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

Baptistry, Staircases and Priesthood Assembly Room

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Stained Glass of Jesus and John the Baptist

Certainly one of those considerations was the question of authority. As the Lord had said, "Many there be who are under this condemnation, who use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having not authority." (D&C 63:62)

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Bapistry Sits Upon the Backs of Twelve Oxen

Who can act for the Lord without his permission? Who can baptize? Only those who have been specifically granted that power of authority. To Joseph the Lord had said, "Whatsoever you seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever you bind on earth, in my name and by my word, saith the Lord, it shall be eternally bound in the heavens." (D&C 132:46)

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Priesthood Assembly Room

Now brethren," Joseph had promised, "I obligate myself to build as great a temple as ever Solomon did if the church will back me up. Moreover it shall not impoverish any man but enrich thousands." Clearly, Joseph was speaking in eternal terms, for the temple would cost a great fortune for that day—over a million dollars with the faithful giving a tithe (one-tenth) of their time and their income or even much larger consecrations to the temple building.

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Tiered Pulpits in Priesthood Assembly Room

Nauvoo's newspaper The Times and Seasons said that not even the widow in many instances could be prevented, "out of her scanty pittance from throwing in her two mites."But the gifts the Lord had for them in return were priceless. Wherever the Saints had been, they left behind the hope of building a temple where they could receive the crowning jewel of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ—the ordinances available only in this holy house.

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Magnificent Spiral Staircase—Note Circular Window

Joseph saw in vision what the Nauvoo Temple should look like, and when architect William Weeks brought him the plans, Joseph asked where the round windows were that should be between the first and second floors to let light stream into the temple. Weeks protested that structurally he thought it impossible to put round windows in that place, for they could not bear the weight of the building above them. To this Joseph answered that he had seen the round windows in the vision, and that that was the way the Lord wanted it to be. They had to find a way to do it.

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Details of Staircase

The cornerstones were laid in a particular order, beginning with the southeast cornerstone as a symbol of the order of the kingdom. With the eyes of a seer, Joseph assured the Saints "that the ancient Prophets beheld and rejoiced at this scene, and are near to witness the fulfillment of their predictions."

"The building up of Zion is a cause that has interested the people of God at every age," reported The Times and Seasons. "They have looked with joyful anticipation to the day in which we live."

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Looking Up Spiral Staircase

Stretching his hand toward the uncompleted temple, Joseph said, "If it should be the will of God that I might live to behold that temple completed and finished from the foundation to the top stone, I will say, 'Oh Lord, it is enough. Lord let thy servant depart in peace.'"

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