The Brotherhood of the Priesthood

We have all been thrilled with the marvelous, inspired, testimony of Elder Marion G. Romney. Every word that he uttered found a responsive chord in my being. And I should like to say amen to all that he said. ¶

I have a feeling akin to the last statement which he made, concerning the necessity for us to show in our lives by our works, the faith that we have in the gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

If we believe, as we profess, we should constitute the greatest body of friends the earth has ever known. I have been reading recently the statement of a great writer who must have had a deep insight into the subject of friendship, though his attitude toward the same may have been somewhat cynical. He said, and I am quoting from Emerson: ¶

The higher the style we demand of friendship, of course, the less easy to establish it with flesh and blood. We walk alone in the world. Friends such as we desire are dreams and fables. But a sublime hope cheers even the faithful heart, that elsewhere, in other regions of the universal power, souls are now acting, enduring, and daring, which can love us and which we can love. We may congratulate ourselves that the period of nonage, of follies, of blunder, and of shame, is passed in solitude, and when we are finished men, we shall grasp heroic hands in heroic hands. ¶

Only be admonished by what you already see, not to strike leagues of friendship with "cheap persons" where no friendship can be. ¶

Our impatience betrays us into rash and foolish alliances which no god attends. By persisting in your path, though you forfeit the little, you gain the greater. ¶

I am conscious today that had there come into Emerson's life that which has come into yours and mine, the power of the priesthood of God, he would have had a different idea, a different conception of friendship. We have spoken frequently during this conference of our testimony of the divinity of the work in which we are engaged. ¶

We know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ. We know that the Savior of mankind is the only Begotten Son of the Father. I bear witness to these facts in all solemnity, and I likewise want to bear witness to the fact that there is a brotherhood of man, that just as Jesus is our elder brother, so are we brethren ourselves. We belong to a society in which there can be a perfect friendship. It requires of us but one thing, and that is that we keep the commandments of God. It is this fellowship, this brotherhood that makes it possible for us to magnify the priesthood of God which has been conferred upon us as men of Israel in these latter days. ¶

I want to bear witness to you today, my brethren, that none of us can magnify our callings in the priesthood, none of us can exercise the power of the priesthood efficaciously, and none of us can have that witness come into our hearts that gives us that knowledge supreme of the existence of God and his Son Jesus Christ, unless we are true brothers, unless we belong to a society of men who love one another, and who are devoted to one another, who have confidence in one another, and who are much more apt to forgive the mistakes of one another than to criticize that which we may see amiss in our neighbor. ¶

Emerson goes on to say in that beautiful essay of his on friendship, I love to read it, that it is difficult if not impossible for true friendship to exist between more than two people. He writes further: ¶

Friendship demands a religious treatment. ¶

We talk of choosing our friends, but friends are self-elected. Let me be alone to the end of the world rather than my friend should overstep by word or look his real sympathy. I am equally balked by antagonism and by compliance. Let him not cease an instant to be himself. I hate when I looked for a manly furtherance or at least a manly resistance to find a mush of concession. ¶

Oh, how I wish that he had felt that brotherhood of God which exists in the lives and in the hearts and in the spirit of the men of Israel today, who are magnifying their callings in the priesthood. ¶

As President McKay, at the opening of this great conference, spoke of the home, I could not help feeling that the degree of brotherhood, that degree of friendship which you and I exhibit in our lives may well demonstrate the contacts, the experiences, the influences of the homes in which we are raised. I know as I live that if I reflect in my life the love and the affection, the devotion that my father had for my mother, then I must constantly pray to my Heavenly Father for the strength and the courage to do his will and to keep his commandments. I am sure that there is nothing that we can do, brethren who hold the priesthood, more important in our lives than to bring into our homes that greatest power of all, love. We should bestow love, affection, and devotion upon our wives and let that radiate from us into the lives of our children. May we all go from our homes and throughout our lives in our contacts with our fellow men radiating that love, that affection for mankind which will give to mankind a confidence, a respect, even an obedience to that which we profess. ¶

I was impressed this morning when Elder Harold B. Lee was talking to the missionary meeting in the Assembly Hall as to the qualifications of missionaries. I tell you, brethren, there is no power on earth by which we can penetrate the souls of men, the equal of that radiation of love and affection which will naturally pass from us to those to whom we bring truth and light and knowledge and understanding. ¶

We owe this sort of friendship in the family, this love and affection, for our own brothers and our own sisters in the home, that that might reflect itself in our lives, in our contacts with the world. ¶

What we are will bear witness to our friends more eloquently than any words or any testimony that we can speak. ¶

Elder Romney's testimony this afternoon would not have had the effect upon me that it had if I had not known that in his heart he has a love for his fellow men, willing to devote himself, his life, all that he has and is, all that he ever hopes to be to bring to them the satisfaction that the testimony of his has brought to him. ¶

I am grateful for the opportunity I have of associating with men who know what it is to belong to an association of true friends, bound together as we are by the bonds of the Holy Priesthood. ¶

I bear witness to you today that as we create these friendships and affections that we have for one another, we can continue them eternally through our obedience to the principles of truth and right. When you brethren come up to me and shake my hand as your brother and pay respect to the office to which I have been called, there comes into my being a consciousness that that friendship is of no limited duration, but it is just as eternal in its nature as the priesthood which we possess and which causes us to assure one another by that handshake that we truly love one another as sons of our Heavenly Father. ¶

I pray that we may go away from this meeting, from this great conference, with our testimonies renewed, and with our desires to serve the Lord and keep his commandments increased. Maybe, after all, there are only two great commandments. We have spoken a great deal about them both. I love the Lord with all my heart, and with all my soul, and I have no other desire in life than to serve him. I hope that I may go on in life to the end of my journey, retaining that love which I have in my heart for him. I have no greater desire than to have that same love for all my fellow men. I hope I may be bound closely to my brothers and my sisters in the kingdom of God, and that that relationship may be eternal and be righteous, I pray, humbly, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

Amen. ¶