The completion of the Historian's Office this year was followed by the dedication of the Endowment House on October 2nd. The leading men of the Church met at the baptismal font where the dedicatory prayer was offered by Heber C. Kimball. Elder Woodruff says: "It was full of sublimity and prophecy which found its fulfillment in the history of the font and the building." It would be difficult even to estimate the sacred influence which that building has exercised upon the lives of untold thousands who felt themselves within its sacred precincts in the presence of their God. The purity that went out from that sacred house into the lives of those who were married there has been the guiding star and the savior of thousands of men and women in the Church. How strange, how remarkable, that a place with such sacred and uplifting influence should be made the object of vicious attacks by those who were the enemies of the Church and its persecutors! The completion of the font signalized the importance of the so-called Reformation in the Church which began in that year. President Young entered the font and baptized his counselors, Heber C. Kimball, and Jedediah M. Grant. Later Elder Woodruff and others were baptized; and the privilege extended to all the Saints throughout the Church to renew their covenants. There was a spirit of trouble brewing; a growing opposition throughout the United States toward the Saints was felt by the leaders, who were impressed by the spirit of reform. It was important that the people should be so upright and chaste in their lives that the Lord should have no occasion to punish them for their shortcomings. It was a time of revival in the observance of the duties and the ordinances in the Church. The people were called upon {373} to repent. Questions touching their morals and the manner of their worship were put to the people both in public places and in their homes. The people generally were asked to renew their covenants by baptism. An excerpt from the journal of Elder Woodruff illustrates something of the spirit of those times. After explaining to a certain individual that he considered it a privilege to be re-baptized, the man professed his immunity from sin. "In all the trials incident to the pilgrimage and pioneer life, have you never sworn nor used bad language?" "No sir," was the prompt reply. "Have you never broken the Sabbath day?" "No sir," came the quick response. "Have you never cheated your neighbor in trade?" "No sir," thundered the unrepentant man. "Then, for heavens sake, go off and do something. You are the only perfect man I ever saw, and hope never to see another in this life." Subsequent events, however, proved that the man who was so self-assertive was the very sort of an individual who was greatly in need of repentance.