It is not the purpose of the present chapter to consider in detail any particular Temple, either ancient or modern; but rather to show the essential and distinguishing features of Temples, and to make plain the fact that in both ancient and modern times the covenant people have regarded the building of Temples as a labor specifically required at their hands. From what has been said it is plain that a Temple is more than chapel or church, more than synagogue or cathedral; it is a structure erected as the House of the Lord, sacred to the closest communion between the Lord Himself and the Holy Priesthood, and devoted to the highest and most sacred ordinances characteristic of the age or dispensation to which the particular Temple belongs. Moreover, to be indeed a holy Temple--accepted of God, and by Him acknowledged as His House--the offering must have been called for, and both gift and giver must be worthy. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints proclaims that it is the possessor of the Holy Priesthood again restored to earth, and that it is invested with Divine commission to erect and maintain Temples dedicated to the name and service of the true and living God, and to administer within those sacred structures the ordinances of the Priesthood, the effect of which shall be binding both on earth and beyond the grave. FOOTNOTES 1. In this connection it is interesting and instructive to consider the significance of the name _Bethel_, a contraction of _Beth Elohim_, as applied by Jacob to the place where the presence of the Lord was manifest unto him. Said he, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el." (Genesis 28:16-19; read verses 10-22.) 2. Exodus 36:7. 3. Hebrews 9:1-7; Leviticus chap. 16. 4. Exodus 25:22. 5. Exodus 40:34-38. 6. Joshua 18:1; see also 19:51; 21:2; Judges 18:31; I Samuel 1:3, 24; 4:3, 4. 7. I Chron. 21:29; II Chron. 1:3. 8. II Samuel 6:12; II Chron. 5:2. 9. II Samuel 7:2. 10. I Chron. 28:2, 3; compare II Samuel 7:1-13. 11. II Chron. 5:14; see also 7:1, 2, and compare Exodus 40:35. 12. I Kings 14:25, 26. 13. II Chron. 24:7. 14. II Kings 16:7-9, 17 and 18; see also II Chron. 28:24, 25. 15. II Chron. 36:18, 19; see also II Kings 24:13; 25:9. 16. Jeremiah 25:11, 12; 29:10. 17. Ezra, chaps. 1 and 2. 18. Ezra, chap. 6. 19. Ezra 3:12, 13. 20. Ezra 4:4-24. 21. Ezra 6:15-22. 22. Matt. 24:2; Mark 13:2; Luke 21:6. 23. See Book of Mormon, II Nephi 5:16. 24. See Book of Mormon, III Nephi 11:1. 25. See the author's "The Great Apostasy," chap. IX. 26. See the author's "The Great Apostasy," chap. X.