townsend and family, including the latter’s service as a missionary companion with Elder Woodruff on Maine’s Fox Islands. President Woodruff was the Renaissance Man of the early Church, spiritual giant, bold missionary and baptizer of thousands, fly fisherman, historian and diarist, founder of educational academies, pioneer in Utah horticulture and animal science, etc. And now we learn that he was second to none in the establishment and regulation of the work in the temple that we love so much.

1) Although most of the references by Joseph Smith to ordinances for the dead are focused upon baptisms, there is solid evidence that he taught the broader principle of “receiving all the ordinances, baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, ordinations, and sealing powers upon their heads, in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead...” But it was a number of years later when the basis for temple work became fully developed.

2) Because of persecutions, the challenges of the exodus from Nauvoo and pioneering the Inter-mountain West, the unavailability of temples, and perhaps an incomplete understanding of temple ordinances on the part of Church members, it appears that only the following kinds of temple work took place prior to the dedication of the St. George temple in 1877:
a) Baptisms for the dead (Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, etc.)
b) Endowments for the living (Nauvoo temple, Council House in Council Bluffs IO, Presidents Office, Ensign Peak, Council House and Endowment House in Salt Lake)
c) Sealings of living husbands and wives, plus a limited number of couple sealings of a living man or women to a deceased spouse (Salt Lake locations above)

3) The first endowments for the dead in this dispensation were performed in the newly dedicated St. George Temple on Jan 11, 1877 (10 days after its initial dedication) under the direction of Elder Woodruff. He enunciated the principle clearly, “It takes as much to save a dead man as a living man.” From that time forward, in addition to baptisms, the saints were able to perform vicarious washings and anointings, ordinations to the priesthood, endowments, couple sealings, and sealing of children to parents, in the temples.

4) President Brigham Young appointed Elder Woodruff as the first President of the St. George temple, with instructions to develop and regulate procedures and practices. Elder Woodruff served in this capacity for seven years until 1884. The process of performing the endowment for a company of patrons was perfected. Exact wording for the temple ordinances was written and agreed upon and procedures for performing the ordinances were standardized. Also significantly, in 1894, while serving as the prophet and president of the Church, President Woodruff received a revelation that directed that the performing of “adoptions” to non-relatives be discontinued and that all sealings should be done along ancestral lines. Thus, Wilford Woodruff had a major role in establishing the temple ordinances as we understand and experience them today.

5) Out of these developments, there quickly developed among the Latter-day Saints a new understanding and “heightened consciousness” regarding temple work. It gave reason and opportunity to return often to the temple to perform these ordinances for the dead. “There developed a whole new attitude toward temple worship, a sense of what was now expected and in what proportions, and a sense of urgency. Women as well as men had new opportunities for temple work not seen before. What happened in St. George soon spread to Manti, Logan, and Salt Lake. [In the words of John Taylor] it was ... a whole [new] epoch.” (Bennett, “The Rise of Temple Consciousness”, pp. 247-248). Our own ancestors, George and Martha Ann Townsend Lufkin, were participants in this new commitment. They were in the St. George area during the time of the temple dedication there, and then retired to Logan to be able to regularly do temple work when that edifice was completed in 1884.

(Richard E. Bennett, “Line upon Line, Precept upon Precept: Reflections on the 1877 Commencement of the Performance of Endowments and Sealings for the Dead”, BYU STUDIES, Vol 44, No. 2, 2003, pp. 38-77; Richard E. Bennett, “Wilford Woodruff and the Rise of Temple Consciousness among the Latter-day Saints, 1877-84" in Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black, Eds., BANNER OF THE GOSPEL: WILFORD WOODRUFF, Brigham Young University Church History Symposium, 2010, , pp. 233-250.)