Not far from the "land of Cumorah," in a quiet, peaceful setting across the U.S.-Canadian border in metropolitan Toronto, the Church's 44th operating temple was dedicated Aug. 25-27.
The gleaming white Toronto Ontario Temple, situated on a 10-acre site separating the rural from the residential in northeast Brampton, will serve Latter-day Saints in six Canadian provinces and parts of five U.S. states.The temple district includes Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and part of Ontario in Canada, and parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont in the United States.
It is a temple district rich in history of the founding events of the Restoration. Total LDS membership in the district is about 60,000.
A cornerstone ceremony and 11 dedicatory sessions were held during the three days. The dedicatory prayer was given in every session, with each session regarded as being equal in significance. Presiding over the dedication were President Gordon B. Hinckley and President Thomas S. Monson, first and second counselors in the First Presidency, respectively.
They, along with 27 other speakers including 21 General Authorities, spoke to the more than 17,000 faithful members who attended.
President Ezra Taft Benson, who commemorated his 91st birthday Aug. 4, did not attend the dedication because of his age and long distances to travel. He asked his counselors to proceed with the dedication of the temple, which is located about 20 miles from downtown Toronto.
Because of various nationalities of the members living in the temple district, the dedicatory sessions were translated into six languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean.
For President Monson it was a homecoming of sorts. He served as mission president in Toronto from 1959-62, and in many of the sessions in which he spoke he reminisced about experiences in serving in that position and told of some of the early development of the Church in the area and the people who played significant roles in that development.
Two other General Authorities who participated in the temple dedication also served as mission presidents in the area. Elder Boyd K. Packer served as president of the New England Mission, which included the Maritime provinces of Canada, from 1965-68; and Elder M. Russell Ballard was president of the Canada Toronto Mission from 1974-1976. Several other General Authorities and two auxiliary presidents who participated were born in Canada.
In conducting the first session, President Hinckley said, "The temple is the most sacred spot on earth." Many of the speakers during the dedicatory sessions spoke of the covenants made in the temple by Church members.
"The real test of our love for this house," he said in the second session, "lies in the use of it. It isn't built as a monument, but it is dedicated to be used."
In the session, primarily for French-speaking members of Quebec, President Hinckley said, "I have discovered that language is beautiful when it is used to express a love of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the eternal gospel which has come to us through the revelations to Joseph Smith."
He said he had been thinking of Moroni, a gold-leafed statue of whom adorns the 105-foot spire of the temple. The Angel Moroni appeared to the young Joseph Smith in upstate New York, not far from where the temple stands.
Referring to the events of Sept. 21, 1823, when Moroni said to Joseph that his name would "be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues," President Hinckley declared:
"What a promise given to a young boy who was unschooled and unlearned in the things of the world.
"Your presence here," President Hinckley told those attending the session, "is a fulfillment of those marvelous and remarkable words of prophecy." He said Joseph Smith became an instrument in the hands of God to usher in the dispensation of the fulness of times . . . "the greatest dispensation in the history of mankind, the great time of salvation for the people of the earth."
He said the many significant events in the Church since its restoration 160 years ago "foreshadow greater and more marvelous things to come."
"What we do today will go on growing and blossoming to the degree that those of generations to come will look back at our day and say it was a time of beginning," said President Hinckley.
In another session, President Hinckley said, "The temple stands as a testimony to all the world that we believe life after death is as real, as positive, as certain as this mortal life. Everything in this building speaks of eternity."
President Monson, in speaking in the first session, said, "We're close to heaven on this glorious occasion," and referred to the dedication of the temple "as a capstone event."
"This is a day of thanksgiving as well as a day of dedication," he declared.
President Monson, in the first session, spoke just before the dedicatory prayer was given by President Hinckley. "Our treasure, the beautiful Toronto Ontario Temple," said President Monson, "will now be dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ as an expression of our love, token of our gratitude and feelings of our hearts."
In another session, President Monson spoke of opportunity for service in the Church.
"When we come to the temple let us come with the spirit of prayer, with the spirit of inquiry, with the spirit of acquiescence to the Spirit of the Lord and He will give us the power to fill any position that comes to us. He who the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies," declared President Monson.
Continuing, he said, "In our day of affluence in our homes we have many rooms for every purpose. May we have room for Christ and may we have time for Christ."
In another session, President Monson paid tribute to the early Church pioneers in the Toronto area "for they surely established the foundation for this work." He spoke of those who joined the Church as a result of missionary efforts, and said, "I think there has not been a convert in Toronto and these environs who has not had an overwhelming desire to share the truth which they've found.
"Each of you is a miracle, for conversion to the gospel is miraculous for the person who has felt the burning in his bosom and has been witness to the truth."
President Monson continued, "We're here in the temple for families are meant to be forever. We make covenants and by living true to those covenants we can live together forever as a family.
"This temple," he said, "can make our tomorrows gloriously bright as they certainly will be with family and friends."
Before its dedication, the temple was open to the public. A total of 61,285 people visited during the 16-day open house, reported C. Malcolm Warner, vice chairman of the Temple Committee and a regional representative. He said that 30-40 percent of the visitors were estimated to be non-members. "These represented people who had a real interest and desire to go through the temple," he said.
From those who visited during the open house, he said, 6,044 referrals were generated, many of whom "are considered to be golden referrals."
Many of the referrals are from the Brampton Ontario Stake, the stake in which the temple is located. Stake Pres. Alex G. Barclay said the full-time missionaries in the stake would pair off with stake missionaries and follow up on the referrals. He said the stake high council meeting on Sept. 11 would be devoted to working with the missionaries in calling upon the referrals.
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(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Speakers at dedication of Toronto temple
First Presidency: President Gordon B. Hinckley and President Thomas S. Monson.
Council of the Twelve: President Howard W. Hunter, Elders Boyd K. Packer, Marvin J. Ashton, L. Tom Perry, James E. Faust, Neal A. Maxwell, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, M. Russell Ballard, Joseph B. Wirthlin and Richard G. Scott.
Presidency of the Seventy: Elders Dean L. Larsen and James M. Paramore.
First Quorum of the Seventy: Elders Ted E. Brewerton, F. Enzio Busche, Jacob de Jager, W. Eugene Hansen.
Second Quorum of the Seventy: Elders Robert K. Dellenbach, Gerald E. Melchin and Alexander B. Morrison.
Presiding Bishopric: Bishop Glenn L. Pace.
General officers: Sisters Elaine L. Jack, Relief Society general president; and Ardeth G. Kapp, Young Women general president.
Toronto temple: Pres. Arnold N.P. Roberts and Sister Audrey D. Roberts, temple president and matron; Presidents Gordon F. Finnigan and Hans Peets, counselors in temple presidency.