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A Young Folks' History of the Church

The next effort was at Nauvoo. This temple was begun April 6, 1841, and dedicated April
30th and May 1, 1846. You will remember how the Saints toiled to complete this
building. It was a large, beautiful structure, one of the finest in the west, and cost about
one million dollars. About two years after the Saints had left Nauvoo, the temple was
destroyed by fire.
The Salt Lake temple was begun in 1853, but while it was being built three others were
completed. The first of these is the St. George temple. It was begun the 9th of November,
1871, and dedicated April 6, 1877. The Logan temple was begun May 18, 1877, and
completed May 17, 1884. The corner stones of the temple at Manti were laid April 14,
1879, and the building was dedicated May 21, 1888. All these temples are beautiful
buildings, and many are the blessings the Saints have received in them.
Those of you who have not seen the Salt Lake temple may get a good idea of its beauty
by the picture. It is built of hewn blocks of gray granite, a hard, beautiful stone. It was
forty years in building. The last top stone on the towers, called the capstone, was laid
April 6, 1892. There were at least forty thousand people on the temple grounds on this
occasion. A platform had been erected on the south side of the temple, whereon the
authorities of the Church were seated. There were services of singing, prayer, and
speaking, and then President Woodruff touched a button which sent an electric current up
a wire to the top of the tower. The electricity set free the capstone which settled into its
place. President Lorenzo Snow led the vast audience in giving the grand Hosanna shout.
President Woodruff was anxious to live to see the completion of the temple. It was
therefore voted by the large audience present that the inside of the building be finished in
one year.
To accomplish this, means were donated liberally by the Saints, and the work went on
rapidly. On the 6th of April, 1893, the temple was completed, and on the morning of that
day the first meeting was held in the building. President Woodruff offered the dedicatory
prayer. In the afternoon another meeting was held, and this continued day after day until
thirty-one meetings had been held. Seventy thousand of the Saints witnessed the
dedication exercises, besides thirteen thousand Sunday School children, for whom special
services were held.
Some of you who read this book may have been in one of our temples. Did you not notice
what a calm, sweet feeling came over you while there? Surely, the Spirit of God is in
these sacred buildings, and those who labor therein for the living and the dead enjoy its
blessed influence. Let every one of you so live that your life may be pure and clean, so
that some day you may be worthy of entering the House of God and partaking of the
blessings in store for you.
Topics.—1. Salvation for the dead. 2. The temples. 3. Salt Lake temple.
Questions and Review.—1. What is salvation? 2. Is salvation limited to this life? 3. How
is salvation obtained? 4. Name some of the first principles of the gospel. 5. Name some
of its first ordinances. 6. What have some preachers of religion taught regarding
salvation? 7. What did the Lord reveal to Joseph Smith on this subject? 8. Where did
Jesus go while his body lay in the sepulchre? (I Peter 3:18, 20.) 9. What are some of the
uses of temples? 10. How many temples have been built by the Church? 11. Locate each.
12. Tell something about the Nauvoo temple. 13. Describe the Salt Lake temple. 14.
When was it dedicated? 15. What great blessings are to be had in a temple?