A canvas "tabernacle" planned to be erected near the Nauvoo Temple, though never completed, was a prototype for the Salt Lake Tabernacle, said President James E. Faust of the First Presidency during the Saturday afternoon session.

Copyright Intellectual Reserve

President James E. Faust of the First Presidency speaks during the Saturday afternoon session about meetinghouses in Church history.

After recounting personal experiences of being baptized in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and attending general priesthood meeting there with his father, President Faust turned his remarks to the Church's first gathering places.

"In the early days of the Church, the only two buildings built specifically for worship were the temples in Kirtland and Nauvoo. Both were built according to revelation. The first recorded Church-constructed building designated as a meetinghouse was also intended to be used as a schoolhouse. It was built of logs in Missouri in 1831.

"By the time the Kirtland Temple was dedicated in 1836 it was already too small to hold all the Saints who wanted to attend the dedication. The Prophet Joseph Smith regretfully recorded that the building would not accommodate more."

While the Nauvoo Temple was also designed with assembly rooms, like the one in Kirtland, before it was completed meetings of members were held outside near the temple site, said President Faust, noting, "Sometimes thousands attended those meetings."

While the outdoors was sufficient for large gatherings, the members often had to suffer extreme weather. President Faust cited an account by President Joseph F. Smith who remembered attending, as a young boy, the outdoor meetings. He recalled during a rainstorm someone holding an umbrella over Joseph Smith as he spoke, while the congregation became annoyed and disagreeable sitting uncovered. But, President Smith remembered, "though but a little boy, that there was no one went away from the ground while he spoke."

Then President Faust said, "Before his death, the Prophet Joseph Smith directed that a canvas tabernacle be built to shelter the Saints during large meetings."

Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve was sent to the East to raise funds and buy about four thousand yards of canvas for the project.

President Faust quoted from a letter written by Elder Hyde: "It is intended to erect a tabernacle of canvass in front of, and joining the Temple on the west. The form of this tabernacle will be that of an ellipse; ... The area of its base will be sufficient to contain eight or ten thousand persons; its seats will gradually rise one above another in the form of an amphitheater."

That tabernacle was never built, as persecution forced the Saints to leave Nauvoo. President Faust noted that Elder Hyde loaded the canvas for the journey west and it was likely used for tents and wagon covers.

"The finished Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City," President Faust said, "has dimensions roughly similar to the canvas tabernacle contemplated for Nauvoo, and like the proposed Nauvoo tabernacle it is also situated just west of the temple. As with other matters, such as the great migration to the west, Joseph Smith envisioned a Great Tabernacle; and Brigham Young made it a reality."

Inspiration such as that to build the Tabernacle has also led to such developments as radio and satellite broadcasts to take the Church's message to members worldwide, according to President Faust.

He said, "I testify that the Lord will continue to reveal through His prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, the ways and means to meet the needs of all members in an ever-growing Church."