In Latter Day Saint theology, the Endowment usually refers to an ordinance or ritual that is performed in Latter Day Saint temples. The term may also refer more generally to any gift of ?power from on high?, or more specifically to events of importance to the Latter Day Saint movement in which particular gifts or powers were ?endowed? upon members of the church, although this is less common.

Among those Latter Day Saint denominations who practice the Endowment as a ritual ceremony, the most elaborate form was practiced during the 1800s by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This Endowment ceremony, introduced by Joseph Smith, Jr. and codified by Brigham Young, consisted of symbolic acts and covenants designed to prepare participants to officiate in priesthood ordinances, and to give them the key words and tokens they need to pass by angels guarding the way to heaven. This Endowment continues to be practiced by several related, Utah-based denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement, and a simplified version is practiced by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1830 Endowments: Endowment of the Holy Spirit and Confirmation

Although it was not generally referred to as an endowment at the time, in retrospect, Latter Day Saints have viewed the Confirmation, first performed on April 6 1830, and attendant outpourings of the spiritual gifts, as an early type of endowment.^[1] The term derives from the Authorized King James Version, referring to the spiritual gifts given the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost, in which they were "endowed with power from on high,"^[2] Subsequent to these early confirmations, Mormons exhibited what they viewed as spiritual gifts such as having visions, prophecy, glossalalia, ecstatic shouting of praises to the Lord, and fainting.^[3] Unlike the other Latter Day Saint endowments, Confirmation has continued to coexist with later Endowments as a separate Latter Day Saint ritual. In the Community of Christ, the "endowment of the Holy Spirit" such as occurred on the day of Pentecost is the only recognized endowment.^[4]

1831 Kirtland Endowment: Conferral of the High Priesthood

The first Latter Day Saint endowment took place in June 1831 in Kirtland, Ohio. The first reference to an endowment by Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was in early 1831, some days after Smith was joined in his ministry by Sidney Rigdon, a newly-converted Campbellite minister from Ohio. Rigdon's congregation also was converted to Smith's Church of Christ. Rigdon had apparently disagreed with the Campbellites in that he believed in a Pentecostal endowment of power beyond the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit endowed upon confirmation.^[5] While Rigdon believed the teachings of the early Mormon missionaries who converted him, he thought the missionaries were lacking in heavenly power.^[6]

In January 1831, Smith issued a revelation where he wrote that after Mormons relocated to Kirtland, Ohio, they would "be endowed with power from on high" and "sent forth".^[7] Smith reiterated this in February 1831, stating that the "elders of the church Smith reaffirmed that the faithful members would "be taught from on high" and "endowed with power",^[8] and that God would call the elders of the church together in Kirtland in a General Conference and "pour out [his] Spirit upon them in that day they assemble themselves together".^[9] In a revelation given to an individual, Smith assured the man that "at the conference meeting he [would] be ordained unto power from on high".^[10]

This General Conference of the church was held on June 3 to June 6 1831, in which a number of men were ordained to the High Priesthood for the first time,^[11] which ordination "consisted [of] the endowment--it being a new order--and bestowed authority".^[12] Later that year, an early convert who had left the church claimed that many of the Saints "have been ordained to the High Priesthood, or the order of Melchizedek; and profess to be endowed with the same power as the ancient apostles were".^[13]

The 1836 Kirtland Endowment

A year and a half after the June 1831 endowment, Smith received a revelation in December 1832 to prepare to build a "house of God" or a temple^[14]. A revelation soon followed identifying the location of the temple in Kirtland^[15], and another revelation affirmed that in this building the Lord "design[ed] to endow those [he] had chosen with power on high"^[16]. In a later revelation the Lord indicated that the elders were to be "endowed with power from on high; for [he had] prepared a greater endowment" than the 1831 endowment.^[17] Upon the completion of the Kirtland Temple after three years of construction (1833-1836), the elders of the church gathered for this second promised endowment in early 1836.

The Kirtland Temple endowment ceremonies were patterned after Old Testament sacerdotal practices. They consisted of preparatory washings, administered in private homes, in which men washed and purified their bodies with water and alcohol. After this, they gathered in the temple where they were anointed with specially consecrated oil and with blessings pronounced upon their heads by Smith and other church leaders. The men's anointings were sealed with uplifted hands. Following these ceremonies many men reported participating in extraordinary spiritual experiences, such as seeing visions, speaking prophecies or receiving revelations. The culmination of the endowment was a solemn assembly, held on March 30, in which the men partook of the Sacrament and then washed each other's feet. Those present spent the rest of the day and night prophesying, speaking in tongues, testifying and exhorting each other.^[18] To those present it was a "day of Pentecost." Indeed, Smith told the solemn assembly that they could now "go forth and build up the kingdom of God"^[19].

On April 3, 1836, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery claimed that Jesus appeared to them in the Kirtland Temple, and accepted the building as his house. This was followed by the appearance of three Old Testament prophets: Moses, Elias, and Elijah, each of whom bestowed additional temple-related authority on the two men.^[20]

Initially, Smith intended the Kirtland Endowment to become an annual affair; he administered the same ceremonies again in 1837.^[21] However, because of persecution the Mormons largely abandoned Kirtland and its temple in 1838–1839 and moved west. As Smith's theology expanded during the 1840s, the Kirtland Endowment was superseded by the Nauvoo Endowment. Mormons looked back upon the Kirtland Temple rituals with the authority bestowed by the three prophets as preparatory to the greater endowment revealed at Nauvoo. This was certainly the view of Brigham Young, who said, "And those first Elders who helped to build it [Kirtland Temple], received a portion of their first endowments, or we might say more clearly, some of the first, or introductory, or initiatory ordinances, preparatory to an endowment. The preparatory ordinances there administered, though accompanied the ministration of angels, and the presence of the Lord Jesus, were but a faint similitude of the ordinances of the House of the Lord in their fulness".^[22]

The Nauvoo Endowment

Overview of the Nauvoo Endowment

The Nauvoo Endowment consists of two phases: (1) an initiation, and (2) an instructional and testing phase. The initiation consists of a washing and anointing, culminating in the clothing of the patron in a "Garment of the Holy Priesthood", which is thereafter worn as an undergarment.

The instructional and testing phase of the Endowment consists of a scripted reenactment of Adam and Eve's experience in the Garden of Eden (performed by live actors?called officiators; in the mid-20th century certain portions were adapted to a film presentation^[23]). The instruction is punctuated with oaths, symbolic gestures, and a prayer around an altar, and at the end of instruction, the initiate's knowledge of symbolic gestures and key-words is tested at a "veil."^[24]

Introduction of the Nauvoo Endowment

On May 3, 1842 Joseph Smith, Jr. prepared the second floor of his Red Brick Store, in Nauvoo, Illinois, to represent "the interior of a temple as circumstances would permit".^[25] The next day, May 4, he introduced the Nauvoo Endowment ceremony to nine associates: Associate President and Patriarch to the Church, Smith's brother Hyrum; first counselor in the First Presidency, William Law; three of the Twelve Apostles, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards; Nauvoo stake president, William Marks; two bishops, Newel K. Whitney and George Miller, and a close friend, Judge James Adams of Springfield, Illinois.

Concerning the day's activities, Smith recorded:

...the communications I made to this council were of things spiritual, and to be received only by the spiritual minded: and there was nothing made known to these men but what will be made known to all the Saints of the last days, so soon as they are prepared to receive, and a proper place is prepared to communicate them, even to the weakest of Saints: therefore let the Saints be diligent in building the Temple^[26].

Throughout 1843 and 1844 Smith continued to initiate other men, as well as women, into the Endowment ceremony. By the time of his death on June 27, 1844 more than 50 persons had been admitted into the Anointed Quorum, the name by which this group called themselves.

The Nauvoo Endowment and Freemasonry

Some commentators have noted similarities between Smith's Endowment ceremony and certain rituals of Freemasonry, particularly the Royal Arch degree. These specific similarities included instruction in various signs, tokens, and passwords, and the imposition of various forms of the penalties for revealing them.

All of those first initiated by Smith on May 4, 1842, were longstanding or recent Masons: Adams was the Deputy Grand Master of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Illinois; Whitney, Miller and Kimball had previously been Lodge Masters; Smith's brother, Hyrum, had been a Mason since 1827, and the remaining five participants (Law, Marks, Young, Richards, and Smith himself) had been initiated as Freemasons just weeks before the meeting. However, none of these Masons ever charged Smith with breaking any of Masonry's oaths or revealing its secrets. As a matter of fact, one Mormon historian has noted that these Masonic parallels confirmed to these men "the breath of the restoration impulse and was evidence of Joseph Smith's divine calling".^[27]

The LDS church has never commented officially on these similarities, although they have been noted by several church leaders.^[28]

Some within the church, particularly Smith's contemporaries, have expressed the view that Freemasons used corrupted forms of the rituals that were originally given by God at the Temple of Solomon, and the LDS ritual was a restoration of those original forms. Heber C. Kimball clearly supported this position, "We have the true Masonry. The Masonry of today is received from the apostasy which took place in the days of Solomon and David. They have now and then a thing that is correct, but we have the real thing"^[29]

However, John A. Widtsoe said of the similarities, "these similarities, however, do not deal with the basic matters [the Endowment] but rather with the mechanism of the ritual."^[30]

The Nauvoo Endowment as practiced by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

History of the LDS Endowment

Woman's endowment clothing circa the 1870s, from an illustration in Mark Twain's Roughing It.

After Smith officiated in Brigham Young's endowment in 1842 Smith told him, "Brother Brigham, this is not arranged perfectly; however we have done the best we could under the circumstances in which we are placed. I wish you to take this matter in hand: organize and systematize all these ceremonies".^[31] Young did as Smith directed, and under Young's direction the Nauvoo Endowment ceremony was introduced to the Church at large in the Nauvoo Temple during the winter of 1845–1846. A spacious hall in the temple's attic was arranged into appropriate ordinance "rooms" using canvas partitions. Potted plants were used in areas representing the Garden of Eden, and other areas were furnished appropriately, including a room representing the Celestial Kingdom.^[32] Over 5,500 persons received their endowments in this temple ^[33].

Young introduced the same ceremony in the Utah Territory in the 1850s, first in the Endowment House and then in the St. George Temple. During this period the ceremony had never been written down, but was passed orally from temple worker to worker. Shortly after the dedication of the St. George Temple, and before his death in 1877, Young became concerned about the possibility of variations in the ceremony within the church's temples and so directed the majority of the text of the endowment to be written down. This document became the standard for the ceremony thereafter.^[34] Also in 1877, the first endowments for the dead were performed in the St. George Temple.^[35]

In 1893 minor alterations in the text were made in an attempt to bring uniformity to the ceremony as administered in the temples ^[36]. Between 1904 and 1906, the temple ceremony received very public scrutiny during the 1904 Senate investigation of LDS Apostle and Utah Senator, Reed Smoot. Of particular concern to senators was the ceremony's "Law of Vengeance", in which during the hearings it was revealed that participants promised to pray that God would "avenge the blood of the prophets on this nation".^[37] The "prophets" were Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and "this nation" was the United States.^[38]

Beginning in 1919, church president Heber J. Grant appointed a committee charged with revising the ceremony, which was done under the direction of Apostle George F. Richards from 1921 to 1927. Richards received permission to write down the previously unwritten portions of the ceremony. Among his revisions was the elimination of the "Law of Vengeance".^[39] The committee also removed the graphically violent language from the "penalty" portions of the ceremony. Prior to 1927, participants made an oath that if they ever revealed the secret gestures of the ceremony, they would be subject to the following: "my throat...be cut from ear to ear, and my tongue torn out by its roots"; "our breasts...be torn open, our hearts and vitals torn out and given to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field"; "your body...be cut asunder and all your bowels gush out". These were changed to a reference to "different ways in which life may be taken".^[40] The entire "penalty" portion of the ceremony was removed in 1990. Each temple president received a "President's Book" with the revised ceremony insuring uniformity throughout the church's temples.^[41]

The first filmed versions of the endowment were introduced in the 1950s, by a committee headed by Gordon B. Hinckley. That change was initiated by then Church president David O. McKay as a way of providing the instruction simultaneously in different languages, an innovation made necessary by the construction of the Bern Switzerland Temple, the Church's first temple in Europe. , ceremonies in all but two (Salt Lake Temple and Manti Temple) of the Church's 128 operating temples are presented using the filmed version.^[42]

In 1990, further changes included the elimination of all blood oaths and penalties. These penalties, representing what the member would rather suffer than reveal the sacred signs given them in the ceremony, were symbolized by gestures for having the throat cut, the breast cut open, and the bowels torn out. Changes also included the elimination of the five points of fellowship, use of English or natural language rather than the Adamic syllables "Pay Lay Ale", the role of the preacher, and all reference to Lucifer's "popes and priests" were dropped. The ceremony was also changed to lessen the differences in treatment between men and women. Women no longer are required to covenant to obey their husbands, but instead must covenant only to follow their husbands as their husbands follow the Lord. Also, Eve is no longer explicitly blamed for the Fall, and several references to Adam were replaced with references to Adam and Eve. The lecture at the Veil was also cut, and some repetition was eliminated.^[43][44]

A 1996 estimate by Richard Cowan states that around 150 million Endowments have been performed, most of which were in behalf of deceased persons.

The LDS Church's concern for the Endowment's sacredness

Certain aspects of the Endowment ceremony were intended to be "secret from the world",^[45] although the information has been published in various sources. This information includes, in the initiation and instructional/testing phases of the Endowment ceremony, certain names and symbolic gestures called tokens and signs. Prior to revisions in 1990, the LDS version of the endowment also included a gesture called a "penalty." The ceremony stated that the "representation of the execution of the penalties indicates different ways in which life may be taken".^[46] However, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the predominant church practicing the ritual, has removed the "penalty" portions of the ceremony, protecting the "names", "tokens," and "signs" by a simple "covenant and promise."

Other than the ceremony's signs and tokens (and formerly penalties), which remain a central part of the ceremonies, the remainder of the ceremony carries with it no covenants of secrecy.^[47] However, most Latter-day Saints are generally unwilling to discuss the specific details of the ceremony. Latter-day Saints commonly state that the rituals are "sacred" but not "secret," and Latter-day Saint Apostle, Elder Boyd K. Packer has encouraged members not to "discuss the temple ordinances outside the temples"^[48].

In practice, Latter-day Saints keep silent about the ceremony for numerous reasons. Most Latter-day Saints hold the making of these covenants to be highly sacred. Most LDS also believe that details of the ceremony should be kept from those who are not properly prepared.^[49] Many Saints believe that Jesus often taught in parables for the same reason.^[50] Other Saints remain silent about the ceremony because they believe that its meaning cannot be properly conveyed without the experience in the temple. Brigham Young once stated:

"There are but few, very few of the Elders of Israel, [and members of the church] now on earth, who know the meaning of the word endowment [the primary temple ordinance]. To know, they must experience...." ^[51].

In addition, church members are colloquially taught that the only place where the temple ceremonies should be discussed, even amongst faithful members, is within the temple.

The temple ceremony involves entering into solemn covenants, or oaths. Critics have expressed concern that a person may be denied access to the specific details of these covenants until that person is faced with making them in the temple, making it impossible to reflect on their meaning or ramifications, although the church does have a temple preparation seminar designed to address such issues. Furthermore, all of these covenants have a basis in Latter-day Saint scripture.

Some Saints also remain silent about the ceremony because they believe it may not be understood without revelation from God, and that this revelation can only come in the temple. However, other Mormons have suggested that the Latter-day Saint reticence to discuss the Endowment encourages attacks and unauthorized exposés by Evangelical Christians, and therefore advocate a more transparent attitude toward the ceremony ^[52].

The Initiatory

The "Initiatory" is a prelude to the Endowment proper, and consists of (1) instruction (2) multiple washing and anointing ordinances, (3) being clothed in the temple garment, and (4) receiving a "New Name" in preparation for the Endowment.

Washing and anointing are perhaps the earliest practiced temple ordinances for the living since the organization of the LDS Church. There is evidence that these ordinances have been performed since 1832. They were first practiced in the Whitney Store as part of the School of the Prophets (See John 13 KJV), and were part of the Kirtland Endowment discussed above.

As part of the Endowment ceremony, the ordinance of washing and anointing symbolizes the ritual cleansing of priests that took place at Israel's Tabernacle, the temple of Solomon, and later temples in Jerusalem^[53]. The washing symbolizes being "cleansed from the blood of this generation," and being anointed to become "clean from the blood and sins of this generation." See Washing and anointing.

After the washing and anointing, the patron is given the temple garment (Garment of the Holy Priesthood). This garment represents the "coats of skins" given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. See Temple garment.

Similar ordinances are performed for the living and the dead in LDS temples, where men are:

• Ordained to the priesthood (for the dead only, since a man coming to the temple for his own Endowment would have previously received his Melchizedek priesthood ordination)

• Washed with water (which only involves a cursory sprinkling of water)

• Blessed to have the washing sealed

• Anointed with oil

• Blessed to have the anointing sealed

• Clothed in holy garments

Women receive the same ordinances, except for the ordination.

As the final part of the Initiatory, the patron is given a New Name, which is a key word used during the ceremony. In general, this name is only known to the person to whom it is given; however, an endowed LDS woman reveals her name to her endowed husband (but not vice-versa). The "new name" is based in part on Book of Revelation 2:17 and Rev. 3:12, referring to a "white stone" with "a new name written" thereon.^[54]

The instructional and testing portion of the Endowment

Most Latter-day Saints who attend the temple believe that the Endowment focuses heavily on the plan of salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Parts of the plan of salvation explained include:

• the Eternal Nature of God, of Jesus Christ, and their divinity
• the pre-mortal existence and eternal nature of man (mankind lived with God before mortal life)
• the reality of Satan, who is viewed as Jesus' and Adam's rebellious spirit brother
• the fall of Adam and the reasons for mortality, trials, and blessings
• the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the need for the Atonement
• the relationship of grace, faith, and works
• Death, the literal Resurrection, and qualifying for various kingdoms of glory
• the need for personal righteousness, covenant keeping, and love of God and fellow man
• that our Heavenly Father loves us as His children and wants us to become like He is, to receive a fulness of joy
• the sanctity and eternal nature of the family.

The following description is given in a Church publication of what to expect when one enters the temple:

"[During the endowment] you will receive instructions and learn the important events of our eternal journey. You'll learn about the creation of this world and about our first parents being placed in the Garden of Eden. You'll learn how Satan tempted Adam and Eve and how they were cast out of the garden and out of the presence of God into our world, with its opposition in all things. Here they learned about the joys as well as the discomforts of life.

After Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden and placed in the world where we now live, they were taught the gospel, and they entered into covenants of obedience with God, just as you will in the temple. How we keep these covenants determines the nature of the life we will enjoy after this mortal experience.

In the eternal world there are kingdoms of glory. You will inherit one of these, depending on your performance in this life. The aim of the gospel and the purpose of temple marriage are not only to keep us together, but also to make us eligible for Heavenly Father's highest reward for us -- exaltation in the celestial kingdom. This kingdom is symbolized by the celestial room."^[55]

The Endowment is often thought of as a series of lectures where Latter-day Saints are taught about the creation of the world, the events in the Garden of Eden, what happened after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden into the Telestial World, and the progression of righteous individuals through Terrestrial laws to the Celestial Kingdom and exaltation.

During the ceremony, Latter-day Saints are dressed in temple clothes or temple robes, are taught about various gospel laws (including obedience, chastity, sacrifice and consecration) and make covenants to obey these laws. They are given various "key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood", to remind them of these covenants. At the end of the ceremony, the participant is "tested" on his knowledge of what he was taught and covenanted to do and then admitted into the Celestial room, where he may meditate and pray.

Notes

References

External links

• ldsendowment.org (a detailed, but respectful, source of information about the Endowment ceremony).
• lds-temple.org (a detailed source of information, includes audio]
• The Mormon Temple and Masonry from JeffLindsay.com
• Articles and books on LDS temples Comprehensive list also includes an LDS Temple Preparation FAQ
• History
• Of Your Own Selves Shall Men Arise An article by FARMS (Foundation of Ancient Research and Mormon Studies at BYU) that critiques in detail the accuracy and reliability of this article's heavily-relied-upon source, David John Buerger's "The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship"

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