Description
Joined in the Shout
March 27th, 1836, Kirtland, Ohio, about eight o’clock in the morning. The dedicatory services for the Kirtland House of the Lord were about to begin. People lined up a plenty wanting to get in and partake of the services.
In that crowd was a woman, not named, carrying a two month old baby. Now the rules to get into the Kirtland dedicatory services were strict. Small children were not allowed. In that day when there were no microphones to overpower a crying baby in the middle of the congregation, it’s understandable why the rule would be: No babies.
So, the woman was turned away. She left and tried to find someone else to watch her babe, but she couldn’t find anyone. So she returned to the doorkeepers and asked again to be admitted. Like so many others who had sacrificed, she really wanted to be there. Again, she was turned away.
But this time it just so happened that standing near the door was the aged patriarch, Joseph Smith, Senior, the prophet’s father. He is reported to have said, “Brethren, we do not exercise faith. My faith is that this child will not cry a word in the house today.”
With that, the woman was allowed to enter, along with her baby, and along with some 900 others eager to attend. That meeting lasted nearly eight hours.
No one got up. No one left their precious seat for fear that they would lose it. All stayed and all listened. Near the end of the day, the prophet Joseph offered the dedicatory prayer as dictated by revelation. Sylvia Cutler Webb was there that day and described Joseph’s prayer of dedication. She said:
“I clearly remember the occasion. I can look back through the lapse of years and see, as I saw then Joseph, the prophet, standing with his hands raised towards the heavens, his face, an ashy pale, the tears running down his cheeks as he spoke on that memorable day—and then to seal the events of the day, the prophet Joseph taught the Saints and then led them in the Hosanna shout.”
Benjamin Brown was in attendance and had observed the woman with the baby throughout the day, and he said:
“The woman and child entered and the child did not cry a word from eight to four in the afternoon. But when the Saints all shouted Hosanna, the child was nursing and let go and shouted also. When the Saints paused, it paused when they shouted, the baby shouted for three times and when they shouted, Amen, the baby shouted also for three times, then it resumed its nursing. Without any alarm.”
Eliza R Snow witnessed the same and spoke of it.
From the beginning of the restoration, the Lord has commanded that meetings are to be conducted under the influence of the Holy Ghost and oh, how sweet it is when those meetings are conducted such.
Sources:
Benjamin Brown to Sarah Mumford Brown, [ca. Apr. 1836], Benjamin Brown Family Collection, CHL; Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 94–95.
The Doctrine and Covenants 20:45
