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Sacred
Stone: Building the Kingdom
by Heidi S.
Swinton
"We
need the Temple more than anything else." Joseph Smith
In the winter
of 1839, nearly five thousand men, women, and children straggled
into Quincy, Illinois, having been threatened with extermination
by the Governor of Missouri, the state next door. Many had lost
their homes and farms; some had lost their loved ones. They left
behind their beloved prophet, Joseph Smith, and a handful of his
close associates in a dungeon called Liberty Jail. In April he and
the others would be allowed to "escape" and Joseph would make his
way to Illinois to join his people.
Settling on
the very fringes of a growing nation, these adherents to this newfound
religion had clashed repeatedly with their neighbors in state after
state. They were focused on preparing for the Second Coming, the
Millennium, the word of God—a sharp contrast to the economic
pursuits of other settlers. They worked together in a climate that
otherwise fostered personal independence, and they traded with each
other rather than their neighbors, prompting a rift no matter where
they tried to settle. In both Ohio and Missouri, the Latter-day
Saints escaped with little more than their lives, leaving behind
homes, farms, and hopes for fulfilling the divine command to build
a temple for God. The Quincy Whig wrote of the sorry plight
of the refugees: "A heavy sin lies somewhere in between the leaders
of this misguided sect and the Missourians, it is difficult to fix
the responsibility."2
Looking back
at that era, current mayor of Quincy, Charles W. Scholz, suggests,
"In 1839 there were about 1,500 people here in Quincy. And those
settlers welcomed 5,000 Mormons that had been forcibly driven from
the state of Missouri under harsh winter conditions, had walked
across the frozen Mississippi. And, they were offered food and clothing
and shelter. Now to put that in perspective, that would be like
the 42,000 residents of Quincy today taking care of 150,000 refugees.
. . . That is one of the most incredible acts of humanity, I think,
in the history of this country."
By late spring
of 1839, Joseph Smith had secured property on a boggy horseshoe
bend of the Mississippi 40 miles upriver from Quincy, and 190 miles
from St. Louis, and set to work building a town. He called it Nauvoo.
It eventually would prove to be the Mormons' last stand in America,
"the land of the free." But first, they would make their case to
build the kingdom of God on earth with a temple as the centerpiece.
Nauvoo was where
they hoped to learn and live their Christian doctrine, prepare for
the Second Coming of the Lord, and find strength and comfort in
each other's company. Joseph Smith was convinced that such purpose
and peace was available to the people only if they had a temple.
Oliver B. Huntington
spoke the sentiment of the faithful. "We quickly resolved, we will
stay here as long as Joseph wants us to—he knows what is best!"
4
"We were again
to start anew to make another home with nothing but our hands and
brains to begin with," Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy wrote of the
time. "We were not conquered in spirit but determined to live our
religion and stand by the principles of the Gospel and help to build
up the kingdom of God on the earth."5
Joseph first
began talking of a temple in Nauvoo in 1840, but the work did not
begin until he announced in 1841 that God had commanded, "build
a house unto me"(D&C 124:31). He called for the "speedy erection"
of a temple upon which "great blessings depend" and praised "the
zeal which is manifested by the Saints."7 French philosopher Hyppolite
Taine observed, "These exiles thought that they were founding the
city of God, the metropolis of mankind. They considered themselves
the renovators of the world."8
The rise of
this religious enclave was dramatic. What began as an uninviting
marshland became, in the next five years, a hub of activity. Mormons
straddled the Mississippi with settlements in Nauvoo on the Illinois
side and Montrose on the Iowa shore. Eliza R. Snow observed that
Nauvoo "seemed to have been held in reserve to meet the occasion,
for none but Saints full of faith, and trusting in the power of
God could have established that city."9
Joseph Smith
rallied the members to this singular "cause of Christ" with eloquence:
"Our children will rise up and call us blessed; and generations
yet unborn will dwell with peculiar delight upon the scenes that
we have passed through, the privations that we have endured; the
untiring zeal that we have manifested; the insurmountable difficulties
that we have overcome in laying the foundation of a work that brought
about the glory and blessings which they will realize; a work that
God and angels have contemplated with delight, for generations past;
that fired the souls of the ancient patriarchs and prophets—a
work that is destined to bring about the destruction of the powers
of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the glory of God, and
salvation of the human family."10
And so, as the
Mormons began to put down roots in Illinois, they also began to
put up the walls of a temple. This "modern structure," an 1843 visitor
wrote to his home newspaper,
the Pittsburgh
Gazette, was intended "to revive the departed glories of the
temple of Jerusalem, and . . . is apparently dear to every Mormon
heart, as was that famous and venerated house of the devout Jew."11
The Saints were
determined to follow the counsel of their prophet, and willingly
gave of their meager means in their labors to build a temple. Accounts
of families and their scant foodstuffs and difficult living conditions
are legion. Wrote John Pulsipher, "The Lord gave a commandment that
a Temple should be built to His name. It seemed almost impossible
for so poor a people to build such a temple in their poverty, but
the Lord never requires more of men than they can perform if they
will go to with their might and trust in Him."12 Many voiced that
in sacrificing for the Lord's house they knew they would be blessed
immeasurably. "It was the desire of my heart to serve God and keep
His commandments in adversity and prosperity," William Adams said.
"The prophet was very anxious to have the temple finished so the
Saints could receive their endowments."13
Sheer numbers
pouring into Nauvoo gave the city stature in the rapid expansion
of the state of Illinois. In less than five years this Mississippi
river town with a religious twist was considered one of the largest
cities in the state and a stronghold of political votes. But it
was the temple, not the numbers, that drew visitors from other communities
and other states. Four or five steamboats a day from towns strung
up and down the river stopped at the Mormon wharf to view what was
essentially a massive public works project going up on the hill.
While the Mormons
believed that their work on the temple was divinely inspired, visitors
simply marveled at the feat of such a structure in an obscure little
town. Boston native Josiah Quincy, who was perfectly familiar with
some of the nation's grand religious and government buildings, toured
the unfinished temple in June 1844 with Joseph Smith as his guide.
Quincy suggested the temple was "a wonderful structure altogether
indescribable." And in his opinion, the temple could not "be compared
to any ecclesiastical building."14 Quincy's comments reflect that
he did not understand the premise of the development of the town
and its inhabitants' preoccupation with the temple. He saw instead
a city "with its wide streets sloping gracefully to the farms enclosed
on the prairie" and suggested this industry "seemed to be a better
Temple to Him who prospers the work of industrious hands."15
In time, the
Mormons' fiercely independent Illinois neighbors became wary of
these new settlers who subscribed to a religious theocracy. The
clash of cultures emerged slowly, drawing battle lines that eventually
erupted in war. Nehemiah in the Old Testament spoke of carrying
on what was considered the work of God to reconstruct the walls
of Jerusalem under the threat of attack. As Nehemiah described it:
"While the building was going on, none of us took off our clothes;
each kept his weapon in his hand."16 President Brigham Young spoke
of Nauvoo in similar terms: "But what of the temple of Nauvoo? By
the aid of sword in one hand, and trowel and hammer in the other,
with fire arms at hand, and a strong band of police, and the blessings
of heaven, the Saints, through hunger and thirst, and weariness,
and watchings, and prayings, completed the temple."17
© Covenant
Communications Inc., 2002
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