President Mckay My Brothers And Sisters At...

President McKay, my brothers and sisters: at this time I would surely like to have Brother Benson share with me the manuscript he has in his pocket. ¶

I am sure I need not try to tell you what a humbling experience this is. ¶

Perhaps the only people who fully understand the impact of such an assignment are these Brethren who sit before you. ¶

Knowing something of Brother Oscar A. Kirkham, his life and his tremendous stature, gives me no consolation in filling the vacancy which resulted from his passing. On the contrary, it has increased the weight of this responsibility. I must confess that at the present time I do not know why the Lord has called me to this position. I have been taught a principle all of my life to which President Clark has given expression, that we neither seek nor do we decline the calls that come to us in this Church. Acceptance of this principle coupled with my faith that the Brethren who direct the affairs of this Church are acting for the Lord, lends strength sufficient to accept this assignment, and to pledge my heart, might, mind, and strength to the future assignments which shall be given to me. I thank you for your sustaining vote. I trust that in the days to come you will feel inclined to carry out the admonition of President Clark and help sustain me with your prayers. ¶

Occasions such as this give one cause for serious reflection. If I have a message today it is an expression of gratitude for those who have helped to bring me to this position of high honor. First, I want to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the blessings and opportunities that he has made mine throughout my life; secondly to my sweet and devoted companion, who has been in every sense what Brother Cowley has termed a "companion-wife." ¶

For her sweet and silent and effective support, I express my appreciation. ¶

I am thankful, too, to my five children from whom I have learned many lessons of life and who have given me a better understanding of my Father in heaven and his relationship to all of us, his children. To have them climb upon my knee and throw themselves upon my neck and express in their innocent way their love and their affection typifies, I am sure, what our Father in heaven wants us to do: to come to him, to rely upon him, to ask of him, that we may receive. ¶

I think I have learned another lesson from my children, too, when they have remembered to express appreciation to me for some kind act. We all may well learn to express our appreciation to our Father in heaven for his many blessings. ¶

I am grateful for my wonderful mother and father and for the boundless love and valuable teachings received in our home. I am grateful, too, for my only sister. In our home we had both precept and example, which, I think should be found in every Latterday Saint home and to which I owe most of what I am. ¶

I owe a debt of gratitude also to my other forebears who joined the Church when they heard the truth and came to the valleys of the mountains and built what we now enjoy. I am grateful that they had the courage to leave their homes and accept calls which came to them to colonize in the Great Basin area. ¶

I am also deeply grateful for my teachers, both within and without the Church. I am a product of this Church. ¶

I hope and pray that I can be counted a worthy one, because from my early youth I have been taught in all of the organizations of the Church, in the Primary, the Mutual, the Sunday School, and the priesthood classes, and have had opportunity to learn and serve in them. ¶

Today I cannot help thinking of the lovely women and the fine men in these auxiliaries and priesthood quorums who have taught me the gospel and strengthened my testimony. To them I voice my appreciation. ¶

Because of my association in the educational program of the Church (and all of my productive life has been spent in it), I feel a greater appreciation and kinship to my seminary and institute teachers and those at Brigham Young University than perhaps to others. I certainly would echo the eloquent plea of Elder Moyle that all parents in this Church see to it that their sons and daughters enroll in seminary, and that those college students who do not attend the Church schools should enroll in institutes of religion, where men of devotion and dedication can balance their religious education with their secular learning. It is my belief, my brothers and sisters, that we do not lose young people who go away to college and further their education if while they are so engaged secular learning is balanced with teachings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. ¶

I realize that young people are under tremendous pressure from school to complete the requirements both for graduation and for entrance into a university, and sometimes we think we do not have time to get daily religious training. It seems to me that while we are in this life, sent here for the purpose of getting acquainted with the physical things of this earth, and to work out our salvation, that we might well pay attention first to the learning of the gospel plan and our part in it. ¶

And I would urge, because of my close experience with daily religious education and my testimony of its fruitfulness, that every young person in the Church enrol in seminaries. Such instructions will help prepare youth for life; will supplement the teachings in the home, the teachings of the auxiliaries of the Church; will more adequately prepare missionaries, as we have heard explained; will lead them into the temples for proper marriage, and help to make faithful members of them. ¶

Now it is true that there are pressures on these young people for such courses as they should take, but may we ever keep in mind the admonition of our Lord and Savior to ". . . seek . . . ¶

first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;" (Matt. 6:33) and then add the other things where we can. ¶

I would like to pay my respects to that corps of devoted men and women who teach in the Church educational system, for their devotion and their dedication to duty in going the extra mile. ¶

In closing, I wish to leave my humble testimony with you that there has been a conviction borne upon my soul that God lives, that his Son, Jesus Christ, lives, that he was resurrected and now rules with his Father in the affairs and destinies of men, and that he is at the head of this Church. ¶

I have a testimony in my heart that God the Father and his Son appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820 and there commissioned him to restore the gospel which had been taken from the earth. I have a conviction also in my heart that these men before you are the commissioned servants of our Father in heaven, delegated to administer the affairs of this Church and kingdom until he shall come and reign. ¶

I am grateful for this testimony. ¶

My brothers and sisters, I pledge my life to the Lord in his cause and to your service, reserving only sufficient time and means to rear my children honorably before him and before my fellow men. ¶

I pray for the blessings of the Lord to be upon me and trust that you, too, will join in that prayer that I might adequately serve. ¶

This testimony I bear in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶