Frederick G. Williams Sees a Holy Angel during Temple Dedication

During the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio, on March 27, 1836, President Frederick G. Williams testified that a holy personage appeared during the opening prayer offered by President Sidney Rigdon. Williams reported that the visitor entered through the window and took a seat between himself and Joseph Smith Sr. in the upper pulpits on the Melchizedek priesthood side of the room, remaining there for the duration of the prayer. While initially documented by Oliver Cowdery in the 'Messenger and Advocate' simply as a 'holy angel of God,' multiple eyewitnesses who heard Williams’s report—including George A. Smith, Edward Partridge, Newel Knight, and Lydia Knight—testified that Williams described the visitor as the Savior himself, who had come to formally accept the dedication of the temple. Williams provided a vivid description of the visitor's appearance, noting his clothing. Heber C. Kimball recorded that the messenger was tall, had black eyes, white hair, and was stoop-shouldered; he wore a white garment extending near his ankles and sandals on his feet. George A. Smith further specified that Williams described the visitor as wearing a 'vesture without seam.' Although some later accounts, such as that of Truman O. Angell, suggested the visitor may have been the Apostle Peter, contemporary records consistently emphasize that Joseph Smith identified the personage as Christ, providing the Saints with a profound assurance that the Lord had accepted the house they had built to His name.