The Patriarchal Order and Blessing

ELDER HYRUM G. SMITH ¶

Presiding Patriarch of the Church ¶

I am very grateful, my brethren and sisters, for this important privilege, although I had thought there would not be time for me to appear the second time. ¶

GRATEFUL FOR RETURN OF HEALTH ¶

I am very grateful indeed for the prayers of the saints, and I testify that the Lord has heard them in my behalf. ¶

Two of the late General Conferences of the Church I have heard over the radio from my home. I have been very grateful to be able to attend all of the sessions of this conference and am very grateful for the strength that has returned to me and that I am able to enjoy your association and presence. ¶

A great many testimonies of my work, the work of the Lord, have come to me during this conference, and I am praying that what few words I can say will be acceptable in the time that is allotted, or left. ¶

PARENTAGE EXPLAINED ¶

Many people have asked me about my parentage and who I am, and in just a few words let me answer your questions thusly: I happen to be the oldest son of my father, who was Hyrum Fisher Smith, the oldest son of his father, the late Patriarch John Smith, who was the oldest son of his father, the Patriarch Hyrum Smith. My grandfather was the oldest brother of his father's children, but his younger brother ¶

became the President of the Church and perhaps because of that reason was better known by the people. Nevertheless, grandfather became the Presiding Patriarch of the Church at the age of twenty-three years, and I think he holds the record today for time of service, having served in that office for fifty-six years. Perhaps that is sufficient in that respect. ¶

WITNESSES OF THE LORD'S GOODNESS ¶

I want to bear testimony however to the fact that the Lord has blessed me in the work that has been entrusted to my hands as one of the young men of the Church. My grandfather in his fifty-six years was instrumental in administering about 21,000 recorded blessings, to say nothing of the hundreds of others that were unrecorded. And about 20,000 of his blessings are in the archives of the Church today. Eighteen years ago last Sunday I was sustained by the vote of the General Conference in this building to hold the office that I now bear. During that time there have been accumulated in my office nearly twenty thousand testimonies or witnesses that the Lord has been very kind to me. I am very grateful for the faith that the Lord has inspired in the minds of the saints and members of the Church in their blessings and in the power of the Lord through the holy priesthood. ¶

I have been asked many times by individuals who have received the priesthood how I know that I have the priesthood. They too have been ordained to offices in the priesthood, but they have sometimes wondered whether or not they really hold the priesthood, because of their inactivity in the Church. I want to testify to you, my brethren and sisters, that I know that I possess the priesthood of God, because I have faith in those witnesses, nearly twenty thousand of them, and many others not recorded. They are a recorded witness that may go on down through the ages in the archives of the Church as well as in the hearts and homes and lives of the saints. ¶

BLESSINGS FOR ALL ¶

I am very grateful to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord in officiating in this sacred work, and indeed it is a sacred work. I pray God's blessings upon the membership of the Church and the c Sicers of the Church — President Grant and his counselors, the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventies and other presiding officers; the Elders, Priests, Teachers and Deacons throughout the Church. I pray God to bless them and all their officers and their work in righteousness. I pray for the great body of High Priests throughout the Church. It was a thrilling sight when I saw them arise in this conference. God bless the High Priests in the Church, that they too may know that they possess that power, for the Lord himself was a great High Priest. The Lord Jesus Christ declared it, and these men bear his power in the earth today and are his witnesses; and I share that with them, in which I glorify the Lord. ¶

I praise the Lord for his blessings, and as his servant I bless the entire membership of the Church. May God bless his servants the ¶

missionaries, both men and women, wherever they are called to labor, at home or abroad, and I bless them as his servant, that they may continue to go and come in safety, whether upon water or upon land, whether among their friends or their enemies, that they may go in the power of God as his witnesses; that they may find friends and search out the honest in heart, the blood of Israel, and those whom God would have know the truth. ¶

I bless all who are working in righteousness throughout the world, the honest in heart, the sick, the suffering, the destitute. I pray God to provide their needs and to give them faith to hear and to heed the teachings of his servants. My heart is filled with humility and with blessings for all who deserve them. I know that God is merciful, that he loves the honest in heart, and that his blessings go out to the sick; for when he was upon the earth in person he visited them and blessed them and healed them. I pray his blessings upon them today, that they may continue to receive comfort and the power to be healed and; restored. I bless them to this end in the Church and in the land throughout our mountain country here, those who are suffering in humility and have faith to be healed. God bless them. ¶

TESTIMONY OF GOD'S WORK ¶

I know that this is the work of God, that he is merciful to his children, and that this work will go on and on and on until it has finished its full purpose in the earth. This is the work that Daniel saw that should never be thrown down or given to another people, but should go on and on until it should fill the earth. And may God bless us to be instrumental in his hands in bringing about these holy purposes. May his Holy Spirit attend us and bless us in our homes. May his blessing be upon our lands, in our offices, in our fields, and with our flocks and herds. May our lands produce and grow fruit that will be meet for food, and then may we honor God in our tithes and in our offerings. Be honest with him and he will remember you and his blessings will be poured out upon you in rich abundance, and you will come up before him in an acceptable manner and go on richly endowed by his power and blessing, to be magnified in the world as humble servants carrying out his purposes. Unto this end I pray God's blessing upon the Church in all of its activities whether at home or abroad, both in the auxiliary organizations and in the quorums and offices of the priesthood — all of which I pray for in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶