AUDIO CLIPS OF PRESIDENT HINCKLEY
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NAUVOO, ILLINOIS - Thousands of
Latter-day Saints gathered in this
Mississippi River community today
to participate in an historic service to
set in place the cornerstones
for the reconstruction of the Nauvoo Illinois
Temple.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, worldwide
leader of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, presided
at the event which marked the
beginning of stonework on the
exterior walls of the temple. Today's
service also commemorated the
cornerstone ceremony of the original Nauvoo Temple which took place here
159
years ago on 6 April 1841.
Local dignitaries and invited guests,
including Nauvoo Mayor Tom Wilson, attended along with a crowd of more
than
4,600 Church members and Nauvoo
townspeople.
In his opening remarks, President
Hinckley explained that Joseph Smith, first prophet and president of the
Church,
had given instructions for the
order of cornerstone placement: southeast, southwest, northwest, northeast
(a
clockwise rotation). The Prophet
Joseph also instructed that the First Presidency of the Church should lay
the first
stone with the other stones placed
by those designated by the First Presidency.
In accordance with those instructions,
President Hinckley, representing the First Presidency, officiated at the
southeast stone. After brief remarks,
he mortared-in the stone and offered a prayer, establishing an order of
events
followed in each of the corner
ceremonies.
An hymn sung by a choir of missionaries
from the Illinois Nauvoo Mission concluded the placement of the southeast
stone. All hymns sung in today’s
service were selected from those appearing in the Church’s first hymnal
compiled
by Emma Smith, wife of the Prophet
Joseph.
Bishop H. David Burton, Presiding
Bishop of the Church, directed the placement of the southwest stone with
assistance from Aaronic Priesthood
leaders of the Nauvoo First Ward: Bishop Merlin L. Reittinger, Teachers
Quorum
President Hans S. Smith and Deacons
Quorum President Jared M. Brown. Following remarks by Bishop Burton, all
assisted with the mortaring and
Bishop Reittinger offered the prayer. The missionary choir sang to complete
the
southwest corner ceremony.
Representing the Melchizedek Priesthood,
Nauvoo Stake President Durell M. Nelson officiated at the northwest
corner, assisted by President
Arthur Lee Noe of the Nauvoo First Ward Elders Quorum. President Nelson
gave
remarks, both local priesthood
leaders mortared-in the stone and President Noe offered the prayer. The
hymn was
sung by a choir of Church members
from the Nauvoo Stake.
At the northeast corner, President
Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,
presided
with the assistance of Elder David
B. Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Also assisting and representing
the Quorums of the Seventy were
Elder L. Aldin Porter and Elder Donald L. Staheli. President Packer gave
remarks,
all four general authorities participated
in mortaring the stone, Elder Porter offered the prayer and the Nauvoo
Stake
choir concluded the northeast
ceremony.
At the original cornerstone services
in 1841, the women of the Church presented the Prophet Joseph with an
American flag. As a remembrance
of that occasion, Nauvoo Stake Relief Society President Corey B. Hart presented
President Hinckley with an 1841
flag. Nauvoo First Ward Relief Society President Kathy J. Porter presented
the
Church leader with a current American
flag.
President Hinckley concluded today’s
services noting that the cornerstones of the temple should remind all
Latter-day Saints of the Savior
who was described by the Apostle Paul as "the chief cornerstone."
Weighing 1400 pounds each, the
four cornerstones set in place today came from a limestone quarry in Alabama.
The stones were cut in Idaho Falls,
Idaho, and finished in Salt Lake City. They represent the beginning of
a stone
sculpting project that is believed
to be one of the largest in recent history where every effort will be made
to replicate
the appearance of the original
Nauvoo Temple.
Participating in the ceremony was General Authorities of the Church; President
Gordon B. Hinckley, Presiding Bishop H David Burton, President Boyd K.
Packer, Elder David B. Haight, Elder L. Aldin Porter, Elder Donald L Staheli,
as well as local Church leaders and women of the
Church’s Relief Society. Four large stones were set in place, one at each
corner, beginning with the southeast corner of the temple.
The audience prior
to the ceremony.
Two choirs,
one made up of missionaries from the Nauvoo Mission and the other composed
of Church
members from the temple district, sang hymns chosen from the first hymnal
of the Church.
South west corner just before the ceremony.
The block upon which the temple sits is an active construction site, not
yet landscaped as it will be for the dedication
services which will likely occur sometime in February of 2002.
The fire of artillery, discharge of cannon,
a brass band and a formal procession formed the prelude of a ceremony on
6
April 1841 to set the four cornerstones of
the Nauvoo Temple a sacred structure for early members of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Now, 159 years later, this ceremony has been
repeated on a smaller scale. On 5 November 2000, four large cornerstones
have again be set for a temple in Nauvoo,
Illinois. The Temple will be constructed to appear almost as a replica
of
the original temple built on this same site
in the early 1840s. The ceremony took place on 5 November 2000, engendering
in
Latter-day Saints feelings of reverence toward
their Church’s history and the doctrines tied to temples.
"For Latter-day Saints who have their historical
roots in Nauvoo, whose ancestors helped build that first Nauvoo temple,
this ceremony will be a return to the past
and a celebration of the importance of temples today," says Glen M.
Leonard, Director of the Museum of Church
History and Art. "We look at Nauvoo as the temple where the fulness of
priesthood ordinances was first introduced.
So, to rebuild that temple is bringing us back to our real beginnings as
a
temple-building people."
Cornerstone-setting ceremonies have always
been a part of Latter-day Saint temples. For temples constructed in the
19th century, including the Church’s first
temple in Kirtland, Ohio, Church leaders set cornerstones at each corner.
For
subsequent temples, they adopted the practice
of setting a single fascial cornerstone as part of the temple’s
dedication once the temple was completed.
At the southwest corner, Presiding Bishop H.
David Burton hands the mortaring trowel to
President Jared M. Brown of the Nauvoo First
Ward Deacons Quorum.
President Gordon B.
Hinckley waves as he
arrives at the Nauvoo
Temple reconstrucition site
for 5 November 2000
cornerstone services.
Nauvoo Stake President Durell M. Nelson
speaks at the northwest corner.
President Hans S. Smith of the Nauvoo First
Ward Teachers Quorum applies mortar to the
southwest cornerstone of the Nauvoo Temple
with assistance from Elder Donald L. Staheli of
the Seventy while Nauvoo Stake President Durell
M. Nelson, left, and Nauvoo First Ward Bishop
Merlin L. Reittinger, right, look on.
Although he cannot walk or run, President Hans
S. Smith, leader of the Nauvoo First Ward
Teachers Quorum, doesn't let that slow him
down. He enjoys his service in the Aaronic
Priesthood.
President Gordon B. Hinckley and Elder David
B. Haight greet Church members at the
conclusion of the Nauvoo Temple cornerstone
service.
President of the North America Central Area,
Elder Donald L. Staheli mortars the northeast
cornerstone.
President Boyd K. Packer mortars the northeast
cornerstone while Elder David B. Haight and
Elder Donald L. Staheli wait to follow him.
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Fred Cote
Nauvoo Internet News