Last week one of our literary posts was S. Dilworth Young’s 1954 poem, The Solemn Assembly. That prompted a fascinating discussion in the comments about solemn assemblies. I (Ardis) wondered whether there might be some readers who would be interested in that discussion, but who didn’t notice it because it was appended to a poem. So, to bring it back to center stage, Seth Andrews’ helpful comment extracting references to Solemn Assemblies from the Church magazines – expanded beyond its first posting in the earlier thread – is shared here where it can catch your attention. You’ll probably want to check out the conversation on that earlier post, too.
Here’s a little more background to the poem. Some time spent searching through old Improvement Eras shows that solemn assemblies were held (or at least reported on) infrequently. There are a few short descriptions of one held in Salt Lake and notes from an attendee, three held in the history of the Logan temple, and a report of the Solemn Assembly to sustain Heber J. Grant as President, which most closely matches the description in this post.
The first record is of a solemn assembly held by President Snow, as a part of his push for the saints to pay tithing. Oddly, it wasn’t held in the temple assembly room. Perhaps there weren’t enough people in attendance to use it.
A solemn Assembly was held in the Celestial and Terrestrial rooms of the Salt Lake Temple on Sunday July 2, 1899, relative to tithing. (Improvement Era, 1943)
A great fast meeting or Solemn Assembly is held in the Salt Lake Temple which is attended by all of the twenty-six leading authorities of the Church. All of the forty stakes, 478 wards and all of the auxiliary organizations of the Church were represented. The total attendance was 623. Just such a gathering of the priesthood was never before held in the Church. (Improvement Era, August 1899)
President Snow saw his work very clearly and took hold of it with great energy after his return home. The word of the Lord to the Saints in the South became God’s message to the entire people, and spread rapidly throughout all the stakes of Zion and into the mission fields. The importance of the journey to “Dixie” grew as the hearts of the Latter-day Saints were moved upon by the spirit of the message.
President Snow was instructed by the Lord to call the memorable solemn assembly in the Salt Lake Temple. The call for this assembly did not originate in his own mind, but was a command from the Lord who revealed it in vision. The solemn assembly was held July 2, 1899, and was in session from 10 o’clock in the morning until after 7 o’clock in the evening. Such a gathering of Priesthood had never before been held in the Church. All twenty-six of the General Authorities of the Church were there. All the forty stakes of Zion and 478 wards were represented. The spirit of the meeting was that of testimony and the promotion of faith, not one of temporal and business affairs. The renewed tithing revelation was the theme of all the eighteen addresses. Humble, honest obedience to the tithing law became rather a spiritual gift and privilege than a material duty. The solemnity of the occasion was impressed upon the assemblage when President Snow led in the sacred Hosannah shout and pronounced glorious blessings and promises upon the people. (Improvement Era, July 1938)
Rudger Clawson, who was President of the Box Elder Stake and an Apostle at the time, recorded his experience:
[Thursday, 29 June 1899] Pres. Snow said that the meeting called for next Sunday at the temple would be a very important one, if not the most important we have had for years. It is to be called a Solemn Assembly and surely will be one. …
[Sunday, 2 July 1899] Salt Lake City. Clear and warm. This being the day for the Solemn Assembly called by the First Presidency, a large number of brethren were admitted to temple at 10 o’clock and were seated in the Celestial and Terrestrial Rooms. There were about 700 present, as follows, the First Presidency, Twelve, First Seven Presidents of Seventies, Presiding Patriarch, Presiding Bishopric, presidency of stakes, the bishops of wards, stake presidencies of Y.M.M.I.A., Y.L.M.I.A., Relief Society, and Sunday Schools, and a few others. Meeting was called to order by President Lorenzo Snow.
[Notes on the discourses given follow, including Lorenzo Snow discussing his revelation on tithing, the return to Jackson County, tithing, a break for lunch, tithing, and the descendants of the twelve Apostles]
Pres. Snow made closing remarks. Said he hoped the brethren would take the spirit of these meetings home with them and impart the same to the people. A resolution to the effect that the brethren present would accept the law of tithing, obey it themselves, and teach it to the people was adopted by a rising vote with uplifted hands. Pres. Snow then led in the Sacred Shout, and the meeting came to a close. … (Diaries of Rudger Clawson, Signature Books. Chapter 2.)
There’s interesting differences in how each account describes the meeting. The last accounts of solemn assemblies outside of temple dedications or conference comes from the Logan temple:
Three of the most inspirational events in Temple history have been the Solemn Assemblies held in recent years.
The first one was on September 20, 1953, when 1,500 Melchizedek Priesthood holders from the 20 stakes in our temple district met for five hours with most of the General Authorities of the church.
Present were David O. McKay, Stephen L. Richards, and J. Reuben Clark of the First Presidency. Apostles: Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Mark E. Petersen, Matthew Cowley, Henry D. Moyle, Delbert L. Stapley, Marion G. Romney, Legrand Richards, and Adam S. Bennion. Patriarch: Eldred G. Smith. Assistants to the Twelve: Thomas E. McKay, Clifford E. Young, George Q. Morris, ElRay L. Christiansen, and John Longden. First Council of Seventy: Levi Edgar Young, Antoine R. Ivins, Richard L. Evans, Oscar A Kirkham, S. Dilworth Young, Milton R. Hunter, and Bruce R. McConkie. Presiding Bishopric: Joseph L. Wirthlin, Thorpe B. Isaacson, and Carl W. Buehner.
The entire corps of General Authorities broke, blessed and passed the sacrament to the congregation. The speakers were the First Presidency, and other selected members of this elect group.
Our second Solemn Assembly was on May 4, 1967, when the church called a special meeting of all returned missionaries attending school at the Utah State University and Weber State College. There were 1,800 missionaries present for this inspirational event, which will long be remembered. The speakers were Hugh B. Brown, Thomas S. Monson, and Paul H. Dunn.
The third event took place on December 6, 1975, attended by 1,340 priesthood leaders from our temple district. In attendance were Presidents Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, and Marion G. Romney, with Apostles Ezra Taft Benson and Mark E. Petersen. These five brethren spoke on the evils of these latter days, and how we can and should avoid them. Their message was one of inspiration in living our religion and obeying the Lord’s commandments. (Logan Temple, the First 100 Years).
I found more accounts than I expected, so this post is getting a bit long. To finish, here’s the conference report for the solemn assembly when Heber J. Grant was sustained as President of the Church. I didn’t know this, but from the account it appears in those days the solemn assembly was primarily for the priesthood, although some other members of the church also attended. If that was the case through the 1950s I suspect this is what the poem describes:
The first business of the conference, after the opening exercises, was the presentation of officers of the Church for the support of the people.
The quorums of the priesthood were present in solemn assembly for the purpose of voting in that capacity for the General Authorities of the Church. The quorums and officers in nine divisions voted in the following order: First Presidency, apostles, patriarchs, presidents of stakes, their counselors and high councilors, high priests, seventies, elders, bishops and their counselors, the lesser priesthood (priests, teachers and deacons).
They were arranged as follows:
First Presidency and apostles, in their respective places on the stand; patriarchs, south wing of the stand; presidents of stakes, the counselors, and high councilors, lower stands and left front; high priests, left center of main hall; seventies, right center of main hall; elders, back left of main hall; bishops and counselors, left wing of the stand; lesser priesthood, back of the left north isle ; the remaining portions of the building, including the galleries, were occupied by members at large.
President Heber J. Grant stated that in voting, each quorum of the priesthood would rise and the members voting would raise their right hands, and then be quickly seated, so that the business of voting might be done as expeditiously as possible. Those wishing to vote in the negative, would vote in like manner.
The order of voting was as follows:
1. First Presidency.
2. Apostles.
3. Patriarchs.
4. The Presidents of Stakes, their Counselors, and High Councilors.
5. High priests.
6. Seventies.
7. Elders.
8. Bishops and their Counselors.
9. The Lesser Priesthood (priests, teachers, deacons).
10. All members of the Church present.Practically the whole body of the hall was occupied completely by the priesthood, and the scene from the stand, as the many thousands of men stood up, quorum by quorum, to vote, their right hands raised to the square, was the most impressive, stately and dignified religious solemnity that the eye of man ever beheld, not to speak of the scene when the whole audience, upwards of ten thousand in number, covenanted unanimously in like manner to sustain their chosen leaders. (Improvement Era, July 1919)
The last of the three solemn assemblies held in the Logan Temple matches my recollection of others held at that same time. There were a series of assemblies held in temples in Utah–I remember our bishop at the time returning and reporting on what had been taught at the one he attended–in the Salt Lake Temple, I think–which matched “the evils of these latter days, and how we can and should avoid them” description in the Logan Temple history.
I’m glad this became an expanded guest post. I had always wondered what sort of gathering those solemn assembly rooms were used for.
Thank you, Seth. I had thought they might be more common or frequent than this seems to suggest.
Grant, I wouldn’t draw to many conclusions from what’s here. The sources I pulled from are mostly limited to Utah and end in the 1970’s. It definitely seems that solemn assemblies occurred more frequently in the second half of the twentieth century.
I do remember hearing about “meetings in the Temple,” from the 1970s, but I don’t recall them being identified as solemn assemblies. I remember the EQ president and bishop of our ward at the time going to a meeting in the Ogden Temple, but they were always a little vague about what was discussed. I think there might have been a little of the vows of silence about what happens in the temple involved in that, probably not by direction, but by force of habit. Thanks, Seth, Ardis, and the rest of you for some very helpful information.
Well, at the very least, someone should inform Elder Nelson that if we don’t “vote” now, we used to. (“You and I do not ‘vote’ on Church leaders at any level. We do, though, have the privilege of sustaining them.” -Oct.’14)
What I really want to know is Lorenzo Snow’s remarks on the Return to Jackson County and the decendents of the Twelve Apostles. We still emphasize tithing, the other two items, not so much.
Anyone who claims the Church never changes, is, to use Pres. Uchtdorf’s borrowed phrase “Sleeping through the Restoration.”
My grandfather attended a solemn assembly in the Salt Lake temple a week after the 1975 assembly in the Logan temple mentioned here. I obviously have no idea if the agenda was the same for both meetings, but this is what he recorded about the Salt Lake meeting:
That’s such a personal glimpse, Matt, thanks! Now I wish we could read the words of those talks.
Matt, thank you for sharing. I’m impressed you were able to find something from your grandfather’s journal. Was he a member of the stake presidency at the time?
Hi Seth,
My grandfather served on the stake high council at that time. I am fortunate that he made writing a comprehensive personal history a years-long project, and that I have it in an easy-to-search PDF. Thanks for asking!
It would be great to have those messages available.
If the Church wanted to change the public perception of its position regarding women, a sacred/secret meeting is probably the least effective venue to present the message. Similarly, one would think that the invitees (stake presidencies, HC and bishoprics) would be the members most likely to already understand the position of the church on this issue.
If the church needed to get out the word on a similar issue today (Same sex attraction/gay marriage?, the Church History Essays?)I don’t see a solemn assembly being the venue. But who knows. I wouldn’t have thought it be an effective venue in the 1970s, either.
I had a similar thought, TOClark, when I saw in our ward bulletin yesterday the announcement of the stake priesthood meeting. I don’t know what happens in those meetings — it’s not like I have a husband or son to tell me about it when they come home, or home teachers who wouldn’t think I was nosy if I were to ask. And maybe such meetings are only more sermons, indistinguishable from sermons in Sacrament meeting or the priesthood session of Conference. But if the concern is about *perception* then, yeah, having a stake-wide meeting from which all women are excluded as an integral part of stake conference, especially if there do happen to be significant discussions or explanations which will never filter down to women like me, may not create the most pleasing image.
TOClark and Ardis, your comments remind me of my mission, when my companion was district leader he always came back from training meetings with new instructions for the mission leaders and there would be a week or so of confusion where he had the new instructions and I did not. Although in those cases it almost always turned out to be pretty common sense teaching or planning skills. It did stand out to me that President Joseph F. Smith included the young women, young men, relief society, and others, in the solemn assembly. It was certainly meant for the entire church.
There are substantially more details in Rudger Clawson’s diary than space allowed for here (you can read the complete account here, it has quite a few more details on the sermons given). He records Joseph F. Smith stating “The object to be accomplished is twofold, namely, to get those who attend the meeting to pay a full tithing, and through them, to get those over whom they preside to do the same.” And later during the assembly “A man is in a poor business as president or bishop of a ward who says to the people, do as you ought to do, not as I do.” It seems this meeting in particular was aimed at changing the behavior of the leaders, while the many sermons on the topic before and after were for the general church membership.
I’m curious if anyone remembers conference talks on the equality of women and men from the 1970’s. It seems that, like tithing, it would require more than a single meeting to change behavior across the church.
Interesting notes in the Rudger Clawson diary.
“We calculate to partake of the sacrament at one o’clock, and about 4 p.m. break our fast in the assembly room of the temple. The meetings will be held in the Celestial and Terrestrial Rooms.” I’m a little surprised that the assembly room was used for a meal rather than for the actual solemn assembly! It sounds like they must have removed the veil, if everyone in both rooms heard the same remarks. Seems like a lot of trouble when there’s a big room upstairs.
“The time for returning to Jackson County is much nearer than many suppose and it is the faithful that would be selected to go and they will be required to accept the United Order.” Well, we have already gathered to Jackson County in the sense that Independence has a mis-named “stake” in the “center place,” but I haven’t heard of them living the United Order there. Even in my somewhat-recent youth, I heard a lot about how the Second Coming and related events like the great council at Adam-ondi-Ahman would be soon. There seemed to be a lot of Millennial expectations tied up with the new calendar millennium being the seventh thousand years after the fall. I don’t think I would have expected 2017 to be so theologically ordinary. I guess we’ve learned to stay away from the “it’s sooner than you think” sort of talk.
“There are those in this audience who are descendants of the old 12 Apostles and, shall I say it, yes, descendants of the Savior himself.” I have no idea why an apostle would speak about this. Isn’t it enough to have joined the covenant people, without belonging to an extra-special bloodline?
“Pres. Snow then led in the Sacred Shout.” Some day I’m going to have to figure this one out. It’s a call back to Kirtland, and in turn to Jesus entering Jerusalem and then to Sukkot — all of which included hosannas, and two of which included something called a “solemn assembly.” But I’m not quite clear on how we got from *a* sacred shout to *the* sacred shout, with fixed words and gestures, and a sense that it’s maybe too sacred for ordinary Sunday worship. Also, on occasions when I have participated, people gave me some funny looks for actually shouting, so maybe I have never understood how this form of worship is supposed to go. It’s an interesting bit of liturgy.
There are a lot of interesting notes there, Mike, and I like your thoughts on them. It stood out to me as well that the solemn assembly wasn’t held upstairs. It wouldn’t be possible to join the rooms in that way today, but at the time the the terrestrial room was described as “the east end is a raised floor reached by three steps, across which springs an arch of thirty feet span. The arch is supported by five columns between which hangs a silken portiere in four sections. This is the Veil of the Temple (The House of the Lord, Talmage).” Removing it probably wouldn’t have been much more work than setting up chairs in the assembly hall, although it still seems like a rather awkward arrangement.