Remarks

I hope I may enjoy the favor of the Lord while I stand before you here this day. I rejoice in the testimony of the gospel that has been restored to the earth through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith. ¶

When Nephi, one of the ancient prophets, began his historical record he used these words by way of introduction: "Having been born of goodly parents,"and thereby he made it plain that he honored his parents — his father and his mother. He deemed it a blessing to him that he had thus been favorably born into this world. And I wonder how far the sons and daughters of Zion appreciate the wonderful advantage that has come to them by having been born of goodly (parents. ¶

In the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association they have adopted as their slogan for this year the commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother." To what extent are the children of the Latter-day Saints obeying that commandment, that commandment which God wrote with his own finger upon the tablets of stone, and which was delivered by the prophet Moses unto the children of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, the son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham — the children of Israel, whom God loved and designated as his very own, the chosen people of God? We, who have embraced the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ are the children of Abraham. What a splendid heritage and advantage it is to come through that noble lineage. ¶

How do we know that we are of Israel? It is the blood of Israel that recognizes the voice of the true Shepherd: "My sheep hear my voice and follow after me but a stranger they will not follow,"said the Savior of old. It has been declared by the Prophets of God, it has been sealed upon our heads by the patriarchs when we received our patriarchal blessings. Our lineage has been declared by the inspiration of the Lord to his servants the Patriarchs, and that we have believed in the gospel is further evidence of that fact. Why should the believers come through that lineage? I believe with all my soul that in our pre-existent state we were chosen to come through that lineage because of our fidelity in the world before this one, in our first estate, and the advantages that have come to us, who have accepted the word of the Lord and who have received the testimony of the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, have come to us because of our fidelity and faithfulness to the will of God before the foundations of this earth were laid. Abraham was among the great and mighty ones in that primeval day, when the great plan of life and salvation was first proclaimed to the children of God, the day that we read about in the scriptures, "when the stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." ¶

It is to that day that I now refer, when Abraham was known to God as one of the great and noble ones; and when he came upon the earth the Lord still loved him and gave him a marvelous promise, and told him that through him and his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed. We now live in a day when the descendants of that great patriarch are being gathered into the fold of Christ. We belong to one of the branches of that great family. Abraham had a son who was a son of promise, Isaac. Isaac had a son whom they called Jacob, and Jacob's name was changed to Israel, and from him came the twelve tribes of Israel. One of these tribes was the tribe of Joseph. It is through this lineage that the Latter-day Saints have come. Do we appreciate the wonderful privilege that comes to us by having been born of these goodly parents, that we have inherited from them that faith that enables us to accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? No matter to what extent that posterity may have been scattered throughout the nations of the earth, it is through this lineage that the truth shall be accepted and preserved and heralded in the earth. It has been through that lineage that the scriptures have been handed down from generation to generation, that the knowledge of the true and living God has been preserved among mankind, land it is through that lineage that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be promulgated among all the nations of the earth, and every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed through the seed of Abraham in fulfilment of the promise that was made by God unto that great man. I hope it will not sound egotistical if I declare, in the language of the poet, that indeed ¶

"We are the true-born sons of Ephraim, Who, with us, that can compare? We are of the royal house of Joseph, That bright and glorious morning star." ¶

This is our declaration, and we have been sounding it for many years past. It is written in our very souls. The House of Israel is being gathered from the nations of the earth, and we, being the children of Abraham, have a wonderful obligation resting upon us to see that all nations are blessed through our being and coming of these goodly parents. It should, however, be remembered that God is no respecter of persons and therefore the gospel must be preached to every creature and those that believe and obey it shall be saved and furthermore those who reject it, even though they may be of Israel's blood, will surely have to take the consequences. ¶

I rejoice today that I have been born of goodly parents, that I have been born under the new and everlasting covenant. I rejoice in the work that is being accomplished by the Latter-day Saints in the building of these great temples wherein work may be performed for the living and for the dead; and while I remember those who immediately are responsible for my birth upon this earth, my heart goes back throughout the generations that have passed, and gone, until I connect and link myself up with the great household of God through Abraham his servant, and I believe with all my soul that there must be a welding link between each of us and those that have gone before until we shall indeed become members of that wonderful family that was chosen in that primeval day to come through his lineage, through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the heritage of the Latter-day Saints, and our destiny is to fulfil these obligations, to carry the gospel to all the inhabitants of the earth, that they may hear the truth, and that the honest in heart among every nation shall be gathered into the fold of Christ and brought under the new and everlasting covenant which is the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that the family may be united in that welding link that shall connect us, for without them we cannot be saved, and without us neither can they be saved; and it is essential that this work shall go on. For what man or what woman would rejoice or be happy if he could not be associated with his own kindred? What man or what woman would feel that he was enjoying a blessing in the world to come if it were not in the association of his father and his mother? What parent could possibly feel that heaven would be heaven to him unless he could be associated there with his own children? What is true of these immediate connections is true of those that have gone on before. Our fathers and our mothers would never be happy nor f eel that they could be exalted and saved in the kingdom of God unless they could be associated with their fathers and their mothers. And so it will be until we connect ourselves and reunite in that one great family, the family of God, ¶

united together with that welding link under the new and everlasting covenant. ¶

May we appreciate our heritage and the blessings that have come to us by having been born of these goodly parents, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶