Page:The House of the Lord.djvu/176

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THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

dedicatory session: The First Presidency, the Council of the Twelve Apostles, the Presiding Patriarch, the First Council of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishopric, and all other general authorities of the Church, and in addition, Presidents of Stakes and their Counselors, members of Stake High Councils, Patriarchs, Presidents of High Priests' Quorums and their Counselors, Presidents of Quorums of Seventies, Bishops of Wards and their Counselors. Admission was extended to the wives and immediate families of all the Church officials named. To the later sessions, admission was regulated so that particular wards and stakes had each a special assignment as to time.

No one was admitted without a formal certificate, conventionally known as a "recommend," signed by the Bishop of his ward and the President of his stake. In a circular of instruction relating to the dedication the following appears: "It will be necessary for each applicant to show his or her recommend to the gate-keeper, in order to pass. The recommend will then be taken up by a ticket-man inside the gate. No person will be admitted without a recommend, on any occasion." Services were held daily from April 6th, to April 18th, inclusive, and again on the 23rd and 24th. Usually two sessions were held each day, but on the 7th of April, an evening session was added. While children under eight years of age, and therefore unbaptized, were not admitted to the general sessions, special days were set apart for their accommodation; thus April 21st and 22nd,—Friday and Saturday,—were reserved for Sunday School children, under the prescribed age for baptism.

At the first service,—the official dedication,—the