Using the Priesthood

ON Tuesday, April 6, 1830, six men gathered in the home of the Whitmer family and organized the Church. I can remember with what surprise I learned for the first time, years ago, that it did not happen on a Sunday. Apparently the sixth day of April was more important than the day of the week. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, on the day of the organization of the Church, ordained Oliver Cowdery to be one of the Presiding Elders; Oliver Cowdery ordained Joseph Smith to be one of the Presiding Elders. Thus there were two presiding officers over four others. ¶

Last night I sat with the assembled multitude who filled this building. Reports said there were in the neighborhood of nine thousand men here. If we should take all of the men who are presiding officers in the Melchizedek Priesthood, the stake presidencies who guide them in their work and the high councilmen who assist the stake presidencies in directing the efforts of the presidencies of quorums, and put them in this building, the group would be just about as large as the number here last night. In 124 years, the Church and its Melchizedek Priesthood has grown sufficiently so that officers would now fill this building. The bishoprics or officers of the Aaronic Priesthood are not included in the total. ¶

I do not detect that Joseph Smith ever lacked confidence in the destiny of the Church. How much of our day he could see I do not know. I suspect the Lord showed him the ultimate end, if not all of the immediate steps. ¶

I always marvel that he did not waver as to what was going to be accomplished. He did not set a timetable, but the assurance is there for all of us to read, and to understand that the Church will fill the earth. We are now well on the way. We should not waver ourselves because it cannot be stopped. From the beginning with two officers we have grown until those presiding could barely squeeze into this tabernacle. ¶

We have been a long time learning how to use presiding authority. Officers have been appointed by the hundreds and have not known what to do with their appointments. I believe there is, and has been going on for some time, a new awakening in the hearts of the men who handle the great organization of the priesthood. They are learning how to preside and to conduct their affairs so that the body of the priesthood is beginning to take its place. ¶

I have on my desk a number of statistics which would bear out that thought. I should like to refer to just two of them which I think are important at this moment. ¶

There is a quorum of elders in a city not far from here. (I shall not identify it.) The members of this quorum are composed largely of men who do shiftwork; consequently their time is eaten into at the moments when they should be attending their meetings. That quorum of elders, under the direction of a president who seems to know how to do it, with the able assistance of two very splendid counselors, has had for the past two or three months, if the facts are reported correctly, fifty-five percent of his men attending the weekly morning priesthood meeting. He took sixty percent of them to the monthly priesthood meeting of the stake. He has them organized so that there is not a class in the Sunday School of his ward, but where one of the elders is assigned to sit there, with the lesson all prepared, ready to take part in case the regular teacher should fail to come or should need assistance. ¶

The same thing is done in the other auxiliaries, in case they are needed. ¶

Such is the possibility of quorums of the priesthood if they recognize the need. ¶

The remarkable thing about it is that there is not a man who holds the priesthood but what if he feels necessary and wanted leaps to the cause. ¶

Your job, brethren, is to make them feel necessary and wanted. ¶

Another instance: There is taking part in a bit of work a large body of the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums from about 135 stakes. I estimate there are somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand quorums. In one item, that of whether or not the presidents of the quorums and their counselors will visit their members often to encourage them, there has been an improvement of more than four hundred percent. Now, that is a statistic. I do not like statistics, but I would submit to you that when the president of a quorum, and his counselors, pick up their hats and their coats and with courage in their hearts and humility in their souls, leave their firesides to go out and find their brethren of the priesthood, to warm them up and make them feel necessary, that ceases to be a statistic but begins to approach what the Savior must have meant when he said, "Greater love hath no man than this. . . ." (John 15:13.) Surely they are finding their friends. ¶

If they will keep it up, the fruits of that action alone will activate their brethren until there will not be any necessity for doubling of positions in the various wards and auxiliaries of the Church. It will also have its effect upon the home. When the Church was organized with six members in 1830, it was prophesied that it would fill the earth. ¶

I should like to say this about a man and a wife and four children. They make six. Whenever any man in this Church takes his proper place in the home as head of that home, under the righteousness of the priesthood, and takes care of his family the way he should, raising his children to believe, to have faith, and to accept the principles, the ultimate destiny of that family, the final end to that man will be the same as though he had organized a church. In the final accounting, his place will be so high that his six will have swelled into a multitude. So we may, ourselves, brethren, do things which will duplicate for us, alone, what the Prophet has done so nobly for us all. ¶

Well, that is using the priesthood. I have often wondered what would happen to a man who suddenly found himself without it. Many of us do not care much about it and let it go, but suppose we did not have it? Suppose we could not use it? Suppose we suddenly were told we could not exercise it? ¶

I had such an experience one time during World War II. My son had occasion to come home on a furlough from his army camp. It was during the time that conference was being held, and in obedience to the request of the government, the Church had ceased to hold its meetings in this building but was holding them in the Assembly Hall. Consequently, because of its size, admission had to be by ticket. Unless a man had a presiding position in the Church, he could not get a ticket. There was just not enough room to have anybody come but the stake and ward leaders. The Presidency of the Church in their kindness, thinking of these boys who needed an extra lift, saw to it that any boy who came home on a furlough could have a ticket and get in. I recall bringing my son down from Ogden and stopping at the south gate and watching him go through. As the guard let him pass and closed the gate in my face, I pressed up against the bars, watching him as he finally disappeared into the open door of the Assembly Hall. And then I think I knew what it means if a person suddenly cannot do what he would like to do in this Church, cannot associate with those with whom he would like to associate. ¶

I was completely cut off from my rights. ¶

I held the priesthood, but I could not exercise it. There were doorkeepers and attendants, and gardeners, and ushers there — but I was not allowed to enter. ¶

I turned away with the dreadful feeling of being left out. I hope I never have a similar experience again. It was a lesson to me of what could happen to me if I lost my rights. I do not want to lose my rights. I want to be able, when the time comes, to walk through that gate and meet my family and my loved ones and then go on to that destiny which is reserved for those who desire to be righteous. I believe I echo the feeling of everybody who holds the priesthood or who is the wife or child of one who holds such priesthood. ¶

I can think of one scripture I should like to apply to you, you men who hold the priesthood and who preside over the priesthood, because without your active presidency, nothing much will happen. ¶

In this Church, men have been taught to wait until they are appointed to do something; men normally do not volunteer to hold office or perform service. ¶

That is a traditional method. So if you want these men to work, brethren, you must go after them, you must meet them, you must visit them, and you must make them feel necessary and wanted. Then watch them respond. ¶

This is the scripture: ¶

Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness. (D. & C. 58:27.) May the Lord help us to do it, I pray, in the name of Christ. Amen. ¶