Kirtland's place in Church history
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KIRTLAND, Ohio — To illustrate the place of Kirtland and the surrounding areas of Ohio in Church history, President Gordon B. Hinckley drew an analogy during his remarks on Saturday, May 17, at a member meeting.
"New York with an important chapter in Pennsylvania was the birthplace of the Church," he noted. He mentioned the First Vision, coming forth of the Book of Mormon, priesthood restoration and organization of the Church as New York events.
"Persecution followed, and the Church was told to move to Ohio," he said. "This became the place of its elementary education. Here were put in place the great organizational concepts by which it has been governed ever since. Here in a vision both wondrous and beautiful the Savior revealed Himself. Here Moses and Elijah came and bestowed sacred keys important and everlasting."
Furthermore, the first stake was organized in Kirtland, men were first ordained high priests, the Seventy were organized, apostles were called and organized into a quorum, the First Presidency was organized, the office of patriarch was first filled and "the basic policies governing Church welfare and humanitarian service were first revealed," the Church president noted.
"It was here that the first temple was built," he said, "that the forerunner of the endowment was given, and that spiritual experiences took place to a degree perhaps never before felt nor since enjoyed."
Missionary work was given impetus in Kirtland, and in nearby Hiram the revelation on the degrees of glory in the world beyond was given, President Hinckley said.
"As children are taught the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic in the period of their elementary schooling, even so the Church had put in place at that time those basic and controlling elements which have governed it since," he remarked.
Carrying forward the analogy, he said Missouri, with its troubles, disappointments and suffering, was "as a secondary school in the life of the Church."
"Then the Illinois period, when Nauvoo was established and the magnificent temple was built, when the women were organized into the Relief Society, when the prophet lived great and wonderful days and then with Hyrum, died at Carthage, this became the period of higher education in the chronicle of the work," he said.
The beginning of the years of maturity for the Church were marked by the move from Nauvoo to Council Bluffs and Winter Quarters and subsequently to the Salt Lake Valley, President Hinckley said. "From this initial stage it has grown and expanded over the earth. Today its numbers approach 12 million. Its members are found in more than 160 nations. It has become a great and mighty force for good, and will go on growing to complete its prophesied mission to fill the earth."
President Hinckley then focused upon the events that occurred in the Kirtland area, noting that the saints when they came were extremely poor, with "nothing but their bare hands and their faith." Construction of the temple seemed impossible, he said, made still more difficult because of the persecution they suffered. "The finished product was a thing of beauty, still acknowledged as an edifice of classic design and workmanship."
He said he has had the privilege of dedicating a substantial number of the Church's 114 temples and that in every case, before preparing the prayer of dedication, he has read Doctrine and Covenants 109, the prayer Joseph Smith gave at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple on March 27, 1836.
"On that occasion, and for a time thereafter, there was a Pentecostal outpouring, marvelous and wonderful," he said. "There was the rushing of wind; angels were seen; men spoke in tongues and with the interpretation of tongues; they experienced incomparable visions. The vision shown Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836, of the Savior of mankind is descriptive and beautiful and wonderful."
The power of the evil one was also manifest, he noted, citing the failure of a banking institution, a failure resulting from greed and avarice. "Joseph Smith became the target as men turned against him. They were literally overcome with a greedy grasp for wealth. Even many close to the Prophet became enemies. . . . Kirtland, therefore, becomes almost a giant oxymoron, a contradiction between the forces of the spiritual and the venal."
He cited Doctrine and Covenants 1, a revelation given in Hiram, Ohio, in 1831, which sets forth four great purposes of the Restoration.
"We have all witnessed the fulfillment of these great objectives," he said, adding: "Those of a new generation, with thankful hearts and with great faith of their own, have come back and brought to pass this wonderful restoration of some of the properties and facilities owned and used by their forebears in the days when Kirtland was a busy and thriving place in northern Ohio."
While some may be inclined to look upon it as a restoration of historic Americana, it is more, he said. "Here in this place there has been brought to life something of the Spirit of God at work in the hearts of faithful people."
