DEDICATION OF THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE
Dedicated by President Joseph Smith Jun., 27 March 1836
Thanks be to thy name, O Lord God of Israel, who keepest covenant
and showest mercy unto thy servants who walk uprightly before
thee, with all their hearts--
Thou who hast commanded thy servants to build a house to thy name
in this place.
And now thou beholdest, O Lord, that thy servants have done
according to thy commandment.
And now we ask thee, Holy Father, in the name of Jesus Christ,
the Son of thy bosom, in whose name alone salvation can be
administered to the children of men, we ask thee, O Lord, to
accept of this house, the workmanship of the hands of us, thy
servants, which thou didst command us to build.
For thou knowest that we have done this work through great
tribulation; and out of our poverty we have given of our
substance to build a house to thy name, that the Son of Man might
have a place to manifest himself to his people.
And as thou hast said in a revelation, given to us, calling us
thy friends, saying--Call your solemn assembly, as I have
commanded you;
And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one
another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words
of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith;
Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing, and establish a
house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of
faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a
house of God;
That your incomings may be in the name of the Lord, that your
outgoings may be in the name of the Lord, that all your
salutations may be in the name of the Lord, with uplifted hands
unto the Most High--
And now, Holy Father, we ask thee to assist us, thy people, with
thy grace, in calling our solemn assembly, that it may be done to
thine honor and to thy divine acceptance;
And in a manner that we may be found worthy, in thy sight, to
secure a fulfillment of the promises which thou hast made unto
us, thy people, in the revelations given unto us;
That thy glory may rest down upon thy people, and upon this thy
house, which we now dedicate to thee, that it may be sanctified
and consecrated to be holy, and that thy holy presence may be
continually in this house;
And that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of the
Lord's house may feel thy power, and feel constrained to
acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy
house, a place of thy holiness.
And do thou grant, Holy Father, that all those who shall worship
in this house may be taught words of wisdom out of the best
books, and that they may seek learning even by study, and also by
faith, as thou hast said;
And that they may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the
Holy Ghost, and be organized according to thy laws, and be
prepared to obtain every needful thing;
And that this house may be a house of prayer, a house of fasting,
a house of faith, a house of glory and of God, even thy house;
That all the incomings of thy people, into this house, may be in
the name of the Lord;
That all their outgoings from this house may be in the name of
the Lord;
And that all their salutations may be in the name of the Lord,
with holy hands, uplifted to the Most High;
And that no unclean thing shall be permitted to come into thy
house to pollute it;
And when thy people transgress, any of them, they may speedily
repent and return unto thee, and find favor in thy sight, and be
restored to the blessings which thou hast ordained to be poured
out upon those who shall reverence thee in thy house.
And we ask thee, Holy Father, that thy servants may go forth from
this house armed with thy power, and that thy name may be upon
them, and thy glory be round about them, and thine angels have
charge over them;
And from this place they may bear exceedingly great and glorious
tidings, in truth, unto the ends of the earth, that they may know
that this is thy work, and that thou hast put forth thy hand, to
fulfill that which thou hast spoken by the mouths of the
prophets, concerning the last days.
We ask thee, Holy Father, to establish the people that shall
worship, and honorably hold a name and standing in this thy
house, to all generations and for eternity;
That no weapon formed against them shall prosper; that he who
diggeth a pit for them shall fall into the same himself;
That no combination of wickedness shall have power to rise up and
prevail over thy people upon whom thy name shall be put in this
house;
And if any people shall rise against this people, that thine
anger be kindled against them;
And if they shall smite this people thou wilt smite them; thou
wilt fight for thy people as thou didst in the day of battle,
that they may be delivered from the hands of all their enemies.
We ask thee, Holy Father, to confound, and astonish, and to bring
to shame and confusion, all those who have spread lying reports
abroad, over the world, against thy servant or servants, if they
will not repent, when the everlasting gospel shall be proclaimed
in their ears;
And that all their works may be brought to naught, and be swept
away by the hail, and by the judgments which thou wilt send upon
them in thine anger, that there may be an end to lyings and
slanders against thy people.
For thou knowest, O Lord, that thy servants have been innocent
before thee in bearing record of thy name, for which they have
suffered these things.
Therefore we plead before thee for a full and complete
deliverance from under this yoke;
Break it off, O Lord; break it off from the necks of thy
servants, by thy power, that we may rise up in the midst of this
generation and do thy work.
O Jehovah, have mercy upon this people, and as all men sin
forgive the transgressions of thy people, and let them be blotted
out forever.
Let the anointing of thy ministers be sealed upon them with power
from on high.
Let it be fulfilled upon them, as upon those on the day of
Pentecost; let the gift of tongues be poured out upon thy people,
even cloven tongues as of fire, and the interpretation thereof.
And let thy house be filled, as with a rushing mighty wind, with
thy glory.
Put upon thy servants the testimony of the covenant, that when
they go out and proclaim thy word they may seal up the law, and
prepare the hearts of thy saints for all those judgments thou art
about to send, in thy wrath, upon the inhabitants of the earth,
because of their transgressions, that thy people may not faint in
the day of trouble.
And whatsoever city thy servants shall enter, and the people of
that city receive their testimony, let thy peace and thy
salvation be upon that city; that they may gather out of that
city the righteous, that they may come forth to Zion, or to her
stakes, the places of thine appointment, with songs of
everlasting joy;
And until this be accomplished, let not thy judgments fall upon
that city.
And whatsoever city thy servants shall enter, and the people of
that city receive not the testimony of thy servants, and thy
servants warn them to save themselves from this untoward
generation, let it be upon that city according to that which thou
hast spoken by the mouths of thy prophets.
But deliver thou, O Jehovah, we beseech thee, thy servants from
their hands, and cleanse them from their blood.
O Lord, we delight not in the destruction of our fellow men;
their souls are precious before thee;
But thy word must be fulfilled. Help thy servants to say, with
thy grace assisting them: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not
ours.
We know that thou hast spoken by the mouth of thy prophets
terrible things concerning the wicked, in the last days--that
thou wilt pour out thy judgments, without measure;
Therefore, O Lord, deliver thy people from the calamity of the
wicked; enable thy servants to seal up the law, and bind up the
testimony, that they may be prepared against the day of burning.
We ask thee, Holy Father, to remember those who have been driven
by the inhabitants of Jackson county, Missouri, from the lands of
their inheritance, and break off, O Lord, this yoke of affliction
that has been put upon them.
Thou knowest, O Lord, that they have been greatly oppressed and
afflicted by wicked men; and our hearts flow out with sorrow
because of their grievous burdens.
O Lord, how long wilt thou suffer this people to bear this
affliction, and the cries of their innocent ones to ascend up
into thine ears, and their blood come up in testimony before
thee, and not make a display of thy testimony in their behalf?
Have mercy, O Lord, upon the wicked mob, who have driven thy
people, that they may cease to spoil, that they may repent of
their sins if repentance is to be found;
But if they will not, make bare thine arm, O Lord, and redeem
that which thou didst appoint a Zion unto thy people.
And if it cannot be otherwise, that the cause of thy people may
not fail before thee may thine anger be kindled, and thine
indignation fall upon them, that they may be wasted away, both
root and branch, from under heaven;
But inasmuch as they will repent, thou art gracious and merciful,
and wilt turn away thy wrath when thou lookest upon the face of
thine Anointed.
Have mercy, O Lord, upon all the nations of the earth; have mercy
upon the rulers of our land; may those principles, which were so
honorably and nobly defended, namely, the Constitution of our
land, by our fathers, be established forever.
Remember the kings, the princes, the nobles, and the great ones
of the earth, and all people, and the churches, all the poor, the
needy, and afflicted ones of the earth;
That their hearts may be softened when thy servants shall go out
from thy house, O Jehovah, to bear testimony of thy name; that
their prejudices may give way before the truth, and thy people
may obtain favor in the sight of all;
That all the ends of the earth may know that we, thy servants,
have heard thy voice, and that thou hast sent us;
That from among all these, thy servants, the sons of Jacob, may
gather out the righteous to build a holy city to thy name, as
thou hast commanded them.
We ask thee to appoint unto Zion other stakes besides this one
which thou hast appointed, that the gathering of thy people may
roll on in great power and majesty, that thy work may be cut
short in righteousness.
Now these words, O Lord, we have spoken before thee, concerning
the revelations and commandments which thou hast given unto us,
who are identified with the Gentiles.
But thou knowest that thou hast a great love for the children of
Jacob, who have been scattered upon the mountains for a long
time, in a cloudy and dark day.
We therefore ask thee to have mercy upon the children of Jacob,
that Jerusalem, from this hour, may begin to be redeemed;
And the yoke of bondage may begin to be broken off from the house
of David;
And the children of Judah may begin to return to the lands which
thou didst give to Abraham, their father.
And cause that the remnants of Jacob, who have been cursed and
smitten because of their transgression, be converted from their
wild and savage condition to the fulness of the everlasting
gospel;
That they may lay down their weapons of bloodshed, and cease
their rebellions.
And may all the scattered remnants of Israel, who have been
driven to the ends of the earth, come to a knowledge of the
truth, believe in the Messiah, and be redeemed from oppression,
and rejoice before thee.
O Lord, remember thy servant, Joseph Smith, Jun., and all his
afflictions and persecutions--how he has covenanted with Jehovah,
and vowed to thee, O Mighty God of Jacob--and the commandments
which thou hast given unto him, and that he hath sincerely
striven to do thy will.
Have mercy, O Lord, upon his wife and children, that they may be
exalted in thy presence, and preserved by thy fostering hand.
Have mercy upon all their immediate connections, that their
prejudices may be broken up and swept away as with a flood; that
they may be converted and redeemed with Israel, and know that
thou art God.
Remember, O Lord, the presidents, even all the presidents of thy
church, that thy right hand may exalt them, with all their
families, and their immediate connections, that their names may
be perpetuated and had in everlasting remembrance from generation
to generation.
Remember all thy church, O Lord, with all their families, and all
their immediate connections, with all their sick and afflicted
ones, with all the poor and meek of the earth; that the kingdom,
which thou hast set up without hands, may become a great mountain
and fill the whole earth;
That thy church may come forth out of the wilderness of darkness,
and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners;
And be adorned as a bride for that day when thou shalt unveil the
heavens, and cause the mountains to flow down at thy presence,
and the valleys to be exalted, the rough places made smooth; that
thy glory may fill the earth;
That when the trump shall sound for the dead, we shall be caught
up in the cloud to meet thee, that we may ever be with the Lord;
That our garments may be pure, that we may be clothed upon with
robes of righteousness, with palms in our hands, and crowns of
glory upon our heads, and reap eternal joy for all our
sufferings.
O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer
us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest
enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion,
truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fulness, from
everlasting to everlasting.
O hear, O hear, O hear us, O Lord! And answer these petitions,
and accept the dedication of this house unto thee, the work of
our hands, which we have built unto thy name;
And also this church, to put upon it thy name. And help us by
the power of thy Spirit, that we may mingle our voices with those
bright, shining seraphs around thy throne, with acclamations of
praise, singing Hosanna to God and the Lamb!
And let these, thine anointed ones, be clothed with salvation, and thy saints shout aloud for joy. Amen, and Amen.