PROVO, Utah — After paying tribute to the legacy of Joseph F. Smith, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated a "magnificent new building" on BYU's Provo campus that carries the early Church leader's name.
"No man, save the Prophet only, has spoken in the defense, advocacy and explanation of this work more eloquently and more persuasively than Joseph F. Smith, in whose name we dedicate this building today," said President Hinckley.
The dedication, held Sept. 20 in the BYU Marriott Center and attended by a capacity crowd of more than 20,000 students and others, took place in the final moments of the university's weekly campus devotional.
President Hinckley, offering the devotional address, lauded Joseph F. Smith. "I have felt to talk about him in this gathering with the hope that each one here might profit from his life and words," he said.
The event was attended by President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust, first and second counselors in the First Presidency; President Boyd K. Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, and numerous members of the Twelve and Seventy and Presiding Bishopric. Elder Cecil O. Samuelson of the Seventy and BYU president, conducted the devotional.
"It is a wonderful thing which we do in honoring the memory of President Joseph F. Smith. . . ," said President Hinckley. "He was the sixth president of the Church. I am the fifteenth, and I feel like a pigmy when I think of standing in the same circle with him."
Born in Far West, Mo., Nov. 13, 1838, Joseph F. Smith was the son of Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith and the nephew of Joseph Smith.
President Hinckley noted that President Joseph F. Smith was the last Church president to be personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph.
His early youth, however, was a "a terrible season in the history of the Church."
"As a little boy of five, he watched his father and the Prophet mount their horses for the ride to Carthage and to death. Hyrum, his father, reached down and lifted little Joseph. He affectionately held him in his arms and kissed him for the last time in mortality."
President Hinckley said Joseph never forgot the night when a man knocked on his mother's window and said, "Sister Smith, your husband has been killed."
"The image of his weeping mother, now widowed, remained with him throughout his life," said President Hinckley. "Nor did he ever forget his mother's faith in the face of adversity."
Young Joseph saw that faith over and over again as his mother led her family west, using faith to find lost oxen and later heal a sick ox, said President Hinckley. Four years after arriving in the valley, Mary Fielding Smith died, leaving Joseph an orphan at age 14. A year later he was ordained an elder and called on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. He would later serve as a missionary in the British Isles. Brigham Young ordained Joseph F. Smith an Apostle and called him as a counselor to the First Presidency when he was only 27 years old.
He served as a counselor to Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow — the only man to serve as counselor to four presidents of the Church. Joseph F. Smith became president of the Church on Oct. 17, 1901. He served 17 years, dying Nov. 19, 1918, at the age of 80.
"It is my opinion that no man, save the Prophet Joseph only, has had a greater or better understanding of the origin and history of the Church, and of its doctrines not only concerning this life, but also concerning the eternities," said President Hinckley. "There have been other great exponents, but I think none has had a broader or deeper understanding, nor spoken so eloquently concerning these matters."
Joseph F. Smith also spoke of true education, said President Hinckley.
"To provide this kind of education the Church maintains this university with a great infusion of its resources. It demonstrates to all the world that the acquisition of secular knowledge is important, but just as important is the acquisition of spiritual truth."
President Hinckley then quoted remarks from President Heber J. Grant, given at Joseph F. Smith's funeral.
"No man that ever lived had a more powerful testimony of the living God and of our Redeemer than Joseph F. Smith. . . . I loved Joseph F. Smith as I never loved any other man that I have ever known. May God bless his memory."
President Hinckley added, "To which I add my testimony, based on my study of his life and my reading of his sermons, that he was a man of unshakable courage in the face of adversity, of industry, and devotion, and of faith and knowledge concerning this great Latter-day work of the Redeemer. It is proper that this wonderful new building carry the name of this remarkable man."
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