“A Hundred Years, and 28 Million Ordinances, for the Logan Temple,” Ensign, Aug. 1984, 79–80
A Hundred Years, and 28 Million Ordinances, for the Logan Temple
Stone by carefully dressed stone, beam by lovingly shaped beam, the Logan Temple took shape one hundred years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, recalled. “Those early craftsmen did it all by hand,” he told the young people in his audience. “And they did it for you.”
He spoke at a fireside for youth on “Celestial Saturday,” the first day of a week of events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Logan Temple, dedicated 17 May 1884 by President John Taylor.
A month of special commemorative events had kept the temple on the minds of people in the Logan area. But that Saturday, May 12, began a week of activities culminated by a centennial commemoration service May 17 at which President Ezra Taft Benson of the Council of the Twelve spoke, along with several other General Authorities.
At the May 12 Youth Temple Fireside in the Spectrum on the Utah State University campus, President Hinckley spoke to more than nine thousand young people from fourteen to twenty-four years of age. He told them that the struggles the early Saints went through in building the nearby temple “have touched my heart.
“They did it so you could be married at the right time to the right companion in the right place,” he continued.
“The greatest insult you could give those who sacrificed so much in your behalf would be to fail to take advantage of temple blessings. You owe it to them to live for those blessings. Pray for them. Be worthy of them. Accept nothing less than the full blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
He told the youth that there is a “price of personal worthiness” to pay in order to enter the temple; those who are worthy to enter must shun immorality, dishonesty, and abuse of the body, and they must faithfully pay their tithes and support Church leaders. But the price is worth it because “there is no greater gift than that promised those who enter the House of the Lord.”
Elder Robert B. Harbertson, recently called to the First Quorum of the Seventy and formerly a Regional Representative in the Logan area, urged the young people to be 100 percent Latter-day Saints, and not “fifty-fifty” about serving a mission or marrying in the temple. “Stay strong. Don’t let anything stand in your way to being totally committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Speaking to a capacity crowd of adults who attended the centennial commemoration service May 17 in the Spectrum, President Benson said, “I pray you will teach your children the blessings of the House of the Lord.”
He promised that if children are taught about the temple, it will continue to be a symbol of righteousness to them, and a reminder that God intends families to be eternal. He said that many parents hesitate to talk about the temple because of the sacred nature of the ordinances which take place there. He emphasized, however, that parents should teach the importance of the temple ordinances to their children. “Proper understanding will immeasurably help the youth with a desire to go to the temple,” he counseled.
“The fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood is found only in the temple,” he explained, reviewing how the blessings of this fulness descended from Adam, the first to have them. But, because of apostasy, these blessings had to be restored through the ministrations of heavenly messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple. “Now, when our children obey the commandments and enter the temple and are married, they enter into the same order of the priesthood as had Abraham, and it gives them the same blessings.”
He promised those in attendance that as they attend the temple, they will receive the blessings of Elijah and will love their families more than ever. “God bless modern Israel with the desire to receive all blessings in the temple,” he said.
Elder Marion D. Hanks, of the First Quorum of the Seventy and president of the Salt Lake Temple, told the audience they must avoid demeaning, worldly things and seek the spiritual growth that is to be found in the temples. “The temple is a refining, uplifting, and holy influence,” he said, quoting Psalms 65:4: “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.” [Ps. 65:4]
He told of a recent day in the temple when a young returned missionary was asked to aid an older man. Both grew through the experience. “That is what temples are all about,” Elder Hanks commented. “It’s love.”
Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone of the First Quorum of the Seventy referred to a comment by a stake president to President Harold B. Lee, made after President Lee had gazed at the Manti Temple with its lights reflecting on the winter snow around it: “The temple is never more beautiful than in times of storm,” he had said.
In a time of great trials, Elder Featherstone said, the temple is a haven from the world, a reminder that God is “not an absentee God” and that “we are just a whisper away from heaven.”
Elder Hugh W. Pinnock of the First Quorum of the Seventy reviewed some of the “almost unbelievable” events that have taken place on earth in the century since a group of humble Saints saw the Logan Temple dedicated. Through all the advances in space travel, medicine, communication, and computerization, the temple stands as a “silent and dramatic reminder of what really matters—family, God, and how we treat others.”
During the one hundred years of the Logan Temple’s existence, more than twenty-eight million ordinances have been performed there.