Remarks

Beloved hearers: I have greatly rejoiced with you during the sittings of this Conference, yesterday and this morning, in the very precious instructions that have been given to us. I realize that they have been the dictation of the Holy Ghost unto us, and my soul has been feasted therewith. We have had a blessed variety of instructions given to us, of many things both temporal and spiritual. ¶

Inasmuch as you are in the habit of raising up your hands twice a year to sustain me as the historian of the Church, and are liable to be called upon to do the same thing again before this conference closes, I feel impressed with the importance of presenting to you some thoughts for consideration which appertain to that part of the labor in which I am engaged—that of historian. There is a great work devolving upon God’s people in their daily life in the organization which has been set forth to us this morning. an important feature of that work is the keeping of the sacred records of the Church. This involves something more than is generally contemplated by those who are called to be clerks, secretaries and recorders in the Church. I wish to call the attention of this congregation to a consideration of this subject a few minutes this morning, but before proceeding further I desire to read a few sentences of sacred writ, beginning with Genesis, second chapter and 4th verse: ¶

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the Heavens.” ¶

Pearl of Great Price, edition 1888, page 7: ¶

“The Lord spake unto Moses saying, behold I reveal unto you concerning this heaven and this earth; write the words which I speak.” ¶

Page 26: ¶

“And then began these men to call upon the name of the Lord, and the Lord blessed them, and a Book of Remembrance was kept, in the which was recorded, in the language of Adam, for it was given unto as many as called upon God to write by the spirit of inspiration; and by them their children were taught to read and write, having a language which was pure and undefiled. ¶

Now this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall be in the end of the world also. Now this prophecy Adam spake, as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost, and a genealogy was kept of the children of God. And this was the book of the generations of Adam.” ¶

Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam, who lived and built the City of Zion, has left on record the following, page 31: ¶

“The heavens he made; the earth is his footstool, and the foundation thereof is his. Behold he laid it, an host of men hath he brought in upon the face thereof. And death hath come upon our fathers; nevertheless we know them, and cannot deny, and even the first of all we know, even Adam. For a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God; and it is given in our own language.” ¶

These extracts which I am now reading are from a Revelation which the God of Heaven has given us through the Prophet Joseph Smith, which he received soon after the organization of the Church in 1830, and which are found in the Pearl of Great Price. I quote from the latest edition published in 1888, in this city. ¶

Further scripture concerning this superlatively important subject may be found on pages 121 and 538 of the Book of Mormon. The Lord said to Nephi about 550 years before His incarnation, Book of Mormon, 2nd Nephi, chapter 29, verses 11-12: ¶

For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the Islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books that shall be written, I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written. For behold I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it, and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it: and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the House of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it. ¶

In fulfillment of His promise that He would speak unto the Jews and that they should write it, we have that precious book the Bible. His promise to speak to the Nephites and that they should write it, is also fully made manifest in the coming forth of the plates containing the Book of Mormon. ¶

With a fulfillment of these prophecies so perfectly before us, we may with entire confidence expect the fulfillment of that part which relates to the tribes of Israel which He has led away, and also that which relates to all nations of the earth. ¶

Again on page 538: ¶

Behold all things are written by the father, therefore out of the book which shall be written, shall the world be judged. ¶

In most beautiful harmony with the foregoing does the Prophet Malachi say, chapter 3.16: ¶

Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. ¶

From the word of God we see that in the early ages of the world, soon after its creation, that wonderful Prophet Enoch was deeply impressed with the importance of a “Book of Remembrance,” being kept in which was contained the record of the generations of Adam. ¶

Not only were Enoch and his contemporaries interested in this, but it appears that the Lord was interested, and probably commanded it to be done, for the Prophet states that to as many as called upon God it was given to write by the spirit of inspiration, and by this spirit of inspiration in their parents they were taught to read and write the pure and perfect language which God had given to their great father Adam, so that they kept a genealogy of the children of God; and this was the Book of Generations of Adam. ¶

That it was the design, purpose and commandment of God that a good faithful record of Adam’s descendants should be kept is unquestionably true, seeing that the greatest of all the antediluvian Prophets has left on record that “a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God.” ¶

Having now obtained some slight idea of the significance attached to record keeping in ante-diluvian times, let us see if the people since the flood have entertained similar ideas on this important subject. ¶

Noah gives us no account of having preserved a history of the creation or of the Church organization, building of Enoch’s city, Zion, and its translation, nor of the persecutions of the righteous by the wicked during that time, but the following from Abraham, the friend of God and father of the faithful, who lived in the tenth generation, about 400 years after the flood, has found its way down to us. ¶

He says, pages 45-50: ¶

“I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness; * * * and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers; it was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundations of the earth to the present time, even the right of the first-born, on the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me. ¶

“I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed.” ¶

By this latter paragraph we are informed that Patriarch Abraham was not only interested in his genealogy, but was very anxious to learn, insomuch that he sought diligently and found out the right of the first man, who is Adam or first father, through the fathers unto him. Any one desiring it can read a list of the first fathers or patriarchs in Doctrine and Covenants, section 107, paragraphs 40-57, giving the list from Adam to Methuselah, the grandfather of Noah. ¶

Abraham further says that the record of the Patriarchs concerning the right of the Priesthood, the Lord preserved in His own hands. ¶

Now, how did he come by the record which gave him the knowledge of his right to the Priesthood? Undoubtedly it was brought by Noah in the ark through the flood. Other history informs us that Abraham spent a number of years of his early life with Noah and Shem, and was taught by them in all the knowledge of God and His works. Thus whatsoever knowledge Noah and Shem were possessed of or whatsoever records they brought through the flood in the ark, all this was available, no doubt, to Abraham, and he being a believer in the Almighty God, became a man of such extraordinary faith that nothing could be required which was too great for him, and so he became the father of the faithful, and the friend of God. ¶

I have read these portions of scripture that we may get the subject of keeping records and or writing history, especially sacred history, before our minds for consideration. Since the temples have been constructed and the ordinances therein began to be administered, our people have obtained a better understanding of the importance of keeping family records, family history and genealogy, than before. We have had one among us who has seen from the early days of the Church the necessity of this and has entertained the subject with great interest, and perhaps with as great importance as anyone could when there was so little necessary use for the same, and that is our worthy President Woodruff. He has from the beginning of his public career kept a journal and a history, and we are indebted in a great measure to his exertion, together with that of some others, for many great and powerful sermons which the Prophet Joseph delivered in the city of Nauvoo. We are indebted, I say, to his records and his efforts for very many of these precious truths that we have now on the page of history to enrich ourselves with some of the most important matters pertaining to the most sacred council that were instituted by the Prophet Joseph are thus brought down to our present time, and by them we are made the happy recipients of many blessings and ordinances. In later times we have been limited in our efforts to write up the history of the Church, because of our records being in a scattered condition, and because of our not having yet obtained the historical items necessary from the more distant portions of the Church. We have had Brother Jenson visiting from ward to ward, from stake to stake, from mission to mission, gathering up the early history of the founding of the settlements in Utah and the surrounding territories. He has been with you, learned of your condition, and has gathered up what information he could get necessary for a faithful history of all the stakes of Zion, so far as we know. Through his report to me as historian, I am informed that there are wards organized and going on for quite a length of time, that have no semblance of any record kept among them. To this fact I wish to call the attention not only of the presidents of quorums and councils and the heads of families, but of all the people and I wish them to know and understand that in time they were turning their minds upon this subject. They should keep more carefully the Church records while they also institute family history. You that have been in the Church many years and are raising up sons and daughters around you, should teach and instruct them in this matter, and impress them while in their schoolboy days to keep some notation of all their general doings in the earth, keep an account of themselves. I know they will feel just as you and I felt: what is the use of writing that I went to Brigham Young Academy to learn? What is the use of telling that I went off a couple of years to the South on a mission, or to England, or anywhere else? It may seem of small moment to them now; but when your sons are old, their hair white, and they look back upon half or three-fourths of a century of experience, perhaps a Bishop, president of Stake, founder of a colony or president of a Temple, then they would give a treasure for a faithful record of the experience they had passed through, who they had blessed, baptized, confirmed, ordained, and in what countries and languages they had done it. It is time that these brethren who are bald and gray with age were instituting this order of things in their households, that they, as the heads of their families, their tribes or their generation, may establish a history that shall go down to the generations after them. Subsequent generations will want to know what part their father, their grandfather or their great-grandfather took in establishing this Church—if he was a High Priest, and Elder, a president of a stake, a Bishop or a Bishop’s counselor, or held any other office in the Priesthood. He ought not only to keep an account of this for his own present benefit as long as he endures, but also see to it before he departs that he leaves a good record of the events of his life to his kindred—of the work that he has performed in the Temples and of the missions that he has fulfilled—that it may go down to his children, that they may realize that they are under obligations to him for the blessings of the Gospel that he has caused to descend upon their heads to establish them in the midst of God’s people in the last days. I request you, my brethren the Bishops, that you look carefully after the interests of your people in this regard; see that your clerks keep good and perfect records of every birth in your ward, certainly of the birth of every child that belongs to the Saints. Some of the children that are now born of those who are unbelievers may rise up and through your instruction and ministration become Elders and ministers of God in the Church while they are in the flesh, and may bless you for the benefits you have bestowed upon them. I wish to urge the presidents of stakes, and the bishops of wards to look after this matter and see that records are kept properly in the wards, in the stakes and in all the Church organizations included in your presidencies. These records should be inspected critically by you, and frequently not only that they are faithfully kept but on durable paper and with indelible ink. No recorder or clerk should be allowed to buy the books and keep them as his own when Church matters are recorded in them. We had an example of this in early days. When President Joseph Smith received a revelation that John Whitmer was to be appointed Church historian, he got his book and kept records in it, and by and by, when the Prophet Joseph Smith wanted it to find data so he could write his history, this man would not let him have the book, he having apostatized from the Church. He kept that book, and it was handed down in his generation. We have obtained a copy of the entire record, so while they keep the book, we have its contents. This sample is enough to give us a warning. In your Relief societies, your Mutual Improvement associations, your quorums, even down to the primary associations, there should be books provided by the organization, and paid for by it, and they should be the property of that body for whom the record is kept; and when it is full, it should be delivered carefully to the authorities of that body and held as Church property, that it may when wanted be brought to the Historian’s office and be preserved in the archives of history for the benefit of future generation. some who have gone on foreign missions have kept records of their labors in those missions, but we get no trace of them. Brethren, if you know of any such record, please bring it to this Historian’s office; and if you cannot afford to lose the value of the book, we will pay for it. ¶

Let me cite your mind to another grand and glorious topic. When it was determined that the Son of God should come in the flesh and take the supreme position of Redeemer of the world, how did He come? Israel had been trained to keep their genealogies, and when they came to search for His antecedents they found He had a most excellent and complete record. Matthew informs us that from Jesus back to David was fourteen generations, from David to Abraham was fourteen generations, and from Abraham to Noah was fourteen generations, and from Noah to Adam were ten generations. If He had not been able to furnish that pedigree, He would have had no credentials to the house of Israel of a worldly nature, as a man among men. But He proved His genealogy down through the most honorable line that could be traced; a lineage that any Israelite might be proud of. ¶

The great Patriarch Abraham seems to have been not only deeply interested in but quite enthusiastic on this subject. On page 54 of the Pearl of Great Price he says: ¶

But the records of the fathers, even the Patriarchs, concerning the right of the Priesthood, the Lord my God preserved in mine own hands, therefore a knowledge of the beginning of the creation, and also of the planets, and of the stars, as they were made known unto the fathers, have I kept even unto this day, and I shall endeavor to write some of these things upon this record, for the benefit of my posterity that shall come after me. ¶

Now as he wrote for the benefit of his posterity, we may suppose that but for the vandalism that destroyed the several hundred thousand volumes that had been gathered under the Ptolemies from all parts of the known world into the museum and library and temples of Alexandria in Egypt and elsewhere, the world might have been better informed on many points of the earth’s earlier history. ¶

The transmission of intelligence in those earlier times, however, was far more difficult than in our day. Other histories inform us that Abraham spent several years of his earlier life with Noah, Shem and Eber, and that it was of them that he learned the Gospel, obtained the records and information concerning the creation, the planets, the genealogy of his ancestors, etc., as known and understood by the fathers. It was, as just stated, much more difficult to make records in the days of Abraham and of Shem and those that lived in their day than at present. How did they do it? They took dirt or clay and made nice tablets, and then they took something pointed and wrote on them the information they desired, after which the tablets were put into an oven or heated place and baked, making what we now call terra cotta. This is the way they did in those early times that take us back to the history of Shinear, Babylon and Niniveh. They piled up these terra cotta records, and now, centuries after the destruction of those cities, quantities of this literally matter, made of the dust of the earth, have been brought away and added to the collections in the British museum. You see they could not make records as easy then as now. ¶

The Lord used stone on which to write the Ten Commandments to Israel. ¶

Job wished his testimony might be written with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever. A remarkable specimen of this kind of record is the so-called Moabite stone now in the French Louvre. It was discovered in 1868 and contains the earliest inscription in the Phoenician alphabet known, relating some important events in the history of the Moabites during the reign of Mesha. The engravings date at least 900 years before our era. ¶

For common use in Ezekiel’s day the Law and the Prophecies were written on papyrus—a material prepared from the finer bark of a reed or flag that grew in Egypt and other warm countries,--and rolled on and off of two round sticks as mentioned in the 37th chapter of his prophecy. ¶

Lehi carried with him the Mosaic Law, the Prophets, and history of the creation on brass plates when he left Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, and we find that the history of the forefathers of the American races on this continent were generally kept on metallic plates of various qualities, as witness the gold plates on which the Prophet inscribed his abridgment of those records entitled The Book of Mormon. ¶

Before the art of printing was discovered it was the work of a man’s lifetime almost to transcribe a copy of the Bible. But now almost everybody can get a tablet and pencil, and there is no excuse for us to fail in making records, unless dilatoriness or lack of comprehension of their importance be considered excuses. I wish the brethren would take hold of this matter and consider it more carefully. This to me is a very interesting work. ¶

We are getting together a library of books, in which we hope soon to be able to render valuable assistance to the people in seeking out their genealogies from foreign countries as well as from the New England states. Having this upon my mind, I would like to impress it upon those that hold the Priesthood particularly. ¶

Look back to the time when Israel returned to Jerusalem from their captivity. How were they enabled to set in order the congregation, the singers, the priests in their courses, and the Levites? It was given to them by genealogy. The Lord had promised to Levi that the service of the Temple and the Sanctuary should belong to his tribe, this family and especially that the Priesthood should go to the descendants of Aaron. But when they returned from their captivity in Babylon and wanted to be reinstated in their places to officiate at the altar and to eat of the holy bread, the records were searched and those whose names were not found were put away from the Priesthood as polluted, until a Priest should rise up having the Urim and Thummim, who could declare their genealogy, their right and title to this holy Priesthood. The days are coming when the Priesthood of Aaron and Levi will have to be established again upon the earth, among the Jews in Palestine, and who knows but some of you, or your children will have this duty to perform? This is a matter that to many will be of vital concern as well as of general interest. I therefore present this for your consideration. The reason I feel to urge it is that keeping records is one of those things so easily put by. A man takes a piece of paper and writes upon it about the blessing of children, or that somebody was ordained, or a ward was organized, and he lays it away. He cannot record it today, and he goes on laying things away until he has an accumulation. We live in a time of increasing labor, and we should, as far as possible, perform every duty in the time and season thereof. These records ought to be kept at the time of the occurrence of the events that are to be handed down to posterity. When President Woodruff used to write the sermons of the Prophet, he brought the very spirit of his instructions into his reports, and we have them today with the spirit and the understanding thereof. When you are performing works that ought to be recorded, this should be done that same day while the spirit of the time and the labor rests on the one entrusted with the duty, for then it is likely to be done correctly. When an accumulation is found, this cannot be. In one of the stakes of Zion it is ascertained that there is a trunk nearly full of scattered papers containing most valuable information, and it needs a man to spend a month and put them properly on record. Record the work when it is done, immediately, so that if it happens that your records are wanted tomorrow, or next week, the historian can send for them and get whatever information is wanted. ¶

Having referred you to the views and estimates of this subject as entertained by several of the Prophets and by the Lord himself, I must now refer you to and recommend a closer perusal of sections 127 and 128 of the Doctrine and Covenants in which our great Prophet Joseph Smith has elucidated the eternal principle of recording and sealing for the living and the dead. It is the most elaborate exposition of this subject found anywhere in the publications of the Church. Search these scriptures for they will add to your stock of knowledge that leads to eternal life. May the Holy Spirit enable us to make such records, Church, family and individual, as shall be worthy of all acceptation when the books shall be opened and we judged according to the things written in the books. Amen. ¶