In modern Latter-day Saint terminology, the Endowment is a specific ordinance performed in temples around the world. In the first temple to be constructed by church members (the House of the Lord in Kirtland), however, the term has a somewhat different meaning. In a recent interview at the Latter-day Saint history blog From the Desk, Scott Woodward discussed what the Kirtland endowment was thought to be. What follows here is a copost to the full interview.
At the outset, Scott Woodward reminded people that the endowment in Kirtland was not an ordinance:
The Kirtland Endowment was unique and distinctive from how Church members typically understand a temple endowment today. The word endowment simply means something bestowed, or a gift. In 1831 the Lord commanded a small group of saints in New York to move to Ohio, promising them that “there you shall be endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32). … When reading Church history, however, we must remember that the endowment temple ordinance we are familiar with today was first introduced in Nauvoo in 1842—and did not exist in any form in Kirtland in the 1830s.
He clarified that when the Endowment of Power was discussed in the Kirtland context, it meant something more esoteric:
The Lord was promising them that they would be “gifted” with some type of divine power. From the historical record, there are at least three discernable categories of “power from on high” gifted to the saints in Kirtland, Ohio between January and April 1836, namely:
- An abundant outpouring of spiritual manifestations, such as some saints seeing visions, pillars of light, and angels; speaking in tongues, singing in tongues, and some even seeing Jesus.
- Significant doctrinal teachings revealed related to the salvation of man, such as those now recorded in D&C 137.
- The restoration of temple keys by the angelic messengers Moses, Elias, and Elijah.
Each of these three categories represents a substantive gift of “power from on high” and fulfills the Lord’s promise.
Something that Woodward doesn’t discuss is that, in many ways, the “endowment of power” had multiple fulfillments leading up to the Kirtland Temple experiences, such as the ordination to the high priesthood at a meeting of elders held in the summer of 1831 and the experiences of the School of the Prophets, which were accompanied by spiritual manifestations and significant doctrinal teachings.
While the endowment of power in Kirtland was not an ordinance, there were ordinances that played a role in the endowment:
It is important to remember that the Lord’s promised endowment referred explicitly to gifts of “power from on high,” not ordinances or rituals. However, ordinances were introduced at this time that played a role in preparing the saints for God’s unforgettable blessings.
It may be best to think of the Kirtland ordinances as the vehicles of sanctification to prepare the saints to receive God’s promised gifts of power. In fact it is instructive to note that the heavenly manifestations, doctrinal revelations, and keys of divine power given during that January–April timeframe came most often immediately following the saints’ participation in ordinances.
The first of these ordinances of preparation and sanctification introduced in Kirtland was the washing of the body from head to foot in soap and clear water (and sometimes whiskey).
The second ordinance was the anointing of one’s head with perfumed consecrated oil accompanied by the sealing of promised blessings received under the laying on of hands.
The third ordinance was that of the washing of feet, which Church leaders administered to one another to signify that they were “clean from the blood of this generation” (D&C 88:138), and, according to Brigham Young, “as an evidence that we had borne testimony of the truth of the Gospel to the world.”
And a fourth ordinance, not unique to the Kirtland Temple but one participated in prior to a series of major manifestations of power there, was that of partaking of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. …
These ordinances were meant to sanctify the Lord’s people in preparation to receive God’s promised “power from on high” in the form of the outpouring of various spiritual blessings. These collectively were their endowment.
These ordinances helped to purify and prepare the Latter Day Saints for their endowment of power from on high.
The endowment as we know it today came later on, and (as least, according to me) tried to crystalize the Kirtland endowment through ritual, with priesthood keys being exercised, significant doctrinal teachings being shared through the ordinance, and symbolic representations of spiritual manifestations through acting and entrance into the Celestial room:
The Nauvoo endowment, introduced in May 1842, consisted of a ritual of covenant making amidst a dramatic presentation of Adam and Eve’s journey toward Celestial realms. It was a ceremony of instruction where one was taught, the Prophet Joseph explained, “all those plans and principles by which any one is enabled to secure the fullness of those blessings which have been prepared for the Church of the First Born.”
And it was distinctively a ritual where, according to Brigham Young who participated in that first Nauvoo endowment, participants received crucial “signs, tokens, [and] penalties with the Key words pertaining to those signs.”
The Kirtland endowment, on the other hand, was neither a ceremony nor a ritual. While it is true that the ordinances of washing with water and alcohol, anointing with perfumed oil, washing feet, and administering the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper were participated in during this time, it is important to remember that these rituals were not the endowment itself.
The endowment in Nauvoo drew on concepts from the Kirtland endowment, though it differed significantly, as the Kirtland version was not a ritual or ordinance like the Nauvoo endowment.
For more on the Kirtland endowment, head on over to the Latter-day Saint history site From the Desk to read the full interview with Scott Woodward. While you’re there, check out the Brigham Young Quotes page, which draws on the work of LaJean Purcell Carruth to provide historically accurate quotations.