What happened during the nearly two years that elapsed between the reception of Section 123 and Section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants? As it turns out, plenty. We’ll talk about that today.

You can also find the podcast on the following platforms (click on the platform of your choice):

Join our study group and let’s delve into the scriptures in a way that is inspiring, expanding and joyful.

Maurine

What happened during the nearly two years that elapsed between the reception of Section 123 and Section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants? As it turns out, plenty. We’ll talk about that today.

Scot

Hello, we’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this is Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast, where today we’ll look at the longest section in the Doctrine and Covenants—Section 124 in a lesson called “A House unto My Name.” But first let me tell you about a habit I developed this year. Last year, I created the Nauvoo diary, that had beautiful pictures of Nauvoo and places to write every day. In one of those, I chose to write the way, each day, I’d felt gratitude in my life and seen blessings flow into me. It created in me an ability to see blessings and each day as I’d write my few sentences, I felt so blessed and happy. Then, I had a really stressful moment as we were about to lead a Church history tour. When I arrived at the airport, I realized I’d forgotten my wallet. How could that possibly happen? But it did. Maurine went on, got on to the airplane with the rest of our tour participants, and I was left to figure out how to make it through TSA without an identification. After a very long time, and with much help, I finally got through, but anyone who knows the new Salt Lake airport, knows that it is a very long walk to the gates. The agent told me it was 1.7 miles. I ran to try and get on my flight, but just as I arrived, they closed the door and would not let me on. My disappointment and stress were huge, especially when I tried so hard to make that plane. I would have to catch a plane in a few hours and miss the orientation meeting.

You know what I did to calm down? I sat and read through my Nauvoo diary and all of the entries I made about gratitude through the year. My stress turned to joy and a sense of the many blessings I have. It was a sweet few hours instead of a miserable time. I loved it.

This year I have created the 2022 Kirtland Diary for Thoughts and Personal Revelation. It is full of my photos from Kirtland that take you back to that era as well as a little place to write for each day. The intent is to have a place for you to record quickly, on a daily basis, those special thoughts that come to you, those moments you’ve seen the Lord’s hand in your life that day, those blessings you’ve seen. It is a great Christmas gift for each family member, with the invitation to record their thoughts and insights. We gave them to all of our grandchildren over eight years old. It is a way to create a heavenly habit. See the 2022 Kirtland Diary for Thoughts and Personal Revelation at latterdaysaintmag.com/Kirtland. Again, you really must see this journal at latterdaysaintmag.com/Kirtland

Maurine

Section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants was received January 19, 1841 in Nauvoo, nearly two years since Joseph had received Section 123 in the Liberty Jail. In that 1838 and 1839 era, the Saints had suffered brutally in Missouri at the hands of not just mobs, but the Missouri militia who took Governor Lillburn W. Bogg’s extermination order quite literally, intending to turn Far West into a killing field. People who lived outside of Far West were pushed in and lived through that winter exposed to the weather, starving, without decent food, because the Missouri militia had ridden horses through their crops and shot their hogs and cattle to turn into rotting carrion on the ground. Many died and many barely escaped with their lives, as they struggled, sick and heartsick back across Missouri to the shores of Illinois. In our modern terms, it would be hard to describe the PTSD this people must have experienced.

The 1800 souls in Quincy were kind to the thousands of Latter-day Saints who streamed in, badly outnumbering them, but, of course, it could only be a temporary refuge. Should the Saints build a city again? Look what happened to them when they built. They had tried that now in Kirtland, Independence and Far West, and every time the vilest kind of persecution had been heaped upon them.

Scot

What’s more, if it hadn’t been for following the revelation given in Section 118, in 1838, it would be the worst possible time to send the Twelve away on a mission to Great Britain. Surely Joseph Smith needed his top leadership, the people he could count on. Would the Lord really ask him to send them on missions right now to faraway England, while the Latter-day Saints were scattered and sick and exhausted? This must have been one of those times, when following revelation seemed completely against logic and reason, but Joseph knew the Lord and knowing Him, completely trusted Him. God’s view was completely beyond, what any mortal could see. What the seasoned learn about revelation is that the Lord gives more direction, than He does explanation. Surely the need amidst the stricken Saints was greater than the need to go on a mission? But no.

That mission, of course, would bring in thousands of converts who would become the backbone of the Church for generations, but who knew then?

Maurine

So, the Twelve went, in many cases leaving their own families sick. As Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were leaving, their own families were sick and both of them were seriously ill. Heber said, “It appeared to me as though my very inmost parts would melt within me at leaving my family in such a condition, as it were almost in the arms of death. I felt as though I could not endure it. I asked the teamster to stop, and said to Brother Brigham, “This is pretty tough, isn’t it: let’s rise up and give them a cheer.” We arose, and swinging our hats three times over our heads, shouted: “Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel.”

Wilford Woodruff dragged himself up from his bed: blessed his sick wife, Phoebe; and “left her almost without food or the necessaries of life” to leave on his mission for England. “Although feeble,” he wrote, “I walked to the banks of the Mississippi River. There President Young took me in a canoe…and paddled me across the river. When we landed, I lay down on a side of sole leather, by the post office to rest. Brother Joseph, the Prophet of God, came along and looked at me, “Well, Brother Woodruff,’ said he, ‘you have started upon your mission.’ ‘Yes,’ said I, ‘but I feel and look more like a subject for the dissecting room than a missionary.” Joseph replied: ‘What did you say that for? Get up, and go along; all will be right with you.’

Scot

“I do not believe,” Wilford later wrote, “that ever a company of men…attempted to perform a journey and mission of such extent and magnitude, under such unparalleled embarrassments and circumstances as did the quorum of the Twelve and others that started for England in 1839.” But oh the fruits of that mission. For example, Wilford Woodruff, went to John and Jane Benbow’s farm, where he began preaching to the United Brethren, and all 600 of them were baptized, except for one. The Lord could see, what the struggling Saints couldn’t see. We are forever grateful the Twelve left on those missions at that inopportune time.

So the question is, “Should the Saints build again?” Sidney Rigdon told Joseph Smith, absolutely not. Whenever we build a city together, we bring trouble on our heads. But Joseph said they must and finally in his search, purchased three tracts of land in the horseshoe bend of the Mississippi River that were called Commerce. He changed the name to Nauvoo, which in Hebrew means, “beautiful place” or “city beautiful”. It was a beautiful place, but it took an eye to see it, because it was also a mosquito-ridden swamp, that would require draining before it was useable.

Maurine

When the Saints first began to move into Nauvoo, living in tents and make-shift shelters while they began to build cabins, they suffered from malaria, as the Twelve had, but they also had an outpouring of healing. 

Wilford recorded, “On the morning of the 22nd of July, 1839, [Joseph] arose reflecting upon the situation of the Saints of God in their persecutions and afflictions, and he called upon the Lord in prayer, and the power of God rested upon him mightily, and as Jesus healed the sick around him in his day, so Joseph, the Prophet of God, healed all around on this occasion. He healed all in his house and door-yard; then, in company with Sidney Rigdon and several of the Twelve [before they had left on their missions], he went through among the sick lying on the bank of the river, and he commanded them in a loud voice, in the name of Jesus Christ, to come up and be made whole, and they were all healed. When he had healed all that were sick on the east side of the river, they crossed the Mississippi River in a ferry boat to the west side, to Montrose, where we were. The first house they went into was President Brigham Young’s. He was sick on his bed at the time. The Prophet went into his house and healed him, and they all came out together.

Scot

“As they were passing by my door, brother Joseph said: ‘Brother Woodruff, follow me.’ These were the only words spoken by any of the company from the time they left brother Brigham’s house till we crossed the public square, and entered brother [Elijah] Fordham’s house. Brother Fordham had been dying for an hour, and we expected each minute would be his last. I felt the power of God that was overwhelming his Prophet. When we entered the house, brother Joseph walked up to brother Fordham, and took him by the right hand; in his left hand he held his hat. He saw that brother Fordham’s eyes were glazed, and that he was speechless and unconscious.

“After taking hold of his hand, he looked down into the dying man’s face and said: ‘Brother Fordham, do you not know me?’ At first he made no reply; but we could all see the effect of the Spirit of God resting upon him. He again said: ‘Elijah, do you not know me?’ With a low whisper, brother Fordham answered, ‘yes!’ The Prophet then said, ‘Have you not faith to be healed?’ The answer, which was a little plainer than before, was: ‘I am afraid it is too late. If you had come sooner, I think it might have been.’

Maurine

“He had the appearance of a man awaking from sleep. It was the sleep of death. Joseph then said: ‘Do you not believe that Jesus is the Christ?’ ‘I do, brother Joseph,’ was the response. Then the Prophet of God spoke with a loud voice, as in the majesty of the Godhead: ‘Elijah, I command you, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, to arise and be made whole!’ The words of the Prophet were not like the words of man, but like the voice of God. It seemed to me that the house shook from its foundation. Elijah Fordham leaped from his bed like a man raised from the dead. A healthy color came to his face, and life was manifested in every act. His feet were done up in … poultices. He kicked them off his feet, scattering the contents, and then called for his clothes and put them on. He asked for a bowl of bread and milk, and ate it; then put on his hat and followed us into the street, to visit others who were sick.

“The unbeliever may ask: “Was there not deception in this?” If there is any deception in the mind of the unbeliever, there was certainly none with Elijah Fordham, the dying man, nor with those who were present with him, for in a few minutes more he would have been in the spirit world, had he not been rescued.”

Scot

“ … As soon as we left brother Fordham’s house, we went into the house of Joseph B. Noble, who was very low and dangerously sick. When we entered the house, brother Joseph took him by the hand, and commanded him, in the name of Jesus Christ, to arise and be made whole. He did arise and was immediately healed. While this was going on, the wicked mob in the place … had become alarmed, and followed us into brother Noble’s house. Before they arrived there, brother Joseph had called upon brother Fordham to offer prayer. While he was praying, the mob entered, with all the evil spirits accompanying them. As soon as they entered, brother Fordham, who was praying, fainted and sank to the floor. When Joseph saw the mob in the house, he arose and had the room cleared of both that class of men and their attendant devils. Then brother Fordham immediately revived and finished his prayer. This shows what power evil spirits have upon the tabernacles of men. The Saints are only saved from the power of the devil by the power of God. This case of Brother Noble’s was the last one of healing upon that day. It was the greatest day for the manifestation of the power of God through the gift of healing since the organization of the Church.” (Chapter 14, “Remembering our Spiritual Heritage”
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-wilford-woodruff/chapter-14?id=p28-p53#p28 )

Maurine

So despite the malaria and the mobs, the Saints were going to build again. Why? The Lord commanded them to, yes, but why? The Saints are commanded to gather to build a temple. If you want to see clearly how critically important a temple is to the Lord, nothing is clearer on this than the early history of the Church. We have talked about how the Saints in Kirtland were asked to build a temple when there were only 150 of them living on hominy grits and without sufficient shelter. The first thing that happened in Independence, was the Lord designating the place for the temple site. In Far West, the cornerstones were laid for a temple. A temple site was chosen in Adam-ondi-Ahman. In every case, a temple was a priority, as important as survival. Clearly, the Lord’s endowment of priesthood power to the Saints in a temple is necessary for their survival and flourishing, and so they can fulfill their remarkable stewardship of preparing the world for the Lord’s Second Coming. These binding covenants are essential for our blessing and to live with God’s covenant power upon us.

That is no different today. Since April 2018, when Russell M. Nelson, became our prophet, 16 talks in General Conference have been given about the temple—and 10 of those were from him. Our prophet has announced 83 temples.

Scot

We cannot underestimate the power of the temple.

President Nelson said, “And to each of you who has made temple covenants, I plead with you to seek—prayerfully and consistently—to understand temple covenants and ordinances. Spiritual doors will open. You will learn how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God’s angels to attend you, and how better to receive direction from heaven. Your diligent efforts to do so will reinforce and strengthen your spiritual foundation. (Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation”, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2021/10/47nelson?id=p33#p33

Elder John A. Widtsoe wrote, “To the man or woman who goes through the temple, with open eyes, heeding the symbols and the covenants, and making a steady, continuous effort to understand the full meaning, God speaks his word, and revelations come. The endowment is so richly symbolic that only a fool would attempt to describe it; it is so packed full of revelations to those who exercise their strength to seek and see, that no human words can explain or make clear the possibilities that reside in temple service. The endowment which was given by revelation can best be understood by revelation.”

Maurine

The temple is a conduit to heaven, so, of course, they would build again. In Section 124, so much of what would be required in Nauvoo was laid out. New members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve were determined. The Saints were commanded to build the Nauvoo House, where guests could come, visit Nauvoo, and learn about the Saints, Joseph is commanded to send a proclamation to the world “to all the kings of the world and the four corners thereof” (vs. 3), but most important of all was the call to gather to build a temple.

We hear in Section 124, “And send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them: Come ye…For there is not a place found on earth that he may come to and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the priesthood” (vv. 26, 28).

Scot

“And verily I say unto you, let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein unto my people;

“For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times…

“If ye labor with all your might, I will consecrate that spot that it shall be made holy” (vv. 40, 42, 44).

This was a promise that the Saints took seriously. In August 1840 Joseph Smith announced to the Church members in Nauvoo that the time had come to build a temple, and then in January 1841, this revelation in Section 124 was given. William Weeks, who had been appointed architect and superintendent of the project was guided by Joseph Smith, who said, “I have seen in vision the splendid appearance of that building illuminated, and will have it built according to the pattern shown me.” (See David R. Crockett, The Nauvoo Temple: “A Monument of the Saints”  https://ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/NJ11.2_Crockett.pdf) When architect William Weeks brought him the plans, Joseph asked where the round windows were that should go 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.

Maurine

The temple was so important to them, that even as time went on and it was clear that persecutions might make it impossible to stay in Nauvoo, Brigham Young said at the Oct. 1845 conference, “I would rather pay out every cent to build up this place and receive an endowment, even were I driven the next minute without anything to take.”

But in 1841, they were just beginning, and the immediate challenge was to find the workforce and the means to take on this formidable challenge. As we have said, the Saints were lacking in numbers, skills and wealth, having recently been driven from Far West. Many battled daily looking for flour, milk, eggs and other food staples. Still the funds and workforce came from the church members in the form of two types of tithing. Members contributed their regular tithing on their increase—and sometimes this was in kind donations. They also donated one in every ten days to work on the temple.

Scot

Don F. Colvin, who has written a book called Nauvoo Temple: A Story of Faith said, “Louisa Decker records that her mother sold her best china dishes and a fine bed quilt to contribute her part. Many contributed horses, wagons, cows, grain, beef, pork, and other provisions for use by the temple workmen and their families. Workmen’s wages were in large part paid from those resources.

“Women unable to donate money or work on the building gave blankets, clothes, and other items, or spent their time knitting socks and mittens and making other clothing for the workmen. Some farmers contributed the use of teams and wagons. Others sold part of their land and donated the money to the temple.”

“In the April conference of 1844, the women’s Relief Society was called upon to participate in a special fund for purchasing nails and glass. The women were given the privilege of donating one cent per week or fifty cents per year. The call was to raise at least one thousand dollars by this method. By December nearly six hundred dollars had been collected, and by March 1845, just one year from when the challenge was issued, the full amount of one thousand dollars had been received. Women were then invited to continue their fund-raising efforts until the temple was finished.”

Maurine

Some of the individual stories of sacrifice are particularly stirring: Colvin reports: “Charles Lambert, a master workman and contractor in England, arrived in Nauvoo in the early part of 1844 as a convert to Mormonism. Showing his credentials, he applied for work at the temple. He recounted that Reynolds Cahoon of the building committee said, ‘If you can work we can do with your work but we have nothing to give you’. I replied sharply I have not come here to work for pay I have come to help build that house, pointing to the temple.’ Though many skilled workmen left for other employment because of lack of tithes to pay wages, Charles Lambert did not. Having no working clothes, since he had not worked as a tradesman for some time, he appeared for work in what he had worn while a contractor in England. He reported to the workshop in a good suit and a high silk hat, put on an apron, and commenced work. Generous with his labor, he later cut a capstone, “bought it, and when finished he gave the stone and labor free of all charges.” 

“William W. Player was the principal setter of stones on the temple, laboring on its walls from June 1842 until they were completed. As a new convert to the Church and apparently recruited by Church leaders, he had come from England with the full intention of working on the temple. During the fall and early winter of 1842, he continued at his post in spite of sickness and cold weather. Before work on the walls stopped for the winter season, he nearly lost the use of his hands and feet, and he fell several times on his way home because of fatigue and weakness. Highly skilled at his trade, he was also put in charge of the stoneworkers who built the stone baptismal font.” (https://rsc.byu.edu/nauvoo-temple-story-faith/means-materials-used-construction)

Scot

I love to give names to these unsung heroes. Many gave far beyond what was required: Joseph Toronto “was a native of Sicily and a recent convert to the Church, he had come to Nauvoo during the late spring of 1845. Upon arrival he heard strong appeals from Brigham Young and others for additional funds to build the temple. He responded by giving his life’s savings, which amounted to twenty-five hundred dollars in gold.” Notice that this is the spring of 1845, and in October conference of that year, Brigham Young would announce to the assembled Saints at conference that they would have to leave Nauvoo. And still they worked and sacrificed.

A time book kept from 13 June 1842 to 6 June 1846 shows just that level of sacrifice. In 1845 alone, when the Saints would spend the last months of that year simultaneously crafting wagons to leave, as they built the temple, there were still 602 registered people working on the temple for an average of 3.3 months each. “This record is only for the hired labor and probably does not include the entire workforce who are tithing their time.

They yearned for that temple where the Lord would give them what he had promised: “things which had been kept hid from the foundation of the world” and His sacred ordinances.

Maurine

Temple ordinances had first been given to some of the leaders in the upper room of Joseph Smith’s red brick store in May of 1842, but because he had a premonition of his coming death, his greatest desire was this: “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.’”

That was not to be and the temple was only about 9 feet high when he was murdered. The martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum temporarily slowed down construction, but Brigham Young was eager to see it completed, as commanded.


Why this yearning sense of urgency for Joseph to complete the temple? He gives his reasons. To the sisters of the Relief Society, he said, “The Church is not now organized in its proper order, and cannot be until the temple is completed.”  To the elders he had said, “You need an endowment, brethren, in order that you may be prepared and able to overcome all things.”

Scot

David R. Crockett wrote: “On 16 March 1845, Brigham Young expressed an urgency for the Saints to hasten their work on the temple. He promised the Saints that if they worked on the temple, they would be blessed—that the Lord would make it up to them when their crops were harvested. On the following day, 105 extra workers showed up to labor on the sacred building. On 24 May 1845, the walls were complete, and the capstone was ready to set into place.”

“On 5 October 1845, general conference was held in the temple. The windows were in, temporary floors laid, pulpits constructed, and seats brought in. Brigham Young dedicated the partially completed temple ‘as a monument of the Saints.’ The Church leaders announced that because of continued persecution, the Saints would soon vacate the city. Nevertheless, construction continued on the temple. The Saints were counseled to pay their tithing to raise desperately needed funds. Heber C. Kimball proclaimed: ‘I would rather go into the wilderness with a pack on my back . . . and have the temple finished than to go with my wagon loaded down with gold and the temple not finished.’

Maurine

Since the Church leaders decided to use the attic level of the temple to administer the temple ordinances before the Saints left Nauvoo, on 30 November, 1845, the attic level was dedicated. As he had done at the Carthage Jail, John Taylor sang the hymn which we associate with Joseph’s death, “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.” On the 10 December 1845, the first endowment services were administered in the temple, and on Feb. 4, the first Latter-day Saints began to line up on Parley’s Street to cross the Mississippi and leave Nauvoo. I can hardly imagine anything more poignant. Do we have words to express the courage and tenderness of a people who built wagons while they finished their temple?

Knowing they had to leave, when the conflicts heated up with their neighbors and they saw they had to abandon their homes, instead of stopping work on the temple, they stepped up their labors. At one point, Brigham Young said, “Such has been the anxiety manifested by the saints to receive the ordinances (of the Temple), and such the anxiety on our part to administer them, that I have given myself up entirely to the work of the Lord in the Temple night and day, not taking more than four hours sleep, upon an average, per day, and going home but once a week.”

Scot

Colvin reports, “On 2 January 1846, in the celestial room of the Nauvoo Temple, Brigham Young uttered these prophetic words: We can’t stay in this [temple] but a little while. We have got to build another house. It will be a larger house than this, and a more glorious one. And we shall build a great many houses. We shall come back here and we shall go to Kirtland, and build houses all over the continent of North America.

“On 2 February 1846, Brigham Young announced that temple ordinances would cease. When he came to the temple on the following morning, he found a large crowd of people seeking their ordinances. President Young was somewhat frustrated because he knew they had to leave Nauvoo before their enemies could intercept them. He told the brethren that it was not wise to continue, that more temples would be built in the future. He informed the crowd he was going to hitch up his wagons and start the journey west. He walked a small distance from the temple, hoping the crowd would disperse; but when he returned, he found the temple overflowing with people. Looking at the multitude and understanding their anxiety and thirst for knowledge, he decided to continue working in the temple for a few more days. The date of 7 February 1846 was the final day for temple ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple. Work had been performed around the clock for two days. About six hundred people received their ordinances on that final day. At least 5,615 Saints were blessed to receive their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple,” though that number varies according to the source.” (https://rsc.byu.edu/nauvoo-temple-story-faith/means-materials-used-construction)

Maurine

“Erastus Snow summarized the feelings of many as he testified: ‘The Spirit, Power and wisdom of God reigned continually in the Temple and all felt satisfied that during the two months we occupied it in the endowments of the Saints, we were amply paid for all our labor in building it.’

“Fourteen-year-old Elvira Stevens, orphaned in Nauvoo and traveling west with her sister and brother-in-law, crossed back over the Mississippi three times to attend the Nauvoo Temple dedication. The strong spiritual impressions she experienced in this sacred building had a lasting impact on her life. “The heavenly power was so great, I then crossed and re-crossed to be benefited by it, as young as I was.” 

“Nancy Naomi Alexander Tracy explained that it was as difficult to leave the temple as it was to leave her own home. Writing to her children, she declared: “Through all my sufferings I never doubted, but felt to cling to the gospel.” She went on to explain that the spiritual manifestations experienced in the Kirtland Temple and receiving her endowments in the Nauvoo Temple gave her the strength to endure. 

Scot

Construction workers continued their work on the temple, even though they knew it would be abandoned until it was completed and finally dedicated May 1, 1846. Colvin wrote, “During the weeks that followed, many families crossed the river to begin their trek to the West. With sad feelings, they stopped and gazed back for one last look at their city and temple. Luman Shurtliff recalled: ‘I turned my back to the west and took a last look at the Nauvoo Temple and its surroundings and bade them goodbye forever.’ Priddy Meeks earlier recorded the same experience: “While crossing a ridge, seven miles from Nauvoo, we looked back and took the last sight of the Temple we ever expected to see. We were sad and sorrowful.”… As Elder Wilford Woodruff departed, his thoughts were turned to the Lord in prayer. He wrote in his journal: ‘I left Nauvoo for the last time perhaps in this life. I looked upon the Temple and City of Nauvoo as I retired from it and felt to ask the Lord to preserve it as a monument of the sacrifice of His Saints.’”

The temple was preserved, but not in the exact way that Wilford Woodruff hoped. In 1848, Joseph Agnew, a resident of Nauvoo, not affiliated with the Church, awoke with an overwhelming desire to burn down the temple. The History of Hancock County describes the scene:

Maurine

“About 3 o’clock (in the morning) fire was discovered in the cupola. It had made but little headway when first seen, but spread rapidly, and in a very short period the lofty spire was a mass of flame, shooting high in the air, and illuminating a wide extent of country. It was seen for miles away. The citizens gathered around, but nothing could be done to save the structure. It was entirely of wood except the walls, and nothing could have stopped the progress of the flames. In two hours, and before the sun dawned upon the earth, the proud structure, reared at so much cost—an anomaly in architecture, and a monument of religious zeal—stood with four blackened and smoking walls only remaining.” {https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/content/museum/museum-treasures-nauvoo-temple-in-ruins-lithograph?lang=eng)

A tornado in 1850 finished the job. This meant that the temple, born of so much sacrifice and love, was saved from the desecration that was already happening. 

Scot

Perhaps this is why as President Hinckley arose at the end of General Conference in April of 1999 and announced that the Nauvoo Temple would be rebuilt, there was an audible gasp of joy and awe from the audience. If ever there was a symbol of a people’s heavenly yearning, this is it. All of our losses will be compensated for in the resurrection. Maurine and I attended that dedication for the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple June 27, 2002, and that morning in Nauvoo, I have never felt a stronger sense of Zion. The joy and union we felt with each person who passed us on the street were palpable. So this is heaven, I thought. When we sang during the first dedication in the Nauvoo Temple, and when the Tabernacle Choir sang to us, we could hear the angels joining them. It was as if the veil was dropped from our ears and we could hear that heavenly chorus. I wondered about all the people who were joining us that day, probably those very people who had sacrificed so much to build the Nauvoo temple. Perhaps they were angelic singers with us, all celebrating not just the restoration, but the resurrection of the Nauvoo temple. It’s a day we will never forget.

Maurine

That’s all for today and thank you so much for joining us. Have you told a friend about this podcast? Please do. Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this podcast. Don’t forget the new Kirtland Diary for Thoughts and Personal Revelation. It is a heritage and meaningful place to write what matters to you. Find it at latterdaysaintmag.com/Kirtland.

Next week we’ll be studying Sections 125-128, “A Voice of Gladness for the Living and the Dead.” We’ll see you then.