Writing in a book heralding the richness of women’s heritage in helping lay the foundation of the latter-day kingdom, Carol Cornwall Madsen quoted John A. Widtsoe who provided one of the most “explicit descriptions” of the LDS temple endowment ceremony.1 She wrote:

Carol Cornwall Madsen As the message of the temple became clearer, the Saints came to understand that it was not enough to live Christ-like lives and to develop their own private relationship with the Savior. As meritorius as this life pattern might be, it alone could not assure them a place in the celestial kingdom, the dwelling place of the Father. However, accompanied by the saving ordinances of the gospel, it promised a meaningful life here and eternal life hereafter. Thus in Mormon doctrine the temple is the heart and core of the gospel, and all else derives meaning and purpose from it. Yet not all were ready to receive this saving knowledge. “There are a great many wise men and women too in our midst,” Joseph Smith lamented, “who are too wise to be taught; therefore they must die in their ignorance, and in the resurrection they will find their mistake. Many seal up the door to heaven by saying, So far God may reveal and I will believe.”2 Had the Saints been more spiritually prepared, Joseph explained, he could have revealed more to them sooner than he did.3

Although he did not live to see the completion of the Nauvoo Temple, where these priesthood ordinances would be appropriately performed, Joseph Smith left behind both the authority for and the knowledge of every element of temple work. As Zina Young had exclaimed in 1845: “He hath established his work upon the Earth no more to be throne down.”

The ordinances and rites of the temple are held sacred by Latter-day Saints and are thus guarded by vows of secrecy. Yet much has been publicly written and spoken about them in an effort to provide understanding of their significance in the lives of church members. John A. Widtsoe has given one of the most explicit descriptions of the temple ceremony: “The Temple Endowment relates the story of man’s eternal journey; sets forth the conditions upon which progress in the eternal journey depends, requires covenants or agreements of those participating, to accept and use the laws of progress; gives tests by which our willingness and fitness for righteousness may be known, and finally points out the ultimate destiny of those who love truth and live by it.”4

Sources:

  1. Madsen, Carol Cornwall in Maureen Ursenbach Beecher and Lavina Fiedling Anderson, eds. Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective. University of Illinois Press, 1987. 89.↩
  2. Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 309.↩
  3. History of the Church, 2:309-10, 426. George A. Smith told a congregation of Saints in Salt Lake City in 1855 that, at the time of the completion of the Kirtland Temple, had the Lord “revealed one single sentiment more, or went one step further to reveal more fully the law of redemption, I believe He would have upset the whole of us. The fact was, He dare not, on that very account, reveal to us a single principle further than He had done, for He had tried, over and over again, to do it.” 18 March 1855, Journal of Discourses 1:215. Note: For a more complete explanation, see Elder George A. Smith’s comments in the post O Jerusalem – Ed.↩
  4. John A. Widtsoe, Priesthood and Church Government (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939), p. 351.↩

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