in Salt Lake City was the first begun and the last finished. During its course of construction three other Temples were built by the Latter-day Saints, one at St. George, one at Logan, and one at Manti, Utah. Add to these the two earlier Temples—at Kirtland, Ohio, and at Nauvoo, Illinois—and we have six of these sacred structures already erected in the present and last dispensation of the Priesthood—the dispensation of the fulness of times.
It is not the purpose of the present chapter to consider in detail any particular Temple, either ancient or modern; but rather to show the essential and distinguishing features of Temples, and to make plain the fact that in both ancient and modern times the covenant people have regarded the building of Temples as a labor specifically required at their hands. From what has been said it is plain that a Temple is more than chapel or church, more than synagogue or cathedral; it is a structure erected as the House of the Lord, sacred to the closest communion between the Lord Himself and the Holy Priesthood, and devoted to the highest and most sacred ordinances characteristic of the age or dispensation to which the particular Temple belongs. Moreover, to be indeed a holy Temple—accepted of God, and by Him acknowledged as His House—the offering must have been called for, and both gift and giver must be worthy.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that it is the possessor of the Holy Priesthood again restored to earth, and that it is invested with Divine commission to erect and maintain Temples dedicated to the name and service of the true and living God, and to administer within those sacred structures the ordinances of the Priesthood, the effect of which shall be binding both on earth and beyond the grave.
