Testimony and Scripture

I feel as I have always felt relative to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have no doubt in my heart that this is the work of the Lord. Surely we who have faith believe that the Lord's arm is not shortened, that he is amply able to direct and carry on this great work. ¶

I realize the responsibility coming to any person who is called to speak to this people. I have sat on the "anxious bench" now for two days, and I feel this morning that everything I have heard and read and know has oozed out of me. I want you to know that I antedate in age and in service as one of the First Council of Seventy all of the Council of the Twelve who sit in front of me. I feel honored and have always felt honored to associate with the General Authorities of the Church. I desire to say to the people, the presidents of Stakes and their counselors, the high councilors, the bishops and their counselors, you have always extended to me the greatest courtesy and respect, and whenever I have attended a conference and returned home I have felt that I amounted to something. But after I wandered around here in Salt Lake I sort of lost that feeling, sometimes, and felt like a stranger among strangers. ¶

I desire to refer back to a time when I was about thirteen years of age, when Heber C. Kimball sent word to my brother, Joseph Kimball, who is now in the Church Office Building, and myself, to come to his office. When we arrived there, mere boys, he said to us: "If you want your father's blessing you be at the endowment house in the morning and have your endowments." ¶

Of course we were frightened nearly to death. I do not know how people feel when they are going to be executed, but that is the sort of feeling I had, not knowing and having no conception of what it all meant. However, we were there and we had our endowments. I did not remember much of that which transpired, but I was awed, and the impression was burned into my soul of the sacredness of that place, and the sacredness of the covenants which I had entered into when almost a child. When I was fifteen years old our father passed away, and we were left as many children are left to wander and fight our battles as best we could. ¶

My father, Heber C. Kimball, trained fourteen years in the military service. In an excerpt which I have copied from his biography he remarks with honest pride that he was never brought before a court martial for neglect. He further says: "I was a Free Mason at the age of twenty-two in the Lodge at Victor and received the first three degrees of Masonry." He said: "I have been as true as an angel to my covenants with the Masons. No man was admitted into the Lodge unless he bore a good moral character and was a man of steady habits. A man would be suspended for getting drunk. I wish that all men were Masons and would live up to their profession. The world would be much better for it." This was said at least ten years prior to his baptism as a member of the Latter-day Church. ¶

Now the point I want to reach if I can, if the Lord will give me his Spirit, is just this: Heber C. Kimball made the following statement which deeply impressed me: "I would that all men and women who enter these holy temples could be made to understand that we are placed under obligations to God." Whenever we are permitted to enter the holy temples and perform those ordinances "we make covenants with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." ¶

I cannot conceive of a more sacred covenant made by mortal man. That is the impression I desire to impart to you good people, especially those who hold the holy priesthood, and I think it is high time that every man who is so honored of God should understand his office and calling. I understand my calling as one of the First Council, a Seventy in the Church of Jesus Christ. ¶

President Brigham Young said at a priesthood meeting in Logan, the same year that he died, that the Prophet Joseph Smith said to them in early days: "Brethren, you are going out to ordain Seventies, and you are to ordain them to the high priesthood. You are to ordain them to the High Priesthood and ordain them Seventy-Apostles." ¶

President Young said: "That is the language I use, and that is the way." I think none of us would question President Brigham Young, who was privileged above most men to associate with the Prophet Joseph Smith. I understand what it all means. It means that we Seventies are under the direction of the Twelve Apostles and the First Council of the Seventy. It means that they are to open the doors to all the nations of the earth and proclaim the truth; that we are under their direction, and "whenever they need assistance they are to call upon the Seventies instead of any others." It simply means that Seventies have the apostolic calling as witnesses and preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world. ¶

I am not ignorant of the fact. I know what the trouble is. I want to convey that idea to you. We have 185 quorums of Seventy. They tell me that they number 10,741. There are Seventies by the hundreds in this Church who can be prepared to go out as witnesses for the Lord and preachers of righteousness under the direction of the Apostles, but the fault is not wholly with men, it is a financial question, almost entirely a financial question, because the rule is that many of the Seventies have filled missions and their sons, also. A number of Elders have filled missions and have come home and been ordained Seventies who have married wives and cannot for the present go on a second mission. That is the chief reason. Any time the Lord moves upon his servants to call upon the Seventies, I assure you they will respond for I am as familiar with the quorums of Seventy as any man in the Church. I have labored among the Seventies for nearly forty years, and I love the work and God has given me the spirit of my office and calling when laboring among them. ¶

It is not my province nor intention to preach. I have something here that I would like to read to you but time will not permit. It is scripture; it is the word of God, and I would advise myself and every other man and woman in this Church to read the Bible. It is not read as much as it should be. The same is true of the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. You will find within the lids of those great books many prophecies and revelations, and if you will go to God and ask him in humility if these things are true he will give you the testimony and you will know. God bless you. Amen. ¶