The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and ModernTalmage, James E. (James Edward)
Religion
The House of the Lord: A Study of Holy Sanctuaries Ancient and Modern
Talmage, James E. (James Edward)
Latter Day Saint temples; Temples
_The Holy of Holies:_ The central of the three small apartments
connected with the Celestial Room,--situated therefore between the
Sealing Room for the Living and Sealing Room for the Dead,--is of
all the smaller apartments within the Temple walls by far the most
beautiful. Yet its excellence is that of splendid simplicity rather
than of sumptuous splendor. It is raised above the other two rooms
and is reached by an additional flight of six steps inside the
sliding doors. The short staircase is bordered {193} by hand-carved
balustrades, which terminate in a pair of newel-posts bearing bronze
figures symbolical of innocent childhood; these support flower
clusters, each jeweled blossom enclosing an electric bulb. On the
landing at the head of the steps is another archway, beneath which are
sliding doors; these doors mark the threshold of the inner room or Holy
of Holies of the Temple, and correspond to the inner curtain or veil
that shielded from public view the most sacred precincts of Tabernacle
and Temple in the earlier dispensations.
The floor is of native hard-wood blocks, each an inch in cross-section.
The room is of circular outline, eighteen feet in diameter, with
paneled walls, the panels separated by carved pillars supporting
arches; it is decorated in blue and gold. The entrance doorway and
the panels are framed in red velvet with an outer border finished in
gold. Four wall niches, bordered in crimson and gold, have a deep blue
background, and within these are tall vases holding flowers. The room
is practically without natural light, but it is brilliantly illumined
by a large electrolier and eight side clusters of lamps. The ceiling is
a dome in which are set circular and semicircular windows of jeweled
glass, and on the outer side of these, therefore above the ceiling, are
electric globes whose light penetrates into the room in countless hues
of subdued intensity.
On the south side of this room, opposite the entrance doorway, and
corresponding in size therewith, is a window of colored glass depicting
the appearance of the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ to the
boy Joseph Smith. The event here delineated marked the ushering-in of
the dispensation of the fulness of times. {194} The scene is laid in
a grove; the celestial Personages are clothed in white, and appear in
the attitude of instructing the boy prophet, who kneels with uplifted
face and outstretched arms. Beneath is inscribed the scriptures through
which Joseph was led to seek Divine instruction:
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all
men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."
And Below:
"This is my beloved Son, hear Him."
This room is reserved for the higher ordinances in the Priesthood
relating to the exaltation of both living and dead.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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