Meeting of the Richards and Young families am President Brigham Young said, in substance:
... It is but a little more than that time when Father Smith, the Goddards, Richards, Youngs and Kimballs were all in one family - as it were. We are all relations. It is only three generations back that Brother Joseph Smith's family were related to this family. ... I will first set in order before these relations the true order of the Kingdom of God and how the families hereafter will be organized; you have heard Joseph say that the people did not know him; he had his eyes on the relation to blood-relations. Some have supposed that he meant spirit, but it was the blood-relation. This is it that he referred to. His descent from Joseph that was sold in to Egypt was direct, and the blood was pure in him. That is why the Lord chose him and we are pure when this blood - strain from Ephraim comes down pure. The decrees of the Almighty will be exalted - that blood which was in him was pure and he had the sole right and lawful power, as he was the legal heir to the blood that has been on the earth and has come down through a pure lineage. The union of various ancestors kept that blood pure. There is a great deal the people do not understand, and many of the Latter-day Saints have to learn all about it. In all the Kingdoms of the World you will find that there will be only one King, and all will be governed as one family, every man will preside over his own family. We will have to work out some of the impurities. There is a great deal that I have to say and the brethren will have patience. Mother Smith is here - she is our Mother, we hold her in a three-fold bond, for we hold her by blood, by the spirit, and by the Gospel. We are connected together. The human family will find out who are the saviors of the Earth. The world knew nothing of the office of saviors upon Mount Zion. If Joseph Smith is not the man on whom the Keys of the Kingdom rest, I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for our Salvation. If I teach my family correct principles and show them the way of Salvation I am in a sense their savior. There is the same blood of Ephraim running in the veins of this family - and I know who has the blood and the Priesthood to carry the keys to the world. The decree of the Almighty is so pure that it would seem like blunders in the eyes of the world; but the keys will rest upon the Prophet and there is no power on earth or in hell to take it from him. This is a subject relating to the baptism for the dead. We will tell you when the temple is finished how to redeem your dead. I want to tell you now don't be scared, don't be frightened, at what I tell you. The Church does not understand the doctrine that Joseph taught - yet it is plain as the sun at noonday - the order of redeeming our relatives originated in the Kingdom of Heaven. If our progenitors had kept their records as the Jews anciently did they would be able to tell exactly where they came from -- and see where they run down in one straight line. We have hundreds ready to be baptized for the dead. Nauvoo, Illinois
... If our Grand Father Goddard is permitted to rule as King and Priest over his posterity, and the posterity are raised up as kings and priests to rule over their posterity, our Grand-Fathers Goddard would call together a numerous host. I will show you the order of the Kingdom as regards my own family; one of my sons is placed here, another there, another there, and so on. Yet I should be their ruler, savior, dictator, and governor. They would have an innumerable posterity but all would join in harmony with my counsel; I should console, comfort, and advise them all. You and your children will rise up and administer unto your children, and you will rule over your posterity, and they may get up in tens, hundreds, thousands, and millions. Yet all will finally join with Adam who will be the King of all; Seth comes next; Seth rules under his father and over all; so this process will never end. This is the order of the Kingdom of Heaven, that men should rise up as Kings and Priests of God. We must have posterity to rule over. ...
I'll tell you about old Israel; do you know what the curse was upon Israel for? It was for mixing their seed with the Gentile races about them. I have received a promise that is to remain with me, and the same will be upon you and upon your children. I would tell you children that inasmuch as you have received this promise, and then if you mix your blood with others I will curse you, and in relation to the Priesthood, you would be cursed, or condemned. For your children, in such mixed unions, would be high-minded and stiff necked. The nations have wandered in darkness for centuries. If they had not mixed their blood, the Priesthood would never have been taken from them. ... that is what Joseph meant the Lord had regard to: and He made promises to the seed of Abraham which He would have fulfilled if it had not been mixed with the Gentiles. Ephraim is the character who has the pure blood of promise in him. ... Those who have the right will redeem the nations of the Earth. The people who had the right to the Priesthood lost it, and the Lord has brought it forth in this our day. We shall redeem our friends and all the house of Esau will be saved by proxy, by the Priesthood. ... Suppose a man and woman want to redeem their friends; perhaps they have lived without the Gospel; the man would be baptized for his father and the woman for her mother; and if the husband has the power of the Priesthood they are jointly baptized he for the father she for the mother--he is then washed for the father, she for the mother--he holding the Priesthood redeems the father and mother of the woman. Again for his father and mother--she receives the anointing for the woman, and he for the man. Then they stand as proxy to be sealed up to all eternity and then they will go through the ordinances in the same way. Then they are sealed up in the same way for others--we shall have Father Smith with his grey locks. Joseph, Hyrum, Samuel, all will stand in their order, and we shall be priests and rulers to all eternity. Let my walk and my life speak for myself. The joy of the Lord is a great deal more than any one realizes unless he has partaken thereof. I have now given you text enough for weeks.
[Source: Elden J. Watson, ed. Brigham Young Addresses, 1801-1877: A Chronological Compilation of Known Addresses of the Prophet Brigham Young, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: Privately published, 1971)]
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