“One of a City, and Two of a Family”
Jeremiah 3:14
14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion . . .
President Spencer W. Kimball said:
“In my youth I used to wonder how the world could be converted to the gospel when it was to go to ‘. . . one of a city, and two of a family . . .’ (Jer. 3:14), but as I came to understand the gospel more clearly, the matter seems quite clear. My grandfather [President Heber C. Kimball] came out of the world only a hundred and forty-four years ago, as one of a family, and today there are possibly eight or ten thousand or more of his direct posterity, most of whom were born in the Church and many of whom are faithful.
“‘One of a city’—not the world—is to be converted.
“I am sure that the veil is thin. My grandfather [President Heber C. Kimball], being one of a family, searched all his life to get together his genealogical records; and when he died in 1868, he had been unsuccessful in establishing his line back more than the second generation beyond him. I am sure that most of my family members feel the same as I do—that there was a thin veil between him and the earth after he had gone to the other side and that which he was unable to do as a mortal he perhaps was able to do after he had gone into eternity. After he passed away, the spirit of research took hold of men: his family in the west and two wholly disconnected distant relatives, not members of the Church in the east. For seven years these two men—Morrison and Sharples—unknown to each other and unknown to the members of the family in the west, were gathering genealogy. After seven years they happened to meet and then for three years they worked together. The family feels definitely that the Spirit of Elijah was at work on the other side and that our grandfather had been able to inspire men on this side to search out these records; and as a result, two large volumes are in my possession, with about seventeen thousand names.
“‘. . . one of a city, and two of a family . . .’ may yet accomplish the great objective.”
(Regional Representatives’ Seminar, Apr. 5, 1976.)
