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[This early description of the endowment was written by a former Nauvoo Mormon signing herself "Emeline." Emeline left Mormonism apparently because she was revolted by polygamy and disillusioned by the endowment, which she did not find as spiritually meaningful as she had hoped she would.]
[I have carefully checked this electronic transcript against
a photocopy of the original article; you may be confident that typographical
errors appearing here reflect errors in the original.
Comments in square
brackets are mine.]
Dear Sir:--I discover by your paper, in what you have published
in regard to the Mormon endowments, given of late in the temple,
that you have been wrongfully informed
at least, so far as actual
experience has taught me in the orgies of an afternoon, in that
(as I have been taught to believe) most holy building. In revealing
what I am about to do, I have no lashing of conscience; notwithstanding
I took upon myself, during the laughable farce, several oaths and
obligations of a serious character, not to reveal the secrets of
the priesthood--had they been given me by any thing other than assumed
authority, and vile, corrupt, licentious libertines, taking upon
themselves the livery of Heaven, and essaying to represent the characters
of our God and Savior--knowing these characters as I did previously
to be the most debased wretches upon earth, the whole farce appeared
to me to be nothing less than fearful blasphemy.
I went into this pretended holy operation, in company with 14 others,
all sisters in the Mormon church, and with most of whom I was well
acquainted. They were, in the main, women of good character, and
appeared sincere in their respective devotions. We were first received
past the Guard into a private room on the north side of the Temple--this
was the room of preparation or purification.--We were divested of
all our apparel, and in a state of perfect nudity we were washed
from head to foot,--a blanket was then thrown about our persons,
and then commencing at the head we were anointed from head to foot
with sweet oil scented (I think) with lavender. We were then clothed
in white robes. All this was done by sisters in the church--none
others were present--it is false to say that men and women are admitted
together in an indecent manner. We were then conducted into a room
called the Garden of Eden; here we found several of our brethren
robed in white also, and apparently in a soporific state. We were
presented before them and a voice from the Lord awoke them from
sleep. After a considerable ceremony, which I do not recollect much
of, we were left by the Lord and soon a very dandy-like fellow appeared
with a black cap on, that had a long tail attached to it; he appeared
very familiar--and by his very insinuating and friendly manner induced
some of our sisters to eat of the "forbidden fruit." Soon
after the voice of the Lord appeared again in the garden; we all
appeared frightened, and both men and women huddled together into
the corner of the room, as if in the act of hiding. The fellow in
the black cap presents himself before the Lord and engages in a
controversy, boasting of what he had done. The Lord pronounces a
curse upon him--he gets down upon his belly and crawls off. At this
period of the holy ceremony, I could not suppress my visible passions;
for this fellow acted his part well--undoubtedly his part being
the part of a Devil--was the most natural. We were then presented
with aprons, which we put on about this time, a sword was shook
at us through the partition of the room, which was to guard the
Tree of Life. After considerable ceremony, which I do not recollect,
we were passed into another room, which was dark and was dreary.
This was called the Terrestrial Kingdom;
immediately the dandy in
the black cap made his appearance; at first he appeared very sly--peeping
about, and when he found the Lord was not present, he became very
familiar and persuasive. Said he, 'here we are, all together, and
all good fellows well met. Some Methodists, some Presbyterians,
some Baptists, some Quakers, some Mormons, and some Strangites,
&c. &c. Come let us drink together.' In this way he tempted
us, and we partook with him. After a considerable parade and ceremony,
we passed into another room, or Celestial Kingdom. Here I saw some
of the Twelve, and particularly Brigham Young, with a white crown
upon his head, and as I have since been told, representing God himself.
We passed this room without much ceremony into another. I have forgotten
what it represented; not much of interest transpired here, &
we were conducted back and put in possession of our clothing--all
save sister ----; she had a very fine alpacca dress stolen during
our absence, and has never been able to recover it.
In the different apartments of this singular farce, we took upon
ourselves oaths and obligations not to reveal the secrets of the
priesthood. I do not consider them binding; as I have had ample
and repeated opportunity to prove the administrators of these obligations
as corrupt as the Devil in Hell. In one place I was presented with
a new name, which I was not to reveal to any living creature, save
the man to whom I should be sealed for eternity. By this name I
am to be called in eternity, or after the resurrection. This name
was ----;
and from all that I can gather, all the females had the
same name given them, but we are not allowed to reveal it to each
other, under no less penalty than [here she
gives a partial list of the penalties]. I have forgotten
a part of the penalties. In one place something was spoken to me
which I do not recollect--[she offers a fragmentary
recollection of the second token of the Mechizedek priesthood, with
its name]. I have since been told by a brother, that there
was a mystical meaning in this, that will hereafter be revealed
to me.
Now, sir, this is the substance of the Mormon endowment--and the
Mormon who says it is not true, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him! I have been a member of this farce of Priestcraft for the
last six years; the first four years I suspected nothing but what
I was in the right of all holy things. The last two years I have
been doubtful, seeing the abandoned conduct of the priests; but
I toiled on, expecting something would be revealed in the endowments
of the Temple that would strengthen my faith, and qualify me for
heavenly purposes. For this I have toiled by night and by day; for
this I have worked my fingers to the quick, to gain something from
my scanty allowance, to assist in the completion of that building,
the motto of which was to be "HOLINESS TO THE LORD;" and
illumined by the Shekina of heaven.
Imagine then my disappointment
in the blasphemous farce I saw acted before me, and by men who have
at repeated trials, attempted to seduce me into the lowest degradation
and ruin. But, thanks to my Heavenly Protector! I have been enabled
to withstand the shock, and hope and trust I shall outlive the disgrace
of once being associated with such a set of heartless scoundrels.
I hope, sir, for the good of community, you will give my "revelation"
a place in your columns, for in the presence of high heaven, I pronounce
every word of it truth, and nothing but truth.
Yours,
EMELINE
Source: Emeline, "Mormon Endowments," Warsaw Signal, 15 April 1846.
NOTES
- David John Buerger reproduces this document, with some transcription
errors, in The Mysteries of Godliness (San Francisco: Smith Research
Associates, 1994), pp. 92-95.
- The author refers here to an article published in the 18 February
1846 Warsaw Signal. That article had alleged that male and female
initiates "are first taken into a room together, where they are
stripped of all their clothing and are made to wash each other from
head to foot." Later, the article claimed, "the candidates
are brought together, still in a state of nudity, into a room where
they are allowed to remain together, alone, as long as they see proper."
Emeline writes, in part, to rebut these allegations.
- In contemporary practice, this room would be called the Telestial
Room (or World Room), not the Terrestrial Room. It's possible that Emeline
has misnamed this the Terrestrial Room because it represents the earthly--hence
"terrestrial"--realm. (I know of at least one other temple
exposé whose author appears to have been confused by the peculiar
Mormon usage of the word "terrestrial.") By this theory, the
room Emeline calls the Celestial Room, where she saw Brigham Young and
other members of the Twelve, would actually be the Terrestial Room;
and the room after that, where she says "not much of interest transpired,"
would be the Celestial Room.
On the other hand, it would make sense for Brigham Young to have appeared, playing the part of God, in the Celestial Room, just as Emeline describes it here--though in that case, I have no idea what the room after the Celestial Room would be. (An exit chamber, perhaps?) It's possible, of course, that Emeline's memory is confused, or she may have received the endowment during a period when the ritual drama was still in the process of development.
- Compare Brigham Young's complaint, during this same period, about
people stealing temple garments: "When we began we could dress
a company of 30. Now we cannot dress 18. For my right arm I would not
say that every body is honest, for I do not believe they are."
(From Heber C. Kimball's diary; quoted in Buerger, The Mysteries
of Godliness, p. 197).
- The new name is omitted in the original article. So too is the name
of the sister whose alpacca dress was stolen (in the previous paragraph).
- "Shekina" is a Hebrew word referring to God's presence or glory. Emeline's use of the word is intriguing, as it is not part of the Mormon religious vocabulary (at least not today).