A reunion of the authorities of the Priesthood in the Weber Stake of
Zion was held Wednesday, June 12, 1901, in the Fifth ward assembly hall and
educational institute, commencing at 11 a.m.
. . .
President Joseph F. Smith addressed the Saints in effect as follows:
Beloved brethren and sisters. It is with feelings of humility that I arise
before you. I have listened to many interesting things this morning, among them
the early experiences of President Lorenzo Snow and the moving influences of
his life, the Holy Ghost, which has directed his efforts in assisting to
establish Zion. It has been a great privilege to listen to him and to have him
condescend on this occasion to give so much time to us as he did. It is
impossible at this moment to speak upon any particular subject, but I call your
attention to the man who took down his patriarchal blessing and to the remark
of the Patriarch when the blessing was read over that he, this brother, had
been so long steeped in the traditions and prejudices of the sectarian world
that it was difficult for him to comprehend what was said. I’m sorry to say
that I have witnessed the same thing in many men connected with the Church, but
who have been born, reared, and educated in the sectarian world, to such an extent
that notwithstanding they have become Latter-day Saints, have been born again
under the new covenant, they were yet to imbued with the traditions of the
fathers that it was difficult to get the truth fully into their minds. I had an
old friend, for many years a Bishop. We buried him a few days ago. There was no
better man according to his understanding and according to the desires of his
heart, but when he preached and when he prayed, whether at home or in public,
you could see the horns of sectarianism sticking out all over him and bristling
in him. There is too much of this among us. We have heard the remarks of President
Snow in the wards, “As man now is, God once was, as God now is man may be.” It
is hard to get this idea into the heads of many of the Latter-day Saints, and
it is almost an impossibility to get it into the minds of the people of the
so-called Christian world.
President Smith then talked on the God-head and showed plainly that as
Christ, the Son of God, came to earth, born of His mother, perhaps the least of
all men, descended below all things, and rose to become the Redeemer of the
world, the Son, the very Eternal Father of this heaven and this earth, so we
could rise; notwithstanding the God in Him, having power of life within Himself
and power to defy death, He still died for us. This was the Son of the Eternal God
and who sits enthroned on His right hand possessed of everlasting power and
dominion. What is more natural than that as God is man may become if we take
Jesus Christ as an example. We are like Him now, but in embryo, while He has
developed and advanced and sits upon His throne and reigns. This truth has been
revealed to President Snow, and it ought to appeal to every human being on
earth, and particularly should it appeal to us because of the greater light
that has been received by revelation through the Prophet Joseph. Here President
Smith read a verse in Eliza R. Snow’ poem:
I had learned to call Thee Father,
Through Thy Spirit from on High;
But until the Key of Knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heavens, are parents single?
No! The thought makes reason stare.
Truth is reason, truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there.
When Jesus was on earth He had a mother there as we have. We are built
on the same plan as God our Father. Our destiny is the same as His, for we are
formed in His likeness, and nothing is more natural than that as He is we may
become. For this the world calls us blasphemous because they worship a
nonentity, a nondescript, without body, parts and passions, whose circumference
is everywhere and whose center is nowhere. Yet there is no truth that has been
revealed to us that is more simple and plain than this. God grant that we may
all understand this principle and cling to it and never yield it while life
shall last. (“Notable
Reunion of Weber Stake,” The Deseret Evening News no. 177 [June 15,
1901]: 1; note also how Jesus "the Son of the Eternal God," he is
also "the very Eternal Father of this heaven and this earth")
