Remarks

I am sure that every Latter-day Saint who has heard the announcement made by President Woodruff, will feel thankful in his heart for that which the Lord has made manifest through him. The subject of adoption is one that has engaged the attention of the Saints, to a greater or less extent, for some time. It was revealed by Prophet Joseph that there is a principle of adoption by which one generation will be sealed t and connected with another, and in his words which have been read he foreshadows the welding together, by the principle of adoption, of the various dispensations. In a revelation that the Lord gave through him, He said: ¶

And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife, and make a covenant with her for time and for all eternity, if that covenant is not by me, or by my word, which is my law, and is not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, through him whom I have anointed and appointed unto this power—then it is not valid, neither of force when they are out of the world, because they are not joined by me, saith the Lord, neither by my word; when they are out of the world, it cannot be received there, because the angels and the Gods are appointed there, by whom they cannot pass; they cannot therefore, inherit my glory, for my house is a house of order, saith the Lord God. ¶

On this account, marriages of the children of men are only binding as between themselves while the covenant lasts. Our fathers made their covenants with our mothers for time, and when time ended our course the covenant and the union ended also. Now, the Holy Spirit revealed that this being the case, every man and woman, and every child born as the offspring of these unions, would stand separately, unless a new bond were formed. Without this should be done, there would be no binding link to unite woman to man and children to parents; for all the obligation and all the covenants had terminated; and, therefore, members of families would each stand separately, without any connection of a binding character between themselves. Of course, there was what we call the bond of blood existing; (there is no blood, however, in resurrected being) or, in other words, there was the bond that arose through kindred. That would remain. The Lord has taught us, however, that this is not all that is required; that there must be an authority exercised by which parents should be bound together, and then their children bound to them. We have been taught also that through the revelation of the Priesthood and its bestowal upon men, and the exercise of that Priesthood in sealing wives to husbands, the children begotten in these marriages are born, as we phrase it, in the covenant, that is, they are recognized by the Lord as legitimate children of the covenant, He having recognized the marriage of their parents, having given the authority to man on the earth to bind on earth, and that bond should be sealed in heaven. In this way the Latter-day Saints are being bound together in the new and everlasting covenant, wives being sealed to their husbands, and children, the offspring of these marriages, being born in the covenant, under the blessing and the recognition by the Almighty of the bond that exists between their parents Thus you see that there is a new order of things growing up among us. It is not necessary, where the parents are sealed together by the authority of the Holy Priesthood for time and for eternity, that their children should be adopted or sealed to them. They are legitimate heirs of the Priesthood and of the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant. But not so with those who have been born outside of this covenant. There has to be some ordinance performed in order to make them legitimate; and that ordinance, the Prophet Joseph revealed, was the ordinance of adoption: that is, the word covers the ordinance or law, although we do not use the word adoption when we seal children to parents; we call that sealing. But to illustrate the principle and explain the law, the word “adoption” is used. You will find it frequently in the scriptures, and it has become a subject among us that has been very much thought about; and every man and woman, who has wished to do all that is required of them in order to obtain all the blessings that can be had through obedience to the commands of God, has desired to understand something about this principle of adoption. ¶

We are told in the words that were read in our hearing that one dispensation must be linked to another, or, in other words, that the dispensations given to the children of men must be united; that we must all be united to our father Adam; that there must be a bond or union between us and our great parent and that will be done through the ordinance of adoption where children are not born in the covenant. ¶

Hence it is that it falls to our duty to trace our lineage; and, as has been beautifully explained this morning by President Woodruff, it is our duty to be sealed to our parents, that our lineage may be preserved; that we may preserve our families in direct descent, and trace them back, ascending lineally until we reach, if it be possible, our ancestors who held the everlasting Priesthood, and who were either born in the covenant or who were sealed to their parents under the law of adoption when the Priesthood was upon the earth. This has to be done by this generation and their successors. It is the labor devolving upon us as a people to perform this. The Prophet Joseph revealed this, but he died before it was fully explained. ¶

When President Young died, the St. George temple was the only one finished, and it had barely been dedicated when he passed away. There is not a doubt in my mind that, had he lived, his mind would have been directed to this great subject and he would have inquired of the Lord to know that which was right; for in the minds of many there has been a feeling of doubt in regard to this principle of adoption as it was being practiced among us. I well remember myself in my boyhood days that which President Woodruff has referred to—the spirit that was manifested by many at the dedication of the temple in Nauvoo when the ordinances were administered there. some men thought to build up kingdoms to themselves; and they appeared to think that by inducing men and women to be adopted into their families they were adding to their own glory. From that day until the present, I have never thought of this subject of adoption without having a certain amount of fear concerning it. ¶

There is nothing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that leads to disunion. There is no true principle of the Gospel that will produce division. There is no true principle of the Gospel that will separate this people and divide them. And this revelation that God has given to His servant, the President of our Church, removes all the danger which seemed to threaten us through an imperfect understanding of the manner in which the law of adoption should be carried out. ¶

To illustrate this point, let me suppose that the First Presidency of this Church were to seek to build up families for themselves from among this people, each one seeking to have men and women sealed to him in order that he might have a large following; and suppose each of the Twelve Apostles was to do the same; and suppose the High Priests and the brethren officiating in the temples were to do the same, what would be the result? You can see at once that in a little time we would be divided into tribes and clans, each having his own following, and each following looking to the man to whom they had been adopted for counsel and guidance, and in this way the governing authority of the Holy Priesthood in our midst would be divided and lessened. Who can not understand the danger there would be under such a condition of affairs? But how to obviate it, how to remove it so that it should no longer exist? God has removed it by making it plain that it is the duty of every man to be sealed to his father, where his father is not a man that has proved entirely unworthy. And when such a case arises—which will be very seldom—we have the man in our midst who has the keys of the Priesthood and unto whom this question can be submitted for him to decide what should be done. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I have this belief concerning us: that it was arranged before we came here how we should come, and through what lineage we should come. We were not born of the seed of Ham; we were not born of some questionable race; but, as the Lord has taught us in the eighty-sixth section of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, our Priesthood has been hid with God. That section says: ¶

Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the Priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers, ¶

For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God; ¶

Therefore your life, and the Priesthood hath remained and must needs remain through you and your lineage, until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. ¶

I am as convinced that it was predestined before I was born that I should come through my father as I am that I stand here. And if God chose to give to Wilford Woodruff’s father the honor of begetting him, and it was so arranged before they were born, who shall step in and deprive him of the honor which God gave to him, and give it to somebody else? Reflect upon it and you will see that it would lead to endless confusion if this were done. We would be broken up in families and in our lineage, and there would be no distinction, consequently it would result in great confusion. Paul says, “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him; in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” I believe we were predestined to come here. I believe that it was arranged that we should come here as we have done. No doubt when we trace our ancestors back, we will find that they trod in muddy places. We shall find that there was wickedness among them. There can be little doubt about this, because they were human beings; they were exposed to temptation and to sin. Nevertheless, that was the arrangement, and when we meet with cases about which there will be question, we can then inquire of the Lord concerning them, and whether it would be right to continue the sealing of the children to the, and through them to somebody else or whether there shall be a break in the link; for we shall all be linked together as a chain. One generation will be linked to another by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood until we get back to the earth, and when the authority to administer these ordinances was among men in former times. ¶

Another thing that what we have heard today will effect. There has been a disposition manifested among our people, to some extent, for some men and women to gather up all the names of families they could find, whether they were related or not, and perform ordinances for them. I am a believer in this when it does not interfere with the rights of heirship. We should do all we can for those for whom we have friendship, or to whom we are attached in any way, and who have no living representatives that we know of in the Church. But you can see the advantage of pursuing now the course that is pointed out by the word of God to us. It will make everyone careful to obtain the connection, and to get the names properly of the sons and of the daughters of men, to have them sealed to their parents. It will draw the line fairly. It will define the lineage clearly. “But,” says one, “that may take a long time.” Well, we have got a thousand years to do it in. We need not be in such a hurry as to create confusion. The Lord will give us time enough to do it all; and when we have gone as far as appears possible, He will give to us opportunities that, at the present time, we are ignorant of; and we will find that everything will be made plain, and each man will trace his genealogy clear back, and we will know our connection, and what to do in relation to these matters, for the Lord will reveal it to us. ¶

My brethren and sisters, suppose that each of us should seek some great man in the Church to be sealed to. For instance, we would like to be sealed to the President of the Church, because it would be a great honor to be adopted to him, and we think, “well, that man is much better than my father. I would rather be adopted to him than to be sealed to my father. I do not think very much of my father or my mother.” Now, I think, when we feel that way, that we are, to a certain extent, despising the arrangement which the Lord has made. We should not despise our origin. On the contrary, we should seek to preserve it, and honor those who have given us birth. ¶

It always has seemed to me, in reflecting upon this, that the Prophet Joseph honored his father who begot him; yet Joseph was the man chosen by the Almighty to stand at the head of the entire people of this dispensation. We all have to look to him. Every Apostle, and every great man in the Church, must of necessity turn his eyes towards the Prophet of God, whom He chose to lay the foundation of this work. You don’t find anything in Joseph’s life nor in his history, as it is recorded, that would give the least idea that he thought himself of so superior a nature that he could not honor his father and mother. In fact, I remember well the Prophet, in speaking about the sepulchre that he had prepared near the temple block, describing the joy that he would have in rising from the dead and striking hands with his father and with his kindred, and how delighted he would be to come up in the resurrection and grasp them by the hand. That spirit attended him in all his allusions to his kindred, to his father and mother especially. There is no doubt in my mind that the Prophet Joseph would be sealed to his father. He will honor his father and his mother. He will be sealed to them, and they and their lineage will doubtless be connected with him by the sealing ordinance as the head of this dispensation. They will have to be connected with him by some link or bond that will be created, if it does not already exist, as we all will be connected with him because he is the head of the dispensation. But as a son he will be connected with his parents; he will honor his parents; and in his turn he will be honored by his ancestry and all who come within the range and under the jurisdiction of this dispensation. All such will necessarily be sealed by some bond to the Prophet Joseph. In this way we shall all be united; and there can be no question on our part as to the propriety of being all connected with Joseph, carrying up every lineage directly as far as we can, and then linking them on to the head of the dispensation. There need be no jealousy then. There need be none to say, “Well, I am sealed or adopted to a greater man than you. I am adopted to Joseph, or to Brigham, or to John Taylor, or to Wilford Woodruff, or to this man or the other man.” There will be no need to pride and plume ourselves on the fact that we are adopted to these various men, and thus divide the people asunder in their feelings, creating to a certain extent a feeling of rivalry which does not belong to the gospel of the Son of God. Every man that reflects upon it can see that this revelation which God has given through His servant Wilford Woodruff removes that danger out of our pathway and prepares danger out of our pathway and prepares us to go forward and honor our kindred and do everything we can for their salvation, concentrating our feeling upon our ancestors, and not upon somebody else’s ancestors. In thus honoring our parents we also observe that ancient law which was given by God to the children of Israel, and which has such a great blessing attached to it: ¶

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. ¶

Why should a man come to one of the Apostles and be sealed to him and then trace his genealogy through him and his ancestors, and neglect his own? There have been some cases of adoption, I suppose, where the parties have not felt clear in their minds concerning this. This light, however, that we now have clears it all up and makes it plain; and we can see and understand it. ¶

God bless you, in the name of Jesus, Amen. ¶