DIFFERENT THOUGHTS - #15

 

The Order of Enoch

by

Elden J. Watson

[February 2026]

 

Abstract

On June 21st 1874 President Brigham Young said that the Order of Enoch would be observed and sustained by the Saints in these latter days and this would be the means of the redeeming and building up of Zion and that this could be accomplished in no other way. And yet there has never been a proper understanding of what the Order of Enoch was or how it was to function. This article examines the use of the term “Order of Enoch” in the church which has almost always been misused. It then provides historical documentation to propose a detailed organization of the Oder of Enoch and suggests that the Latter-day Saints have been living the Order of Enoch since the death of Brigham Young.

Although the term order of Enoch appears only once in our standard works (D&C 76:57)[1], nevertheless the term appears hundreds of times throughout LDS literature. A computer search of the Church History Library (which includes Millennial Star, Contributor, Improvement Era, Conference Reports, Juvenile Instructor, and The Instructor, as well as some lesser known publications) for the term “order of Enoch,” yielded 125 references (127, but two are duplicates). An analysis of these 125 references determined that 41were only quotes of D&C 76:57 and provided no additional information; two occurred in fictional stories, and 20 appeared only in outlines for Priesthood, Sunday School, and Mutual Improvement Association lessons. The remaining citations equate the Order of Enoch with the United Order by either saying “The United Order or the Order of Enoch,” (12 times) or by reversing the sequence and saying “The Order of Enoch or the United order.” (12 additional times). This equating of the two orders is done even by general authorities of the church. In three instances the Order of Enoch is identified as being the same as the Law of Consecration [45, 51, 53] and there are four times in which the Order of Enoch, the United Order and the Law of Consecration are all spoken of as being the same thing [40, 54, 106, 108]. These misnomers of the Order of Enoch are fairly evenly distributed throughout the time period from 1885 to 1943. In ten of the remaining citations the Order of Enoch is viewed as an idealistic form of government to be implemented at some future time as soon as we are worthy to receive it. Prior to 1885 usages of the term “Order of Enoch” are both more consistent and more accurate.

Those who mention the Order of Enoch almost universally consider it to be either identical with or very similar to the United Order[2], which is also generally felt to be a diminished form of the Law of Consecration[3]. There is however some indication in records of the highest councils of the Church that the Order of Enoch, the United Order and the Law of Consecration are entirely separate things. In the John Mills Whittaker diary[4] under the date of 20 September 1897 we find the following:

On the 20th, had an interview with President Jos[eph]. F. Smith of the Law of Tithing, United order and Order of Enoch, and [he] invited me to come to his office ... and here for a long time the brethren explained, Tithing, United order, The Law of Consecration and the Order of Enoch. The [First] Presidency believes that the Law of Consecration is the highest law of all.

Part of the reason for the general confusion is that we do not know exactly what the Order of Enoch is.  On April 19th 1874, at a Sunday morning meeting in Nephi, Elder John Taylor said:

It is asked — "Well, what is the Order [of Enoch]?" We do not know exactly, we know it in part; it is just as Paul said in his day — "We see in part, and we prophecy in part" &c. But to begin with, unless some change does take place in relation to our temporal matters, our situation is anything but pleasant.[5]

No one has produced any authoritative documentation explaining what the Order of Enoch looks like or how it functions, yet the importance to the Latter-day Saints of understanding it can be plainly seen from a discourse by President Brigham Young just two months after John Taylor’s statement that we do not know exactly what it is. In the Third Ward Meeting House in Salt Lake City on Sunday evening June 21st 1874 he said:

We are trying to unite the people together in the order that the Lord revealed to Enoch, which will be observed and sustained in the latter days in redeeming and building up Zion; this is the very order that will do it, and nothing short of it. We are trying to organize the Latter-day Saints into this order; but I want to tell you, my brethren and sisters, that I have not come here to say that you have got to join this order or we will cut you off the Church, or you must join this order or we will consider you apostates; no such thing, oh no, the Saints are not prepared to see everything at once. They have got to learn little by little, and to receive a little here and a little there.[6]

It is however possible to arrive at a description of the Order of Enoch by a careful analysis and logical extrapolation from a revelation given to President Brigham Young recorded on August 9th 1874. The revelation, which is one of very few where President Young ever used the words “Thus saith the Lord,” appears in the Journal of Discourses.

With regard to those who wish to have new revelation they will please to accommodate themselves and call this a new revelation. On this occasion I will not repeat anything particular in respect to the language of revelation, further than to say —

Thus saith the Lord unto my servant Brigham, Call ye, call ye, upon the inhabitants of Zion, to organize themselves in the Order of Enoch, in the New and Everlasting Covenant, according to the Order of Heaven, for the furtherance of my kingdom upon the earth, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the salvation of the living and the dead.

You can accommodate yourselves by calling this a new revelation, if you choose; it is no new revelation, but it is the express word and will of God to this people.[7]

Now, Brigham Young is well known for his strict obedience to the commandments of God. After receiving a revelation from the Lord commanding him to organize the Saints into the Order of Enoch, then Brigham Young was going to organize the Saints into the Order of Enoch whether he knew in detail exactly what that order was or not, realizing that the Lord would provide the necessary information as he progressed. Therefore, if we follow precisely what Brigham Young did after receiving this 1874 revelation we will be able to see just what the Order of Enoch is.

One of the first activities of Brigham Young in this regard was to reorder the standing of members of the quorum of the Twelve according to seniority of ordination into that Quorum, noting that both Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt had at one time been dropped from the Quorum and then later reinstated.

In meetings connected with the April 1875 conference, Church leaders, including Orson [Hyde], discussed seniority among the apostles and decided to make changes. The changes involved Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. Smith (counselor to President Young). Elders Taylor and Woodruff, and President Smith, had served faithfully since their ordinations as apostles, whereas Elders Hyde and Pratt had each withdrawn from activity for a period. When restored to full fellowship these two had been reinstated in their original places. Their positions, their brethren and they now decided should be based on the dates of their restoration. This put Orson Hyde [and Orson Pratt] after, instead of before, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and George A. Smith. The change received no public explanation, Rather, in conference on Saturday, April 10, at the time for sustaining officers, George Q. Cannon (counselor to President Young) merely read the names of the Quorum of the Twelve in revised order. The sustaining vote was affirmative.[8]

In the April 1875 General Conference members of the Quorum of the Twelve were sustained in the following order: John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, sen., Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Jr., Joseph F. Smith, Albert Carrington.[9]

Nearly 14 years earlier Brigham Young had made a change to John Taylor’s, Wilford Woodruff’s and George A. Smith’s seniority. In the October 1861general conference:

Elder John Taylor was called upon by Pres. Brigham Young to present the names of the several quorums before the conference for their acknowledgement and approval. In presenting the names of the Twelve apostles, Elder Taylor called the name of Wilford Woodruff before his own upon which Pres. Young directed John V. Long to place Bro. John Taylor’s name above Bro. Woodruff’s, as elder John Taylor was ordained four or five months before Elder Woodruff. It was suggested to the President that Elders Woodruff, Taylor and Richards were called by revelation at the same time and their places had been arranged from the date of their calling according to their ages, instead of their date of ordination. Pres. Young said the calling was in accordance with the date of ordination. He spoke of it now because the time would come when a dispute might arise about it. According to this the quorum in 1841 should have been arranged as follows: John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Geo. A. Smith and Willard Richards.[10]

During the October 1861 General Conference members of the Quorum of the Twelve were sustained in the following order: Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, sen., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Amasa M. Lyman, Ezra T. Benson, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon.[11]  In 1875 the order in which the twelve were sustained was again modified as noted above.

Satisfied with the organization of the Quorum of the Twelve, Brigham Young turned his efforts to another of his major interests, that of constructing a temple. In an 1842 address before the Relief Society of Nauvoo the Prophet Joseph Smith said:

… the church is not fully organized, in its proper order, and cannot be, until the Temple is completed, where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the priesthood.[12]

Being aware of the importance of a temple to the full organization of the Church, one of Brigham Young’s major concerns focused on the completion of the St. George temple, realizing that it would be many years before the Salt Lake temple would be completed. On January 31, 1871, Brigham Young had met with local priesthood leaders and presented his plans for building a temple in St. George, which met with instant approval.[13]  A site was selected and on November 9th 1871 the site was dedicated by George A. Smith and excavation began the same day.[14] Brigham Young closely followed the construction of the St. George temple, which took 7 years to complete. We do not know when Brigham Young received his revelation on the Oder of Enoch, but when he announced it in August of 1874 a number of sacred records had recently been deposited in a stone box in the main wall of the temple on the southeast corner[15], and a renewed effort was made to solicit workers to participate in the temple construction[16]

On January 1st 1877 there was a dedicatory ceremony for “the Baptismal Room in the basement, the Assembly Room on the main floor and the Sealing Room in the east tower of the Temple.”[17] However, Brigham Young was not yet satisfied:

Shortly after the dedication of the lower portion of the temple, Young decided it was necessary to commit the endowment ceremony to written form. On 14 January 1877 he “requested Brigham jr & W. Woodruff to write out the Ceremony of the Endowments from Beginning to End,” assisted by John D. T. McAllister and L. John Nuttall. Daily drafts were submitted for Young’s review and approval. The project took approximately two months to complete. On 21 March 1877 Woodruff recorded in his journal: “President Young has been laboring all winter to get up a perfect form of Endowments as far as possible. They having been perfected I read them to the Company today.”[18]

The St. George temple was finally completed in April of 1877 and the temple was dedicated by President Daniel H. Wells on the first day of the 47th Annual Conference of the Church which was held in the St. George Temple on April 6th, 7th and 8th. On the last day of this general conference Wilford Woodruff was appointed the first St. George Temple president[19]. Satisfied with the availability of a fully functioning temple, Brigham young turned his efforts in the last five months of his life to a reorganization of the structure of the Church itself. Reorganization of stakes began immediately, with the St. George Stake being reorganized on April 7th during the general conference.[20] Stake organizations and reorganizations continued at a rapid pace during the remainder of 1877. [21]

·         St. George Stake – April 7

·         Kanab Stake – April 17-18

·         Panguitch Stake – April 23

·         Salt Lake Stake – May 12-13

·         Cache Stake – May 21

·         Weber Stake – May 25-26

·         Davis Stake – June 17

·         Tooele Stake – June 24-25

·         Juab Stake – July 1

·         Morgan Stake – July 1

·         Sanpete Stake – July 4

·         Summit Stake – July 8-9

·         Wasatch Stake – July 14-15

·         Sevier Stake – July 15

·         Millard Stake – July 21-22

·         Beaver Stake – July 25-26

·         Parowan Stake – July 29

·         Box Elder Stake – August 19

·         Bear Lake Stake – August 25-26

William G. Hartley has detailed Brigham Young’s intense activities and accomplishments during his last five months in an article which has been published in BYU Studies, and which he entitled “The Priesthood Reorganization of 1877: Brigham Young’s Last Achievement.” Hartley opens his article with the following statement:

Death knocking loudly at his door, President Brigham Young labored restlessly in his last five months of life to reorganize the church’s government structures. His priesthood reorganization of 1877, thorough and massive, involved every stake, 241 wards, hundreds of quorums and more than a thousand leadership positions. But this final achievement is underrated or ignored by historians, unknown to church members, and so far is a missing entry on his leadership balance sheet.[22]

In order to better understand the magnitude of Brigham Young’s accomplishments, Hartley explains in his seminal article the condition of Church organization in April of 1877 and then compares it with Church organization at the time of the death of Brigham Young in August of 1877.

In April of 1877 pertaining to stake organization

·         Some presidents of stakes lacked counselors

·          Some presidents were not properly ordained and set apart

·         In 6 of the 13 existing stakes apostles served as stake presidents

Charles C. Rich (Bear Lake)

Brigham Young Jr. (Cache)

Erastus Snow (St George)

Orson Hyde (Sanpete)

Lorenzo Snow (Box Elder)

Franklin D’ Richards (Weber)

·         Some stakes lacked High Councils

·         Some stakes had seventies serving on the high council

·         Some stakes did not have properly functioning elders quorums

·         Quarterly stake conferences had degenerated to “occasional conferences in some places.”

·         There were 15 Presiding Bishops serving in various areas of the Church

 

In April of 1877 pertaining to ward organization

·         Weber stake had presidents instead of bishops

·         Some stakes had acting bishops

·         Some bishops had only one counselor

·         Some Seventies served as bishops counselors without being ordained high priests

·         Some bishops counselors had moved away and never been replaced

·         Without 3 high priests in bishoprics many simple courts had to go to High Councils

·         Many saints were not enrolled in any ward

·         Many Aaronic Priesthood Quorums were incomplete or non existent

 

By the time of his death in August of 1877 Brigham Young had either personally or by delegation

·         Dedicated two new temple sites (Logan and Manti)

·         Removed 6 apostles from presiding over stakes

·         Reorganized 13 stakes

·         Created 7 new stakes

·         Set apart 16 new stake presidents

·         Set apart 18 sets of stake presidency counselors

·         Organized High Councils in every stake

·         Reorganized 101 old wards

·         Organized 140 new wards

·         Retained 56 old bishops

·         Called 100 new bishops

·         Ordained or set apart well over half of 482 counselors

·         Organized Elders Quorums in every ward

·         Organized Aaronic Priesthood quorums in every ward

 

Remembering that Brigham Young had received a revelation instructing him to organize the church into the Order of Enoch, we are now able to suggest an organization chart of the Order of Enoch;

 

Temples

A fully functioning temple with a temple president and two counselors

Scripted temple ordinances

General Church Organization

First Presidency

Senior apostle with two counselors

Quorum of twelve Apostles arranged in seniority by date of entering the quorum

Presiding Bishopric

One presiding bishop with two counselors

Regular General Conferences

Stakes as needed

Stake Organization

A stake president with two counselors, all High Priests

A High council consisting of twelve High Priests

Regular Stake Conferences

Wards as needed

Ward Organization

A Bishop with two counselors, all High Priests

A quorum of Elders with a president and two counselors and up to 96 Elders

A quorum of Priests with a president and two counselors and up to 48 Priests

A quorum of Teachers with a president and two counselors and up to 24 Teachers

A quorum of Deacons with a president and two counselors and up to 12 Deacons

Regular Ward conferences

Members

Every member enrolled in a ward

In other words I am suggesting that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been living the Order of Enoch since at least August of 1877 and Brigham Young fulfilled the instruction he was given by revelation to organize the Church into the Order of Enoch.

It makes a lot of sense because as Brigham Young said in the quote above that the Latter-day Saints will be redeemed and build up Zion through the Order of Enoch and in no other way.[23] How could that be unless the Latter-day Saints actually live the Order of Enoch?

Well then, if we are living the Order of Enoch, why are we not translated and why are there still poor among us? In the first place it took the inhabitants of the city of Enoch 365 years to get to that state of righteousness that resulted in their translation. At this point of time the Latter-day Saints have been in existence less than 200 years. Brigham Young said on several occasions that in his opinion the Latter-day Saints had made more progress than the residents of the city of Enoch had made during the equivalent period of time.

[26 July 1852]

 I actually feel this church has 22 years experience and those who have not had [-] experience have had the example, we are here and have to work, then toil on until we are prepared for the place designed, if we had the Church of Enoch on one side and the LDS on the other end to take the travels experience and progress. I actually believe that the LDS make a faster progress than the Church of Enoch did. If Enoch has as mixed up a mess as we have I don't know where he gathered them from, take the actual knowledge in Enoch and then compare with the knowledge our Father had, I believe we have progressed faster than they. let us have 280 years more and progress as fast as we have and not get mixed, what would we be in 20 years hence. [24]

 

[8 October 1859]

In the remarks I am about to offer, I do not design to cast the least reflection upon the honesty, integrity, truthfulness, and faithfulness of this people; but I really feel to praise them. And I repeat what I have frequently said, that, in my opinion, Enoch and his people, during the first twenty-nine-and-a-half years of their history, did not make greater progress in the knowledge of the Father and Son than this people have. This thought gives me great comfort, encouragement, and consolation.[25]

 

[2 June 1867]

President B. Young, while pointing out how much improvement we have yet to make, spoke of the rapid progress that has been made by the Saints in the past thirty-seven years, since the Church was organized. In that time the people of God have made as rapid progress as did the Church of Enoch, for they were three hundred and sixty-five years becoming sufficiently perfect to be taken from the earth, yet we have not made the progress which we might.[26]

 

[25 August 1867]

We have many things to say to the people with regard to purifying ourselves and preparing ourselves fully to enjoy the blessings the Lord has in store for His saints. He has ready great blessings for the enjoyment of His people; but the weakness, ignorance, darkness, and the blindness of the Saints is so great that it is impossible for the Lord to bestow upon them the fullness of His blessings. Yet we are learning a little, we are improving a little. It is now 37 years since this Church was organized. When we consider the raw material which has continually been gathered in year by year, I wonder at its progress. It was much unlike the City of Enoch, he had his own children, he practiced what we are now publicly teaching.
The first time I ever broached the subject in public was last evening in counseling to the young men and women to marry. This was the practice of Enoch and his friends. They had children born in their midst. which they taught in the ways of the Lord. Still Enoch had to wrestle with the Lord and plead with the people, and practice faithfully his religion for over 300 years to make his people perfect. When you consider this people gathered from the sinks of corruption and misery of the lower world to these mountains to be sanctified I think our progress is as great as that of the people of Enoch, and perhaps a little greater; think that our progress is greater than that of the people of Enoch in the practice of Godliness. If we can really get the people to understand that it is necessary to be one in all our temporal operations then we can be united as one great family of Saints. We are already one with regard to the ordinances of the house of God, with regard to the faith of Jesus Christ, and the plan of salvation, on all these subjects we are one with a very few exceptions. It now remains for us to become united in all our temporal conditions to prepare us to receive the further blessings of the Lord, which he has in store for us.[27]

 

[19 August 1868]

I do not, he said, wish to find fault with the people. No people since the days of the Nephites had made the progress in the same length of time that we have made. And it is even doubtful whether they, or even Enoch and his city, had done any better in the same time.[28]

Also, the Lord has revealed that one of the reasons Enoch and his brethren were translated was because had they not been translated they would have had to wait nearly three thousand years for their resurrection during which time their spirits would have been absent from their bodies and the Lord has  explained that a long absence of bodies from their spirits is considered to be a bondage[29]. We, on the other hand, will not have to wait thousands of years for our resurrection.

We are told that in the city of Enoch they were all of one heart and one mind. They dwelt in righteousness and there was no poor among them[30]. Christ has said you always have the poor with you[31] so it’s not a matter of there not being any poor, but how well the poor are cared for. But in the city of Enoch there were no non-members. How different would things be if within the boundaries of our stakes everyone was an active member of the Church, all attended their meetings, participated in work projects, paid their tithing and fast offerings, and all of the adults had been to the temple? Would there then be any poor among us or would they all be adequately cared for?

We might also ask why the necessity of temples in the Order of Enoch. One of the laws of the Celestial Kingdom is that we live the Law of Consecration, but in the Order of Enoch we are not actually living the Law of Consecration. The Lord has filled that requirement by having us make a covenant in the temple that we will live the Law of Consecration. Having made that covenant in the temple the Lord is able to bless us as though we are actually living that law and thus redeem the Saints through the Order of Enoch, by which the Saints will be redeemed “and in no other way.”

Conclusion:  We may rejoice in the fact that we are even now being redeemed through the Order of Enoch.

Notes


[1] The current edition of D&C 76:56-57 reads as follows:

 [56] They are they who are priests and kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory; [57] And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son.

In the earliest available manuscript copy in the handwriting of John Whitmer, (Revelation Book 1) the “And”  of verse 57 does not appear, and the semicolon after “glory” was a comma.

they are they who are priests and kings, who having received of his fullness, and of his glory, are priests of the most High after the order of Melchisedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the only begotten Son:

This is precisely how the verse appears in the 1832 (Missouri) publications of The Evening and the Morning Star. 1:10 and 1:51. The word “and” at the beginning of our verse 57 does not appear. The “and” first appears in the handwriting of Frederick G. Williams in Revelation Book 2, but without a comma or a semicolon. The comma was inserted later by an unknown hand. It is interesting to note that the 1836 publication of the Evening and Morning Star (Kirtland), 1:28 is identical with the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants (section XCI [91]) , both exhibiting the “, and.” The only other changes are going to the Old Testament spelling of Melchizedek and the capitalization of “Only Begotten.”

[2] See for example: Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel through the Ages, (Stevens and Wallis, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1945) p. 265; John A. Widtsoe, “Evidences and Reconciliations” Improvement Era, 42:609, (October 1940), reprinted in G. Homer Durham, Evidences and Reconciliations, Volumes 1-2-3 by John A Widtsoe, (Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1960) p. 375; James E. Talmage, A Study of the Articles of Faith, Being a Consideration of the Principal Doctrines of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1981) p. 398; Franklin D. Richards and James A. Little, Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel, (Salt Lake City, Deseret News Press, 1882), p. 264; Joseph Fielding Smith, The Progress of Man, pp. 88-89; Lorenzo Snow, JD 19:342; John Taylor,  JD 17, p. 47; Melvin J. Ballard, CR Oct 1929, p. 51, CR Oct 1930, pp. 51-52; Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, Chapter XI. “The United Order of Enoch.” p. 323.

[3] See for Example: Sterling W. Sill, The Wealth of Wisdom, p. 208, also That Ye Might have Life, p 151; Gerald N. Lund, The coming of the Lord, p 212; Milton R. Hunter, The Gospel Through the Ages, pp. 70-71; John A. Widtsoe, Evidences and Reconciliations, p. 286.

[4] John Mills Whitaker was born at Centerville, Utah in 1863. By 1875 he was an employee of the Church History department. In 1886 he married Ida Taylor, a daughter of President John Taylor. As a son-in-law of President John Taylor and an employee of the Church, he was closely associated with many Latter-day Saint Church leaders. Whitaker kept a daily journal in shorthand, which he later personally transcribed. His papers are housed at University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections.

[5] John Taylor, JD 17:49.

[6] Brigham Young, June 21st 1874, JD 18:245.

[7] Brigham Young, August 9th 1874, JD 17:154.

[8] Myrtle Stevens Hyde, Orson Hyde The Olive Branch of Israel, p. 473.

[9] Deseret News Weekly 24:168, p. 8 (4/14/1875). Note also that the name of Brigham Young Jr. appears before that of Joseph F. Smith which was later reversed because although Young was ordained an apostle before Smith, Smith became a member of the Quorum of Twelve prior to Young. See Journal History, 5 April 1900, p2 (64 of 387).

[10] Journal History, 7 October 1861,  p1. (357/696):

[11] Deseret News Weekly 11:185 p. 1, (10/23/1861).

[12] The last phrase of this quote, “where places will be provided for the administration of the ordinances of the priesthood.” does not appear in the original minutes (see “Minutes of the Proceedings of the Fifth Sixth Meeting of the Society” in Derr et al., The First Fifty Years of Relief Society, p. 54. Footnote 149 on page 52 states “ Extracts from the minutes of this meeting were published with significant modifications in the September 19, 1855, issue of the Deseret News.” It is in the Deseret News extracts of this meeting that this final phrase first appears and from which it has been perpetuated.

[13] Janice Force DeMille, The St. George Temple, First 100 Years, p. 5.

[14] Janice Force DeMille, The St. George Temple, First 100 Years, p 21.

[15] Janice Force DeMille, The St. George Temple, First 100 Years, p 30. For a list of the items deposited see pp. 30-31.

[16] See for example: John Taylor, October 9, 1874, JD 17:175, “I was very much pleased at a meeting we had the other evening in the Tabernacle, to learn that over three hundred men could be found who would go down to St. George this winter, find their own food and work as teamsters, carpenters, stone-cutters, and in other callings necessary to forward the work on the Temple.

[17] Janice Force DeMille, The St. George Temple, First 100 Years, p. 51.

[18] David John Buerger, “The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship. p 110.

[19] Scott G. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal 7:344, April 8, 1877, “W. Woodruff was appointed to take charge of the Temple and preside over it.”

[20] Andrew Jensen, Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 729.

[21] Wilburn D. Talbot, The Acts of the Modern Apostles, p. 147.

[22] William G. Hartley, “The Priesthood Reorganization of 1877, Brigham Young’s last Achievement,” BYU Studies Quarterly, 20.1,  p. 3.

[23] See note 4.

[24] Richard S. Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 1:547.

[25] Richard S. Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 3:1511;  JD 7:331.

[26] Richard S. Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 4:2443.

[27] Richard S. Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 4:2483.

[28] Richard S. Van Wagoner, The Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 5:2588.

[29] See D&C 45:11-17.

[30]  Moses 7:18, JST Gen 7:23.

[31] Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7, John 12:8.