Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow / One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

by Eliza R. Snow

The position you occupy in relation to your family is strictly and emphatically patriarchal—a position which has been lost sight of for centuries past. It is your right by virtue of the family ties you have formed, and the holy Priesthood you hold and honor, to stand at the head of your posterity—it is your privilege to call them together to instruct them, and to place your hands upon their heads and bless them; and it is their privilege, through their worthiness, to receive blessings at your hands. When the government of God is fully established on the earth, the patriarchal order will be recognized and will obtain among the Saints.

The patriarchal is the only form of government that can guarantee the full degree of liberty that God, in the beginning, designed for His children; and this is in keeping with man's development from his low to his high estate.

It has been truly said, before a man can attain to the position of ruler, he must first learn to govern himself, and we may add, before he is competent to govern his own family organization, he must submit to family government—he must practice obedience—he must respect authority. He that humbleth himself, God will exalt, and he that exalteth himself, God will abase. How admirably this principle is illustrated in the life of our great Prototype; He was the servant of all.

As we may naturally expect the well-trained, obedient child to do honor to man's estate, we may admit that the well-governed family, in which the members make life and its object their aim and study, will, in time, assume the proportions of a mighty kingdom, reflecting the wisdom of the Gods, to whose increase there will be no end.

To the principle of plural marriage, revealed by the Lord in our day, you are indebted for the extraordinary scene that now presents itself to our gaze. When that principle was first whispered in your ear—when it came trembling, as it were, from the Prophet of God, you must well remember how it struck deep against your traditions and prejudices, even as the axe is laid against the root of the tree. It was hardly possible in that early day for you to look into the future only some forty years and imagine these the results of your obedience and faithfulness. Beholding, as we do this day, what God has wrought through you in so short a time, let us ask ourselves, What pen can write, what tongue tell the outcome? This is left to be produced by "the wise," who stand in mute admiration of the wisdom of God, who, having subdued and relinquished their own will, are ready to exclaim, All Thy ways are wise, O Lord! All Thou doest is for the good of those that truly love and serve Thee.

It was ever the case that great truths, especially such as involved the salvation of humanity, had to struggle for recognition among men. This is especially significant when it is remembered that the most enlightened ages are not exceptions. Even Jesus, the Redeemer of our race, to whom was given all power both in heaven and earth, upon whom was bestowed the Spirit, even that of intelligence and truth, without measure, who was purity personified, in whom His bitterest foes found no guile, and who spake as never man spake; who came to redeem a fallen world, which none but a God could ransom—even He and the great truths He taught were cruelly treated and rejected, very few receiving Him and accepting them.

There is a reason for this aversion to saving truths, which is deep hidden from the world, and cannot be divined by the philosopher, alone and unaided—it cannot be understood by man's wisdom. The operations of the Holy Spirit on the mind, mysterious as they may be to us now, alone can prepare the way for the reception of such truths. Were it possible for man, by his own wisdom, to fathom the plan originated in the councils of heaven for his salvation, which plan is eternal, being the same through which the peoples of all worlds and planetary systems have effected their redemption and exaltation—were this possible, he would be independent of his Creator, and as a matter of course would assert his independence, amounting to no more nor less than rebellion—the sure forerunner of destruction and death; all of which would be incompatible with the divine economy affecting the fall and redemption of man.

Nations, like men, have from the beginning lived and died; but it is the design of God now to establish "the kingdom" spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, which is to stand the test of time and live forever. This He has already commenced to do; and as marriage lies at the foundation of society, He revealed to His Prophet, Joseph Smith, the celestial order of marriage, which secures eternal unions. This law, or order of marriage, appeals to us, not so much on our own account because of immediate results, as to the good that will come to posterity. As the Puritans of England, our Pilgrim Fathers, were inspired to come to this far-off land, to found a new nation, so the Lord permitted us to be driven to these mountain vales, to become the founders of a new civilization which is destined to arise in this land. And our "peculiar institution," the plural or patriarchal order of marriage, comes to us from God as the true and sure basis upon which to build society; as the means by which humanity shall be healed of the deplorable afflictions that have been transmitted from generation to generation, in consequence of the sins of the fathers. And by living in accordance with this celestial law, whose special office is to jealously guard and protect the issues of life, by heeding the "words of wisdom" which God has given for the promotion and preservation of health, together with the natural benefits arising from this healthful and mountainous land, which He in His wisdom selected for our occupation, we can, from a philosophic standpoint, augur the results. As sure as an overruling Hand led the Pioneers to this land, and as they have been the means of producing what we now behold, God will bring to pass all that He designed from the beginning. He will raise up a great and mighty nation, whose God shall be the Lord. He will make honorable His name in their noble and manly frames, and their superior intelligence and knowledge; and He will place His name upon them, and in time give into their hands the rule and government of earth. And as Abraham was tried and proven in the offering up of his son, before he could be counted worthy to stand at the head of the dispensation he inaugurated, and before he could hold the keys of the Gospel, called after his name, even the Gospel of Abraham, we, in order to be worthy of the founders of this new civilization, must endure what appeals to our natural feelings and worldly pride as sacrifices. But as the results of Abraham's trial of faith, and as the results of the so-called sacrifices of the first Elders of the Church have since proved only to be blessings in disguise, so will be the continuation of their works by us. And when we shall get ready to go down with gray hairs to the grave, we will look upon the fruits of our labors and have joy therein, as you, honored sire, this day behold the fruits of your obedience and faithfulness; and at last we, with you, through continued faithfulness, shall be counted worthy to mingle with the great and the wise, the noble and the pure of every age, to rejoice together and to perpetuate the works of our God.

I congratulate you, Father Snow, in having sought and obtained the beginning of true riches, even the riches of endless lives. How well and truly has it been said, in defining true wealth, that it consisted in the number of things a man loved and blessed, and the number of things that love and bless him. How suggestive! How well it describes the wealth of the Patriarch, the man chosen and ordained of heaven to stand at the head of a numerous family! It was the kind of wealth, because it was the very choicest, that was promised to Abraham after he had been tried and proven. It is the heritage of all good and great men. It is the principle that enthrones God Himself, reigning as He does over His own posterity, as you now preside over yours. And as God our Father is blessed and glorified in your exaltation—the continuation of His works by you, so will you, in time, be honored in the continuation of your works through us. And as we follow in the straight and narrow path, the path of our fathers, the Gods—the path of exaltation and glory, so shall we, according to the golden rule, the higher law, witness our posterity, or, at least a fair percentage of them, following after us. And thus honor will be added to honor, and glory to glory, for endless will be our increase and eternal our progression in the grand science of life, in all that is noble, intellectual and Godlike; extended will be our authority and power, enlarged will be our rule and dominion, even beyond the capacity of our frail comprehension. And we will join in the new song of praise, extolling our Redeemer, whose blood atoned for our sins, and who redeemed us out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation; and who shall make us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.

Then let honor be conferred on the Patriarchs, with Father Adam at their head! Let blessings for ever and ever be on the heads of the men and women of our own day, the noble spirits who have dared to brook the traditions of the age—who conquer the prejudices of their own feelings in the interest of the dispensation now being ushered in. Bless them, say I, for doing this in all patience and fortitude and in the fear of God, and for teaching their children to do likewise. Let them be hailed as the heroes of the age, as the pioneers of the civilization, and the founders of the commonwealth that is destined to arise and flourish in this free and God-blessed land, and that, in time, is to extend its protecting aegis over the whole earth. Let the men and women who have evinced this moral courage occupy the chief place and position to which they are justly entitled, and let the bachelor and the confirmed monogamist make way for them! Let their children and children's children, even down to the latest generation, rise up and call them blessed!