Temples and Temple Work

My dear brethren and sisters: This is a surprise to me, to be asked to say a few words to you. I sincerely pray that God my eternal Father will bless the words I shall say so that they will be of truth and benefit not only to myself, but to you to whom I shall speak. ¶

It has been my privilege to serve the Church as a missionary four different times in different parts of the world. Each time I have responded to the call has brought joy and satisfaction and given me an increased testimony concerning the divinity of this great and mighty work. ¶

I have now been called into a new division of the Gospel of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ — to preside over the Logan Temple. It is a very important calling, one of trust and confidence and I appreciate it beyond measure. It is indeed a blessing. It is our aim, our objective, to beautify life both from a physical and a spiritual point of view. Inasmuch as my present calling has so much to do with the development of spirituality, I discover that it requires more concentration, more thought, more prayer and more humility to understand the significance of the saving graces of the Gospel of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. This temple work reaches back to the beginning of time and touches the life of every human soul and gives him an opportunity to embrace the Gospel. ¶

It has been my privilege during my entire life to associate with young men and women, and one of the joys connected with this association has been to witness the growth and development that take place in the hearts and the minds of these fine young men and women. Many of them are occupying positions of great responsi- ¶

bility in the wards and stakes of Zion. They are measuring up to their responsibilities in a way that not only brings them into great prominence, but also brings credit to the cause that they represent. I believe in the youth of our Church. I believe that the great majority of them who have been in the mission fields carry a testimony concerning the restored Gospel. ¶

We have had excursions of returned missionaries many times visiting the Logan Temple, doing work not only for themselves but their kindred dead. It is glorious indeed to meet them. It has been my privilege to marry many of them for time and for all eternity, and I am convinced that those who assume this obligation in the Temples of God and remain true and firm to the covenants they have made with their Eternal Father are fine members of the Church and are contributing to its development and growth. ¶

Gratitude, my brethren and sisters, is just a little more than thankfulness, and I often feel as I approach my Heavenly Father in prayer that I not only thank him for his goodness and the many manifestations of his blessings and for the benefits that have come to me from time to time, but there is also a deep feeling of gratitude that comes into my heart concerning my relationship to him. ¶

I know that this is the work of God. I know Jesus is the Christ, and that Joseph Smith was the instrumentality through which God operated in bringing to pass the saving graces of the Gospel in this day and time in which we live. I humbly pray that in our lives we shall be able to place such interpretations upon these precious truths that we shall always find ourselves upholding and sustaining those who have been called to lead this great work, President Grant and his counselors and the quorum of the Twelve, and all those who are leading the different wards and stakes of Zion. I leave my humble testimony, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶