Dedicatory Prayer over the Northwest Cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple

By George Benjamin Wallace

Offered 6 April 1853

Righteous and merciful God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, we consecrate and dedicate this stone unto Thee, even the northwest corner stone which has been laid as part of the foundation of the Temple to be built unto Thy Great and Holy name.  We pray thee Oh God, to accept this offering from our hands, and may Thy peace and blessings be and abide ere, that this spot of ground may be holy unto Thee, and never to be polluted by those who are unholy or by any unclean thing.

May this foundation be firm as the foundations of the everlasting hills that cannot be moved, that the super structure which shall be reared upon it, may never be shaken; that the people may receive their blessing therein, to qualify them to pass through the veil into celestial happiness.

We pray thee, Oh Lord to let Thy peace be upon those who labor upon these works; may their hearts be inspired by the Holy Ghost, to realize that they are working to build a house to Thy name, that immortal beings may come and administer in the ordinances of salvation, and teach Thy servants things that are beyond the veil, to prepare them to enter into the rest which is prepared and promised to Thy Saints.  We pray Thee to cement this corner-stone in a bond of indissoluble union with the other three, that they may stand firm as the Eternal Priesthood, which has been given unto men, even Thy servants, that never can be moved out of its place, but will stand from this time henceforth and forever.  Bless the people that are gathered here this day; may it be to them a day long to be remembered.  Let Thy Spirit prevail in their midst, and let every heart be filled with unutterable new and precious, and rejoice in the Holy principles of the Gospel of God, that has been brought to light in this dispensation, by the administration of angels to the servants, even in the latter days.

Let our enemies be taken in their own snares and fall into the pit they dig for Thy people.  Let confusion come upon them.  May they be turned backward and have no power from this time and henceforth and forever, to prevail against the Saints and the Lord’s anointed.  Inspire the hearts of the servants that are scattered abroad among the nations of the earth and upon the islands of the sea; may their eyes be inclined toward us this day; and let their hearts be lifted up in their missions, and return them with honor to see the cap-stone of this Temple brought on with shouting grace unto it.

We now dedicate ourselves, our wives, our children, our flocks and herds unto Thee Oh God the Eternal Father, and pray Thee to accept of us in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Source: Journal of Discourses, vol. 2, 41-42.