PLATE 41.—THE TABERNACLE—INTERIOR
A gallery thirty-six feet wide extends around the interior of the Tabernacle except at the west end, where the gallery gives place to the great organ and a terraced platform providing accommodations for Church officials and the choir. In the choir space, seats are provided for three hundred singers, with other seats for nearly as many more in the adjacent sections of the spacious gallery. The building, as a whole, affords seating room for nearly nine thousand persons, but audiences much larger than this have assembled on many occasions. The acoustic properties of the building are surprisingly good.
The great organ occupies nearly a thousand square feet of floor space, and towers to a height of forty—eight feet. The instrument is, in reality, a combination of five individual organs,—Solo, Swell, Great, Choir, and Pedal organs. To operate the bellows an electric motor of ten horse-power is employed and the air capacity is about five thousand cubic feet per minute. The instrument comprises one hundred and ten stops, and over thirty-six hundred pipes. The pipes range from a fraction of an inch to thirty-two feet in speaking length. This splendid instrument, which at the time of its construction was the largest organ in the country, is the product of local talent and all its wood-parts are of native material. The organ as it stands represents a cost of over one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
PLATE 42.—STATUE OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET
Life-size statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith are seen on Temple Block. On the front tablet of the pedestal supporting the bronze figure of Joseph, we read:
JOSEPH SMITH
THE PROPHET OF THE NEW DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. HE WAS BORN AT SHARON, VERMONT, ON THE 23RD OF DECEMBER, 1805; AND SUFFERED MARTYRDOM FOR THE WORD OF GOD AND THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS AT CARTHAGE, ILLINOIS, ON THE 27TH OF JUNE, 1844.
HIS VISION OF GOD
I SAW TWO PERSONAGES WHOSE GLORY AND BRIGHTNESS DEFY ALL DESCRIPTION. ONE OF THEM SPAKE UNTO ME AND SAID:
THIS IS MY BELOVED SON: HEAR HIM.
I ASKED WHICH OF ALL THE SECTS WAS RIGHT AND WHICH I SHOULD JOIN. I WAS ANSWERED I MUST JOIN NONE OF THEM; THEY WERE ALL WRONG; THEY TEACH FOR DOCTRINE THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN; I RECEIVED A PROMISE THAT THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL WOULD AT SOME FUTURE TIME BE MADE KNOWN TO ME.
THE BOOK OF MORMON
THIS BOOK WAS REVEALED TO HIM, AND HE TRANSLATED IT BY THE GIFT AND POWER OF GOD. IT IS AN INSPIRED HISTORY OF ANCIENT AMERICA, AND CONTAINS THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL. IT IS THE AMERICAN TESTAMENT OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH
JOSEPH SMITH RECEIVED DIVINE AUTHORITY THROUGH THE MINISTRATION OF ANGELS TO TEACH THE GOSPEL AND ADMINISTER THE ORDINANCES THEREOF. HE ESTABLISHED AGAIN IN THE EARTH THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST, ORGANIZING IT BY THE WILL AND COMMANDMENT OF GOD ON THE 6TH DAY OF APRIL, 1830.
HE ALSO RECEIVED COMMISSION TO GATHER ISRAEL AND ESTABLISH ZION ON THIS LAND OF AMERICA; TO ERECT TEMPLES AND PERFORM ORDINANCES THEREIN BOTH FOR THE LIVING AND THE DEAD; AND PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE GLORIOUS COMING OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO REIGN ON EARTH.