It is an honor to be with you tonight and I appreciate very much this opportunity to share with you the things that Wilford Woodruff has taught me. Before we started this evening, someone asked if I'm a descendant of Wilford Woodruff, and I am not. My parents wonder why I didn't spend as much time researching my own family, but I can give them credit for the research that I have done, because it was my mother who taught me the story of Wilford Woodruff’s experience in St. George Temple. And the painting that I have a copy of here is the one that hangs in the St. George Temple by Harold Hopkinson, showing his impression of what Wilford Woodruff may have experienced at that time. 

The vision that Wilford Woodford had in 1877 has become symbolic of the spirit of Elijah and of temple work. But when I first heard the story, the important historical Individuals that were involved is only one part of the story. But, for me, the question was not “why these men?” They did great things for our country, of course. For me, the question was “why Wilford Woodruff?” Why did they come to him and ask him to complete ordinances for them in the St. George Temple? He wasn't the prophet. He wasn't even the President of The Quorum of the Twelve at that time. And yet they chose him for some reason. That was what I wanted to know.

That was the question that led me to the research that has lasted now for 20 years, and the answer to that question is more complicated than I thought. 

There have been many articles, many books written about Wilford Woodruff, and dozens more written about this particular experience. But they focus on the eminent men, the eminent women, the people that came to Wilford Woodruff, not why they chose him. So I had to go back to his journals and his discourses to find the answer and I had to put the experience into context of not only his life, but of church history. 

To answer the question, why Wilford Woodruff, I want to review a little bit of that history and then return back to that experience in St. George. For those of you who are not familiar with that experience, Wilford Woodruff was in the St. George Temple in 1877, August of 1877. But it was one of three experiences that he had in the St. George Temple that year that basically laid the foundation for what temple work we engage in, what we do and why we do it. The three experiences were the recording of the ceremonies themselves, who can do proxy work, and for whom the proxy work can be done.

So if we go all the way back to the beginning, we can start with Joseph Smith's First Vision, the beginning of the restoration of the gospel and the first divine instruction that Joseph Smith received. Following that First Vision was the instruction by Moroni regarding the mission of Elijah. Among other things he was told, in a slightly different wording than is in the Book of Malachi, that Elijah would reveal the priesthood to Joseph, that he would plant the promises of the fathers - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - in the hearts of their descendants, the children, and then the children would turn to their fathers. That's the only thing that's recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, not Joseph's impressions, not a greater explanation of what that meant, but simply those words.

At some point in the future, Joseph Smith would receive this priesthood and the priesthood power. The priesthood that he would receive from Elijah, would make the “turning” possible and more significant than that, was the success of the mission of Elijah would determine whether mortal life on the earth would be utterly wasted or not. If we accomplish that mission, if the priesthood was used for what it was intended to be used for, then that would be success. If not the earth would be utterly wasted. For a 17-year-old boy, that had to be a significant experience, but we don't know what he understood at the time. 

Thirteen years later in Kirtland that prophesied event occurred, Elijah came and those priesthood keys were delivered. But the record is silent on Joseph's impression or understanding of the significance of those experiences, the significance of those issues.

So in between Joseph’s experiences in 1823 and 1836, Wilford Woodruff heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ, was taught the restored gospel and accepted it. This was in December of 1833. He was a 26-year-old who joined a church that had been organized for only three years, led by a 28-year-old who had declared that he was a prophet of God, that he had been tasked with restoring the Church of Jesus Christ, that he had translated new scripture and received the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods, and had began the literal gathering of Israel.

Wilford Woodruff had waited for this restoration and for this church, and had been searching. He embraced it wholeheartedly. When Parley P. Pratt came three months later to say “we need men who will come and defend the Saints in Missouri” Wilford didn’t hesitate. Although Wilford’s brother had been baptized along with him, he did not answer that call. Wilford Woodruff left his family and everything to join Zion's Camp. It was in Zion's Camp that Joseph Smith explained to these men what the “endowment of power” was, why they were building the Kirtland Temple and what they would receive if they could purify themselves and prepare themselves. Wilford heard this in 1834 and looked forward to that experience.

In 1823, the mission of Elijah was introduced to Joseph Smith through Moroni and now it is 1836. At this time, Wilford Woodruff is on a mission and he receives a letter from Joseph Smith asking him to remain in Tennessee so the other elders could return to Kirtland for this endowment of power, for this blessing that they had been waiting for for two years now. Of course, he was disappointed, but he took that letter and he went into another room and prayed and received his own revelation about the resurrection of the dead, which was a comfort to him as he waited another year before he could return to Kirtland and have that same experience. 

So the importance of Kirtland in this mission of Elijah and the context of Wilford Woodruff’s experiences that led him to what would occur in St. George, that prepared him for what would occur in St. George, was what they called “the endowment of power.” But not the endowment ceremony that we participate in the temple today. The endowment of power in Kirtland was to fulfill that promise as it says in Matthew, that “the pure in heart shall see God”. This was the same promise that Joseph Smith shared, that If they would purify themselves, if they would sanctify themselves, they would have the same experience that Joseph had had. He wanted them to experience the ultimate blessing of beholding the face of God in mortality.

In Doctrine and Covenants 97, the Lord promised that His presence would be there in the temple and that the pure in heart that would come into it would see God. So the men that gathered in March 1836, gathered with that goal in mind and they prepared themselves as the sons of Levi had done. We can read about that in Exodus 29 and 30 with washings and anointings. It's not only physically preparing themselves and purifying themselves, but spiritually so that they could have that experience. They had an intense spiritual experience and they talked about the blessings of the spirit, the spirit that was poured out upon them, the blessings that they gave to each other, and also the spiritual gifts.

When this experience was over on March 27th, it was six days later when they were in the temple again and Joseph and Oliver beheld Christ standing in front of them. The veil, as promised, was lifted and they were able to again behold the face of God. Following Christ's appearance was the prophesied return of Elijah. Moses, Elias, and Elijah appeared. At this time Joseph records his experience without any explanation or any personal impression of the understanding of the significance of what was happening. 

But if we look at the keys that were restored, it was the gathering of Israel by Moses, and through Elias, the keys to the blessings of Abraham, and from Elijah, the sealing power. The description of that in Matthew 16:19 is that the sealing powers are the “keys of the kingdom of heaven.” Elijah said he was committing the keys of this dispensation into their hands. So you can see the correlation of these keys and the three-fold mission of the Church, but also that this was the foundation of what would become temple work, temple ordinances. That we would be able to use this priesthood as Is prophesied in Malachi to connect the generations, the covenant house of Israel, not only the descendants to the fathers, but the fathers to the children.

When Wilford received the news of what had happened, he was in Tennessee. He heard from Elder Patton, who had been in Kirtland, that the heavens were opened unto them, that angels and Jesus Christ were seen. So when he returned a year later to participate in what they hoped would be an annual experience, he expected the same blessing and prepared himself physically. He participated in the washings and anointings and they fasted for days. They spent days and nights in the temple singing, fasting, praying, and administering the ordinances. This intense spiritual experience was to literally bring them into the presence of God.

When I read his journal record, I thought that he would be disappointed because he did not have the same experience that Joseph and Oliver had had the year before. But he wasn't disappointed and his words are key to understanding what I believe was the preparation for his future, the 50 years of working to fulfill the mission of Elijah. In his journal, he wrote “The power of God rested upon people. The presence of the Lord filled the house. The gifts were poured out upon us. Some had the ministering of angels. Surely, the image of God sat upon the countenances of the Saints.” 

He wasn't disappointed because he saw God’s face in the other Saints. I think if you look at Alma 5:19, we have to have the image of God in our countenance and that means that we have the attributes of God. We manifest His will, we say what He would say, we do what He would do, and we become one with Him. So, for Wilford, that experience fulfilled the prophecy for him and he received that promised blessing.

He had spent the first 10 years of his life in the Church on missions in England, the Southern States, and the Eastern States. He spent the next 50 years preaching the gospel to, what he said, was the rest of God's children. The gospel had to be preached on earth to the living and in the spirit world to those who had already passed on.

We have the introduction of the mission of Elijah in 1823. We have the conferral of the promised priesthood keys and sealing power in 1836. And then in 1840, we move to Nauvoo where the priesthood ordinances are revealed. First is baptism for the dead in 1840. At that time Wilford Woodruff was on a mission, this time in England, but his wife Phebe was present when Joseph Smith explained the doctrine of baptism for the dead. She wrote to him that it was “strong meat,” but the saints embraced it immediately. 

Wilford recorded in his journal that this revelation was “like a shaft of light from the throne of God.” And, for him, it opened a field as wide as eternity. He had lost four siblings and his mother had died when he was not even two years old. So for him, the motivation for his preaching the gospel on the earth, the motivation for future temple work, was to share these blessings with his family. Throughout his life, he wrote pleading letters to his other siblings, to his parents, to follow the spirit and to embrace the gospel. His attention and devotion to this was no more or less focused to the living than it was to the dead. He wrote of baptism as adoption into the house of Israel and therefore making those baptismal covenants made them heirs to the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, returning to the prophecy that Malachi had described.

The next priesthood ordinance was the endowment introduced in 1842. So, in addition to the washing and anointings introduced in Kirtland, they now had added instruction. The purpose of the ordinances in Kirtland, was to literally bring them into the presence of God. The instruction in Nauvoo view was to figuratively accomplish the same goal: to teach them not just what to do once a year to prepare themselves physically and spiritually, but to understand what to do every day, what we need to do every day, to not just behold the face of God, but to live with Him for eternity.

Wilford Woodruff was one of those who received the endowment under the hands of Joseph Smith. The delay, from the introduction of the mission of Elijah and the fulfillment of Elijah's return and the understanding of the Saints of what it meant, was 21 years. It was on March 10th 1844, three months before he died, that Joseph Smith said he understood the significance of the spirit of Elijah and the mission of Elijah:  “That we redeem our dead and connect ourselves with our fathers which are in heaven and seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection”. 

So the concept of being “saviors on Mount Zion” is what we have been talking about. That we would not only be beneficiaries, but participants in the work of God. If we are to have His image in our countenance, if we are to become one with Him, that we participate in His work, the salvation of His children, and help to bring to pass their immortality. Eternal life is something that we participate in, the Atonement of Christ applies to everyone. 

Wilford would refer to this as one of the greatest sermons that Joseph Smith ever delivered. The record in his journal of Joseph's words was that “the work of Elijah is one of the greatest and most important subjects that God has revealed. Joseph then instructed the saints,’Go and seal on earth your sons and daughters unto yourself, and yourself unto your fathers in eternal glory.’”

But Joseph, like Moses, was only able to see the promised land and not enter it. He had administered the ordinances of the endowment and sealings to about 90 individuals, but he never administered the ordinance of sealing a family, sealing a child to their parents. He understood the principles, but he wasn't able to administer them. He was killed in June of 1844. and the Nauvoo Temple wasn't dedicated until December of 1845.

Brigham Young was the first to administer that ordinance of sealing a child to a parent, a generational family. Although the Saints only were able to officiate in ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple for six weeks, during that time over 5,000 were endowed, and over 2,000 were sealed. But only 70 children were sealed to their parents.

That brings us back to St. George. 

It was 31 years between the time that they were forced from Nauvoo, until they could build another temple and finally administer all the ordinances that Joseph Smith had described and that God had intended. So in between Nauvoo and St. George, they had temporary locations, the Council House and the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, but there were no proxy endowments. There were no seaings of children to parents in these buildings. The endowments were administered to the living. There were sealings of couples for both living and by proxy, but these other ordinances had to wait until the temple was built. In 1871, Brigham Young proposed building the St. George Temple and in 1876, Wilford Woodruff accompanied Brigham Young for the final preparations before the temple would be opened on January 1st, 1877. 

During this time, those 31 years, Wilford Woodruff had spent countless hours researching his family, writing to relatives, ordering history books, and he had gathered the names of 3,000 individuals, his ancestry, to do their temple work. He'd been able to complete some proxy baptisms in the Endowment House baptismal font, yet he had thousands more to do. 

Things had changed since Nauvoo, not only did they have a hundred thousand members instead of only 15,000, but they had a generation who had gone without these temple ordinances. As in Nauvoo when Joseph Smith had administered the ordinances, those who would receive the ordinances were then responsible to administer them to others and teaching the words of the ceremonies verbally. That was the only way that it was done. But the generation that had received the ordinances in Nauvoo and administered them to others between 1844 and 1877 was passing away. Brigham Young himself would die in 1877 and the urgency they felt, the same that Joseph Smith had felt knowing his time was near, was to make sure that that knowledge was preserved.

So the first thing that they did when they arrived in St. George was to write down those ceremonies and the ordinances. This was the first of the three experiences that Wilford Woodruff had in the St. George Temple, that laid the foundation for ordinances and temple work until the present time. His motivation for all of this was his own family. And when you talk of the promises of entering the temple, he said that his goal was not just for him to get into the presence of his Heavenly Father, but to have that same blessing for his family. 

He said, “What greater calling can any man have on the face of the earth, then to hold in his hands the power and authority to go forth and administer the ordinances of salvation. You give unto any soul the principles of life and salvation and administer these ordinances to him, and you become an instrument in the hands of God of the salvation of that soul. There was nothing given to the children of man that is equal to it.” 

In his discourses, especially in the 1870s, in preparation for the building of the temple and what they had waited for for so long, he emphasized this over and over. Serving as a proxy for the endowment was an opportunity for them to recommit to the covenants that they made, to understand the ceremonies and the covenants, the promises and the actions that they needed to take each day. So, for those who had received their endowment in Nauvoo, they hadn't been able to hear those ordinances again. They hadn't been able to be reminded of those covenants unless they were administering them. And that was a very small group. The significance of St. George Temple, being the first temple where proxy endowments occurred, meant that it changed the dynamic of temple work, not only expanding the circle of those who could participate, but also the understanding of what the temple ordinances meant. 

Wilford Woodruff had a unique experience that no other prophet or individual that I know of has ever had, and that was to spend five, and sometimes seven days, a week in the temple. He was there every day the temple was open, except the days when he was ill, for the eight months that he was in St. George.

As I said, there were three significant things that happened. In the preparation of the written record of the temple ordinances, he worked with Brigham Young, L. John Nuttal, John McAllister, and Brigham Young’s son. After they would administer the ordinances in the temple, they would return each night and meet together and go over the written codification of those experiences or ceremonies. And each time they would talk about the things that had occurred, what had gone right, but also how to make it better.

It was interesting to me as I read this to compare this experience to another experience of Moses, receiving the Ten Commandments. But the temple ordinances weren't received like the Ten Commandments, they weren’t written in stone. They were received over the course of what turned out to be 70 years. 

The understanding of the significance of each step, the understanding of the pattern of the ordinances and the reason they weren't all revealed at once, can only be comprehended if you understand the magnitude of the work. So if you're told in 1840 that every individual that has ever lived needs to be baptized, imagine adding to that, that every individual that's ever lived, needs to be endowed and sealed and, for the men, ordained by proxy to the priesthood. That's what they were working with. Joseph Smith had administered the ordinances to two, three, nine people at a time in Nauvoo, then in 1845 they had administered ordinances to a thousand in the first few weeks, and then 4,000 the next month, January 1846.

Now, 31 years later in St. George, they had to figure out how to make this possible for tens of thousands. It was something that the Saints desired. Wilford Woodruff had that same desire and he had 3,000 names of his ancestors. He couldn't do the proxy work for the women, his female ancestors, and the thought of even trying to accomplish that for the other half, the men, was overwhelming. So he went to the Lord on February 23rd 1877 and, he later testified, that when he inquired of the Lord, how he could redeem his family, not having his wives or children there to help him. or any other relatives, he said “the Lord told me to call upon the Saints in St. George” and let them officiate for me in that temple and it would be acceptable. 

Of course, this is commonplace for us. We think, of course we can help each other. But he said at the time “this was a revelation to us. We can help one another in these matters. If we have not relatives sufficient to carry this on, and it will be acceptable unto the Lord.” This was big news. There were many people in the Church who didn't have relatives who were members. They didn't even have relatives that they could do work for. So they would never be able to return to the temple. They couldn't go do proxy work. One of these people was Martha Cox. She had been told in her patriarchal blessing that “she would do a significant work for the dead” and yet she couldn't go back into the temple because she didn’t have the information to do the work of her relatives. She even asked if she could go as a visitor or just to observe. 

She was one who was, what she said, “lucky enough” to be considered as a proxy for Wilford, with his relatives. On March 1st, which was his 70th birthday, 154 women gathered in the St. George Temple to help him with the temple work for his family and Martha Cragun Cox was among them. She was thrilled to be called to assist him in the work. And she said that she spent every spare day in the temple, working on the Woodruff list.

So, although this practice of acting as a proxy for the relatives of others is commonplace now, it was a revolutionary change in temple work at the time. As a result, not only could the Saints help each other to redeem their deceased relatives, they could perform the work for everyone that they could identify. 

Another concept that Joseph had taught and that the Saints adhered to was that there was a designated “heir” for each family. The eldest member of the Church of a family was the “heir” and therefore it was their responsibility to ensure that the family work was done. And, if anyone outside the family was going to do temple work for a member of their family, they needed to contact that individual, the heir, and get their permission. 

So, just to review, Wilford’s first experience was writing the temple ceremonies and the revelations that they received in answer to each issue that arose. His second experience and revelation in February and March would change who could serve as a proxy. Then Brigham Young left St. George in April, after the whole temple was dedicated. (Just one sealing room and the main endowment room and the baptistry had been dedicated on January 1st). So now the entire temple was ready and functioning and Wilfred Woodruff was put in charge. 

His third experience, in August, was regarding temple work for someone that Wiilford Woodruff was not related to, and this brings us back to his experience with the Founding Fathers. This is a fascinating experience to me because they had just been reminded of the concept of heirship, that it is an “heir” that is in charge of their family names.

Of the thousands of ordinances that had been performed since they began in Nauvoo, Wilford Woodruff said he had focused solely on his family. And, he said, because that was his focus, the thought had not entered his mind to do work for others who were not relatives. Considering those two parallel ideas that you are responsible for your family as the heir, and there's no one else that can do your work, when we return to the spirit world, our ancestors are not going to go up to someone else to ask if their work was done, they're going to come to us. So because he knew that, his experience with the Founding Fathers was even more significant. 

On August 19th, he wrote in his journal that the Founding Fathers, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, had come to him, with George Washington as the spokesman, and asked for their work to be done. 

To help understand this, we go back to the letter that he received from his wife, Phebe, in 1840 when Joseph Smith first taught the Saints of baptism for the dead. Phebe explained to Wilford that Joseph had said, do the work for your worthy relatives, unless a ministering spirit is sent from the spirit world asking you to do work for someone else. For Wilford Woodruff, George Washington was that ministering spirit who came to say, “We want you to do our work.” 

And if you're going to come to someone who would it be? Who is able to receive this revelation and act on it. This is August 19th 1877. Two days after this experience, they heard that Brigham Young was dying and they stopped the ordinances in the temple and prayed for him for several days. They didn’t stop until they heard of Brigham Young’s death. So it was Wilford Woodruff that they came to. And when he testified of this experience, he said, “Would those spirits have called upon me as an elder in Israel to perform that work if they had not been noble spirits before God?” He said “they were the best spirits that the God of Heaven could find on the face of the earth.” This is the historical significance of these eminent men and women, but why did they come to him? He said, “Because they knew that as an elder in Israel, I had the power to redeem them.”

This experience changed Wilford's focus. It was a foundational change for temple work in general. because he not only listed the names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 54 of the 56 of them (the work for two of them had already been done by relatives), but he then expanded the list to include another 45 men and 68 women.

The list is an odd combination of individuals, some very controversial in history. But in looking into the list, I found out that he used a two-volume work that had been written by a man named Evert Duyckinck. It had been published in 1876 and the title was Eminent Men And Women of North America and Europe. Wilford Woodruff chose from this list the men and women that he felt were worthy of having ordinances performed on their behalf. He included 11 members of George Washington’s family and all the presidents of the United States, except those who were still living and the two that he felt had not helped the Saints. He said their work would have to wait.

But it's through such experiences that Wilford gained his understanding of the vital role of the living in the redemption of the dead. The lesson that he took was one that he repeated over and over in his discourses: that all of God's children would be taught the principles of the gospel and all would need to complete the ordinances.

In fact, when Joseph Smith was still alive and he had explained this to the apostles, they said to him, “Isn't there some other way that we can do this?”. And he said, “No, every ordinance that we receive, they must receive”. And that was that they, without us cannot be made perfect, neither we can be without them.

St. George was the first time that they could do this, that they could ordain by proxy and therefore endow by proxy and the sealings that would begin with those families that were now endowed and could be connected. This was a time when Wilford's commitment to the mission of Elijah was solidified and he continued for the rest of his life to focus on this work. He reminded the Saints over and over again that our forefathers are looking to us to attend to this work. “They're watching over us with great anxiety and desire that we should finish these temples and attend to certain ordinances for them so, in the morning of the resurrection, they can come forth and enjoy the same blessings that we enjoy.” And, he said, we occupy a position in this capacity as “saviors upon Mount Zion.’

I have the same conviction that Wilford Woodruff had that these are glorious principles, that it is a privilege that we have to serve, that the mission of Elijah is something that not only defined the Church in the 1840s, but has to this day remained something unique. That means we have not only that privilege, but that responsibility. 

The conclusion of Wilford Woodruff life’s work, but also the temple work, was in 1894 when he received the revelation that it was not just the worthy dead that should be redeemed, but all. And that our position is not to judge whether they would accept the work, whether they had been taught and received the proxy ordinances wholeheartedly in the spirit world, but that it was our job to do the work and to trust. The choice to accept the ordinances would be left up to them, not to us.

So for Wilford Woodruff, temple work was honoring his father and mother and keeping those promises. It means that we are the instruments in God's work, part of His work “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” And my testimony of the temple is that it does take preparation to enter and that the reason that proxy ordinances are so important is both for us and for those for whom we do the work. Because we have to prepare ourselves to participate and officiate. Our salvation is connected to theirs.

I want to reiterate what Wilford Woodruff said, “What greater calling can we have on the face of the earth then to hold in our hands, power and authority to go forth and administer the ordinances of salvation. And do we prize these things in their fullness?” 

I know that his example, his focus changed the direction of the Church and that he fulfilled the role that he was sent here to accomplish. He's an amazing example to me, not only of perseverance, I don't think that his Impact on the Church wasn’t just because he outlived Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and John Taylor, but because he participated as a catalyst in the things that occurred. He didn't just hope for revelation, he expected it, he counted on it, and he acted on it.

I pray that each of us will have that same conviction in the work that we do so that we can be recipients of that promise to not only have the image of God in our countenances, but to return to Him and share that blessing with all of our families. And I leave that testimony with you in the name Jesus Christ. Amen.