Prophet dedicates Joseph F. Smith Building

    132

    By Lorianne Flint

    During Tuesday?s Devotional, President Hinckley dedicated and consecrated the new Joseph F. Smith Building as a place for teaching and learning where God?s work could be fulfilled.

    Speaking to a capacity Marriott Center crowd, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the new building and highlighted Joseph F. Smith?s life, with ?the hope that [everyone] might profit from his life and words.?

    ?We pray that the instructors who serve here may feel thy divine inspiration in their sacred work of education,? he said, during the dedicatory prayer. ?We pray that the minds of their students may be enlightened and their intellects sharpened as they partake of the knowledge here to be obtained.?

    President Hinckley spoke of the integrity, devotion and remarkable faith of President Joseph F. Smith. He said the prophet was undeviating in his testimony.

    ?He was a man of practical wisdom and industry, of work and study, with an appreciation for the temporal aspects of life,? President Hinckley said. ?His mind likewise reached into the depths of the things of eternity, the great spiritual architecture of thy divine and eternal plan. Great was his wisdom, great his understanding of things both of life and eternity.?

    President Hinckley encouraged students to capture the spirit of the former prophet in relation to education. Quoting Joseph F. Smith he said, ?The mere stuffing of the mind with a knowledge of facts is not education. The mind must not only possess a knowledge of truth, but the soul must revere it, cherish it, love it as a priceless gem; and this human life must be guided and shaped by it in order to fulfill its destiny ? Educate yourself not only for time, but also for eternity.?

    President Hinckley said he felt the need to talk about Joseph F. Smith?s life and the effect he?s had on generations.

    ?He was a man of unshakeable courage in the face of adversity, of industry, and devotion, and of faith and knowledge concerning this great Latter-day work of the Redeemer,? President Hinckley said. ?It is proper that this wonderful new building carry the name of this remarkable man.?

    Joseph F. Smith was the sixth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Gordon B. Hinckley is the fifteenth. President Hinckley said he felt like a pigmy when he thought of standing in the same circle with the former prophet.

    President Hinckley told a story of when young Joseph F. Smith, son of Hyrum Smith, watched his widowed mother exercise great faith crossing the plains to the Salt Lake Valley.

    During the journey two of their oxen disappeared. The young Joseph and his uncle searched for the oxen, but to no avail. His mother knelt in prayer and asked the Lord to help them recover their lost oxen. President Smith said he remembered that when she finished praying, he ?caught upon her precious face a lovely smile,? which gave him renewed hope and assurance.

    She was able to find the missing oxen because of her tremendous faith, which became ?the root stock? of Joseph F. Smith?s own faith.

    Later, during a mission to Hawaii, he had a vision that gave him strength and confidence, President Hinckley said.

    He dreamt he came to a mansion holding a small bundle. Approaching the mansion, he noticed a sign, which read ?bath.? He washed himself clean and opened the bundle, which held a pair of clean, white clothes. He put them on, rushed to the door and knocked. The Prophet Joseph Smith stood before him and said reprovingly, ?Joseph, you are late.?

    Joseph F. Smith replied, ?Yes, but I am clean ? I am clean.?

    Joseph Smith brought Joseph F. inside, where he saw his father and mother and ?Brigham and Heber and Willard, and other good men that [he] had known.?

    Joseph F. Smith explained that after the dream, he wasn?t afraid of anything and felt like he could meet any person, feeling that he was a man.

    ?When I awoke that morning, I was a man, although only a boy,? Joseph F. Smith said. ?That vision, that manifestation and witness that I enjoyed at that time has made me what I am ? That has helped me out in every trial and through every difficulty.?

    When Joseph F. Smith was only 27, Brigham Young ordained him an apostle and called him as a counselor to the First Presidency.

    He was the only man to serve as counselor to four presidents of the church: Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow.

    While prophet, Joseph F. Smith had a vision of the redemption of the dead and learned about the eternal nature of man. President Hinckley was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when they made the vision into section 138 in the Doctrine and Covenants.

    ?President Joseph F. Smith had an understanding of the eternal nature of man that few others have ever possessed,? President Hinckley said. ?It is my opinion that no man, save the Prophet Joseph only, has had a greater and better understanding of the origin and history of the church, and of its doctrines not only concerning this life, but also concerning the eternities. [Section 138] is a document without parallel.?

    At the end of the dedicatory prayer, President Hinckley expressed gratitude to God for the building and dedicated it to Him.

    ?With thanksgiving unto thee,? he said, ?We thus dedicate and consecrate this structure to the many purposes for which it will be used, and to thy glory and to thine honor in the spirit of this university where young men and women come to learn and from where they will go forth to serve in all the world.?

    Print Friendly, PDF & Email