This Apostle Performed Secret Temple Rites in a Texas Wilderness Outpost

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:05]Professor BYU named Christopher Blythe, if that is his real name, Professor Blythe. [music] The typical paid Mormon apologist associated with BYU.

[00:00:16]Creativity unbound, unshackled.

[00:00:19]>> [music] >> Love to see it.

[00:00:25]>> [music] >> I am going to talk to you about a subject, like a few of the things I've been talking about recently, that I actually wouldn't be so open about if it was before 2019 when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints published images of the ceremonial clothing used in the temple. I believe that was a major turning point, and since then we've been very open about what we are able to discuss and those few items that we think should be completely reserved for those who are endowed, those initiated into these teachings. So, I'm talking about the endowment. Last episode was about the upper room work as it exists among The Church of Jesus Christ cut away. This past Alvin episode cut away. I mentioned that Lyman White also continued the endowment. Lyman White is so interesting. He is an apostle that left the church. He never thought of himself as leaving the church. He did not go with Brigham Young west. In fact, in August of 1844, as the rest of the apostles had returned home and were eager to finish the Nauvoo Temple, he was eager to go to Texas where Joseph Smith had ordered him to start a colony.

[00:01:52]And so he took a group of a couple hundred and they headed off to Texas, ultimately ending up around Austin where they built a community called Zodiac.

[00:02:01]And in Zodiac, they built a meeting house that functioned like Well, it wasn't even so much a meeting house. It was a general store that had an upper room, much like Joseph Smith's general store, what we called the Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, where Lyman performed the endowment at the top. And we know a few things about that endowment. The first thing that occurred in the endowment as practiced among Lyman Wight's community, they called it a general endowment in the wilderness, and it sounds like something that occurred in the Kirtland Temple.

[00:02:39]Here we read an account of that. This is from John Hawley's memoir. John Hawley, later in life, is going to go become a member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[00:02:53]He says, "Lyman told us we must build a house for washing the feet and a general endowment in the wilderness.

[00:02:59]So, we went to work the winter of 1847 and 1848 and built a good little temple to worship in." All right. Now, this is from William Leyland, who also lived in Lyman Wight's community. He says, "On April 8th, I think this is April 8th, 1847, I went in the house which was built and dedicated to the Lord in Zodiac and received the washing of feet under the hands of the 12 high counselors and their presidents, along with 16 elders and their presidents, and on the 9th received the washing of the body and anointing. On 12th of this month," and then he goes on. So, this is interesting. A washing of feet and a washing of the body and anointing, which is the order of how things were done in the Kirtland Temple, rather than the later Nauvoo endowment. Now, let's get back to what we know about a later endowment. So, this is how the endowment is initially performed.

[00:03:57]It sounds like it's performed through quorums, but that's not the end of it.

[00:04:01]John Hawley gives us a more extensive account that tells us about a Nauvoo-style endowment that occurred in Zodiac, Texas.

[00:04:12]My companion and I received our endowments in the direction of Lyman White, Father and Udney Hobert officiating. So, this is an endowment where three people, Lyman White, this man's father and Udney Hobert, uh, performing roles to officiate. Under their hands, I was ordained a king and a priest and anointed with oil after feet washing.

[00:04:36]I was then ordered to wash my wife's feet and anoint her head with oil and then ordain her a queen to me, which I did.

[00:04:45]After this was done, we was then sealed for time and eternity by Lyman White.

[00:04:50]He gives us more of a conversation about this endowment experience in a letter he wrote to Joseph Smith III on July 12th, 1884.

[00:05:02]And John Hawley here is telling Joseph Smith III about the endowment he received in Lyman White's community. At this point, John Hawley is a member of the RLDS faith. And so, he's relating what exactly How does this endowment that he received relate to the one performed by Brigham Young? Brother Joseph, as I often hear my brethren say that the endowments and garments introduced by Lyman White were the same as those introduced by Brigham Young, I wish to say that they were not. And as I was considered worthy by both these men to receive my endowments, I consider myself a competent witness and will proceed to tell the difference as I understand it.

[00:05:43]Both claim that they were able to seal men and women together for time and eternity. In this they were alike.

[00:05:49]Lyman White gave no endowments of secrecy.

[00:05:53]The washing of feet, anointing with oil, ordaining kings, queens, and priests are the sum and substance of Lyman's endowment.

[00:06:00]Well, that's interesting. So, he says, "It's not secret and that this washing, anointing, and ordaining were the whole of the endowment."

[00:06:10]But then he goes on and he says the garment and robe he introduced was a loose frock made according to the pattern of one worn by Moroni when he first appeared to Joseph Smith as given in his history. This was not worn only on certain occasions.

[00:06:26]No marks indicating the priesthood were on this garment. Brigham's garment was a tight garment made like drawers with sleeves and body connected with marks on the knee and breast.

[00:06:35]This was to be worn always. Our instructions were even in washing the body to keep one leg in the garment.

[00:06:42]In Brigham's endowments, both feet and body were washed and anointed with oil, but he did not ordain kings and priests in full as did Lyman.

[00:06:50]He brought all under covenant to avenge the blood of the prophets and gave us a name we would be called forth from the grave by.

[00:06:56]This is about the extent of this endowment with the addition of a second endowment, and I witnessed this also, which was an anointing and setting apart for the resurrection and power conferred to rise from the dead and to raise others.

[00:07:09]Saints, you see no similarity between the endowments of these men. The robe that Lyman introduced was an entire covering of linen with the exception of head, hands, and feet.

[00:07:20]And to this he had an apron imitating the one made by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but no mark. This we were to be laid away and after death and be worn when sealed for eternity.

[00:07:31]Brigham's robe was the same as Lyman's with the exception of the marks of the priesthood and used for the same purpose. Hence, we see some similarity in the robes of these two men. Alike, only the marks differed. I had the word differ. Guys, this is so interesting. So here we have a man, John Hawley, trying to make a case that what he received in Texas is different from what he received in Utah. So it sounds like there's a new name in Utah and he doesn't remember getting a new name and Lyman White.

[00:07:59]Lyman White's [snorts] garment, his robe, is patterned after Moroni. Now both of them will say this, but he says it's actually like Moroni and you can read Moroni had this loose robe. And he says it doesn't have marks on it. Well, that's interesting.

[00:08:14]And then he says that it did include an apron patterned after the one worn by Adam and Eve and that you'd be buried in it and be sealed in it. That sounds an awful lot like the endowment as given by Brigham Young.

[00:08:31]So I think this is really interesting.

[00:08:33]It would appear to me that Lyman White is a man who went through the endowment only once in his life and then tried to practice it in Texas.

[00:08:45]George Miller, who had a much more experience in the endowment, would go to Texas with him and and probably participate in the performance of these rights there as well, though he stayed a very short time.

[00:08:57]But these ordinances weren't written at the time.

[00:09:01]And it seems to me that probably Lyman White was doing his absolute best to perform that ritual. What I find so interesting here is that Lyman White has these two orders of the endowment.

[00:09:16]First, the general endowment, which is the washing of feet and the washing body.

[00:09:22]It seems very similar to the Kirtland endowment. And later he's performing an endowment that includes a robe and the ordaining of kings and priests. And this sounds like Naavdu endowment. As if he gave them in two orders. Early Latter-day Saints are having to wrestle with that. What is the connection between the Kirtland and endowment experience and the Nauvoo endowment experience? I think here was a way that Lyman White tried to figure it out. Later, John Taylor, when he's president of the LDS Church, is holds a meeting in the School of the Prophets, and he's trying to have this conversation like, "How do you make sense of these two different endowments?"

[00:09:57]Usually, under Brigham Young, it was that the Nauvoo endowment replaced the Kirtland endowment. Others thought when they received the Nauvoo endowment, they were kind of upset because it didn't seem like the Kirtland endowment. Wait, what about that endowment?

[00:10:11]Very interesting. The other thing I find interesting about Lyman White's endowment here is that Lyman White had a man actually perform the ordinances for his wife. So, you're washed and anointed and ordained a king and a priest. You're given your initiatory. And then you're told to perform that for the woman involved.

[00:10:34]Now, that's pretty cool. It makes it a family ritual. The problem, and and it might actually be similar to the second anointing in actuality, although we won't talk about that.

[00:10:45]But, what's more interesting is that what doesn't get passed down to Lyman White is the fact that women are the ones who are performing the ordinance for other women. And I wonder why that is. Why wouldn't he recognize this sort of female authority to perpetuate the endowment?

[00:11:08]Um and it just it didn't pass down to the zodiac. So, pretty interesting.

[00:11:14]There are more insights that we could pull from the Lyman White version of the endowment. But, I think I'm going to leave it there for today. I hope you found this interesting, and we'll see you next time. If you want to know more about Lyman White, there are suggested readings in the show notes below. See you next time.