M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

Joseph, Joseph, Joseph
The Temple Has Returned to Nauvoo
by Scot Facer Proctor

Photo Essay Two: Interior Views of the Nauvoo Temple from the Official Collections of The Church

Used by Permission of Intellectual Reserve
All Photographs Copyright 2002 Intellectual Reserve

How shall I describe the feeling of walking into the Nauvoo Temple for the first time? What would it have been like to be there with my ancestors in the days of Nauvoo’s early times? I suspect it would have been just about like what Maurine and I experienced this past week.

Walking through the door of this edifice was like brushing past the rough veils of mortality and feeling the sweetness of a heavenly breeze—one that was so familiar and so endearing, a breeze that brought with it the memories of celestial scenes and eternal yearnings. There are those moments in our lives that ‘surpasseth all understanding,’ that carry us beyond this sojourn of strivings and lift us, in the blink of an eye, to a place we not only long to be but feel most at home. Crossing the threshold into this temple was that way.

With the permission of the Church we here publish in ‘walking sequence’ a series of breathtaking views of the interior of the newly finished Nauvoo Temple. Come with us as we walk through the temple. I shall add some thoughts and some of the sayings of the Prophet Joseph as you have your walk through this Temple he so desired to complete. The text and commentary below was originally published in our book Witness of the Light, A Photographic Journey in the Footsteps of the American Prophet Joseph Smith. Additional selections at the end come from Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Entry, Halls and Some Details

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Entrance and Foyer

Joseph said, "If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves." With his visions and heavenly instruction, he came before an unbelieving world with boundless riches in his hands, new vistas of comprehension.

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Temple Hallway

Joseph once said, with a bit of irony, that if he were a false teacher, he could "be hailed as a friend, and no man would seek my life." He had instead the burden of being a prophet, teaching in a simple, straightforward, noble manner that left no room for contention.

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Detail of Interior Sunstone

To the Saints he asked, "What is the object of our coming into existence, then dying and falling away, to be here no more? It is but reasonable to suppose that God would reveal something in reference to the matter. . . . Reading the experience of others, or the revelation given to them, can never give us a comprehensive view of our condition and true relation to God. . . . Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject."

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Detail of Workmanship of Windows

When asked what was unique about Mormonism, he replied that it is the "pure doctrine of Jesus Christ; of which I myself am not ashamed." When Martin Van Buren, then president of the United States, asked how this gospel differed from other religions of the day, Joseph said: "We differed in mode of baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. We considered that all other considerations were contained in the gift of the Holy Ghost."

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