Brother George Albert Smith: As the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I lay my hands upon your head, and I bless you and set you apart to be the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and I bestow upon you this blessing and pray that the Spirit of the living God may be and abide with you during your administration as the President of the Twelve Apostles. I bless you for your devotion. No more devoted and splendid worker has ever been among the leaders of the Church than yourself, excepting of course, the Prophet Joseph Smith. I bless you for blessing me upon two occasions when I was nigh unto death, and I was immediately touched with healing power and restored to my wonted strength. I bless you for your many travels. I bless you for the many comforting sermons you have preached to those who have lost their loved ones. You have been particularly willing to go and come and to preach. I bless you that your life has been spared, and I pray that you may have better strength of body in the future of your life, notwithstanding your age, than you have had for years past. You have been doing more work than your body was capable of doing. You have overdone in preaching and working for other people, and I bless you that you may have wisdom to take care of yourself and to prolong your life. I do not forget that you went to St. George for nearly if not quite a year, and I feel that Brother Joseph F. Smith and some of the others of the Quorum lacked the faith that you would return to health. I thank the Lord that I felt that you would return, and you did. I feel that you will magnify this office. I bless you with every gift, grace, and power necessary to be in a very deed one of the strong Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I bless you with vigor of body and of mind, and with all the blessings that you need to continue your labor, but do so with wisdom and not overdo yourself. I bestow these blessings upon you in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and by the power and authority that I hold as the Prophet of God in the last days, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I attended the meeting of the Apostles and their assistants at 8:30 and at ten o’clock met with the First Presidency and Apostles in the Presidents’ Office where President Heber J. Grant set apart Elder George Albert Smith as President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. He also presented the name of a brother [i.e., Spencer W. Kimball] to fill one of the two vacancies in the Council which was unanimously approved, although we are not at liberty at this time to mention his name. He is from one of the southern stakes. The name of some one to fill the other vacancy was not mentioned.
[Source: “Blessing by President Heber J. Grant upon the Head of Elder George Albert Smith, Setting Him Apart as President of the Council of the Twelve Apostlesâ€; Joseph Fielding Smith, Diary]
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