Spiritual Power

My dear brethren and sisters: I hum bly pray that our Father who is in Heaven will bless me with a portion of His Holy Spirit this afternoon, that what I shall say may be in accordance with His mind and will—I feel to bear testimony to the truth of all that I have heard during this conference—I have felt so much like we always feel, I suppose, at our conferences— that this, is one of the best conferences that I have ever attended ¶

There is a question that I would like to speak to you upon a little—It seems to be very much in line with the remarks of several of the previous speakers—To commence with, I desire to make a quotation that was made by Elder Clawson yesterday—It is the words of our Lord and Savior to Peter (Matt—16, 13-19 ) the presiding Apostle! after Peter had received the revelation from God that Jesus was the Christ Jesus said: ¶

"Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? ¶

''And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist; some Elias; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets ¶

"He saith unto them, but whom sav ye that I am? * ¶

"And Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God ¶

"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven ¶

"And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ¶

"And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsover thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven " ¶

It is the latter remark I wish to refer to more particularly—Peter at that time held the same position that President Lorenzo Snow holds today, and this was a very great endowment that he received from the Lord Jesus Christ, to bind on earth and it should be bound in heaven, or to loose on earth, and it should be loosed in heaven—This same power has been bestowed in these days—It is our custom when we marry a wife to go to the man who holds this great power and by His authority we are sealed together in the holy bonds of matrimony for time and for all eternity, according to the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will be husband and wife in eternity—There are many other eternal blessings that have been given unto the children of men—I wish to refer to a great promise that the Lord made unto Abraham, our forefather—The Lord was very much pleased with Abraham and his course in life—But Abraham would be a very unpopular man today—Out of all the millions of people that dwelt upon the earth then, the Lord saw fit on one occasion to visit His servant Abraham, and while He was there He gave him commandments—He said unto Abraham: ¶

"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee; ¶

"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; ¶

"And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed " ¶

Here is another instance of a man whom the Lord visited and conferred divine authority upon, to bless the children of men, and they should be blessed, or to curse them and they should be cursed, in accordance with the authority, Abraham blessed his son Isaac; Isaac blessed his son Jacob; Jacob blessed his twelve sons from his four wives, and they became the founders of the house of Israel—In this Jacob officiated as a Patriarch, and he not only blessed his sons, but he prophesied what should befall them, even unto the latest day ¶

I refer to these instances that we may have before our minds the fact that it has been the custom in various ages of the world to exercise this divine authority for the benefit of the children of men—Enoch, the Prophet of God, also officiated in this Patriarchial order, and Enoch was a friend of God—The Lord our God talked unto him as one man talks to another, and Enoch became so familiar with the mind and will of the Father that he not only led his people out of bondage, but he brought them to see eye to eye—They became of one heart and of one mind, and the Lord was so pleased with them that He took Enoch and his city unto Himself ¶

I wish to draw your attention especially to the Patriarchial order that has been revealed in these last days for the benefit of the Church and kingdom of God—We have a man who stands at the head of the patriarchal order in our Church—That man is Brother John Smith—He always sits here with the First Presidency of the Church—Why is it that he occupies this exalted position when sitting before the people in their general conferences? It is because the Lord acknowledges a Patriarch as a man who is endowed with a very high office in the Church and kingdom of God, and who has a special endowment given unto him for a special purpose—If there is any man in this Church who has a special calling for life it is a Patriarch—I have sometimes thought, however, from remarks which I have heard from men bearing the holy Priesthood, that the ignorance regarding the Patriarchal order is extremely dense among the Latter-day Saints ¶

In order that you may better understand my remarks, I wish to refer to a conversation that I had the other day with a gentleman in one of the Stakes of Zion—One of the Twelve Apostles had been around in that locality, making some changes in the ward—What is the duty of the Apostles? We are informed by the Apostle Paul that they are placed in the Church for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, and to bring the people to a unity of the faith—All these men on my right and on my left are engaged in this kind of a calling from one year's end to another—As I was saying, one of the Twelve had been around and he found a certain Bishop presiding over a ward—He felt impressed that it would be well to make a change in that ward—The Bishop was quite aged, but he had been a faithful man all his days; so faithful indeed that this Apostle felt impressed that if he could get the consent of the First Presidency this man should be ordained a Patriarch—The change was accordingly made—What was the result? This Bishop began to complain immediately that he had been laid upon the shelf, and that he had been dropped from his calling as a Bishop without receiving any special notice that this change was going to take place in his ward ¶

Before proceeding any further, let me explain a moment—As I understand the order of this Church, a man who is called to be a Bishop is called to that office for the especial purpose of looking after the business affairs of that ward, and when through old age, sickness or incapacity he becomes disqualified to perform the duties of that office, or when through his faithfulness he is called to a greater ordination in the Church, it is right and pleasing in the sight of God that this change should take place—When the First Presidency of this Church informs a Bishop that he is released from presiding over a certain ward, there is just as much propriety about it as there would be if that man were presiding over a mission and he were released from that mission by the Presidency of the Church—I am now called to preside over the Colorado mission—I do not expect that I shall stay there all the balance of my life, and if I receive a release from the First Presidency of this Church at any time in the future, I assure you I shall never enter any complaint against them, or anybody else, for being released—I want ¶

to say to the Bishops of wards, you are not called there for life; but when you are released from your Bishopric your Priesthood is never taken away from you, except through transgression ¶

Now to return to this Bishop of whom I was speaking—The Apostle had felt inspired of God to recommend to the First Presidency of this Church that said Bishop be ordained a Patriarch—Did that man appreciate that patriarchal order which was bestowed upon him? No, he did not—Now, let me make a quotation to those who are laboring in this calling: ¶

"The rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness " ¶

This man, I understand, said that he had never received the spirit of the patriarchal order—I want to tell you that there never was a man in the Church of God that received the spirit of any calling whereunto he was called until he started to administer in that calling—If I am called on a foreign mission and expect to get the spirit of that mission, I must go to work and prepare myself and begin to seek after the Lord—It is the same with a Patriarch or any other officer in the Church of God—Now regarding this change being made without any notice to the Bishop, which seemed to give him so much offense—There is no man under the sound of my voice that can cite me to an instance where the Lord has ever said, "I will come and tell you when I will need you for some other kind of a work " I have heard this kind of talk until I am tired of it—To me its always an indication of men's ignorance concerning the glorious promises connected with the Holy Priesthood—I have heard of an instance where a man said that he had been laid upon the shelf—I have heard of others who have actually been offered the privilege of being ordained a Patriarch and have refused it, because they felt like they were being degraded rather than exalted in the Priesthood—I say again that the Lord never informs people when he is going to make a change—In his own time he comes and makes the change—Let us see what one of the greatest men that ever lived, in my opinion, said when a change of this kind was made with him—He was a man whose character I have always admired—I have loved his memory, and I love his descendants today—As I remember, he was occupying the position next to the Prophet, Seer and Revelator to this Church — exactly the same high and exalted position that President George Q—Cannon occupies in the Church today—I refer to Hyrum Smith—The mind and will of the Lord came unto him without any notice whatever, and he did not complain about it, he did not feel like he had been laid on the shelf—The word of the Lord is as follows: ¶

"And again, verily I say unto you, let my servant William be appointed, ordained, and anointed, as a counselor unto my servant Joseph, in the room of my servant Hyrum, that my servant Hyrum may take the office of Priesthood and Patriarch, which was appointed unto him by his father, by blessing and also by right ¶

"That from henceforth he shall hold the keys of the patriarchal blessings upon the heads of all my people, , "That whoever he blesses shall be blessed, and whoever he curses shall be cursed: and whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; ¶

"And from this time forth I appoint unto him that he may be a Prophet, and a Seer, and a Revelator unto my Church, as well as my servant Joseph " ¶

The last paragraph contains a special appointment unto Hyrum Smith and does not refer to Patriarchs in general, without they receive a similar commission from the Lord—But the power to seal on earth and it shall be sealed in heaven belongs to every Patriarch in the Church of Christ ¶

Did Hyrum Smith stand up and tell his brother Joseph that he was occupying the position of one of the First Presidency of the Church and stood as the second man in the kingdom, and he did not wish to be released from that position to become the Patriarch of the Church? No, he did not—Why? Because he realized it was the mind and will of God ,and instead of being a step backward in the Church, it was a step forward; in other words, it was a step into another department which was equally honorable—More than that, it ¶

was the mind and will of God, and this should always be considered above all other things—Hyrum Smith went forth and officiated in that calling, and here is his descendant today, the Patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ¶

Another thing—When I received my patriarchal blessing there was a clause in it which has always been a warning unto me—My blessing concluded like this: "I seal these blessings upon your head according to your faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God " I advise all you Patriarchs when you bless the children of men to put in a clause of this kind, because, as I have said, the blessings and powers of heaven are inseparably connected with the Priesthood, and they can only be controlled and handled upon the principle of righteousness—The young man said to Jesus, "What shall I do to be saved?" Jesus told him to sell all his goods, give them to the poor, and follow him—That was the condition—When Jesus promised a blessing to the individual or the people he always added something that they should do to secure the blessing—Said he, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth—Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven—'Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled—Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven " If you will notice, Jesus always put in a condition upon which the blessing could be received by the children of men—I suggest to +he Patriarchs that in your blessings you also add a condition—As we were told yesterday by President Lorenzo Snow at the opening of the conference, God will judge us by what we do and not merely by what we say I have known people to receive Patriarchal blessings which have not been fulfilled, and their sons and daughters have stood up in reproach and made it known that their father's or their mother's blessing had not been fulfilled—But I want to tell you that there would be very few Patriarchal blessings unfulfilled, if those who received them would remember that no blessing can be vouchsafed unto the children of men, ¶

excepting through their faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God—God bless you Amen ¶