Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith
Prophet, Seer and Revelator

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Temple Work

After the dedication of the S t. George Temple, Brigham spent much of his time in the temple overseeing and participating in the ordinances. Brigham was sorry that his father had died before he could receive the blessings of the temple, and Brigham knew that he and his brothers and sisters were not sealed to their parents. Now the work could be done. By the time the entire temple was dedicated on April 6, 1877, Brigham had performed many of the ordinances for family members who were dead.


Brigham also dedicated temple sites in Manti, Utah, on April 25, 1877, and Logan, Utah, on May 18, 1877. He knew these would not be the only temples built on the earth. He said, “there will be hundreds of them [temples] built and dedicated to the Lord.”

Brigham told the people: “When I think upon this subject [temple blessings], I want the tongues of seven thunders to wake up the people.” “Our fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without them.”

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Saturday, September 17, 2011

St. George Temple

Brigham spent some of his winters in St. George, and Heavenly Father wanted him to build a temple there. The workers laid the foundation for the temple, but it kept sinking because there were springs of alkali (salty) water under the earth. Brigham had tons of black volcanic rocks from nearby mountains hauled in to make the foundation of the St. George Temple solid.


Brigham studied the temples in the Old Testament to make sure he was building the St. George temple as Heavenly Father wanted it. He asked his daughter, Susa Young Gates, to read to him about the tabernacle in Leviticus, and Solomon’s Temple in Chronicle and Kings. He made the baptismal font as near to the one in Solomon’s Temple as he could.7

The first level of the St. George Temple was dedicated on January 1, 1877. Brigham’s legs were so weak because of his rheumatism that he had to be carried into the room. During his speech he became so upset at the influence of Satan among the people that he struck the podium with his hickory cane, denting it so that the marks could still be seen years later. “I will never cease my preaching until Satan and his hosts are overcome,” he said.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Temple to stand through the Millennium

Brigham knew exactly how Heavenly Father wanted the Salt Lake Temple to be built because he saw it in vision. “I scarcely ever say much about revelations or visions, but


. . . I . . .see it [the temple] as plainly as if it were in reality before me.”

The granite used to build the temple was taken from Little Cottonwood canyon, twenty miles away. At first the workers used oxen and wagons to pull the blocks of stone. But some of the granite blocks were so large that took four days to drag them to the temple site. Brigham started to dig a canal so the granite could come by boat. But before the canal was finished, the railroad came to Utah so a rail line was laid to the quarry. It was much easier to bring the rock by rail car to the temple site.
Brigham was very particular about the construction of the Salt Lake Temple. When he found that the workers had put small shavings of granite in between the blocks of stone, rather than cement, he made them take it all out and start again so the building would be strong. He said, “This Temple is to stand throughout the Millennium.”

Later, Brother Truman O. Angell, the architect, told Brigham that they had forgotten to leave room to put chimneys up to heat the building. Brigham thought for a minute and then said to him, “When the time comes to heat it, there will be a way provided!”6 When the temple was finished in 1893 (40 years after it was begun), central heating had been developed, and the temple didn’t need chimneys.