-- Oct 10, 1898; Monday
The First Presidency and the Twelve Apostles, at 10 o'clock this morning, met at the President's office and proceeded thence to the photograph gallery of Fox and Symons, for the purpose of sitting in a group for their portrait. At 12 o'clock they returned to the office, and attended to the ordination of Elder Rudger Clawson as a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. Pres[iden]ts. Lorenzo Snow, Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon, Jos[eph]. F. Smith and Franklin D. Richards, with Elders Brigham Young [Jr.], Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, Geo[rge]. Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor, M[arriner]. W[ood]. Merrill, A[nthon]. H. Lund, M[atthias]. F. Cowley and A[braham]. O[wen]. Woodruff, laid their hands upon the head of Elder Clawson and ordained him as follows, President Snow being mouth:
... Pres[ident]. Snow having previously expressed himself to the effect that he felt he should be set apart to preside over the Church, this was now done; the above named brethren, including Elder Rudger Clawson, all laying their hands upon the head of President Snow, who requested Pres[ident]. Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon to be mouth in setting him apart. Pres[ident]. Cannon spoke as follows:
["]Pres[ident]. Lorenzo Snow, we your fellow-servants of the Most High God, possessed of the Apostleship, which you have received through your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, lay our hands upon thy head to bless thee and to set thee apart to preside over the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; that in connection with thy counselors, thou mayest preside over the body of the Church, according to the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning his Church; and that thou mayest be filled by the power of God, and be entitled to the revelations of the Lord Jesus and give the mind and will of God to the Church; to impart unto them from time to time that knowledge concerning the will of God that shall be communicated to them. And every gift, every grace and qualification that has ever rested down upon a man chosen by the Lord to fill this exalted station, we seal upon thee at this time.
["]We reconfirm upon thee all thy former blessings, and all the powers and the authority and ordinations; and every power that pertains to the everlasting Priesthood and to the Presidency of the Church of Christ, we seal upon thee, and ask God our Father to confirm this sealing and this setting apart, that thou mayest be filled with the new power, yea with increased power, to go forth and magnify thy calling in the midst of the Church of Christ and among thy fellow-servants; and that the Lord will communicate with thee from time to time everything necessary for the perfect government of his Church; that thou mayest exercise all the keys and the authority that have been exercised heretofore by thy predecessors--by Wilford Woodruff, by John Taylor, by Brigham Young, and by Joseph Smith, and which he (Joseph Smith) sealed upon his fellow-Apostles.
["]We pray thee, O God our Eternal Father, to hear us thy servants and to look at our hearts and our desires and forgive our feebleness and imperfections; for we desire to bless this thy servant with every blessing that we have authority to invoke in his behalf, and we humbly ask thee to confirm this blessing upon his head, and to fill him with thy power from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet; that he may be set apart to this important office and
exercise all its functions to thine acceptance and to the satisfaction of his fellow-servants and of thy Saints.
["]All these blessings, Father, we seal upon him; and we say unto thee, Brother Lorenzo, receive thou the same, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the authority of the Holy Apostleship, which we hold, even so, Amen.["]
Pres[ident]. Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon was then set apart to be the First Counselor in the First Presidency; Pres[ident]. Snow being mouth, and speaking as follows:
"Pres[ident] Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, we lay our hands upon your head and we set you apart to be the First Counselor to Lorenzo Snow, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that you may be filled, as you have been in the past, with the spirit of counsel and understanding; that the Holy Spirit of life may constantly be with you, and improve your health and restore you unto perfect health, and give you understanding and the spirit of revelation from the Lord, that you may be truly a counselor in Zion. And all things that may be necessary for you to receive in order that you may be truly such, we seal upon you by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.["]
Pres[ident]. Joseph F. Smith was set apart, in like manner, to be the Second Counselor in the First Presidency. As in the case of Pres[ident]. Cannon, all the brethren named laid their hands upon him, and President Snow was mouth, blessing him in these words:
"Pres[ident]. Joseph F. Smith, we lay our hands upon your head and set you apart to be the second counselor to Lorenzo Snow, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we confer upon you in the name of the Lord all the gifts and blessings, rights and privileged that pertain unto this holy position that you now occupy, and that you may be blessed in this, in the performance of all the duties that are incumbent upon you, holding this position as second counselor, as you have been blessed I the past and more so. All these blessings and gifts, rights and privileges, and all that is necessary for you to magnify this calling, pleasing unto yourself and pleasing unto the Lord, we seal upon you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.["]
President Franklin D. Richards was then set apart by the brethren to be the President of the Twelve Apostles, President Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon, being mouth.
["]Brother Franklin D. Richards, our fellow-servant in the Lord, our fellow-Apostle, we lay our hands upon thy head, having the authority from the Lord to bless and to confirm every blessing upon the heads of the children of men that are suited to their condition, and we set thee apart as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, that thou mayest act in this high and holy calling in a manner that shall be acceptable to our God and that shall fill thyself with joy in thy fellow-servants and the Saints; that thou mayest preside over thus body of men whom the Lord has chosen as special witnesses in all the earth, with dignity and in
such a manner as to gain their love and their confidence, and that they may know that thou hast the revelations and power of God with thee, and that all the authority that belongs to the Apostleship has been confirmed upon thee, and especially the authority to preside in their midst. We seal all these blessings, beloved brother, upon thy head, that thou mayest be filled therewith and that there may be nothing lacking from this time forth in the performance by thee of all the duties that belong to this exalted position. We seal these blessings upon thee in the name of the Lord Jesus and in this authority that we have received from him, and say, receive thou the same, even so. Amen.["]
Pres[ident]. Lorenzo Snow then delivered the following charge to Elder Rudger Clawson, the newly ordained Apostle:
....
Pres[iden]t. Jos[eph]. F. Smith added a few words of counsel to the effect that one of the great callings and special duties of an Apostle is to become a living witness of the Lord Jesus Christ; to know him and to be able to testify that he is the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Another principle was that an Apostle must acknowledge the order and organization of the Priesthood, and that the united counsels of the leading and presiding quorums of the Priesthood are supreme above his own judgement. his own predilections. his own choice desires, to matter how strong they may be. All the Apostles and those holding the priesthood, and especially the Counsel of the Apostles and the First Presidency, must covenant and agree before God, angels and men, and with each other, that they will acknowledge this organization that God has instituted as the supreme authority of earth. This was one thing that Bro[ther]. Clawson must exceed to, in order to obtain the spirit of the Apostleship.
Pres[ident]. Geo[rge]. Q. Cannon said he would like Bro[ther]. Clawson to understand that when he takes upon himself this ministry it is the first and most important thing, and he should not set it aside to attend to anything else. His whole life and all that pertains to it; his time, talents and everything, should be devoted exclusively to the Apostleship, and all else should be entirely subordinate thereto.
Elder Clawson stated that he very much appreciated the
instructions and suggestions that had been given, and he fully and completely accepted and endorsed them. He felt very weak a great deal more so than at the Conference and if he could not feel that this call had come to him from the Lord, he would shrink from it because of the great responsibility it entailed. No man of his own wisdom could magnify a calling of this kind. Believing that the call came from the Lord, he accepted it as a great blessing. He asked for the faith and prayers of the brethren. He would endeavor to humbly to his duty and be one with them. He had always sustained with his whole heart the Presidency of the Church, and had accepted and revered their counsels. He believed that his success, if he had attained to any, in the Box Elder [Utah] Stake of Zion, where he presided, was due to this spirit--to submit fully to the counsels of the Presidency of the Church and the brethren who presided over him. He believed that his success in the future could only be in following those lines. He prayed fervently that the spirit of the Apostleship might rest upon him, and that he might live so as to deserve the confidence of his brethren. (1)
Pres[iden]t Jos[eph] F Smith then remarked that he felt that he wanted to testify that in the setting apart of the President and his counselors and the President of the Apostles that we had done the right thing.
Felt that in not doing it in the case of President [Wilford] Woodruff that we had failed to do something which he felt should have been done. ...
[Later] Bro[ther]. [John R.] Winder said that he took pleasure in putting Pres[iden]t [Lorenzo] Snow's motion which of course was carried. ....
Referred to Pres[iden]t Taylor's always asking him what the news was and that on one occasion he had told him of the arrest of Pres[iden]t Lorenzo Snow and on another of Bishop John Sharp having gone into Court and promised to obey the law. Pres[iden]t Taylor's sorr[ow] in the case of Bro[ther] Sharp had been quite intense. ...
At the Pres[iden]t's office this evening had a chat with Bro[ther]s [Francis M.] Lyman & [Anthon H.] Lund just before we went to the theatre and we were all agreed and delighted to feel that Pres[iden]t Snow was firm and solid in his determination that the Church should keep out of politics. We felt that this was his position from a conversation had with him and his counselors this evening at Bro[ther] Winder's just before our little dinner party broke up. (2)
Endnotes:
1 - First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve minutes
2 - Heber J. Grant, Diary
LDS History Chronology: Lorenzo Snow
Mormon History Timeline: the life of Lorenzo Snow
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
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