Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Who said it

I love the quote "What ere thou art, act well thy part"
Today I have heard it said a couple of different ways:
what ere thou art, where ere thou art, who ere thou art
I have also heard it attributed to both Shakespeare and David O. McKay.

My question to you is this, which is right and who said it?
Posted by Sandra at 5/14/2008
Labels: , ,

1 comment:

Jeri said...

I just did a google search and found this story - it sure sounds authentic... (source info is at the end)

Elder Haight opened his comments by sharing an incident that occurred, in part, while he served in Edinburgh, Scotland, as mission president. Setting the stage for the experience, Elder Haight referred to a general conference address in which President David O. McKay told how he and his companion, a sheepherder from Idaho, had not had much success in their missionary labors.

"They were tracting one day and saw workmen building a building," said Elder Haight. "They stopped to watch as these men were placing a stone in the corner of the second floor. They first noticed geometric designs on the stone, then noticed an engraving.

" 'What ere thou art, act well thy part,' it stated," continued Elder Haight. "President McKay, who was an English major [in college], said he hadn't read the words in his study of literature or scripture, but the words had special meaning to him. They stood and read it over and over again.

"President McKay said he felt they had been exposed to those words as a message that they were not working as hard or as diligently as they should have been. They went back to their lodging and got down on their knees. They made a commitment to the Lord in fervent prayer that they would work with all their heart, might, mind and strength. They soon began seeing more success," he said.

Years later, when Elder Haight was called to serve as mission president in Scotland, he received a telephone call from one of his missionaries notifying him that the building with the stone was being demolished. The missionary was instructed to purchase the stone, even if it required 10-20 times more than the 10 shilling asking price.

The missionaries purchased the stone and loaded it into a truck and took it to the mission home where it was on display for many years before being crated and shipped to the Church Historical Department in Salt Lake City.

"It was touching to me how President McKay felt that it was no accident that he and his companion stood in front of the building to read those words, words which would influence his life," Elder Haight said.

The original stone, noted Elder Haight, is now in the Museum of Church History and Art, while a replica is at the Provo missionary training center.

http://mormonmission.blogspot.com (the March 24, 2008 post)

May 14, 2008 at 7:12 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)